Category: discussion

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Hey everyone! I hope you all are staying safe wherever you are. I know many people are not able to gather with friends or family this Thanksgiving and that’s definitely hard. Whatever you are able to do I hope that you stay safe and are able to at least connect with those you love.

Whatever you end up doing, please stay safe. I know 2020 has been a pretty bad year for most people, what with it never giving us a moment to breathe – but I am hopeful that 2021 will see things improving. I have some exciting plans coming up that I hope to share with you all soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Discussion | TBRs and Wrap Ups

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I don’t know if you all noticed, but the last few months I haven’t really been doing TBRs or wrap ups. This hasn’t been because I didn’t want to, but my reading has been so all over the place this year that I consciously decided to take a break from doing them so I wouldn’t get upset with myself when I recapped what I did and didn’t read and how may plans failed.

I don’t need to tell you all what 2020 has been like, you all know. On top of being the year of the dumpster fire, my workload at my day job went up dramatically – and while I have been able to handle it, there has been effect on my mental health. This year has been a lot of lost focus, hard time concentrating, etc. So reading everything I want to read has been hard. My main focus for a couple months were simply to get review books done – and I did enjoy most of what I was reading, but I would have liked to work on some of my existing TBR too.

The last time I did a monthly wrap up here, I was super disappointed and upset with myself for not having read more – and honestly I didn’t want to experience that every month, so I stopped doing wrap ups for the time being. The same thing with TBRs, I didn’t want to specify which books I wanted to pick up – and then not be able to get to any of them.

So where does this leave us? Well, the last couple months have actually been better! In October I let myself mood read a bit and was super excited that I got 5 print books off my TBR and read a total of 23 books in the month.

I’m probably not going to do TBRs or wrap ups for the rest of the year to be honest, just for my own mental health – but I do plan on starting them back up in 2021!

In the meantime if you want to check out what I’m reading and working on, be sure to follow me (or add me as a friend) on Goodreads!

Happy reading and stay safe! 😀

Discussion | Reading Atmosphere

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We all have our ideal reading atmosphere’s, dedicated areas or spaces that we prefer to read in. We may have a favorite chair, pillow, favorite drinks and snacks and more. I even have preferred sounds I like to listen to when I’m really in the reading zone.

Now, sometimes I don’t listen to anything, but if I am really wanting to get lost in reading then I definitely put in some earbuds and turn something on. One of my favorite things to listen to are ASMR rooms. I’m not one for traditional ASMR sounds but nature sounds, soft music etc is something I enjoy.

I also really like just general ambient sound, with my favorites being either the ocean or rain sounds – they are definitely sounds that are soothing to me so they allow me to immerse myself.

The other thing I turn to, depending on my mood, is music. Sometimes if I know of an artist that fits the mood of the book I’m reading, or a playlist that really lends to the vibe then I will listen away.

What do you guys listen to when reading? Do you prefer silence, or do you like music/sounds like I do?

Happy reading!

Writing Update | 9/8

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I figured while 2020 is trying to fill out its bingo board I would talk about something that could serve as a distraction. You know, something to take my mind off things while I hide in my blanket fort.

Writing is actually progressing well! Granted, it’s likely because of the escapism of it all, but I’ve working on an existing as well as started blocking out a new idea that came to me.

I am cautiously optimistic (and getting more optimistic) about NaNoWriMo in November. I would feel even better if 2020 would just take a little break and stop stressing me out.

How’s everyone else’s writing coming?

Happy writing!

Highly Anticipated Releases | Anthologies

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Anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things to read are short story collections/anthologies. Now, I already have a pile on my TBR that I need to read, but that doesn’t stop me from hearing about upcoming ones and immediately wanting them – so I thought I would share a few of the ones I’m really excited about.

Come On In: 15 Stories about Immigration and Finding Home – From some of the most exciting bestselling and up-and-coming YA authors writing today…journey from Ecuador to New York City and Argentina to Utah…from Australia to Harlem and India to New Jersey…from Fiji, America, Mexico and more… Come On In.

With characters who face random traffic stops, TSA detention, customs anxiety, and the daunting and inspiring journey to new lands…who camp with their extended families, dance at weddings, keep diaries, teach ESL…who give up their rooms for displaced family, decide their own answer to the question “where are you from?” and so much more… Come On In illuminates fifteen of the myriad facets of the immigrant experience, from authors who have been shaped by the journeys they and their families have taken from home—and to find home.

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite – In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.

Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.

A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology – In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.

AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Jenni Balch, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, V. E. Schwab, Tara Sim and Nic Stone.

Are any of these on your radar? What are you looking forward to?

Happy reading!

Reading and Writing Plans | September

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I don’t know how it happened, but it’s already September! August was a better reading month for me, so I’m hoping that trend continues.

I definitely am still clearing my half read books, though I got really excited with how much I cleaned up my ‘currently reading’ shelf on Goodreads, but I have a stack that wasn’t listed on Goodreads – so those are next. Beyond that getting caught up on review books is always a priority and I have some great blog tours coming this month.

As for writing, it’s actually been going pretty well. It seems that maybe, just maybe, my muse has returned. Hopefully it will stay through November so I can crush NaNoWriMo this year.

Fingers crossed!

Friday Roundup | Bookish Merch

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I’m going to try something new occasionally, hopefully on Friday’s where I’ve decided I want to feature shops and such that make bookish merch. These may be shops I’ve shopped with myself and enjoyed, things other people have suggested to me or even just shops I found where I fell in love with their items and am waiting to order from them when I have a little extra money. So let’s get into the ones I wanted to talk about today!

NekoJinny – This shop doesn’t have a ton of items right now, but what they have I immediately fell in love with. I kind of want all of their stickers, bookmarks and prints. They are definitely going on my watch list.

CPickeringCo – My mom makes me book sleeves, so I haven’t really had a need to buy any but when I found this shop I was definitely in love with some of the colorful prints they carry and their bookmarks are really cute too!

dreamyandco – Not only does this shop have bookish pins, magnetic bookmarks, art prints and more – they have their own box that they send out!

PeanutButterTaco – This shop was recommended to me in one of the bookish groups I’m in and I’ve got to say – I want to buy so many of their bookish stickers and planner stickers in general!

Last but not least I want to give a shout out to Mir over at FangirlPixieJar, who so wonderfully created my banner for the blog. The shop is currently taking a break, but make sure to show some love when the shop opens back up!

Do you have any favorite shops that you purchase bookish merch from? Share some of your favorites with me in the comments!

Writing Update | 8/23

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So the last time I really mentioned my writing was near the end of July, where I hadn’t had the best round of Camp NaNoWrimo but I was optimistic about perhaps getting out of the funk I’ve been in.

I can happily say that in the last couple weeks I got inspired to work on a certain story, one that was already in progress. In the last week I’ve managed to add 5700 words and finally feel like I’m getting back in the groove. It’s all very rough because I’m just letting if flow, but it feels very good to be writing again.

I haven’t decided yet if NaNoWriMo this year will be a completely new project, or if I will simply work on something that is existing. We’ll see what ideas the muse has in store for me when November comes.

Anyone else planning on doing NaNoWriMo this year? What are your writing plans?

Happy writing!

Weekend Reading Plans

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So where I am it’s already around 3 p.m. in the afternoon on Saturday, but I still thought I would discuss my reading plans for the weekend. I’ve got a lot of ARCs to read and it is ARC August so I’m hoping to make good progress. Since this weekend is projected to be some of the hottest days of the year in my neck of the woods, camping on the couch with a stack of books near the AC is not a bad thing to do.

I’m in the middle of a few different books, so those are definitely top priority on my list. I would really like to tackle my review books because there are so many books I have wanted to request, but haven’t allowed myself to because I want to get more caught up, so the weekends of August will hopefully be devoted to those books (as well as others in my half finished pile).

With that said, wish me luck and it things do well I’ll do an update post to catch up tomorrow evening (fingers crossed)!

Happy reading!

Two Year Blogiversary!

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I was debating what I wanted to post today, and going back and forth a bit – but then WordPress notified me that today is actually my Two year blogiversary!

When I first created this blog two years ago, I was trying to get the courage to actually do this thing. I had a lot of self doubt regarding if anyone would read or value my content and that almost made me stop before I even began. What kept me going was wanting to be a part of this community, wanting to share my thoughts and make new friends who I knew I had something in common with.

The first year didn’t see much in the way of posting, I was still very unsure if I could do it and if anything I said would be valuable. Last October I decided I would participate in Book Blogtober and post every single day of the month – and I haven’t stopped posting since. I’ve made it my goal to post at least once every single day and I’m so glad I did.

So here’s where you come in – what would you like to see on the blog going forward? Do you want more reviews, more tags, more writing content? Let me know!

Thank you all for coming on this ride with me. Here’s to two years and hopefully many more!