Tag: book reviews

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/15/24

Aloha friends!

I’m tired. It’s 6 weeks into the school session and my kiddos just started Sunday school so that’s added to their schedule also which means a lot of driving and that exhausts me. 😅 It doesn’t help that the weather is hot also. 🥵 We are counting down the days until Fall Break.

I did manage to get some self-care and got a 30 minute massage, where the therapist worked on my neck and back. It was much needed but a painful recovery because it was a deep massage, so I wasn’t feeling so hot the next day and to that my daughter has another cold but it came with pink-eye. Both she and I are much better now but like a said, a break would be so nice.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • It’s Not Me, It’s You by. Alex Light
  • The Fate of Magic by. Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

I also did a beta read for a book called A Desert of Bleeding Sand by. Lucia Damisa but I have no cover for it.

Currently Reading:

  • Storm of Ink and Blood by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • Love & Lattes by. Beth Reekles
  • Wisteria by. Adalyn Grace

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Some football
  • Emily in Paris Season 4 Part 2 (netflix) – I love when Emily travels and honestly I was rooting for her to be with Alfie (such a cutie) and that looks like a dead end. I don’t want her to go back to Gabriel, it was just so messy with Cami and everything. And I’m actually loving her in Rome with Marcello (another cutie!!! Emily really has had her fun in Europe!) . But what I really love about this series is Mindy and Emily’s friendship – they make me laugh all the time. And Sylvie is AMAZING – I wish I could be like her. I feel like Season 5 (if they have one because you never know with Netflix 🙄) will be the last one and I just don’t want her back with Gabriel. I like them as friends but we’ll see. I’m sure she will but I won’t love it.

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/8/24

Aloha friends!

My son had his birthday lunch at his grandparents’ house last Sunday, and my daughter has been fighting a cold but she’s much, much better now. My son though had a few days this week he was nauseous, had a migraine and I don’t know if it’s just the heat we’ve been experiencing this week or a combination of that and the school work load he has now as a middle schooler. It’s so much more than elementary school and I think he’s starting to see how much more. At least my kids are 5 weeks away from Fall Break already! They are counting down to that.

Other than that it was a fairly mild week and now with their Sunday school back in session today we don’t really get a break. 😓 So here’s to Fall break lol…we are so looking forward to it!

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • The Match by. Sarah Adams (audiobook)
  • Heir by. Sabaa Tahir
  • Fledgling by. S.K. Ali
  • Deja Brew by. Celestine Martin

Currently Reading:

  • Storm of Ink and Blood by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • Love & Lattes by. Beth Reekles
  • It’s Not Me, It’s You by. Alex Light
  • Wisteria by. Adalyn Grace

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football is back! I caught the Chiefs/Ravens and the Eagles/Packers game.
  • The Breakfast Club (netflix) – it was on Netflix so I decided to reminisce!

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/1/24

Aloha friends!

Happy September everyone! Here we are in the start of the “Ber” months and it’s kind of exciting and kind of overwhelming thinking of the holidays coming up.

This week we had some tropical storms pass us by – so it was rainy, windy and humid (yuck). My son also turned 12 on Tuesday so we are going over to his grandparents house today to have a birthday lunch with family. He is in a Kirby (Nintendo game) era so all his gifts from me was Kirby themed like a keyboard, a Nintendo Switch case, a shirt, etc…

His school had an Open House on Friday so we went to check it out and I had fun meeting his teachers and seeing their classrooms. He has an elective class which is a Drones class and I was so impressed with their equipment in there and to learn how kids are learning how to build drones and code. The advanced drone team even competes nationally with high schoolers even though they are a middle school and then even won first place last year! I was like wow…my elective back in the 90’s that I picked was Calligraphy 😆. It was that or like sewing or something – I mean we also had home-ec in 8th where we learned to sew and cook but yeah…DRONES is his elective. He gets Woodshop (this seems to be a classic elective lol – I had woodshop), Video Production and some Nature elective in the next quarters.

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the USA so it’ll be nice to sleep in!

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • The Songbird & the Heart of Stone by. Carissa Broadbent
  • Truly, Madly, Deeply by. Alexandria Bellefleur

Currently Reading:

  • Fledgling by. S.K. Ali
  • Heir by. Sabaa Tahir
  • The Match by. Sarah Adams (audiobook)

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Sailor Moon Cosmos (Netflix) – my kids and I watched this one and it’s so wild lol…my favorite is one of the Three Lights Guardians and her saying “Gentle Uterus!” as her power 😂 It’s so ridiculous but we have so much fun watching Sailor Moon and I loved Chibi Chibi. Anyway, I WISH my uterus was gentle smh…😆
  • Die with a Smile – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – on repeat – it’s so good!🥰

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/25/24

Aloha friends!

I actually got some reading done, I’m proud of myself lol. It was an easy week, I’m just glad everything is going so well so far for both my kids in school. I cannot believe my son turns 12 on Tuesday and we are at the end of August! Where has the year gone? I’m working on arcs – but saw that most my arcs are fantasy books – so I’m in the search for more romance, maybe some fall vibey stuff and even some holiday romances since that’s coming up.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • The Hunted Heir by. Holly Renee
  • The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle
  • When the World Tips Over by. Jandy Nelson
  • The House at Watch Hill by. Karen Marie Moning

Currently Reading:

  • Truly, Madly, Deeply by. Alexandria Bellefleur
  • Fledgling by. S.K. Ali
  • Heir by. Sabaa Tahir

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Emily in Paris Season 3, Part 1 – why are they splitting up the series into 2 parts lately?! So strange. I love Emily in Paris, it’s such an escape and it’s always fun.
  • Die with a Smile – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – on repeat – it’s so good!🥰

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/18/24

Aloha friends!

Second week of school is done and it’s been a pretty good transition for both kids! So my laptop is NOT broken – it just didn’t like a new cord that I had attached to it to connect to my phone. I’m just happy I didn’t have to buy a new laptop. Nothing else new to report. I feel like August is moving really fast now that school is in session – I saw Halloween candy already being sold at my grocery store!! Bonkers.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Guava and Grudges by. Alexis Castellanos
  • The Blood Orchid by. Kylie Lee Baker
  • A Novel Love Story by. Ashely Poston
  • Powerful by. Lauren Roberts

Currently Reading:

  • The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle
  • Fledgling by. S.K. Ali

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Chappell Roan
  • Die with a Smile – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – it’s so good!🥰

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/11/24

Aloha friends!

What a week. My kids started school so there were first day jitters, especially for my new middle schooler but he has done SO good. He is walking home from school since it’s closer to our house and let me tell you the first 2 days I was nervous but tons of kids walk in this area, and now he has a cell phone I can track. But it’s HOT at 2pm – and can someone please tell me how kids walk in hoodies and jackets at 91 degrees out? But my son needs a neck fan, and an umbrella and lots of breaks when he walks? lol…I’m so proud of him. His school is about 1.4 miles away and we’ve finally figured out our schedule. I pick his sister up first and then on our way back I pick him up at our pool area parking lot because by the time he is there, we are driving by it. So yay – it took some trial and error this week but I think we figured it out. I’m proud of both of them for having a good week. Unfortunately, my daughter has her first school cold – it only took 2 days of school for her to catch something. Boo!

And of course with everything happening this week, my Macbook Pro of 11 years finally kicked the bucket! I noticed a strange white screen situation happening on Monday and I was like, eh, maybe it’s nothing. NOPE. Now it’s dead…so I had to do some posts from my ipad but typing a lot is so tedious so now I’m using my son’s desk PC and the screen he has is like 24 inches long and it strains my eyes and gives me a headache. So I ordered a new laptop because I can’t live like this lol.

Let’s hope my daughter’s cold goes away and doesn’t get worse and we have a good second week of school.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle
  • Fear the Flames by. Olivia Rose Darling
  • Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver
  • Happy Medium by. Sarah Adler

Currently Reading:

  • The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle
  • Guava and Grudges by. Alexis Castellanos
  • Fledgling by. S.K. Ali

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • House of Dragon – finished the last episode and honestly felt this whole season was a filler. There was one good episode I think. Anyway this last episode is a cliffhanger and I love the music that comes in at the end that foreshadows what is going to happen next. I hope the third season is filled with a lot more action.

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/4/24

Aloha friends!

This week was just us having some simple fun before school starts and to make sure I got all the school supplies. We went to my daughter’s meet and greet on Friday and dropped off all her school supplies. I have to remind the kids that it’s time to wake up early again lol…they don’t like that but at least it’s still August and not dark outside in the morning. So goodbye summer! Hello school days again.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Can’t Help Falling in Love by. Sophie Sullivan
  • Nothing Like the Movies by. Lynn Painter

Currently Reading:

Why do I love this color combo right now in the titles I’m reading?! The pink and green? Love!🥰

  • Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle
  • Fear the Flames by. Olivia Rose Darling
  • Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver
  • Isabel and the Rogue by. Liana De la Rosa
  • Happy Medium by. Sarah Adler

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • House of Dragon –

  • Olivia Rodrigo Guts (Spilled) – I just added this vinyl album to my collection! 💜 I love it.

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 7/28/24

Aloha friends!

This one’s a little late because my week was busy. My hubby went back to Okinawa yesterday but that only means the wait for him to come home for good is shorter! Just a few months away. My daughter has her teacher meet and greet this Friday and they both start next week Monday and Tuesday. 😢 So summer and the mornings of sleeping in is over – sigh. But I’m glad my kids will be back in school, mostly for my daughter, because she gets really bored. I just can’t believe kids being back in school means we are close to the holidays. I’m not ready! lol but time doesn’t seem to care if I am or not.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • The Champions by. Kara Thomas
  • A Fire in the Sky by. Sophie Jordan
  • The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by. Megan Bannen (audiobook)

Currently Reading:

  • Can’t Help Falling in Love by. Sophie Sullivan
  • Nothing Like the Movies by. Lynn Painter
  • Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • House of Dragon – I’m an episode behind but it was such a busy week. Hoping I catch up this week.

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!

Monthly Wrap Up: July 2019

And here we are at the end of another month! Wow! Time flies when you are reading and reviewing books. 😂 I didn’t realize it was the end of July until my hubby asked me what today was!

My goal for July was to read less books than I did in June. So let’s see if I accomplished my goal:

Looks are deceiving! Haha, I read more books than what is shown here because I pre-scheduled posts for August already. So in reality I read more books than I did in June. 🤦🏻‍♀️ But that’s okay because I’ve been reading some amazing books lately! 😍 I do think I need some more adult romance or just some good adult fiction to read so if you have any suggestions, please drop them in the comments.

Usually I list the titles and my ratings and a link back to the post but I’m pressed for time today and wanted to get this post out before I forget. Check my archives to see my reviews!

My in-laws are visiting in 2 weeks so I’ve been reading and writing posts that are scheduled to publish in August while they are here. Also, my son starts school on Tuesday so today I’ll be labeling all his school supplies since tomorrow is meet & greet and I can drop his things off to his classroom. August will be crazy busy!

With that said, and before I run off to do errands today – I just wanted to share some of my favorite photos I took this month. They are unfiltered and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking it that day.

A vibrant pink and purple sunset in Hawaii
My kids and I spied a double rainbow the other day!
My son enjoying the view from the ground.

Just a little sneak peek into my life outside of read and reviewing books. 🥰

Okay I hope all of you have a wonderful day or night and please, drop your monthly wrap up links in my comments section so I can read yours! And as we say in Hawaii, ALOHA…(hello, goodbye, love…)

Monthly Wrap Up: June 2019

I was so busy this weekend, I almost forgot it is the last day of June! There has been so many things going on.

I went back to school shopping for my son, attended a library book sale this weekend and sometimes I feel I just can’t keep up. I hope July is less busy for me because August is going to be super crazy with back to school and my in-laws coming to visit.

So let’s see what I read this month:

I think I did pretty good! I feel like I need to read less in July just to give myself a break.

Sweetbitter by. Stephanie Danler – 4 stars

The Bone Witch by. Rin Chupeco – 4 stars

The Heart Forger by. Rin Chupeco – 4.5 stars

The Shadow Glass by. Rin Chupeco – 4.5 stars

Sky Without Stars by. Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell – 3.5 stars

Enchantee by. Grita Trelease – 4 stars

The Storm Crow by. Kalyn Josephson – 4.5 stars

The Lovely War by. Julie Berry – 4.5 stars

The Orphan’s Song by. Lauren Kate – 4 stars

The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy) by. K.F. Breene & Shannon Mayer – 4.5 stars

Heartwood Box by. Ann Aguirre – 3.5 stars

Testimony From The Perfect Girl by. Kaui Hart Hemmings – 4 stars

Legendary by. Stephanie Garber – 4.5 stars

On The Come Up by. Angie Thomas – 4.5 stars

Dream Keeper by. Amber R. Duell – 3 stars

Crown Of Feathers by. Nicki Pau Preto – 4 stars

Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things by. Jacqueline Firkins -4.5 stars

Spin The Dawn by. Elizabeth Lin – 4 stars

Crown of Coral and Pearl by. Mara Rutherford – 4 stars

Sorcery of Thorns by. Margaret Rogerson – 4.5 stars

Oh and we can’t forget the children’s books I read….

You can find these reviews at Starting Small Reads.

And to end this month I did something bookish! Yesterday and today I attended the Friends of the Library Annual book sale here in Hawaii. And yesterday everything was 50% off! Today, was the last day and everything was only 50 cents each! So I went both days and came away with these:

This is a two day total of……$14!!! Woohoo! Now…I wish I went on opening day, because the regular sale prices for these books were already like $1-5 each, which I would have paid. I used to attend this book fair when I was single and had lots of time on my hands. Now with my kids, I just wouldn’t take them – it’s held in a high school cafeteria, no A/C, some fans, some open doors, lots of time perusing and lots of sweating bodies. I live on an island so it’s been hot and humid.

One of my besties, J, came with me yesterday and we got a chance to peruse the tables for a good hour. I decided last minute to go again today but had no babysitter, so I took my 2 year old daughter with me, and my hubby took our son to swim class. She lasted about…15 minutes…I pushed it to 30 minutes, but by then she wouldn’t even enter the aisles with me. 😂 She wanted a lady bug book and there was none to be found! So I grabbed whatever covers appealed to me today. I’ve read a bunch of these already, but I wanted to re-read them. Next year I’ll plan for going on opening day, with no kids in tow and a ice cold bottle of water.

As for everything else, I’m trying to read, review, and enjoy summer with my family but I feel like everything is so rushed. School starts in 4 weeks! I have house guests in 6 weeks and soon it’ll be Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 🎃🎄😂 You know how there is that Mid-Year Freakout Tag circling the book blogging world? I am freaking out…but not about books…or my TBR list…just about LIFE. 😂

How did you do in June? Read anything fabulous? Are you ready for the second half of the year? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Reading! 😘