Bogormen

Title: Instamom
Author: Chantel Guertin
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 336
Date read: February 2024

It’s the influencer’s golden rule: know your niche. Kit Kidding has found hers on Instagram, where she gets paid to promote brands and share expertly curated posts about her fun, fabulous, child-free life. Kit likes kids just fine, but she passionately believes that women who choose not to become mothers shouldn’t have to face guilt. Or judgement. Or really hot chefs who turn out to be single dads.

Will MacGregor is aggravating, sexy, persistent, averse to social media, and definitely a bad idea. As soon as Kit learns his parenting status, she vows to put their scorching one-night stand behind her and move on. But Will and Kit are thrown together on an Instagram campaign, and the more time she spends with him—and his whip-smart, eight-year-old daughter, Addie—the more difficult it is to stay away, much less sustain what Will so cleverly calls her “Resting Beach Face.” Kit’s picture-perfect career path is suddenly clashing with the possibility of a different future—messy, complicated, and real. Which life does she truly want? Will she have to re-invent herself? And will love still be waiting by the time she figures it out?


Sweet story, and a very easy read. It was fun to read about what an IG influencer is up to, even if I have NO clue how realistic it actually is.

I was quite amused to discover - by page 90 or something like that - that the book took place in Toronto. I don't know if there had been no mentions of the specific city before then, or if I'd just completely missed all of them, but suddenly Kit and Will were making plans to go on a picnic on Centre Island, and I did a double take! It was fun to be able to picture exactly where they were :-D

My main issue with the book was the way Will and Kit communicated - or rather did NOT communicate when times got tough. I put down the book in disgust at around page 220, but was SO close to the end that I decided to push through. I'm glad I did, as they redeemed themselves in the end, but they could have gotten there sooner.

Although - to be fair - I think it was a very realistic way of failing to communicate, and having to take some time & space to figure out what should come next. The time Kit spend with her father did ring very true to me. So in the end, I appreciated the way it was handled. In any case - well worth the $3 I spent on it :P

(I now kinda want to look at other editions of this book, because on page 281 Kit was paged to come to stall 281 -- that CANNOT be a coincidence!!! X-D )

Title: Whisked Away at Christmas
Author: Mahi Cheshire
Genre: Christmas, Chicklit, foodie
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~7hrs
Date read: December, 2022

Love. Success. Baking. Some things are all about timing.

Set against a backdrop of glamorous balls and designer fashion in beautiful, fairy-tale-like Vienna, the Golden Whisk competition promises everything for Gina Rajasinghe: it’s her big break, a chance to prove herself and win international recognition in the culinary world. The opulent concert halls and charming Christmas markets are a far cry from her humble café in Hackney, where she’s been working hard to perfect her baking skills. If only she could relax and enjoy herself, instead of worrying about her application, and the one or two tiny lies on there. Such as the professional training she never had.

And then there’s Nick Barradine to worry about, fellow competitor and media darling who seems to have it all: money, success, and his own patisserie cafés that have been heralded on both sides of the Atlantic. Oh, and he used to work with Gina. In fact, they used to be close: Nick helped train Gina at his family’s prestigious Barradine’s café back in London, until she disappeared three years ago without an explanation.

It seems they must learn how to work together again, but more than sparks fly when Nick confronts Gina about their shared past. And now there’s a video of the two of them on social media...


This book came free with my Audible subscription, so I figured, why not. And why not indeed :) It was exactly as twee and predictable as I had expected, but with a setting of a cooking competition in Vienna I greatly enjoyed it all the same. I loved reading about the different heats and how they turned out (even if most of it was given ahead of time).

The "3rd act breakup" still annoyed me, as it could so easily have been avoided with better communication, but fortunately it was fixed a lot quicker than I had feared.

Title: The Five Languages of Apology
Author: Gary Chapman & Jennifer Thomas
Genre: Christian non-fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 260
Date read: February, 2013

Just as you have a different love language, you also hear and express the words and gestures of apology in a different language. It's not just a matter of that you apologize but also how you apologize. By helping people identify the languages of apology, this book clears the way toward healing and sustaining vital relationships. The authors detail proven techniques for giving and receiving effective apologies.

The five languages of apology are: Expressing regret, Accepting responsibility, Making restitution, Genuinely repenting, Requesting forgiveness.

Unfortunately not nearly as good as "The Five Love Languages". I do think the authors have a point, that there are different languages of apology, but I found it a lot harder to relate to the differences between the languages, and I still have absolutely no clue what my primary language of apology is!

It's not a book I'd want to read in one sitting - although that's what I did with TFLL - because as it's a book about apology you're automatically made to think of times when you owed others an apology, or they owed you one. Made for rather depressing reading at times.

Gary and Jennifer do have some good points at times though, and while I still have no idea what neither my own nor my husband's language of apology is, I now know to rephrase my apology using several different ones. Besides, I do know one or two that it's definitely NOT, so that always helps.

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 228
Date read: November, 2012

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Similar in style to Marcelo in the Real World and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but even better than both. I picked it up yesterday morning to read on my commute to and from work, but ended up finishing it at home instead, because I simply couldn't put it down.

Charlie, Patrick and Sam were all adorable, and I loved reading the friendship that grew between them, and how it influenced Charlie and changed him (for the better). In general, all the characters seemed very real and well described. I couldn't help but wonder whether Charlie actually has Asbergers (or something similar), because of his way of reacting to things.

I'd expected a pretty run-of-the-mill YA - what I got was anything but. I highly recommend it.

Title: The Demon King
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 508
Date read: September, 2009

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari. Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can't sell. For as long as Han can remember, he's worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes. They're clearly magicked-as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Helena, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father's family at Demonai camp - riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets. Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.

One of the best fantasy books I've read in a long time. Not just because of the plot, but it had good, tight writing, an intriguing atmosphere and strong characters. The Demon King is the first book in a trilogy, and it's very obviously not supposed to stand on its own as nothing is really resolved in this book, but it's so well written that I for once will excuse its cliff-hanger'ness.

The book is told in part by ex-thief Han and in part by princess Raisa. Though I must admit to being a lot more interested in Raisa's plotline, I felt that this split 'voice' worked really well - especially as the two main characters were of approximately the same age but of different sex and station in life, giving interesting perspectives on the various situations.

I definitely want to get my hands on the two other books in this series.

Title: Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China Author: Jung Chang Genre: Non-fiction, cultural Rating: 9/10 # pages: 618 Date read: May, 2008

Summary: In Wild Swans Jung Chang recounts the evocative, unsettling, and insistently gripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared in the political maelstrom of China during the 20th century. Chang's grandmother was a warlord's concubine. Her gently raised mother struggled with hardships in the early days of Mao's revolution and rose, like her husband, to a prominent position in the Communist Party before being denounced during the Cultural Revolution. Chang herself marched, worked, and breathed for Mao until doubt crept in over the excesses of his policies and purges. Born just a few decades apart, their lives overlap with the end of the warlords' regime and overthrow of the Japanese occupation, violent struggles between the Kuomintang and the Communists to carve up China, and, most poignant for the author, the vicious cycle of purges orchestrated by Chairman Mao that discredited and crushed millions of people, including her parents.

Review: An absolutely fascinating book. Just like most other people in the Western world I know far too little about the history and culture of China and as such was at the same time totally fascinated and appalled by what I read here. Allegedly Mao caused more deaths than Hitler and Stalin put together, yet hardly any time is spent on him in history classes. I wonder why?

Wild Swans is long and heavy but not at all boring and I'm glad to finally have read it... if for no other reason, then to realize how incredible fortunate I am to live in a country like Denmark. It is a book that is just as important to read as the devastating accounts of World War 2, yet unfortunately more often neglected.

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Title: The Secret of Chimneys Author: Agatha Christie Genre: Suspense Rating: 7/10 # pages: 179 Date read: September, 2007

Summary: The indiscrete memoirs of a count and a bunch of revealing letters cause first a daring theft and next murder. A young adventurous never failing courage starts a breathtaking hunt for the criminals which does not reach its end until a group of distinguished weekend-guests at the famous resort Chimneys.

Review: A lot of characters that can be tricky to keep straight at first, but once you get into it, it's a fairly decent crime novel with lots of twists and turns.

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