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@reads.with.jacky

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⚖️attorney
📚the coolest introverted book reader •romance •thrillers •memoirs
📖2026: 11/26
❤️‍🔥loves football, and also not so bad at playing tennis

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two new books and some sunshine💛🩵

pov: you’re overly excited for a something✨🫠

5 books bought in september🧎🏿‍♀️

#ordinarylovemarierutkoski #ordinarylove #bookstagramsouthafrica #thelovehypothesisbook #thelovehypothesismovie

I’ll always pat myself on the back for giving Emily Henry a second chance after I dnf’ed Book Lovers🫠

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#emilyhenrybooks #tjrbooks #taylorjenkinsreidbooks #atmospherebook #funnystorybook

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#tuesdayswithmorrie #mitchalbombooks #seattlecoffee #bookgifting #bookcommunity

i want eggs on everything, allegedly 🙂‍↔️

Them: your shelf is full, this means you must stop buying more books” 🧎🏿‍♀️things i have to deal with nkosi yami😫

#bookshelvesofinstagram #bookshelveslover #bookstagramfeatures #bookreaderscommunity by @reads.with.jacky

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17 days ago

Because apparently I needed two more books😌📚✨

came to show off my latest additions. saw people crying their eyes out from reading the last letter and i decided i want to be one of them😌. yesterday is my “booksta made me buy it” read, and i don’t even regret it because it’s a large print and the cover is everything 🥰

QOTD/PROMPT: if you are able to, please drop a picture of your current read🫶🏿

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#minibookhaul #newreads #thelastletterrebeccayarros #yesteryear #bookstagramsouthafrica

what’s better than unboxing with your chommie @amore_phooko 💗

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#pachinkobook #africanliterature #thesecretlivesofbabasegiswives #thesexlivesofafricanwomen #africanauthors

I’d love to see who’s gonna read it first🥲

flatlay💛💓

#flatlay #flatlaybookstagram #flatlaybooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammers taken in Masana Cafe by @reads.with.jacky

101

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a month ago

Review 👫

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: contemporary romance
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 5☆

“Love is self-sustaining. It doesn’t get weak and die when you don’t feed it. Even when I put it away, locked it up, shut in the deepest recesses of my heart, I still loved her in the dark. I could love her from a distance. I could love her in silence. I could love her without even wanting to. And I did.”

I’m once again wowed by Abby Jimenez’s approach to delicate themes. She definitely has a knack for navigating messy and complex situations with deep emotional intelligence to create some of the beautiful love stories, and friendships. The dual pov in this one was a perfect touch for me, it just elevated the whole story.

The story follows Larissa, whose split-second decision after a concert changes everything. She chooses to ride home with Chris’s best friend, Mike, instead of Chris, who seems cranky because he is secretly grieving his mother’s death. Larissa and Mike become a couple, but Mike’s alcoholism brings Larissa and Chris closer. They quickly become good friends, co-parent a dog, bond over their favourite books, and eventually discover they both wanted that car ride together that night. Whoever said opposite attracts was definitely lying🧎🏿‍♀️

Ms Abby did something with these characters!! Slow burn romance with an element of forbidden romance and a little-to-no spice. The yearning and thoughtfulness, I’m afraid the bar is high and beyond😮‍💨😂. I thought this was one of the complex love triangle stories I’ve ever read, I know and understand that this trope is not for everyone but you won’t find a well written MMC like Chris and a strong, independent and relatable FMC like Larissa. I couldn’t have predicted that ending. It’s like I’ve been holding my breath ever since because I know friendship breakups suck and that conversation was a reliever.

Thank you so much @jonathanballpublishers for the review copy🤍 by @reads.with.jacky

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2 months ago

Review💛

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: historical fic | literary fic
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 4.5☆

“People who are loved well always think there is more out there for them to enjoy.”

See slide two for my synopsis 👍🏿

The writing in Kin is deceptively simple, but somehow it manages to say so much with so little. It is without a doubt a beautifully written book that invoked so much emotions. What I loved mostly about it is that the story had a bit of everything, at the centre of it being family, friendship, grief and belonging. With every page turned, I kept asking myself what theme is Tayari Jones not touching on, family sacrifice, racial injustice, unconditional bonds, self discovery, cultural diversity etc. I was afraid that Vernice and Annie were going to grow apart but despite the distance and change in marital status, their friendship remained intact.

There is so much I want to say about Annie but that ending left me speechless, and not in a good way. Despite her being a flat character, Annie was headstrong and loyal to everyone and everything. She loved wholeheartedly, some might say she was naive but I think it was simply the heart of someone who had so much love to give, even if she didn’t receive half the love she gave in return. I somehow loved Vernice’s chapters. I thought they had a bit of light and happiness here and there, although her journey and arrival at the college was nothing but. I appreciate the fact that the book took the direction most of us couldn’t have anticipated and didn’t necessarily like 👀. I wanted a happily ever after for Annie with her mom. As for Vernice, I think I expected her education to be her lifeline, but instead we quickly moved on from that storyline and focused on her marital life. This begs the question: what was the point? But again, there’s a lot that shape us and you can imagine growing up as a poor black motherless girl in those times.

Forever grateful to the folks at @jonathanballpublishers for this review copy🤍 by @reads.with.jacky

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a month ago

one day you’ll meet a total stranger and become good friends who yap about books nonstop, that’s what is chic✨🩵

another chic thing is that our books were delivered on the same day and decided to unbox our book hauls together☺️ @amore_phooko to many more double unboxing 🫂 💞

QOTD: which character would you fight if they existed in real life?
AOTD: you know who, Rasheed from A Thousand Splendid Suns. Not only would I fight him, I would call the umphakathi (community) on him 👍🏿

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#aotd #bookishfriends #bookhaul #bookstagramsouthafrica #ｑｏｔｄ by @reads.with.jacky

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29

2 months ago

happy august to all those who celebrate🤍

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#swiftie #augusttaylorswift #folkloretaylorswift #taylorswift #toliveforthehopeofitall taken in Cape Town, South Africa by @reads.with.jacky

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3 months ago

a little treat🧋

swipe to see why i bought these🫶🏿😮‍💨

#qotd : what is your latest book addition and why?

yes, couldn’t resist the pretty cover. and the story sounds interesting too.

just one of the thrillers i’ve always wanted to read. and it’s a large print hardcover, a 10/10.

haha i was just curious to see how molly the maid is doing. can’t wait to read this sequel

throw any memoir my way and i’ll read it. by @reads.with.jacky

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2 months ago

From my “To Be Posted” list haha

so i’m just going to disregard the multiple caption option and do it the old way, so here we go👍🏿

•your girl has entered summer already💛winter must fall
•see the books we brought to our last bookclub meeting on the 5/7/26. beauties neh?!! i know🤲🏿
•we welcomed a new fellow book lover to the club🙇🏿‍♀️it’s now 4 of us yay

#qotd : drop your unpopular bookish opinion, i want to laugh and/or internally judge y’all a little🤲🏿 by @reads.with.jacky

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3 months ago

Review💓🎮

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: contemporary romance
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 5☆
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“Jesse fucking Andrews. I’m going to fall for you in the blink of an eye, and when I touch the ground, you better be right there with me.”

Two Can Play is about a bunch of game developers who lives on caffeine and banter. There are two gaming studios that must put aside their differences and collaborate on creating a video game, Limerence 3 (gamers will know it, I don’t haha). Soo, in an attempt to forge a successful collaboration on the new project, the two studios go on a wintery retreat in a remote mountain ski lodge for team building. The two lead designers from each studio, who are our main characters by the way, don’t see eye to eye or at least that’s what they both think hehe. The story is set in the ski lodge where the team building was more than successful, where new and old relationships were ignited 👀

I think this was a loveable enemies to lovers, and I love me some forced proximity. It was really the smallest things that made me love this novella even more. Short and sweet and did I mention spicy!!! I couldn’t interpret Jesse’s behaviour more especially during his brief interactions with Viola for most part of the book. But when he and Viola finally decided to put all the cards on the table, I couldn’t help but understand where he/ they come from. I could tell that his feelings towards her weren’t hate nor indifference. I was so relieved and happy when they finally revealed that there was an underlying miscommunication or rather misunderstanding that occurred earlier during their first interaction because everything started to make sense. The miscommunication of course led to years of avoidance, rivalry-ish and mutual pining, though the mutual pining is apparent only at a later stage. When they decided to be a thing, Jesse and Viola became visibly, mutually obsessed with each other.

#qotd : what is your favorite Ali Hazelwood book? The Love Hypothesis is high on my tbr😝

#bookrec #bookreviewers #alihazelwood #jonathanballpublishers by @reads.with.jacky

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3 months ago

This feels like a dream come true🙏🏿 I got a chance to be a member of @jonathanballpublishers reviewers community. This reel unfortunately does not even begin to reflect how I excited I am, those close to me know how much I screamed and danced and cried. I am beyond grateful for the people at JBP💙

#qotd : WHAT IS THE MOST RECENT BOOK YOU HAVE BOUGHT/READ?

#bookstagramsouthafrica #jonathanballpublishers #unboxingbooks #bookmail taken in Polokwane City by @reads.with.jacky

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3 months ago

Literary Bliss🍸

fun but crazy fact: my first book purchase of the year and i’m so happy i finally got one of kennedy ryan’s work. emily henry? i was listening to the audiobook of the funny story and i was like “i want this book”, so here we are. and i might ditch my current read for it or maybe try to read them at the same time🤷🏿‍♀️🙂

#qotd : who is your most read author?
#aotd : my goodreads says colleen hoover with 8 books, followed by taylor jenkins reid with 5 books😮‍💨

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🏷️ #newbooks #newbookalert #funnystoryemilyhenry by @reads.with.jacky

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3 months ago

Review + june dump🥀

“...we often mistake love for fireworks - for drama and dysfunction. But real love is very quiet, very still. It’s boring, if seen from the perspective of high drama. Love is deep and calm - and constant.”

“You know, one of the hardest things to admit is that we weren’t loved when we needed it most. It’s a terrible feeling, the pain of not being loved.”

I think what makes this book a psych-thriller is the fact that instead of investigating the crime committed, it investigates the mind of the killer. Alicia is found in the same room with the dead body of her husband, who was tied to a chair and shot 5 times in the head. There’s blood all over Alicia’s hands and body, and there’s the gun, the murder weapon. No one else is around. Alicia then goes completely mute. The murder trial is concluded in the speed of light for obvious reasons, duh. Everyone is convinced that the “wife” killed her husband, and now we have to find out why but firstly, we need to get her to speak. So, yeah we spent the entire book in a psychiatric hospital because that’s why the state placed Alicia after the murder trial, with the psychotherapist who, on top of intending on making Alicia talk, has to deal with his own demons.

There were some things that had my attention that didn’t the first time. Things I’m feeling too much, heavy things, like Theo’s relationship with his parents, his mother, the mentionings of mental illnesses, Alicia’s cousin having to take care of his sick mother. I honestly didn’t remember much about this book, even the plot twist, I just know that I loved it. But after the second read, I’m not so sure about how I feel anymore haha. The deceptive nonlinear timeline employed in this book actually made me angry because what do you mean, I could’ve figured out the plot twist if the narrator didn’t deliberately manipulate the timeline.
BUT I THINK IMMA STICK WITH MY INITIAL RATING OF 4/5 ⭐

monthly feel-good babies 💐

the failed hike haha 💨🌬️

held a book yapping sesh after our failed hike

the views at Bolivia lodge will always be 🔥 💯

so green for winter🌸

THANK YOU FOR TUNING IN😘🫶🏿 by @reads.with.jacky

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4 months ago