Happy New Year!

 Hello everyone and Happy New Year to you all

I've missed writing in this blog so much, I've been busy with work and other stuff.

Remember the last time I said that my reading goal was 100 books? Well, I have managed to read up to 95 books which I'm so proud of.

I've discovered a lot of new genres of books, my favorite is "Dark Romance", I have known new people who are fond of reading like me. I've even joined a book club! 

One of my favorite reads last year was "The Deception Trilogy" by Rina Kent. I had such a blast reading this series, I have sobbed my eyes out and could never move on. I got attached to the characters and I had a blast reading about their son's story in "God of Wrath" book.

I also managed to grow my physical TBR, since I have access to my adult money now I was able to buy a lot of books.

I bought Haunting Adeline, King of Wrath, Better than the Movies, and Verity.

One of the most memorable moments was when my best friend got me the third book of the Bridgerton series "An Offer From A Gentleman".

For this year I really wanna focus on quality more than quantity so I set my reading goal to 50 books. I really wanna discover a lot of new genres like Fantasy, I also wanna buy more physical books.

Recently I purchased two Emily Henry books and I'm so excited to read them

That's it for today's blog, I hope I'll find time to be more active here and talk more about books

How is my book challenge is going? 📚

 I've decided to read 100 📚 in 2023

To be honest, when I wrote down this New Year's resolution, it seemed too unrealistic since I haven't read any book in 2022.

But my life motto is "never say never"

. I have always been a bookwarm, I've enjoyed reading my entire life. But for the past few years, my studies and stress have both kept me busy from reading. 

I once had a Wattpad phase, I read up to 200 fanfics from 2013 till 2016, esepcially during my directioner era.

Lately, my friend started reading books, and frankly she encouraged me to start reading again. At first I was a bit hesitant but when I started my first book I knew there was no going back.

The first book that got me back into reading was "The Hating Game" by Sally Thorne. It was after I watched the movie adaptation, I was so curious about the book. I heard some mixed reviews online, but I personally loved it!

It was enemies to lovers, who work at a publishing company so it's an office romance, it was the perfect romcom for me.

But then I dicovered "BookTok", which is basically a book lovers community on TikTok. I found my people in there, they recommended to me a lot of books and introduced me to a lot of new tropes.

My friend recommended to me the "Twisted Series" by Ana Huang, she insisted that we buddy read it together and since it was so hyped on TikTok I said why not?

I started with Twsited Love, which was my least favourite and then Twisted Hate which was so damn good I skipped Twisted Games but then I came back and read it, and it was my favorite Rhys is still the best book boyfriend ever and then I finished with Twisted Lies which was not bad tbh.

So today is June 9th 2023, I'm currently reading the "Deception  Trilogy" by Rina Kent and I'm enjoying it so much. It's a Dark /Mafia Romance and I'm hooked, I highly recommend it!
I'm on  my 46th book right now and I'm right on track I'm doing great tbh, I'm back on goodreads btw and everything is going according to my plan.

 I've never felt so statisfied and self-fulfilled in my entire life, it's like I finally found something missing and I'm not ready to let it go...

A book that stayed with me

 So my New Year’s resolution is to read 100 books in 2023. And let me tell you something, I’ve been taking it so seriously ever since!

So I’ve decided to read 10 books a month, and it’s been a hell of a journey. So far I’ve read 7 books, all romance of course, but only one book stayed with me.

It’s The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. It was highly recommended by the BookTok community, so I decided to read it.

I mean what to say except that it was fairly rated; from the storyline to the characters it’s the perfect romcom if you’re into them like me.

So the book is about a woman “Stella” who hires an escort to teach her all about intimacy if there is another word for it. Stella feels like she’s not good in physical relationships, so she thought that professional help might help her.

So the escort (Micheal) falls for her the moment he sees her, and he finds himself insanely attracted to her brain, so it was more than a physical relationship for him.

What I enjoyed about this book is that Stella, even though she’s autistic doesn’t let it get in her way of true happiness and therefore marriage.

Her first interaction with Micheal felt indeed special for her, she never had this feeling with any other guy before, he was very gentle with her and understood her needs without judging her.

Aside from the story, the book felt so real, and even though we don’t get to see their povs, I wish I did, and the smut was so good. Like I’d give it a solid 4/5 smut rating.

Also, I loved how the writer brought up Vietnamese culture through Micheal’s family, the way they sit and eat at dinner or the way his grandma watches TV, and how Micheal has Martial Arts skills.

 

The fact that Micheal looked like a k-drama actor in my head made me love him even more, and the way he treats Stella helped her get over her sexual problems. 

My opinion at first, I thought he just wanted to do it for the money, I mean that’s his job after all but then he admitted that he fell for her and the way he can’t stop thinking about her made me swoon even more for him.

So let me get back to Stella, one of my favorite female characters that I have read this year, she’s an independent, fierce woman who’s not afraid to express her opinion and loves her job more than anything in the whole world. She never thought in her life that she needed a man to be content because she was so on her own but she just wanted to make her parents happy by meeting a decent guy and marrying him afterwise.

In conclusion, I wish I could read this book again for the first time and get to enjoy that feeling of great enthusiasm and arousal!

Clean girl aesthetic 🧼

I mean who of us doesn't want to smell like a bar of soap and clean sheets? 
Who of us doesn't dream of the clearest, brightest skin?
The healthiest hair and the smoothest skin?

I created a board on Pinterest and I'm going to list some tips in order to achieve the clean girl aesthetic!

1) Scrub at least once a week:

2) Spoil your skin with the best skin care products:

3) Hair mask once a week:

4) Moisturize always:

5) Drink lots of water:

 

and that's it 🤎

Fall movies 🍂

Listen to this 🤎

 This morning, the weather started getting cold and it feels like fall. The trees started to look yellow, and you can finally see brown leaves on the streets and the breeze makes it even better. 

1) When Harry met Sally (1989):

Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.

I just love this movie and everything about it, I'm a huge fan of Meg Ryan and this is my favoutite movie of hers. The storyline is so simple yet so entertaining. I highly recommend this movie to add to your fall watchlist.

2) Hocus Pocus (1993):

A curious youngster moves to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.

All I can say that it's a classic halloween movie for me, it's unbelievably funny, the cast is amazing and the whole atmosphere screams fall. I cannot wait for the sequel!

3) Practical Magic (1998):

Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love.

I mean it's a fall movie about magic and witches and it starres Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Like I had no choice but enjoy every bit of it, and let me tell you how good Nicole looks with ginger hair, a bomb!  

4) The Addams Family (1991):

Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.

A classic, funny and amusing and very quotable. And Morticia Addams is what I want to be when I grow old, she's classy, she has poise and the smokey eyes!

5) Dead poets society (1989):

Maverick teacher John Keating uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression.

I feel blessed after I saw this movie for the first time as an adult, so I can be able to understand every aspect of it.

It's not your typical cozy fall movie, yes you can see fall through their uniform outfits and autumn leaves falling down. This movie is not overrated at all, and it deserves all the hype, it's just not your typical happy movie and the happy characters and ending.

Enemies to Lovers movies

I've always loved enemies to lovers trope in romantic movies, the tension and the chemistry between the leads makes the storyline much better.

Enemies to lovers trope is when two characters start off as enemies and, over the course of a book or series, end up in a romantic relationship. These 'enemies' have to overcome their differences or misconceptions about each other, and in the process, they fall in love.

Pride and prejudice (2005):

Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice.

Hands down to my favourite enemies to lovers film, the rich proud gentleman who falls for the poor plain girl. They both deny their feelings and hate each other, but then Mr Darcy falls harder and confesses his feelings to her despite her social status. 

The rain scene gets me everytime, the tension, the words and the rain made the scene more significant scenes in the film. I'll never get over the way he felt when she rejected him.

Miss Elizabeth. I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment. I came to Rosings with the single object of seeing you... I had to see you. I have fought against my better judgment, my family's expectations, the inferiority of your birth by rank and circumstance. All these things I am willing to put aside and ask you to end my agony.

How to lose a guy in 10 days (2003):

Benjamin Barry is an advertising executive and ladies' man who, to win a big campaign, bets that he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days

Little did he know, that woman was writing an article about losing a guy in 10 days. The hatred game they both palyed was full of sexual chesmitry, along with a bit of comedy. 

The main leads have insane chesmitry between them, her plan to make him hate her didn't go with his plan of making her fall for him.

I can't describe how funy the situations they both got themselves in, but at the end they fall so hard for each other.

The Ugly Truth (2009):

An uptight television producer takes control of a morning show segment on modern relationships hosted by a misogynistic man.

I can't blame the protagonist for hating him, he was very sexist, arrogant and very misogynistic. The way he talks about women and the awy he treats them is very degrating and awful. 

However,  Heigl as usual is very good, she is made for this type of movies and Butler is a real surprise, he did excellent in his very first romantic comedy. In conclusion, The Ugly Truth is a very enjoyable comedy for men and women.

The Hating game (2021):

Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against cold and efficient nemesis Joshua, a rivalry that is complicated by her growing attraction to him.

Hands down to my favourite recent discovery, I know it's based on a book with the same name but I didn't read it. So Lucy is a bookworm but Joshua is not, they disagree on the slightest, tiniest little things. They call each other the worst names, flip and mock each other fun.

They work together and they are the exact opposite of the other. But they do have something in common: they are both very ambitious, so things take a turn when they are competing for the same job.

Both of the leads have insane chesmitry that is quite enjoyable throughout the film. I recommend this movie, you'll enjoy it so much!

27 dresses (2008):

After serving as a bridesmaid 27 times, a young woman wrestles with the idea of standing by her sister's side as her sibling marries the man she's secretly in love with.

So the main lead loves wedding and is obsessed with them, on the other hand the male lead hates weddings and everything about them. And he finds out about her double life and decides to expose her while pretending to write about her in the journal.

She hated his guts, she found him really nosy and annoying and then their relationship develops into a strange friendship and then they fall for each other. I find their cute love-hate relationship so entertaining and I highly recommend this movie!