Posts by Silke De Buck

Paagman, The Hague, the Netherlands

🧋Happiness is a bookstore and a cup of coffee.

Very nice bookstore in the streets of The Hague. The layout of the store is so beautiful. Here and there you can see pink seats that give the store a cute and cozy impression.

If you feel like having a coffee while reading, up the stairs u can find a quiet place that is provided for that. There are also bookshelves with second-hand books, which you can buy there for a small price to replenish your bookcase at home.

You can buy there not only books but also various accessories such as bookmarks, totebags, coffee mugs,… .
In short, a bookstore where you can spend some time. ✨

The Pumpkin Spice Café – Laurie Gilmore

Like many others, I joined the booktok trend. Fortunately, it’s a genre that suits me anyway, so even without the hype surrounding Laurie Gilmore’s books, I probably would have put them on my TBR as well.

If you love the typical Hallmark movies and want to know in advance if they will get their happy ending, then this book is for you.

This book is about Jeanie who seeks peace in Dream Harbor after years of the same stressful job in the city. She gets to take over her aunt’s coffee shop, and finds her place among the residents of the small town.

Logan has lived in Dream Harbor all his life. He tries to isolate himself somewhat from the town and doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. One (unexpected) encounter with Jeanie and you already know what the book will be about.

It is written in the stars that this will be a happy ending, yet to not give everything away Jeanie is not only concerned with Logan. In and around the café, in fact, strange things happen as well. It’s a fairly lighthearted story in addition to the romantic plot.

It really is the perfect fall book to read under a blanket with a cup of coffee. I’ll start the second book right away, before autumn is over. 🍂

(🌶️)

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The Season Trials – Yasmine Van Den Meersch & Jonas De Backer

And the award for most beautiful book cover definitely goes to this one.

The story itself is about Ayla, who after the death of her sister, will have to fight to become the next ruler of the Realm. In between the fight, she gets to know Valdermar, the prince of the Kingdom of Winter.

Ayla is the main character, an insecure girl following in the footsteps of her late big sister. I think they described the grieving process well as well as the difficulty in remaining herself because she constantly compares herself to others, including her sister. But she is also a real family person, when her family is in danger, the fire in her comes out.

Valdemar is a character who is afraid to show who he really is. He wears a mask to hide his real self from his father. The longer he knows Ayla, the more his mask disappears. Very nice enemies to lovers story.

I loved the story. Everything is described so beautifully that it feels like you are there yourself . This book is one of my favorites this year, I really recommend this book and I can’t wait for the sequel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paard Van Troje, Gent

💭Nothing smells as comforting as the pages in a bookstore

You can find this cute book store in the streets of Ghent. Everywhere you look you see books, very cosy.

You get a friendly welcome, and help. You can go there for books in English or Dutch. From poetry to cookbooks, fiction to non-fiction. For all tastes.

If the weather is bad, or you can’t make it to the store, you can always browse their web shop as well.

(https://www.paardvantroje.be/)

At the back of the store you also have very fun and educational books for children. After all, it’s never too early to fall in love with reading, right?

Our Fault – Mercedes Ron

This book was smoother than the second part. It is very beautifully written, some parts gave me goosebumps. Even though I know, and it is very obvious that Nick and Noah are in a very toxic relationship, you still can’t stop hoping for those two. This is thanks in part to the various pov’s. ( Which I always like in a book.)

Nick’s character continues to have two sides, when he opens his heart you are his whole world. But if he closes himself off, makes his heart a stone, he can really hurt you with words and doesn’t care, how hard he hurts you. Very interesting to know from his POV, why he reacts the way he does and how his train of thought goes.

For Noah, it’s different. Without Nick, Noah is actually very sensitive, friendly and playful. But with Nick, I think she constantly feels like she has to hold up her shield, ready to defend against an onslaught of words. Yet in this book. When they are in love, they are so sweet to each other. You hardly recognize this during the loud arguments.

As in the previous two books, there are also the very intimate scenes. But if you don’t like reading these kinds of scenes as much, I can reassure you, there aren’t that many of them. (🌶️)

Several plot twists made me want to keep reading the book. If you want to know if Noah and Nick get their happy ending, I definitely recommend this book. But you will then have to read part one and part two of the series as well.

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Standaard Boekhandel, Kouter, Gent

🤎A day without visiting a bookstore, is a day not lived

This bookstore was recently renovated and looks very modern. You have a whole section there full of YA/NA and I absolutely love it. You can also read a book there, discuss books with your friends in the lovely seats and cozy reading corner provided for it, I could stay there for hours!

Daydream – Hannah Grace

I finally finished reading Daydream. It was hard to find time for it but I was always happy when I could spare some time for Henry and Halle. 

The book touches on several topics such as performance pressure and accompanying (failure) fears, as well as the pressure not to disappoint your family and friends. But the book also shows how important it is to find the right friends, who understands you, don’t judge you and find a way to cope correctly. 

I myself could empathize very hard with both characters. Both Halle’s need to do good for everyone and Henry’s pressure to not want to disappoint anyone, and therefore kind of ignore his own desires. Also, the sense of loneliness Halle experiences and the insecurities that come back to growing friendships is something I think many people struggle with. Therefore, I think it is a very relatable book, and nice to know that you are not the only one going through this.

Now enough about the heavy topics, the growing romance, from friends to lovers, between Halle and Henry is a very fine plot to read. They are very cute and complement each other perfectly in their search for themselves. As in the other two books in the series, passion is also part of it. ( 🌶️🌶️) 

I also really like that we still get an insight into the lives of the other Maple Hills friends and that they are part of this story as well.

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Hi! 💌