Attention! This book contains: magic spells, maid cafés, new friends, sweet romances, surprises, cute outfits, and endangered species.

Ichigo is out on a hot date with her ‘crush’ when suddenly she’s involved in an odd incident in which her DNA is merged with the DNA of an almost extinct wildcat. When four other girls’ DNA is merged with the DNA of four other almost extinct animals, it’s apparent that they’re part of a much bigger plan. Ichigo and her friends have been chosen to become a part of a secret project called the “Mew Project.” Their mission: To protect the planet from aliens who are using the planet’s animals to attack humans.

*Review of the original 7 volumes*

This was a cute series!

When I was younger, the anime version was on TV, but I never watched it. I was curious about it and regret not watching it at the time because it was really popular! I just got to know the story and what it was about now, by reading the manga.

It’s a little difficult for me to rate this series since I’m not in the appropriate age range, but I still have my opinion! 

I think this is a very fun series to read and just pass the time, but I feel like it was a little too shallow for me. In reality, I believe this story is inspired by Nature and how important it is to protect the environment and raise awareness to protect endangered species. And even though this is a great thing to inspire a series, I feel like the story itself was too hollow and had little to do with the topic.

The good thing for me is that there was a lot of romance! In the beginning, you wonder who she’ll end up with because there are so many possible love interests (way more than usual) – but at some point the love interest becomes clear. If you swoon over cute manga characters like yours truly, this series is pure heaven! There are many cute boys here.

But I have to be honest with you, the last few volumes lost me a little. I thought this would be a 4-star read (for the entire series), but it started to decrease slowly to a 3-star read. I know this is fantasy and a younger type of manga, but it started to get a little too nonsensical to me – but when the very young school kids get married at the end… Well, that was the nail in the coffin. To be fair, I believe it’s usual in Japanese shojo that the MCs get married at the end… but I still think it was pretty weird.

I did still liked this though. I would describe this as your typical fantasy shoujo: full of magic, cute costumes, and fun! Good to get your mind off the real world.

“Haven’t you ever wanted to be swept away somewhere – anywhere – as long as it’s someplace else?” – 4/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: ruins, killing sprees, cleared games, mysterious creators, dealers, questions without answers and a lot of sadistic games.

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future feels like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

The first game starts with a bang, but Ryohei manages to beat the clock and save his friends. It’s a short-lived victory, however, as they discover that winning only earns them a few days’ grace period. If they want to get home, they’re going to have to start playing a lot harder.

*Review of the original 18 volumes*

Oh how excited I was to read this one! I first fell in love with this series when I first watched the live action on Netflix… so I thought I’d give the manga a try!

I’m very surprised to say that the Netflix show is mostly true to the original story – that almost never happens! They did a great job with the adaptation because even though it was true to the original work by Haro Aso, they added a lot of action and cut out the slower scenes!

If you don’t know, this series is an “Alice in Wonderland” retelling! Well, of course you probably saw that coming when you read the name, but the actual retelling is very subtle. Our main character, Arisu (Alice), enters a new world called “the Borderlands” with his friends and quickly discovers his life is at risk. He needs to play deadly games to keep himself alive! At some point he meets a girl named Usagi (white rabbit in Japanese), and together they explore the Borderlands and try to find a meaning for what is happening and who created this reality. 

This manga series consists of 18 volumes, so I’m going to give you my thoughts on the series as a whole! I personally am a little conflicted about the way I feel about the manga. I’m a huge fan of the story like I mentioned before, so I expected a lot from this series. And the truth is that I was loving it until the last few volumes. The pacing slows down considerably and (without wanting to give you information on what happens) Arisu’s attitude changes a little. I had some trouble finding motivation to read the last volumes for this reason!

Still, I had fun reading this series for the most part. The games are perverse and deadly, but they have to keep fighting to try to uncover what is going on and who created the games! I liked the characters and the thought put behind the games. Also the art was very good and easy to follow. It was all nicely put together!

So, would I recommend this one? I personally liked both the manga and the Netflix show, but if I were to recommend a friend to one of them, I would definitely recommend the Netflix version. It’s very well made, true to the original work, and they slightly changed the last volumes to add more action and a faster pace!

At the end of the day it’s a very exciting and engaging series, and I highly recommend it if you like horror/mystery manga! Also… I recently found out there’s an anime version as well. I’m curious about it, should I give it a go?

“My father shoved aside my bowl of receipts, setting up his things on the bar. “I just want to let you know,” he said, “I call the shots. You sit right there in that chair and I’ll tell you what goes on.”
I looked at him with a growing sense of horror.
“I’m Britney Spears now,” he said.” – 5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: abortion, pop stars, dancing, greedy parents, shaved heads, mental institutions, divorces, paparazzi and spotlights.

The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

Oops I did it again!

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to get my hands on this memoir. I only knew about it a few days before the actual publishing day, but I knew I needed it ASAP because my curiosity was killing me – not my loneliness… get it? Needless to say, when I finally got it, I devoured it!

So let me get you some background first on what I knew about her: I was a Britney fan when I was younger and I remember thinking how pretty she was and how she could dance and sing like a pro! I first saw her first music video “Baby One More Time” on MTV (1999) and it was a huge hit worldwide. I still remember to this day how mesmerized I was by her – and I was only 5! I confess I’m not super familiar with her work that came after the “Blackout” album, but I know one or two singles that came afterwards. I also knew she was in a legal battle with her father regarding her conservatorship and how messy it was, but other than that I didn’t know a lot about her.

If you’re going into this thinking she wrote her own book, I’m just going to say it: I’m 99,99% sure her ghost writer wrote the entire thing. I really don’t think she has the capacity right now to write her own book – and I think that was a good call because the book is very well written. I really doubt she wrote a single word there – like a lot of celebrities, I might add – and that’s fine.

I was surprised this was only a 5 hour and half book. Usually memoirs can go up to 12h or 13h (some even more – let’s not talk about Michelle Obama’s book length…), so I was surprised how short the book was. As the book goes on, you start to understand why.

In this memoir, Britney shares her story describing her life from a young child, to an ascending pop star, to her struggles in life. And oh man… she struggled a lot! She touches on how her family turned on her, her relationship with Justin, the abortion, the paparazzi, the legal battle for her kids, the conservatorship… The list is long!

The conservatorship chapters were tough to read. Oh my God… I can’t believe she went through all that for so many years. The amount of medication she took, the months and months of her life wasted in institutions, the endless tours that only filled her dad’s pockets… It’s almost incredible how she endured all that for so long.

I can’t even imagine how hard it was for her not having her family’s support. Her sister turning her back on her, her mother doing a book tour and bashing her, her father stealing her money and putting her in institutions for months to control her… With a family like that, who needs enemies?

It was heartbreaking to see how much she has suffered along the years. My heart goes to her. She sure is a very strong woman, and I wish her all the best in life and I hope she recovers and gets her life back fully.

It was a very easy and fast audiobook to listen to, since it was only about 5 hours like I mentioned before, and I ended up loving it. It’s definitely a heartbreaking memoir, but worth it! If you are or were a fan of hers at any point of your life, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Trigger warnings for: suicide, abortion, substance abuse, abuse of power.