Weekly Wrap Up | 11/5/23

Aloha friends!

Well, I was sick all week. I got a sore throat on Monday – but got through parent conferences. Tuesday was Halloween and I got through trick or treating but wow right after I was super exhausted and started to cough. I woke up Wednesday with a bad cough, congestion, body aches and chills. I tested negative for covid so I think I had the flu. The body aches and chills stuck around for 2 days and I even lost my voice but the coughing and congestion have been the worse. I barely had a fever but had lots of sweating (but it IS hot here in Hawaii). My birthday was yesterday and I didn’t have energy to celebrate but that’s okay because we leave for Osaka, Japan in 16 days. I’ll celebrate there! My main priority is to get better and get rid of this cough and congestion.

That was my miserable week and I didn’t get much reading done – but I did have fun with my kids on Halloween at least!

I hope all of you have a good week and thanks for reading!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

Plot Twist by. Erin La Rosa

This Cursed Light by. Emily Thiede

Artifacts of an Ex by. Jennifer Chen


Currently Reading:

Her Dark Wings by. Melinda Salisbury

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

+ The Hunger Games ~ because The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes comes out in theaters soon, and I still need to read the book. But the Olivia Rodrigo song for the movie, “Can’t Catch Me Now” sounds amazing!

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 | 11/1/23

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 November! Kids got sick over the weekend, we had parent conference meetings on Monday, and Trick or Treating on Tuesday so it’s been already a busy week! I hope I can finish these two books this week. I’m trying to finish my November arcs because I’m going on vacation around Thanksgiving.

What are you currently reading?

This Cursed Light by. Emily Thiede – I made headway and am 30% into the book yay! Hope I can finish this weekend!

Artifacts of an Ex by. Jennifer Chen – just started this one.

What have you just finished reading?

Plot Twist by. Erin La Rosa – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Didn’t See That Coming by. Jesse Q. Sutanto – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Woman in Me by. Britney Spears – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What are you going to read next?

Her Dark Wings by. Melinda Salisbury

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/29/23

Aloha friends!

I felt like my brain wasn’t functioning this week because I was worried about my mom’s procedure to remove her cancer cells. I was so relieved when I saw she was home and doing good but the next day my sister talked to the doctor and he gave her bad news. The camera inserted into her to help scrape off the cancer cells found smaller tumors that the CT Scan missed. So we are devastated but trying to think positive as we consider her options and she has a few but the one we are learning towards involves major surgery. But we want to get ahead of the cancer and eliminate it – that’s the goal and I feel like she’s in the early stages enough that she can beat it. 🙏🏼 So that was on my mind this week and weekend.

Then of course my son got sick, but I took him to urgent care and it’s not strep throat…or at least not Strep A which is what they test for. Anyway so we had a quiet weekend but a nice surprise last night when my parents came to sleep over. I was thinking they wouldn’t come over this weekend because my mom’s procedure and how she’s still in a little pain, but she’s feeling much better.❤️

I’m not in a reading slump but my mood is definitely in a slump hence why I haven’t been finishing a lot of books lately. But this weekend is my birthday and the book I’m looking forward to getting the most is Iron Flame!! So I hope my mood improves by then! Just have so much on my mind…sigh…and it’s the holidays, which is stressful enough without dealing with all my loved ones dealing with health issues. 🙁 Anyway I’m trying to get into the mood for my kids because Halloween is on Tuesday!

I hope all of you have a good week and thanks for reading!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:


Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

+ The Nightmare Before Christmas (the sing-along lol)

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!

Trick or Treat Round the Block Book Tag


It’s that time again, time for some Halloween themed posts and why not with book tags? This tag was originally created by The Bookish Porcupine but I saw it around the blogosphere – most recently on Dinipandareads. Check their blogs out!

Creepy house on the corner of the street:
Book with a creepy cover

The Haunting of Hill House is a book that I’ve been meaning to for years!


Lights out (party poopers):
A book you want to read when you want to escape

I like escaping into fantasy books and Throne of the Fallen takes you to Hell, a Vampire stronghold and Faerie!


The house that gives out the cheap candy:
Guilty pleasure book

I like a good strange small town, spooky story! I don’t know if that’s a guilty pleasure but sometimes I just liked to be weirdly spooked. I think Together We Rot fascinated me because stories about cults always have interested me!


The house with the best decorations on the block:
Best haunting/Halloween-themed cover

I haven’t read Delicious Monsters but I want to – but yikes look at that cover!


The house that gives out the best candy:
#1 Halloween recommendation

If you like a little history with a haunted house then you’d enjoy The Hacienda!


SPEED ROUND

Corn Maze or Haunted House?

I used like Haunted Houses but that was in my younger years! I’d go with a corn maze now.

Classic or Unique Costume?

I love both but I’ll go with Unique because my kids are always picking unique costumes. This year my daughter will be Sailor Moon and I’m Luna (the cat) lol.

Sexy or Scary Costume?

Scary because I can’t pull off a sexy one lol

Comedy or Horror Halloween Film?

I was forced to watch horror films all during my childhood because my older male cousins picked the movies! So now I go for comedy.

Chocolate or Sour Candy?

Definitely chocolate!

It’s a fun and easy tag to do so try it out. ☺️ Happy Halloween! 👻🎃

WWW Wednesday | 10/25/23

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 feel like I am just slow in reading this month! It’s taking me days to finish books I can usually finish in one night. But I’ve been sleeping earlier – maybe it’s just age catching up to me! lol…anyway this is what I’m reading and what I’ve finished the last couple of days.

What are you currently reading?

Plot Twist by. Erin La Rosa – I’m about 10% into it. I didn’t make any headway this week on this.

This Cursed Light by. Emily Thiede – I’m only 4% into this one.

Didn’t See That Coming by. Jesse Q. Sutanto – I’ll be finishing this one this week I think.

The Woman in Me by. Britney Spears – I just bought this one yesterday and I’m 8% in. It’s a quick read but definitely fascinating so far! I always did love Britney – her songs bring me back to my late teens and early twenties which was such a fun time in my life.

What have you just finished reading?

Two Twisted Crowns by. Rachel Gillig ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Starling House by. Alix E. Harrow ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What are you going to read next?

Artifacts of an Ex by. Jennifer Chen

Her Dark Wings by. Melinda Salisbury

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/22/23

Aloha friends!

I didn’t have a busy week but I don’t know where my time went! I think my heart has been heavy with all the things happening around the world. 😔

Also I am busy planning our Osaka, Japan trip which is in 4 weeks. My mom is having her procedure to remove her cancer (they found it on her ureter) this week so I’ve been thinking about that and wondering if she will be okay to come on the trip. Oh and I’m trying to get back to working out and eat better because my blood pressure was a little bit higher in my last doctor appointment. SO yeah I gotta work on that – self care and all that! That means I’ve been more tired so I think I finished only one book this past week. I’ve been reading slow…

I’m hoping I get get through more reading this week, but we shall see. Anyway, hope you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:


Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

+ Baseball – Phillies are still in 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!

Books About Haunted Houses

You know, I don’t mind horror but I think the one thing that terrifies me is a book about a haunted house. Monsters I can deal with, murder I can deal with but haunted houses awaken that fear of me I had as a child watching Poltergeist and yes I watched all of them (mostly because my older boy cousins loved horror and we lived all in one house so they picked the movies!). I did read The Shining by Stephen King, but that’s a hotel so I was fine with that. But haunted house stories I kind of stay away from but maybe one day I’ll be brave to read these..🏚🎃


Delicious Monsters by. Liselle Sambury

The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.

Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls…

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.


How to Sell a Haunted House by. Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past—and your family—can haunt you like nothing else.

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…


The Amityville Horror by. Jay Anson

28 Days of Terror in a House Possessed by Evil Spirits

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their dream home, the same home where Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers and sisters just one year earlier.

The psychic phenomena that followed created the most terrifying experience the Lutz family had ever encountered, forcing them to flee the house in 28 days, convinced that it was possessed by evil spirits.

Their fantastic story, never before disclosed in full detail, makes for an unforgettable book with all the shocks and gripping suspense of The Exorcist, The Omen or Rosemary’s Baby, but with one vital difference…the story is true.


The Haunting of Hill House by. Shirley Jackson

It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.


Our Share of Night by. Mariana Enriquez

A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family.

A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America’s most original novelists, “a mesmerizing writer,” says Dave Eggers, “who demands to be read.”


WWW Wednesday | 10/18/23

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?

Okay I didn’t finish many books this past week because Throne of the Fallen took up my days. It actually took me 3 or 4 days to read that one! Not that it’s bad, but it’s a long one, clocking in at 627 pages. I remember buying it as an ebook but then I went to Barnes & Nobles with my kids a couple days ago and I saw it on the table and gasped because the cover was so pretty. But then I saw how thick it was and was relieved I bought the ebook. I just cannot read a thick tome of a book anymore – it kills my wrists and it’s a problem trying to read in bed at night with a book that thick. And I don’t have daylight hours to devote to reading so ebooks are where it’s at for me. Though I still want the book for my shelf just because it looks pretty lol…

What are you currently reading?

Plot Twist by. Erin La Rosa – I’m about 10% into it.

This Cursed Light by. Emily Thiede – I’m only 4% into this one.

Didn’t See That Coming by. Jesse Q. Sutanto – Just started this one but I’m at 11% – will probably read this one the quickest because there is no dense world building to get through and it’s YA so that is usually a quick read for me.

Starling House by. Alix E. Harrow – I just got this one on my online library and I’m excited to read it!

What have you just finished reading?

Throne of the Fallen by. Kerri Maniscalco ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

King of Pride by. Ana Huang ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What are you going to read next?

Artifacts of an Ex by. Jennifer Chen

Two Twisted Crowns by. Rachel Gillig

Her Dark Wings by. Melinda Salisbury

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/15/23

Aloha friends!

My kids are on fall break this week – yay! We get to sleep in and just relax.

I’m hoping I get get through more reading this week, but we shall see. Anyway, hope you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:


Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

+ Baseball – and I really don’t really watch baseball unless the Phillies are in the playoffs since I try to support my husband’s favorite teams lol

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!

Books I’ve Read This Year That Has Spooky Season Vibes

I’ve read a few books this year that would be perfect for spooky season. These books are thrillers, witchy, mysteries, paranormal, monsters, zombies, horror and just make for some good fall reads because they are dark.


Witches, demons, the paranormal…and some romance too!

Bring Me Your Midnight by. Rachel Griffin – witchy vibes, angst, forbidden love

Night of the Witch by. Sara Raasch and Beth Revis – witch and witch hunter falling for one another

Bittersweet in the Hollow by. Kate Pearsall – strong women/family bond, Mothman urban legend mystery

A Hunger of Thorns by. Lili Wilkinson – dark fairytale

Bewitched Shadows by. Autumn Blake – spicy paranormal romance


Fighting zombies, the dead, vampires, monsters, monster hunters…

The Scarlet Alchemist by. Kylie Lee Baker – alchemy, monsters, political intrigue, family

Bonesmith by. Nicki Pau Preto – zombies, ghosts, fighting

The Hunting Moon by. Susan Dennard – sequel, monsters, monster hunters

Unholy Terrors by. Lyndall Clipstone – girl falls for monster boy, dark

Sign of the Slayer Sharina Harris – vampire slayer

Vampires of El Norte by. Isabel Cañas – vampires, history and romance


Gothic, dark academia, some horror, lots of creepy…

All That Consumes Us by. Erica Waters – dark academia

Mexican Gothic by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia – gothic horror, creepy house

Immortality: A Love Story by. Dana Schwartz – gothic romance, secret society, women in medicine

All the Dead Lie Down by. Jylie McCalley – gothic mystery and horror

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by. Hester Fox – sentient library, alchemy,

House of Roots and Ruin by. Erin A. Craig – plant experiments, romance, paranormal, gothic


Mystery, who done it, who to trust or not, suspense, thriller, murder…

Stranger Danger by. Maren Stoffels – suspense, secluded house

The Last One to Fall by. by. Gabriella Lepore – murder mystery

Hatchet Girls by. Diana Rodriguez Wallach – murder mystery, Lizzie Borden axe murders, paranormal

Lying in the Deep by. Diana Urban – murder mystery, surprising twist

The Black Queen by. Jumata Emill – suspense, thriller, murder mystery, twisty

Play the Fool by Lina Chern – twisty, quirky MC, murder mystery


Strange small towns, strange magic, strange weather, secrets, horror, missing people, body horror, cults…

Starlings by. Amanda Linsmeier – small town, family secrets, mysterious, monster

Wildblood by. Lauren Blackwood – jungle with monsters, suspicious characters, dark themes

Where Darkness Blooms by. Andrea Hannah – strange small town, missing women, strange weather

In Nightfall by. Suzanne Young – The Lost Boys retelling, strange mysterious small town, vampires

Together We Rot by. Skyla Arndt – body horror, cult, missing people, dark themes

Swarm by. Jennifer D. Lyle – giant scary butterflies, zombies


These are titles I’ve read in 2023 so far but I will be hopefully adding more spooky reads this month since it’s officially spooky month! Have you read any of these titles? Are you planning to?