Tag: books i read

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/6/24

Aloha friends!

How is everyone doing? Well, here we are in October!

The place where my son takes piano lessons, the Kroc Center Hawaii, had a Kroctoberfest and so I thought to take both my kids since I was going there with my son anyway. We actually went right at the time the event started and even found parking woohoo…and we got to enjoy some fun and games, but my daughter’s favorite was the butterfly tent. She got 2 butterflies on one stick – bugs love her and she loves them back!

My kids played tic tac toe and my daughter won – woohoo!
This is the butterfly my son caught – it’s loving that sugar water stick thingy!

The kids have a break from Sunday school today which is nice and I wasn’t planning on driving all the way into town but I told my daughter I’d bring her to Dave & Busters because she doesn’t remember the last time we did go (4 years ago LOL…and okay she was 3 years old). Also I told her there is this place that has crepes at the mall in town and now she wants to try it. So I guess we are going to have some fun in town today!

Tomorrow is Fall Break for my kiddos – we made it! 😅 Time to sleep in, maybe catch a movie (The Wild Robot), and just relax sigh…we totally deserve this break!

Anyway, I hope you all have a nice week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Eleven Houses by. Colleen Oakes
  • Love & Lattes by. Beth Reekles
  • Better Than Revenge by. Kasie West
  • Reckless by. Lauren Roberts

Currently Reading:

  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • Wisteria by. Adalyn Grace
  • The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard
  • Stranger Skies by. Pascale Lacelle
  • Darkly by. Marisha Pessl

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/29/24

Aloha friends!

Here we are, the last few days of September and it is October in 2 days. Are we ready for Halloween? I think I will be once my kids have fall break which is NEXT WEEK! 🥳 You don’t understand how I need this break – they need the break but I mean, I do too. I’ve been driving all over the place, feeling the whole single-parent life (hubby comes back in December) on level 10 it seems this whole month. I’m like a train that keeps on chugging but I need to take a little break soon, so fall break is going to be divine. My kids wants to watch The Wild Robot, so we have a movie date planned. It’s still hot here so maybe we will go to the beach. And best of all we just get to sleep in. I really, really, REALLY can’t wait.

This past week was just filled with a booked weekend, doctor appointments, and my daughter’s school carnival (which is like walking around in a sauna). My son is practicing his Winter recital piece so even though it’s fall, I am hearing Christmas music being played on the piano every night LOL. 🎃🎄

Anyway, I hope you all have a nice week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Eleven Houses by. Colleen Oakes

Currently Reading:

  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • Love & Lattes by. Beth Reekles
  • Wisteria by. Adalyn Grace
  • Fangs for Nothing by. Stefanie Holmes

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!

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/22/24

Aloha friends!

My kids had a 4 day school week, but we did have to go to their annual doctor appointment on their day off and get a flu shot. So it wasn’t all fun, but at least they had a day off of school and we got to meet up with a college buddy of mine who was stopping over in Hawaii from a trip to Japan! It was so much fun to see her again and catch up.

Fall break is in 2 weeks – but that means we are almost in October folks! 🤯 And that means the holidays are here and I am not ready. I should do my Xmas shopping now (which I saw every year and never follow through)…but can you believe how fast this year went by? I can’t!

Anyway, I hope you all have a nice week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Storm of Ink and Blood by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • Zodiac Rising by. Katie Zhao

Currently Reading:

  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • Love & Lattes by. Beth Reekles
  • Wisteria by. Adalyn Grace
  • Fangs for Nothing by. Stefanie Holmes

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Some 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!

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!

Reading Monthly Wrap Up for August 2024

August was full of transitions! My kids went back to school, my son is now in middle school and we have new routines but I love how everything has really come together seamlessly. Now we are just counting the days until their dad is back home with us, which will be in 3 months.

I think with how busy I’ve been in August, I read a pretty good amount of books and posted a bunch of reviews. Question – do you post a review of every book you read? I’m just curious because I do, but I’ve wondered if I need to. 🤔 Just thinking of ways I can tweak my blog a little.

Here is how my book ratings went in August:

What I Posted: 12 Books

5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

4 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:

3 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️:

2.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️💫

2 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️

I actually read more books than I posted in August only because the arcs I read will be posted closer to their publication date. But wow, I’m amazed most of my book ratings in my August books are 3-3.5 stars! No 4-5 stars, shocking!

How was your month?

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!

Monthly Wrap Up | July 2024

I felt like July was the one month where it felt like it wasn’t going too fast or too slow, even though my husband surprised us with a last minute trip to visit us. We really relaxed this month, well…after my son got over Covid in the beginning of the month. So I had a good chance to read this month which was nice and I notice I was gravitating towards contemporary romance books!

Here is how my book ratings went in July:

What I Posted: 14 Books

5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

  • The Ever King by. L.J. Andrews
  • Not Another Long Song by. Julie Soto

4 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Ghostsmith by. Nicki Pau Preto
  • The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by. Megan Bannen
  • Birding with Benefits by. Sarah T. Dubb
  • The Paradise Problem by. Christina Lauren
  • All Roads Lead to Rome by. Sabrina Fedel
  • The Mirror of Beasts by. Alexandra Bracken
  • The Ever Queen by. L.J. Andrews

3.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:

  • The Girl with No Reflection by. Keshe Chow
  • The Seventh Veil of Salome by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • The Mist Thief by. L.J. Andrews

3 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️:

  • Caste of the Cursed by. Romina Garber
  • That Prince is Mine by. Jayci Lee

2.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️💫

2 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️

I think I had a pretty good month!

How was your month?