Happy December, friends ⛄ I’m amazed by the fact that it’s this time of the year again… and it’s freaking SNOWING as I’m writing this. Just, how. Let’s recap everything that happened this past November together, shall we? I also have a new books category in my wrap-ups from now on, so… read on to make your TBR grow!
November’s been… okay, I guess? The past few months have been pretty tough on me, mental health-wise, I’m not going to dwell on it once again. With the hour change, work being difficult and everything else, it hasn’t been the best month ever. I’m trying to take it day by day.
I’m very grateful to have been able to see my family again, even if just for a couple of days. It’s been SO incredibly refreshing to move a little bit and to get back home to spend some time with them. I’m really looking forward to December for a little more of that!
I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves, friends.
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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up
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November has been alright, reading-wise. While I haven’t found any new favorite reads, I enjoyed all of the books I got to this past month, so I’ll say that’s still a win!
THEY WISH THEY WERE US ☂️ This was a really entertaining YA thriller overall. I liked the gossip girl x secret society vibes and was hooked right from the start on the mystery, even if I did guess a tiny little bit of it. Recommending it to fans of the genre!
💧 Read my review – Buy the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
IF THIS GETS OUT ☂️ Another really fun book! If you’re ever in the mood to read a boys band story with queer rep, secret relationships and the messiness of show biz… definitely pick this book out. I loved the characters, the romance and friendships were wonderful. Recommending it as well!
💧 Read my review – Buy the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
THE FIELD GUIDE TO THE NORTH AMERICAN TEENAGER ☂️ This book was a birthday gift and I had such a lovely time reading it. If Norris isn’t your usual main character, I loved how refreshing his voice felt. He’s judgmental and snarky, which might not be for everyone, but I really liked him – and the story as a whole!
💧 Buy the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
LONDON BELONGS TO ME ☂️ This one is more of a new adult/adult read, with the main protagonist being 19 years old, moving to London after college to make her dreams come true. This story made me crave for London and had such a great cast of characters.
💧 Buy the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
Book Discoveries of The Month
NEW CATEGORY in my wrap-ups! I’m so excited to share with you, every month, the books I found out about and added to my TBR. Ready, set… let’s make your TBRs grow!
VIOLET MADE OF THORNS ☂️ I can’t recall how I found out about this upcoming YA fantasy but it has an enemies-to-lovers romance, with a prophet asking to falsely prophesy a Prince’s love story at a ball… honestly this sounds messy and like a lot of fun.
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
FAMILY OF LIARS ☂️ I loved We Were Liars and honestly SCREAMED when I found out about this book. I can’t wait. That’s all.
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
CIRCLING BACK TO YOU ☂️ This sounds like such a fun office romance when two colleagues start to pretend-dating for a family gathering. Here for it!!
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Blackwell’s
TAHIRA IN BLOOM ☂️ I found out about this thanks to Nick’s blog and immediately added it to my TBR. This is an adorable coming of age romance with a fashion designer and a plant nerd and it sounds soft and wonderful okay.
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
Goodreads challenge: 47/60 books
I’ve been behind on my goodreads challenge ever since the year started, and now that there’s only December left to make it… I’m not going to make it. I’m a little sad, but I also know my life has changed – I also don’t understand HOW I read 75 books a year, this one year? – and I can’t read as much as before.
As long as I manage to pick up books I love, guess I’m all good!
I’m kind of really pumped to write this part of my wrap-up today, friends. This hasn’t happened in a while.
If you recall reading my previous wrap-up, you’ve heard about my struggles with writing, committing to it and most of it all, feeling like I made progress.
I found an answer to it all this November: NaNoWriMo.
I kind of randomly decided to participate, with a gentle goal of writing for 20 minutes every day, instead of making the traditional 1 667 word count to write 50 k in a month. I knew I couldn’t aim that high, but I still wanted to try a little something to kickstart my progress.
It worked. I’ve been writing almost every day – with a tiny few exceptions – and I made incredible progress on my second draft. So. I’m kind of proud of myself and kind of proud of the book I’m shaping right now, so… YAY?
November has been a nice month on the blog, as well, the biggest highlight of it all being celebrating my 7 YEARS OF BLOGGING. It feels a little bit like TOO MUCH and where has time gone, I have no idea.
This has been a nice time for me to kind of think about the blog, what has become of it in those past years and where I want it to go, next. I’m not ready to give up on this little platform and, while I have many, many ideas, I also need to really settle in and think, properly, about what I can, what I want to do and what would make me the happiest, too. Oh, and what YOU would like, of course!
By the way, I’m asking for your opinion, if you’d like to take a moment to share it, it would mean the WORLD.
On what’s next… I already have some nice blog post ideas for the last month of the year and, of course, I’ll be brainstorming with all of your answers to my survey, to plan what’s next for 2022.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter! I plan on sharing here first and always, what my plans, new projects and everything will be:
On the blog this month: book reviews
On the blog this month: blogging, books & more
I started the month by sharing a pretty personal writing post, prompted by the results of Pitch Wars early November. It’s been a really hard post to write, but also one of my favorites ever written, too.
On books, I shared some Adult Contemporary Romances I’m excited to read in 2022. I realized I have quite a few of them on my TBR!
My wonderful co-blogger and sister compiled an incredible list of YA Books About Celebrities. There are boys bands, Hollywood Actors, Influencers and more in this list…A little bit of everything for every fan of fame stories!
Back to writing: with November being NaNoWriMo month, I felt inspired to share 10 tips to stay motivated to write your novel. I had a lot of fun writing this blog post so I hope you enjoyed it!
Last, but certainly not least… I celebrated 7 YEARS OF BLOGGING! I decided, for this year’s celebration, to share some of my wins, my failures and some of my goals for the future, too. I’m also hosting an INTL giveaway so… if you want to enter, do so in the post!
As always, I’m reading and replying to each and every single one of your comment, so, if there’s any blog post you’d like me to write next… feel free to let me know!
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I’ve been, once again, taking blog hopping a little bit slowly, but I’m always really happy to share some book blogging love. Here’s my little selection of blog posts I enjoyed reading this month!
- Fanna @ Fanna For Books shared a lovely list of 30 South Asian Books To Read in 2021!
- Gauri @ A Book And A Chai spotlighted some 2022 Debuts she’s excited to read.
- I loved this list of 2021 reads that emotionally wrecked Michelle @ Magical Reads.
- I’m all for a fun Hallmark Holiday Movie, so I loved Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books’s list of Books To Read If You Like These Movies!
- Amber @ The Literary Phoenix talked about the ups and downs of being an introvert in the book community and I juve LOVE this post.
How was your November? Did you find a new favorite read this month? Did you participate in NaNoWriMo?
What do you think of the new category in this wrap-up, my book discoveries? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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I’m really glad you got to spend some time with your family and I hope December/the holidays will be even more relaxing and rejuvenating for you. LOOK AT YOU WRITE ALMOST EVERY DAY! I’m proud of you for working on your second draft!
You already know what I think of your blog. I think it’s brilliant 😉
Thank you so much Kat 🥺🥺🥺
I’m so happy to read your writing update! It sounds like you really hit your personal goals and I’m so proud of you to see that! ❤️😊
Omg there is going to be a prequel of We Were Liars 😱 I guess a reread will be needed so that I can read that when it comes out!
I hope you have the best December!! 💞
Thank you so much!! YES I’m so excited, I can’t wait for this prequel either! I hope you’ll have a lovely month! <3
❤️❤️
I’m sorry you’ve had a bit of a difficult November with your mental health. I hope December gives you the clarity and peace that you need. That’s lovely you got to spend some time with your family and will be able to do so in December too. Spending time with my family after 2 years was really healing for me so I completely get it.
I just got Violet Made of Thorns and I’m really excited to read it. I love reading a good enemies-to-lovers book in a YA fantasy and I hope this will deliver. Ahh and I hope you like Tahira in Bloom.
Happy reading! Just a reminder that you are doing amazing! <3
Thank you, Nick! I’m so happy you got to spend a bit of time with your family as well lately and I hope you won’t have to wait as long to see them the next time. It’s so hard to be away sometimes! <3
I hope that December will treat you kindly, thank you so much for your sweet words <3
This year was my 5th year of doing NaNoWriMo and while my drafts are always a mess and I still don’t really know the plot of my novel despite “sapphic heist story inspired by Getaway Car”, I showed up and write at least 1667 words every single day. I actually went back to check the stats for my previous years and this is the very first time I have written that consistently! So even though this story needs so much more work, I am very proud of myself for putting in the time to write every day!
ah I’m SO happy to hear you’ve been able to write so consistently, that’s amazing! I hope you’ll get to keep some semblance of writing routine now that NaNo is over and continue working on your story 🙂
wow writing almost daily is amazing!!! i’m so happy you could carve out some time to work on your draft <3 and i'm so excited to read violet made of thorns! it sounds amazing and hte cover's gorgeous as well. hope you have a better month in december and can't wait to see all the blogging stuff you'll do in the new year!!!
Thank you so much, May! It hasn’t been easy every day, but I’m glad I did it and can only hope to continue in December. I really want to focus on my writing more 🙂
I hope December will be kind to you! <3
Congratulations on NaNoWriMo, Marie! That’s really exciting to be able to dig in like that and recreate a habit. I admit, that’s something I really struggle with as well and I need to make some changes. 🙂 I’m off to fill out your survey, but I’m glad to hear you’re still planning to stick around. <3
Thank you so, so much Amber! I get it, I tend to struggle with it too, every now and then. I hope that I can maintain some kind of routine with my writing, but… one day or another, it always ends up not working ahah. Thank you! <3
Sorry to hear that things have been tough, I hope December is a lot better for you ❤ I LOVE the new ‘Book Discoveries of The Month’ category, it’s such a lovely idea! 🥰 Violet Made of Thorns sounds really intriguing and that cover is so cool!
I’m so happy to hear that you managed to write every during NaNo and made progress on your draft! 💕
Thank you so much, Caro, so happy you like the new category! I hope December has been kind to you so far <3 <3
I am glad you were able to get out and see your family for a couple days, that’s always nice! 😀 I recently added Tahira In Bloom to my TBR too. It sounds so good. I hope you’re having a great December so far. <3
Thank you so, so much! I hope December has been kind to you so far 🙂
I’m so glad you got some writing done thanks to NaNoWriMo! I hope December is an even better month for you 🙂 My November was pretty good even though it absolutely flew by hehe XD
Thank you so, so much Charvi! I’m so happy your month was good! 🙂
Your new ploy has worked. I’ve added Circling Back to You to my TBR… 😅
Sending lots of love, and I hope that days with the family are exactly what you need. ❤️
AH YAY my job here is done ahah 😀 thank you so, so much <3 I hope December will be kind to you!
i have read another book by ben philippe and i liked it so much! i don’t know if the field guide would be for me, though, i am really *not* a fan of judgmental protagonists, hahah.
i loved the book discoveries of the month section, marie!!!! it’s not doing wonders for my already huge TBR, but it’s a fantastic section nonetheless! circling back to you sounds amazing, and i really need to read more asian romance authors!
i am happy to hear you’ve been writing so much and it’s such a good thing you’ve been able to keep up a daily hobby. i had plans of finishing my WIP this year, but i failed so miserably at it. unfortunately, my internship has taken so much of my energy to act on any of my hobbies and i haven’t written anything for fun in months. i hope it’s something i can pick back up in 2022!
hope you’re having a great december so far & wishing you a lovely holiday season!
Oh well.. I wouldn’t recommend this book, then, the main character is kind of judgmental and that might be annoying to you, aha!
Thank you so, so much Lais, you’re so kind. It’s been so good to write a little more, but it’s not always easy to do so when life gets in the way. I hope you can make some more space for writing again next year! <3
Wishing you a wonderful holiday season as well and take care always! <3
I’m sorry November wasn’t great but I am so glad you got to spend some time with your family! Looks like you had a pretty good reading month, and I am digging the discoveries section you added!
Wishing you and Nyx happy holidays. xoxo
Thank you so, so much Kal! I hope you’re having a lovely holiday season <3
Ahhh, I am SO, SO glad you had such a good writing month in November! Marie, that seriously makes me so happy for you!!! 🖤🖤🖤 Here’s hoping that momentum can continue (or be picked back up) in the new year!
Thank you so, so much, let’s hope so! I hope you are having a lovely holiday season <3
sorry for such a late comment, I’ve been playing catchup since disappearing for about a month! Congrats on getting lots of writing done in the month of november. I hope your mental health is doing better. Sending you lots of love. Hope you had a wonderful holiday, and Happy New Year ! xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Oh Melina thank you so, so much, I hope you’re well and wishing you a wonderful New Year as well!! <3