Tag Archives: month in review

Best of… May 2019 @Orendabooks @nholten

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I had originally decided to include this new feature in my monthly wrap ups, but I just felt there were too many facts squeezed into one little post and the whole purpose of putting my favorite reads in the spotlight was lost. So this is me giving those favorites their well deserved extra attention! I had a LOT of fantastic reads in May, all worth mentioning so brace yourself for a long post. But there was one title that stood out above the rest, an easy choice for this month’s favorite. Did you guess already which one? Without further delay, May 2019’s favorite is… *drumroll*

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Call Me Star Girl by Louise Beech!! I can’t believe this is only my first experience with her work, but it most definitely won’t be my last. What an absolutely fantastic read!

What I said in my review:

“The writing style is absolutely wonderful of course, but it is the characters who steal the show in Call Me Star Girl. Louise Beech should receive an award for being able to create such fascinating characters that are both flawed, strong and essentially unlikeable, but are able to win over your heart anyway.”

“Subtle twists and turns are incorporated in such a way that builds the tension and suspense without even realizing it; throwing new shocking information at you before you are getting comfortable with what you already know.”

Click here for my full review

Continue reading →

Month In Review: May 2019

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May turned out to be another busy month and I’m actually surprised that I was able to read the amount I did. I’m still not sure how that happened! I won two Instagram giveaways (first time that ever happened!) and they arrived in time for the bookhaul post I shared on Saturday. A spoiler of what I got below together with my crochet puppy Manchee.

But May was basically mostly about baking for me, as I had promised to prepare all the desserts for our niece’s fifteenth birthday (similar importance as a ‘sweet sixteen’ in the US). Things were going to be kept informal, but I wanted to make a variety of sweets anyway… Since I love baking in the first place, and it was a great excuse to try new things. 😉 Below a few photos! The first is of a three-layer birthday cake I made from scratch, which definitely came out better than expected even though it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. On the right a variety of cupcakes with buttercream decoration (banana-chocolate, coconut-pineapple and vanilla-cream cheese flavored). Below a photo on how part of the dessert table was set up, where you can see the other things I made including fudgy brownie bites with mint buttercream, brownie and vanilla cakepops and Argentinian alfajores (sandwich cookies with dulce de leche) in three different colors.

I definitely had a lot of fun making all of these, although I ended up exhausted after four days of baking. xD And with the weather being pretty shitty and cold, I ended up catching a virus that same night of the birthday and I’ve been struggling with the flu ever since. Fingers crossed it will be gone soon! I definitely see lots of curling up under a blanket with a steaming cup of tea or coffee in the near future.

Now to the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in May: 23
  • Total number of books read this year: 113
  • Total number of pages read in May: 7.234
  • Total number of pages read this year: 37.184

May turned out to be a pretty good reading month. Not only did I get a new 5 star read, but I also had a further 7! books with an almost perfect rating! Four books did end up having a very low rating and sadly I had another DNF, but overall I’m still happy with the books I was able to read.

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Best of… April 2019 @peterswanson3 @amazonpub @theravenangel

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I had originally decided to include this new feature in my monthly wrap ups, but I just felt there were too many facts squeezed into one little post and the whole purpose of putting my favorite reads in the spotlight was lost. So this is me giving those favorites their well deserved extra attention! I had no new 5 star reads in April, but I did have three titles that came pretty darn close and all three were fantastic. Picking just one winner was so SO hard! But I did it, so without further delay, April 2019’s favorite is… *drumroll*

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Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson!! I’m definitely happy I joined the @criminallygoodbookclub on Instagram and read this story… It doesn’t happen often that a story manages to surprise me this much. What a read!

What I said in my review:

“Before She Knew Him is well written, suspenseful and has an enormous plot twist bomb towards the end that will leave you with your mouth hanging wide open.”

“This story also packs a HUGE surprise you won’t see coming at all… And I love it when a story is able to mislead me so well I actually yelled ‘WHAT?!?!’ when I stumbled across the reveal. If you enjoy the genre, Before She Knew Him is definitely a story not to miss.”

Click here for my full review

Two other stories received an almost perfect rating, one historical fiction read with a hint of the surreal set in Mexico and the other a mythology retelling set before the Troyan War. In the order I’ve read them:

What I said in my review:

“With an air of the writing style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Murmur Of Bees tells us the story of a wealthy land owner family and how the appearance of the mysterious Simonopio both saved and changed their lives forever. The writing is lush and wonderful and will truly transport you to a different time and country… It’s a story of love, joy, sadness and desperation; a story of different generations, family and a country damaged by war and the 1918 influenza outbreak. ”

“Both Simonopio and his bees and the folklore tales incorporated into stories are incorporated in such a way that they create a perfect balance with the rest of the plot and they give The Murmur Of Bees an unique touch. The result is a complex and enchanting story and a journey any fan of the genre will enjoy undertaking.”

Click here for my full review

What I said in my review:

“I loved the fact that the story doesn’t focus on just one character, but instead offers us multiple views and stories to treasure. This givesSong Of Sacrifice a multidimensional and rich feel and definitely added to my positive experience with this story. Gods and humans alike play a role in this story, and I think descriptions and historical setting are spot on.”

“Song Of Sacrifice is part of a series, and book one doesn’t actually get to the point of the Troyan war yet, but reading about the (lesser known) years leading up to the war is just as fascinating. Fans of historical fiction and Greek mythology retellings will love spending time with this story.”

Click here for my full review

Have you read any of these titles above? What did you think of them? What were your favorite reads in April?

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Month In Review: April 2019

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April turned out to be a busy month and I’m actually surprised that I was able to read the amount I did. It was a month of ups and downs, especially with Delilah Bard being missing for no less than eleven days before she returned to me safely… I wasn’t really motivated to read or blog during the days she was gone and it shows. On the brighter side, I had a lot of fun with the O.W.L.s Readathon this year (the Twitter events were such a great bonus!). I hauled a huge stack of books, something that doesn’t happen too often and it also means I’m now in dire need of a new bookcase. xD We also celebrated my hubby’s birthday and visited friends out of town, so it wasn’t all bad. The weather is definitely getting worse though; I see lots of curling up under a blanket with a steaming cup of tea or coffee in the near future.

Now to the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in April: 19
  • Total number of books read this year: 90
  • Total number of pages read in April: 6.630
  • Total number of pages read this year: 29.950

April turned out to be a pretty good month. I didn’t get a new 5 star read, and four books ended up having a very low rating, but overall I’m still happy with the books I was able to read.

APRIL READS

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 

The Murmur Of Bees – by Sofia Segovia // Song Of Sacrifice – by Janell Rhiannon // Before She Knew Him – by Peter Swanson

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!

The Blue – by Lucy Clarke // The Dare – by Carol Wyer // How To Walk Away – by Katherine Center // Little Darlings – by Melanie Golding // The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society – by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows // The Book Woman Of Troublesome Creek – by Kim Michele Richardson // The Murder On The Links – by Agatha Christie // Romanov – by Nadine Brandes

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!

Across The Universe – by Beth Revis // Five Feet Apart – by Rachael Lippincott

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.  

Release – by Patrick Ness // Final Betrayal – by Patricia Gibney

2 STARS: It was ok. But mostly ‘meh’.

The Silver Ladies Of Penny Lane – by Dee MacDonald // The Wolf Border – Sarah Hall // These Broken Stars – by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

1 STAR: Boy, this one gave me a hard time. Not a book to touch again. 

Fun Home – by Alison Bechdel

I joined more challenges than initially planned in 2019, but I feel all have doable goals that shouldn’t take too much work to finish. Things are going way better than planned so far! I’ll need to keep an eye on the Reading Through The Centuries one though because it’s going to be tricky to get enough new years in otherwise. But it looks like the other challenges are well on track without even trying. Not bad at all. 😉

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals… Things are going better than expected, although I failed to get my ARC/backlist title ratio below the 40% limit. I’m hoping to get below the limit again in May, but I’m not sure if it will be doable with the ARCs I have pending… My TBR pile in general is pretty hopeless as well, but at least I’m well on track with my TBR jar picks, so that’s something. xD Also, I’m going to try and finish my Dutch read of the year in May.

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count) 3/3 DONE!! (The Painted Veil // The Big Sleep // A Wrinkle In Time)
  • Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count) 4/10 (Anastasia Phoenix // The Conqueror’s Saga // Women Are Some Kind Of Magic // Fire And Thorns)
  • Reread at least 2 books 2/2 DONE!! (The BFG // Harry Potter Y El Caliz De Fuego)
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 450 books and keep it that way. 600/450
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages 1/1 DONE!! (813 pages; Colombiano)
  • Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 41,1%
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 1/2 (Harry Potter Y El Cáliz De Fuego)
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch 0/1
  • Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations  7/15 (Mala Vida (France) // The Painted Veil (France) // When Dimple Met Rishi (India) // And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer (Sweden) // The Courier (Norway) // The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Japan) // The Murmur Of Bees (Mexico))
  • Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 4/10 (The Insect Farm // The Shattering // Be Frank With Me // Tell The Wolves I’m Home)
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year 5/5 DONE!!
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 95%

Happy May and Happy Reading! 

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Month In Review: March 2019

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March turned out to be another busy month where I celebrated my birthday, filled my shelves with new books and ordered some more and where I finally stepped up my Bookstagram game. The weather has been going crazy down here, going from heat to rain and cold weather and back again… Preventing us from going on another camping trip and resulting in me having to prepare the garden for winter early. Bad weather did mean I was able to read a lot more than expected… And I’ve been having fun preparing for this month’s Magical Readathon as well.

Now to the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in March: 24
  • Total number of books read this year: 71
  • Total number of pages read in March: 7.811
  • Total number of pages read this year: 23.320

March turned out to be an excellent month and I definitely read way more than anticipated. I managed to get two! new 5 star reads and a whole pile of other excellent reads as well… I did have another DNF, but with only three books with a rating below 3 stars in total I’m calling March a success.

MARCH READS

5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now.

A Thousand Perfect Notes – by C.G. Drews // The Travelling Cat Chronicles – by Hiro Arikawa

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 

And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer – by Fredrik Backman // The Bones She Buried – by Lisa Regan // The Enchanted – by Rene Denfeld // The Dry – by Jane Harper // Harry Potter Y El Cáliz De Fuego (reread) – by J.K. Rowling // Daisy Jones & The Six – by Taylor Jenkins Reid

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!

The Secret Child – by Caroline Mitchell // The Courier – by Kjell Ola Dahl // Verity – by Colleen Hoover // Wicked Saints – by Emily A. Duncan // We Are Of Dust – by Clare Coombes // Wolfhunter River – by Rachel Caine

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!

The Fever King – by Victoria Lee // Then She Was Gone – by Lisa Jewell // Tell The Wolves I’m Home – by Carol Rika Brunt 

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.  

Here We Are Now – by Jasmine Warga // Smoke And Key – by Kelsey Sutton // I Know You – by Erik Therme // Every Exquisite Thing – by Matthew Quick

2 STARS: It was ok. But mostly ‘meh’.

The Fourth Courier – by Timothy Jay Smith // 99 Percent Mine – by Sally Thorne

0 STARS (DNF): I didn’t even bother to finish this one. Either horrible or definitely not for me!

Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution –  by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo

I joined more challenges than initially planned in 2019, but I feel all have doable goals that shouldn’t take too much work to finish. Things are going way better than planned so far! I’ll need to keep an eye on the Reading Through The Centuries one though because it’s going to be tricky to get enough new years in otherwise. But it looks like the other challenges are well on track without even trying. Not bad at all. 😉

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals… Things are going better than expected! I managed to reread my second book of the year (also counts as my first Spanish read) so that’s one less goal to worry about! I failed to keep my ARC/backlist title ratio below the 40% limit though, but that is no surprise because I have a huge pile of ARCs pending. My TBR pile in general is pretty hopeless as well, but at least I’m well on track with my TBR jar picks, so that’s something. xD

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count) 3/3 DONE!! (The Painted Veil // The Big Sleep // A Wrinkle In Time)
  • Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count) 4/10 (Anastasia Phoenix // The Conqueror’s Saga // Women Are Some Kind Of Magic // Fire And Thorns)
  • Reread at least 2 books 2/2 DONE!! (The BFG // Harry Potter Y El Caliz De Fuego)
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 450 books and keep it that way. 580/450
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages 1/1 DONE!! (813 pages; Colombiano)
  • Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 40,8%
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 1/2 (Harry Potter Y El Cáliz De Fuego)
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch 0/1
  • Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations  6/15 (Mala Vida (France) // The Painted Veil (France) // When Dimple Met Rishi (India) // And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer (Sweden) // The Courier (Norway) // The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Japan))
  • Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 4/10 (The Insect Farm // The Shattering // Be Frank With Me // Tell The Wolves I’m Home)
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year 5/5 DONE!!
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 94%

Happy April and Happy Reading! 

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Month In Review: February 2019

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February turned out to be a busy month including a few days away visiting friends out of town, but somehow I managed to read a lot anyway. Definitely not what I was expecting! The weather has been crazy this summer, with 35+°C temperatures being mixed with almost freezing days… I’m seriously hoping winter won’t be coming early this year! *fingers crossed* Also, as you might have noticed, I haven’t been as active bloghopping and on social media recently. While I miss being around more, I really need the downtime to relax and not end up in a slump again… On the brighter side, I have been using Instagram more lately.

February was also the month I won my very first physical book giveaway ever, and a preorder I have been looking forward to as well. I can’t wait for it to be April so I can have it in my hands! ❤ And I tried ordering from Bookdepository for the first time last month (I wasn’t sure about the shipping in Argentina with customs problems and all, but Argentinian bloggers assured me things would work out), and my first batch of books arrived so fast! ❤ I also ordered a few more in February, and they just got here the other day as well. I’m probably going to do a Bookdepository book haul post soon!

Now to the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in February: 19
  • Total number of books read this year: 47
  • Total number of pages read in February: 6.809
  • Total number of pages read this year: 15.609

February turned out to be quite a good month with a second 5 star read and a few others that were excellent as well. I did have my first DNF of the year and a few 3 star or below ratings, but overall not bad at all. I can’t believe how many of my books had either a purple or blue cover! It almost seems like I did it on purpose haha.

FEBRUARY READS

5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now.

What The Wind Knows – by Amy Harmon

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 

Colombiano – by Rusty Young // The Bird King – by G. Willow Wilson

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!

A Wrinkle In Time – by Madeleine D’Engle // The Mermaid’s Voice Returns In This One – by Amanda Lovelace // What If It’s Us – by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera // The Bitter Kingdom – by Rae Carson // An American Marriage –  by Tayari Jones // To Make Monsters Out Of Girls – by Amanda Lovelace // Moon Over Soho – by Ben Aaronovitch

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!

Friend Request – by Laura Marshall // Until The Day I Die – by Emily Carpenter // Wintergirls – by Laurie Halse Anderson

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.  

Mona Lisas And Little White Lies – by John Herrick // The Pumilio Child – by Judy McInerney // The Woman In The Window – by A.J. Finn

2.5 STARS: I give this one the benefit of the doubt. Nothing too exciting.

Half Lies – by Sally Green // Be Frank With Me – by Julia Claiborne Johnson

0 STARS (DNF): I didn’t even bother to finish this one. Either horrible or definitely not for me!

Shatter Me – by Tahereh Mafi

I joined more challenges than initially planned in 2019, but I feel all have doable goals that shouldn’t take too much work to finish. Things are going way better than planned so far! I’ll need to keep an eye on the Reading Through The Centuries one since it’s always tricky to get new years in (I read three classics but I already had those years listed). But it looks like the other challenges are well on track without even trying. Not bad at all. 😉

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals… Things are going better than expected! I have somehow managed to read both my 3 classics and my 800+ pages book already, so that’s two goals less to think about… The series, rereads and TBR jar picks are also looking good. My NG ratio is still going strong, although I do have about 20 pending titles on my shelves. xD I’ll have to be careful with my ARC/backlist title ratio though, because it’s getting close to that 40% limit… I’m not sure if I will be able to keep it below that in March, because I have a huge pile of ARCs pending.

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count) 3/3 DONE!! (The Painted Veil // The Big Sleep // A Wrinkle In Time)
  • Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count) 4/10 (Anastasia Phoenix // The Conqueror’s Saga // Women Are Some Kind Of Magic // Fire And Thorns)
  • Reread at least 2 books 1/2 (The BFG)
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 450 books and keep it that way. 528/450
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages 1/1 DONE!! (813 pages; Colombiano)
  • Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 38,3%
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 0/2 
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch 0/1
  • Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations  3/15 (Mala Vida (France) // The Painted Veil (France) // When Dimple Met Rishi (India))
  • Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 3/10 (The Insect Farm // The Shattering // Be Frank With Me)
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year 5/5 DONE!!
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 93%

Happy March and Happy Reading! 

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Month In Review: January 2019

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January has passed way too fast, although I’m glad it’s over because it means less days until the summer is over. I know some of you are freezing right now, but I’ll swap with the 35+°C humidity we have here if you want. (I never thought I would say this, but I prefer freezing over that torture.) January turned out to be an excellent reading month despite some DIY and a camping trip (just one of the trips we planned, we had to cancel the other due to excessive rainfall). I definitely didn’t expect to read this many books! But it turns out that most of my picks were either short or superfast reads in the first place.

Now to the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in January: 28
  • Total number of books read this year: 28
  • Total number of pages read in January: 8.800
  • Total number of pages read this year: 8.800

I started 2019 well with my first 5 star read already and a lot of other good reads… I did get eleven books with a 3 star rating or below, but overall I’m definitely satisfied with this month.

JANUARY READS

5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now.

Finding Grace – by K.L. Slater

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 

Beneath The Sugar Sky – by Seanan McGuire // Ghost Boys – by Jewell Parker Rhodes // Bright We Burn – by Kiersten White // Exquisite – by Sarah Stovell

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!

The Crown Of Embers – by Rae Carson // Mala Vida – by Marc Fernandez // The Treatment – by C.L. Taylor // The BFG – by Roald Dahl // The Winter Sister – by Megan Collins // The Last Time I Lied – by Riley Sager // The Psychology Of Time Travel – by Kate Mascarenhas // When Dimple Met Rishi – by Sandhya Menon // Two Can Keep A Secret – by Karen M. McManus

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!

The Couple On Cedar Close – by Anna-Lou Weatherley // A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful – by Eric Lindstrom // End Of The Lie – by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.  

The Kiss Quotient – by Helen Hoang // Heart Berries – by Terese Marie Mailhot // The Insect Farm – by Stuart Prebble // Here And Now And Then – by Mike Chen // The Painted Veil – by W. Somerset Maugham // The Familiars – by Stacey Halls // The Shattering – by Karen Healey 

2.5 STARS: I give this one the benefit of the doubt. Nothing too exciting.

Artemis – by Andy Weir // We Told Six Lies – by Victoria Scott // The Big Sleep – by Raymond Chandler

2 STARS: It was ok. But mostly ‘meh’.

How To Experience Death For Beginners – by Jessica Branton

I joined more challenges than initially planned in 2019, but I feel all have doable goals that shouldn’t take too much work to finish. Things are going way better than planned so far! I’ll need to keep an eye on the Reading Through The Centuries one since it’s always tricky to get new years in (I read two classics but I already had those years listed). But it looks like the other challenges are well on track without even trying. Not bad at all. 😉

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals… Again things are going way better than planned. I’ve already read two classics, did a reread and finished two series. I also managed to read three international authors/translations already as well as two TBR jar picks. My NG ratio is still going strong, although I do have about 18 pending titles on my shelves. xD I’m also very very happy that my ARC/backlist title ratio is that low! I’m definitely aiming to keep it that way and keep reading those poor backlist titles in the rest of 2019.

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count) 2/3 (The Painted Veil // The Big Sleep)
  • Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count) 2/10 (Anastasia Phoenix // The Conqueror’s Saga)
  • Reread at least 2 books 1/2 (The BFG)
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 450 books and keep it that way. 528/450
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages 0/1 (416 pages; The Crown Of Embers)
  • Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 35,7%
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 0/2 
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch 0/1
  • Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations  3/15 (Mala Vida (France) // The Painted Veil (France) // When Dimple Met Rishi (India))
  • Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 2/10 (The Insect Farm // The Shattering)
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year 5/5 DONE!!
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 94%

Happy February and Happy Reading! 

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