Long time no see! It has been ages since I’ve written anything on this little corner of the internet. I was expecting to take at least a two weeks break before Christmas, turns out it became an extended pause. Between two part-time jobs, a 25 hours curse, the usual Holiday madness, and family emergencies, December flew by. When January arrived everything slowed down, but I still kept on delaying my come back over and over again. Hopefully, this February is going to be my return to old routines and my usual schedule. I still need to organize my mind and start to plan ahead – or at least try.

Back in December, I had planned to read so many books. I was reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and The Affair by Amanda Brooke, which I intended to finish by the end of the month, needless to say, that I didn’t finish any of those let alone beginning others. Bottom line, I only read two books and one of them I had started in November: The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango.

As excited as I was to read it, I came out slightly disappointed. I was expecting it to be more exciting, to grab my attention, and be memorable. It’s been almost three months since I finish it, and I can’t remember how it ended. I kept hoping it would become better at some point, but the book overall didn’t go further a simple meh… The story had a good premise, a married and successful author gets his mistress pregnant, and it’s not in his plans to have that baby. Although an affair and an unwanted child aren’t the only secrets his hiding. None of his books are written by him. He is a liar, a cheater, and always has been his whole life. But now that the baby can disturb the perfect little life he has created for himself, he has to take the matter into his own hands – did I pass on the murderer vibes? ‘Cus that’s what I was looking for 😉

On the other hand, Neil Patrick Harris‘ book was exactly what I wanted to read around Christmas, a cosy, heartwarming, and magical book. Middle-grade books are great! The Magic Misfits it’s so fun to read. You have a story about a group of kids coming from completely different backgrounds – some of them not that nice – and their passion for magic. You have a scary bad guy trying to pull off a big con, and if the story itself isn’t enough, you also have magic tricks, games, more games, and the funny sense of humour from the author. There was always so much going on in the book that made it a great reading experience.

And just like that, we are in January. Time flies by when we are having fun right? Well, it also flies by when you are stupidly busy, even when it’s not fun. Actually, with the New Year, I was in the mood to read something funny, so I picked up Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. I’ve seen the movies (I even have a review for 50 Shades Darker here), but I can’t hold my curiosity anymore, I need to know were do both stories diverge and which one is better – if there is one. I don’t think I need to explain what is the plot of this book since I’m probably one of the last people reading it – except not really – and so far I haven’t dive too much into it.

As you read a book like Fifty Shades it’s easy to fell the need to read something else more “serious” and pleasant. So no cringe, attempts of dirty talk, sexual innuendos or romantic clichés. Tough choice! Luckily, I still have a few non-romantic books that I can choose from. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer was the chosen one and I have to say I ended the book with more question as to when I started. The plot is simple, Area X is a mystery. No one knows how did it came to be or what exists inside of it. The agency Southern Reach has already sent 11 expeditions to that area and it brought back no results. Now is the time for the 12th expedition to try and this time it’s composed only with women. A Psychologist, a Surveyor, an Anthropologist and a Biologist, our narrator. The book is told from her point of view as she records everything in her expedition journal. The questions start to build up from the start, and unfortunately, they aren’t all answered. It wasn’t the greatest book I ever read because the story is too dense, develops slowly, and I could easily fall out of the world. Despite that, I still want to give a try to the next book in the series, I’m just going to hope it’s not as slow paced.

In order to break out from Area X, I turned myself to manga and discovered that Ashley from Ashleyoutpaged on Youtube has started a manga reading club. What else could I need more, it’s a great way to be introduced with new manga every month without having to search on endless lists online. For January, she picked the first volume of Children of the Whales and My Brother’s Husband. I took a look at Children of the Whales and… it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. I didn’t like the art style and the story has to much fantasy for my taste, when it comes to mangas I prefer romance and little witches. On the other hand, My Brother’s Husband was a little surprise, I was expecting it to be told from the perspective of a little girl but instead is told from her father’s which makes it a lot more interesting. The circumstances as this story came to be are a little sad, but it’s great how they take the innocence of the girl to give an inclusive perspective without any judgement. If you haven’t gathered from the title, homosexuality is the focal point of the story and how it shocks with Japanese culture. The only thing that I didn’t like is how chapters ended or how it seemed they didn’t. The way it was structured it always felt short and incomplete, even though nothing was missing.

The next manga was a roller coaster. Your Name is actually a manga based on an anime movie (not the other way around), and even though, I haven’t seen the movie I what to see it now. The story can get a little bit confusing since it starts with one premise and then changes to something different. It begins with a high school female student that wishes to be a boy, and then one day she wakes up in a different body. Quickly she realises that when she is in that other person’s body someone is on hers. In this strange way they start to communicate with each other and develop a friendship. All of the sudden, there aren’t any more body swaps and the boy is determined to understand what happened. It really starts off as a strange but cute little story but then it gets very sad and complicated. Still recommend it, though – don’t worry still has a happy ending.

As of for this post, it’s done. I’m having a slow start with my reading this year but I’m expecting to turn it around in February. There’s not going to be a TBR post or anything close to that because I have no clue what I’ll be in the mood for. Maybe a rereading of Divergent or the last book I bought – that I don’t even remember what was – who knows?! One thing I know for sure, next month, I’ll be here again to tell you what I’ve read and how much did I loved it.