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Home
Reviews
- Rating System
- Review Policy
- By Year
  - 2015 Books
  - 2016 Books
  - 2017
  - 2018
  - 2019
- Wrap-Ups
  - 2020 Wrap-Ups
  - 2021 Wrap Ups
Blog
About Me
- Contact

Reader | Writer | Chai Drinker

Personal

from within the pages of a book,

Charmaine

Forever falling in love with fictional men & never real ones

currently reading

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

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Charmaine

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What This Week •• Jan 29-Feb 4, 2023

What This Week •• Jan 29-Feb 4, 2023

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Fri • 31.03.2023 ❔: How do you decide what to

Fri • 31.03.2023
❔: How do you decide what to read next?

When I’m planning my TBRs, priority always happens in this order - work, personal, Bookstagram. Personal and Bookstagram really should switch places and I’m working on that.

Once I’ve picked my books, I plan them out using the #AngieWay method and do my best to stick to it. Things change sometimes but for the most part, it’s how I go through my reading list each month.

As best I can, I try to be a week ahead on my work reviews. Good planning sometimes has me finishing the book two weeks early, which is great.

Sometimes I miss the days when I could pick whatever I wanted whenever I felt like it, but structure has always worked for me and I’ve gotten to try a lot of things I wouldn’t normally pick up because of work reviews.

(Yes you might have seen this yesterday because IG messed up the scheduling 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️)

🏷️
#FlatlayToday #BookishFlatlay #BookFlatlay #BookstagramFlatlay #FlatlayPhotograhy #FlatlayLove #FlatlayOfTheDay #BeastsOfALittleLand #HotAndSourSuspects #TheOldWomanWithTheKnife #KappaQuartet #TheBookEaters #MikaInRealLife #TBRPlanning #UnreadBooks #TheDeathOfSallySong

~ how I read ~ I look all presentable and poised w

~ how I read ~
I look all presentable and poised when filming myself read but most of the time I’m actually slumped in some terrible position that will give me back pain later.

How do you sit/lay while reading?

🏷️
#BookstagramReels #HowIRead #ReadingPositions #AmReading #ReadingReels

Wed • 29.03.2023 ❔: How do you define “self-

Wed • 29.03.2023
❔: How do you define “self-care?”

For the longest time, I associated it with things like yoga, scented candles, expensive products and meditation. It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I realized it could look like saying “no” to events or giving myself time to do something other than homework or work.

Although I primarily do use fantastic smelling products for self-care now, it’s not the only thing I do.

Taking myself to dinner/movies, walking places, journaling in the morning, snuggling with Tabby, making a cup of tea, playing games on my Switch, agreeing to social events once in awhile - all of these count towards little bits of self care that add up to keep me healthy. Some are more exciting than others and not everything happens daily, but they make a difference.

Btw, all of these products from the Winter Pamper Box smell heavenly and feel so luxurious. Nothing calms and settles me for the night quite like these products. I can’t stop raving about them for good reason 💕

~ the problem resolved itself ~ I’m not saying t

~ the problem resolved itself ~
I’m not saying that I bought three books last week but I bought three books last week.

I have a review due for this weekend and it needs to be turned in but I haven’t even finished the book yet.

It’s not helping the stress I’m feeling as I try to turn in as much as possible before I go on vacation but I’m literally doing this to myself because my brain is puttering along and I’m barely keeping up at the moment. I need to finish this or it’ll screw over so many things.

All this to say, I’ve been tired and stressed since last week and I really need this vacation to just stop and relax for a bit before everything REVS UP again through to mid-June.

🏷️
#BookBuying #TheProblemSeemsToHaveResolvedItself #StressReading #BookstagramReels #BookToker

Mon • 27.03.2023 ❔: What do you do when sick?

Mon • 27.03.2023
❔: What do you do when sick?

#MiniBookReviews | The Overnight Guest & Seven Days In June

Found these photos in my Lightroom album of unposted pictures and realized I never said much about these books other than them being my Rona+ sick reads.

✨#TheOvernightGuest
A fantastic mystery that kept me guessing until the end. In between naps, headaches and a sore throat, I read this in a couple of days and was thankful for the distraction from my constant coughing.

I like to think that I didn’t get brain fog post-recovery because I was busy trying to solve a mystery while laying in bed.

✨ #SevenDaysInJune
One of the few romances I’ve truly enjoyed in its entirety with zero complaints about anything. In fact, it might be the only romance I can say that about.

This was a perfect balance of parenthood, romance, real life, and chronic pain rep. I welcomed learning about how someone deals with chronic pain in raw and honest ways, while also seeing how strong that person is for having to experience it daily.

~~~~~

Both these books were amazing, made it into my too books of 2022 which I never made a post about, and I would highly recommend them if you’re looking for something quick and highly engaging.

🏷️
#BookReview #BookBlogger #ReadingReview #BookstagramReview #BookstagrammerReviews #HeatherGudenkauf #TiaWilliams #RomanceNovel #ChronicPainRep #Mystery #24HourMystery #SecondChanceRomance

Fri • 24.03.2023 ❔: What’s your favorite gen

Fri • 24.03.2023
❔: What’s your favorite genre?

Here are some of the work books I’m reviewing up through June. We’ve got a mix of romance, fantasy, mystery, and historical to keep my reading diverse.

A couple of them have already been read with reviews written, waiting to be published with their respective packages. One is an ARC I’m reading before an interview next month. Others are slated for later dates and one is coming with me to Japan.

One of my favorite things about reading for work is how much more I’ve explored genres I don’t typically reach for - historical and lit fic. It’s also super fun to get my hands on highly anticipated ARCs like Yellowface (one of my most anticipated books of 2023) and Shanghai Immortals.

Though I don’t share full reviews here because they’re for work, I will hype up the ones I enjoyed.

For now, I’m still going to keep work reviews completely separate. It could change and I’m open to it, but that will be a careful decision if it were to happen.

See anything you’re excited to read or want to know more about?

🏷️
#FlatlayToday #BookishFlatlay #BookFlatlay #BookstagramFlatlay #FlatlayPhotograhy #FlatlayLove #FlatlayOfTheDay #Chlorine #AVenomDarkAndSweet #HappyPlace #TheAmericanRoommateExperiment #ShanghaiImmortal #TheGuest #Yellowface #TheMandarinRose

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