[MPOV] The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 4

My rating: 3/5

Goodreads rating: 3.75/5

Published: September 2, 2024

Author: Sophia Lambton

Genre: Historical fiction, family drama

Curiosity can be a killer.

The clock begins to tick on Anneliese’s moral compass as the sleuth-psychiatrist delves deeper into London’s social dregs – encountering a playbook too subversive for her tastes. While Isabel belittles the idea of jealousy Charles Anthony views his obsession as a Jezebel. Susanna’s (other) indiscretions are hard-pressed to rest in peace as torments old and new distort her life. Headmaster Richard on the other hand sparks strife when he reviles his troublesome subordinate… again.

Repression treads with clumsy thumps on both the sisters’ souls in this suspicion-rousing feast of silent dreams: a gallery of scintillating scenes where passion and possessiveness still lurk beneath the surface.

Envy, pride, wrath and desire light a fire in The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 4: the part inviting you to pick your poison.

Thanks to the author and publisher for this copy of The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 4. 

It picked up from where it has left off in volume 3, with both Anneliese and Isabel single again. The former so obsessed with her client, CA Remington and the latter looking for a new challenge. Susana is still in denial and Richard has moved on. With the story alternating between the sister's plots, it is easy to read and navigate through their lives. It truly is a sibling saga of their own with a mix of Downtown Abbey and Dynasty, in my opinion, hence a soap opera :-) In another term, a family drama. So much has happened and with more to come.

[Crochet] Jumper for Labubu

With the recent craze of Labubu, since my daughter is also a huge fan, I have decided to crochet some wearables for the doll. I have found some YouTube videos by Pikky DIY which was resourceful and filled with many easy-to-understand patterns to crochet Labubu's clothes. I have started with this cute jumper!

I have used Bernat Satin multi-coloured worsted weight yarn that I have been keeping for ages and it turned out looking so adorable!

[Crochet] Beanies

I have been busy lately more with my crafts than my reading. I have also been joining more crafts gathering for both cross-stitching and sewing. I have received requests to teach basic crochet too. Hence, my free time is filled with endless crafting and not much time reading! 

For my recent crochet class, I have been busy searching for an easy to crochet beanie for beginners. I have found such patterns by Diane Serviss of Pixiebell and made a few for the class as samples.

First one is a 30 Minute Basic Beanie:

Ravelry: 30 Minute Basic Beanie pattern by Diane Serviss

I've used two 7-ply cotton yarns to match the bulky size with 9mm crochet hook for this pattern.

Second one is this Worsted Weight Basic Beanie:

Ravelry: Worsted Weight Basic Beanie pattern by Diane Serviss

I've used Chenille 4mm yarn with 5.5mm crochet hook for this pattern.

[MPOV] Queen of his Heart (Crown & Heart #2)

My rating: 4/5

Goodreads rating: 4.59/5
Publish: May 1, 2024
Author: Nikki Davenport
Genre: Romance

When dark secrets threaten the Queen he loves, betrayal is the only choice.

Why didn’t I have the good sense to walk away when I learned Khara was the Queen?

I should have said goodbye.

Stayed away.

I damn sure shouldn’t have touched her.

Now I’m in so deep I can’t imagine my world without her. Even knowing guys like me with black marks on their souls don’t get happy endings. She deserves better than the likes of me.

She’s making me yearn for things I have no right to want.

It’s a mistake to give in to the magnetic pull between us. And yet just a single taste of the sweetness that is Lytua’s Queen seals my fate.

Maybe I never had a chance.

But when dark secrets from my past threaten her life and her standing as Queen, I have to take swift action.

There’s nothing I won’t do to keep Khara safe.

So I betray the woman who’s come to mean all to me. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Queen of His Heart is the exciting second half of the Queen’s Desire duet. Khara and Riddick's epic love story began with Book 1 of the Crown and Heart series, International Incident.

Trigger Warning: memories of cancer and childhood trauma; profanity, graphic content; mention of SA and substance abuse; kidnapping.

Thanks to the author and LibraryThings for this copy! I hadn't realized this was book 2 but then I didn't get lost either, thankfully!

It is definitely a well written feel-good love story. From the moment Khara and Riddick met until the end, it was filled with adventure, like a roller coaster ride. It may be predictable (I had guessed the ending to be that), yet it was as emotional and full of surprise at times. I have enjoyed Khara and Riddick's journey until the end which made me felt that I've actually watched a Diva movie instead of reading it LOL! With such a lovely and warm ending to boot! If you are looking for an easy read, give this title a try but be warned that it is filled with 'lovey-dovey' stuff ya! 

[MPOV] The Girl Who Dreamed: A Hong Kong Memoir of Triumph Against the Odds.

My rating: 5/5

Goodreads rating: 4.20/5
Published: October 1, 2024
Author: Sonia Leung
Genre: Memoir

At the age of 14, Sonia Leung was raped by her ping-pong coach.

 

She had moved from China two-and-a-half years earlier to join her family in Hong Kong, but she could not fit in. The family of six lived in a cramped subdivided hut in a Kowloon squatter village but rarely communicated with each other. The difficulties of adjusting to colonial Hong Kong heightened the tensions between her parents. Feeling trapped and unloved, Sonia was too afraid to tell anyone about the rape. She saved money by working part-time at McDonald’s and, a year later, she bought a one-way plane ticket to Taipei and ran away from home.

 

The Girl Who Dreamed is a memoir of her childhood in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – and how, through work and further education, she found her way to an independent life away from the family and world from which she needed to free herself.

Thanks to the publisher, Blacksmith Books, and the author, Sonia Leung, for this ARC in return for my honest review. It truly was an eye-opening read for me and I could not fathom what this girl has gone through and endured most of her young life!

"I became non-existent to them. If I could vanish into the air, I would not feel so empty and hungry for food, attention, validation, and love."

Interestingly, the author has made many references to famous Chinese authors and poets that somehow shaped her thoughts and life. Just a mere few sentences can be enlightening, making a good impression on someone as young as the author then. TBH, I do believe that literature can make or break someone, depending on how it was understood. 

"Only when I was a grown woman did I learn that the daughter's names would not enter the book of Leung's family genealogy."

Having brought up in an Asian family, I get it. I understand that Asian parenting is so different from way back then. However, I guess with what we have endured then, our perspective changed in bringing up our children hence Asian parenting has evolved, and some children are more entitled these days LOL! Anyhow this is just my opinion lah!

I have enjoyed yet agonized reading through this memoir. Definitely a harrowing experience at the start and I applaud her for being so brave to remember, write it down and published it. This is not an easy feat. Also, who would have thought that a teenager could travel alone to Taiwan without her chaperone?!!! I am amazed with her will power, her positive mind and gutsy personality! I do empathize especially when she could have been with Jeremy, have a ''HEA'' with their baby too. On the other hand, I am glad that her life turned out well and I do wish her the best in her future undertakings. 

Sonia, 

Thank you for sharing your story with the world.

"Writing had empowered me once. It brought on profound changes."