L2RA | An Update and Nobody Lights a Candle

My letter initiated this project where I wish to get back into reading how I used to. 

This serves as an update and a small review of an Indian detective novel, Nobody Lights a Candle, whose English translation was published this year. 

Review: House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas | An epic and emotional conclusion

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.

Spoilers ahead!

Rating: 4.5/5

Can't wait wednesday #10 | House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas

Can't Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings, click on the link to access their blog! Check out House of Flame and Shadow on Goodreads!

Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber is so much fun

 A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.

Spoiler free!

Rating: 5/5

Shadow and Bone Season 2 Review | Surprising in both good and bad ways

Overall season rating: 7/10

This review contains SPOILERS!

Top Ten Tuesday #4 | Favorite Books of 2022

    Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl and the idea is to share our love for books through lists based on various topics that are assigned every week. Check out the link for more information! 

Top 10 Tuesday # 3 | Books on My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List

    Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl and the idea is to share our love for books through lists based on various topics that are assigned every week. Check out the link for more information! 

Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney | Beautiful and Multi-layered

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation – awkward but electrifying – something life-changing begins.

Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can’t.

Spoiler-free thoughts!

My rating: 4.25/5

Top Ten Tuesday #2 | Books on my Fall 2022 To-read List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl and the idea is to share our love for books through lists based on various topics that are assigned every week. Check out the link for more information!

Review: Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber | Two Princesses Fight Tyranny

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister's place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents' murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn't quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn't have a habit of causing trouble...

Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing.

Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other's lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

This review is spoiler free!

Top Ten Tuesday #1 | Books With (occasionally shirtless) Men on the Cover

Hello everyone!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl and the idea is to share our love for books through lists based on various topics that are assigned every week. Check out the link for more information!

L2RA | Rousseau, Graeber & Wengrow and Arendt on Human Nature

This is the new little series that I am initiating to get back into reading. This project is a continuation of my letter. I'll just review random books I have read or thoughts while I am reading. It's a travel journal of sorts. I'll use L2RA as an acronym to make the titles shorter. 

I have been keeping this post for a while now. I read these books for my political theory essay on human nature back in December. On wether we should use the conception of a human nature or whether there are none. I argued that there is no 'human nature' and that there only is a 'human condition'. These books/essays introduce that concept, and without sounding too self-assured, you would probably think the same at the end. This might seem like a mess because I did write a whole essay on these books, I'll try to keep it concise. 

The reason why I am writing this now is because I am starting to tackle my last essays of the year and I need drive. The essay I am starting now is for my politics of changing climate class, on the conception of nature and if it should be commodified. I am going to argue that there is no nature. 

Bridgerton Season 2 Review | Kanthony Soars But at Edwina's Expense

Kanthony rating: 5/5

Overal season rating: 4/5

This review contains spoilers for season 2 of Bridgerton. 

L2RA | Writers and Books (Édouard Louis and Virginia Woolf)

This is the new little series that I am initiating to get back into reading. This project is a continuation of my letter. I'll just review random books I have read or thoughts while I am reading. It's a travel journal of sorts. I'll use L2RA as an acronym to make the titles shorter. 

Ever since I am getting back into reading, I have explored what it means to me to read. In a sense, it was always a part of my identity. Others could see it too. My sister is currently doing an art exhibition on my family, when it came to how to represent me she told me that a book would befit me. I think that is why I am so desperate to read again. To come back to what I truly wish. The books in this post have all made me question how to read books. 

L2RA | The new year (historical romances to journals)

This is the new little series that I am initiating to get back into reading. This project is a continuation of my letter. I'll just review random books I have read or thoughts while I am reading. It's a travel journal of sorts. I'll use L2RA as an acronym to make the titles shorter. 

Long time no see. The last post in this series was posted in August, and for some reason it feels like just yesterday. The year has gone by too fast and lot has changed. Although its already March, I am still in the mindset of the new year and this post comes as an introduction to 2022.