Hyde

There was never a plan behind my departure Only an inkling of the rueful kind That somewhere down the line I would need to find my own closure I tried to talk to you on multiple occasions I tried to think of what to say But every thought proved hard to convey For the sake of a civil conversation Caution and consideration, as it turns out Are a natural path to perpetual contempt All the…

I set a goal this June to break my previous record of 8 books read in a month, with a slight preference for queer stories in honor of Pride Month. The challenge is surprisingly sailing smoothly, except for one tiny complaint: many of those books were misses, ranging from tolerable company for a Sunday afternoon tea to an abysmal offense against the literary sphere. (Boy, do I have a scathing…

Elle Kennedy is a name I didn’t think would pop up on my reading list again, and yet here we are. I spent my last weekend binging the first season of Off Campus, and to my utter surprise, I loved it more than I expected. Now, why was I surprised? Because I read “The Deal”, the book that the season is based on, when I was a young sprout and even back then, with my underdeveloped frontal lobe and…

PART1 | PART2 | PART3 | PART4 | PART5 When I get well acquainted with an author’s writing style, I like to surprise myself and go into their books blind, so I let my love for Ann Liang’s storytelling guide me to her newest release, “I Could Give You The Moon” with an open mind and an admiration for the gorgeous cover. Continue reading The Literary Universe of Ann Liang PART 6 — A brief review…

How fortunate it is to be someone’s daughter How unfortunate it is to someone’s hope Sinking alone in a lifeless canyon Between love and guilt No safe answer lies on either side Only regret awaits this flimsy heart How fortunate it is to have choices in this life How unfortunate it is to make one If you want to support me: Ko-fi My book review blog: The potatrovert

Against the current

Like shipwrecks under water

Infallibly recurrent

Your back to the world

A fearsome torrent

Your heart out at sea

Combative, resilient, errant

Every time I think I’m finally caught up on Ann Liang’s books, she pulls a fast one on me and releases a new one, with another scheduled for publication later in the year. How does she do that? I have no idea, and I’m not complaining. More books for me to read is always a win. The Literary universe of Ann Liang starring complicated disaster heroines continues to expand with the addition of…

Greetings, my fellow homo sapiens! Glad to see you alive and well at the start of another challenging year. Let’s hope we see each other at the end of it too. I haven’t updated this blog in a long time; Life got busy,I got lazy, and historically, that has always been a disastrous combo, as further proven by this very late upload. Can you believe I had planned on posting this on the first week of…

If you had told me ten years ago that I’d live to see 2026, I would’ve nodded politely at your optimistic remark, praying you’d be wrong. I started my 2025 with the loss of my beloved uncle, followed shortly after by the loss of a childhood friend with whom I used to write and act out stories. Less than 24 hours later, I was informed that one of my closest friends lost their father. The first…

It came to me one rainy afternoon That in all my years of fighting the current of this life I have looked into your loaded eyes more than I’ve ever looked within myself It’s terrifying how identical they both were Your admonishments were the first book I’ve read They taught me about all the ways I could never be good But never the ways I could rectify that So I read more and more, and kept…

In my desperation to hold on to you I gave you every reason to leave I told myself I would never despair again But even when you’re out of my life I’m terrified to lose all affection for you You must understand You are my fondest certainty In a world that never ceases to confuse me Where else can I ever find that again? If you want to support me: Ko-fi My book review blog: The…

A lifetime of mindfulness, Of nail indents marring your fair skin And barbed words lodged in your throat Is the fate you signed off on The day you wore your mother’s gold And put on your bravest face And a lifetime of servitude Of standing on the back of every line And holding a mirror to others’ desires is the fate you wish upon the only kin Who sees the brutality in your…

So, a bit of unrelated news: about two months ago, and after a humiliating period of unemployment and feeling like gum stuck to people’s shoe soles, I finally got myself a job! I’m happy, obviously, but I grossly underestimated how much of my time would be consumed by my new job. I thought I could maintain my professional-personal life balance, but clearly I thought wrong. Then again, when do I…

I’m a short-lived fuse in a world that loves to water everyone down I know my footing will never be steady I know my eyes will never glimpse honesty I know my heart will never feel comfort And I know that this knowledge won’t rescue me I’ve long been dimmed by uncertainty Hope is wasted on someone like me But it can carry on living after me So remember this my dearest future, On the rare…

I’m not very particular when it comes to which author to read. If the blurb is striking enough to hold my interest, I’m willing to dive in. Sometimes the dive ends up with me drowning for hours, wishing I had never jumped in the first place, and sometimes it leads me to finding valuable treasures in the deep end. In the case of Sarah Adams, both scenarios came to life. Continue reading A brief…

How quiet has this life become without you That I can understand the howls of the wind outside And recognize the faint crawling of small insects I sleep to the sound of our walls bemoaning your absence And wake up to the sun illuminating your beloved rug Every room has precious memories with you And every door has felt your gentle touch I promised I wouldn’t mourn your loss And staying in…

I’m made of atoms that don’t like me They don’t like this body tailored for me They don’t like my brain thinking properly They don’t like my heart beating proudly They don’t like me being normal That has to be it That has to be what’s wrong with me Because what else could it be? Your pain scares me Losing you scares me But it also troubles me Your open wounds grow by the day And I…