Hi everyone! I'm finally able to get time off and rest my feet this week. It has been a long and arduous one for me not with the articles I have to double push before another week comes to an end. With the holidays as well just around the corner, I have to double my efforts before everyone retires for the merriment and food and drinks.
I wanted to update you all with my reading feats over the last few months. My friend Mischievous Reads was successful at getting me back on track to reading books after a long -- and I mean long -- hiatus. And all it took was the mention of Goodreads.
Since August of 2020, I have sauntered through some books of my favorite authors and got lost in a moment in time as I flip through the pages. I missed that; I missed getting lost in the moment and be carried away by waves of hurt, love, character, pain, and utmost happiness. Before I knew it, I jumped into a reading challenge by Goodreads.
2020 Reading Challenge
Goodreads engages its users to challenge themselves to read more every year with its Reading Challenge. The challenge is to read as many titles as you can -- regardless of author and genre. You get to choose to set your target number of titles to read and finish by the end of the year, which, in itself, a motivator.
I recently finished my 2020 Reading Challenge and the last book I read was Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. Forgive me for I have not written my reviews for China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems as of this writing. Nonetheless, I have adjusted my target to include Turtles All The Way Down by John Green.
My 2020 Reading Challenge
Award-winning author and poet Lang Leav presents a YA novel that is an absolute fan pleaser!
Verity Wolf dreams of being a poet—not that she’d ever admit it to anyone. Her best friend Jess thinks she’s definitely got what it takes, while her cat, Zorro is characteristically indifferent. As for the cute boy she’s just met, he’s about to discover her best kept secret.
When Verity stumbles on an old, mysterious book, Poemsia, she finds herself suddenly thrust into the dizzying world of social media stardom, where poets are the new rock stars and fame is sometimes just a click away.
International bestselling author, Lang Leav takes you into the shadowy world of contemporary poetry in this revealing and emotionally charged story about friendship, first love, betrayal, and the courage to follow your dreams.
There are two distinct areas in which I'd like to take my review of Poemsia from. First, criticism of overnight fame. Leav gave us a bird's eye view of her shot to fame through pop poetry. It is easy to correlate Verity Wolf's story to Leav's, who saw herself being a household name after posting some of her works on social media. Hats off to Leav because not only did her work took flight, but her career as a writer as well. To take it further, the book gave us a critical view of what it takes to achieve such a feat - talent, content, and a pocket full of luck. Full review here.
2. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Genre: Romance / Contemporary
Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up
— she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.
For Lily Bloom, five minutes was all it took to completely destroy her life-long held beliefs and definitions of the words love, relationships, and trust before she was thrown into a cavernous pit of melancholy. Before she had to find a way to keep swimming to the shore for salvation. Full review here.
3. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover
Genre: Romance / Contemporary
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.
Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.
With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.
While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.
But what do you do? What do you do when this happens? What do you do when you hit rock-bottom after being cheated on squarely and obscured altogether? Being left with so much mess to sort through and a rebellious teenager for a daughter? Full review here.
4. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Fantasy / Young Adult
When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But until now, fans have heard only Bella's side of the story. At last, readers can experience Edward's version in the long-awaited companion novel, Midnight Sun.
This unforgettable tale as told through Edward's eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting Bella is both the most unnerving and intriguing event he has experienced in all his years as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward's past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he justify following his heart if it means leading Bella into danger?
MIDNIGHT SUN IS STEPHENIE MEYER'S NEW (by definition) offer to readers who have been captivated by the bite of the romance that sprawled between a fragile high school girl and a one-hundred-something-year-old vampire. It was an unlikely match but one that has surely kept readers biting the book for more romance, fantasy, danger, folklore, and even history.
The year was 2008 and I remember how the world seemed to have been engulfed by energy unmet since the release of the first Harry Potter book in 1997. Suddenly, the overcast, which was uncharacteristically weird around that time of the year, didn’t seem unwelcome; rather it brought with it the smell of mossy green and the bite of romantic danger. Full review here.
5. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Genre: Fiction / Romance
Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.
When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.
Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.
It’s hard to say whether the Western World has a clear idea of just how wealthy some of the Chinese families in Asia are. Families like the Sys (of the SM Investments Sy from the Philippines), Lee (from the Samsung Lee of South Korea), Kwoks (from the Sun Hung Kai Properties Kwok of Hong Kong), or the Chearavanonts (from the Charoen Pokphand Group Chearavanont of Thailand) to name some. And there is certainly no telling how far back in Chinese lineages these dynasties’ money goes back. One thing is for sure, these dynasties control Asia’s economy and their families don’t spend less.
Not to undermine the Musks, or Gates, or Jobs of the world, but they do pale in comparison to these crazy rich Asians. And unlike the flaunting which is usually reported on Bloomberg or Wall Street Journal, these Chinese families are very secretive and only report a portion of their total holdings. Full review here.
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