Week in Review (12)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

I haven’t been reading much lately as I’ve been super busy with work, studying for the LSAT and running my Etsy store. I’m so grateful for all the sales I’ve been making and people I’ve been connecting with. I’ve added so many stunning products to my store, as shown in the picture below. Feel free to check out my store and see if there’s any accessories that catch your eye! I’ve surely had an incredible time curating these stunning products.

Week in Review (11)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

Just wanted to start things off by saying how grateful I am for all the sales I’ve been making in my new Etsy store. I cannot wait until I have more time to fully focus on my store and see it reach new heights. Feel free to check out my store and see if there’s any accessories that catch your eye!

This past week I was finally able to enjoy The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and write my review of this book. Feel free to check out my review whenever you have time! Hope your week was enjoyable as well.

Week in Review (10)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

Some super exciting news! I made a few more sales in my new Etsy store this past week. So grateful to everyone who took the time to purchase something. I will be adding some more accessories (phone charms and necklaces) to my store soon so keep an eye out for that if it’s something you think you may be interested in.

In terms of reading, I’ve still been working my way through Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga. I’ve been so busy this past week that I’ve found it hard to find time to read but hopefully I find some more time soon.

Since I am studying for the LSAT, I found a new podcast to listen to on Apple Podcasts called The PowerScore LSAT PodCast. I just recently started listening to it but it’s been quite informative so far.

Hope you all had a great and productive week as well!

Week in Review (9)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

Some exciting news is that I made my first two sales in my new Etsy store this past week! I am super grateful that someone took the time to purchase accessories from my store and I was so excited to ship out the order. I have also added a new product (the Y2K beaded necklace) so feel free to check out my store whenever you get a chance.

Other than that, this week has been pretty chill for me. I’ve been busy with work and studying for the LSAT which I am planning to write in March of 2022. What have you been up to this past week?

Week in Review (8)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

First things first, I started an Etsy store where I sell super cute jewelry and accessories (as shown in the photo below). Feel free to check out my store if you’d like and maybe you’ll find something you like to complement your style!

This past week has been quite busy for me, what with working full-time and studying daily for the LSAT, which I’m planning to write early next year, all while trying to find time to relax, catch up on my favourite shows and make time to read all my books.

I recently wrote a review on After Anna by Lisa Scottoline, which you can read here.

I’m currently reading Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga. It is a very eye-opening book so you must stay tuned for my review of this book.

I also did some book shopping yesterday at Indigo Chapters. The books I bought can be seen in the photos below. I cannot wait to start on them once I finish the one I’m currently reading. I’m most excited to read The Midnight Library and The Silent Patient as I’ve heard nothing but good things about these two books. Also, I got the best deal on The Dilemma, Five Little Words and The New Girl as Indigo Chapters had a 3 for $10 deal on these books. What a bargain! Have you read any of these books? Let me know in the comments below.

Also, I bought a new desk from Amazon and changed the setup of my desk as I was getting quite bored of my other desk, which was hindering my productivity, and I felt like I needed a change.

Here’s a quick snap I took while studying for the LSAT today.

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline ★★★★☆

Let me give you a summary taken directly from Goodreads before I get into my review:

Dr Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, is finally content after marrying Maggie. And they’re both thrilled when Maggie gets an unexpected chance to be a mother to Anna, the daughter she once thought she’d lost forever. But when seventeen-year-old Anna arrives, everything changes – and the darkest turn of events will shatter their lives in ways no one could have imagined.

Goodreads

Now let me start off by saying that I bought this book from a used bookstore in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada this past summer for $1. The book is in perfect condition and I can’t believe what a bargain I got! This made me realize that I need to go to used bookstores more often, not just because of the bargain I got on the book but rather how relaxing and therapeutic walking through a bookstore teeming with books in every corner you look is.

Here’s a photo I took at the used bookstore in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada where I purchased this book from (it obviously was not in this section of the bookstore since this novel is not a contemporary romance novel, although one could make the argument that it is). I would place this book as a psychological thriller.

For over half of the book, I literally could not put it down. Any time during the day when I had free time, I picked this book up and read it for as long as I could. Scottoline has an incredible grasp of how to write a thriller. The character development was my absolute favourite part, as well as the back and forth between the present and the past in each chapter, which was enthralling.

I felt as though the book kind of fell flat after the major plot twist was revealed closer to the end of the book, which I will not delve into, and this is why I gave it a 4/5 stars. I would still highly recommend it though. I find it somewhat difficult to write reviews for thriller / mystery novels as I don’t want to give too much away because that will ruin the surprise(s) so I’ll leave it there. Let me know in the comments if this book is something that you’d be interested in reading.

Week in Review (7)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

This week’s Sunday Post will mainly consist of me talking about what book I recently finished reading and what I’m looking forward to reading next.

As I talked about in my previous post, I have finally decided to come back to my blog, which I have missed dearly, as I have the time (somewhat) to write posts on a regular basis. Let’s see how long I can keep this up for.

I recently finished After Anna by Lisa Scottoline (which I bought for $1 at a used bookstore….what a bargain!) and I am in the process of writing a book review for this book so stay tuned for that!

I cannot wait to get into reading Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga and The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. I bought these two books from Indigo Chapters a couple of weeks back. And of course I’ll be writing a review for each once I finish reading it.

Let me know what books you’ve recently read / are looking forward to reading, I’d love to hear!

It’s been a while…..

…..since I’ve posted on this blog. I honestly really missed it and considering I finally have time to read regularly again, I think I’m going to get back to writing book reviews. I am literally flying through books these days despite working full-time and studying for the LSAT. I mean, when you’re reading a good book, you really just can’t put it down.

Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

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Purchase this book on Amazon: Unraveling Oliver

The following is a short summary of this novel from Goodreads:

I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her.

Oliver Ryan, handsome, charismatic, and successful, has long been married to his devoted wife, Alice. Together they write and illustrate award-winning children’s books; their life together one of enviable privilege and ease—until, one evening after a delightful dinner, Oliver delivers a blow to Alice that renders her unconscious, and subsequently beats her into a coma.

In the aftermath of such an unthinkable event, as Alice hovers between life and death, the couple’s friends, neighbours, and acquaintances try to understand what could have driven Oliver to commit such a horrific act. As his story unfolds, layers are peeled away to reveal a life of shame, envy, deception, and masterful manipulation.

This was an exceptional novel, and the summary of the book is exactly what made me want to read it. I hadn’t read any reviews of the book before I read it, so I thought why not write one and maybe persuade a fellow reader to give it a go?! Unraveling Oliver was an intriguing thriller that outlines the life of the main character, Oliver Ryan, and everything that led him to that one night when he assaulted his wife for the first time. 

This novel had decent character development, but some characters could have been more thoroughly described to allow for a better analysis of their characteristics. The novel itself was definitely suspenseful, but not necessarily a thriller though. I’d say that I was captivated from the start, as Oliver is a very intriguing character. The novel outlines his childhood bit by bit, all leading up to his future circumstances in a sort of puzzle as you try to piece together the aspects of his childhood that ultimately lead to his future. The chapters alternate between different time periods, as well as characters, from their point of view which definitely kept the book going for me. these alternating chapters was very interesting and I found myself looking forward to reading the certain point of view of specific characters.

All in all, this is a great book for individuals who enjoy reading psychological mysteries, and enjoy the alternating chapters. If you’re interested in this book, you can purchase it on Amazon and if you use this link to purchase the book, I’ll make a small commission from it. Thank you very much for reading, I truly appreciate it. 💕

 

High School Semester In Review

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It’s been a while, but I’m back! I’ve been busying myself with school. Specifically, my finals and final tasks (summatives).

I’ve officially finished my first semester of grade 11. My courses were physics, data management, French, and accounting. I live in Canada, so my school is semestered. One semester I have four courses everyday and four different courses the next semester. At first, I thought I may be overwhelmed with the heavy focus on math-oriented subjects, but it was manageable.

I’ll go through each of my courses and explain the good and bad parts of each one.

Physics was pretty rough, not going to lie. Some units were fairly easy, and some were challenging. It was mostly lab experiments and tests. We had one project where we had to fashion an instrument to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. That was the only fun part of the class. My performance in the class overall was SO much better than I expected, but still not as good as I wanted it to be before I started the semester: 91%. I definitely will not be taking physics again because I know this is not for me. It’s far too logical.

Data management wasn’t the best either. The topics covered were sometimes confusing, like permutations. I had to do a lot of problem-solving questions involving them, and boy are they weird but fun at the same time. Many of the topics were straight-forward too, like analyzing graphs and finding the relationship between two variables. Unfortunately, my bad tests outweighed the good ones. Before my exam, I had a 91%. The exam was brutal and I just barely scraped up a 79%. My mark dropped one percent as a result, so I finished with a 90%. Again, it exceeded my expectations (as they’d been drastically lowered as I made my way through the course).

I love French. This year, it was different. No more memorizing and regurgitating. “Plug and chug”, that’s what my physics teacher calls it. Now, I had to analyze books and movies but in French. It was new, but I liked it. I was actually using my brain for once. This all came at a cost of course. My mark dropped this year to a 90% from a 94%. But I will definitely take French again for Grade 12, because if I’ve taken it for seven years so far, I think I can do one last hurrah.

Accounting turned out to be barely math-related at all, mostly just understanding. Once you get the primary concepts, you can pretty much teach yourself the rest of the course. I put in minimal effort, as did many of my classmates, and they too were successful. I passed this course with flying colours, a 97% to be exact. I will be taking accounting again next year because I now know it’s something I’m good at.

This semester, I have anthro/psych/socio, law, international business, and English. A very heavy focus on humanities this semester, so we’ll see how this goes. I’ll be sure to keep you updated.

Thank you for reading 🙂