Tag: book review

Weekly Wrap Up | 1/12/25

Aloha friends!

What a week. Here’s what happened:

  • My daughter had her 8th birthday party at my mom’s house and it was SO nice seeing my cousins and their kids. It was chaotic and it’s funny how we always had parties there growing up with more people than who was there last Sunday and we were wondering how we had parties like that before because the space looks so small now (even though it’s not!). We had a blast and my body/legs/feet hurt so much after. I think my body knew that was it for the holidays and I felt it!!
  • We had two days to relax before kids went back in school. Took the decorations down (Bye Christmas and 2024)…Kids went back to school on Wednesday so back on the routine…can’t believe they will be done with school again in 5 months!
  • Had to check on so many friends because of the Los Angeles fires. I went to college in Los Angeles and I had the best 4 years there and my stomping grounds were Santa Monica, Sunset Blvd, all of it. The Palisades fire was near my college and a friend of mine was near the Altadena/Pasadena fire – her friends’ schools burned down (she’s a teacher), many lost their homes. I was on the phone texting her to make sure she was okay and had a plan just in case she had to evacuate. She has no family so I was very worried and she was freaking out too. What a scary situation. It reminded me of the Lahaina, Maui fire where we had high wind warnings all over Hawaii that day, and one little spark caused a raging inferno. 2025 has not started off so good with so many tragedies! My heart has been sore since the New Year. 😩
  • Went to lunch with 2 friends and 2 of our elementary school teachers! 🤯

I hope you all have a great week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Wicked – again and listened to the soundtrack

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Ruin by. Gillian Eliza West | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Ruin (The Infernis Duology, #1)

Author: Gillian Eliza West

Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)

Pages: 388

Publication Date: 10/15/24

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy, New Adult, Retelling of Hades and Persephone

Oralia Solis hasn’t felt the touch of another in 245 years. Not without them crumbling to ash at her feet. Cursed by the bite of a daemoni, she has been sequestered away for the greater good of Aethera by her adopted father, King Typhon.

King Renwick rules the rival kingdom of Infernis, the land of the dead. When Oralia flees the palace of Aethera after her power is let loose with deadly results, he recognizes her potential as a weapon and aids her escape.

Oralia finds herself the prisoner of the man she has been taught to fear most, and Renwick is surprised to find there is more to this princess than her untamed powers. Despite the gulf of secrets and magic between them, Renwick can’t deny the pull he feels towards her, and Oralia struggles to resist the one person who cannot only survive her touch, but craves it.

As Oralia uncovers the truth of her parentage and masters her magic, she will discover that the power to raze or save either Aethera or Infernis lies in her hands. War between the two kingdoms looms and she must decide who she can trust and which she wants more: power or love.


Content Warning: violence, death, grief

This is a retelling of Hades and Persephone, one of my favorite mythologies and I think it’s done well with some minor issues.

I found the story-telling immersive with good, easy world-building. It was easy to follow. Oralia has been fed a story about the Under King and how evil he is. She believes he plays a role in her mother’s death. King Typhon has been her guardian and the only father she’s only known but when she acquires dark powers which basically allows her to kill with a touch that leaves her living a life of longing, pain and never feeling like she belonged.

When I realized this was another story about a female main character who can’t touch anyone, I went into this apprehensive because it’s not my favorite trope and add to that the Under King has “shadows”, another one I don’t favor. I was going in thinking I was not going to like this book. But I was proved wrong!

I think what I mostly enjoyed about this book was the love story, which is a slow burn, but then it gets spicy. And yes that’s usually a formula for romantasy books but this one didn’t fall into the fated mates category that I sometimes dread, but actually was two gods, both who have trauma, falling in love with each other. I like that the love is shown from both sides. I like a man who isn’t afraid to say and show how he feels. At times the story even gave me Beauty and the Beast vibes. Anyway, I found Oralia and Ren’s love story to be very beautiful.

My issues? The word “sigh” was used a lot! Characters were sighing so much in one chapter that it stood out to me and unfortunately made me aware of the word each time I saw it throughout the book! Also, the beginning felt slow but I think that’s just because it was the world-building being laid out.

Final Thoughts:

I had some minor issues but overall I read this in two days. My favorite thing about this story was the romance. I love a Hades/Persephone retelling and this one was slow and spicy but still romantic. I’ll definitely be reading book two!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

WWW Wednesday | 1/8/25

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

I’m hoping to have more time to read this weekend, but we’ll see. My weekend is busy but I think next week should slow down a little (I hope). It’s been a busy start to the New Year (it always is) but my kids just went back to school today so I get a little quiet time back. Yay! I got a basic Kindle for Xmas (thanks to my hubby) so I’ve been getting some reading time in. I find myself reading very slow on it though, not sure why. Anyway here is what I’m reading and what I’ve finished:

What are you currently reading?

Nature of Frost by. Jus Accardo (arc) – 50% – working on this

Immortal Dark by. Tigrest Girma – 8/416 – just started this one, not gonna lie – reading hardcovers now is so hard for me because my free time is usually before bedtime and it’s easier to read on a kindle!

The Grandest Game by. Jennifer Lynn Barnes – pg. 111/372 – hoping to finish this one soon, at least it’s a quick read, very short chapters

Anathema by. Keri Lake – 2% – chose this for my Spell the Month TBR list, so definitely trying to finish it.

Just Listen by. Sarah Dessen – 2% – I chose this also for my Spell the Month TBR list and it’s a re-read but I haven’t read it in 10+ years. So I wanted to read it and review for my blog since I was obsessed with Sarah Dessen books back in the day.

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 1/5/25

Aloha friends!

What a week. Here’s what happened:

  • Finally got a haircut – it’s been since February I think!
  • New Year’s Eve – Hawaii always goes crazy with fireworks. I think there were MORE fireworks this year, it started early and my dog was miserable. We stay home on NYE because of him, keep him comforted. We watched WICKED at home and loved it! Watched the fireworks show outside our windows (there’s a professional fireworks event near us and we had a lovely view) – but since the whole island lights up, we pretty much can see fireworks outside every window upstairs. It’s like a war zone out there.
  • New Year’s Day – Woke up to news there was a bad fireworks incident in town, 3 people died with 20+ injured, horrible fireworks accident. It was my nephew’s 17th birthday so we went into Waikiki and had lunch with the family at Hard Rock Cafe.
  • My daughter turned 8 on Friday. She got to open presents from me and her dad in the morning. We also had a passport appointment – theirs only last 4 years because they are kids and it expired in July. So I wanted them to have new ones just in case we go to the Philippines this year. After the appointment we went to eat at Wendy’s because she loves their nuggets. Then we went to Kids City which is like an indoor playground.
  • My son is back to piano lessons on Saturday – so we did that then picked up her ice cream cake for her party today.

I hope you all have a great week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Wicked – again while I’m cleaning

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

WWW Wednesday | 1/1/25

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

Happy New Year everyone!! How was your New Year’s Eve? Did you party or was like me and stayed home because my dog is miserable with the fireworks?

Well we made it to another new year – 2025 – I’m going into this new year feeling a bit of dread but you know what, we just gotta do what we gotta do. I’ll just escape into my books.

What are you currently reading?

Nature of Frost by. Jus Accardo (arc) – 50% – I just found out this is a sequel and I never read book one! 🫠. Where is my brain? sigh…

Unhallowed Halls by. Lili Wilkinson – 40% – this is an arc I’m working on.

The Grandest Game by. Jennifer Lynn Barnes – pg. 60/372

Immortal Dark by. Tigrest Girma –

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 12/29/24

Aloha friends!

Christmas is over. We went to a family party Christmas Eve night and had tons of fun. We went home with so many prizes! Gift cards, treats and I won a whole pot and pans set which I shared with my mom since I didn’t need most of it 😅. My kids had a blast but let me tell you we were so tired on Christmas day lol…so we opened only stocking gifts because we had to head out to my mom’s for Christmas lunch. My daughter was overstimulated and had one break down at the lunch but I get it – the party the night before, the anticipation for Christmas and presents and being tired! Lunch was nice and you know with my mom having stage one bladder cancer and my sister’s sis-in-law dealing with stage 3 breast cancer this year, and my hubby being gone and finally home for good…it was nice to be around family and knowing we got through a challenging year.

Kids enjoyed their gifts and I enjoyed my gift (a kindle from my hubby)! We also had Hanukkah to celebrate the night of Christmas and let me tell you, I was struggling to stay awake. I was done and didn’t even have caffeine the whole day. But I ate so much all day (I have left overs for days in my fridge) that I decided to go on youtube and do a Just Dance workout before bedtime. My son got up and joined me and we had so much fun, so it was a long day but a lovely day.

Then we went to a Shabbat service on Friday night to celebrate my father-in-law’s anniversary, he passed 2 years ago. Thing is the service was a potluck Shabbat/Hanukkah party. So there was a lot of people and it was festive so the kids had fun and we got to honor their grandpa which is where their Jewish side comes from.

Now onto the New Year – and planning my daughter’s birthday!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Breath of the Dragon by. Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee

Currently Reading:

  • Unhallowed Halls by. Lili Wilkinson
  • Nature Frost by. Jus Accardo

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Beyonce Bowl Halftime NFL Show – she was gorgeous and ethereal all in white! What a performance. I need to get myself to a Beyonce concert.
  • The Polar Express – my daughter mentioned this was her classmate’s favorite movie and I said okay let’s watch it. She lasted 20 minutes and left the room. I never watched it because I always thought the animation looked creepy and I stick to my opinion after sitting through that whole movie. The animation is creepy! It was an okay movie.

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

WWW Wednesday | 12/25/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrate! My kiddos were excited this morning of course and for lunch they are going to open more present at their grandparents’ house. And also it’s Hanukkah and we also celebrate that so…

It’s why my daughter loves December and January. She’s got Hanukkah, Christmas and her birthday lol. And my wallet is like…😩. Also my energy is like 🫠. But I did read some books – woohoo!

What are you currently reading?

Unhallowed Halls by. Lili Wilkinson – 6%

Breath of the Dragon by. Fonda Lee and Shannon Lee (arc) – 10%

Nature of Frost by. Jus Accardo (arc) – 7% – I just found out this is a sequel and I never read book one! 🫠. Where is my brain? sigh…

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 12/22/24

Aloha friends!

It was a long week at school for the kiddos and we can’t wait for winter break which starts this Saturday! Are you all feeling in the Christmas spirit at all? It’s still warm here so for me, I feel like it isn’t the holidays at all.

I’m gonna try make some Christmas cookies for a Christmas eve party we got invited too. Maybe that will put me in the spirit!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • The Lotus Shoes by. Jane Yang

Currently Reading:

  • Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue by. Kate Pearsall
  • North is the Night by. Emily Rath
  • Breath of the Dragon by. Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

WWW Wednesday | 12/18/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

There is one week until Christmas! Are you ready? (if you celebrate). I am but also we have Hanukkah in our house so my kids love the holidays – they get a bunch of presents lol. Then it’s my daughter’s birthday the following week, so she REALLY loves the holidays! I did finish a few books and am still working on some arcs but I’m all about easy reads right now and not so many heavy world-building fantasy books.

What are you currently reading?

The Lotus Shoes by. Jane Yang (arc) – 24%, I need to finish this one because I’m on the blog tour.

Lies on the Serpents Tongue by. Kate Purcell (arc) – 5%

Unhallowed Halls by. Lili Wilkinson – 6%

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 12/15/24

Aloha friends!

It’s been a long week. My son had his piano recital and did well. I had to drive my hubby around to get his car fixed. It was a long week at school for the kiddos and we can’t wait for winter break which starts this Saturday! Are you all feeling in the Christmas spirit at all? It’s still warm here so for me, I feel like it isn’t the holidays at all.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Not Here to Be Liked by. Michelle Quach
  • A Song to Drown Rivers by. Ann Liang
  • Get Lost with You by. Sophie Sullivan
  • Blood of the Gods by. Sapir A. Englard
  • The Girl Most Likely To by. Julie Tieu

Currently Reading:

  • The Lotus Shoes by. Jane Yang
  • Breath of the Dragon by. Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Listened to GNX by Kendrick Lamar
  • Listened to Rosie by. Rosé
  • Watched Football
  • It Ends With Us (Netflix) – this was okay, I read the story years ago so I went into this with fresh eyes, but it was just okay.

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!