“It wasn’t a monster come to eat me. It was this monster. Who’s come to eat me out.”
HOTNESS LEVEL: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
ROMANCE: ❤❤❤❤
PLOT: ✍️✍️✍️
CHARACTERS: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
ENJOYMENT LEVEL: 🌟🌟🌟
Not gonna lie, this was kinda hot.
However, I am still not into blue horned p*ssy-eating aliens.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be eaten that way, but not by aliens.
Continue reading “TLDR Review of Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon”
“You can wrap me as tight as you want around that little finger, but I won’t play games about what this is. Get me, Piper?”
HOTNESS LEVEL:🔥🔥🔥🔥
ROMANCE: ❤❤❤❤❤
PLOT: ✍️✍️✍️✍️
CHARACTERS: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ENJOYMENT LEVEL: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
This was a fun and cute book about how two polar opposites ended up falling in love.
When I say cute, that doesn’t mean that this book didn’t have any spice in it.
Title: Ghosted
Series: Standalone
Author: J.M Darhower
Genre / Themes: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Point of View: First Person
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: August 23rd 2017
Pages: 453
He’s a troubled young actor, Hollywood’s newest heartthrob, struggling with fame as the star of the latest superhero franchise. Through scandal after scandal, addiction on top of addiction, a flurry of paparazzi hunt him as he fights to conquer his demons.
She’s a single mother, assistant manager at a grocery store, existing in monotony with her five-year-old daughter. Every day when she goes to work, lurid tabloids surround her, the face of a notorious bad boy haunting her from their covers.
A man and a woman, living vastly different lives, but that wasn’t always the case. Once, they were just a boy and a girl who bonded over comic books and fell in love unexpectedly.
When Kennedy Garfield met Jonathan Cunningham back in high school, she knew he had all the makings of a tragic hero. With stars in his eyes, and her heart on her sleeve, the pair ran away together to follow their dreams.
But dreams, sometimes, turn into nightmares.
Now, years later, the only thing they share is a daughter—one who has no idea her father plays her favorite superhero. But Jonathan is desperate to make amends, and at the top of his list is the woman who gave up everything for him and the little girl he hasn’t yet met.
“Worse is loving someone who disappears and never knowing if they’ll come back. Because how do you move on if you’re not even sure they’re gone? The answer is—you don’t. When you spend most of your life chasing ghosts, eventually, you become one.”
HOTNESS LEVEL:🔥🔥
ROMANCE: ❤❤❤
PLOT:✍️✍️✍️
CHARACTERS: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ENJOYMENT LEVEL: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Second chance romance has a special place in my heart especially if the main character is a single mom like myself. It’s nice to see myself represented in books, makes me hopeful I can have a happily ever after of my own. Anyways, I really enjoyed the story, there’s not much steam, but I’m happy the story was just about them trying to fix the problems from the past and trying to move forward.
PS: Maddie is super adorable.
Trigger Warning: Drug Abuse
⚜️ Big Bad Shhlut 2022 Reading Challenge!⚜️
13. Mad: Drug abuse by MC.
Title: Black Swan Affair
Series: Standalone
Author: K.L Kreig
Genre / Themes: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Point of View: First Person
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: September 20th 2016
Pages: 337
I’ve loved him as long as I can remember.
The gangly boy with big brown eyes and unruly hair who grew up into an intoxicating man. He wears scruff like he invented it and ambles with a swagger that makes panties drop.
Killian Shepard.
Shep.
We grew up together. We played Ghost in the Graveyard. Had our own rock band. It didn’t matter that he was five years older than me. It didn’t matter that he looked at me as a kid sister even as I grew into woman. It didn’t even matter when he left me behind to go to college and start his adult life.
He’d be back.
He was always meant to be mine.
He came back, all right. But instead of smelling of promises, he stunk of betrayal. And he destroyed me—us—the day he married my sister instead of me.
So I did the only thing a girl like me in my position could do.
I got my revenge.
I married his brother, Kael.
Now we’re one big happy f*cking family.
***mature content appropriate for 18+
“While he was the sun that lit your world, you were the darkness that shadowed mine.”
HOTNESS LEVEL: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
ROMANCE: ❤❤❤❤❤
PLOT: ✍️✍️✍️✍️
CHARACTERS: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ENJOYMENT LEVEL: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
❝And this last year I also realized there are different kinds of love. There’s the dreamy kind you always thought you wanted and then there’s the steady one you never understood but the second you let yourself feel it…it’s nothing like you could have imagined in your wildest dreams.❞
Just wow. I wasn’t really expecting too much when I started this. I just thought the synopsis was rather interesting, having two brothers falling for the same girl and the girl marrying the brother she didn’t love just to spite the one that she does. It’s a messy family drama. I was just looking for a steamy read, so plot-wise, I wasn’t really too hopeful that it was going to be good.
Luckily. It was. It kind of all made sense in the end. At least for me.
→Maverick
Not gonna lie, I sort of hated her in the beginning.
❝I’m anything but innocent. My soul is lost. My heart cold. I’m a devil in angel’s skin, trapping a man for life who could have any woman he wants but for some reason wants me.❞
I mean who does that? Marry someone you don’t love just so that you can get back at someone? Who does that really? Apparently, Maverick does that. Eventually though, I liked that she grew as her own person and realized all the things she thinks were the best for her before. However, I think if her best friend does not exist, she might not be able to realize this on her own. It took her a hell of a long time to figure things out and what things she really should focus on. She got there though. I ended up being so proud of the growth she had then. She wasn’t perfect and she acknowledges that. I am really drawn to characters that admits to their flaws and acknowledges them and try to make up for them.
→Killian
What can I say about him? I can’t say I hate him because even though he was such a dick, I understood why he did the things he did but just because I understood them, doesn’t mean that I think he did the right thing though. In my opinion, there were a hundred other things he could have done aside from the choices he made. Reading about Killian actually made me remember about my ex-bf, who was caught in a similar situation where he chose the easiest way out.
→Kael
From the get go, Kael just took my heart away. He is perfect. I don’t think there is anything else to say about him. Oh yeah, there is. Secrets. Like Killian, Kael made mistakes. And like Killian, he did have a choice. He should have chosen the right one from the beginning. But I guess, I can’t really blame him too because he got caught in the middle of a messy family drama, and of course, family is family at the end of the day. But over all, Kael is such a sweetheart and also super fucking hot. I want my own Kael.
For some reason I imagine him looking like this:
Goddamn it. If Maverick doesn’t like him, I would take him home and do… stuff to him lol.
Maverick (our female protagonist) grew up with Killian and Kael (who were brothers if you didn’t already know lol). She was closed to Kael who she treated like her best friend but she fell in love with Killian. They seem to have this mutual attraction but ultimately broke her heart and married her sister. Yeah. Wtf right. Distraught Maverick wanted to get back at him, so she married his brother, Kael. Yeah. Another wtf.
It was a messy romance but I really liked how everything wrap up in the end. I don’t want to spoil anything about who ended up with who because it’ll ruin the story. Overall, I feel like the ending satisfied everyone in the end, maybe not completely satisfying two of the characters but they are where they need to be at the end.
I was satisfied but I wanted more. The sexy scenes definitely got me hot and bothered lol.
It’s been a while since I really got hooked with a male character. Kael was the highlight of this book for me, I absolutely fell head-over-heels in love with him. Not saying what happened though on whether he got the girl or not but for me, he takes the big cake for me.
This novel was told in a alternating timeline which I actually liked. Sometimes if not done right, it will cause some problems narratively. But K.L Kreig really did a good job in making the story flow nicely despite the non-linear narrative.
DISCLAIMER: I have read this book back in 2016 and posted this review on Goodreads but my thoughts about this still has not changed. A lot of my Goodreads friends have loved this book; I was one of the few that did not love this. All The Bright places will be getting a movie starring Ellie Fanning, and while I believe she’ll do a great job of being Violet, I’m not sure if it’s something I’ll be watching if the story is much like the books.
DISCLAIMER 2: Don’t be fooled by that title. This book does not have a happy ending. Sorry to spoil things for you. But I just needed to say it. It’s one of the things I didn’t like the book.
Continue reading “THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven”
So that was surprising. I did not expect to love this series to be completely honest.
I love fantasy. Whether it’s a book, a TV series, movies, or whatever – I eat them up – but The Witcher was never in my radar until I saw the trailer with fucking Henry Cavill, clad in all black with elvish white hair; Damn. How can you resist watching that?
So yeah. I watched this after the hype has gone down a bit because that’s just how I am. I tend to not like watching stuff that are so hyped up, because sometimes I fear I will get pressured into liking it because everyone does.
So anyways, like I said, I finally watched it.
This was how I looked like after the first episode.
Continue reading “THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY: The Witcher Season 1”
Hi Sandee,
I am you – writing from the past that is. I want to write the future me a letter to remind you that life isn’t always bad. It may not work out the way you plan it would. but everything eventually works out in the end. I know it might not seem like it right now but it will.
Currently, I am writing in the present, but when you read this again, it might probably be sometime in the future. Not sure when you’ll reread this but I hope you will. It’s possible that my circumstances might have already changed by then – who knows? Things might have gotten better for me, or gotten worse. I might have made more wrong decisions that would affect you, my future self, so let me apologize to you in advance for that. I’m only human by the way. We both are. But know that I am still trying my best to make things work. I am struggling to still make myself the best version of myself that I can be. I am still working my way through finally finding that happiness I have been longing for.
I’m sure you know, 2019 wasn’t the best year for us, and so were the many other years before that. I haven’t had the best year in a while. I used to love reading, writing, blogging, but I lost all interest in doing anything for the past few years. Things that I am passionate about suddenly stopped being interesting to me. I became extremely lethargic about doing things I love. Things were happening in my life, left and right, leaving me with no room for myself. There was no room to only focus on me and the things that I love. Whether it’s finances, career, family, relationships, everything around me was falling apart – there was nothing I could do to stop any of it.
I succumbed to depression. My anxiety has gotten worse. I stopped trusting people. I drifted away further from everyone. I was rarely getting enough sleep. I couldn’t focus on one thing for a long time. I stopped being productive. I stopped trying to do things. I stopped being myself. I couldn’t even recognize who this girl was anymore.
So dear Sandee, in the future, if you encounter things that would dishearten you or bring you down, please don’t make my mistakes. Please don’t give in to the thoughts inside your head feeding you with nonsense like how you are not good enough and that you will fail in whatever you want to do. Know that you are stronger than you think. Know that inside you, there is a strong woman who has been through a lot of shit yet is still here fighting her way through life like the warrior that she is.
I lost a fraction of my life giving in to the things that are trying to pull me away from the things that I really want to do. I lost track of how many times I have given in to the wishes of others when I couldn’t even give in to my own wishes. I lost a lot of time worrying about what will happen in the future because my anxiety-stricken brain always gets me worried about everything. My life has not been my own. Our life has not been ours for a long time. Please, make sure to live life as much as you possibly can.
I’ve always wanted to travel. If in case that I am not able to do that, remember that you should. I’ve always wanted to blog and share my thoughts to everyone who would listen. If I was not able do, then in the future, do it for yourself.
Always remember that money could be earned again but experiences would last you a lifetime – they are things that you could never buy with any amount of money in the world. Experience life. Experience the beauty of living in the moment. Don’t worry too much. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Learn to live life as it goes. Everything will eventually figure things out. They always do.
Let me remind you of something that you always seem to forget: Love yourself more. Your self-worth should not be determined by anyone else but yourself. The love that you have always been looking for is right inside you – if you could only look inside yourself. It is there. Other people will disappoint you, but not you. Love yourself first. Put yourself first. Always.
I can’t promise that 2020 would not be another 2019; however, we can sure as hell try to make it far better than the years before. I will promise to do the best I can to live my life as fully as possible this year.
Was it a love story? Yes. But not the kind of love story we are used to.
• I am in love with the artwork. Beautiful.
• While the main character (Akizuki) seemed pretty fleshed out, I feel like I connected more with the secondary character (Yukino). Probably because I am at this point in my life where her struggles are pretty much in line with mine.
• Despite that head-scratcher of an ending, I absolutely fell for this. The story was very relatable. I think that’s the beauty of Makoto Shinkai’s work – His stories were always something people could relate to. It may not be because they happened to experience the same thing as our characters do, but because of how these characters react to the situations that were placed in front of them.
TITLE: Verity
SERIES: Standalone
AUTHOR: Colleen Hoover
PUBLICATION DATE: December 7th 2018
NUMBER OF PAGES: 333 pages
PUBLISHER: Hoover Ink
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.
A standalone romantic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover.
Perusing at Midnight 