Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I read science fiction every once in a while, but I didn’t know this was hard sci-fi and let’s just say I spent the first quarter of the book confused by the scientific information overload. Astrophysics? Energy transfer? Astrophage? I’m just a casual reader! Once it started clicking, I gained more interest in the story, but the pacing felt a little too slow in the middle for my liking. Despite my lukewarm feelings on the first half, I LOVED the last quarter of the book. I never thought I’d love an alien rock-spider thing so much? The buddy dynamic between Rocky and Ryland had my whole heart. Rocky really carried this entire book. If you like incredibly high stakes (the sun is infected and gradually leading earth into an ice age), space exploration, missions to save earth, and unexpected friendships across galaxies, then this book is for you!

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Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year! I loved Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess so I was excited to dive back into her lush and magical world. It was marketed as enemies to lovers, one of my favorite tropes!! Except…it wasn’t quite what I was imagining. Right off the bat the romance felt like it was building really fast…too fast? And then a plot twist blindsided me! The rest of the book felt more like reluctant allies than enemies. Nonetheless, I enjoyed diving into the vibrant world of divine politics and mercurial immortals. I really grew to enjoy how cdrama-esque it felt. I used to watch cdramas growing up so it was nostalgic in a way.

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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

This has got to be one of the most hyped book in recent years. Was I curious? A little — but I had no intentions of getting the book any time soon. Lo and behold, my cousin got me a copy so I felt obligated to read it since it’s her all time favorite series. Does it live up to the hype? In some ways, yes! The dragons, the war college setting, and exciting trials alone made it such an entertaining read. The overarching plot was also interesting and felt very weighty? The ending had me SHOOK. What I did not enjoy, and I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for this, was the romance. It just wasn’t for me!

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Atomic Habits by James Clear

I seldom read self-help books I heard a lot of great things about this one and wanted to incorporated a little nonfiction into my repertoire. The beginning was incredibly boring. In fact, I was close to DNF’ing this many times. But I pushed on, and started to gain interest in the psychology behind habits. To save you the time, here were some of the key ideas that stuck with me from this book:

• If you start with small and simple habits on a daily basis, over time there will be significant change
• Cues can trigger good AND bad habits, i.e. if you pull out your phone and see Tiktok in front of you, you’re more likely to start scrolling. I actually used this to stop doomscrolling on Tiktok altogether by just moving it into a hidden folder and adding a 10 minute daily limit
• Discipline & environment > motivation. Motivation is overrated and environment is more important. If your environment has a lot of good cues, then you will find yourself practicing good habits more often. The great thing is you can shape your own environment!
• Consistency is key

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4 books down! This is the most I’ve been able to read in a very long time and I’m on track for my reading goal so I’m quite happy!! As always, thank you for reading and see you in the next blog!