Author: mysteriousalien2

Just a random human being on the earth who likes to write and eat;)

Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

I think this is my first five-star thriller, and I have been waiting to write this review. The book has been stuck in my mind since last week, and I can’t wait to share it with you all. I never thought I would find a five-star thriller, but here I am. The Only One Left, another book by Riley Sager, I think he has become my favourite thriller writer, because the first book I read, The House Across the Lake, was a 4.5-star for me. This book follows the story of a caregiver, Kit McDeere, who gets an assignment to look after Lenora Hope, who lives at a house situated on a cliff. Lenora Hope is not an ordinary person but someone who has unalived her whole family.

Let’s start with the plot; it is everything I wanted in a thriller. There is a twist at every point, and it’s also horror, which makes this book thrilling and mind-blowing from start to finish. I was unable to get any twists right because when twists happened, I was shaken to the core. The storyline is so twisty, it felt at first that the story was going to be dragged, but what twist upon twist was just pouring. There are not many characters, as well as the setting is just one gothic mansion, but the writer did an incredible job by not just repeating the same thing again and again, but added a twist in almost every chapter.

The setting is definitely creepy, plus the mansion is on the cliff, so it makes the book more intimidating. The character of Kit is one of my favourites; she is actually a mind-blowing person for a thriller. The way she got tangled with Lenora Hope was chilling to watch. Lenora Hope is a character you can’t describe without a spoiler unless you have read the book. The characters are very complex, which made it hard for me to guess the twist, and I didn’t get it at all. I was not thinking about it; it just appeared when Kit found out I was shocked with her.

The ending is so beautiful, it is such an irony to write this about a thriller book, but believe me, when I read the last chapter, I was smiling because it was so heartwarming. I don’t think so, I haven’t read any thriller where the ending is so beautiful.

There is everything that I loved about this book, from its plotline to its characters. If you want to take any suggestion, please take this one.

Rating: 5/5

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write.

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Friends at Different Stages of Life…

True friendship isn’t about being inseparable. It’s about being separated and nothing changes.

Just imagine you are sitting with your friends in the canteen during your lunch break and discussing your future and where you all will be in the next ten years, and you promise each other that you will be together in every step of your life. Now, ten years later, you find yourself alone doing something totally different while your other friends are doing something else. And that, my friend, is the reality of life. You never thought that one day the friends you used to share your bench with would now be so far away, living their lives while you are living yours. That’s what we call the different stages of life that everyone goes through. Nobody stays at the same stage because everyone has their own choice and their own path in life. One of your friends is getting married, one is moving to a different country, and one is opening their own business, while you are probably thinking about your future. Friends who share the same conversations every day are now living at different stages of their lives. Why does nobody talk about how lonely it feels trying to find the right path by yourself? It is crazy to see myself and my friends living a full adult life. Whenever I talk or think about my friends, I feel like we truly grew up so fast from canteen talk to adult talk, and now we stand at different stages of our lives. What hurts the most is that we will never be sitting and chatting happily in the canteen again, and we will never be children again. But we did make beautiful memories that all will cherish forever, and that’s the power of memories; whenever we want, we can reminisce about them. Now, wherever I look at my friends, I feel incredibly proud and happy, as they were the same people who used to make me laugh and make my life better. Cheers up, people, we might be at different stages of life, but the life we lived, the memories we created, will forever be there in our hearts.

Friendship is the purest form of love.

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write

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Review: ‘Happiness’ K-drama (2021)

“For you, it’s money. For me, it’s Sae-bom.” – Yi-Hyun.

My all-time favourite Korean drama out there. If somebody wants a recommendation, then I recommend this one only because it’s so freaking good. Honestly, I never thought I would love this drama this much. The drama follows the story of Sae-bom, who recently moved into a new high-end apartment complex, dreaming of starting her new life with Yi-hyun. But suddenly, a disease spread in the apartment complex, strangling them with new challenges and life at stake.

Let’s start with the character of Yoon Sae-bom, our female lead. A thriller drama needs a strong-headed, smart and badass lead, and she is the one. I love everything about her, from her fighting skills to her presence of mind. I never thought I would like this about a character, that alone in a thriller, but Sae-bom’s dressing style is top-notch. It totally made her a badass lead with loose denims and t-shirts. I want to dress like her.

Then, the character of Yi-hyun, why is he so underrated as the green flag? He loves Sae-bom so freaking much that he got ready to marry her just for her. His love was that he gave up everything for her without caring about his life. I can’t accept that people don’t talk about him enough. His action scenes are a chef’s kiss, and the expressions are just amazing. Their emotional scenes are just beautiful because they never spoke about their feelings, but through their eyes, they knew how much they were afraid to lose each other.

Sae-bom and Yi-hyun’s chemistry needs to be talked about more. Basically, Yi-hyun likes Sae-bom, but she doesn’t; however, he still agrees to enter into the arranged marriage with her, so freaking cool and cute. They were literally like husband and wife, but at the same time, best friends. I love their dynamic where they could do anything. They are seriously the couple who die for each other. Additionally, their supporting roles and collaborative efforts make their action scenes even more impressive. Without romance, they gave a lot, also their meeting again scene was my favourite. Their action scenes are amazing and worth watching.

The plot is so freaking good, as you know that I love zombie dramas, everything related to it. This drama devours the plot; the storyline literally kept me hooked till the end. I think what made this drama really good was that everyone was trying to save their loved ones amidst such a dangerous situation. Not the people but the situation made the people villains, which made a lot of sense. Also, it revolves within the complex, but everything is so twisted and keeps me on the edge.

The only thing I wanted was more episodes; the ending was too fast, like literally, I wished to see more of them. I was so disappointed that they just ended it so fast.

I highly recommend this drama, please just watch it.

“If I lose Hyun, I might lose everything.” – Sae-bom.

Total Episodes: 12

My Rating: 10/10

Genre: Horror, Action, Thriller

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write.

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Rejection…

To all the doors that closed on me: I’m coming back to buy the building.

I think failure and rejection are never talked about enough; everybody tells us about success, but nobody talks about how to deal with failures and rejections. And I am here to share my thoughts on how to deal with it. I will start by going straight to the point: yes, rejection hurts the most, and it will pinch you every now and then. You may seem fine upfront, but the rejection will be eating you from the inside. So here’s what I have to say: you are allowed to fail, you are allowed to start again, and you are allowed to take a break. Never ever compare yourself to others, everyone has their own journey. Maybe you are meant to be mentally stronger to enter your phase of success. Even after becoming successful, you can experience failure because it’s a part of your life. Life is all about rocky roads, one day you will feel like you have achieved everything, while another day you will feel like you are back at the start again. Whenever I take up a new challenge, I always say to myself that I believe in myself, whatever the result will be, I will give my best, and whatever happens, happens for a reason. You need to build up your courage by trying again, by examining your failure, and rather than dwelling on what has already happened, why not focus on improving yourself and becoming stronger? This way, when you do it all over again, you can do it better, and you’ll actually feel the difference. Have the courage to believe in yourself, and failure is a part of your life. Remember, just a part of your life, it doesn’t define your life, but the courage to take that failure and lead the way towards success will define your life. And never ever listen to others and never give them the right to say anything about you or your life, it’s your life and you know how capable you are of everything. So rejection is nothing to be embarrassed about, but learn from it and make it your strength to do better.

Rejection is the most powerful motivation.

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write

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Book Review: No Exit by Taylor Adams

Another thriller I picked up was “No Exit” by Taylor Adams. The blurb seemed interesting; however, the book is totally different from what I expected. It’s more intense than a mystery. The book is about Darby Thorne, a college student who gets very badly stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She is not alone but with four complete strangers, and she has to spend the night with them. Then she discovers that one of the parked cars has a little girl locked inside, and the story gets intense.

OMG, this book is so intense, there is literally no time to breathe in between, nor for Darby, and none for the readers. I felt that this book had a lot of potholes, and the only thing that kept me on the edge was the intensity of Darby running to save her life. Just like any typical thriller character, Darby was an absolute idiot at the beginning. At first, I thought she might be using her brain, but no, my assumption was wrong.

She is with four strangers and she is guessing by their clothes who is good and who is bad, which should never be done because clothes tell nothing, nor do the good behaviour that strangers pretend to have. The second, the stranger started being good with Darby, I knew it was a huge red flag, but Darby didn’t see it. I was so confused throughout the book about whether I should be mad at Darby for sharing everything with the stranger or pray that she survives.

The culprit was revealed very early, according to me, and then the plot twist happened, and I was expecting it after reading so many thrillers. The book is totally about Darby and the girl running away from the culprit and surviving the blizzard. So many times they could have been saved; however, the situation made it worse.

I can guarantee you that throughout the whole book, you are going to scream at Darby to save her life and be out of the situation, as well as pray that she doesn’t get caught. The plot is all about the chase between Darby and the culprit, and it’s too intense; I could feel Darby breathing for her life.

If you are expecting that this thriller is all bout mystery and plot twists, then this book might not be for you, but if you are expecting crazy chase and intense fight, then please go ahead.

Rating: 3/5(please check trigger warnings)

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write.

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It will happen…

I do not know how it will happen but I do know that it will happen.

My life has been crazy right now, but in a good way. I am at that stage of my life where I always used to dream, and now I am here, actually working and living in it. Not just that, but I have taken up so many challenges that the mini me would have never thought of because of how self-conscious I was back then. I am always so ready to take up challenges, and guess what, I am not even a little bit afraid of how I am going to do it, but I want to experience it and learn from it. And this habit of mine has taken me to places which I always thought would be out of my dreams, but now I am actually living it. What I have realised is that no matter how tough it looks, it will happen, and you will probably feel wondering how it happened, and you are actually living it. I believe that working on your passion will definitely lead you to the path that once felt impossible. It will take time, but speaking from my personal experience, someone who didn’t even think that what she is doing right now would be even 1 per cent possible, but it happened because I never let go of my passion and believed in myself. The advice I am giving to you is no matter how impossible it looks and how much you are afraid, take that challenge and do it, at least you will get to experience it as well as learn, which is more important than not doing anything. The important thing I have learned is that from doing only you are going to learn; if you want to go big, then you need to do it irrespective of the result. How would you know how capable you are unless you try it? If you want to achieve more, then you need to test yourself by taking up challenges that seem impossible, but that’s how you are going to learn and be ready to take on more challenges ahead. So, trust yourself; it will happen, and in a way that will really make you appreciate taking that step and making it happen. 

Maybe you should stop overthinking and just trust the way life happens.

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write

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Book Review: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

The amount of time I have heard people talk about this book, especially the middle plot twist, is what made me pick this book right away. The thriller book I am talking about is I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. This book is about a mother, Jenna Gray, who, in a tragic accident, lost her son, Jacob. She is not able to cope with being in a house filled with memories of her son, so she decided to move to a small cottage on the Welsh coast. At the beginning, she started feeling better; however, suddenly her haunting past secrets seemed to follow her there.

The book is divided into two parts as well as two points of view. One, we have Jenna’s point of view from the first person and then the detective working on the case from the third person. I won’t lie, it took me some time to get the hang of different pov’s. I can’t really talk about the characters as there are spoilers pretty much in it. But the characters are not what we expect them to be, and it’s obvious that it’s a thriller book.

I went into this book thinking something absolutely different, and you might as well, but OMG, the middle plot twist. What was even that? I don’t think anyone could get it because it is so distinct and extraordinary. The plot twist happened so randomly that I read that again and again in order to understand what happened. There are many suspects which make it impossible to guess the plot twist. The plot is definitely confusing as there are two points of view, and the author did a great job of adding elements in a way that we can’t get the plot twist.

The storyline, as I said, is something totally different because I felt it was mostly romance, with thriller being a sub-genre. I think that the book was a little long, as most of the time there was just romance and not any thriller. I had to make sure that I was reading a thriller, not a romance book. Some detective parts felt unnecessary as they mostly focused on romance rather than solving the case.

The plot twists and the story are pretty good for a thriller book, as it gave me a headache, but the romance part killed it for me because I felt that it was unnecessary at some point, which made the book feel long. But the plot twists are really good, so maybe give it a try.

Rating: 3/5(please check trigger warnings)

Side Note: I just want to clarify that this is entirely my opinion; you are free to love this book, and I am free to give my opinion on this book. I would be very happy if you loved this book, but please do not take this review to heart; it is okay to have different tastes. Thank You.

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write.

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Lost a version of myself

Maybe losing is a disguise to slow down life and truly live in it. – M A

Nobody talks about that, as you become an adult, you also lose a past version of yourself, a version that you never wanted to lose. We always thought that as we grow older, things would get better, but nobody talks about the battle with life, how much we have to work hard to overcome our insecurities to see the lessons from our failures, and whether we are going to make life better or not. At this point in my life, when I look back, I’ve lost a version of myself, a version that never overthinked about life that was really optimistic in whatever she wanted to do, but after seeing and going through the struggles, every time in my mind it goes through that I have become a version where I’ve lost the spark, the spark that people feel when they accomplish big, the spark that people feel after getting into their dream college. Even though I’ve been through all of those pages, that spark is what is missing. I am at that place in my life where things are moving way too fast, and I’m getting overwhelmed. I feel like we are moving so fast in every step of our lives, before we even appreciate where we are right now, we need to move on to achieve greater things. Time is moving so fast, which has also contributed to losing the excitement, because we truly are not living in the moment, but running a race. We have become like robots. Maybe we expect so much from life that at a certain point, when we reach a step, we are so exhausted that we become so dull, so that it takes time to get our sparks back. And then that version doesn’t exist anymore. I feel like we really need to take time and reflect on what we have in our lives right now, and enjoy what truly makes us happy and brings a spark in our eyes, rather than see a lost version…

The girl and her lost version…

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write

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Review: ‘The Prisoner of Beauty’ C-drama (2025)

“Who says there’s no love between me and Lady Qiao? I admit, I married her for Panyi. But after spending time with her. I saw that she’s not only beautiful but concerned for the people. She has the talent and bearing worthy of my wife.” – Shao Wei

I think every other country’s drama can change, but Chinese drama will always maintain its supremacy. I have never watched any historical Chinese drama, but heard a lot, and finally, The Prisoner of Beauty, the recent Chinese historical drama, caught my eye. The drama follows the story of Xiao Qiao, who gets married to Shao Wei, her kingdom’s rival family, in order to end the hatred between them.

In this drama, there are every kind of trope which had me hooked. There is forbidden romance, arranged marriage, a rival’s daughter, a green flag, a smart, strong and cunning female lead. You know that I am a sucker for the arranged marriage trope, as it gives tension and intensity in a drama that I absolutely love.

Let’s start with our main attraction of the drama, the female lead, Xiao Qiao. I love female leads who are smart, cunning and absolutely hold their ground. Xiao Qiao is a huge green flag because she understands her husband, even though the marriage is all about alliance, she takes the best care of him. She understands him and the situation he went through as a child. I liked that she was shown as a mature female lead rather than stubborn in the wrong ways. She is so manipulative and cunning, OMG I loved that. I loved that even though she married the rival for alliance and even took care of her husband, she still held ground with her principles. She is an absolute drama queen; the acting just to get away with things was mind-blowing.

Then we have our male lead, Shao Wei, who went through a lot, and everything he does makes sense. The boy has a traumatising childhood, obviously, he can’t trust anyone, especially the female lead. However, even though he hated her, he still treated her with utmost importance. His fighting skills are amazing. However, he is absolutely clueless in romance. When Xiao Qiao is flirting with him, he acts so clueless, making me and Xiao Qiao wonder when he will understand. I loved his clueless side. Xiao Qiao helped bring out the child in him that he had lost and was just burdened by responsibility. He is so funny and shy when it comes to romance.

Their chemistry was pure and intense. I liked that their story was relatable, given that they were rivals. Slowly, there was a development rather than just like that. He took his time understanding and trusting her, and she understood that about him. The slow development was everything as they slowly realised that love is greater than hate. The love and respect he shows her, and always stands with her, and she always defends him and takes a stand for him, is so heartwarming to watch; they truly are worthy of each other.

The plot is all about the history between Shao Wei and Xiao Qiao’s family, and to remove the hatred marriage alliance is formed, it is so good and well written. I loved that in historical drama, loyalty is shown as top-notch. Be it Shao Wei’s companion or Xiao Qiao’s companion, the loyalty they have shown was beautiful to watch. The friendship group is amazing and hilarious.

The cinematography is amazing, given that it’s a historical drama, the culture and the costumes are just beautiful. All the side characters were amazing; they made the drama more fun. Shao Wei’s grandmother, a true Queen, knows how to properly give advice, a great woman.

I highly recommend it if you want to watch an arranged marriage between rivals, which includes forbidden romance and captivating leads.

“You’re an exceptional lady. I’ve never admired any woman the way I admire you.” – Shao Wei

Total Episodes: 36

My Rating: 8/10

Genre: Romance, Revenge, Historical Fiction

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write.

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It’s been 4 years of Blogging.

admire your own progress; it took everything to get here

14th July 2025

Time really went fast because I didn’t even realise that it’s been 4 years since I started blogging. I feel like I just wrote my 3-year blogging post, and here I am again. In last year’s anniversary post, I wrote about what the next year would bring, and yet here I am again to express what I learned and what happened this year. A lot happened when I say a lot, I mean a lot because I never saw myself doing those things, but I did it and I am so proud of myself. I started writing reviews, completed another significant academic milestone, took on numerous challenges, and simply became a better person. I was never the confident kid; I was always a shy one who didn’t know how to answer people or stand up for myself. But after blogging, I have come to such a better place, and all of these are because of myself only. I can proudly say that I alone did everything, learned everything and believed in myself. This year was full of challenges, and the age I turned made me realise how fast time is going and yet I have to do so much. I am so grateful for what I have achieved till now. I have seen myself grow in a better way. The younger me would be so proud if she were to see me right now. I feel so lucky because I found something that I love to do and have been doing it for so long. Blogging made my life better, as I could feel how much I am starting to appreciate myself, taking up challenges I never thought I could even do, and that’s what matters, right? So this is your sign, do whatever you want. At first, it might not be perfect, but you can’t become perfect until you do it every day.

When I started blogging, I just did it for fun however, at this point I have been so consistent with posting that I have not missed a single post even when my life was and is so hectic. Beacause I love blogging and I love connecting with you all, blogging never made me feel burden and that’s the most proud I am of. A big thank you to myself, I am glad I did not give up, no matter what, I posted, and truly started to learn to do what I love.

And lastly, I want to thank each one of you who landed on my page and gave a shot to read, like, comment and subscribe. I am so grateful that this is a girl who likes to write, a mere page has gotten so much love. I pray that you all receive the best of the best. I am always cheering for you all, and please believe in yourself; you are doing your absolute best.

Here to make everything better, everything you manifested, and all the blessings quietly waiting on their way to you.

Previous year anniversary posts – 1, 2 & 3

My first ever blog post – Click here

Till we meet again, Be Happy, Be Grateful, and Keep Smiling – a girl who likes to write

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