I am absolutely head over heels in love with this song:(There's no mv because it's a b-side.)
And the whole album is what I've been playing non stop for a month now.
And I managed to get tickets to see these guys (TXT) in May! YES!!
WATCHING
I started a really cute, sweet, simple high school kdrama called A Love so Beautiful.
I'm also watching two competition Kpop music shows: Boys Planet and Peak Time. Both are being pretty intense and quite enjoyable to watch. Rooting for everyone to make it, lol! I haven't found any English things to be interested in for awhile now. Suggestions?
READING:
Just finished up The Last Anniversary for book club and have started the second book from The Ember in the Ashes series called A Torch in the Night.
I've also started Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, and my plan is to read just a bit every day and finish it by the end of the year... and vlog the journey. Hopefully someone might be interested in that!
WRITING:
I've been quite a bit of time researching how to send queries. Yeah. This is not easy, this part. Writing the book is a cinch compared to this...
But I now have a list of about 30 to start with. That's something! I don't expect anything to happen, I just want to say I've done it. I've tried. You know?
I started going through every book in my home library. There's currently three parts, all the YA section. Click here for part one to get started! I've posted a bunch of other stuff, so be sure to go take a look!
And that's about all that's been going on around here! I hope you are all doing awesome!
Welcome to my new format for "reviewing" books! I'm just going to do the monthly wrap up and report on my books read then, all in one post with mini reviews. Okay? Okay!
Here's what I read in January:
The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle: I really loved this one about a girl with massive ADHD and a boy on the autistic spectrum. They get together in a pretty funny and then connect through their mutual love for a book called The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise. And they use those quotes in their texts to each other and it's adorable. They both have lots of issues to deal with and it seems like there's no way they can figure out how to be together. It's a really cute and fun story with not your typical characters.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman: This one we read for book club in January. This author is quickly becoming a book club favorite and ends up on our lists quite often these days! It's a fun story narrated by a nearly 8 year old girl as she watches all the crazy things going on in her apartment building. She is also dealing with the death of her grandma... her crazy grandma who has sent in on a sort of treasure hunt after she's gone. And our girl ends up realizing that all the people in the apartment building have a connection. It's awesome just as all his books are, with amazing character development. He can capture people like no else!
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is the book I read from my own stacks this month. A book that has been waiting for me since 2016... because I remember buying it at Powell's bookstore when we were on a trip that year! Anyway, I loved it and it gets to be my first 5 star read of the year! What a story that totally sucks you and keeps you on the edge the whole time! Our girl ends up posing as a sly and spying on the household of the commander of the school that trains soldiers to fight and suppress her people. She needs to get information so she can save her brother from horrendous jail and torture. Our guy is one of these highly trained soldiers and he has just graduated from this school. And he wants to escape. But if he's caught they will kill him. And of course their two desires somehow come together in all the crazy unexpected ways! AHH! It's all so intense! I immediately got book 2 from the library and I hope to fit it in during February.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson: This was a sort of Booktube read along, though I haven't really succeeded in connecting with anyone reading it yet! LOL! It's a great historical fantasy (is that what you call it... magic in the 1800's but not with steampunk sort of devices). Our girl has been raised in a great library with intentions of running that library someday, but an incident happens that sends her off to be questioned by the sorcerers and magic is so very much frowned upon by the librarians. Bad bad stuff. But when she meets a certain sorcerer, she begins to wonder if everything she has been taught is right. Because he... and the demon that gives him his magic... are pretty cool after all. And then after they become friends they have to save the world! Fun stuff, and so beautifully written.
February Plans:
Read The Last Anniversary for bookclub
Read the 2nd Ember in the Ashes book!
Read Siddhartha, or that Leo Tolstoy short story thing for a challenge
Read a king/queen book for the British Forced Phase
This is a popular one through the bookish community. I even found a Facebook group where people give tons of suggestions for all these prompts. So fun to see what people are coming up with!
This is one I've tried in the past, but is quite a difficult one. The thing that makes this one unique is that you have to read something from their various displays in the store. But it's fun to go support the store and find something to buy from these displays. I bought three there the other day.
Orem Library (the local library)
I've taking all the lists and made a huge spreadsheet so I can easily see which prompts are similar from all the lists. I will use the same book across the three different challenges, but not the same book within one challenge, if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm only 4 books into this year, but doing okay making them all work for a challenge!
I'm also still doing the #ReadWhatYouOwnChallenge, trying to read 15 of my own books before I buy any other books. I've had to fudge a bit on this one, but I'm about half way done now. I will be glad to get the 15 books read, and after that I'll continue to read off my own shelf, but without the no buying restriction!
Happy Tuesday everyone! Today the prompt for Top Ten Tuesday (check out all the posts here) is ten new authors that are new to you this year. So let me just look at my list and see who those are:
Axie Oh (XOXO)
Clare Vanderpool (Navigating Early)
Christina Lauren (In a Holidaze)
Emily Henry (People We Meet on Vacation)
Sally Hepworth (The Good Sister)
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
Justina Ireland (Dread Nation)
Mira Grant (Feed)
Nita Prose (The Maid)
Priscilla Oliveras (Island Affair)
There you go! I really enjoyed them all and here's hoping a read some more of their books this year! (I have Emily Henry's on hold...so she might be the first one up!)
The kpop music world is starting strong with a sweet rock song from Monsta X that I've been listening to a lot this week:
But Fall Out Boy had a "comeback" too! (Do you call it a comeback in the nonkpop world? I don't even know anymore!)
WATCHING:
I still haven't finished my latest kdrama watch because another Korean show took over... called Single Inferno. It's a Bachelor type dating show, that is totally different than the Bachelor (at least what I've seen of it.) I was leery going in, but everyone was right, it grabs and you are invested so freaking fast! I was annoyed that no one liked my favorite boy. Whatever. I hope he ended up finding love somewhere else with some real girl, lol. (The girls felt very fake I must say, except one of them who was so different from all the rest of them!)
Our household has also been watching the Harry and Meghan documentary. I've found it to so very interesting and quite sad and depressing too. The crazy lives some people lead, you know what I mean? hope to get to his book someday to read down the road soon too.
We also watched Super Junior's documentary thanks to Jenni and her Hulu! LOL! It was a quick two hour thing that give us a glimpse of how this, my favorite kpop band, came to be and rose to fame and how they have managed to stay together for these almost 20 years now despite some really really painful and hard moments. They are seriously some of the best humans out there.
READING:
I finished My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You I'm Sorry for book club. That was an awesome book and made for a petty good book club discussion. I will say more about it on my monthly review post.
I started An Ember in the Ashes, which is one of my books from my forever TBR that I'm hoping to get through some of this year. Pretty intense and harsh story so far!
WRITING:
I signed up for the annual Storymakers Conference which takes place in May.
I'm hoping to be brave enough to query my 80's story this year!
And the finishing up of the space opera story is slow slow going. I am so bad at this!
BLOGGING:
I've posted my top ten books of 2022, my top ten dramas of 2022, my goals for 2023, I crunched some numbers from 2022, and caught up on reviews with a couple of mini review posts. I think this will be my formant from now one. Anyway, be sure to scroll through and check them all out!
YOUTUBING:
On the KPOP channel I've uploaded a bunch more year end videos, but here I'll share my favorite title tracks of the year. Great songs, yeah?
Trying to get back into the exercise routine still. Some weeks I manage it and others are quite rough. The struggle is real, for sure. I really need to stop eating stuff again too.
MISC:
Trying to think if there's anything else interesting to report on in life. Lots has been going on but nothing that will be too very interesting to most I would imagine. I hope all is going well for you all! I hope the reading is being fun!
These are the books I read in December! Quite a few more than I normally read because I was really trying to make a push and meet that dang Goodreads goal!
And with this post I might be mostly caught up!
Atomic Habits by James Clear: I finally got to this one that pretty much the whole world has been talking about. And yes, I can see what all the fuss is about. It does lay out a plan for getting into good habits in a way that is very clear (ha clear....get it?) and relatable and that makes sense. I would love to implement something into my life, but I will probably just on about things and forget it all! I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads.
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren: This was our for fun Christmas book club read and it was pretty perfect for that directive. Our girl goes on vacation with her family and family friends every year, but this year is different in that it might be the last time they are able to do this. And then something happens, everything starts over, Ground Hog Day style. And she gets a couple of tries to get things right and to help fix the issues that are making everyone so sad. It was heartwarming, romantic and fun. I totally enjoyed it. Three stars on Goodreads.
Secrets of the Looking Glass by J. Scott Savage: This an ARC I got from the publisher and it needed to be read in September when it came out. Gah, ooops! It took me awhile thank you to all of lives distractions and my terrible time getting anything read these days! It's the second in the Lost Wonderland Diaries series, which is a delightful fun sort of retelling (not really, but in that world) of Alice in Wonderland. It's so very clever and funny and full of fun riddles and the like. I feel like kids will enjoy it even more than I did! I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.
Places We've Never Been by Kasie West: I got this one for Christmas and read it in a couple of sittings, because as you know, I love her stories! Another fun YA romance that takes place on a road trip through very familiar places to me. I love that. Our characters are friends, but time has elapsed and things are now on shaking ground. It's fun to see them rekindle things. "Friends, to enemies, to lovers!" I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.
Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool: Another book I'm reading from my shelves that has been waiting forever. This one takes place shortly after WWII about a 13 year old who has been sent to a boarding school and he befriends a strange and interesting kid named Early, who teaches him all sorts of things about life. Together they go on a quest and navigate growing up. It's very heart warming and sweet. It won the Printz honor award. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.
And that brings us to the end of 2022 reading! I think I might just do a monthly wrap up mini review post this year. And see how that goes. And here's hoping I read a TON more this year than last!
