Who needs wrap-ups when one can have newbie posts, right? Riiiight? [The wrap-ups are coming. Winterish.] Truth be told, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of you are already pretty annoyed by my excessive purchase behaviour and these posts. I kind of feel like one of those BookTubers who have massive book hauls every (other) week or so, bragging about their new pretty books without ever reading them. I just realised that’s pretty much me – only I write monthly posts …

Last year, I had exactly ten books on my first read favourites 2013 shelf this time around. This year, however, there are only five. Therefore, I included my five favourite four star novels as well …

I’m pretty sure that I won’t end up on some beach this summer, especially since I’m currently considering extending my internship, meaning I will probably work till October. Furthermore, I’m not the beachy kind of girl. I really wanted to go to Iceland this summer, but that won’t be happening now. Therefore, this is more or less a list of books I would take with me, if I were going anywhere …

First of all, I’m a very slow reader, which plays into this. The last time I checked, which was quite some time ago, I read about 50 pages per hour, give or take, depending on the genre and the layout. This means that I need at least a couple of hours to finish a novel, which is totally fine by me. I just like to take my time so I can truly delve into the different worlds and imagine, analyse, and decipher everything. I’m an aficionada …

Yiiiihaaaa, I did it! For the first time this year, I managed to reach my goal of reducing my TBR pile by two books a month. However, that doesn’t mean that I suddenly became abstinent. Oh no, mind you, it was just another crazy month of getting way too many books. However, I also read a ton of books – probably more than I ever read before …

Oh, hiya! Just that you know, I’m still alive! Well, sort of. I’m dead tired these days and I can’t believe the first half two thirds of May are already over. Anyway, I think it’s time I told you what’s going on in my life right now so you won’t worry about my absence (you probably haven’t noticed it, as little as I blog in general) …

Let’s face it: no matter how many people recommended it to me, telling me that I would love it, in the end, it just wasn’t for me. They weren’t wrong; the premise of this novel promises everything I love: great world building, an interesting heroine, a mesmerising love interest, who seems to be just how I like my male characters (dark, brooding, mysterious, more or less evil, et al.), and a fascinating plot. Unfortunately, after a strong start, the story began to drag on. Too many flat secondary characters and flash backs as well as a relationship dynamic that wasn’t as intriguing as I hoped it to be sucked the thrill right out of the story. All in all, I feel like the novel wasn’t able to fulfil its potential because one book was not enough to round out all the now unfortunately half-baked aspects . . .