✨ 2023 Wrap Up ✨

✨ Happy New Year’s Eve and Happy New Year everyone!!! 🎉

It still hasn’t fully quite hit me yet that 2024 is just around the corner.

This was a good year when I think about the books I read. I didn’t set myself a reading goal (although when I noticed that I was 4 books away from reaching 50 books, I thought about trying to reach it) and I honestly felt more at ease in not pressuring myself and had fun reading whatever I wanted.

There were so many great books I loved and even more books I enjoyed because I got to buddy read them with some pretty awesome friends over on Bookstagram.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and may 2024 bring everything you hope for and more - including more good reads!

Read More

King of My Heart | Review: King of Wrath by Ana Huang

The way that I’m still giddy about this book just shows. 

Throw in a ruthless CEO and a humble jewelry heiress brought together by an arranged marriage, mix in a bit of “fake dating/engagement” that ends up eliciting some seriously fiery chemistry and “touch her and you die” vibes, and you’ve got Ana Huang’s King of Wrath

I really enjoyed this book! It’s funny how much I have been fangirling about it and want to read all of Ana Huang’s books now. You know how a romance book is so good that you’re giggling, kicking your feet up in the air, or “kilig” about it? Yup, that’s me right now - even after I finished it.

Dante Russo and Vivian Lau’s relationship made this book peak romance perfection. There’s a depth and vulnerability to Dante behind his stern alpha-male exterior that Vivian is able to bring out. At the same time, while Vivian tries to live up to her parents’ expectations, Dante sees the real her and encourages her to be herself towards them. They both develop an empathetic understanding about each other, bringing out the best in one another.

I also got a sense of undertones about Asian identity, which I personally appreciated, and that internalized struggle of perfection or of wanting to be seen more than that through success and achievement. This comes through in Vivian’s character, but more so especially in understanding her parents and their handling of their status as “new money” and her father’s ambitions. 

I will admit that at times the story can get a little fan-fiction-y where there’s no real information about Dante’s company, or how he’s blackmailed into marrying Vivian by her father is a little exaggerated for drama, but the writing does not fault this. Ana Huang writes very well, showcasing her characters, their flaws and their growth, with an emphasis on the romance that builds their relationship.

Ana Huang may just be one of my new favorite romance authors and I will certainly be checking out her other books and continuing her King of Sins series. If Kai and Isabella’s relationship is just as enticing as what was previewed in King of Wrath, then I’m already eager to dive into King of Pride.

Read More

Currently Reading

Books I’m currently reading and books I keep close by to read next

📖 Currently reading:
King of Wrath by Ana Huang
Never by Jessa Hastings
A Night at the Tropicana by Chanel Cleeton (short story ebook)

📚 Next Reads:
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

I need to give a spotlight though to King of Wrath. I started it sometime last year when I had Kindle Unlimited, but never got to finish it and forgot about the story when my Kindle Unlimited free trial expired 🙆🏻‍♀️ So, now I’m reading it again and I. Am. LOVING IT! Dante and Vivian 😮‍💨 Fire. Just fire. I think I’m a pretty calm reader, but this book has me legitimately giggling, kicking my feet in the air, and as Filipinos know, “kilig” - major “kilig” 🫠

💭 What is everyone else reading? 

Read More

Where Time Knows No Bounds | Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

“The apartment always drew us together when we were at crossroads, and oh, were we at so many - in our careers, in our personal lives, in our friendships. We helped each other. We were the only ones who could.”

I buddy read this with booksta pal @booksnbistros a while ago, but haven’t written a review for it until now. The Seven Year Slip is one of my new favorite books this year that is a 5 stars, 10/10 read - and sure, throw in 3 Michelin stars too for Iwan’s cooking prowess.

Clementine West was always told by her aunt, Analea, how her apartment was magical. In many ways it was, just not in the literal sense Clementine expected. Since Analea’s sudden death, Clementine has been grieving over her loss and living in the apartment left to her. To her surprise, she finds a kind aspiring chef named Iwan suddenly living in her apartment. They form a close bond, until Clementine realizes Iwan is actually from seven years in the past. Despite time separating them, they manage to help each other through their own personal griefs and struggles, while also reminding each other of the person they were and where life can lead them now. 

Ashley Poston has a way of presenting us stories that deliver on romance, but are poignantly told with deeper themes for anyone who has ever loved and lost, or are still figuring themselves out, know and understand full heartedly well. In The Seven Year Slip, we get all of this through Clementine and Iwan. I love how their relationship develops between the past and present and how everything intersects and ultimately comes together. I don’t think I have ever swooned so much by the way these two take care of each other. The romance was perfect regardless of how time and life tried to get in the way.

On a personal level, like The Dead Romantics, The Seven Year Slip came to me at a time I needed it, reminding me to live fully and take more chances, especially as I get older. 

“You only live once, and if you do it right, once is all you need.”

Read More