What I've Read In 2021 So Far

After not having such a great reading year in 2020, 2021 has been going much better for me. I'm actually ahead in my goodreads challenge (!) and have already read 22 out of my goal of 52 books for the year. In the spirit of catching this blog up to what has been going on in my life, I thought I'd talk about all the books I've read so far this year. Just think of it as one big monthly wrap up for the months January to April.

Where to even begin...

It's been over 1.5 years since I last uploaded to this blog and so many things have changed. Looking at my last posts, I just got back home from my exchange semester in Seoul? That seems like a lifetime ago. Since then, I graduated university, finished one and started another internship in the legal field, moved into a new apartment with my boyfriend, acquired about a hundred plants and, of course, found myself in a global pandemic - fun times! But through all of it, I never stopped reading and also never stopped missing being a part of the online book community.

This week, I made my 'comeback' on bookstagram, and it just wouldn't feel complete if I didn't also try and revive my blog. I honestly haven't looked at this page in over a year, and scrolling through it now, I feel so proud of what I accomplished with the blog design and everything. I really put so much work into this blog, and despite it never reaching much of an audience, it was my little corner of the internet, where I could be creative in my own way and do what I wanted, for so long. It would be such a shame to give it up completely. So here I am.

I really don't know where to even begin with starting up this blog again. But I wanted to upload this random little post to announce my return, and of course I'll go right back to planning some bookish posts.

Books Outside My Comfort Zone | Top Ten Tuesday #10

For the first time in over 2.5 years, I've felt like doing Top Ten Tuesday again, so here we are! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl, where you can find topics and such! This week's topic is top ten books I enjoyed that are outside my comfort zone. For me this is pretty much anything outside YA and Fantasy, as almost all the books I read are in these genres. But of course, I've found some gems by branching out a little now and then, and that's what this post is all about. This list is in no particular order, but here are ten books I enjoyed that are outside my reading comfort zone.

July 2019 Wrap-Up

Look at this year just flying by! It's already August and I really don't know where July even went. I am back home in Switzerland and I've settled into things more or less, so hopefully I can get back into blogging soon enough. For now, I only have another monthly wrap-up to share, but hopefully different content will come your way in the next weeks.

June 2019 Wrap-Up

June is over and so is my exchange semester in Seoul, I'm traveling in Japan right now and I really don't know what this life even is. So please bear with me while I am finishing up my traveling and then settling back into life in Switzerland in a few weeks. I haven't even thought about blogging in the past few days or weeks but since I have a few moments to spare right now, I want to talk about the books I read in June.

Looking back on the list of books I finished last month, it feels like years ago that read some of these books. Was June really only 30 days?? I had a pretty good reading month and finished five books, and I think it's safe to say I discovered a new all time favorite book (but more on that later!).

Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

by Hank Green

Series: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing #1

Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary

Publication date: September 25, 2018

Published by: Dutton

Paperback, 343 pages

Rating: 3.5/5 ★

The Carls just appeared.

Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.

Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The beginning of an exciting fiction career, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a bold and insightful novel of now.

Going into this book, there were some things that I wasn't aware of that I wish I would've known. And that's all on me, because I wanted to go into this blind, it just turned out to not be the best option for once. First of all, I really wasn't aware that this was a sci-fi book. I bought the book after reading the first page or so at the book store. The writing style was fun and easy to read and immediately pulled me in, so I bought it. I thought it was simply the story of someone who went viral online and became famous over night. Turns out, there was a little more to the plot, and at first I couldn't really get into the whole sci-fi aspects of the story. With time, though, the Carls grew on me, and I became more invested in the mystery of their existence.

May 2019 Wrap-Up

Already another month has passed without any blogging on my part, but I am not here to cry about that, because I had quite a good reason. My boyfriend was visiting me here in Seoul for three weeks so we were out exploring and enjoying our time together for most of May. Blogging, therefore, had to take a back seat this month. Luckily (and I don't really know how), reading didn't. In fact, May was the best reading month I've had in a long time, so I'm very excited to share all the books I finished this month with you.

April 2019 Wrap-Up

I'm trying to get over the fact that it's already May - can you believe it? I'm already over halfway through my exchange semester here in Seoul which I can't really come to terms with. Time just passes too quickly! Anyway, I did end up reading a decent amount in April and finished four books. I would be totally happy with this number if the Tome Topple Readathon hadn't also taken place this month. I was so excited to participate in my first readathon in a long time, but ended up failing spectacularly. Because of that, I decided it doesn't really make sense to make a separate wrap-up for Tome Topple, so that will be included in here as well.

10 Popular YA Series I Haven't Read

With Trash My TBR and the likes going around, I've also been inspired to take a look at my goodreads to-read shelf lately, out of curiosity for what I would find there. Like many people, my goodreads tbr has gotten out of hand a long time ago and I tend to add books randomly and then forget about them days later. So today I want to talk about some popular YA series that I found that I never ended up starting, even though they seem to be beloved by many people. These are all older releases that people were talking about a lot when I first started my blog around 5 years ago, which I think is why most of them also happen to be dystopian.

Some Thoughts on Audiobooks

For a long time, I strictly stuck to physical books and ebooks for my reading. Audiobooks had always been kind of a mystery to me, and I never thought they were really for me. I tried with an audible subscription a few years ago but ultimately cancelled it because I didn't use it enough and it was too expensive for what I was getting out of it. These past few months, however, I have really discovered audiobooks for myself. And much like I did with my post about ebooks a while ago, I want to share  my thoughts on audiobooks today.

I am currently studying abroad and only a select few of my physical books made the journey here with me. This ultimately meant that I had to find new ways to read during the months I'd be staying away from home. At first, I was sure that ebooks would take centre stage because I've always loved ebooks as an addition to my physical books and I even got an e-reader for Christmas last year for this purpose. Turns out, though, that ebooks aren't playing as big of a role in my reading nowadays as I had anticipated.

Tome Topple Readathon TBR

I don't usually participate in readathons because they kind of stress me out and most of the time I don't realize they're happening anyway. But! As part of my attempt to be more active on my blog again and as an incentive to keep reading even though I'm abroad and so not constantly surrounded by my bookshelves as a reminder, I decided that taking part in the Tome Topple would be a great idea. Well, the timing might not be perfect since I have midterms coming up, but I'm still going to try my best.

The point of this readathon is to read, you know, tomes. The readathon runs from April 13 until April 26, so two weeks to make my way through as many giant books as I can! For more information, definitely go and watch the announcement video by Sam of Thoughts on Tomes. I love the idea of tackling intimidating books that, let's be honest, I've been putting off for way too long, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.

March 2019 Wrap-Up

I was debating for the longest time whether it's even worth writing this post considering how little I read in March, but now here I am with a belated wrap-up. The month started out really strong and I finished two books within the first week of March. Of course, I wanted to keep the momentum going and so I picked up the third book in a beloved series, because nothing can go wrong with that, right? Unfortunately, I was very wrong, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's first look at the two books I finished in March.

Watching the Movie Before Reading the Book

I am here today to confess to a terrible bookish sin that I have committed. I know it's bad, but I hope that you can understand and show support even in these difficult times. So here it goes: sometimes, I watch the movie before reading the book. Please take as much time as you need to process this admission of guilt on my part, and know that I will deeply reflect on my behavior.

All failed attempts at humor aside, I know this is something that is pretty frowned upon in the bookish community or at least goes against what a lot of other readers like to do. So today I want to talk about the good and the bad when it comes to watching movie adaptations before reading the book.

February 2019 Wrap-Up

It might not be my proudest moment that my first post since my January wrap-up is my February wrap-up, but I still want to talk about the books I read this month, so here we go. February included a lot of leaving my comfort zone for me, as I moved to Seoul for my exchange semester and explored this city and tried to meet people to spend the next few months with (not very successfully, I might add). So to take a break from all these draining experiences, I have turned to reading quite a lot, especially in the past two weeks. So I ended up finishing five books this month:

January 2019 Wrap-Up

January was a very eventful month for me, but somehow I still managed to get some reading done. I finished nine books last month, which is a LOT for me. However, six of those nine were graphic novels, so the number again becomes average. Still, I had exams this month and also had to write a paper for uni and I moved out of my apartment and packed all my belongings into boxes because I will be leaving for my exchange semester soon, so I'm very proud I still managed to read as much as I did. So here are the books I finished in January:

ARC Review: The Gilded Wolves

I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion or my review of the book in any way. Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with this eARC!

The Gilded Wolves
by Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Gilded Wolves #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publication date: January 15, 2019
Published by: Wednesday Books, St. Martin's Press
Kindle edition, 464 pages
My rating: 3.5/5 ★

Set in a darkly glamorous world, The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

The Gilded Wolves takes place in late 19th century Paris - but with a twist. It follows a group of six on their quest to acquire a historical object. The setting is very atmospheric and overall made for a unique reading experience, which made it easy to get lost in the story.

The Last 10 Book Tag

I seem to be in a blogging mood recently but I'm a little at a loss when it comes to potential topics to talk about. But you know what's always fun? That's right: tags! It's been forever since I last did one and I definitely wasn't tagged by anyone to do this, but when I saw The Last 10 Book Tag around on booktube, it sounded fun and I wanted to try it. So here we go!

1. The last book you didn't finish?

I quite often start books and then stop when I can't get into them, but I don't count those as not finishing because I know I'll read them eventually. I do have some books that I mark as dnf and I know I won't ever finish them, but those are very rare. In fact, I think I only ever dnf-ed four books, the most recent one being The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan. Another book I can think of that I started but didn't finish and, to be honest, probably won't ever finish is Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard. I actually quite enjoyed Red Queen when I read it but when I started Glass Sword, I just wasn't really interested in the story or the world anymore, so I don't think I will ever finish that series or that book.

August and September 2018 Wrap-Up

I definitely forgot how to do monthly wrap-up posts, but I felt like giving it a try again for August. And then, like the professional blogger I am, I forgot to post it until September was already over as well, so here we are with a combined wrap-up for August and September!

I read seven books in August and a grand total of one book in September, which leaves me with 37 books total read this year and on track for my reading challenge. Yay me! While I didn't discover any new all-time favorite books in the past two months, I'm still very happy with what I read. Except for one, all books met my expectations and even the rereads were still as good as the first time around.

Review: The Chase (Briar U #1)

The Chase
by Elle Kennedy

Series: Briar U #1

Genre: New Adult, Romance

Publication date: August 6, 2018

Published by: Elle Kennedy Inc.

Ebook, 377 pages

My rating: 2/5 ★

Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother.

And that his best friend has a crush on me. And that I just moved in with them. Oh, did I not mention we’re roommates?

I suppose it doesn’t matter. Fitzy has made it clear he’s not interested in me, even though the sparks between us are liable to burn our house down. I’m not the kind of girl who chases after a man, though, and I’m not about to start. I’ve got my hands full dealing with a new school, a sleazy professor, and an uncertain future. So if my sexy brooding roomie wises up and realizes what he’s missing?

He knows where to find me.

Before I get into my review of The Chase, I want to start by saying that the Off-Campus books (the companion series to this one) are some of my favorite New Adult reads. I love them because they don't overdo the NA stereotypes and generally manage to tell entertaining, if somewhat unlikely tales of college love. They are centered around a group of hockey players, and although I love sports novels, those types of books often tend to be the most filled with annoying tropes of them all. But while the Off-Campus books definitely had the *super popular hot athlete blah blah* stereotypes, I felt like it never went too far. 

So with all of this love for the companion series of The Chase, I was super excited for this book and 100% ready to love it just as much. Even more so because Summer and Fitz are both characters that were previously introduced and I was ready to root for them. Unfortunately, The Chase turned out to be a disappointment for me.

Mid-Year Reading Update

2018 so far has been a bit of a weird year for me with regards to book stuff. Mostly, it feels different because I've taken a big step back from the online book community. My blog has been neglected for a long time, so it's not really news on here. But I also haven't been active on my bookstagram ever since I moved into my own apartment at the beginning of the year, and that has been a big change although I'm not sure whether for the better or the worse. 

The good news is, I'm still reading! Even if I don't share my experiences online so much anymore, I haven't stopped being an avid reader. And as kind of a catch-up post, I thought it would be nice to have a look at what I've read so far this year.