January to March wrap-up: Trying to catch up with all those goals set in the New Year excitement

How wonderful it would be if I could proudly say that I am returning with a vengeance! Unfortunately, things don't always go the way we intend them to. Earlier in the year, I confidently set a reading goal of 70 books this year, mentioning that I wished to read more. A simple calculation reveals that…

My 2021 Year in Books and What to Expect Next

Usually, I’d put 50 books as my target in Goodreads Reading Challenges and most of the time, I manage to read more than that (ranging from about 2 to 20 books). Confidence that I could do better coupled with my hope to read more led me to set my 2021 Reading Challenge at 100 books.…

Welcome to Hotel Magnifique, Where Wonders Await and Mysteries Lurk… What Will It Hold for You?

Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor is a YA fantasy that showcases the story of Jani, a spirited young lady, determined to make a better life for her sister Zosa and herself from their life of patched clothes and struggling to make enough to ensure they won’t get kicked out from their rented residence. So,…

Complex Character and Challenging the Norm in The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

There is homophobia, violence, sexual content, and other issues mentioned in this book that may be triggering for some readers. Careful you go looking for something, you just might find it. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a debut short story collection by Deesha Philyaw. The book features nine stories about black ladies, young…

The Lighthouse Witches Made Me Relive My Days of Finishing Books in A Day or Two

I'm convinced that I have had a lot of luck with Netgalley titles, leading me to discover the likes of Feathertide and The Tea Dragon Tapestry where my love for reading is rejuvenated and everything seems right in the world (even if it could be just a small slice of time). Reading C.J. Cooke's The…

Revisiting Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children: Updated Thoughts, Significantly More Positive Than Before

Reading any Young Adult book back when Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games started the trend meant that half of the time I consciously and subconsciously compared the other YA books to the trilogy that was finally receiving its well-deserved attention and praise. This did not bode well for the other YA series that may or…

Goodreads vs. The Storygraph: A Comparison

In a wrap-up post on books I enjoyed in 2020, I mentioned using The Storygraph, which was a reading tracker website that was still in beta at the time. It was regarded as a Goodreads alternative as its primary function was as a reading log, which Goodreads is arguably the most well-known for. For those…

The Good, the Bad, and All the Light We Cannot See

I read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr when it was still very frequently seen in the shelves of bookshops, right in the Popular Fiction or Great Deals! section. At the time, I was enticed by the title, the cover, the description, and the bountiful praise for this book online. The book…

Good Omens: Armageddon, The Antichrist, and An Ineffable Duo

Good Omens is fairly well known, especially after the Amazon TV adaptation starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen. The novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, published back in the year 1990, still holds up to this day with its many charms. If, it happens, that you don't know what the book is about, here…

A Look Into Coraline’s Bravery and Innocence, A Tale of Comfort and Terror

When you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave. Many people would probably know Coraline through the detailed stop-motion animated movie directed by Henry Selick. Back then, it wasn't uncommon to see Coraline-related advertisements or short sections of Coraline playing on televisions. The movie was the reason many came to know of Coraline,…