If you’re from the U.S, this past Monday was a national holiday so many schools and companies let us take the Monday off, giving us a nice long weekend. I thought that I’d do a “follow me along” this weekend kind of blog post where I go ahead and share with you my reading plans at the beginning of the mini-vacation and what I actually ended up reading.
Long weekends for me, are the perfect time to capitalize on getting more books read and that’s exactly what I intended to do this long weekend. Unfortunately, I was also pretty sick this weekend so I spent a lot of time taking midday naps and blowing my nose and trying to choke from all the coughing I was doing. And no, I was not sick with the coronavirus.
A lot of the books that I wanted to get into this weekend consisted of books that have been sitting on my TBR shelf for a long time. “Isn’t it Bromantic?” was a book that’s been on almost every single one of my weekend TBR’s since it’s release. In fact, I even pre-ordered it so that’s saying something lol. This series is one of my favorite contemporary romance series out there that does a wonderful job showing the romance genre in a respectful tone as well as being loaded with laugh out loud kind of humor and fun romances. This book is such a highly anticipated read for me because the Russian’s been in every single one these books but he’s to really written as a character we’d expect a heart warming romance from. In the earlier books, he’s often portrayed as a guy with some major gastro-intestinal problems. It was only in the latest book where we got to learn a bit more about his character and personality.
“Little Women” was supposed to be a classic I was meant to finish in the Spring but now it’s fall and we’re still here so… take that as you want lol. I really need to start giving this book more attention because I haven’t touched it in months and I really want to watch the movie soon.
“Hamnet” is a book that I only recently picked up. I’ve seen it being talked about in the book community and I believe it’s got some classical literature elements to it? I knew nothing about this book and just looked at the back summary of it, that to very briefly because I like going into books pretty blind. And according to the cover summary, this book is centered around the plague and takes place in the 1500’s? I’ve never read a book encompassing any of these themes so I’m pretty excited to see how I feel about this read. It’s also quite short so I’m hoping to spend an entire day just immersed in this story.
“A Pinch of Magic” is a cozy middle grade that I’ve been saving for times in need when I’m looking for something extra comfy and easy to read. So whatever but time to read then when I’m feeling poorly?
DAY ONE
I’ve finally started “Isn’t it Bromantic?” and my oh my I’m in love. I have been having the best of luck with romance books and I don’t want it to end. I’m loving the tension between Elena and Vlad so far. This, so far is the BEST marriage of convenience book I’ve read because not only does it have the marriage of convenience trope, it also has a friends to lovers trope, AND that he doesn’t love me but I love him/she doesn’t love me but I love her trope where each character in the relationship thinks their love is unrequited. It’s the best of the best tropes and I’m blowing through it.
I know that this is mean to be following my reading during this weekend but I can’t not mention the new K-Drama I’m watching, “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha”. This is a new Netflix show so there’s a new episode being released every Saturday and so far, there are three out. I’ve watched the first two and I’m loving it! Honestly, the scenery is just gorgeous and sooooo relaxing. Also, I’m having the best of time ogling and squealing over the fact that Kim Seon-Ho’s in it and I LOVED him in the K-Drama, “Start Up”. While I love this show’s small town vibes and scenery and the fact that Kim Neon-Ho’s in it, I have things to say. The girl mc is honestly so infuriating I was screaming at the tv. The guy mc is being wayyyyyyy too nice to this girl and she’s literally taking advantage of him and she’s just so spoiled and rude. There better be some major character growth because right now, I can’t deal with her lol.
DAY TWO
I spent the entire day in bed finishing “Isn’t It Bromantic?” and honestly, it was one of the best days ever. I loved this book, sooooo much. My heart wants to say five out of five but there are somethings that could have been done a bit better but honestly, five out of five. I can’t wait to write the review for this book but as always, I like to let things sit in my head a bit before I put a review on my final thoughts. I don’t care what anyone says but Vlad’s my man. He’s such a huge teddy bear and I love his relationship with Elena. I also really loved reading from Elena’s perspective, she was such a cool character who came off a bit cold and blunt to those around her but reading her story and POV and how vulnerable she was when it came to Vlad, was so endearing to read about.
What I should have done after reading “Isn’t It Bromantic?” is to go ahead and start “A Pinch of Magic” but I just wasn’t getting into it. I don’t know how it happened but I think with the start of autumn and officially being more than one day into September, I was thirsting for some dark academia.
This may come off as shocking but I don’t think I truly ever read “true” dark academia. It’s an aesthetic and a vibe that I love all year round but when fall comes around, I yearn for it a lot more. This year though, I think is going to be the first year that I really embrace the literature side of dark academia and so I ended up spending a good chunk of today scavenging goodreads before I landed up on, “Atlas Six”. I don’t know where I first heard of this book, it was on some YouTube video but after bumping into it again on goodreads, I added it to my shopping cart and hit the checkout button right away.
And I CANNOT WAIT FOR IT. Fun fact, I LOVE history and the fact that this secret society is centered around the LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA!!! We have multiple characters in a competition of some sorts and the library Alexandria is involved somehow. How? I have no idea because surprise surprise, I’m going into it semi-unaware of what the plot truly is.
I’m really excited for this book to be my first secret society book.
DAY THREE
I should have known that I wasn’t going to getting a ton of reading in today but I actually managed to make a good dent into “Atlas Six”. I was hoping I’d get into it a bit more and I’ll probably read some before I go to sleep but I wanted to get this post drafted and ready to post for this week. Today was a pretty heavy admin day which means planning for the week ahead and a ton of content creation/planning.
So far, this book is doing a lot of set up. We’re introduced to our cast of characters and I’m really excited about all those we met so far. The characters are all so different and unique that it’s quite refreshing to read from their POV. The writing of this book is quite interesting and isn’t like anything I’ve read before. I don’t read much fantasy so I’m well aware that plays a major role in it but I also think it’s because the author employs the pretty way of writing that feels a bit windy? I don’t know how to describe it lol but there’s a lot of commas and the narration of this magical world and this secret society is lyrical in a way and sometimes has me rereading things to better understand it.
The week ahead is going to be a tough one and is going to require a lot of dark academia vibes so I’m excited to read more from these ambitious and secretive characters and see how everything plays out.