034: even when busy, there's still time to time

Good evening!

Yes, I was busy the whole day since I have to get out and head to the market twice today. And honestly, that was tiring. Then again, it was needed.

Because of that, I only got to read one book today. It was a novella and a prequel to a trilogy by Raquel Lyon. This was the first time I read any of her works.

As for a prequel, it does give a background of who I assumed to be the FL (female lead) Sophie in the story. I only learned about it when I read the synopsis for the first book of the Foxblood trilogy. I don't know where Sam would actually fit into the picture in the other books. Right now, I'm in the dark.

Even so, the story was still good. I only rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐, though. Maybe because it's a prequel and there were questions left unanswered that, for sure, the rest of the books in the trilogy could answer. Mainly Sophie's strange dreams and Sam's real reasons for protecting her. I don't think Sam's role would just end in this prequel. The only character that annoyed me besides the bullies was her friend Beth. I mean, you seriously consider each other best friends? Not in a mile, from the looks of it. Then again, novellas don't usually show enough.

Okay. I know it was short. But I still love it. It's 11:20 PM and I know I'm supposed to sleep already. But I have some more journaling to do. And possibly even reading.

For now, that's all for today. See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

033: there was a definitely a questionable story there

Good evening! Here we are with another reading blog... even though lately, I'm pretty sure you ended up reading my rants about life instead. At least, that's how I would interpret it.

I'm already sleepy, I'm not going to lie. But I know I still need to put this update down here, as per usual. It's not going to be long since I know I won't be able to concentrate on writing anything longer than 6-7 paragraphs when I'm sleepy. So let's see where my mind would take me with this particular blog entry.

I did choose to finish reading novellas again. Another "as per usual" issues. But I did finish reading another volume of a light novel series. That's an achievement, considering I was only 37% of it the last time. And it sit there for almost a week. Let's get on with the list of it, shall we?

Here are the books & novellas I read today and the ratings I gave to each of them:

1. Caught Up In Him (Caught Up In Love #0.25) by Lauren Blakely - ⭐⭐⭐; As much as I want to read the main story, that would take some consideration. Then again, this is just basically a prologue of the pair's love story from five years back. Yes, it makes me curious as to why he cut it off with her when things were already looking good. But maybe some other time. 
2. My Daddy's Best Friend by Gia Blue - ⭐⭐; What the heck did I just read? This isn't the first time I read anything with this trope. But this book (or should I say the girl in this book) has only made me question a lot of things. Mainly her sanity. Urgh! Oh, yeah. And I have to put something on the book cover because it's way too much, in my opinion. Even when you say that this is an erotic (and possibly disgusting ㅡ because of the girl) story.
3. Rory (Summoner #0.5) by Taran Matharu - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Haven't read the series just yet, to put it out there. But thankfully, this is a prequel. Or should I say, one of the prequels of the series. So you could say I'm just starting to have a glimpse of the world of the series a bit. Love that there were still explanations of the one of the conflicts and political aspects of it. Maybe I should read the other 3 prequel novellas first before I proceed with actually starting to read the main story.
4. By The Grace Of The Gods Vol. 4 by Roy - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; In a way, this volume was a bit boring for me. Just a little. Maybe that's why it took me longer than expected to finish reading this? But I still read it since this was the basis of the start of the second season in the anime version. I know I talked a lot about the anime version, but that was because it was my first exposure of this light novel. Of course, there were characters here that didn't appear in the anime, and so reading them like this feels like I'm looking at a slightly different story. Nonetheless, it was entertaining right around the middle and also the bonus stories centering on what happened after Ryoma died on Earth.
5. Oh, Baby (Her Russian Protector #2.1) by Roxie Rivera - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; I haven't read Dmitri's story, but I saw that this is like an epilogue of some sort talking about their appointment to the doctor now that Benny is having a baby.
6. House Rules (Her Russian Protector #1.1) by Roxie Rivera - ⭐⭐⭐; I already guessed that the talk about the house rules would end up with the two of them taking it on a spicier level. But maybe it helped get the point across? I don't know. I haven't read Ivan's story, as well. But this is also like an epilogue shorts of a sort.
7. Sister, Sister (Her Russian Protector) by Roxie Rivera - ⭐⭐⭐; Again, haven't read the main story, but it seems this is another epilogue. This time, during a jail visitation that Erin did for her sister. Of course, there were a few encounters on the way ㅡ both good and bad.

There you go. I told you it would only be short. And one had seriously made me ballistic or something like that. Not literally, of course. I just can't believe I read something that has a female lead who was as selfish and stupid and incredibly annoying. Even if it was just a short story, it doesn't justify her actions, no matter how much she was in love. Of course, I already know that love can make you do crazy (even questionable) things.

Now all I have to do is to figure out what to read next. But with all the books that I have both on my side and in my phone, that's not going to be easy. Wish me luck!

That's it for me. See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

032: trying to read more on a rainy day

...but if you see the picture of the books featured here, you can see that I didn't get to do that. Yikes!

Good evening, everyone! Welcome back to my blog.

I'm sleepy already. It's past 10 PM and I was still planning to write on my journal after this. I'll try. If not, I might have to write them on my phone in the meantime if the idea of handwriting is just giving me more reasons to stress myself out.

Mostly the whole day, all I did was book hunting. And I mean digital ones since I couldn't get out because of the rain. I know it's not ideal for me to read a lot on my phone. But this is my other option for reading books in the meantime before I purchase an e-reader or something like that. And honestly, it feels good to see more books that I wcould really like to read in the future.

Now where were we? Oh, right. Books I read today. It wasn't much since I ended up doing an errand before the hard rain fell. It was late morning, so maybe that's why it wasn't raining just yet. By the way, I chose not to read the remaining books in "Faraway" Collaction of the darker tone of each novella for a modern day fairy tale retelling. I think I should blame it on the second novella of the series. I can't fully explain it why I did that. Then again, I might return to reading the rest of the novellas in the series once I'm in a calmer mindset for such endings, if you know what I mean.

I only got to read these three novellas/short stories today since those are the ones that I know I could finish reading today while I'm doing my errand.

1. Wes Bennett's Vivid Dream by Lynn Painter - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Yes, I know I still haven't read "Better Than The Movies". But we'll get there. At the moment, I was more inclined to reading short stories and novellas. But seriously, Wes, you must be thinking of Liz so much for you to have such a dream. I was just smiling while reading it. Crazy!
2. Claimed By The Mountain Man by Isla Chiu - ⭐⭐⭐; Like... that instant? Hmmm... I don't think I should comment on that since it does happen in real life. I think. But for someone to declare that you'd be his wife and right at that first meeting because of an accident, both of you actually did it? Okay, my mind is still elsewhere. But I still love the fact that it's just a short read.
3. My Last Blind Date by Susan Hatler - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; Rachel was just like me. Afraid of taking risks, especially when it comes to the matters of the heart. But I did guess in the middle of the story that it was that guy who turned out to be her blind date for that day. Or as Ellen would state it, he was her Henry. Love the story, love that she took a chance and the fairy tale that she wanted had actually happened. Yay!

I don't know how many pages I'm going to read tomorrow, even though it's going to be a weekend. More often than not, things around here are getting even more chaotic than usual during the weekends. So we'll see how many pages I'd be able to read tomorrow.

See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

031: not a good productive day for reading

Good evening, guys! Welcome back!

Okay, as much as the perkiness (just imagine that it was like that) that the greeting implied, I did not have a good reading day today. It's a good thing that I don't make page count quotas anymore or I would be pressured, making reading feel like a chore to me in some way. I don't want that. I just want to read leisurely as much as I can and see how many books I can read. I just want to just read without a care in the world again.

But if I were to consider the current situation in our household at the moment, reading is ㅡ at some point ㅡ my way of taking my mind off of the issue. One was laid off from work and another was dealing with mental breakdown. Just learning all these is putting a weight on my own mind that I would end up overthinking. And it never gave me any good result mentally whenever that happens. So now, reading has somehow helped me alleviate that mental stress starting to pile up before I could even realize it. Being unemployed (and to think I'm the eldest child) would only put me in a precarious position to contribute something so I wouldn't end up thinking that I was a burden to my younger sisters.

With that issue put aside in the meantime (as I might provide updates on them if I can do so), I only got to read two novellas today and continued reading "By The Grace Of The Gods" Volume 4. Only managed to read 3 pages of that, though. I wasn't feeling good during the latter half of the day, so I only read what I could. The other books I got to read today were:

1. Hard by Jenika Snow - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; The length of this novella surprised me. But hey, the plot saved it for me, especially for my sleepy mind. Best friends/neighbors-to-lovers trope is here. And yes, their bed scene was intense, for my taste.
2. Dry Spell by Vi Keeland - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; This is really short, not going to lie. But at least the story was establish. And the spicy scene wasn't that explicitly descriptive, so to speak. To my still aching head while I was reading this, it was a good thing. The way they met, though, was funny.

This is the first time I've read works of both of these authors. And I did try to find more novellas that these two wrote just so I can see the writing style differences. I was able to do the same when I read works by Alexa Riley and Jessa Kane before. At the moment, I don't have anything else to say about it. I might be able to use them as guides for my own writing.

Okay, I should be sleeping already since I still don't feel good. Maybe because I haven't taken in any medicine for that just yet. See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

030: happy 1st daily blogging monthsary!

Good evening! And today is officially the day that I should be celebrating my one month of daily blogging! Yay! 👏🎉👏🎉

My goodness! I actually achieved a milestone here. So the next one should be the day that I'd be celebrating each of my hundredth days of daily blogging until I reach 1,000 days of daily bloggingg. Of course, I know it could still take some more time (approximately two years). But I'm going to reach that. I mean, I did succeed in daily journaling for 1,000 days. I know I can do the same for daily blogging. This is actually a little bit easier than vlogging, to be honest.

As per usual, I finished reading several novellas today. Only two of them were erotic romance, thank goodness! 😂😂 I mean, I did say that I have to step back from reading a lot of them in one day for a bit. So yes, maybe I can do it one to two stories a day. I guess that's doable. I did sort of avoid reading erotic romance for a long time and also avoided writing them, as well. But maybe the reason for me to feel that was because I haven't had some sort of exposure (and I mean proper exposure) to written materials regarding the genre. Now maybe I could do the same to billionaire romance, mafia romance, vampire romance and werewolf romance. Still thinking about it.

Anyway, here's my take on each of the novellas I read today:

1. An Unexpected Wedding by Susan Hatler - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; I guess overthinking is already a part of Holly's traits, huh? Then again, with anything related to weddings, I think I can understand her a bit since I've seen two of my younger sisters go through something similar when they were preparing to get married back then. Dave is a sweetheart, as ever. Also understanding and, in a way, innovative in making Holly happy.
2. The Italian's Passionate Return by Elizabeth Lennox - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; I hate the leads and how they approached their current situation, but I love their story. I guess that's my take on the reason why I decided to give it this rating. Then again, does that even make any sense?
3. An Unexpected Joy by Susan Hatler - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; This short story was an example of how things, no matter how much we want it, doesn't always come to us in the timing that we want. How they wanted the house so much and how they wanted to build a family with their little one so much, as well. Trust the divine timing, possible in a state of yourself where you don't stress so much about things and how it will turn out for us.
4. An Unexpected Baby by Susan Hatler - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; Inspiration and realization usually comes when one least expect it. At least, this last short story in the series of Holly and Dave's story had showed me that. The other baby was mentioned in the previous short story. But I didn't realize that the baby the title was pertaining to could be related to that. I really thought that it was another baby of their own. But I love how this series ended.
5. Bought And Paid For by Jordan Marie and Jenika Snow - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; That... was a long play-by-play for their erotic scenes. I mean, three? Four chapters? Then again, it was written that way so I don't think I should complain. 😁✌️ Not so much of a drama as it progressed, which I like. I guess that's a good thing.

By the way, I would still continue reading other longer books that are in my currently reading list. Today, I did continue reading the fourth volume of "By The Grace Of The Gods" and the first book of Red Rock Mysteries titled "Haunted Waters". But for some reason, I would stop after reading two to three pages. I wonder why.

Okay. I know it's not much of a way to celebrate a blogging milestone. But honestly, I haven't prepared anything for this. Maybe I should do something for when I reach my 100th day of daily blogging. It could be related to reading or maybe even writing or something personal. I still have the remaining 70 days out of the hundredth to think about it.

That's it for me tonight. Thank goodness I managed to actually write this earlier than usual. I mean, it's almost quarter to 10 in the evening here. Now I don't have anything to worry about before I sleep.

See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

029: when novellas give you ideas

Good evening! It's nearing midnight, though it's only 10:49 PM as I'm only starting to write here. But that's better than not writing at all, I guess.

I did read a considerable about of novellas once again. It seems that I prefer reading them these days, especially when I don't want to read 200+ or more pages worth of a novel. I do have that kind of thinking when reading would start to become a sort of a chore or something for my mind. Do it small steps at a time.

Yup. As you can see, more erotic romance novellas done reading for today. I guess it's hard to stay away from them. Urgh! Not sure if that was even a good thing. But reading them would help me create ideas for my novella projects. Yes, with S. That means, a lot of novella plot ideas were already swirling in my head.

1. Mating With Mallows by Nora Noodle - ⭐⭐; Like, girl? Hello? What kind of story is this? You're kidding me, right? I'm still frowning as I thought of the time I finished reading this. And I was like, what the heck did I just read? So, yes. No surprise I gave this such a rating. Urgh!
2. Here All Along by Lilly Avalon - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; It was just there. But there were definitely things that would take a turn in a way we don't expect if one would keep the truth hidden. At least, that's how I would describe the lead characters as they were both ranting and complaining about their recent last dates. Only to end up with each other and have a steamy night together when they finally opened their eyes ㅡ and their senses ㅡ to the affection that was there between them all along.
3. Her Best Mistake by Donna McDonald - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Crazy to have twins creating such chaos to one's life. And it's even crazier when someone make a really... kinky (?) mistake because of that. And now... it happened. The craziness finally caught up and tangled them to it. That's all I can say. I love the storyline, but I'm going to punch Eric for the craziness he would put people with his ideas.
4. Zero Hour by Autumn Jones Lake - ⭐⭐⭐; I didn't know this novella was a prequel to a three part love story between Z and Lilly and I saw that it was like more than 150 chapters divided into three parts. And here I thought I could read the continuation of their story in just one book. But I guess this gives a sort of long flashback that gives an insight on how the relationship between the lead characters actually started ㅡ and also cemented ㅡ in the official three books. If you know what I mean.
5. Nothing Better Than You by Lynn Painter - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; Honestly, I haven't read "Better Than The Movies" at all when I decided to read this. Sorry! 😁✌️ But even so, I still love the whole novella since it can be treated as a standalone, in some way. And I fell in love with the whole thing. I love it whenever I would read a guy's point of view when it comes to what they truly feel for the person they love the most.
6. Forever Winter by Alexa Riley - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; I finally got to read this since it kept on appearing on my Goodreads recommendation. And it didn't disappoint. I mean, the plot was already predictable in some aspects, but I still love the delivery of it.

Okay, now I'm yawning as I'm typing here. I guess fatigue finally caught up and I'm not fighting the drowsiness that goes with it. By the way, I changed my Goodreads goal to 100 books. Two more books and I can finally complete it.

See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

028: still reading some of them, huh?

Good evening, everyone! Here we are with almost midnight entry that I kept on putting off since a while ago because of several chores that I have to finish doing first. But like I kept on saying, better late than never. Or as I'd like to state, there's still time and I have the energy to catch up as long as I know that it won't be draining for my mind and my body.

So there you go! 😂😁

Okay. I did say that I'm going to step away from reading erotic romance for a bit. I don't think that's happening any time soon, especially when I realized that I have quite a few more novellas and short stories like that in my digital library. Yes, just that length as I didn't want to read long erotic romance. My head felt like it would burst when I read long novels with that theme, for some reason.

By the way, I just noticed that the novellas and short stories I read today have something similar. Second chances and love kept hidden for a long time due to circumstances and various other reasons. It's weird. Not that intended to read them like that as I chose these novellas rather blindly. No reading of blurbs or anything. At least, I do so as much as possible.

1. "Secret Santa" by Kati Wilde - ⭐⭐⭐; Okay, here we are with a grumpy-ish ML (though also has a caring side) and a cautious (?) FL who just wants to make ends meet without causing trouble. Who would've thought that they've met each other before? Then again, the way of being a Secret Santa this way was not exactly something that sits right with me, even if it was just a story. I love the way the ML handled the FL's internal issues, though, that seemed to stem from something deeper and rooted itself over the years.
2. "Dear Jo: The story of losing Leah... and searching for hope" by Christina Kilbourne - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; This is a middle grade read, I know. But the real reason why I decided to read this was because of the diary/journal entries format of storytelling. This is what truly won me over. And even though it wasn't a light-hearted story or even a romance, I still read it because of the plot of navigating grief right from where it all started ㅡ whether the tragic truth has set it face to face or not. Not to mention, the emotions came from a starting teen. Kids would usually have it harder than adults. At least, I was aware of the feeling. This is one reason why I resorted to getting back to journaling after ten years of a gap that I haven't written in a journal since my high school days. And then there's the never ending issue when it comes to the dangers of internet when unsupervised. Trust me, I've seen a lot in news and even neighbors from back then that ended up going through something similar. I just don't have a full grasp of actually going through the grief and depression related to that. I don't think I'll ever have. This book, in a way, provided some insight that might be helpful for me and someone else in the future, in more ways than one.
3. "The Unexpected Proposal" by Susan Hetler - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; I finally got to continue reading another short story from the "Treasured Dreams" series and yes, it's continuing the story of Dave and Holly. One thing I can say about Holly on this one, though, she does tend to jump to conclusions easily. But proper communication sure goes a long way when the intention is sincere and proper. I love the couple that these two had become, even though there was still 3 more short stories in the series that I know I still have to read.
4. "Bombshell" by Jen Frederick - ⭐⭐⭐; A second chance romance because of amnesia. Yes, even I don't want to believe it when I saw it. But heart surely knows how to make a person restless, don't it? But at least, he wasn't the jerk of a guy who just decided to leave her just because he wants to. Her anger to him was understandable, of course.
5. "Wanderlust" by Kitty French - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Should I call this a second chance romance or a hidden love (and sexual attraction) type of story? Oh, yeah. And there was also friends-to-lover. Gosh! But I guess no amount of globe-trotting would be enough to make you forget something (or in this case, someone) that one's heart had already deemed too important to truly let go of.
6. "Dear Diary" by Cassie Mint - ⭐⭐⭐; Oohh... Age gap (I think), teacher-student (former), and just a brooding couple they were before ending up together. Oh, yeah. And there was a diary involved, as well. Never been a fan of age gap or teacher-student relationships. But I guess there are those that still works out in some way.
7. "Take Me Now" by Carly Phillips - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Another hidden love between friends and neighbors. And yes, one finally decided to take a chance before completely losing the other for good. At first, it didn't happen because of someone who cared for her. And people would judge when it comes to jobs and what can someone provide for the person they love. That promise he made was the reason intense affection and attraction remained hidden all this time. In all fairness to him, he did keep his word. But when the woman you love is involved in something, sometimes a promise from  a long time ago didn't seem to matter anymore.

I didn't think I'd be able to write reviews/comments like this again. Yes, they were shorter than the usual ones I would write. But this is better than nothing. Sometimes, ratings isn't enough to tell if a story is good or not.

Anyway, I guess that's it for me for today. See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

027: stepping away from reading that genre for a bit 😅😅

Good evening! At least I'm an hour earlier than my usual blogging time these days. So I guess I should take that as a good sign.

One thing I can say about this day ㅡ it was busy for me as heck. I had to go out to do some errands and also to go to the market to buy ingredients for dinner and also go to the grocery to buy some necessities needed for the month. And so at the moment, my feet up to my thighs hurt. Urgh! I mean, I do need to go out twice for that.

And because of that, I didn't get to read much. I still get to read something. But not that much. It's okay. I mean, my eyes would hurt whenever I would read while riding jeepneys on the way to town and back home. So I can only read without that kind of distraction would be when I was in the comfort of my bed.

I only got to read these 3 books today. All were erotic romance as I was only tackling those stories in my digital library these past days. I still have a bit more of that genre to read in my library. But I'm choosing to step away from it for a little bit to refresh and renew my mind. Maybe even cleanse them a bit. 😂😂 Okay, that was cringey with the way I wrote that.

In any case, I wrote my short review and ratings on each of them.

1. "My Addiction" by Hope Ford - ⭐⭐⭐; Nothing much to say about this, to be honest. I don't hate it. But maybe there were some parts that doesn't just vibe with me, I guess. It's a vague reason. But I can't think of anything else. Maybe for now. I could add later, if I have any.
2. "Fake Maid" by Cassie Mint - ⭐⭐⭐; The strong-headed twin Billie has someone finally pinning her down. Both literally and metaphorically. I mean, it was a good thing that I read Coral's story before this and so I was able to connect the stories. But this one didn't appeal to me as much as that of Coral's, for some reason. Then again, maybe that's just me.
3. "Guarding His Obssession" by Alexa Riley - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; This is probably the longest novella of Alexa Riley that I've read by far. Not that I'm complaining. Just don't like the fact that Zoe was way too dense and also blunt for my taste. Contradictory that doesn't seem to make sense for me. And also the fact that the two leads easily trusted each other other than the fact that the connection was just too intense.

Okay. Now the reason why I'm stepping away from reading erotic romance for a little bit is because of the stories I found that I wanted to read already.

All three of these books have one thing in common: they were written as diary entries. And of course, they were middle grade storiea. You know I love those kind of books. Of course, I know I haven't read that many epistolary books other than "Daddy Long Legs" and "Dear Emily", by far. But these two were telling stories in the form of letters. These books I chose to read already (even with all the other books I know I have to finish reading) were all diary entries and nothing else.

You could say I'm choosing to read this to see some ways I could tell stories using diary entries. Thank goodness I found three to four series that used this format as a means of storytelling since it could help me with writing that epistolary story I was working on for a long while now.

Okay. I'll give you an update about my current reads when I post a new daily entry tomorrow. For now, this is all I can write about. My feet are tired and aching and I just want to sleep already.

See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

026: changes made

Good evening! It's already past 11 PM here and I was seriously ready to sleep. And then I remembered that I have to write here since I'm done writing in my journal. Gosh! Why do I keep forgetting that I also have to write here?

I changed my Goodreads reading challenge goal from 100 books back to its original goal ㅡ 24 books. So in a way, I was already done and had completed my goal even before the month end. Sure, we all know that majority of them were novellas. But I still read these books and I managed to achieve my reading goal because of it. Of course, it still won't stop me from doing my best to read every single day. I'm making it a habit, aside from daily journaling.

I was able to read 9 novellas today since that's what I chose. And yes, more erotic romances, as you can see. But there were some... "okay" ones. Now that was a weird term to use for those that were just in the middle of the supposed choice.

1. "Door Prize" by Lynn La Fleur - ⭐⭐⭐; Can I just laugh at this? Not in a demeaning way, don't worry. I just can't believe the prize she got there. Sex toys? Then again, why am I complaining? She loved it. It's the guy that she wanted to try them to that she had a problem. Or maybe not. At least, the attraction was already in place. Just left unsaid and not properly conveyed.
2. "Burning For You" by Kate Hunt - ⭐⭐⭐; What's with all this auction theme in such stories, anyway? Or maybe I hasn't been on the "bandwagon" long enough for me to realize that this was some trend. Then again, it does happen. Not openly, anyway. And not every day that you'll find someone worth your time (and your sex drive) in such auctions.
3. "One Night On A Train" by Kelsey Charisma - ⭐⭐⭐; Girl, how in the world did you manage to keep pretending to sleep and not make so much sound while someone was already pounding with such force inside of you? Are you freaking kidding me?
4. "The Billionaire's Toy" by Penny Wylder - ⭐⭐⭐; It's when someone decided to cross the line of professionalism and... well, being horny for someone you only met in such a short period of time. And of course, the times they did bits and pieces of it nearly in public. Are you kidding me? But I agree with one of the reviews I saw in Goodreads. Somehow, the title was a bit misleading.
5. "Cursed By Cupid" by Wendy Sparrow - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Not an erotic romance, thank goodness! 😂😂 But heck! Chain letters? For real? I mean, I did receive some of them before but I don't recall ever breaking the chain, no matter how annoying it appeared even back then. Crazy. So I can't believe that this was a plot of it. But who would've thought that even bad luck created by such chain letter could bring you your one someday? Well, that's what happened to her. And I found it amusing.
6. "Pound Of Flesh" by Jessa Kane - ⭐⭐⭐; A person as a collateral... I was so ready to punch the guy who would just carelessly do this to someone, especially to a woman. I mean, are you kidding me? But of course, this is a story and I know there were cases like this in real life, as well. It's the Stockholm Syndrome part that doesn't sit well with me, that it reaches the point of intense sexual connection. Horrifying in some way. 😱😱 But maybe the mutual feelings saved it for me.
7. "Fake Model" by Cassie Mint - ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Twin swapping again. Not that I have read a lot of such trope. But... for this to actually lead to an instant connection to someone you weren't supposed to have such connections in the first place, yikes! Things had gone haywire... and also hot! *fans face* I can't believe I'm actually writing something like this here. And yes, it was kinkier than I was expecting, not going to lie.
8. "Get Me Off" by Penny Wylder - ⭐⭐⭐; Not sure if I would ever consider social media here as a good "bridge" of some sort for one to meet their possible love of their lives. I mean, I know it does happen. But this one took a hot turn. And a lot of face to face convincing that not all you see in social media should be taken as it is.
9. "Hazel and Gray" (Faraway Collection #2) by Nic Stone - ⭐⭐⭐; I know fairy tales can be dark, especially if one would consider their origins. But for this retelling? Seriously? Then again, I like the modern twist of this. I guess all the novellas in the collection has modern twist in them. Though I can't be sure. But heck? That stepfather and the possible reason why Hazel ended up meeting Gray was dark, in my opinion. And yes, I truly wanted to break that stepfather's face.

I honestly should do this in each of the book I finish reading. Not just the ratings and the time I finished reading them. You know, I might have to post these short reviews in IG, as well. Just so I can also do some daily updates in there and not neglect it. Maybe I should do that on the second account.

Okay, that's all I have. Still no updates on my writings as I haven't written that much yet. See you tomorrow! Happy reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

025: just a short entry before i fall asleep

Good evening! This is still considered late, I know. But just like what I kept on saying, it's better late than never. There's nothing wrong with me thinking that way, right?

In any case, I have a feeling that this is going to be a short entry as I know I'm sleepy and I just want to sleep. Already.

Once again, I read several novellas today since my mind doesn't want to continue reading other books ㅡ even the ongoing ones ㅡ for some reason. And yes, some of them were rated ⭐⭐⭐⭐ while the others were rated ⭐⭐⭐, as per usual. I don't know why I kept finding a lot of ㅡ in my opinion ㅡ ⭐⭐⭐ reads lately. Or maybe I just have a hard time finding stories that would... satisfy me in some way? Wait, why does that sound a little weird in my ears? Or maybe I phrased it a little different.

I might have to create a list later about the books I've read in September as part of my September wrap-up. I actually didn't realize that I have to do that since I started this daily blog posting about my reading journey. I mean, this blog is slowly turning into a sort of a book blog, right? Then maybe I should do things that booktubers tend to do when posting video topics in Youtube. Of course, that's probably just me thinking of it that way. I could also write about the reading challenges that I want to do here.

My gosh! So many plans, and yet I haven't even done anything to implement them just yet. Then again, doing a daily blog was already something of a record that I can use to document the journey. These daily entries will make me see the progress I made in each of the challenge that I could do in the future.

Okay, my short entry ended up stretching slightly further than I intended. So I'm ending it here for tonight. See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

024: more 3 star reads, even the unexpected one 😑😑

Good evening, guys! Yes, I know. I am seriously late once again about this obviously short blog post. I was about to sleep, to be honest, as my eyes were already drooping as soon as I finished washing the dishes. I guess that it was a given, considering the rampages of thoughts that I had in my mind lately after that certain issue with my second sister.

Anyway, back to the usual main topic of this blog. Then again, I think it won't be that bad to talk about other topics here once in a while besides my reading journey for the day, right?

Once again, I focused myself on reading several novellas in my digital library (a.k.a. my phone) the whole day. And trust me, I read quite a few of them. That is, if you woulf consider 8 as few. 😁😁 I enjoyed reading some of them, especially the first two short stories in Susan Hatler's "Treasured Dreams" series. I gave them both ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings as soon as I was done reading them. There were still 5 more in the series and maybe I'd be able to read them all tomorrow. As for the rest, I gave the usual ⭐⭐⭐ ratings. Yes, even the one from "Faraway" collection. Not that I would know Rainbow Rowell's writing style as this was the first time I read any of her works, to be honest. I was confused the whole time I was reading this novella, that's for sure. We'll see if the same pattern emerges in the other stories in the collection.

I still managed to continue reading other books, as well, aside from reading these novellas. But for the one I read today, I just continued reading "By The Grace Of The Gods" and I'm already on the 32% mark of th book when I was just on the 10% mark yesterday. That's a leap, if you ask me. And this has just made me realize one thing.

I don't think I could succeed in reading a book in one day that doesn't involve novellas in the line. Or maybe my mindset wasn't there just yet. I knew I was able to do that before. Possibly back in 2016 when I was reading a lot and also doing some book reviews here on my blog. The long reading slump must have put a block of some sort in my ability to do the same thing again. But perhaps slowly crawling my way out of it could help ㅡ and it will only happen by doing more reading. At least, that's what I realized.

Okay, I guess I wrote enough here for the day. I would have written more if I wasn't late in doing this, you know. But let's see if I can do that tomorrow. For now, I know I have to end this entry at some point.

See you tomorrow! Happy book reading! 😊✌️💕📚🤔

023: more novellas done reading and some blog entry series plan

Good evening, guys! Welcome back to my blog.

Okay, why does that sounds like I was talking in front of the camera like a Youtuber or something? To be honest, it felt strange. I don't know why. Anyway, it seems that it's starting to become a habit of mine to write on my blog at 11 PM or past 11 PM. And it shouldn't be that way, to be honest. But I guess when I'm caught up with something, I tend to lose track of time. And we all know that it could be a good or a bad thing, depending on the context.

Even so, I still managed to read more novellas today. Seven of them, to be precise. And believe it or not, two of them were something I read almost as soon as I woke up this morning. Weird. I would usually dread to even open my phone and have its light shine on my face and would make me hut my eyes. But that's what happened when I woke up at around 5 AM. Of course, as you can guess, I gave all of them ⭐⭐⭐ ratings. As if there was anything new with that. Then again, as I've mentioned before (have I?), I still haven't found an erotic romance that I would give ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ as soon as I read it. I don't know, but I think it might still take some time for me to find it. Of course, I'll let you know when that happens.

Aside from these novellas, I would also continue to read "Ink and Bone" and I just started reading the fourth volume of "By The Grace Of The Gods". Sorry, but I just can't resist reading the continuation of the last volume of that light novel. Then again, at least I was enjoying reading it. I'm proceeding slow with reading "Ink and Bone", though. But... I guess I could say that I'm starting to like it. I mean, one character there was really getting on my nerves, even when I know that there was a reason for that. Scholar Wolfe kind of gives of something of a Severus Snapes vibes. I don't know why I felt that way about him, though. Of course, I'm only 20% of the book, so I still have a long way to go ㅡ and an ample amount of time for me to know if my hunch was right about the guy.

I was just doing some rewriting when I thought about my daily blogging and that Sentai crossover one-shot fanfic that I just started writing while I was riding a jeepney heading home this afternoon. I know I sort of stopped watching the succeeding Super Sentai series after Ryusoulger. I wasn't sure why it happened, though. I definitely didn't shift interest or anything like that. Could it be that I wasn't liking the several series that were aired after Ryusoulger? Maybe. But I can tell that there was more to that and I couldn't seem to pinpoint it at the moment. By the way, I just remembered that I haven't also watched the series that was aired before Ryusoulger. Seriously, I have no idea what happened.

But let's get to the topic.

The reason why I thought about that was because I was planning to watch those other series in the franchise that I haven't watched one episode at a time. And that means, I have to do that on the series before Ryusoulger aired (Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger) and also the five series that succeeded Ryusoulger (Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, Avataro Sentai Donbrothers, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger, and Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger). Wow! Like 6 episodes in one day? On top of reading books? You're kidding me, right?

Then again, I would only do short comments/reviews on each episode, anyway. At least, that was the plan for now. I can do it, I think. But I still like to have a plan of attack on how I would approach that. If I'm going to do this, I might be able to catch up with the currently airing Sentai series (Boonboomger) without a hitch and comment on it each week after writing short comments on currently 31 episodes that were posted. I still have to figure out on what to do with that, though.

Anyway, you could say that there is something to watch out for (or not) on this blog. I just felt that it might be to repetitive if I only post about books and parts of my daily life. I mean, this blog originally have various topics that I would write about based on my personal opinions, experiences and such. Adding an already existing topic wouldn't hurt, I think. Of course, it would be in a separate entry from this. Or should I combine them? 😕🤔

For now, this is all I have to write about. It's already quarter to 12 midnight, anyway. Thank you for reading this entry till here. See you tomorrow! Happy book reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

022: more books finished reading!

Good evening! This might looked like a rushed entry posted here, but that's because it was. My apologies in advance.

I'm already sleepy as I write here, to be honest. I only woke up all of a sudden because I recalled that there was something else that I have to do here. I don't know who or what to blame for this to happen, but I'm thankful since it reminded me of what I have to do before the day officially ends.

Even with the weather was cold the whole day or the rain continued to fall down because of the storm, I was also thankful that I got to finish reading 5 more books. Yes, more novellas, as you guessed it. Crazy, right? And yes, several more erotic romance novellas were included in those five books. In fact, 4 of them were novellas.

One thing I was thankful about for today was that I finally got to finish reading one of the books that (I think) I DNF'd since 2021. I was surprised when I saw the date that I shelved "Doon" in Goodreads. Yes, I have a feeling that it was exactly what I did (even when I didn't fully acknowledge it back then), and so that's why it remained in my Currently Reading list in Goodreads in such a long time. By the way, I gave it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings there, even though it was supposed to be a ⭐⭐⭐.5 ratings. I can see why I had this urge to DNF'd it even back then , especially when I was reading Jamie and Veronica's interaction. They were so annoying that I was ready to hit their head to wake them up and stop being such stubborn brats and such. And then there's Mackenna... Urgh! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Never mind. But I might still continue reading the series since I already have the other three books. Let's see if they were all able to redeem themselves there, in some way.

As for the other four books/novellas, I knew I just read them for the sake of looking for something else to read to add more to the Goodreads Reading Challenge and to catch up, in a way. It did help, whether I admit it or not. But also still surprised that I continued reading more erotic romances when I would rarely do that. Or could it be that I was trying my best to read something outside of my comfort zone? I mean, this genre is one of those that I truly avoid reading and also writing. I gave "Maddie's Marine" a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings, while the rest of the novellas have ⭐⭐⭐. I have no problems with the writings of the story. Either it's just me or some of the plots that I read for me to consistently give these erotic romance novellas such ratings.

I didn't do a daily page count quota this time, as I decided to just go with the flow and see where it would lead me. I just have to surpass the 10-pages mark so I can consider it done for the day. If I read more, then that's all good. No pressure.

Okay, I'm seriously sleepy. I'm ending this entry here. See you tomorrow! Happy reading. 😊✌️💕📚😁

021: just making sure i can make it today

Good evening! Here's another near midnight entry for you, guys.

I have tried my best for me to be able to read my 54 pages quota today and thanks to the help of the two novellas I read, I managed to do so. I was thinking that I won't be able to do that since I didn't read that other book that much. I'm laying that down right from the start. Well, maybe I should also blame the storm and the coldness that goes with it as the rain fell down hard. It made me just want to wrap myself in my thick blanket and sleep. I'm not even joking. That's how cold it is here at the moment.

Now for sure, this is going to be a short entry. But I think it's okay. At least I have something as an entry that details what had happened. You know, I was thinking of doing a throwback of some sort by posting a photo of some very old diary entries of mine and explaining the context of each. As long as they weren't such embarrassing entries, of course. 😳🤭😱 But maybe I should still try to figure out how to do that since I don't have any plans at the moment of recording/making videos about it. Maybe writing the story of the entries would dissipate the embarrassment that could go with it.

As for the books, I ended up reading two more erotic romance novellas. 😳🤭 Sorry. They just really came to me ㅡ the urge to read them, that is. I mean, I don't know why I was feeling sonething like wanting to DNF'd that book I'm currently reading even though I wanted to see through it till the end. Or could it be that I was feeling overwhelmed on the number of pages in that book? Maybe. Who knows. So reading novellas somehow lessen that burden in a way, I think.

Like usual, I gave the two novellas a rating of ⭐⭐⭐. I don't know if I'll even find novellas that I would give ⭐⭐⭐⭐ or ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings. Wait! I remember giving "The Exception To The Rule" by Christima Lauren a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating on Goodreads. But I think I should make it an exception since it wasn't so much of a steamy, spicy novella. I don't know if I would still be able to find erotica/erotic romance novellas a higher rating other than ⭐⭐⭐. But maybe I'll just have to continue reading more. I won't be able to know if I don't read more of it, right?

So I think that's it for now. It's already 11:24 PM here and supposed to be sleeping already. And yet here I am, still writing just so I can post something here. In any case, see you tomorrow! Happy reading and stay safe. 😊✌️💕📚📖

020: still reading even when the storm surges

Good evening, guys! I hope you're all safe, especially those affected by Typhoon Julian (international name Krathon) today. They've already placed Benguet (the province where I live) to Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal #1 and since this morning, the rain and wind were hurling crazy around us. And yes, it was also cold that I just want to stay in my bed and get curled up in my blanket.

Yup, that's the ideal life ㅡ especially when you know you have so many books to read.

As for the books, 20 consecutive entries and 41 books/novellas in total (according to Goodreads) just for the month of September... What in the world just happened for me to reach that? Crazy, right? I didn't think I'd be able to read that many in just a month (even though I "cheated" since majority of that 41 were novellas and short stories) after that long reading slump.

Today, I got to finish 4 novellas and 1 light novel. I was required to read 34 pages, and I got to read SO MUCH MORE than what I needed. Yes, I finally finished reading the third volume of "By The Grace Of The Gods" today! I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ in Goodreads even though I wanted to rate it 4.25. Or maybe 4.5. I was torn between the two, to be honest. This was until this volume that the remaining episodes of the first season of the anime version was based on.

As for the rest of the novellas, I gave them all ⭐⭐⭐ ratings in Goodreads. I mean, they were all good stories. But perhaps not that enough to keep me hooked. Then again, they were just short reads. It was the plot that probably got me sort of... bored. Apathetic. Unfeeling in some way. Was that how I was supposed to call it? I don't know. Or maybe that's just me and my personal opinion.

I know I once mentioned that I used a color spin wheel to determine my next read among my pending reads. Or have I? But yes, that was the idea and I finally picked the first one. I based my choices (since I have 5 books that I started reading a long while ago but never got to actually finish them) on the dominant color of the book cover.

The color choices were:

• Fuschia
• Lime
• Green
• Light blue
• Red

The first color picked was GREEN.

Starting tomorrow, I would be continuing to read "Doon" by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon. I would say, this was a long time coming. I mean, I was already at 38% of the book and I still have a long way to go. There were so many chapters, switching between friends Veronica and Mackenna. And maybe the amount of chapters intimidated me back then. But right now, I'm determined to finish reading the book and finally put it on my Read shelf.

That's all I have for tonight. I still have to write on my journal and maybe continue to do some other things before I fall asleep.

See you tomorrow! Happy reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖