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I’d been holding out with my current ereader that has slowly developed a minor battery swelling issue for the past year but unfortunately I could not resist the most recent Kindle sale and took the plunge with the new Colorsoft version. Yes, I’m fully aware of the endless bad press and reviews that have been all over the place since its less than smooth launch. However, I’ve always enjoyed trying out fun new toys from my techie background and although I have limited use for the color edition, I really wanted to give it a try (I also tried out a test unit in Bestbuy soon after it launched as I was curious on how distracting the Kaleido 3 “screen door effect” was). Of course as part of every new kindle purchase, you can opt in for 3 months of free Kindle Unlimited which everyone should do. It’s fully free as long you cancel the trial before the 3-months are up (plus there’s an option to send you a reminder 3 days before the trial ends). One of my friends had also been enjoying her free months of Kindle Unlimited from the holiday season and after discussing some of her…

It seems like only yesterday when it was 2024, where does the time go? A new year means it’s time for new recaps so I’m back again compiling my top 5 2024 Most Pleasantly Surprising Reads (along with the Most Disappointing Reads that will be going up soon)! If you have already read them, also check out last years 2023 Most Pleasantly Surprising Reads list and 2023 Most Disappointing Reads list. Similar to last year, books on this list are not necessarily my favorite reads of the year but are instead those that I was most pleasantly surprised by. Whether the book exceeded my expectations (or I went in with no expectations), did a 180 turnaround mid-story, or was a lesser-known hidden gem, these books were those that I thought were noteworthy and impressive! Besides, I think it’s boring when best of lists are made up by too many sequels (looking at you Pierce Brown for writing to many amazing Red Rising entries) or book influencers hyping up the same popular artists they’ve done over and over again. Anyway disclaimer aside, here are my 2024 Most Pleasantly Surprising Reads! #5) A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston Over the last…

Slightly late because of the holiday season rush but 2024 was a great year of reading, easily the highest total number of books read as well as total number of pages. While I use both Goodreads and Storygraph for tracking my reads and libraries, each platform has their own pro’s and con’s and their annual wrap ups are no exception. Check out the my full 2024 wrap up’s below!Goodreads 2024 Wrap UpStorygraph 2024 Wrap Up Scores and Ratings: According to my Storygraph wrap-up that allows for half-point ratings similar to TheBookGrind, my average score for 2024 was 3.57 which is a pretty notable jump from 2023’s 3.24. Not that I’m going soft, but this past year I read quite a few more sequel/series entries vs the previous year, the most notable being Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga and Martha Wells’ Murderot Diaries (I technically also read three entries in Ben Aaronvitch’s Rivers of London series but I had much more mixed feelings about them compared to the other two series). Compared to previous years, 2024 was also a year that I focused heavily on working through my extensive ebook library holds and wish list tag that somehow still keeps growing…

I recently wrote about my 2023 Most Pleasantly Surprising Reads, therefore of course you know I would also highlight the five Most Disappointing Reads of 2023. Like my list for the most pleasantly surprising books, those mentioned here are not necessarily the worst or lowest rated books that I read of the year (though some definitely are). Sometimes a book may be questionable but at least it matches a less than good-looking marketing material or it fully knows it’s rubbish. Other books are those that look promising on the surface or have a lot going for them, yet are either not for me personally, have questionable execution, or take a nosedive over the course of the story. This list are those kind of books. As a disclaimer, these are mostly subjective opinions and simply are what I thought about each book. By no means do I judge anyone who enjoyed these books, we can agree to disagree. With that warning aside, let’s get into my 2023 Most Disappointing Reads! #5) Happy Place by Emily Henry Easily my most controversial pick of the five books, this is one of those “hear me out” picks where I try to explain myself before…

Looking back on 2023 (admittedly quite late oops), I thought it would be nice to revisit last year’s reads and reflect on some of my top surprise reads that I stumbled upon. A lot of other book reviewers and influencers tend to do the “best reads of the year” type of recaps but that’s kind of boring since you can just look at whichever books I rated highly and I would only be summarizing what I already wrote about. Instead of that, I’ll be running through the top five most unexpectedly good reads or those that I was pleasantly surprised by. These are not necessarily my top five favorite reads of the year, but they are those that were distinctively refreshing for one way or another or managed to blow away whatever expectation I had for them initially. And with that, let’s get started! #5) The Midnight Library by Matt Haig I debated putting this one on the list at all considering how well-known and popular it is, hence why it’s at the bottom of my list. A perfect blend of contemporary fiction drama covering dark topics through a whimsical tone, the Midnight Library has mass appeal and is a…