Books 2023

 

Managed to read around 55 books last year. Found out that I love thriller/mystery books so much. Found Freida McFadden by accident and love it so much that I kept myself from reading her books all at the same time to save some in case I have reader's block or when I have nothing fun to read on my Kindle. Yes, I still read religiously on my Kindle. Best and most worthwhile purchase ever made. Now when I browse around in the bookshop, I don't have any desire to buy any books. Speaking of books, Abby Jimenez also is not bad when I want to have something simple and light to read. Taylor Jenkins Reid is also not bad. Found her in 2022 but have not read anything from her last year. I have 2 more of her books in my Kindle that I have not read yet. Just saving the best for last. 

This is how my Kindle looks at the moment. Been meaning to change the casing and buy few accessories but masih tidak tercapai impianku. Rasa sayang sgt dgn duit. Ke sebab takde duit? Hahahaha!! 

Anyway, this year my reading goal is 50 books. Hopefully can reach it before 2024 end. 

Books Read 2023 (Summary) - 5

 A Flicker in the Dark – Stacy Willingham

Chloe Davis – The girl, psychologist

Cooper Davis – The brother

Dick Davis – The father

Daniel Biggs – The fiancé

 

Stuck With you – Ali Hazelwood

Books Read 2023 (Summary) - 4

 

Under One Roof – Ali Hazelwood

Mara Floyd – The girl

Liam/William Harding – The boy

 

Mara’s PhD supervisor, Helena, gifted her with a house after she died. What she didn’t know that the house was co-owned by one of Helena’s nephew, Liam. But since she’s desperate because she has no money and she just started working she still stay at the house with Liam. They went through banter everyday over simple things. But things started to change when one day Mara invite Liam to eat with her when Liam was having a bad day. Their friendship blossomed and one day Liam confessed that he likes Mara and they have sex and finish.

 

Regretting You – Colleen Hoover

Morgan – The older sister

Jenny – The younger sister

Chris – Boyfriend/Husband to Morgan

Jonah – Boyfriend/Fiancé to Jenny

 

Morgan was in love with her sister’s boyfriend, Jonah but decided to not went through it when she found out that she’s pregnant with Chris baby. They got married and got Clara. 16 years later, Jenny got pregnant from her one night stand with Jonah during his father’s funeral. Jonah leaves everything and move closer to both Jenny and Morgan. They got engaged. Jenny gives birth to Elijah and will went to work the next day after her two months maternity leave at the hospital. Jenny is a nurse. Morgan is a housewife. During the day that Jenny was supposed to go to work, Morgan were babysitting Elijah and got a phone call that Chris was involved in an accident. Along the way both Morgan and Jonah found out that Jenny also were in the same accident. They both died in the accident. Apparently, Chris and Jenny were having an affair. Morgan and Jonah were heartbroken. They then proceeded to go with their feeling.

 

I also don’t like this book. Too many unnecessary details. 

Books Read 2023 (Summary) - 3

 Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Nina, Jay, Hud, Kit – The siblings

Mick Riva – The father

June Costas – The mother

 

Story of siblings that went through hardships of growing up by themselves after their father the rock star abandoned them and their mother drowned in a bathtub after too many alcohol. Nina, the oldest, manages to take care of her siblings through modeling. Her heart was recently broken by her husband who cheated on her with another pro tennis player. The story revolves around the time of annual party that was held at Nina’s place every year. Jay just found out that he has a heart condition that may make him give up surfing. He met a girl that he thinks he likes. Hud is their half-brother. His mom drops him off to June Costas and she decided to raise him up like her own. Jay and Hud have a strong connection. He’s a photographer and most of his work is Jay’s surfing. Hud falls in love with Jay’s ex-girlfriend and don’t know how to tell Jay about it. Kit is the youngest and have the least time of being with her father since Mick left June soon after she was born. She’s currently 18 years old. She’s also into surfing like Jay but apparently much better than Jay. She invited Mick to the annual party and didn’t expect Mick to turn up, but he did. So they had one-to-one session with Mick that night. The siblings encouraged Nina to go do something that she wants since all of them have grown up and capable of taking care of themselves.

 

 

Below Zero – Ali Hazelwood

Hannah Arroyo – The girl

Ian Floyd – The boy

 

Hannah interviewed Ian for her PhD assignment and they make out at the end of the session. Ian asks her out, but she refused flatly. Fast forward years later, Hannah got a job at NASA and met Ian there once again. The sparks fly again but Hannah went berserk when she knows that Ian declined her proposal to go into North Pole to experiment with her project about a mini robot that can help collect data. Ian explained that the reason he rejected the proposal is because it’s a dangerous project. Hannah managed to obtain sponsorship for her project from other people and went through her project. Something happened while she’s there and Ian save her from that.

Wish You Were Here – Jodi Picoult

Diana O’Toole – The girl, working in art business

Hannah O’Toole – The estranged mother

Finn Colson – The boyfriend, a resident

Gabriel – The tour guide/Diana scandal at Galapagos

Beatriz – Gabriel’s daughter, the problematic teen

 

Its basically story about when the pandemic started. Diana still went to the vacation that she planned with her boyfriend to Galapagos. Unfortunately, as soon as she reached the island, they went into lockdown so she was stuck on the island without her belonging since her luggage got lost. Luckily for her, the people on the island help her with whatever that they can. After couple of months living on the island, she fall in love with Beatriz’s father, the teenage girl who went through problem on her own. Gabriel is a former tour guide of the island so he bring Diana around the island and he brought Diana swimming when she suddenly got drowned and woke up in the hospital. Apparently, Diana was only dreaming about the vacation and island since she was being sedated and intubated after contracted with Covid. She was down for merely 10 days. She said that the things that she’s “experiencing” at Galapagos is too real and refuse to accept that it’s just a dream. During her dream, she received news that her mother was sick with Covid too and then died. The same thing happened when she’s recovered from Covid so that’s make her more determined to proof that its not just a dream.

 

Honestly, this is one of the books that I don’t like. The story went forever about how she don’t want to believe that its just a dream and don’t want to move on from it. 

Books Read 2023 (Summary) - 2

The Stranger in the Lifeboat – Mitch Albom

Benji/Benjamin – Narrator

Jarty LeFleur – Inspector in Montserrat, where the lifeboat was found on the beach after a year

 

It’s a story about how this one billionaire Jason Lambert brought all the great people from all over the world that have done something for the world for a “party” on a yacht called “Galaxy”. This yacht, however, was wrecked in the middle of the ocean. It was believed that there were no survivors, but actually, there were 10 survivors and one of them was Benji. He wrote letters/journals to his dead wife, Annabelle, about what happened to him and others during the time they were floating in the sea on that lifeboat. They rescued the 11^th man after 3 days floating and the man declared himself as God. This man promised to help them if they believe in him. Eventually, all of the survivors dead except Benji, who I guess believed him in the end? The book didn’t tell exactly how Benji survived it but eventually, Benji, who later changed his name to Rom Rosh, arrived at the shore of Marguerita Bay located at the small-town Montserrat, who then reported it to Jarty LeFleur, the inspector. Jarty found the journal and read it and sort of made peace with his daughter’s death, 4 years before.

 

People We Meet on Vacation – Emily Henry

Poppy Wright – the girl, a travel writer at R+R

Alex Nielsen – the boy, a teacher who’s currently pursuing MFA in creative writing, loves writing

 

Poppy and Alex met during orientation day at the University of Chicago and they decided that they both were too much for each other and didn’t meet each other after that until the last day of the semester when Alex was looking for someone to share a ride back home to Linfield. Turned out both are from there. They started their friendship during that time when they found out that they have so many things in common. Poppy and Alex love traveling but don’t have money to travel far, so they make do with the location near them to save money. They did everything on a low budget including sharing a room. They travel together every summer and something happens during their last two summer vacations that changed the whole dynamic of their friendship. They stop talking. Poppy decided to ask Alex to go to Palm Springs for this year's summer vacation after two years of no vacation. It's also Alex’s little brother, David’s wedding. There they finally found out what went wrong with their friendship. They both actually love each other but decided that they are scared to go through it because they were afraid of breaking each other's hearts. 

Kindle 10th Generation

I think this deserves a special post. Hehe. I bought a Kindle back in September 2022. I was into reading e-books a few months prior to my purchase. I used my iPad for it and it is definitely not the most convenient to use for reading. Side note: I miss my iPad mini. Should I save up to buy a new one?

Anyway, I started reading on my iPad. A few graphic novels were totally great. Graphic novels are totally built for iPad. Perfect. But trying to read a book on it was not so great. I have no problem with the interactive parts/the apps themselves. Works wonderfully. Just not convenient. It's too heavy and too bright to read if I switch off the lights. 

I remember that I've done research on Kindle a few couple months back. But RM500 is just too much for me. So, I decided against it.

Then I went to Shopee and find a cheaper version. It's an original device but from the reviews, a lot of them said that it's Japan version and works fine. So, I bought it for RM333 but with the voucher and it all became RM326. 

Super love it and have been reading non-stop since then. I even uninstalled the Instagram app on my phone because it took so much of my free time that I can spend reading. 

The first book that I read on the Kindle was Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Managed to finish around 39 books for 2022. 

I'm currently reading Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat. I am planning to finish at least one book per week.

Anyway, this Kindle was definitely the best purchase that I've made last year!

Books Read 2023 (Summary) - 1

The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave

Hannah - The wife

Owen - The husband

Bailey - The daughter

Hannah received a note one day from Owen that said "Protect her" and he went missing after that. Hannah and Bailey went to Austin to find any clues about Owen's disappearance and found out that Owen was not what he said he was. Apparently, Owen was once known as Ethan Young, and Bailey was Kristin. Owen changes their identity because Bailey's grandfather, a lawyer for evil people, and Bailey's mother died because of it. Hannah was offered to get into a witness protection program to sort of protect her and Bailey but she decided to go against it and went to Bailey's grandfather, Nicholas Bell to ask for protection. Hannah and Bailey went to live their life as usual. Hannah saw Owen a few times after that. He apparently still wears their wedding ring. Bailey accepted Hannah as her mother and called her mom.  

Ugly Love - Collen Hoover

Tate Collins - The girl

Miles Archer - The boy

Rachel - The ex

Tate is a nurse that is currently studying for her Master's and falls in love with Miles, the pilot the first time they met. The problem is, Miles does not want anything to do with love. He had some darkest secret that he doesn't want to share with anybody. They come up with an agreement that their relationship will be solely based on sex and no feelings whatsoever will get involved. Tate fell deep in love with Miles and feels like he did too. Tate decided not to pursue it further and Miles finally confronted his secret by meeting his ex, Rachel, and finds closure. Miles had a baby with Rachel but sadly the got into an accident that kills the baby. Tate and Miles live happily ever after and have a baby girl they named Sam.