Being my most honest self I did not read much in August. So if you were looking to read a summary of the 20 books I read in August this is not it (frankly it will never be because that’s insane). So in this article I will be talking about the one book I read this month (technically it’s a play) and the other books I got halfway through.

I’m currently in the middle of an intercontinental move, and just arrived to my new home! I am also starting at a new school in a few days, which technically I am nervous about but at a certain amount of new schools it becomes routine. I did go get the uniform which has a way nicer colour scheme than my old one (a bright red jumper was not the way to go). I’m still having to come to terms with the fact that I will probably have to primarily wear the skirt because of how little the trousers fit me, but at least the jumper is navy and not bright red!!

So even though my brain has been very preoccupied, I could not let you guys down by not porting my monthly reading-wrap up. These are also my articles I enjoy writing the most, so let’s get into it!!

Read:

1. A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

   Rating: ★★★

   Song Pairing: Family Line by Conan Gray

   This book is technically a play but since I read it, and it’s on Goodreads I am considering it one. I did pick this up for school and will have to complete some of my GCSE work on it; which I’m not too thrilled about but that really goes for anything surrounding my GCSE’s. Nevertheless, The play did have a strong message on topics that were mainly off limits in 1950’s England. Considering that it premiered in the Theater Royal Stratford East in 1958 and transferred to Broadway in 1960, you can call me impressed. I thought the ending was really poignant, and would love to see it played out on stage! I wouldn’t tell anyone to go out of their way to read it, but if you are curious to see a social commentary on 1950’s England go for it!

Currently Reading:

1. Butter by Asako Yuzuki (translated by Polly Barton)

   Progress: 72%

   I have never gotten more hungry whilst reading a book. The vivid description of food and how it felt for the character to eat it was so well done! The way the novel explores misogyny, obsession, and Japanese food/culture can be a lot at times (most men in this book are absolutely despicable) but it’s also brilliant in a lot of ways. The unsettling aspect of it really just makes it more serious, and helps you understand as a reader the gravity of what is actually happening. That aside, I’m really enjoying the whole premise, and have gotten insanely hooked by the story these past few days.

   

2. Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon

   Progress: 50%

   I was scared going into this one because I’m under the impression that this man has written more books than shopping lists. Also he’s known for writing in a unique way that can be confusing. Maybe an understatement. I am insanely confused at times. It’s usually a few chapters after a scene that my brain finally registers what actually happened. The book is set during the great depression, and I’m not too sure how people used to speak back then in America but this book makes it seem very confusing, which I haven’t encountered in any other novels set during this time. Although when I do comprehend what is going on it’s really fun! I am excited to continue and hopefully get more accustomed to the writing style.

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Reading Goal 2026:

So I may not have read a lot in August, and you might be thinking that this is the most pointless reading wrap-up you have ever come across. But this is my blog and I make the rules, which consist in not skipping a ‘What I read in’ post. And even though I acknowledge the fact that I’m probably going to be a bit preoccupied with other things this month, I do have a lot on my mind that I want to write about (YAY)!! I would give you an average rating like usual but it literally just consists of the one (which was 3 stars). On a final note just know that I am diving head first into autumn.

As always I would love to hear your opinions on these books!? And know what your favorite and least favorite book of August was?

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More from the Annotated World…

The truth is that everyone has a different perception of what performative reading in itself really is. That is because it’s a made up term that doesn’t have a distinct definition; like most things we spend way too much overthinking on, but that’s a whole other discussion in itself. To me this whole subject matter sounds a lot like an argument you start having with a family member, at dinner that substantially contains absolutely nothing, but does fill the void that the rest of the family weren’t keen on filling. And obviously I am not above any of this, since here I am writing into the void about it.

What first comes to mind when I think of performative reading are paparazzi pictures of celebrities reading, or someone reading in a public setting. Now I am not saying that I consider that to be performative reading—that is just what I feel everybody else is referring to.

In all honesty when I see someone reading on the bus, or on the beach it fills me with a lot of joy. A lot of the time when at the beach I catch myself scanning the perimeter, looking for someone who is immersed in their book. When I see a picture of a celebrity reading I do not think to myself; oh they’re just trying fool us into thinking they’re an intellectual, or above everybody else in some sort of way. In reality I just think about how that might encourage a lot of their fans to pick up said book, and that is again something that fills me with joy.

I sometimes get the feeling that people aren’t conscious of how little people read in our current reality (especially young people), or maybe they are aware but choose to pretend it’s not true. Especially when you spend time on Substack (I’m taking the wild guess that most people that are on this app, spend a bit of free time reading), it can become easier to ignore this truth.

No, I am not a millennial ranting on about how the young people can’t read and how I have no hope for the future generation. I am a high school student who, well, goes to high school. And no, not a lot of people I go to school with read. The struggle is real when you end up in an English class where, for some reason, a guy who has probably never read a book in his life, decides to raise his hand when the teacher asks ‘who would like to read today?’ and then you need to succumb to 30 minutes of him struggling through a single chapter of Of Mice and Men.

Since I do not want to dwell on this for too long, here is a video of a very disappointed man breaking things down:

As said in the video ‘learning has never been easier’ LITERALLY. It takes nothing to use your laptop or phone to study, or just learn something new out of pure enjoyment, yet people still decide to watch brain rot videos over it. We have the opportunity to go to school, and learn but instead people treat it as a joke; cheating on tests, and using AI for every, and any school assignment.

So all that said, yes seeing someone reading in public fills me with happiness instead of resent. Seeing an aesthetic picture of a book, or books being used as an aesthetic doesn’t really bother me either, because all in all you’re promoting books and literacy in general. Which is a big deal. It does not matter to me if the only time you read is in public, because well you’re reading in the first place.

I see a lot of discussion around the fact that people might not have time to read, or that books are expensive—making reading less accessible. Well how much time do you spend doom scrolling that you could actually spend reading a book. Here is a thought; instead of being on your phone the 20 minute bus ride to school or work, you should read. And that could be the only time of the day you spend reading, which is totally fine. Yes some people are busier than others, but the truth is that reading one book a year makes you as much as a reader as someone who read 100 a year. When it comes to the discourse of books being expensive I agree, books are way too expensive nowadays and are treated more so as a luxury than a basic necessity. New releases cost 30$ because they are only being released in a hard back, special editions. But the truth is that the library is free; you can obtain most literature for free thanks to it. And it is truly an under appreciated gift, that most of us can access.

The majority of us have probably found ourselves aimlessly opening apps on our phone in a public setting, trying to mask ourselves as someone who has things to do, people to entertain. Well I've never heard of the term performative phone usage. So why when someone opens a book in a public setting would we think that they are trying to show off their intellect. So again since we have established that literature can be a free tool, it is your free will to spend the bus ride reading.

So in my humble opinion performative reading is not even a thing. And I feel like accusing people of it cannot have a positive outcome. It can only discourage an individual from reading in public or talking about books in general. Since people might see this as a performance, instead of someone actually enjoying the act of reading and discussing literature.

All this is doing is denormalizing reading, acting as if it is such a stunt people have to put on, because god forbid someone actually enjoys it when we can all just scroll on our phones.

And if me reading in public or posting a cute picture of my current read on my Substack page, that is centered around books, makes you feel like I am trying to prove something or that I am trying to act superior, then maybe I am not the problem.

READ A BOOK.

As always I am very interested to hear your take on all of this?!

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July has brought me the most fun during this summer(so far). The end of July also means that there is only one more summer month left, which, as someone who harbours the very unpopular opinion of having summer as my least favorite season, this is very good news!

I spent a big portion of this moth with family friends at the beach, and ended up not reading as much as I would have desired. The book I started the month off was also not quite the biggest attention grabber out there. So given that the two options I was grappling between were going into the fresh water, or reading under the sun in the middle of the Europe heatwave, it seems obvious what I chose.

These past couple of weeks I have also been thinking a lot about this Substack page. My main thought is how I would like to shift my history essays into more of a literature space to make everything a bit more coherent. Basically the idea would be that instead of my usual history essays, I would write argumentative/history essays on literature. This whole thought is still a work in progress and I am waiting to get feedback on my article coming out after this one (no spoilers, but I am very excited to share it with all of you). I would love to hear your guys thoughts on this? And you can expect me to write in my next monthly reading warp up and/or a note what direction I have decided to go in.

So now with no further pondering let’s get into the three books I read in the month of July!

1. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

   Rating: ★★★

   I am trying to get more into memoirs because I love them! But this one didn’t really click with me. The way Didion described grief in this memoir was beautiful and gut-wrenching, but I felt that the writing didn’t really work with it for me. She would always include such factual things, for example, medical information that really took me out of the story and sadness of it all. That said I would love to try out some of her fiction work since her writing style would probably work best in that scenario for me. I am not writing a full length review for this one, as I feel I wouldn’t have enough to entertain it.

2. Release Me by Tahereh Mafi

   Rating: ★★★★.5

   This is my favorite YA dystopian series, and these new releases have in a sense healed me. I really enjoyed this novel in the series, and can’t wait for all the books to come! Seeing all of my favorite characters a decade after the year the original books were set in was everything to me and I couldn’t recommend this series more. My full length review will be out soon!

3. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

   Rating: ★★★

   I really enjoyed this book up to a certain point. The writing style really worked in the context of a thriller for me! One thing that really made it fall flat was the twist. Because if you asked me I’m not even sure I could call it that, there was no shock effect. It felt more like we were just dumping a whole lot of information on me. I found out that there is a sequel that picks up where the first book left us, and I feel very curious to whether it will provide a bit of a less underwhelming plot twist and maybe even clear some things up. My full length review will be posted soon!

My current read:

Reading Goal 2026:

So all in all, June might have been a slow reading month, but it still was a great month! The average rating was 3.5/5 (quite low). To summarize everything, 2/3 books were disappointing, but it’s okay, because I got to go back to the shatter me universe!! And what more could I ask than that.

What was your favorite and least favorite book of June? Did we share any reads? As always I would love to hear your opinions on these books!?

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More from the Annotated World…

When I read this book I felt conflicted.

Something would happen that made me smile, then something would happen which would make me put the book down and avoid eye contact.

And after further pondering I am worried the sentiment would have been mostly on the negative side if it weren’t for the setting of the novel.

This is a No-Spoiler review, so feel free to read on safely.

The storyline follows Elle, who is a screenwriter and has gotten the opportunity to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The main underlying issue is that she has had writer’s block for months and her script is due by the end of summer. For inspiration she returns to NYC. Plot twist her new neighbor is the guy she kissed at a night club 2 years ago. More specifically her new neighbor is Parker Warren—a tech billionaire. If that wasn’t enough they end up striking up a deal(which is all I will say, for now).

Rating: ★★★.75

I wanted to talk about my main underlying thought that popped up like one of those thought bubbles in comic books every few pages as I was reading: how would I feel if this book was set in the middle of nowhere. How would I feel if the main characters weren’t taking a walk in Central Park or if they were not having a big moment on 5th avenue. What if this screenplay our main character was writing was actually set in Ohio(no hate, I’ve never actually been, and probably never will).

Well, no, I would probably not find it very charming if a man got on one knee in a cornfield.

I think the best analogy here is that if Gossip Girl was set in a little town surrounded by cornfields in Ohio, most people reading this would not know about the show.

I am not saying that this is a negative; I am just showing you that the setting of a novel actually does matter(a lot).

And Alex Aster used this all to her advantage. She brought you to real places in her favorite city, bringing you back to a nostalgic day when you were walking around New York with your family, or to that one time you watched a 90s rom-com in your bed on your laptop with your dog breathing heavily on you.

Now on my commentary not concerning the setting; I felt like the FMC was way too stuck on some convictions while the MMC would say something and forget the next second(only plausible explanation I could come up with). My main concern was the pacing, which was a bit all over the place. If I’m being honest the ending really saved the whole book for me. The last few pages felt like actual yearning.

You know those books that are 500+ pages long, which as I’m reading them give me the same feeling I would imagine being pulled under by quicksand feels like. Well when I finish those I usually think to myself: that could have been written in 200 pages. This book made me feel the complete opposite. If the ending was about 100 pages longer this could have felt like those romance books that go above and beyond the blueprint. Sadly that was not the case which made everything fall flat for me.

That is the end to my rant, if you have made it this far I would like to make it known how much I appreciate you.

If any of you have read this book I would love to hear your opinions!? Do you guys have any recommendations for books that give off 90’s New York rom-com??

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I read this book a few weeks ago.

If I had any self-pitying bone in my body, I would leave the review to that, or hell I would not even write one if it meant not having to think about this novel yet again. But guess what!? I don’t, and I have way too many things that need to be said, to finally be able to take a much needed breath of air.

Spoiler warnings are always included, so feel free to read on safely.

Broken Country is about Beth who is married to Frank, and together they have built a quiet and happy life. Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager and who broke her heart comes back to town with his son, Leo; a boy who reminds Beth painfully of her own son, lost in a tragic accident. Things get undeniably messy. On top of all this nonsense, Beth has to watch the man she loves(her husband) on trial for murder.

Now Confession of the day: I loved the first half. I was exhilarated by the thought that this might be a 5 stars(me from back then was undeniably naive and foolish). Now I am going to try and dig myself out of the grave I so kindly dug for myself. In the first half we are shown a lot of past scenes, of Beth and Gabriel falling in love as young careless humans. As a young person myself that is something I enjoy reading about, but sadly it was just the calm before the storm.

Once I was hooked I was hooked. I devoured this book. But things were done that I cannot easily forgive.

Rating: ★★.5

Spoilers from here.‼️

Now I want to mostly talk about the biggest plot twist.

Yes the “he couldn't save your son” one.

Why was Gabriel(and his son) collateral damage to all the tomfoolery going on in this novel.

I want to know how no one caught on to the fact that Bobby was in fact not Frank’s son.

Beth has to be my least favorite book character. Ever. How can she have not told Gabriel in the first place. How could she accept a bribe by his mother, out of all people. How could she then go on to have an affair with the same man a decade later, whilst being married. How could she want to talk about Bobby to Gabriel and Leo just to lift a certain weight off her chest. How could she then go on to have another child with Frank and stay married with him when she showed no sign of remorse about having had an affair with another man(literally none). An affair that caused a man to die and a child to die inside. Genuinely how does this woman live with herself.

I don’t think Beth wanted to choose Frank. In my very humble opinion she just caught on to the fact her and Gabriel could never be in a relationship unless she told him the truth, but on the other hand Gabriel would never forgive her for what she had done.

There is my conclusion.

I wish I could have told Gabriel to run(and honestly everybody else) from Beth.

Beth I wish your pillow to be warm on both sides for infinity.

That will mark an end to my rant.

I would love to hear your opinions on this book if you have read it!? Even if they are completely opposite to mine(sorry if I offended you).

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Welcome to my second ever monthly reading wrap-up! It is a bit of a belated one, which I apologize profusely for. June has been a very chaotic month; a lot of things have been quite uncertain in my life, which is not one of my favorite things. But in the end everything will be fine so why wouldn’t it be now! I have made you all wait enough for this post, so with no further wait let’s get into it!

In June I read 7 books, which is historically the most I can get to in one month(for now). There is not a fixed genre on this page, which is a statement I heavily to heart in June! The total page count was 2682p, and out of the seven books we did get one five star!

My full length reviews will be linked, if you want to get a more in-depth take on the book.

1. Fearless by Lauren Roberts

   Rating: ★★★★

   I am officially quitting this series because I fear it would just become a hate read. I enjoyed all the books in this series, with the big exception of the novella. The books aren’t that memorable and neither the characters(maybe even a bit forgettable), the actual plot though is quite entertaining throughout the three main books! If you are looking for a good YA romantasy I would definitely suggest trying out this series.

2. Media Control by Noam Chomsky

   Definitely the most thought provoking book I have read so far in 2026. The author can be as controversial as you want, but he sure doesn’t shy away from speaking out about what he believes in. This edition is separated into 2 parts; I especially liked how the second part was written as if from the perspective of a Martian, making observations on earth without being influenced by western media.

3. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore

   Rating: ★★★★.25

   This is the fourth book in the Dream Harbor series and definitely my favorite out of all of them. This was cute, cosy and highly entertaining! As someone who absolutely loves seasonal books this series has become a comfort read. I love waiting for the season to come when I can read the next book(currently it’s the festive season)!

4. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

   Rating: ★★★★★

   This novel is a masterpiece. I think about this book a lot(maybe an unhealthy amount), and I just adore the main characters. This was such a powerful representation of how grief can affect you and the people around you. If you want to read more about me going on and on about how much I love this book definitely check out my full length review!

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5. Silver Elite by Dani Francis

   Rating: ★★★.75

   This book was very entertaining and super fast paced. I absolutely love the Dystopia genre. My main complaints are the lack of depth when it came to the main characters(which seems to be the trend in the romantasy genre), and how completely not earth shattering the final plot twist was.

6. Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall

   Rating: ★★.5

   My high expectations for this book makes my disdain for it even more bitter. I loved it for approximately the first half and then everything went in all the wrong directions. I don’t think a book has ever made me cry this much; sadly not in a good way. On top of that the ending made me feel very nauseous. My full length review will be out as my next post!

7. Summer in the City by Alex Aster

   Rating: ★★★.75

   This was an entertaining read. My favorite part was the setting(which if the title didn’t give away is New York); the love this author has for her city radiates through the pages like a beam of sunshine. I do feel quite conflicted on a lot of things, which I will expand on in my full length review that will be up soon!

My Current read:

Reading Goal 2026:

This reading month started out strong and then slowly downwards spiraled, but all in all I cannot complain too much. The average rating was 3.87(I didn’t rate one of the 7 books). There were definitely a few too many disappointments, but Intermezzo made up for it!

What was your favorite and least favorite book of June? Did we share any reads? As always I would love to hear your opinions on these books!?

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More from the Annotated World…

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden/★★ - The most predictable book I have ever read which is damning because this is a triller. On top of that the main character was the most brainless and self-important person I have ever gotten the chance to read about.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall/★★.5 - This book made me ugly cry; no not in a fun way. Just thinking about this book gives me insane nausea and anger(not the best combo if you ask me).

Funny Story by Emily Henry/★★★ - I was so disappointed by this as someone who read Happy Place and Beach Read and gave them both 5 stars. This is a perfect example of a book being written with the sole purpose of being adapted into a movie.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir/★★★.5 - This was a good read, but I probably fall under the category of people who just thought it was good without absolutely being obsessed with it(I will happily blame it on the fact that sci-fi is not for me; so no one attacks me in the comments).

Never Lie by Freida McFadden/★★★.75 - The setting was everything to me! The actual story and plot twist was mid at best.

Silver Elite by Dani Francis/★★★.75 - I really enjoyed this book and storyline. My only complaint, is that in my humble opinion a blank sheet of paper has more personality than all the characters combined. That said I did eat this up and stayed up really late at night to finish it. I will definitely be picking u book 2 in the near future.

Media Control by Noam Chomsky - Everybody should read this book. it was honestly so interesting. I did not rate it because I am not here to rate someone’s political opinion.

Summer in the City by Alex Aster/★★★.75 - This is my most recent read and I would say it was good. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn't great either. If you haven’t guessed by the title it’s set in New York during summer, which I enjoyed a lot; still just a tad conflicted on how I feel.

Reckless by Lauren Roberts/★★★★ - I really enjoyed my reading experience with this book. Granted it has probably crossed my mind once since reading it(which is right now as I am writing this).

My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney/★★★★ - I really enjoyed this! The story felt very 3 dimensional which is always nice with a triller, as they tend to fall flat most of the time(for me).Maybe the plot twist was a bit farfetched otherwise I really liked it.

Fearless by Lauren Roberts/★★★★.25 - This series is always very entertaining in the moment but quite forgettable. I will probably not read the next book in the series because at this point it’s becoming a hate read.

Either/Or by Elif Batuman/★★★★ - I really liked this book and preferred it over The Idiot. My first ever book review on this space was on this book! If you decide to read it please give me some grace because I had no idea what I was doing.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach/★★★★ - I loved this book! It has the best main character I have read about in a while. If you looking for a good beach read, this is perfection!

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore/★★★★.25 - This book was so cute and I ate it up! It’s the fourth book in the Dream Harbor series(which is the little town they are set in). All in all it was cosy, fast paced and really cute which is exactly what this series promises every time.

Fake skating by Lynn Painter/★★★★★ - I loved this book when I read it and apparently even gave it 5 stars! Maybe just not the most memorable.

A Dance of lies by Britney Arena/★★★★.75 - This has become one of my favorite fantasies; it felt very unique and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. The insane cliffhanger at the end has left me impatiently waiting for book 2.

The favorites by Layne Fargo/★★★★★ - As a figure Skater this book was everything to me. You will hate everybody at least once, but in the end you will find some grace for these people, because of how troublesome the figure skating industry(for lack of better word) is.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney/★★★★★ - I absolutely loved this book, and think about it an unhealthy amount of time. This was such a powerful representation of how grief can affect you and the people around you. Sally Rooney writes like no other.

Normal People by Sally Rooney/★★★★★ - This book depicts how us humans need each other and how much good we can do for each-other so well. The main characters have my heart. Sally Rooney has become one of my favourite authors; I can’t wait to read all of her work!

The book I am currently reading:

I am really enjoying this! When I was 13yo I found myself scouring my grandmas library(as one does) full of French and German books(she’s Swiss-German) and finally finding a gem; this was followed by her telling me that I could not have chosen a more sad book—I fear she was not wrong.

The books I am hoping to read next:

Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon - I had never heard of this author or title, but when reading the synopsis at a bookstore in Cape Town I was hooked. It sounded right up my alley and I can’t wait to finally stop being intimidated by it and pick it up.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave - This is a book I got from my mothers library, and I haven’t read a thriller in a good moment so I’m excited to get back into it!

Release Me by Tahereh Mafi - This is one of the books I am the most impatient to get to. I have been putting it off because I am well aware that this new series is going to go by way too quickly, and equally to make the wait for book 3 in September shorter.

There it is; every book I have consumed thus far in 2026(clearly a bit of a chaotic reading year for me)!

I would love to hear your opinions on all of these books!? How many books have you guys read so far in 2026? Which is your favorite and least favorite?

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More from the Annotated World…

Things to look forward to from the Annotated World…

• My next History essay👀

• My Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, Book Review

• My Summer in the City by Alex Aster, Book Review

• A post summarizing everything I read in June(This would usual already be out but there have been some misshapes with the posting schedule these past weeks)

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This book is basically about Wren who has psychic gifts, which are a death sentence in her world. A little slip up ends with her being in enemy territory; training for silver block which is the most elite training program there is. On top of that this is also a romantasy, so of course the commanding officer is the love interest in the story.

I want to start by saying that I ate this up; the time glaring at me from the clock was irrelevant to me whilst reading this book. I have a certain soft spot for dystopian books. I think my love for the genre comes from how much more real some aspects in these stories are getting, in the real world over the years(no, I am not talking about psychic powers and yes it does freak me out).

The first about 200 pages were hilarious, not in the joke way more because of how immature everyone was acting; that was probably my favorite part of the book. Then it kind of fell flat and all of a sudden characters that felt like petty 16 year olds became their actual age. The biggest plot twist(which was quite convenient for our characters) I predicted at around page 20, I don’t know what that says about me or this book. The final plot twist I did not predict but it was so poorly explained that I had to read a single page 3 times to understand. I didn’t mind the main character or the main love interest but their personalities were more plain than a black piece of paper. Am I going to read the next book? Absolutely; I honestly enjoyed my reading experience and had a fun time! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a romantasy set in a dystopia world, as long as you don’t have too high expectations(which I might have had) this is really enjoyable and super bingeable.

Rating: ★★★.75

Spoiler warning from here! So if you haven’t read it, I would recommend it particularly if it sounds like something you would enjoy. In the case that you do end up picking this book up, you should definitely come back to this article and share all your opinions!

I wanted to first talk about those plot twist. The plot twist I figure out at about 20 pages in was that Wolf is Cross, that was so predictable but also so convenient that he turned out to be on her side and that she no longer had to feel guilty about being with him. Then when it comes to Kaine or whatever his actual name is, I did not expect him being alive at all. I’m happy since he was the absolute most redeeming character in this book but it still felt odd. I also remember hating how they dealt with his death and the death of the other 2 when it happened, people were genuinely just acting like they never existed anyway. I love to think about how stupid Lyddie will feel when she finds out that literally all her friends were Aberrant and working for the Uprising; that honestly puts a smile on my face. I’m kind of scared of where book 2 is going to go(and I heard that it’s a love triangle which is like my least favorite trope on this earth) but I do have high hopes!

If you read this book please share your opinions! If anyone has read the second book I would love to hear your thoughts on it!?

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I just recently read Intermezzo and am going to share my review with you guys as always!! This one will contain no spoilers! This is the second book I read by Sally Rooney. I read normal people in May and absolutely loved it and it’s my favorite book yet in the year! This one did not disappoint either.

This book is basically about Ivan who is a competitive chess player and Peter who is a lawyer but I think he’s also a professor, anyway I wasn’t too sure what he really did but it’s not too relevant. They are brothers who have a 10 year age gap and they just lost their father. Individually they are dealing with their own relationships; Ivan who has met an older woman called Margaret, and Peter who is navigating relationships with his first love Sylvia and a uni student called Naomi. It’s basically about how grief can affect you, and how your grief can affect the people around you.

Rating: ★★★★★

This was such a beautiful novel that made me want to weep as if someone had just slapped me on the face. It also made me want to play chess; which it isn’t unusual for me to just get randomly invested into something because it was in a novel I read. I think my favorite thing about Rooney’s writing isn’t even the dialogue, it’s how she can write an awkward scene just how it would be in real life, and make you feel a thousand times better about your own existence because of its simplicity. I think Peter’s chapters were not as easy flowing as her writing usually is, but it all makes sense in the end. I was maybe not even satisfied by his ending in particular, but to be honest the day after it hit me like a wave trying to drown me that there was a clear reason the author would end it like that. Life just isn’t as straight forward as some people like to make it out to be. To me that was the inevitable and there could not have been a more satisfying finale to his storyline. When it comes to Ivan I think his whole story was my favorite part of the entire novel. His journey which meant having to deal with his grief, his relationships with family, the interesting new woman he met called Margaret, and chess; is one I will never be able to forget. Now looking back on it the ending was perfect—it really was. The relationship between Ivan and Peter is just so raw and emotional; it tugged at my heartstrings as if it would face a gruesome death in the case of letting go. This book deals with topics like hypocrisy, addiction, grief, society standards and perfect little boxes we all need to fit into with such a flow of words and in such a realistic way that made it impossible for me to end it without having shed quite a few tears. I want to conclude this by giving a shoutout to the dog Alexei who made this story thousands of times more heartwarming, without me even being able to give you a very conceivable reason of why that is.

I hope I have convinced you to pick this book up if you haven’t for any reason; if you do please come back to share your opinions!? If you have already read this book you are encouraged to share your opinions with me even if they completely differ with everything I said! This is probably my favorite book review I have ever written; I can’t believe I was putting this off because once I started, it just flowed out of me with current so strong it would have drowned me if I dared take a swim in it.

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My favorite quote:

“But from what Margaret remembers of chess, the king is weak and cowardly, and spends most of the game hiding in the corner.”

My review on Normal People by Sally Rooney:

I recently read this book and thought I would share a review! This is the 4th book in an interconnected stand alone series so if this review makes you want to go and read the book you definitely can but personally I would recommend reading them in order. The Dream Harbor series has become such a comfort read and I feel like the further you get into the series the more you're connected to the town and the people. They're really fast pace and easy to binge read. They all include a sort of mystery aspect even though the two first books really focused on it and I feel like the last two I read included it way less. especially this one; which doesn’t really bother me since it wasn’t my favorite part of these books. One more thing I wanted to add before getting into my actual review of the book is that when I first picked up the series I had never heard of it and genuinely just loved the cover and the synopsis looked interesting, which to me are the best kind of reads.

Now I am going to get into my non-spoiler review and then I will warn you for the portion that will contain spoilers!

First I want to say that this is probably my favorite in the whole series yet! I will share a ranking:

1. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House(4.25)

2. The Pumpkin Spice Café(4.25)

3. The Christmas Tree Farm(4)

4. The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore(3.75)

This book is basically following Archer who just is a world renowned chef and he basically finds out he has a daughter and the mom just passed away so he moves from Paris to the small town called dream harbour to take care of her. The other character it follows is Iris who is late on paying rent and is bad at holding down a job, but then there is the opportunity to be a nanny that comes around…guess for who!? If you guessed Archers daughter who by the way is called Olive the your right!!

I really loved this book it was so fast pace and just really cosy and enjoyable. I cannot lie that when it comes to this series I come for the vibes only and never really expect anything more, but this one I felt had almost a bit more depth then most of them especially on Archers side. This trope was new to me and I have no idea if I would have ever thought about picking it up unless it was in the series, but surprisingly I really enjoyed it! The main reason I would have never thought about picking it up is because there would have to be the mom or dad or ex in general of someone involved, which tends to be one of the biggest bummers in romance books for me, but hey in this book she died before the it even started. Also I thought it was funny that Archer was a chef which didn’t really impress me to be honest because I’m Italian and Swiss. You are going to have to do a bit more for me than whip up some spaghetti with olive oil and garlic, thank you. Oh and what was that ending?! I honestly am not too sure how I feel about it. If I start thinking too much into it I will probably find a lot of things that bothered me but it’s really irrelevant because I did enjoy this way to much.

Rating: ★★★★.25

Now I’m getting into my review that contains spoilers so if you haven’t read it, you definitely should! This is my favorite book in the series so far. I would definitely recommend reading them in order but it doesn’t really matter that much! If you read any book in the series I really want to know what you thought about it? If you read it in the future definitely come back to this review so you can also share your opinions!

I don’t really have that much to say about this that includes spoilers but I do want to talk about the ending. I think it ended in a believable way and the pregnancy definitely made it way more realistic but I still felt let down. I didn’t feel like Irise’s character had much growth and now she needs to grow a baby yea I don’t know. I loved the kid she was such a cutie but respectfully how did she get over her mother’s death so fast?! All in all it was cosy, fast paced and really cute which is exactly what this series promises every time.

If you read this book please share your opinions! I would love to know what your guys favorite book in the series is?

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I am first going to share my opinions on how it was written and then I will move on to speaking about the points that Noam Chomsky is trying to convey through this book. I want to give big disclaimer that I am not here to share my political views or opinions and that I am merely explaining what I understood from this book. To add on top of that don’t want anyone coming at me because the author is controversial that is irrelevant in this post. I also refrained from rating this book because I am not here to rate someone’s political opinion!

This book is separated into two parts one is called media control which was first published January 1, 1995 where Noam Chomsky argues that mass media works as a propaganda tool for governments and corporations in democratic societies. Then the second half of the book is called “The Journalist from Mars" which is a famous 2002 essay and speech by Noam Chomsky which is included in updated editions of his book Media Control. This part basically talks about how an alien would perceive the hypocrisy and double standards of the American mass media and foreign policy establishment.

I thought this book was very thought provoking and personally liked how the author was trying to make you understand his points. I think in a lot of political non-fiction book it can feel like opinions are being slapped in your face instead I thought this book did a great job at telling you something, providing a real life example and then giving you the chance to form your own opinion on the fact before moving on. Even though it did feel poorly edited at times I enjoyed how it was written and it felt more like having a conversation than just being told things. I particularly liked how the second part was written. Basically Noam Chomsky used a hypothetical alien from mars arriving on earth and trying to send information about us back to his planet to show how someone not influenced by the media/propaganda would view somethings from earth. It is insane to me how even after the years that passed between these two parts what he says is still relevant, and how it is still relevant today.

Now I will be trying to just explain to you some points that I found very interesting and that I dog eared whilst reading. I would not say that those are really spoilers since this is not a fictional book but if the first part of my review was enough for you or you would rather read the book before reading the rest of my review then you can click off; I would still love to hear all your opinions if you come back to this post!

The first thing I wanted to talk about his chapter on spectator democracy which is basically a political system where citizens are relegated to passive observers rather than active participants in governance. This is basically a democracy where you vote and that’s it, that’s where your input ends; now it is all in the hands of the political elites. Noam Chomsky said on p19:

“Make sure that they remain at most spectator of action, occasionally lending their weight to one or another of the real leaders, who they may select among.”

He also said this on p20-21:

“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state…the common interest elude the bewildered herd. They can’t figure them out.”

The second thing I thought was relevant to talk about the chapter called parade of enemies where Chomsky says on p43 that having the bewildered herd just watching the:

“Super Bowl and the sitcoms may not be enough”

So he goes on to say that:

“You have to whip them into fear of enemies.”

Then he talks about how this is exactly what Hitler was doing by alienating the jews and the roma people.

Another chapter that I found very important was selective perception which said the their had been a study at the university of massachusetts that had ‘interesting conclusions. In the study people were asked whether they thought that the United States should intervene with force to reverse illegal occupation or serious human rights abuses. By about two to one, people in the United states thought we should.’ He goes on to list different countries who the United States should bomb if they were to follow that advice. Then on p50-51 he discusses the Gulf War more specifically teh conflict between Israel and Lebanon saying:

“All fine the united states backed it.”

Then he goes on to say that according to the principles upheld by two-thirds of the population, people should have called for the bombing of Tel Aviv.

Now I want discuss the second part of this book which feels more like one chapter with sub-chapters if that makes any sense. Anyway, I found it so interesting the way he tried to go about making his point by using an extraterrestrial being to see how he would perceive things since he is not influenced by the media/propaganda. He specifically talks about terrorism and talks about how the Martian will go and see the definition which is:

“The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature…through intimidation, coercion or instilling fear.”

And then he discusses how if the martian were supposed to go off the textbook definition then what the US did to Afghanistan should be considered terrorism, on p84 he says:

“Now that’s, of course, only if we use “terrorism” in it’s official sense, as it’s defined in U.S government legal code and so on, and that’s of course unacceptable for reasons that I mentioned.”

I think I will leave it at that.

If you haven’t read the book I definitely would recommend it because there is way more discussed in this book then in this review. I would love to hear all your opinions if you have or haven’t read it!!. I really enjoyed writing this and it is very different to my usual reviews so I hope you equly enjoyed it

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I wanted to share two articles I wrote that discuss propaganda:

First I want to start with a no-spoiler review and then I will warn you when we get into spoilers.

I can’t really explain what is going in this book because it’s the 4th in a series(3rd if you don’t consider the novella) but I will try explain the world. The story is set in Ilya which is a divided kingdom where Plague gifted magical powers to some survivors. Society is split between the magical Elites and the powerless Ordinaries which are hunted down. The story follows Paedyn Gray who is powerless and Ordinary and just her journey trying to survive. Now a lot changes in 3 books so that all I can really say for now!

I thought it was good!! even though I had gotten a bit of spoilers that genuinely didn’t prepare me for just how many plot twists there were going to be; but with the plot twist came a lot of plot holes. I feel more confused after finishing this book than I was having only read the first page. It was very odd at times and the main reason I enjoyed it as much as I did is because I had a certain attachment to the characters after so many book—that’s about it. I am not pouncing at the idea of reading the next novella but when it comes out in paperback and if Lauren Roberts announces more books in the series I might.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I want to also share my favorite to least favorite order in this series:

1. Powerless(4.75)

2. Fearless(4)

3. Reckless(4)

4. Powerful(2)

Now I’m getting into my review that contains spoilers so if you haven’t read it and you want to read a good YA Romantasy go for it! Even though there is way better out there(in my opinion), I know a lot of people enjoyed the series way more than me so I would definitely give it a try! Obviously if you do come back here and share all your opinions! I always LOVE to hear them!

I think my main issue with these books is the writing(it just isn’t for me and that’s fine) and the tropes. By tropes I manly speak about love triangles, I do not enjoy them especially when you know so well who is endgame because it just makes it seem like such a waist of my reading time! Also I’m sorry but what was this marriage between siblings!!! I will admit I had been spoilt the fact that Kitt and Paedyn are half siblings which I would have found out really early on anyway. It didn’t particularly bother me because I thought nothing would happen. But then they kissed at their wedding and it just grossed me out; I’m sure the author could have found a way to avoid it. Now I want to speak about Kitt or more so about that one scene, yes if you have read this book you would know. I’m sorry but Kitt started to piss me off and I know he was inflicted by the plague or whatever but it was getting to a point where I needed to put the book down and breath a few minutes. He was so possessive with Kai! Yes I totally get the fact that he loves and cares for his sibling, I have one so no one be telling me that I’m saying this because I’m a lonely child. NO. But this man was insane. Even if it was mainly due to the plague he very much had the intention there from the start! One thing I found annoying was that the author made Kai kill Kitt. It was so unrealistic. In my opinion if you’re in a sword fight you notice that someone isn’t dodging or when your swords starts going trough their chest you stop before there’s to much damage done—granted I have never been in a word fight so I wouldn’t know. This scene was just so unnecessary and rushed. I knew Kitt was going to die because of spoilers and thought that the author was going to find a crazy way to kill him off but no, she made Kai do it. Anyway I don’t want to talk about it anymore. So let’s talk more about just Kai. You see I love Kai, Kai is the best he’s so sweet even though he has his whole facade going on and he treats Paedyn so well! I loved the little secret relationship dynamic with Pae(even though it was a secret to no one). Kai is just a little softy but yea the whole killing his brother thing threw me off. One last thing I wanted to add was that they are adapting powerless into a show for prime and for Kitt they should cast Jamie Campbell Bower, he would be perfect for that role, especially for the 3rd book!

If you read this book please share your opinions, agree or disagree with me I want to hear all your opinions.✨

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I have honestly read a lot of books with messed up families but I did not want to repeat books from my last 5 on Five post and these are just some of my favorites. There is no specific order and I also made sure to pick a couple that would be perfect beach reads since summer is upon us, let’s get into it!!

1. Normal People by Sally Rooney

   Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

I read this book very recently and absolutely loved it, it has become my favorite book of 2026! Some people in this book will make you want to through it across the room. Those are the people that make for a messed up family in the story. Apart from the whole family issues the main relationship also has its issues and it’s such gut wrenching story to read—yes you will probably cry at the end. I read it in one day so it’s definitely fast pace too!

Here is my full review:

2. Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

   Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

I read this book towards the start of my reading journey and I remember loving it so much! The absolute best part was all the family drama, and if you are looking for a fractured family well this is it. I got so attached to the main characters that I stayed up all night to finish reading this. I also especially loved the vibes, it’s the perfect romance summer/beach read!!

3. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

   Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

   This book was so sad. It follows to sisters during the nazi occupation of France in WW2. Their relationship is complicated at times but also so full of love. If you read this do yourself a favor and don’t do it in a public area because I can guarantee that you will be ugly crying through most of it. My only complaint was that the start took me so long to get through, but it is all worth it!

4. We were liars by e.lockhart

   Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

This was the second book I read whilst getting back into reading! I remember sobbing and not being okay when plot twist happened I think this is very audacious of me to say but dare I say this is one the one book to screen adaptation where the show is better—sue me I said it! All the issues in this family are definitely my favorite parts of this book and were even better done in the show. Not too shortly after reading this I read family of liars which is the prequel and hated how it was written. This is definitely not a literary masterpiece(and I would never give it 5 stars if I read it today) but it’s perfect especially to get back into reading and as a bonus it would make for a great summer/beach read!

3. Beach Read by Emily Henry

   Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

This is one of my favorite books of all time, and the only one I have ever read twice!! Even though this is obviously fiction and the plot would be unusual in the real world, everything felt so real. It is just such a simply told story and I absolutely loved it. I will never stop recommending this book! The family issues are also very unique because it’s more about releasing that you thought you knew someone but you didn’t really. I have so far read only 3 Emily Henry books and this one is by far my favorite. Also if the title didn’t give it away this is a perfect summer/beach read!!

There is my list! I hope you can add some of these to your TBR. I can’t wait to read everyone else’s post(if you notice that I missed it please comment the link to it). I’m sure most of you reading this have read some of these book— If you have I would love to know all your opinions!?

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More bookish posts from the Annotated World:

Last months 5 on Five post:

May reads round up:

The main factor that led to there not being that much public opposition towards Hitler and the Nazi regime was that many Germans were intimidated and threatened by the Gestapo. The Gestapo relied heavily on Germans reporting other people for their investigations. People would even refrain from speaking negatively about the Nazis to their family because the family might denounce them from fear of being associated with them if they ever were to get arrested(Nazi’s like assuming ‘guilt by relation’). This should be a good example on why there was little open opposition to Hitler.

The success of the Nazi Party during the elections of March 1933, suggests that Nazi rule was very popular in the early years. This was mainly because the economy was doing way better than it was during the Weimar years and the regime was dealing with things caused by the depression. However, that support declined as the war began to go badly and there were shortages which lead to rationing. People were no longer living a very prosperous life needing to wait hours in lines for food because of wartime shortages, this probably would lead a lot of people to not fully support the dictator in charge of your country.

However, I don’t think it’s very likely that the opposition to the Nazis was a real threat to their rule.

One of the more popular opposition groups to the Nazi regime that we know of to day were the White Rose(Weiße Rose) group. The White Rose is a circle of friends around the students Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell. This all took place in the summer of 1942, they wrote and distributed leaflets all over Munich claiming that Germans should oppose to the Nazi dictatorship and that there should be an end to the war.

Now I am going to tell you about how this all started and how it ended.

Three of the group’s founding members, Hans Scholl, Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell, were medical students at the University of Munich. While on the Eastern Front the three had to witness the murder of Jewish civilians by SS troops. When they finally returned to Munich, they start discussing opposition to the Nazi regime with other students including Hans’s sister Sophie.

Reading; which included reading banned books, was essential for this group of friends. Literature helped them shape their thoughts and opinions. They would read alone, or meeting in groups so that they could discuss their reading.

Alexander Schmorell and Hans Scholl wrote the first four leaflets criticizing the regime in June and July 1942. They printed around 100 pieces of each leaflet in secret in Schmorell’s parents house. Owning and spreading critical writings was strictly forbidden in the Nazi regime. Everyone should have been obliged to hand them in to the police. However, only approximately one third of the 100 recipients reported the first four leaflets.

When they returned from military service in Russia, Alexander Schmorell and Hans Scholl were even more determined to resist than they had been before. Sophie Scholl, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, joined the resistance, and in late December 1942 Kurt Huber also joined. They made the fifth and sixth leaflet together in January and February 1943. Using a new and more effective duplicating machine they were able produce around 6000 copies. The students were risking their lives making and distributing the leaflets. Despite how big of a risk this was, their disapproval and disgust towards the Nazi crimes pushes them to keep going. If this doesn’t show how much they cared about their country and wanted other Germans to see straight and stand up for all the people who were being killed without sense, and for what their country could be without the Dictatorship that the Nazi regime was, I don’t know what will.

Now you might be wondering what messages the White Rose group was trying to promote, so I am here to tell you. The first of those leaflets quoted extracts from the works of Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and it promoted passive resistance to the Nazi war effort. The first White Rose essay was concluded with the statement, “Do not forget that every nation deserves the government that it endures.” That is honestly very true, if you don’t actively try to change something it wont change! By early 1943, the White Rose began an anti-Nazi graffiti campaign, painting “Freedom” and “Down with Hitler” on buildings throughout Munich.

So what exactly lead to the White Roses demise? Well when the fifth leaflet started appearing all over Munich, the Gestapo decides in early February 1943 to intensify the search for the authors and creates a special investigative commission. Initially they couldn’t come up with concrete results and they didn’t make any connection between the leaflets and the wall slogans at the university. The director of the Gestapo’s Munich office Oswald Schäfer placed the university under increased surveillance. It was also expected that all suspicious activity should have been reported immediately to the Gestapo.

On 18 February 1943 the Scholl siblings had placed copies of the sixths leaflet in front of the lecture rooms in the university’s main building, then they tossed a stack of remaining leaflets into the atrium. The janitor Jakob Schmid caught them. Both were immediately arrested by the Gestapo. By late February most members of the group were arrested. Heinrich Himmler ordered their family members to be arrested as well, in a very common Nazi practice of assuming ‘guilt by relation’. The students and Kurt Huber were expelled from the university, and teh trial was going to be held by the “People’s Court” (‘Volksgerichtshof’), which was a special Nazi court operating outside of the constitutional frame of law.

The investigation uncovered the participation of Christoph Probst in making the leaflets. The Scholls and Probst were quickly put on trial. The three were executed on February 22 1943. In the following months, a lot of people were imprisoned for their (real or imagined) connections to the White Rose. Some of them including Graf and Schmorell were also executed.

It’s difficult to measure the impact of the White Rose on the Nazi regime. Even though they definitely did not seriously threaten Hitler or the Nazi regime, their courage showed that not all Germans accepted the horrible acts of the regime. It brought humanity to such horrible times. The fact that even under the most horrible dictatorship some people were willing to fight back and not everyone was bowing at the feet of Hitler proves that their legacy is an important symbol of resistance to the dictatorship.

In Sophie Scholl’s hearing on 20 February 1943 she said that she:

“Remains convinced she has done the best thing.”

My hope is that the legacy of the White Rose is never forgotten and that their sacrifice, and ultimately that their lives are never taken for granted.

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First I will give my quick non-spoiler review and then warn you before getting into the part that contains spoilers!

This book is basically about Connell and Marianne and their relationship from their senior year of school to when they go to the same university in Dublin this book explores the intricacies of class how it is to experience a first love, and just how complex family and friendship can be sometimes.

I loved it so much and I was sobbing when I arrived to the end of it. The ending and honestly the whole book was so gut-wrenching. Both main characters had their flaws and issues but who am I to judge them for it when we are all just human. Also there were some people in this book who deserve a slap. No, no one was normal. I think the theme of how different environment can result in different experiences, and how this results also a bit from your social class and economic class was very well done. It also has a lot of miscommunication but it’s way more complicated than just two people not telling each other things. This is also extremely fast pace I read it in one day! And when it comes to the show I want to watch it but I think I need to give the book some time to sit with me before.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now I’m getting into my review that contains spoilers so if you haven’t read it, you definitely should ! This is my favorite book of the year so far! If you read it I really want to know what you thought about it? If you read it in the future definitely come back to this review so you can also share your opinions!

I never go as far as to say that this book did not have its faults but those are what made this book good to me. I think I really loved the coming of age story and how it was told. First I want to personally say that Marianne’s brother and mother angered me so much they’re probably some of the most horrible human beings on this planet earth, and I’m happy Connell humbled the brother a bit, even though way too late. The miscommunication was a bit less about how they felt about each other because they kind of knew that al along it was more about thing that were happening in their life. When I was done reading this book I went back to the start when they were still in school and stumbled on the line “Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life” which was written from Mariannes POV right after Connell told her he loved her. No that did not help after that ending. Speaking about the ending I don’t know if I will fully recover ever. I know its up to me to imagine what I want but the truth is that sometimes you just lose someone in your life because your circumstances are just not compatible anymore, and thats fine thats just how it is. Maybe Connell goes to New York and then he comes back to Marianne who will still want to be with him but it’s not that black and white or we would have gotten a happy ending. But I will not dwell on it and just gaslight myself into thinking that they found their way back to each other.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“He and Marianne are like figure-skaters, improvising their discussion so adeptly and in such perfect synchronization that it surprises them both.”

“Obviously we are not going to save the Middle East by talking about it at a house party.”

“Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life”

If you read this book please share your opinions, agree or disagree with me I want to hear all your opinions.✨

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May didn’t just bring me the sun(which is all around the year where I live(ed)) it also brought some great books May was honestly a great reading month and it did in fact beat every other month. I am so exited to say that I read a new favorite book of the year and another book that has made it into my top 5! I will in fact be updating my top five at the end of every reading month recap.

Life updates:

I also wanted to include this because a lot has been happening lately. First I want to start with a funny(depending on your perspective) anecdote. Not too long ago I went to the bookshop with a friend and she picked up a book and just cracked the spinne so hard that wasn’t very fun but the day in a whole was really nice!

I wanted to also talk about the fact that I am currently moving(again), this is not new to me I move quite often and to be honest I’m happy about this move because I’m coming back to my roots. YES, yes I am reuniting with my beloved Europe!! I am saying this because the 24th was my last day in the country I now only used to live in. It was honestly hard but life goes on, and I am not too mad about it. I also can’t wait to finally have winters again because I am a winter person through and through. The inconvenient thing about all of this is that it includes intercontinental travel which takes really long because things have to go by boat. To add on that thanks to all of the current things happening in the world I really have no idea when to expect my things to arrive in Europe; for now the hope is that it arrives in October. I want to maybe write a post on that as a part of my life diaries series so you can maybe expect that in a not to far off time! Summer vacation has begun in I Ibiza where I’m currently sitting writing this and as I go different places during the summer I will make a post about them again as a part of my life diaries series! Sorry for dragging this I hope I have built some anticipation for the book I am going to talk about, so let’s start…✨

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I read 4 book sin total this month and am currently 25% trough another book here are my opinions:

1. The Wedding People by Alison Espach

   Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

I really enjoyed this book! The dark humor was so well done. The main character was very funny, relatable, and human. The premise of the book is crazy but it’s really just the starting point. I think the plot was going in a lot of directions at once. But it was a very fun and important read. Would definitely recommend!! Also a perfect summer read!

2. Project Hail Mary

   Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

   

I enjoyed this book but it wasn’t anything that mind blowing like everybody makes it out to be. I think if your into sci-fi you will love this! The humour was great and the friendship in this book was also incredibly heartwarming. I immediately went to watch the movie at the cinemas after reading this and I highly recommend the it the visuals were so beautiful!

3. Funny Story by Emily Henry

   Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

   

I liked this book—until it gave me the biggest ick! I don’t want you to misunderstand me and think I hated it because i did not. So I want to say that I loved Miles and even if less, Daphne too. I even believe in their relationship! I think the main issue with this book is that WAY too much was going on, this isn’t even me being dramatic. I think about halfway through we completely lost the plot.

4. Normal People by Sally Rooney

   Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book changed me forever. I didn’t know much about this book before going into it but it hooked me right away(I literally read it in one day). Sally Rooney is a genius her writing style is so interesting and honestly made for me! This made me sob uncontrollably. I really want to watch the show but I need to let the book have it’s moment before that happens. Definitely recommend!!

(Full length review coming tomorrow)

Current Read:

I am kind of loving this book for now! I always like actually reading book in this series but find they are not very memorable(ha and the novella powerful was one of my least favorite books of all time). I hope this book keeps on being good!!

Reading Goal 2026:

My top five before this month were:

1. The favorites by Layne Fargo✨

2. A Dance of lies by Britney Arena

3. Fake skating by Lynn Painter

4. Either/Or by Elif Batuman

5. My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney

My top five currently are:

1. Normal People by Sally Rooney✨

2. The favorites by Layne Fargo

3. A Dance of lies by Britney Arena

4. Fake skating by Lynn Painter

5. The Wedding People by Alison Espach

This is my May music playlist! Always go check out my Spotify because I make a lot of fun playlists(you can always follow me there too):

This month really went by faster than all the others this year. You're probably tired of hearing this from everyone but how are we almost halfway through 2026!? Time really passes so fast.

I would love to hear about the books you guys read in May and which were your favorites? Any 5 stars?

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Things to look forward to from the Annotated World…

• My next History essay on the white rose

• My June 5 on Five link-sharing party

• A lot book reviews✨

• Ibiza Diaries as a part of my life diaries(I decided that all the places I go to this summer will be com[act into one article instead of separate ones).

Not to be misunderstood I did not hate this in any way shape or form, I even loved it—until this whole book gave me the biggest ick! This book is basically about Daphne who gets dumped by her fincée Peter on the night of their bachelorette party because he realises he loves his best friend Petra which was Miles’s girlfriend. And now since Daphne doesn’t have a home and Miles need someone to pay half the rent they become roommates… So I want to say that I loved Miles and even if less Daphne too. I even believe in their relationship! I think the main issue with this book is that WAY too much was going on, this isn’t even me being dramatic. I think about halfway through we completely lost the plot.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now I’m getting into my review that contains spoilers so if you haven’t read it won’t say you shouldn’t but if you really want to then I’m not here to discourage you. If you read it I really want to know what you think about it?

First of all the premise sounds incredible and it’s the Emily Henry book I wanted to read the most. It is great and the vibes are all there. My main issue with it is that about halfway through we completely lost the plot. Between Miles’s sister, Daphnes dad, her mom being far away, the complications with Ashleigh and her other friend whatever her name is, honestly the list goes on and on. I just could not get a breath and it gave no room for the relationship to breathe either. How can people get into a relationship amidst all of this. I feel like the worst part is that most of these conflicts weren’t even resolved or we were just told they were(but were they really)!? Especially whit that one friend Daphne stopped talking to when her and Peter broke up, we were just told in the Epilogue that they figured things out but we never saw anything. I think this book took on more than it could chew and it backfired terribly. Was it almost just written for screen adaptation? Maybe. I also didn’t like Miles’s sister and she was so pointless to the story for me. The thing is I believed in the romance but I don’t think Emily Henry did, let me explain myself. When Peter and Petra call off the wedding and they both go running back to Daphne and Miles so that we could see the show of the two P’s getting reject felt like the author was waiving a big flag in my face with on it written THEY’RE OVER THEIR EXES as if I thought they weren't. To add on that, the conflict is so forced and Daphne gets mad at Miles for the exact same thing she did to her friend Ashleigh just that what she did was even worse—the thing that frustrated me the most is I would have probably not even noticed had it not pointed it out for me in the book! If you read this book please share your opinions, agree or disagree with me I want to hear all your opinions.✨

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You might think I’m a hater after all these mid reviews and I was starting to worry too. But to reassure everyone I just finished a 5 star last night and can’t wait to share a review on it. Hahah I’m not broken!!!

I’m going to end this with my favorite quotes:

“My gut instinct is to step back into the hallway, close the door, and try again. See if anything else greets me.”

“I guess all families are complicated on way or another.”

“Good enough that they don’t realize you don’t get to be loved by people whose hearts you completely fucking destroy.”

Book Review:

I started the book because me my brother and my mom wanted to go watch the movie at the cinema before moving. I will be so honest with everyone that I would have not sprinted to picked it up if that wasn’t the case. Shi-fi just isn’t quite my cup of tea and I felt no fomo whatsoever towards this book(which says a lot because everybody and their mom read this book and loved it so much).

This book is basically about humans finding out that there’s something dimming the sun and that soon earth is going to be an ice age and everybody is going to die(this is happening to all stars apart one). So Project Hail mary is launched to go see why this one star isn’t being blocked by this thing called Astrophage. And our main charahcter wakes up in a spaceship having no idea who he is and why he’s there.

I did thoroughly enjoy this book, but I do think I’m in the minority saying that it really wasn’t anything that special. I loved the humour, concept, Rocky and even Grace. The fact that someone came up with such a great storyline impresses me a lot and just all the science in it was also so impressive; especially since a lot of it is accurate(not the made up stuff but for example the way they talked about living organisms and all of the ATP stuff is something I remember from school). My issue with this books is that it was just so boring even though we were getting flashback scenes I couldn’t deal with how repetitive and just boring a lot of the things were. I think that since this was my first sci-fi I didn’t know what to expect. When I finally watched the movie I realised that when it comes to space I have no imagination because when I did picture something I pictured it completely wrong(apart Rocky). The humour and sweet friendship is really what kept me going.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Now I’m just going to share some opinions that contain spoiler so if you haven’t read this book I would recommend, especially if sci-fi is your cup of tea and obviously if you do come back here and share all your opinions—I LOVE to hear them!

First of all I thought that they death of the other two people in the crew was dealt with so well in the book. I loved the character Eva Stratt and would have loved to see more of her and having her character being a bit more development. I loved the reveal of why Grace was on the Hail Mary and I thought i was so much more deep than him just having gone because he wanted to do something nice or whatever(the true reason just added so much depth). The only thing is that the ending didn’t fully satisfy my needs.

Movie review:

I really enjoyed the movie! I went to the cinema to watch it which I would just like to share something not really related to the actual movie but I had the most unpleasant woman sitting next to me who literally told my brother to stop speaking to me when he was just asking me in a low voice if I liked the book—before the movie even began—and then she asked the guy sitting in front of us to turn off his phone. Which with all due respect she pissed me off but I still understand her to a certain extent. Anyway. Fist of all I get why people say watch the movie before the book because I was literally picturing everything so wrong when reading and then during the movie I was like OHHH I get it now(I say this fully knowing that if I had watched the movie before the book, I would have never picked the book up because I would know where it was going). Two fun facts. The scenes on earth were cropped to make you feel claustrophobic and so that you want to spend more time the now scenes in space and the composer for Project Hail Mary called Daniel Pemberton also composed both spider-verse Miles Morales movies.

Now I’m just going to share some opinions that contain spoiler so if you haven’t watched the movie you should, especially if sci-fi is your cup of tea and obviously if you do come back here and share all your opinions—I LOVE to hear them!

I loved the visuals so much, the scene when they were in the petrova line sent me into a short coma. I think it altered my brain chemistry forever and I still think about it daily.

Everything from Rocky’s ship, the Hail Mary to Rocky himself was so well represented and I could not have pictured it in any better way. One scene that wasn’t in the book but I loved in the movie was the Karaoke one. Something I found sad is that we didn’t really deal with the death of the two crew mate’s as well as in the book. I think they weren’t done justice given that they went on a suicide mission to save the earth. I felt sad that this one character called Dimitri was not in the movie because he was a funny guy.

So those were all my opinions on Project Hail Mary! I hope you enjoyed this review and please give feedback if there’s anything you would like me to include or to not include ever again. I would definitely recommend both the book and the movie, especially if you enjoy sci-fi. Please share all your thoughts and opinions—I LOVE to hear them!

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First I want to start with a no-spoiler review and then I will warn you when we get into spoilers.

I loved this book it was genuinely so great and fast pace! The premise of the book is crazy but it really only covers the surface level of what happens in this book. Basically it’s about this Phoebe who wants to end her life, so she books a very nice five star hotel in Newport, Rhode Island which is where she wants to do it. The catch is that everyone else at the hotel is there for a wedding(they’re THE WEDDING PEOPLE)!! The bride(Lila) finds out about her plans and is absolutely outraged. She basically says NONO you can’t ruin my wedding week. Let me tell you how good the dark humor was especially at the start — if your not into that then this probably isn’t for you. This book in general was just very enjoyable and it would have been a top read but it honestly lacked plot and the story was going so many different directions. Also I didn’t like the bride very much!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now I’m getting into my review that contains spoilers so if you haven’t read it—YOU SHOULD! This book was so enjoyable and if you read it I really want to know what you think about it?

I want to start of with the fact that the synopsis is truly just the start of the book I’m pretty sure after a few chapters you already covered everything so maybe it’s misleading and this book sis truly more about Phoebe trying to fall back in love with life and just finding herself, because she was obviously quite lost at the start. I loved Phoebe she was done so dirty by EVERYONE(also she has the best dark humor). I want to talk about Lila. Let’s just start with the fact that she is a true piece work. She would probably win the award for the worst friend of the century—well if she really had friends. Would I call Phoebe and Lila friends NO not in my opinion, maybe they would but that does not concern me. Ohhhh and I hated Phoebe’s EX husband— I don’t even remember his name. He truly made me so mad. But let’s move on to who did not make me mad, which was Gary. Him and Phoebe’s friendship was so easygoing and natural I just love reading their interactions. Nothing has ever felt less forced to me. And in general I just loved the ending because I can truly interpret it as I want!! So Lila stays stuck for ever in Canada because of Visa issues and sadly everyone realizes she’s annoying and has no social awareness and cuts her off from their life even that one guy she liked who was her fiancées best friend/brother of deceased wife. And Phoebe and Gary stay friends for a bit while working trough their separate issues and then they slowly get closer spend more time together, Phoebe and Juice(I don’t remember what her actual name was) form a great friendship. Finally when it’s the right moment Phoebe and Gary get together but they don’t need to marry because their love is stronger than a contract!!! How would you imagine the future for these characters?? If you read this book please share your opinions, agree or disagree with me I want to hear all your opinions.✨

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Children. Kitchen. Church.

That was the slogan for half of Germany’s population. The Nazis obviously had very old fashioned views of women’s place in society.

But before we dive into the life of Women in Nazi Germany let’s take step back and see how it was for them in weimar Germany. Weimar Germany was seen as quite progressive because it allowed all women over 20 to vote. By 1932, 112 women had been elected to the Reichstag and by 1933 10% of Reichstag politicians were female and there were 100,000 women teachers and 5,000 women doctors. Middle class women even began to drink and smoke in public, wear make-up and have shorter hairstyles.Now let’s see how badly this downwards spiraled when Hitler became Germany’s führer.

Hitler was very concerned that the birth rate had halved compared to before the First World War from 2 million births a year to one million births. He was (very) determined to increase it, so that he could create a powerful Reich. The Nazis believed that men and women had been created for different purposes. For example, they thought men were made to work and bring home money for their families, whilst women should cook, clean and look after children. However, they believed women were of equal value to men.

So how did the nazis increase the birth rate? Well there were plenty of ways that you could definitely consider as manipulation, if you wish. In 1933 the law of encouragement of marriage provided loans to help young couples marry—but of course only if women gave up work. If a couple that got a marriage loan had one child, the loan was reduced by 25%. If they had four children, they did not have to repay the loan at all. Another method they used to encourage women to have large families was by awarding medals. These were known as the Honour Cross of German Motherhood medals with a gold one given to the women who had 8 or more children; silver for 6 or more; bronze for 4 or more. And if thats not disturbing enough when a woman has 10 children, Hitler would become godfather to the child and if it was a boy it would be called Adolf. It started even earlier than marriage, BDM (League of German Girls) trained young girls from childhood to become good Nazi wives and mothers, so basically grooming the next generation of women.

As for the ideal appearance for women during the Nazi rule contrasted a lot with the those of weimar Germany. Women were encouraged not to use make-up and to wear home-produced clothes and flat heels. They strongly discouraged smoking and drinking as they considered this unladylike, this is also because it might harm women’s health and make it harder for them to have children. Being slim was also discouraged because they believed that larger women found it easier to give birth.

The Nazis launched a huge propaganda campaign to encourage women to have more children. Contraception and abortion were banned and the joys of having a large family was relentlessly marketed by the government.

The war changed everything. When the Nazis noticed the need for women during hard times and just how useful the were in the economy, the whole women schoudnt work idea was promptly reversed. Women were suddenly invited back into the workforce.

The most uncomfortable part of all of this and yet the most important is that over a quarter of German women voted for the Nazi Party in the 1932 federal election, and that number grew. Some women genuinely believed in and supported the regime. Mothers were responsible for influencing their children with antisemitism and racial superiority. Women were both victims of the ideology and enforcers of it.

There is a question I wanted to leave you all with. How much has actually changed? This deffinetly changes based on where you live so different people will have different perspectives on this. Do you think that women are still praised primarily for what they produce? I would love to hear everybody’s take on this.

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