【reading blog】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.

【reading blog】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. 😊✌️💕📚📖

【reading blog】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.

【reading blog】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. 😊✌️💕📚📖

【reading blog】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! 😊✌️💕📚🤔

【reading blog】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.

【reading blog】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. 😊✌️💕📚😁

【reading blog】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. 😊✌️💕📚📖

【reading blog】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. 😊✌️💕📚📖

【reading blog】an entry before midnight ㅡ for real!

Yikes! It's nearly 11 PM here, currently raining because of the approaching storm and I haven't written anything. What the heck just happened to me?

The answer: I nearly forgot. Today was my mom's birthday and my first sister and her family were here. I call her my first sister since that's how I like to my younger sisters. I have 3 younger sisters, by the way. So I would refer to them as my first sister (the one born after me), my second sister (born after my first sister), and then my youngest sister. I'm the eldest of four girls, just to let you know. 😊✌️

Now back to the topic of my daily reading journey.

I did manage to read today even though it was a busy day because of my mom's birthday. I only need to read 25 pages, according to the random number generator.

Yup, something short. And I needed it, to be honest. Especially when I got tired from helping out with the food preparations.

I only focused on reading "By the Grace of the Gods" since I needed something lighter to read to rest my mind. I managed to read 27 pages, but I might continue reading later after this. I'm at the 56% mark of the book so it might take me a little while to finish reading this. Of course, it depends on what will happen in the next coming days. Let's hope I won't be that busy so that I can get this over with.

Oh! I almost forgot. I also read two erotic novellas (again! *hides*) when I woke up this morning. They were still written by Jessa Kane and I still can't believe I got to read something like this. 😱🙀 Crazy as heck! I gave them ⭐⭐⭐, as well, along with the other stories in the series. Yes, it was a series. I was surprised.

But you know what? Reading novellas like this has made me rethink about how I would want to write some of my stories. Especially the series ones. Of course, I still have to plan them out so I can make it work.

For now, I'm ending tonight's very late entry here. See you tomorrow! Happy reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖