Life Update and New Beginnings

Consistency is my worst enemy, lol. 

Anyways, long time no see!

I've been focusing on college, and it has brought me nothing else but joy. Because I've finally switched!

For the second time, I transferred to another university and this time I'm here to stay until it's time for the exchange I hope to do; studying abroad has always been a goal and I can just feel the possibility inching closer.

I transferred to the University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras) and despite the judgmental looks of pity from my previous private university classmates, I am so happy to be here. Those judgemental looks stem from the university’s reputation, which often brings out differing opinions from the people I talk to. Some think of it as the best university in Puerto Rico, meanwhile others only offer me a stank face.

First day of class at UPRRP (August, 2023)

The humidity as I walk around campus will be the death of me, but–once again–I couldn't be more happy to be here. I'm so proud of myself for having the courage to act quick as soon as I find a new passion and not feel ashamed of my desire to study in as many places as my scholarships will allow me to, LOL.

I currently have 15 credits, and I have to admit that although I have been nothing but responsible with my assignments, I'm struggling to find a balance between work, college assignments, studying, my social life, and other hobbies. I've been meaning to get back to my YouTube channel, so we'll see how that turns out.

I've also been reading A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas, which is the third book in the ACOTAR series, and I have been HOOKED from the start; so expect a good review on this one :). Audiobooks have been of great help lately to get more reading done, and it's actually motivating me to read more. Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to surpass my reading goal this year by a few books :D.

Do you like audiobooks? Which books have you been reading lately?

Twisted Love (Twisted Series #1): Review

Before I share my Goodreads review, I'd like to point out that y'all didn't lie to me about Alex Volkov, lmao. 

Twisted Love by Ana Huang is a grumpy x sunshine trope where we're introduced to Ava Chen (Miss Sunshine) and Alex Volkov (Mr. Grumpy). While Alex likes to drown himself in his own angst and the world's darkness, Ava is a ray (ends up being his ray) of sunshine, softhearted and always searching for the good in people. Even in Alex's multilayered heart.

My Goodreads Review:

Twisted Love by Ana Huang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure when or how, but I'd started seeing Ava less as Josh's baby sister and more as a woman. A beautiful, pure-hearted but feisty woman who might be the death of me one of these days.

Okay... I understand what people said about the book's pacing; it was a little weird. I wouldn't have minded if the book was around 500 pages if it meant all the plots in the story would've been developed with more detail. It felt like they rushed through Alex and Ava's relationship's development just to get into the bigger stuff (Ava's trauma and Alex's revenge, or whatever); and it truly just felt... bland. I think the spicy scenes saved it a little bit.

Overall, it's not that it was a bad book, but it could've been better. What the fuck was Operation Emotion? It was so dumb, please 😭.

Either way, since I loved Bridget so much I'm so excited to get into the second installment, Twisted Games. Hopefully, it's even better! :D

View all my reviews

Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse Duet #1): Review

 

I finished Haunting Adeline last night and here's my summary alongside my Goodreads review :)

Summary of Haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton

Adeline Reilly is an author who moved into Parson's Manor, her childhood home; but also where her great-grandmother's murder took place. At her book-signing event, she is noticed by none other than Zade Meadows, who becomes immediately obsessed with her. 

Zade has built a vigilante organization called Z, which targets sex-trafficking rings and has the purpose to dismantle-- no, destroy the government. During his free time, he enjoys stalking Addie and terrorizing her, but is also surprised to learn the dynamic excites her. As Addie investigates her great-grandmother's unsolved murder case, she finds herself before the coincidence that they both fell in love with their stalkers.

My Goodreads Review:

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All I want to do is break her. Shatter her into pieces. And then arrange those pieces to fit against my own. I don't care if they don't fit--I'll fucking make them.

Regardless of the controversy around the book, I'm glad it actually met my expectations. It's important to highlight that dark romance is not for everyone and one should always read the trigger warnings at the beginning of every book. I expected it to be more darker as the dramatic people on TikTok made it out to be, but since it's said the second installment is even darker: I'm ready.
The story always had me on edge, although at some point I was so invested in Zade's work that I stopped caring about the toe-curling smut and Adeline's internal battle with her morals, to be honest.

I want to slap him. But the asshole would probably like it, and then turn around and slap me back. And my dumbass self would probably like it, too.

Also, I really didn't care about the murder case she was trying to solve, it felt slightly irrelevant.
I still loved this book, though.

View all my reviews

The second installment of this Cat and Mouse Duet series is "Hunting Adeline" (The similar titles can be confusing, I know lol), and if you're considering to read this duet while not being used to what the dark romance genre consists of, I suggest you read the trigger warnings on the author's website or wherever you're buying these books from.

May TBR: Books I hope to read in May

 May is finally here and you know that means: the semester is almost over! Meaning… I’ll finally get to couch-potato around with no guilt of procrastination, only feeling the existential dread of waking up for my retail job.

I have a few forms of escapism, but reading is my top one. Especially during those times I’m feeling blue. Therefore, I can’t put into words how excited I am to finally have more time to read during the summer, since I won’t be having a summer semester (slay).

So! Let’s begin with my May TBR (hopefuls):

1. Twisted Love by Ana Huang 

I’ve heard nothing but AMAZING things about this book— no, about the entire series. Twisted Love is the first book of the Twisted Series by Ana Huang and I’ve seen people raving about it on TikTok; especially about the MMC of this book: Alex Volkov. Or in my co-worker’s case, Christian Harper (from the last book in this series, if I’m not mistaken). At the moment, I think Rhys Larsen (from the second book, Twisted Games) will be the one to win me over out of the four. We’ll see. 

Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart. 

But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.
A melt.
A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

Yup, and I’m here for it.

2. The Fine Print by Lauren Asher

I’m gonna admit this once; every book I ignore, every book I end up reading and loving. I hope this will be the case here, too. I do judge books by their cover, so I really didn’t pay attention to what people said. Until my co-worker talked my ear off about it (I adore you, Paola; thank you), and now my interest has been piqued. 

And here we are.

It’s hard for me to make summaries of books I haven’t read; but what I can confidently say this is about a billionaire who appears to be a shit-boss, at least this one. And we already know what happens when a stubborn girl meets someone like that in a romance book. This is also the first book of the Dreamland Billionaire series; they’re three books, three brothers. 

And I’m ready.

3. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Again, at the moment I don’t have any expectations for this book. I’ve seen it on TikTok but I just kept scrolling past it, like the book I previously mentioned. I think what pushed me to buy this book at last was another friend (I love you, Leandra) posting about how she was speeding through it. And by that you can tell how easily influenced I can be when it comes to books, lol.

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why -- or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.

This is the first book of the series, and seeing people vlog about themselves sprinting to the bookstore for the next book makes me curious. 

Here’s the rest of the blurb:

“To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.”

4. [Finish] Haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton

I’m 85% into the book, and so far I have loved every single bit of it. Dark Romance is a genre that is definitely not for everyone, but I’m surely getting into. It’s always important to read the trigger warnings in the beginning!

Haunting Adeline is the first book in the Cat and Mouse Duet by H.D Carlton. To summarize, the main character, Adeline, has a stalker. However, she has an internal struggle with her morals because anything that scares her, also excites her. 

I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me.
I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh.
But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave.
He's always there, watching and waiting.
And I can never look away.
Not when I want him to come closer.

I’m reading this book at the same time as one of my managers (hi!), and it’s honestly so funny to rave about specific scenes in the book and watch our co-worker’s faces distort with confusion and shock. Anyways, once I’m done with this one I’m immediately hopping into the Twisted series. 

I don’t know why instead of finishing a series in one go, I just go for other books. I’m assuming it’s so I don’t feel that painful dread of finishing a series and realizing none of it was real. 

I love getting emotionally attached to characters on paper.

It’s extremely fun.

Absolutely.

Anyways! That’s the current TBR for now. Maybe if I stay away from Amazon and the nearby bookstore, I might be able to follow through with this list; for at least a month. I’m a book behind schedule, according to my goodreads. The goal is to read 15 books this year, and I’m confident I’ll reach it. Maybe I’ll try to surpass it and reach 20 :). 

If I keep to this list, I know it’s going to be such a good reading month! I can feel it. ❤

- Alondra ♡

Friends, books, and hot chocolate

Kari being gorgeous, as usual <3

Two blog posts in a week? Sickening; I love that.

Although it has only been two days since my last post, it has actually been a week since I decided to reduce my screen time by deleting all social media apps from my phone and only accessing them through my laptop. Since apparently social media apps are designed to make you addicted to the mindless scrolling, using desktop is not as visually appealing and you grow bored quicker. It's true for me, at least.

During the week, I hung out with my friend Crystal and we set off to the quest of finding the Juicy x Forever 21 collection at nearby F21's. We were unsuccessful, though; and if we found them, they didn't have them her size. But she did end up trying other dresses; see how pretty she looks in this one?

I absolutely loved how it looked on her, but she insisted the pattern looked granny-like. Obviously, I took offense to that because I love granny patterns. And whatever, anything we see granny-like is just about perspective. It was popular when they were our age, and when we're 70, younger generations (if global warming allows it) will find Shein clothes old-people-like. So, who cares? Definitely not me, because I love granny-like stuff.

 Long live granny stuff. Grannies rock.

She was too lazy to take her pants off again and just slid them down, lmao.

She ended up trying this dress afterwards, and I think it looked just as beautiful on her! 

Before we mall-hopped somewhere else, we ended up getting gelato popsicles. And the whole time I was happy I forgot about my phone's entire existence.

I remember mentioning how I wanted to start baking more, but I would also like to add cooking to that. So, yesterday I went to the bookstore with my dear friend Kari and picked up some books, 2 of them being cookbooks. (Do you prefer cookbooks or online recipes?)

Books in picture (top to bottom):
- The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
- Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
- Quick and Easy: Simple, Everyday Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less by Women's Weekly
- Simple Pasta: Life Made Easy. Life Made Better. by Odette Williams

Quick and simple.

Those are the key words that made me buy them. Because no matter how overly-ambitious I am with new hobbies, when it comes to cooking I would rather do the babiest of baby steps. Not because I'm afraid of burning my house down, but because I can't bear the idea of food going to waste from doing something wrong. So... baby steps, for once in my life, lol.

However, before I start experimenting with these cookbook recipes, I've been dying to try this cookie recipe I ran into on Instagram:

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A post shared by Лера🤍 визуал • создание контента (@leralylyk)

If it wasn't for Laura Bray's post about her cookbook library, I wouldn't have taken it as a sign to finally move my ass get a physical cookbook. Because she's right, getting to the actual recipes online while being bombarded with random pop-ups and long intros does get annoying eventually.

I've also been reading faster thanks to my new kindle! <3 It finally arrived!

I'm currently reading Haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton and the physical copy was simply too heavy, for some reason. So now I can enjoy my dark romance at a faster pace without building muscle on my wrists. 

I seriously love going to the bookstore; the peace is immaculate. And their hot chocolate is very comforting. 

And with friends it's even better! (I love you, Kari).

My average screen-time is still at 5 hours; the goal is to get it down to 3 at least! I'm also even planning to buy a prepaid flip-phone for when I fly to Florida to visit my dad, is that too extreme? Maybe, but it sounds fun; might even add a Nicki Minaj ringtone to it if possible.

With all this free-time away from my phone, hopefully I can show you the process of my attempt at those heart-shaped cookies. Who knows? Maybe I'm a master baker and I haven't discovered it yet.

Duff Goldman is quaking.

- Alondra ♥︎