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About Lenn

I write about my personal thoughts, experiences, and bookish fixations.

Book Review: XXX by Rayne Havok

55068805This had been sitting on my TBR since 2022-ish and I finally decided to read it for Winterween 2025! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Winterween, it’s a readathon hosted by Gabbyreads on Youtube, so feel free to check her out for more details because another readathon similar to this will happen in the summertime as well!

Anyway, I’ve read another book from this author a couple of years back called Mukbang Princess and actually really liked it. It was a short but immensely weird book but the ending was so unexpected that I had to rate it 4 stars. So I’m really looking forward to read more of this author’s works.
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Puerto Princesa & El Nido, Palawan

Hello, everyone. This is such an overdue post and I want to catch this blog up in terms of documenting my travels, so here’s the details of our 5-day Palawan trip back in June 2023. I got writer’s block due to working as a writer during the past year and a half, that’s why I wasn’t able to share this experience here, but I’m back so here goes! I will also be posting my 2024 travels in the next few weeks.

Anyway, my husband and I make it a point to travel to one local destination and one interantional destination per year and on our anniversary in February 2023, we went to Thailand, so in June we decided to go to Palawan.

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My 2025 Most Anticipated Books

MY MOST ANTICIPATED READS FOR 2025

Today I’m sharing some of my most anticipated releases in 2025!

I know there are lot more to come by the middle of the year, but as of the moment, here are the books that I am most excited about. I’m not that big of a new releases reader because I really love reading backlist books of authors, but I do read a couple of new releases throughout the year. So without further ado, here are my most anticipated books this year: Continue reading

Book Review: A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon

image“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆—𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚.”

My first book of 2025 is this short but whimsical fantasy novel that will definitely pull at your heartstrings and awaken the girl inside you. I love how empowering this book is! Also, I just can’t get over that stunning cover that I might grab a physical copy too! Continue reading

2025 Reading Plans

Happy New Year, everyone!

I had been meaning to bring this blog back to life, but decided to just wait for the new year to do so and now that we’re already a few days into 2025, I’m back and will be sharing my reading goals for this year.

Despite my inactivity here, I read quite a lot in 2024 with 157 books in total and it was my best reading year yet. And though I still intend to read plenty of books in 2025, I also plan on getting back into fantasy and catch up on my backlist or fantasy TBR so I’m already anticipating a slight decrease in the number of books by the end of this year because it takes quite some time for me to finish high fantasy books and series! I did set my Goodreads and Fable reading goal to 80 books compared to last year’s 70 though, so that’s still a lot, but I’m positive and that I can complete that by the end of the year.

Some of my reading goals for 2025 are:

  • Read more Japanese literature
  • Read more literary fiction
  • Read more local (Filipiniana) books
  • Put a dent on my fantasy TBR
  • Catch up with my comics/manga TBR
  • Finish reading the Farseer trilogy
  • Finish reading the Trials of Apollo series
  • Finish reading the Chestnut Springs series
  • Be smarter when it comes to buying books:
    • Only buy books from a series I already have/currently reading
    • Only buy book 1 of a new series once I’ve finished reading a series
    • For standalone books, I can buy some that I strongly feel like I will enjoy (e.g., books from a favorite author), otherwise, just read them via kindle
    • Don’t give in too much on sales

*I still won’t post monthly hopefuls or TBRs though because as a mood reader, I really suck at following them. Haha

Again, happy new year, everyone!

Hey

Sorry for being MIA for almost a whole year. I know I wrote two entries before this, but those were just spur-of-the-moment thoughts and feelings. Aside from those, I haven’t really posted anything here.

I never stopped reading—I think that’s something I will never outgrow or get tired of. I haven’t really been away from the internet either since I’ve been actively posting my reviews on Goodreads and Instagram throughout the year. So if you were here for the reviews before, you might want to catch me on those platforms instead! I guess I just hit a bit of writer’s block when it comes to this blog. I’ve been thinking about how to improve its sections, but I just haven’t had the energy to start.

Besides reading, I’ve traveled to a couple of places this year and tried new activities, which I’m excited to share with all of you. It’s a bit sad that I lost the impulse to write here because this blog used to be my go-to whenever I felt down. But honestly, since getting married, I’ve been more drawn to physical journaling again. It’s been really fulfilling, and I’ve been enjoying creating spreads about anything that interests me. That’s also been taking up some of my time.

Anyway, I’m still not sure if I’ll be back here for good. I think I’ll let the rest of the year pass and start posting again in January. That way, I’ll have time to come up with new ideas for this blog.

Until next time! ♡

Fear

“Lenn, buti hindi ka nananaginip sa pagbabasa mo ng horror?” My mother-in-law would randomly ask me whenever we are left alone or whenever she saw me holding another horror novel.

I would just laugh it off and let her wonder why I’m so fond of reading such frightening books—books that should, by all means, keep me up at night. Little does she know, it’s actually a defense mechanism on my part.

Growing up, I often had nightmares about losing things and people I love. I think that, despite feeling fine and happy during the day, my fears just sit at the back of my mind, waiting to pounce on me whenever they get the chance. And one way they do so is by creeping into my dreams. On those awful nights, I’d wake up drenched in sweat, either screaming or with my heart racing a million beats per minute. I hate losing people, especially those dearest to me.

That’s why I’m drawn to horror books in the first place. I’d rather dream about ghosts, monsters, and other fictional creatures than face my greatest fear in my sleep.

Stuff I’ve Been Reading Lately #37

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BOOKS READ (August-September):

  • The Love Rematch (The Love Match, #1) by Kay Marie
  • The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
  • Channel X: A Streaming Service to Kill For by Matt Shaw
  • The Honeymoon Crashers (Unhoneymooners, #0.5) by Christina Lauren
  • Punch Love Drunk Vol. 1 by Moscareto
  • Priest (Priest, #1) by Sierra Simone
  • The Opportunist (Love Me With Lies, #1) by Tarryn Fisher
  • Petrified Women by Jeremy Ray
  • Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  • Dead Body Disposal by Jon Athan
  • Can’t Forget You by Kristen Middleton
  • Fresh Meat by Christopher Kai
  • Frisky Connections (Frisky Bean, #0.5) by Michelle Mars
  • Children of the Corn by Stephen King
  • Confessions of a Shopaholic (Shopaholic, #1) by Sophie Kinsella

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Stuff I’ve Been Reading Lately #36

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BOOKS READ:

  • Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
  • The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
  • The Mariana Trench by Matt Shaw
  • No One Rides For Free by Judith Sonnet
  • Open All Night by Thomas Davidson
  • Don’t Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders
  • Tampa by Alissa Nutting
  • We Need to Do Something by Max Booth III
  • Starting Over at the Little Cornish Beach House by Nancy Barone
  • Killing Stalking Vol. 1 by Koogi

BOOKS BOUGHT:

  • Lifesaving For Beginners by Josie Lloyd
  • Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage by Heidi Swain
  • Chloe and the Kaishao Boys by Mae Coyiuto

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