Bangkok Book Haul

Posted on 02/26/2023 by Lenn

Of course, our trip wouldn’t be complete if I don’t drop by bookstores and shop for books. I knew that they have one of my favorite bookstores when travelling in Asia (I haven’t travelled outside of Asia yet, but you get my point), Books Kinokuniya, so it was instantly on our itinerary! But we also dropped by Open House at Central Embassy Mall which I learned from Kathryn Bernardo’s Instagram post when she went to Thailand last year. Ever since I saw her post about this beautiful bookstore, I knew that I wanted to visit it and that’s why I convinced my husband to spend our first anniversary in Thailand.

Open House is located at the 6th floor of Central Embassy mall. Take note, they occupy the WHOLE floor. They sell different kinds of books from educational, cultural, memoirs, and fiction. They also have cafe’s and restaurant’s inside the bookstore! It was really a cool place to visit if you’re a bookworm like me. Oh, and they also offer art materials for painting, drawing, etc. Continue reading →

Book Review: Time is a Mother by Ocean Voung

Posted on 02/22/2023 by Lenn

Title: Time Is A Mother

Author: Ocean Voung

Publication Date: April 5, 2022

Number of Pages: 128

Format: E-book

Publisher: Penguin Press

Genre: Contemporary, Poetry

Synopsis:

In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother’s death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong contends with personal loss, the meaning of family, and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave, and propulsive, Vuong’s poems circle fragmented lives to find both restoration as well as the epicenter of the break.

The author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds, winner of the 2016 Whiting Award, the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize, and a 2019 MacArthur fellow, Vuong writes directly to our humanity without losing sight of the current moment. These poems represent a more innovative and daring experimentation with language and form, illuminating how the themes we perennially live in and question are truly inexhaustible. Bold and prescient, and a testament to tenderness in the face of violence, Time Is a Mother is a return and a forging forth all at once.
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Book Review: The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan

Posted on 02/21/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Nanny

Author: Gilly Macmillan

Publication Date: May 1, 2019

Number of Pages: 432

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Century

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Synopsis:

Jocelyn loves her nanny more than her own mother – until the night that the nanny disappears. Jo is seven years old when it happens and never gets over the loss.

Now, thirty years later, Jo is returning to her family home with her daughter in tow – just as human remains are pulled out of the house’s lake.

Then there’s a knock on the door. And a woman claiming to be her nanny stands outside.

Is she who she says she is?
Can she be trusted?
And what really happened on that fateful night all those years ago?

Sometimes the truth hurts so much you’d rather hear the lie.
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Book Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Posted on 02/20/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Author: Stuart Turton

Publication Date: February 8, 2018

Number of Pages: 511

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Raven Books

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Synopsis:

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath…
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Book Review: Woom by Duncan Ralston

Posted on 01/31/2023 by Lenn

Title: Woom

Author: Duncan Ralston

Publication Date: August 6, 2016

Number of Pages: 131

Publisher: Shadow Work Publishing

Format: Ebook

Genre: Extreme Horror, Splatterpunk

Synopsis:

“I believe pain lingers,” Angel said. “Do I believe in spirits? In the supernatural? Probably not.”

The Lonely Motel holds many dark secrets… and Room 6 just might possess the worst of them all.

Angel knows all about pain. His mother died in this room. He’s researched its history. Today he’s come back to end it, no matter the cost, once and for all.

Shyla, a plus-sized prostitute, thinks the stories Angel tells her can’t be true. Secrets so vile, you won’t want to let them inside you.

But the Lonely Motel doesn’t forget. It doesn’t forgive. And it always claims its victim.
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Book Review: American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower

Posted on 01/25/2023 by Lenn

Title: American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper

Author: Daniel Stashower

Publication Date: September 6, 2022

Number of Pages: 368

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Format: Audiobook

Genre: Non-fiction, True Crime

Synopsis:

Boston had its Strangler. California had the Zodiac Killer. And in the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland had the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.

On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.

Terror gripped the city. Amid the growing uproar, Cleveland’s besieged mayor turned to his newly-appointed director of public safety: Eliot Ness. Ness had come to Cleveland fresh from his headline-grabbing exploits in Chicago, where he and his band of “Untouchables” led the frontline assault on Al Capone’s bootlegging empire. Now he would confront a case that would redefine his storied career.

Award-winning author Daniel Stashower shines a fresh light on one of the most notorious puzzles in the annals of crime, and uncovers the gripping story of Ness’s hunt for a sadistic killer who was as brilliant as he was cool and composed, a mastermind who was able to hide in plain sight. American Demon reconstructs this ultimate battle of wits between a hero and a madman.
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Book Review: Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

Posted on 01/23/2023 by Lenn

Title: Sour Candy

Author: Kealan Patrick Burke

Publication Date: November 13, 2015

Number of Pages: 107

Publisher: Independent

Format: Ebook

Genre: Horror, ThrillerBoo

Synopsis:

At first glance, Phil Pendleton and his son Adam are just an ordinary father and son, no different from any other. They take walks in the park together, visit county fairs, museums, and zoos, and eat together overlooking the lake. Some might say the father is a little too accommodating given the lack of discipline when the child loses his temper in public. Some might say he spoils his son by allowing him to set his own bedtimes and eat candy whenever he wants. Some might say that such leniency is starting to take its toll on the father, given how his health has declined.

What no one knows is that Phil is a prisoner, and that up until a few weeks ago and a chance encounter at a grocery store, he had never seen the child before in his life.

But you’ll also learn about me — and the worst thing I’ve ever done.
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Book Review: I’m a Therapist and My Patient is In Love With a Pedophile

Posted on 01/21/2023 by Lenn

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Title: I’m a Therapist and My Patient is In Love With a Pedophile

Publication Date: July 15, 2019

Number of Pages: 177

Publisher: –

Format: Ebook

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Psychology

Synopsis:

The highly anticipated sequel to I’m a Therapist, and My Patient is Going to be the Next School Shooter

I’ve counseled the most chilling criminals… A young inmate who fell in love with a pedophile. A man who intentionally infected strangers with HIV. A patient with an extremely unusual addiction. A sociopath who wanted to have a conscience. A conspiracy theorist who harassed victims of a terrorist attack.

And the patient who still haunts my dreams: A boy sold into human trafficking.

In these files, you’ll learn about the the psychology behind the world’s most dangerous criminals.

But you’ll also learn about me — and the worst thing I’ve ever done.
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Book Review: The Ex by Alafair Burke

Posted on 01/20/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Ex

Author: Alafair Burke

Publication Date: January 26, 2016

Number of Pages: 384

Publisher: Faber Faber

Format: Paperback

Genre: Crime, Legal Thriller

Synopsis:

Twenty years ago she ruined his life. Now she has the chance to save it.

Widower Jack Harris has resisted the dating scene ever since the shooting of his wife Molly by a fifteen-year-old boy three years ago. An early morning run along the Hudson River changes that when he spots a woman in last night’s party dress, barefoot, enjoying a champagne picnic alone, reading his favorite novel. Everything about her reminds him of what he used to have with Molly. Eager to help Jack find love again, his best friend posts a message on a popular website after he mentions the encounter. Days later, that same beautiful stranger responds and invites Jack to meet her in person at the waterfront. That’s when Jack’s world falls apart.

Olivia Randall is one of New York City’s best criminal defense lawyers. When she hears that her former fiancé, Jack Harris, has been arrested for a triple homicide—and that one of the victims was connected to his wife’s murder—there is no doubt in her mind as to his innocence. The only question is who would go to such great lengths to frame him—and why?

For Olivia, representing Jack is a way to make up for past regrets, to absolve herself of guilt from a tragic decision, a secret she has held for twenty years. But as the evidence against him mounts, she is forced to confront her doubts. The man she knew could not have done this. But what if she never really knew him?
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Book Review: Melvina’s Therapy by A. Rasen

Posted on 01/19/2023 by Lenn

Title: Melvina’s Therapy

Author: A. Rasen

Publication Date: May 4, 2017

Number of Pages: 81

Publisher: LINE Webtoon

Format: Ebook

Genre: Horror, Manhwa, Webtoon

Synopsis:

Anxiety, loneliness, depression… with a regular therapy you can deal with these issues, but Melvina’s Therapy is about something deeper: creepy secrets remaining in the darkest space of your mind, waiting for you…
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