Happy January, friends and happy new year!
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!
December has been… okay, I guess? Nothing new to share here, as I spent my month at work until the 23rd, which has been challenging, at times. I’m happy to share that I’m ending the month and this year with my family, a little break that feels REALLY good!
I hope you all had a wonderful end of the year and wish you all the very best for this new year! And, as always, I hope you’re taking care of yourselves, friends.
🔍 KEEP YOURSELF INFORMED of the world’s current info & donate to important causes if you can, always. Here are some links to find out what’s happening in the world right now and to do your part:
- Get informed,
- Global Issues Awareness,
- Anti-Asian Violences Resources,
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- Help Palestine with these resources : HelpPalestine Carrd, Learn about Palestinian history Help Palestine with a Click & Resources Masterlist
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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up
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December has been an up and down kind of month, reading-wise. While it started VERY high, with some new favorites, it ended on a low note with two disappointing reads.
EXCUSE ME WHILE I UGLY CRY ☂️ Oh I was so surprised, in a great way, by this YA contemporary read! It’s about a list-maker, blackmailed into doing some of her worst fears. It has lovely friendships and romance and I really recommend it!
💧 Read my review – Buy the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
THE ROUGHEST DRAFT ☂️ Well… my favorite author duo did it again. Their adult romance debut is a stunning piece of art, filled with incredible chemistry, tension and a lot of emotions. I loved it so much, it’s a new favorite!
💧 Read my review – Buy on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
SIRI, WHO AM I ☂️ I had high expectations for this one, but ended up being… pretty disappointed.
💧 Buy on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
WONDERLAND ☂️ After loving Clean and Meat Market by the author, I was a bit disappointed by this one, as well. The story was a bit confusing and I had a hard time getting into it. I’m sad.
💧 Buy the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
Book Discoveries of The Month
I’m now sharing in this new category the books I found out about this past month.
SOMEDAY WE’LL FIND IT ☂️ This is an upcoming YA contemporary that sounds emotional and beautiful, said it’s perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson, Robin Benway and Mary H.K. Choi and that’s all I need.
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
THIS NIGHT IS OURS ☂️ Okay so this is a Ronni Davis book that we know NOTHING about and that is published in 2023, but I adored When The Stars Lead To You so much it’s an immediate add to my TBR!
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
THE ATLAS SIX ☂️ Kat made me add this to my TBR and it sounds a bit outside of my usual comfort zone, but also really good? I’m eager to get a copy of it!
💧 Find the book on: Amazon – Book Depository – Blackwell’s
Goodreads challenge: 51/60 books
I failed my goodreads challenge this year. I was aiming for 60 books and only managed to read 51, but well. I’ll aim better next time!
Following the blast that has been November and NaNoWriMo, I had expectations for December with my writing, too. While I didn’t manage to write as much as I did in the past month, I’m still pretty happy that I managed to commit to it a little bit more.
I think that having a NaNoWriMo tracker, that I kept for this month, has helped me a little bit? It feels nice to check a case whenever you’ve been writing and to track your progress this way, too. I should have done that sooner, to keep me a bit more accountable!
I’d say I’m a little more than halfway there on my second draft of my sisters WIP. Hoping to finish it soon, but not giving myself a too tight deadline, because… I dont’ want to stress myself out more than necessary!
December has been a month of reflections for the blog. Thanks to all of your answers on my 7th blogging anniversary survey (thank you SO MUCH!), I started thinking a little bit about the future of this blog, what I want to do and what I’m hoping to do next.
Nothing’s set in stone, at all, but it’s nice to think about making things grow a little bit!
Otherwise, I had a great time writing some blog posts this past month and… I also slacked and missed on some reviewing days, but I guess it’s not that big of a deal. No one even noticed, probably. I spent a lot of time writing the best books we read in 2021 blog posts and I’m stil working on my new resolutions for the new year… coming soon!!
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
My co-blogger and lovely sister Nyx started the month with a great post about 10 themes she’d love to read more in 2022. I love her picks so much!
Since this is the season, I shared some YA books perfect for the winter and Christmas season. While I’m not a fan of December, at all, I do like books that are all cosy and warm and these are perfect!
On blogging, I wrote a piece I’m kind of proud of and that I poured a lot of my heart into: blogging vs. social media. I do think both have their perks, but I wanted to underline how important it is, for me, to have a blog.
On books again, I thought I’d share some excellent YA books to get you out of a reading slump. These are fast-paced, fun, addictive, they’re all amazing and I recommend them SO much!
Finally… since 2021 ended, we shared our 2021 year in books! Our favorite reads, disappointments, favorite characters and more: they’re all in this 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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On instagram
Well well, I didn’t post a whole damn lot in the past month, but I did try my hand at reels again, so check it out!
You can follow my instagram account here!
I’m really happy I managed to blog-hop a little more this past month. Book bloggers are incredible and need to be supported always. Here’s my little selection of posts I enjoyed reading!
Book Blogging
- Malka @ Paper Procrastinators shared some lessons learned after a year as a Bookshop affiliate.
Reading, Book Recommendations & Book Lists
- Caro @ Bookcheshire Cat shared some books about writers.
- Kat @ Life & Other Disasters is back with her reading experiment! Is she a compatible reader with Pedro Pascal? I love this series so much!
- Sophie @ Me and Ink shared an incredible guide to book shopping in the UK!
- Kal @ Reader Voracious shared her 2022 Ultimate Reader Template for this new year.
- Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense has a lovely holiday gift guide with amazing recs!
- I loved May @ Forever and Everly’s post about how their reading and mindset changed this year.
- Nick @ The Infinite Limits of Love shared an INCREDIBLE guide to January – June 2022 Romance Books.
- Kat @ Bookish Blades shared a great list of contemporary books with famous characters!
- I was honored and thrilled to take part in Sabrina and Vera’s post for the holidays, about what book blogging and the community means to me. It’s such a heartwarming post!
Writing
- Nicole @ Thoughts Stained With Ink wrote about processing not writing and it’s such a relatable post for a lot of writers.
How was your December? Did you find a new favorite read this month? Did you succeed with your reading challenges in 2021?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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🥺🥺🥺 thank you for sharing TWO of my posts!!! I love that you’re going to talk about new books you’ve learned about in the past month from here on out. That’s a really neat feature. And yes, I do think The Atlas Six is a little bit out of your comfort zone, but I don’t think it’s too much. We’ve liked the same Fantasy stuff before (e.g. This Savage Song, …) so, you should be fine haha the characters are formidable.
I can’t wait to see what your plans are for the blog and writing and life in 2022. I hope it will be a fantastic year for you and Nyx!! <3
ALWAYS! <3 I can't wait to read The Atlas Six, need to buy a copy but... it's already in my basket hahaha just need to hit the buy button! Thank you so much, Kat, you're the best. <3
Honestly, if you don’t send me constant DM-updates while reading, I’ll be super mad!! (It’s okay if you don’t like it, that’s not the point. I just want to be able to talk about it with someone haha)
You know I WILL bother you 24/7 with it all 😂
THAT’S WHAT I LOVE TO HEAR!
December has been okay for me too. I actually love this month because it’s the time when my family gets together and we celebrate so many celebrations (aside from Christmas and New Year, there are so many birthday celebrations in my family). So, yeah, I was happy last month. Reading-wise, things were good too. But yeah, there were just moments of existential crisis here and there, and that wasn’t fun. 😅😂
I’m so happy to hear you had a lovely December with your family, yay! Existential crisis are never, ever fun ahah I get that. I hope that January has been kind to you so far and wishing you all the very best for this new year!! 🙂
Happy New Year, Marie! I am so glad you got to spend some time with your family and hope you have a wonderful 2022 <3
Thank you so, so much, I wish you all the best for this new year <3
Happy New Year, Marie! 🎊😊
Here’s to a new year of reading and writing and crushing your goals and being less hard on ourselves! 💞
Thank you, Meghan! Here’s to a new, hopefully better year 🙂
🎊💞😊
i’m so happy you loved the roughest draft! i know how much you adore wibbroka’s books so i’m glad you weren’t disappointed <3 and i'm so proud of you for being able to commit a bit more to writing in december! i haven't been writing much but what you said about a tracker makes me think i should definitely make one when i pick it back up again. happy 2022, marie <3 and thank you so much for sharing my post!!
Thank you so much, May! Having a tracker really helped me – well, I failed terribly ever since the year started, but before it was fine 😂 There’s something about opening this notion page and filling out the amount of words I wrote, or just putting a little checkmark on the day that I wrote or just even brainstormed a bit, that makes me feel like I’m making progress. It feels nice! 🙂
Happy new year, love, wishing you ALL the very best <3 <3
I didn’t manage to complete my Goodreads reading challenge this year either, but I’m finding that I’m surprisingly okay with it. I could have rushed and read some graphic novels in the last few days, since I was only 5 books behind, but I made the deliberate choice not to read for the sake of reading, and to just enjoy the last few days of the year without any pressure to read instead!
I’m glad you read two amazing books, but it’s unfortunate that your final two reads of the year were disappointments. I really hope that you start off 2022 with some books that you end up loving!
Thank you so much for mentioning my post! I appreciate you sharing my posts more than you know!
I hope you have a wonderful 2022 and I can’t see what new changes you’ll be bringing to both your blog and the blogging community as a whole in this new year!
Ah that’s fantastic! Too often we feel like we need to rush to get to that goal, but… we lose our love for reading in the process and that’s not good, at all.
Thank you so, so much Malka, looking forward to another blogging year with you, too! 🙂
I really need to get around to reading Juno Dawson’s books this year. Such a bummer about Wonderland though. I’m glad the other two were great at least. I’ve been seeing The Atlas Six around so much lately, may be worth checking out. I hope you have an amazing start to the new year, Marie! <3
I hope you’ll give Juno Dawson’s books a try! While Wonderland ended up being a bit disappointing for me, I loved both Clean and Meat Market SO much!
I hope you’ll have a wonderful start to the year as well, Ashley and wishing you all the best!
Somehow the new year is here and I’m not sure if I’m ready for another year, I do know I’m glad we can sort of have some semblance of separation from last year. I wasn’t really doing any reading challenges last year, I read 9 books loved 8/9 of them so I mean; lowest amount I’ve ever read. However I loved all but 1 so the quality got better, even if I struggled to mentally find space within myself to sit and read. I tended to escape a lot into dramas and Genshin Impact last year instead of books.
Speaking of books though, I swear at some point I fully plan to start devouring the books by your favourite author duo because they look like something I’d love. Sending you so much love and light for this year Marie! 💜
I really hope that this year will be better for you and know that I’m always, always just a message away if you ever need or want to talk, always! <3 Sending you all the love and light for this new year! <3
Happy new year to you as well, Marie! I hope 2022 brings you many good things 💕 I’m very excited to read Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry, it sounds like my kind of book! So happy to hear that you loved it 🥰 Idk if I remember correctly, but doesn’t it also have anxiety rep?
Thank you so much for sharing my post! 💖
Thank you so, so much Caro! I hope you’ll love Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry, I loved it so much! The main character is on the anxious side, but it’s never properly stated that she has anxiety.
Thank you! 🥺
Late in commenting and blog hopping (per usual), but THANK YOU for sharing my post, Marie! You are too kind! I hope that January has been truly kind to you and things are going well. I am sending you all of the positive vibes, good reads, fulfilling writing days and plenty of rest, health and light.
Thank you so, so much Nicole, I wish you all the very best and I hope that January has been very kind to you so far <3 <3