Author Feature #1: Rick Riordan

Posted on 06/05/2022 by Lenn

Hi, everyone! I’m thrilled to announce a new feature on my blog called Author Feature where I give my favorite authors the spotlight that they deserve. Today I’m going to feature Rick Riordan because as you all know by now, I cannot stop raving about his books and through the years, he has become my most favorite middle-grade author. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series not only got me out of a very long reading slump, but also helped me get through one of the darkest days of my life. Aside from that, these books are very special to me and my husband’s relationship as these books were one of the cornerstones of how we started as a couple. Books truly have a way of making my heart melt. So that’s the quick explanation of why his books have a very special place in my heart and in my life. Continue reading →

Top 10 Standalone Books on my Backlist

Posted on 05/24/2022 by Lenn

Last year, I made a list of the top 15 book series on my backlist that I would like to prioritize in the next couple of months (or years), today I’m going to talk about the top 10 standalone books on my TBR that I would like to prioritize along with the series that I’ve mentioned in that post. Again, please don’t judge me! 😂 Continue reading →

Book Review: Rolling in the Deep (Rolling in the Deep, #0.5) by Mira Grant

Posted on 05/23/2022 by Lenn

Title: Rolling in the Deep (Rolling in the Deep, #0.5)

Author: Mira Grant

Format: Audiobook

Publication Date: April 6, 2015

Number of Pages: 123

Publisher: Subterranean Press

Genre: Thriller, Sci-Fi

Synopsis:

When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.

They didn’t expect actual mermaids. They certainly didn’t expect those mermaids to have teeth.

This is the story of the Atargatis, lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the bathypelagic zone in the Mariana Trench…and the depths are very good at keeping secrets.

Continue reading →

Rainy Day Reads

Posted on 05/17/2022 by Lenn

The rainy season is slowly kicking in here in the Philippines, and what better way is there to welcome a new season than to create a list of books that, for me, are perfect reads during this time of the year. So without further ado, grab your blankets and your favorite caffeinated beverage, and get ready to snuggle up with these reads:

Continue reading →

Book Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Posted on 05/08/2022 by Lenn

Title: The Woman in Cabin 10

Author: Ruth Ware

Format: Trade Paperback

Publication Date: July 19, 2016

Number of Pages: 341

Publisher: Scout Press

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime

Synopsis:

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea.

At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard.

The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Continue reading →

Book List: #AAPIVoices

Posted on 05/06/2022 by Lenn

I can’t believe the first half of the year is almost over, it seems like it was only February yesterday and now May has already begun! As April came to a close, May opens up new opportunities and hope to each and everyone of us and in light with this, as a side note, I would just like to mention to all my Filipino readers to please practice your right to vote and vote wisely on May 9! ♡

Aside from the national elections coming up in the Philippines this month, May is also a time to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In the book community, we heavily read books written by AAPI authors during this time but regardless of the time or month, I wish that more people would support AAPI voices. Continue reading →

Most Anticipated Releases in April

Posted on 04/06/2022 by Lenn

Happy hump day! ♡ I haven’t updated this section of my blog in a while because of all the wedding preparations last year and, now, adjusting and finding my own rhythm in my new environment. There’s so many new and incredible things I’ve done during the first quarter of this year that I never thought I’d be able to do, but that’s for a different post. I’m happy that I finally had the chance to catch up with all things bookish which resulted in collating these new book titles coming out this month! With that, here’s a list of my most anticipated books for the month of April: Continue reading →

End of the Year in Books

Posted on 12/14/2020 by Lenn

Hi, everyone! We’re now down to the last month of the year and, wow, did time fly way too fast. At this point, I’m not even sure if that’s a good thing because it sure felt like I’ve lost a year of my life at home. Haha But despite this year being a pain in the arse, it sure as heck been one of the greatest reading year I’ve had since 2017. 2017 was a very challenging year for me, and one thing I realized now is that I do turn to books for comfort whenever life becomes too hard for me to bear.

So today, I’m doing the End of the Year Book Tag which I’ve been seeing around the booktube community and saw that one of my bookish friends here in the internet did it on her blog, too. I remember doing a similar post to this one at the first half of the year, so I decided to do it now, too: Continue reading →

Me? An Otaku?

Posted on 08/12/2020 by Lenn

I have always considered myself as an avid reader, so I read almost anything and everything. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was in elementary school and books have been my best friends since. I basically devoured every book that is available for me to read.

I used to read a lot of romance books (because my mom used to have a lot of Nicholas Sparks pocket books) back then. And in the middle of all that, I was also reading middle-grade fantasy books, nonfiction (e.g., National Geographic magazines, Almanac, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, etc.), comics, and horror books. It was just recently when I discovered the wonderful world of manga (and even more recently, anime).

I’ve always known that manga have a large cult following different types of fans depending on its genre (e.g., yaoi, yuri, shoujo, and others). Being a long-time comic book reader, it was a bit confusing for me when I first started reading manga because of the reversed way of reading it. I know so many people who are quite fans of reading manga. Take for example, my brother — he reads a lot of manga online and I never really cared about it before until I met my boyfriend a couple of years back who asked me to try it. Being a wide-reader, I did try it, but I never really expected to go deep into this fandom.

The quarantine has absolutely turned me into what they call an Otaku, a person with consuming interests in manga and anime. In my side of the world, reading manga or watching anime is synonymous to a geek or a nerd, which I don’t quite understand. In my perspective, I am just reading another book or watching another series/film. It’s still reading, it’s still watching. That’s it.

So what made me continue reading manga? What really cemented my being an Otaku was when I fell in love with Tokyo Ghoul‘s characters. I am far from finished with the first arc because I have yet to complete the physical copies, but I am absolutely obsessed with this manga that I even started reading other titles like One-Punch Man, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and I recently preordered the Orange Collection Vol. 1 which I am really excited about. Hopefully it arrives this month. I also started reading Cardcaptor Sakura which has been my favorite anime when I was a kid.

Aside from reading manga, I also started watching anime. I started watching Sword Art Online, Erased (which I’ve already finished), and Your Lie in April. It’s been such a fun journey so far and I am absolutely looking forward to more manga to read and anime to watch.

How about you? Do you read manga or watch anime? Maybe you could recommend me something?

#TomeTopple TBR

Posted on 08/07/2020 by Lenn

Hey, everyone! Today I’ll be sharing with you guys my Tome Topple TBR which I am really excited about because I’ll be starting a new book series that has been on my shelf for three years now. I’ve seen and watched a lot of participants’ videos and Instagram posts in the previous rounds. Seeing and watching them read their tomes made me feel giddy and challenged to read the tomes from my shelf too. It’s Tome Topple Readathon’s 12th round already and I think Sam’s planning on hosting another one around November, so if this works, I’ll probably participate again then.

For those who do not know yet, the Tome Topple Readathon is a readathon where the main goal is to read as much books over 500 pages in two weeks! This readathon will run from August 8th to 21st (in your timezone). This readathon is founded by Sam from @thoughtsontomes and co-hosted by other bookish people in the book community. Continue reading →

Lenn of Spades ♠

Tag Archives: Books