My hero is my mom. I really admire her and I will be sharing three reasons why I chose her as my hero. To start, she is very hard working. She always works super hard at work so me and my siblings can have a great life. Instead of spending her time after work doing hobby’s she likes to do for fun, she helps me and my siblings with our homework, or makes us a snack. She also always makes holidays very special by planning out things to do. The next reason I see her as my hero is, that she is very patient. My mom works at a children’s hospital so she spends her days helping kids and when she comes home she has to help her own kids with things. My brothers always want her to get them a snack as soon as she gets home but she’s very patient with them and tells them to wait. I also really like how she doesn’t get very mad when me or one of my siblings doesn’t understand what she’s asking. My final reason is that she is very kind. She is kind to people even if she doesn’t like them very much. She also gives people compliments a lot and makes people feel better when their sad. This is why I really look up to my mom.

This month I read, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. It’s about a 16 year old girl named Lara Jean who writes a love letter for every boy she’s ever loved. Five in total. She keeps them in a special teal hatbox that her mother gave her before she died. Lara Jean puts her whole soul into writing these letters because no one is going to read them besides her. But, somehow these letters get mailed out and now every boy she’s ever loved knows how she felt about them.

I really loved this book. I enjoyed how you actually got to read the letters she wrote so you really understand why she is so upset about them getting mailed out. Also, this is the first book in a trilogy. I also thought the writing flowed very well and was easy to understand. Additionally, there is a movie adaptation if you enjoy to watch the movie of a book after you read it. But, the movie is not as good as it leaves out many key details.

My favorite character was Lara Jeans youngest sister Katherine who is called Kitty. Kitty is very feisty and loves to have fun. A character trait she has is impulsive. A quote that represents this is, “I thought five chances at a boyfriend was better odds!” At this point in the book, Lara Jean just found out that Kitty was the one who sent out her love letters. This shows Kitty’s impulsiveness because she sent the letters right after her sister was teasing her and she didn’t even think about the bigger things that could happen.

My favorite quote from the book was “Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That’s the part of the risk. I don’t want to be scared anymore.” I like this quote because it really shows how Lara Jean has changed. In the beginning of the book she was too scared of rejection to tell anyone how she felt about them but this quote shows that now she understands that she needs to take a risk to get what she wants.

I am going to focus on one word of intention for 2023. My word is going to be, efficient. To start, I want to do my assignments right away and not leave them until the last day if we have a long time to do them. For example when we do the rad reading, even though I’ve already read multiple books during the month, I wait until the end of the month to do the writing. It would be very nice to just get it done so I don’t have to worry about it. Also, I want to do things faster. I want to finish my work and other things faster so I have more time to do stuff that I enjoy doing. Lastly, if I do things efficiently and don’t procrastinate I will have more time to go back and change things. So if I think of something I could add to an assignment after I did it and I didn’t submit I could add it. But if I did it at the last minute I wouldn’t be able to do that. That’s why I want to be efficient in the new year.

This month I read, A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. This is a mystery novel that is a retelling of a Sherlock Holmes novel. The main character Jamie Watson is going to a prep school in Connecticut on a rugby scholarship. Jamie doesn’t want to go to this school because his father who abandoned him only lives an hour away. Also, Sherlock Holmes great-great-great granddaughter, Charlotte Holmes, goes to school there. As a kid Jamie always imagined him and Charlotte going on adventures and solving mystery’s together. But when Jamie arrives at this school they keep running into each other and she doesn’t want anything to do with him. When Jamie gets into a fight with Charlottes enemy, Charlotte comes to save Jamie. The next day they find out that that boy was murdered. The murder was ripped straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel and Jamie and Charlotte are being framed. They will have to work together to find out who is framing them and prove their innocence at the same time.

I really liked this book. It had lots of twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting. I would really recommend this book if you like mystery books that have a little romance. This book wasn’t very fast paced all the time but it has moments when you will be on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what’s going to happen. This is the first book in a series so if you like to read series this book would be good for you.

My favorite character was Charlotte. I liked how even though she liked to be alone and independent she would still hang out with Jamie. A character trait she has is understanding. A quote to prove this would be, “The two of us, we’re the best kind of disaster. Apples and oranges. Well, more like apples and machetes.” This shows that she understands the difference between her and Jamie but still appreciates him and understands him.

My favorite quote from this book was “And even so, before I had ever met Charlotte Holmes, I was sure she was the only friend I would make in that miserable place.” I like this quote because it shows that Jamie and Charlotte were destined to be friends not only because of their relatives but because of their similarities.