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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 😊✌️💕📚😁