fiflydramalover:

THIS MONTH?! Are they novellas or do you just read a lot? That's impressive either way! 

I tend to binge - when I'm reading, I read A LOT, then when I'm in a Drama mood, I d hardly read at all while catching up with Dramas. I work from home, and had more spare time than usual because of the Xmas/New Year break. The average length of the  17 books I read since Jan 1 was about 350 pages, so not super long :)

heyyy y'all, i just finished the first volume of grandmaster of demonic cultivation..... and I'm thinking of finishing IT by Stephen King

December Wrap Up:

A little late, but happy new year!  Here's what I read in December.

3/5
3/5
3/5
4/5


Leah On the Offbeat:  It was okay, but nowhere near as good as Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (aka Love, Simon), which takes place in the same universe.

The Watchmaker's DaughterThis was a historical fantasy that was actually kind of interesting. The fantasy part was definitely my cup of tea.  The only thing is that it's the first part of the series, so I was only scratching on the surface of all the mysteries.

The Favor This is not one of my usual reads, but I decided to check it out cuz of this article for kdrama lovers.  It was recommended for fans of What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?  It was a total miss for me.  Waaay too raunchy for my liking.  I've only checked out a few books from this article and so far they have been misses.

These Violent Delights:  Romeo and Juliette kind of story that takes place in 1920s? Shanghai.  It's got your gang wars and everything.  It actually reminded me a lot of the drama Tientsen Mystic in a way so I ended up enjoying it.


January Plans:

I don't really have any. Just mainly go with the flow, but I've been thinking about reading Dune series.

 Misunderst0_od:
I don't really have any. Just mainly go with the flow, but I've been thinking about reading Dune series.

If you do go ahead and read the Dune series, can we do a buddy read? Despite not being that much into science fiction, I bought the full series in December, and I know I'll need some handholding if I hope to read it any time soon :P

 LucianYaz:

If you do go ahead and read the Dune series, can we do a buddy read? Despite not being that much into science fiction, I bought the full series in December, and I know I'll need some handholding if I hope to read it any time soon :P

Of course!  Now I'm excited. :)

 Misunderst0_od:

Of course!  Now I'm excited. :)

Great! And I'm really excited xD

(Sent you a PM)

  Well guess who was finally able to finish a book in months! No it's not 1984 by George Orwell...trust me, I've been trying so hard to finish but I'm never in the mood for it ... Anyways I binged-read The love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood! Idk why but it's only romantic fanfic types of books that are doing it for me nowadays . I used to be not interested in them before but now that I have to study a lot, the only form of comfort and escape i get is from them so there's that. I thought i should pour my feelings about it here as soon as I finished it cuz they won't be as fresh as now by the end of the month. 

It was basically two nerd ( and idiots) scientists falling in love with each other ( I'm sorry but i love this trope ok ) , it also had fake dating which is trope i don't really care about more or less but i absolutely enjoyed it in this story since there were a lot of awkward, hillarous situations because of this fake dating thing. 


It also had this sunshine/grumpy trope I absolutely love most of the time but my little problem with most of these stories is the "sunshine" person is just too naive and optimistic to the point it's annoying and the grumpy person is too non-caring to the point that is even annoying but here it  was balanced put well. The heroine wasn't all rainbows. She had her complexities . I related her with her a lot and I loved her a lot . The hero was absolutely kind and caring too . The good amount of rudeness and straightforwardness i usually like in my characters and real life people too. 

The book delivered what it was supposed to although there were definitely some flaws in like how cliche it was...i mean I loved all the cliches lol but I can't deny that so many tropes and cliches in one story did made me role my eyes a few times. Another thing that I didn't like was how many times it was described that Adam was tall and broad. Ok girl. I get it. You like tall men, i like 'em too! But stop mentioning that in every scene with Adam! At one point it just started getting annoying. He was described as some kind huge enarmous creature that i couldn't help but imagine him as the beat from the beauty and the beast and Edward Cullen from Twilight lmao ( not because Edward Cullen looks huge but because they described Adam as having inhuman strength which reminded me of him XD ) 


Despite all this, it was a a really cute love story with great characters. 4/5 . 


Now , let's see when will I able to finish 1984...I'm not gonna lie , i kinda found it pretty boring lmao. I know i can possibly get murdered for this very unpopular opinion since it's such a classic but it is what it is. Let's hope i manage to get into it in some chapter even though I'm halfway into it lol 

 Ashu:
Now , let's see when will I able to finish 1984...I'm not gonna lie , i kinda found it pretty boring lmao.

nah, I'm on your side with this one. I hate that book, maybe it would have been mild dislike but people's insistence that I didn't get it and should try it again shoved it into the hate category for me.

Hello lovely people! This is such an incredibly good idea, I hope it's okay that I join! I'm still deciding what my first read of the month will be but hopefully I'll pick something up soon.

Also, if anyone is on Goodreads, my profile has a link to mine, I'd love to connect over books and dramas aka two of my favorite things.

 sarabelles:

Hello lovely people! This is such an incredibly good idea, I hope it's okay that I join! I'm still deciding what my first read of the month will be but hopefully I'll pick something up soon.

Also, if anyone is on Goodreads, my profile has a link to mine, I'd love to connect over books and dramas aka two of my favorite things.

Welcome, dear friend! Glad you joined us :)
Looking forward to your reading input

 sarabelles:

Hello lovely people! This is such an incredibly good idea, I hope it's okay that I join! I'm still deciding what my first read of the month will be but hopefully I'll pick something up soon.

Also, if anyone is on Goodreads, my profile has a link to mine, I'd love to connect over books and dramas aka two of my favorite things.

Welcome~ have fun!! ^_^

 Annie:

nah, I'm on your side with this one. I hate that book, maybe it would have been mild dislike but people's insistence that I didn't get it and should try it again shoved it into the hate category for me.

I can't say i totally hate or dislike it , it's just ... boring. I mean I do like the concept of it and I'm usually all in for dystopian sad worlds but this one is not just working. Apparantly, it's supposed to be like that because its a "complex story that only smart people can decipher" lol i totally get what you mean. It's like of you don't give this instantly a 5 star you're dumb. I get it that it's a very impactful book because it did a lot in history and it indeed has beautiful writing but when I read a novel, i want to be entertained and this one is definitely not doing it for me... yet. I've still not lost my hope XD 

Have not written here for quite some time lol Been reading 3 books per month tho, just as I planned. 

And funny enough, I am already done with the 3 books I picked for January. 

"Gwendy's Button Box"
Novel by Richard Chizmar and Stephen King
Extremely short, but engaging. Also, when I started to read it, I honestly did not know it's a trilogy, but now I cannot wait to read 2nd book (which I have to buy first lol).

Gwendy is surprisingly interesting protagonist to read about. There is not much happening in the novel, but the anticipation of what could possibly happen because of the box is enough to create a great atmosphere. 
"Later"
Novel by Stephen King
I'd say this book would be a perfect introduction to horror books for older kids and younger teenagers. The protagonist is a kid (later a teen) himself, and even tho he starts to tell the story as an adult, it still has this simple, child like narration going on, that would be easy to follow for younger folks.

Does not mean the book is bad for adults. For me, the simple language that fits the kids vocabulary etc, just added to the horror. It hits harder when you believe the narrator was young when all the things happened.
"Strange Highways"
Collection of 12 short stories and two novels by
Dean Koontz 
Some stories were great, some I barely remember. It's mix of everything - horror, crime, supernatural. "Czarna dynia" (black pumpkin) was probably my favorite one of them all.

One story was just wrong to read, because of the content in it and the fact the characters were kids.

Over 500 pages, but it was a surprisingly fast read. 


Now, I  picked up "Ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now" by Jaron Lanier. This one is REALLY short, so I will probably be done with it in max 3 days. But from the few pages I read, it's just sure an essential read for everyone :)

 Ashu:
Anyways I binged-read The love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood! Idk why but it's only romantic fanfic types of books that are doing it for me nowadays

Hey Ashu!

I would love to recommend 'People We Meet On Vacation' that I read just this month, it's also this cliche romance that did the deed for me after 'Love Hypothesis'. It's about two friends, Poppy and Alex who go on vacation every summer break like a traditon but they've not talked to each other for 2 years due to a conflict. So Poppy decides to mend their friendship by asking him to join her for a vacation for a week.

Tropes: Friends to lovers, opposites attract, second chance romance

Would you mind if I send a friend request on goodreads?

 Ashu:
Now , let's see when will I able to finish 1984...I'm not gonna lie , i kinda found it pretty boring lmao. I know i can possibly get murdered for this very unpopular opinion since it's such a classic but it is what it is. Let's hope i manage to get into it in some chapter even though I'm halfway into it lol 

yo, when I had to read it in high school I dropped it after 10 pages.

But I picked it up after I finished university, and while it was not a nice read (it's not suppose to be), it definitely sends a strong message. Also, it's SLOW. It takes the longest time for anything to happen, but all the exposition is important and without it, the ending would have less of an impact. 

Anyway, for me it was hella scary read that made me angry. But I totally understand struggling with it and it feeling boring for others, since it was like that for my first try too.