Happy new year, friends! May 2021 bring you all the joy, kindness and happiness and overall just be better for us all.
December went by in the blink of an eye (this feels like the beginning of a Taylor Swift song, doesn’t it? I’m obsessed with her new album. Out of topic, okay). Everything happened all at once and I’m just exhausted.
I spent the most part of December working, so not much to say in that area. It’s been exhausting mentally, at times, still settling both into the new job and into the new life with the state of the world, but well. Mid-December we moved into our first little home together with my love and it was stressful and exciting and, yeah. 2020 is a bit of a mess.
I was lucky enough to be able to travel across country for Christmas to end the year with my family and it’s been real nice to be back, too.
I hope 2021 will be kinder to us all and I’m sending you all the love and warmth for this month!
🔍 KEEP YOURSELF INFORMED of the world’s current info & donate to important causes if you can always.
- Get informed & Current Info Carrd : resources on what’s happening in the world.
- PHILIPPINES: Typhoon relief – YEMEN CRISIS – FREE PALESTINE – NIGERIA: END SARS – BLACK LIVES MATTER (USA)
I haven’t read as much as usual this month. I know I shouldn’t beat myself up given everything happening, but well. I’m trying my best?
ON A SUNBEAM ☂️ I am cheating a bit since I actually started this back in November and only finished it in December. I’m so slow at reading graphic novels. Still, this was a lovely, entertaining read and I liked it a lot!!
YOU HAVE A MATCH☂️ I had a lot of fun reading this one. The whole secret sister-parent trap vibes made me smile and the romance was adorable. 📖 Read my full review.
PRETENDING ☂️ Holly Bourne always writes hard hitting stories and this one isn’t an exception. I really liked Pretending overall even if it’s a tough read at times.
GIRLS WITH RAZOR HEARTS ☂️ After ADORING Girls with Sharp Sticks, I couldn’t WAIT to get its sequel. I’m still very much obsessed with this series right now.
THESE VENGEFUL HEARTS ☂️ I had fun with that one! A really entertaining read with a high school secret society, revenge and sisters bond.
Goodreads challenge: 62/60 books! Looks like I made my goodreads challenge, but it was a close one. I’m going to talk about this more soon in my resolutions post, so stay tuned!
Year of the Asian Reading Challenge: 9/10 books. It was a close one!!
I read my november monthly wrap-up before writing this one and realized my goal for December was to write.
Let’s just say: I failed, again.
I’m trying not to beat myself up too much, because I know I’ve been reasonably busy and mind-filled not to properly have, or take the time to write and focus on my story. But, yeah, I’m still beating myself up a little bit about it.
It’s January though now, so here’s to hoping for new resolutions and more writing!
Words written in December: 0 | Research written: about 1200 words.
My blogging has gone even more scarce as December came around. I’m honestly not surprised: with everything happening this past month, I haven’t had (or taken) the time to post and managed to skip an entire week of posting, something I rarely do because, well. I’m anxious about not blogging okay.
If I haven’t posted as much as I usually do, I spent a gigantic amount of time on each blog post. Since I talked about book bloggers getting paid, I invested my time in researching some affiliate links to start in that area and implementing them is making my blog crafting time about 2 days longer (Not kidding). If you’d be interested, I’ll keep you posted on how it works and if it’s worth it in a little while, as well as my journey in that area (meaning: my journey as trying to get money as a book blogger). Please let me know in comments!
I probably will stay at 2 blog posts a week now, since I think it’s as much as I can manage right now with everything else. I felt a bit disconnected from the whole book blogging community lately. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not spending as much time scrolling down twitter, or something, but well. I hope it’s just a me feeling and that it will pass.
On the blog this month: book reviews
On the blog this month: blogging, books & more
☂️ If you enjoy my work, you can support me, it would mean the entire world to me. Every comment, like, share and more means so much already. If you’d like to do a little extra something, you can:
- 💫 Support me by tipping me on ko-fi,
- 💫 Get something from my Amazon wishlist,
- 💫 Use my affiliate links to get yourself something (no extra for you, a small tip for me!) at the bottom of my blog’s page.
- Thank you for reading my posts always! 🥺
I’m still a little slow at blog hopping lately and I’m trying to be okay with it, but… it’s tough.
Book blogging posts I read and enjoyed:
- Chana & Malka @ Paper Procrastinators shared why they’re now Bookshop affiliates and I loved this.
- Sofi @ A Book A Thought has an exciting blogging project to create a bloggers’ list, check it out!
Bookish posts I read and enjoyed:
- Lois @ My Midnight Musing wrote about how to motivate yourself to read and yes!!
- Cielo @ Bellerose Reads wrote about how to help the reader community in a wonderful post.
- Shealea @ Shut Up Shealea shared an INCREDIBLE list of 2021 Books by Asian Authors.
- Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction has an amazing list of ALL challenges, both reading and blogging, for 2021!
- Sophie @ Me and Ink shared a great list of 60 anticipated releases for 2021.
- Kal @ Reader Voracious did it again: the 2021 Ultimate Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet Template is now available and it leaves me SPEECHLESS okay.
- Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical shared book recommendations based on Taylor Swift’s Evermore and love this!!
Other posts I read and enjoyed:
- My friend Kat @ Life & Other Disasters talked about Watercolour Art and even if I’m not an artist myself, I found this so interesting!
How was your December? What were your favorite reads of this month and of the year? Do you have any particular projects for this January and new year? Let me know everything!
Twitter ☂️ Bookstagram ☂️Goodreads ☂️ Bloglovin’ ☂️ Support the blog
Thank you so much for sharing my watercolor post! I really put a lot of work in it and know it’s pretty out of left field for most, but I think some people might really be interested in it!
Also, I’d love to hear more about your journey with affiliate links and monetization. I wish you the best of luck with it, because you deserve getting compensation for you hard work <3
Best of wishes for all things 2021!!!
Of course, it was such an interesting post and I’m sure some people are really happy to read it and see something different like this, too! 🙂
Thank you so much <3 I'm not hoping much, but I can try and see where that goes ahah :) Wishing you ALL THE BEST for this year, Kat, you deserve all the happiness <3 <3
Looks like you had a good reading month! I hope January is even better!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Thank you so much! 🙂
Happy new year, Marie! I am back 😁 Starting up my blog again after the anxiety of 2020 and I have MISSED YOUR POSTS
AH ALEX HI HELLO! It’s so good that you’re back, yay! I hope you’ve been doing okay <3 <3
As well as can be expected, I’d say! 😅 I hope you’re well too, my lovely
Well.. that’s good, given everything ahah. I’m always a message away if you ever need/want to talk about anything! <3 <3
Thank you lovely, likewise!
Congratulations on completing your Goodreads reading challenge! 🙂 I think two posts per week is really great, honestly! We also post twice a week, but that’s because we both post the same amount, so that adds up to 4-5 posts a month per person; I’m not sure I could do more, to be honest. So you should be proud of two a week!! 😀 I think I feel you on feeling disconnected from the blogging world, unfortunately. For me one of the most important ways to feel connected to other bloggers is by visiting their blogs and I’ve been AWFUL at that. :/ I’m getting more into it now again, though.. at least I hope so. I’ve just been so demotivated, which I think is a combination of the winter (we see basically no sun these days) as well as the end of my semester, which was ROUGH.
Thank you so much! <3 Ah that's amazing, really you always put up such a wonderful content every time, I am amazed by all of your work, really 🥰
I get what you mean so much. I haven't had time to blog hop lately with everything and winter is always a really tough time for me, too. I hope that it'll be better soon for both of us! You deserve a break with everything, too, though, especially with the end of the semester. I hope everything went well for you <3
Happy new year to you and Nyx 🙂🎉💛! That’s really exciting that you’ve moved into your own place, and I can’t imagine how stressful making that change in these times was 😕. It’s so awesome that you were able to travel and see your family though! Congrats on just making your Goodreads challenge hahaha – I’m interested to see what you have to say about it in your resolutions post 😄. I hope this year is a happy and peaceful one for you both and that those affiliate links work out haha!
Thank you so, so much, Belle! <3 It hasn't been.. well, the best situation to do this, but well, I guess that was 2020 😅
Thank you for your sweet words, I really hope this new year will be wonderful to you, too <3
Happy new year!
I always love reading your new posts but you know what? No matter how often you post, we’ll always be here to read what you have to say and to cheer for you! So don’t feel bad for not blogging much or blogging less. It’s okay <3 same goes for reading and writing. The times right now are just messy and weird and I have learned the hard way that I have to accept my limits. Take all the time you need for your things 🙂
Kat, your comment just made my day, really. 🥺 thank you so, so much for saying this. I’m having such a hard time learning my limits and I kind of want to DO IT ALL, like, all the time, but I know it’s not possible. Thank you for your comment, it really means a lot 🥺
Happy new year to you too!! I hope it will be a lovely one for you <3
I feel like the end of the year is always the time to unwind and just recharge the batteries and spend time with family.
I’m definitely interested in seeing how the affiliate links works. I keep feeling like it’s something to try, but I think my outreach is still too limited.
Thank you so much for sharing my post!!
Happy New Year. Hope you’ve settled into your new home okay and that 2021 is brighter for us all. 😁
Thank you, Lois! I’ll do my best to write something about affiliate links and to let you know if it’s worth it. I’m not holding on hope too much, but… I can try, ahah 🙂
Of course, it was a wonderful post <3 I hope that this new year will be brighter and wonderful to you <3
I hope you have such a wonderful 2021, Marie! I can imagine how challenging December was, but keep heart: you’ll find a groove and have everything sorted soon, I just know it! I am very interested in your affiliates journey, so whatever you post about it, I’ll read. And we’re BOTH going to increase our writing this year, I know it. <3
Thank you so, so much, Nicole <3 I hope so too 🥺 and yes, let's work on our writing together, we can do this!
I know it!! <3
December was a slow blogging month for me too.
I’ve heard wonderful things about Girls with Sharp Sticks but haven’t read it yet. I’ll have to look for audio.
I hope you’ll get a chance to read it, it’s so good!! 😀
Ahhh I’m so glad you enjoyed On a Sunbeam! That’s one of my favorite graphic novels and I’m always happy to see it getting appreciation ☺ I also read You Have a Match in December and thought it was so fun!
This past month really did go by too quickly—I also managed to achieve basically none of my goals. Ah, well. Here’s hoping we both have the time and energy to do everything we want to do this January! Happy new year and happy reading <3
It was such a lovely graphic novel! 🙂
I hope we’ll both have a bit more time and will be able to focus on our goals this month, too. Fingers crossed <3 Happy new year to you too, Margaret and take care!! <3
i love you so much and i’m proud of what you managed to do this month (moving into a new home together, that’s amazing!!). i would love to hear more about your journey trying to get more money through blogging — and i hope it’s a successful one because there’s no one who deserves compensation more than you, for all the amazing work you do 💖💖 i’m so happy you loved on a sunbeam, and i hope you have a wonderful january and start to 2021!!
You’re going to make me cry 🥺🥺🥺 thank you so, so much for your suport, this means so much. I’m hoping to write a little about my journey, I don’t hold much hope, but well I can try ahah 🙂
Thank you! I hope that you’ll have a wonderful month <3 <3
Congrats on finishing your Goodreads challenge! This year kicked a lot of people’s butts when it came to reading, so it’s very impressive that you were able to finish. Yay!
Happy new year, and I hope 2021 treats you even better than 2020! 🙂
I feel like it either went really well and people read tons, or not at all, so… in a way I’m glad my reading hasn’t changed too much ahah. Thank you so much!! I hope 2021 will be kind to you <3
Happy New Year! I’m glad you had a good Christmas and got to spend it with family.
I read Pretending by Holly Bourne last month too and really enjoyed it, although the subject matter was definitely tough. I’ve only ever read one other book by her though, so I’ll have to try some of her others soon.
Have a great January!
Happy New Year to you too, Laura! Thank you so much, I did 🙂
I hope you’ll try more of Holly Bourne’s work, she’s such a fantastic writer, I love her work!
Thank you, have a lovely month as well!
i hope that January + 2021 will be better for you, Marie – i’m sending you all my love and support as the new year begins 💓 hoping that 2021 will be filled with wonderful reads & lovely memories for you. congrats on moving into a new home, i’m so happy for you! and no worries about not being able to blog as much – your mental health always come first & is the most important, and we’ll always be here to support you no matter how much you post 💞
also, congrats on achieving your 2020 reading goal, that’s amazing!! & i’m looking forward to your resolutions post ☺️ one thing that i did in December that i’m really happy about is that i finally wrote and published a blog post after almost 2 years :’)
Thank you so, so, so much Dezzy 🥺🥺 I hope that 2021 will be kind and wonderful to you, too! <3 I can't help but worry about it all, your support means a lot 🥺🥺
AH YAY! I'm so so happy and so PROUD yay! I'm going to take some time to read it soon! <3 <3
awww tysm Marie, i really appreciate your support 😊💞
Always!! <3
Happy new year to you as well! I hope 2021 treats us better ❤ So happy to see you loving You Have a Match, I’m honestly so excited to read it!! 🥰 I also did no writing, but I didn’t expect to work on my WIP as I’m still trying to figure how to balance it with my uni work. I’d love to read about affiliate links, as it would be super helpful to learn more 😊
Thank you so much, Caro, I hope you’ll have a beautiful new year <3 <3
I'm right here with you on balance, I'm still trying to find my balance between everything, it's a little tough, but hopefully we can make it work <3 and thank you for letting me know! I'll do my best to work on that soon!
I wanted to finish my NaNo story in December and…. I failed big time too. I didn’t touch it once :’) I can hardly blame myself though; December was rife with schoolwork, and my spare time was devoted to making sure I enjoyed Advent and Christmas as well as reading every time I could. Yay for hitting your goodreads goal!! Can’t wait to read that upcoming post x
It’s so hard to blame ourselves, but we’re doing our best with everything else going on in life, too <3 I hope you'll have a beautiful 2021, Macey!! <3
Happy New Year! 🤍 the books look amazing and something I’d definitely have a look at! Also I always did agree with your post about book bloggers being underrated and should be earning money for what they do and I would love to be a part of that journey with you! 🤍 I’m not a book blogger but I love books and I used to have a book blog so it’s interesting to see it! I hope you have a great start to the new year! 🤍
Oh thank you so much <3 I will do my very best to share a little more of that journey when I can <3 I hope you'll have a wonderful year as well!
I’m sorry to hear that your december was so stressful. But congrats on the new home with your partner! That’s such an exciting achievement. I bet you can’t wait to start decorating and everything. I’m so happy for you! I wish you a Happy New Year Marie 🙂 xxx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Oh thank you so, so much Melina, this means a lot <3 I hope you'll have a beautiful new year <3 <3
Yay, I’m happy you really enjoyed the sequel Girls with Razor Hearts too! 😀 I’ve been wanting to read On A Sunbeam. That book cover for These Vengeful Hearts is so pretty.
I can’t WAIT to read the third book, I’m so impatient for it to be released! 😀 I hope you’ll get to read On a Sunbeam sometime, it’s such a lovely book 🙂
Happy New Year Marie!! So sorry your December was slow, I hope January is going better for you so far. You’ve made me very excited to read You Have A Match, I’m a tad late to my eARC so need to read asap hehe. And ah I hope you manage more writing this month. Lots of love xx
Happy new year love!! I hope you’ll love You Have a Match, I had a lot of fun reading it! 😀
Thank you so much, wishing you all the very best <3 <3
Congrats on moving! That must have been difficult given the pandemic, but I hope that you love your new place and that it slowly feels more like home as the days pass!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed On a Sunbeam! I think that graphic novel surprised me the most with how much I loved it, since the art style isn’t one I tend to love. But there was something about the story that worked so well with the artwork, and just drew me in!
I totally understand where you’re coming from in terms of blogging. This December was the first time that Chana and I managed to blog somewhat consistently. The end of the year, with finals, holidays, and everything else just ends up being a stressful time of year! I feel awful that I haven’t visited new blogs in months, and I’ve barely been blog hopping either. And what’s worse is I know in a few short weeks I’ll be deep in schoolwork again, and things won’t change. Wow. That was long and rambly. Anyways, just wanted to say that I definitely understand the feeling, and if you ever want to chat, I’m here
On a happier note, thank you so much for mentioning our post! It feels like the post has come in a full circle, since your post about book bloggers getting paid was what inspired us to take the leap to use an affiliate link in the first place!
I hope you’re having a wonderful January!
Thank you so much Malka <3 it's been an adjustment, but I'm doing my best :)
I really really enjoyed it, thank you SO much once again 🥺🥺 the artwork was so lovely and the story so wonderful, too, these characters got my heart 🥺
I'm glad I'm not the only one. It's been a bit tough with everything and, as much as I want to prioritize what makes me happy, I also feel guilty sometimes about not being able to do it all. It's frustrating ahah.
And of course! I loved your post so much and hope this works out well for you :D Thank you so, so much, I hope that January has been lovely for you so far <3