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Joyce is Booked, Mall Of Asia, Pasay City (2026)

07/06/2026

What’s in my journaling kit? Here’s everything I currently use. 📚✍️ What do you think, am I missing anything?

06/06/2026

𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 (𝗯𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲)
Genre: contemporary romance
Rating: 4.75⭐️

It’s been a while since I last read a book that had me kicking my feet while losing hours of precious sleep all because I wanted “one more chapter.” One Golden Summer was soooo fun and kilig to read! If you’re in a reading slump, this might lift you up.😍

The story follows Alice Everly, a photographer who returns to Barry’s Bay to spend the summer with her grandmother, Nan. There, she reconnects with Charlie Florek, the boy from a photograph she took years ago that changed her life. What begins as a casual friendship slowly turns into something more, as expected in a book like this. 💕

I loooooved the characters, especially Charlie. He wouldn’t be my real-life type because he’s hyper, loud, and a little too full of himself (albeit charming 😅), but his sunny personality made this story so much fun. His witty banter with Alice balanced her quieter nature perfectly. And those rare moments when his walls slipped and you got a glimpse of who he really was beneath all the jokes and confidence? Ugh. So good.

What I loved most was how effortless this book felt. It had the perfect mix of humor, chemistry, longing, spice, and emotional depth. The romance developed naturally, and I found myself completely invested in Alice and Charlie. And can we talk about Nan? Her relationship with Alice added so much heart to the story and made it more than just a romance.

My only tiny complaint is that the conflict near the end felt a little frustrating and could have been resolved with a proper conversation. I hated Charlie’s noble intention of “protecting” Alice from himself because, hello, the situation was something they could have easily talked about. But I guess that’s how fictional romances work. 😅 Still, that wasn’t enough to take away from how much I enjoyed the overall reading experience.

Overall, One Golden Summer is a warm, feel-good summer romance filled with lake days, charming characters, great banter, and plenty of kilig. Pick this up if you want a pick-me-up. ☀️🤍📚

01/06/2026

I’ve read 13 of the 36 winners and runners-up so far. Naturally, my TBR got longer after seeing the list.😅 How many have you read? 📚

31/05/2026

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗚𝗢𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖 (𝗯𝘆 𝗥.𝗙. 𝗞𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗴)
Genre: high fantasy
Rating: 4⭐️

After The Poppy War destroyed me, I went into The Dragon Republic with caution, expecting it to be equally difficult to get through. So I took my time, reading other books in between whenever things became too intense.

While it wasn’t quite as gory and gut-wrenching as the first book, it still packed an emotional punch. The political maneuvering, shifting alliances, betrayals, and constant threat of war kept me glued to the pages, even when I desperately needed a break.

One thing Kuang does exceptionally well is creating characters who feel real… flawed, frustrating, and impossible to neatly categorize. I still didn’t warm up to Rin, but I appreciated how complicated she is. Kitay, however, was everything. Every scene with him reminded me why he’s one of the strongest characters in the series.✨

And Nezha? I spent the entire book wondering whether he was about to save everyone or betray them. The uncertainty made him one of the most fascinating characters to read.

This series continues to challenge me, and while it doesn’t always give me what I want, it always gives me something to think about. I’m officially invested and a little afraid of what the final book has in store for me. 🔥

31/05/2026

📚✨ Stamp my May reads with me!

I finished 7 books this month, and there’s something so satisfying about finally marking them as read, like they’ve officially graduated from my TBR.🎓

⭐️ Yesteryear - 4.75
⭐️ Wild Dark Shore - 4.5
⭐️ The Dragon Republic - 4.25
⭐️ Strangers - 4
⭐️ Good People - 4
⭐️ Romancing the Duke - 4
⭐️ Crooked Kingdom - 3.75

Now on to a fresh stack of books, new fictional worlds, and probably a few more emotional support purchases for June. 🤭💕

Thank you, next. 📖✨

26/05/2026

POV: it’s time to balance my expenses… and the books said no 📚💸😂

25/05/2026

𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗔 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗜𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗚𝗘 (𝗯𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻)
Genre: Memoir / Marriage & Family
Rating: 4⭐️

This memoir scared me a little.

Ever since seeing it online, I knew I wanted to read it because stories about marriage always pull me in. Maybe because I’m married too, and there’s something both comforting and terrifying about trying to understand how relationships survive, or don’t.💔

Strangers follows Belle Burden as she tries to make sense of the unraveling of her marriage and the man who suddenly became unfamiliar to her. I kept asking myself while reading: how does someone love you for twenty years and then suddenly feel cold and cruel? How does devotion turn into indifference? The book left me with this lingering fear that even happy marriages are more fragile than we want to believe.

What kept me turning the pages was how deeply relatable many of the emotions were… the love and sense of safety, the cracks that inexplicably appear, and the way children are affected when a family falls apart.🥹

I’m giving this 4 stars because it was undeniably compelling. I couldn’t stop reading, but I also kept waiting for a moment that would completely break me — a final revelation or confrontation that would push the story from great to unforgettable. For me, it never fully got there.

I may not have cried, but I definitely sat there afterward staring into space, oddly grateful for the love and stability I have.🫶🏻 This is the kind of book that makes you hug your spouse and kids a little tighter and pray a little harder, because it reminds you just how fragile beautiful things can be.

💭 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥?

24/05/2026

In this economy, we all have to make difficult choices.⛽️📚 Maybe my car can run on emotional support purchases? 😅🙊😁

22/05/2026

𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗘 (𝗯𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗰𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗵𝘆)
Genre: literary fiction / mystery
Rating: 4.5⭐️

Wild Dark Shore follows Dominic Salt and his kids, caretakers of the remote Shearwater Island, whose isolated life is disrupted when a woman, Rowan, mysteriously washes ashore during a storm. Her arrival slowly unearths secrets, grief, and guilt within the family, especially surrounding the disappearance of a researcher named Hank.

This book kept me suspicious until almost the end. What really happened to Hank❓Why does everyone seem to be hiding something? I loved how the novel slowly peeled back each layer without rushing the reveal.

I especially loved the relationships in this book.💕 Dominic’s love for his children was heartbreaking, a kind of love that struggled to speak itself aloud, but was present in every sacrifice and every attempt to protect them. I also loved the siblings’ bond and the way they looked after one another despite the weight they all carried. And Rowan — I liked her character.✨ She arrived like a mystery herself, but became the thread that slowly connected everyone’s wounds, fears, and truths.

And then there’s the setting. The island felt alive.🌊 The seals, penguins, birds, and wild creatures of Shearwater were described so vividly that they played in my mind like scenes from a nature documentary. Knowing that the island was inspired by the real-life Macquarie Island made the story even more fascinating to me.✨

All in all, Wild Dark Shore is beautifully written — a story about survival, family, guilt, and the painful ways people try to protect the ones they love.🫶🏻

💭 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺?

21/05/2026

I bought an e-reader to save money on books. Now I have an e-reader… and the same book in hardcover / paperback, and epub formats. 🤡📚

Please tell me I’m not the only one.😂

Joyce is Booked

07/06/2026

06/06/2026

01/06/2026

31/05/2026

31/05/2026

26/05/2026

25/05/2026

24/05/2026

22/05/2026

21/05/2026

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