Dear gringos, the Portuguese word “Saudade” doesn’t mean what you make it sound like

Hello readers,

It’s national day of saudade in Brazil! Feliz dia da saudade! 🙂

As you know, I am from Brazil, and my native tongue is Portuguese. It’s one of the so-called romance languages, and it sounds, as I’ve been told, like a French person trying to speak Spanish. While I am not sure of the accuracy of this statement (I hardly think I sound French), one thing is for sure: I have seen quite a few articles and books mentioning a particular word from my language that seems to be driving gringos to swoon: saudade.

From Michaelis Dictionary, here is what the word means:

saudade
sau·da·de

sf
1 Sentimento nostálgico e melancólico associado à recordação de pessoa ou coisa ausente, distante ou extinta, ou à ausência de coisas, prazeres e emoções experimentadas e já passadas, consideradas bens positivos e desejáveis; sodade, soidade.

Translation:

Nostalgic and melancholic feeling associated to the remembrance of the person or thing absent, distant or extinct, or the absence of things, pleasures and emotions experimented and already past, considered positive and desirable goods.

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Review: The Lingering, by S.J.I. Holliday

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Horror, Thriller

Goodreads / Amazon

The Lingering is the story of a couple, Ali and Jack, who move to a self-sufficient community, in hope for a fresh start. There is a dark mystery to the community and the house they are to move into, and the two of them are intrinsically in the middle of the events that unfold.

I really like this eerie cover, setting the mood for this book. It begins unfolding the plot a bit slowly, tension and mystery in the air from first page, as the couple moves into a small community which keeps itself away from the rest of the world. Everyone has their own secrets, and perhaps Ali and Jack have the biggest of all. They’re here for a fresh start. But something dark seems to awaken with their arrival – and the secrets from the place where the community is set also start to unravel.

The Sunday Snuggle Week 4 2019

Hello readers!

Welcome to the first Sunday Snuggle from 2019! Gee, it surely took me a while to write one. I think two months?? I missed writing those. But end of the year and beginning of the year are always a mess, and I managed to post a lot of other things I wanted to (especially reviews!) and now we’re back on the usual schedule of 3 posts per week Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. It was surely fun to have posts coming out almost everyday for over a month! Lots of new content on the blog.

I reached 700 followers on WordPress in the meantime and the 1000-follower mark on Twitter! That, plus a few email followers and people from Goodreads, make for such an overwhelming amount of love from you guys, thank you so much! ❤

This week I got:

From Audible:

Via Edelweiss, I got:

From Netgalley, I got:

eARC Review: A Curse so Dark and Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Goodreads / Amazon

I have received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Curse so Dark and Lonely is one of the most hyped books of this year in the YA fantasy community. When I started reading it, I was expecting the usual Beauty and Beast retelling, the girl falling in love in the end and then all problems are solved… but this was so much more than that.

This is the story of Harper, a girl from DC who’s constantly underestimated because of her cerebral palsy and has been dealing with a lot since her father left, leaving a lot of debt behind, and her mother got cancer. When she is kidnapped to the fantasy realm of Emberfall, she is sucked into the curse that has befallen the castle and its prince, Rhen. Every end of season, Rhen turns into a monster and goes on a killing spree. His family is dead and the castle has been empty except for him and his commander of guard for hundreds of seasons – and Harper is his last chance to break the curse. But that might not be enough…

Bookish Boardgame Review: Ex Libris, by Adam P. McIver

Hello readers!

Yes, that is exactly what you read: we’re having a boardgame review today. Of the cutest bookish boardgame I’ve ever seen in my life. I received this on my birthday last year and played it a couple times together with Clio’s Boardgames. Honestly, this is probably the most perfect game to give to a book lover. I will give more details on my review below, but spoiler alert: I loved it.

Players: 1-4

Time: 30-60 min

Level of difficulty: Easy-to-Medium

Boardgame Geek / Official Game Page / Renegades Buy Link / Amazon

This is such a bookish game, I loved it! You’re going to play a book collector trying to win the position of Grand Librarian of the magical kingdom, with gnomes and magical creatures (a witch, a bookworm, a giant robot etc) to help you build your shelves to impress!

Review: All about love: New Visions, by bell hooks

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Genres: Non-fiction, Feminism

Goodreads / Amazon

This gorgeous edition of this book was published last year (2018) and I remember having seen it in Emma Watson’s feminist book club Our Shared Shelf, which is always a big plus for me. Since I’ve committed this year to reading more non-fiction feminist works, I immediately bought this.

In All about love, bell hooks explains the definition of love and how it gets constantly misunderstood for affection. She talks about love in modern society and modern expectations of it, and how we need to rethink our approach to loving others and ourselves.

Books That I Didn’t Get What the Hype Was About

Hello readers!

I think we all got sold on a book or two (or twenty per week) because of the hype. If you’re part of the book blogging community, certainly your feed has been flooded with reviews, praise and glittery tears for certain books from time to time. You become so overwhelmingly curious that you must see what the fuss is about – and you read the book. This is how I met some of my favorite books ever, and also how I met the blandest, most disappointing reads.

This doesn’t mean the books are BAD or anything. They were just not for me. I read them and perhaps it was that I was not in the right mood, or the writing didn’t agree with me. Whatever the reason, they were not what I expected.

Here are some of the books I read because of the hype and they disappointed me one way or another.

The Girl in the Train by Paula Hawkins

Resenha: Tudo Nela Brilha e Queima, por Ryane Leão

Nota: ★★★★★

Gêneros: Poesia, Não-ficção

Goodreads / Amazon / Skoob

Tudo Nela Brilha e Queima é uma coleção de poesias da autora de Cuiabá também dona do projeto Onde Jazz Meu Coração. Esse estilo de poesia contemporânea conquistou meu coração com autoras como Amanda Lovelace e Rupi Kaur, e com Rayane Leão não foi diferente. Cada poema, mesmo os mais curtinhos, são incrivelmente intensos, ardentes e emocionantes. Estou completamente apaixonada por este livro e recomendo para qualquer pessoa que ame poesia.

Segundo minha irmã esta autora popularizou bastante no Instagram, e não é por menos. Acho que os poemas vão ressonar com muitas pessoas, especialmente mulheres que estão todos os dias encarando os padrões da sociedade e tentando rejeitá-los, tentando ser autênticas e fortes. O tema de sororidade permeia as páginas e terminei o livro me sentindo fortalecida. Não consigo escolher um poema preferido! Este é um daqueles livros que você vai querer manter na cabeceira da cama para reler e reler.

só há revolução
quando há amor
por nós mesmas

Resenha: A Linguagem do Amor, por Lola Salgado

Nota: ★★★★☆

Gêneros: Romance

Este livro veio recomendado por uma boa amiga minha, que é fã de romances e com certeza é mais conhecedora desse gênero do que eu! Então peguei uma cópia pela Amazon Unlimited bem animada.

A Linguagem do Amor é a história de Rebecca, caloura do curso de Letras que acabou de se mudar para Maringá e sonha em trabalhar numa editora um dia. Suas paixões incluem ler e desenhar, e ela tem um objetivo nessa nova etapa de sua vida: se dedicar aos estudos e não deixar nada distraí-la. Mal sabe ela que seu novo vizinho, um barbudo rude e grosseiro, pode vir a causar alguma distração…

Quiz: Which Overly Specific Typical YA Couple Are You Based on the YA Books You Pick?

Hi book lovers!

I’m starting to think I’m reading too much Buzzfeed. My quizzes are totally sounding like those. As per my other quizzes, choose A, B or C (or more than one, if you want!), and write down how many of which you have before checking the results! I had lots of fun creating this one, hope you guys enjoy it too!

Choose an older YA book with mixed reviews:

  

a) Matched, by Ally Condie

b) Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins

c) Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer