I’ve missed this little corner. I’ve missed writing some nonsense just because I’m in the mood. And I’ve missed talking about books! Happy New Year everyone!! So this is the new 20s, ahn? Well, I have some plans and goals to achieve one of them being to read more and to create a habit out of it. Another goal is to try and blog consistently. In the past year, I’ve taken a lot of breaks and posting whenever I feel like it, but I’ve missed my blog.

To start 2020 with the right foot, I already read my first book of the new year, and it’s a favourite. I can’t even describe how great it was, and I’m continuing with the series for sure. Although I’ll leave all the details for next month. *evil laugh*

November Wrap-Up

The last time I did a wrap-up was in October starring all the books I bought for my birthday. I went on a shopping spree, but unfortunately, my reading didn’t match my shopping. The first book I finished was The Affair by Amanda Brooke. The story follows a mother after she discovers her teenage daughter is pregnant, and the father might be a married man. From that, we go back in time a few months when everything started, and the book keeps going back and forward until all the secrets are undercovered. I…I’m still a bit confused about this book. I thought I knew what was happening, but I clearly wasn’t, but then I was right again. It really is one of those cases you don’t know if you can trust the narrator or not. And I’m not even 100% sure that what I read was the truth. And that ending wasn’t what I wanted, but I also don’t know what kind of ending I was expecting. I’m so confused! I felt the end was a bit anticlimactic but the whole guessing game was very entertaining.

Keeping the theme of unhealthy relationships, I also read Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. Yes, I read it, and I’m not ashamed. I had way too much fun! The writing was ok, I mean After by Anna Todd had way worst writing, so there wasn’t anything that bothered me how was written. And I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I got tired of all the sex. At some point, I was rolling my eyes and thinking “not again”. The only thing they did beside the ten-pages sex scenes was talking about sex. And Anastasia wasn’t helping while being obnoxious constantly asking “why can’t I touch you?” and “let me touch you”. BOUNDARIES! If he doesn’t want to be touched and doesn’t want to talk about it stop bring that up. At this point, I felt they were perfect for each other. He is a controller and she is obsessed. Perfect match!

The end was enraging. As I was already tired of the same scenes and the same dialogue repeated over and over again, Anastasia having a change of heart towards the relationship was the last straw for me. I was so mad! She knew that the relationship was bad. She knew that from the start. She knew she had to stop the relationship even though she was under his spell, but in the end, she ended everything and still wanted to go back. He crossed her breaking point and that made her rethink that he was everything she needed?! I was beyond upset. But now that my emotions died down, I want to continue with this series. Despite the ending, I had a lot of fun and that’s all that matter.

December Wrap-Up

The final four weeks to reach the Goodreads goal had arrived, and without realising, I made December my sci-fi/fantasy month. I swear I didn’t plan it.

After reading a book so entertaining is hard to beat that, but I wasn’t expecting to get disappointed in the process. After more than a year with the second and final book in the Carve The Mark duology laying on my shelf unread, I had to read it before the year was over. And I did! Sadly, it was a disappointment. The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth was too slow and “soft” for an ending book. I was expecting non-stop action for pages and pages. Be scared that Akos or Cyra would die. A final boss battle that at some point everything seems lost. But it was a big flop. The final boss didn’t put up a big fight, and I never felt their lives were in big danger. Carve The Mark had more action and was more exciting than this book. At least, I was expecting the fates to play a big part in the book, but it was solved in the middle. From that moment on, the story got boring.

The year wasn’t going to end well until my Christmas day read saved it all. Skyward Volume 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson is an amazing comic book. I flew through it. Willa was a baby when the G-day happened, the day Earth lost all the gravity. She grew up floating and now, 20 years later, she wants to go see the world, but her father is an agoraphobe and she can leave him alone. In her adventures, she starts to undercover secrets and once you realise, the book is over. I was so immersed in the story, I didn’t notice I was reading the last page until there weren’t any more pages to turn. I need to buy the next volume ASAP.

The final book of the year was Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Described as the best sci-fi book of all time, I wanted to see why. The story is about a futuristic Empire that is condemned to end, and Hari Seldon has developed the psychohistory not to avoid this event to happen but to help rebuild Humanity. And I’m questioning everything I know about sci-fi. There isn’t high-tech or amazing descriptions of futuristic worlds, in fact, there aren’t many descriptions at all. The book is heavily political and I love it. We follow different characters throughout the generations and are mere spectators while the galaxy is changing. The ideas and plans the characters came up with are clever and strategic. The book doesn’t have action because it has a smart approach. There isn’t big battles or fights, just men playing politics.

Haul

Between the two months, I added two more thrillers to my TBR and bought the collector’s edition to my favourite series. Didn’t spend much but I spend it wisely. Mystery thrillers are always a good genre to have on my shelf and combining that with bestseller authors I get to know what all the fuss is about. No, I didn’t buy The Woman in the Window that is a book I have to buy this month, instead, I bought The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I don’t know what it is with C.J. Tudor but she blew up, and she even came to Lisbon for a book launch. So everyone is loving her, and I want to love her too. I want her to be my new favourite author.

In all honesty, I was planning to buy the most popular book form Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, but the bookstore didn’t have it in stock. And between the only two options, I had at the time I chose Sharp Objects. This is again another case of trying out the author. I don’t know anything about the book, and I’ve learned it’s the best way to tackle mystery books.

And the present I gave myself this year for Christmas was… drum roll, please… the Divergent series Collection Edition books! And the companion book Four in hardcover. The first time I read Divergent was back in 2016 and I fell head over heels. At the time, I didn’t know what Book Depository was and I bought the series in Portuguese. I own all four books plus the epilogue We Can Be Mended she released in 2017 as in the promotion of Carve The Mark. I was tired of looking at those ugly tie-in-movie covers and wanted to read the original version, so I just bought them. I waited until the last day possible to get before Christmas, and right on Christmas Eve, the mailman came with a big box that went straight under the tree. It was perfect timing and an amazing gift to myself.

Reading plans for 2020

Since 2019 was not a great reading year for me and was stuck in a reading slump for quite some time, I want to spice things up and do something I’ve never done before: a TBR jar. I’ve written down all the books I have in small pieces of paper and only distinguish them from books, kindle, and PDFs. I’m only going to pick up one book each month and the rest I’ll leave to my mood. I want to reduce my TBR shelves and read books that I’m never in the mood for. Wish me luck!