Hi again! Missed me?

I lowkey haven't blogged in a year.

So what have I been up to?

In the past year, I went to Koh Samui for my 23rd birthday. The trip was really special to me; I went with two of my close girlfriends and we ended up becoming even closer after exploring the island and testing out 36 questions with strangers and each other. (I highly recommend doing both).

All ready for Full Moon tonight in Koh Phangan!!! 🙈🙉🙊 #fullmoonparty

A photo posted by Savannah (@easyaspiemmmpie) on Mar 5, 2015 at 5:32am PST

I've been messing around on Snapchat (easyaspiemmmpie). I'm not really comfortable talking much—hearing my own voice irritates me, but I love being a voyeur and hearing other people's stories.

Basic 🐕

A video posted by Savannah (@easyaspiemmmpie) on Apr 5, 2016 at 11:34pm PDT

I got into a car accident (a pretty bad one), and came away from it feeling pretty lucky to be alive. Fortunately, I got a car that's much bigger than my former Yaris, and unfortunately, I still can't seem to navigate parallel parking.

A photo posted by Savannah (@easyaspiemmmpie) on Oct 18, 2015 at 8:21am PDT

I was the maid of honour at my best friend's wedding in Australia. My friends are now old enough to buy houses and get married, how terrifying!

A photo posted by Savannah (@easyaspiemmmpie) on Dec 26, 2015 at 3:24am PST

And I've been with the best thing to come into my life this year, my cat, Kiri. (Yes, like the cheese.) She's a rescue cat and the sweetest thing. BRB I'm going to go cuddle her for a sec.

A photo posted by Savannah (@easyaspiemmmpie) on Apr 8, 2016 at 7:33am PDT

But that's just social media. In my real life, I recently quit my job and joined a new agency. Navigating through new experiences has been daunting, but that's how life in your 20s is supposed to be.

If all this sounds like reasons why I have been too "busy" to blog, sure, a few of those are factors, but the biggest reason is self-doubt, if I'm being honest. I'm my own critic, and the harshest one at that.

Taking it slow and steady with the blogging this time around. I'm trying not to overthink and worry about what I'll post the week after, and the week after that.

A lifestyle blogger? A lifestyle of Netflix and pizza in bed? Why not?

10 books to get you through the Summer

Summer is fast approaching in Dubai. You're probably thinking, "But it's 40°C!" Oh, young grasshopper, you have much to learn! Everyone knows that it's officially Summer once everyone starts snapchatting temperature filters reading 50°C. Fear not, Ramadan is also on its way, which means shorter working hours and more time to catch up on your reading!

Here's a few books to get you through the slow, scorching Summer days:

1. Unravel by Calia Read

Our protagonist, Naomi, wakes up in a psych ward not knowing whether she is crazy or not. She has to piece together her memories and unravel the truth. Your sanity is slowly going to unravel with hers as you desperately swipe pages on your Kindle to get to the end.

2. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

If you like psychological thrillers like Gone Girl, this is right up your alley. Read it before the movie releases this year so you can be one of the smug people leaving the cinema going, "Meh, the book is so much better."

3. All our yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

If you could go back in time, would you do anything differently? All Our Yesterdays is more than just another dystopian YA novel. Cristin Terrill intricately weaves past and present in the world she's created. Even if you're not a fan of sci-fi, you're going to wish you could go back in time to read this over and over again!

4. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Summer is perfect for a little light romance. Written in the epistolary format of e-mails, if you're a fan of Cecelia Ahern's Love, Rosie, you're going to swoon—even though you know if someone (even someone cute) read through your embarrassing private chats between your work-BFF IRL, you would probably kill them.

5. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Spring break, twisted teenage girls, and murder—a recipe for the perfect Summer read.

Abigail Haas has the flair for writing dark, psychological thrillers; Dangerous Boys (not a sequel), is just as dark and twisted. Don't let the YA genre tag fool you into thinking this is just another vapid teen angst novel.

6. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Beauty pageant contestants stranded on a desert island sounds like the plot to a bad B-movie, which might be intentional on Libba Bray's behalf.

Beauty Queens is self aware, clever and satirical, juxtaposed against a bizarre plot that's like Drop Dead Gorgeous meets Lost. Feminists and fans of Mean Girls, Miss Congeniality, and the rich character development and multi-story arcs of Orange is the New Black, you're going to devour this.

7. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Do you ever find yourself asking "What if?" 

Alternate realities, decisions, the meaning of life, finding yourself—Maybe in Another Life is a book about choices masquerading as a romance novel. The protagonist, Hannah, falls for a different man in parallel universes after one life-defining decision. Both universes are going to have you at odds over which one is meant to be. 

8. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Another book turned major Hollywood movie releasing in 2016. The movie, judging by the trailer, may have you thinking Me Before You is a sappier melodrama than what it is at its core (about life and the choices you make). One can only hope that it doesn't go the route of The Fault in Our Stars. Just do yourself a favour and read the book first.

9. This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

The Walking Dead only with teenagers. Don't be thrown off by the zombie-genre tag if you're not normally a fan. This book is not really about zombies at all. If anything, they could be a metaphor for the inner demons plaguing the teens. 

The book could be read as a stand-alone, but the sequel is even more gripping.

10. You by Caroline Kepnes

What lengths would you go to stalk your Twitter crush? With a few taps of your phone you could find out where they work, where they get their coffee, drive over to "bump into" them at their coffee shop... 

That would make you like Joe Goldberg, who goes to extreme lengths to stalk his chosen victim. The only book on the list that hasn't been personally reviewed (yet). The hotly anticipated sequel is out this year.

You can follow what I'm reading on Goodreads. Let me know if you're planning on reading any of these or have read some of these already. What did you think?