Tag Archives: wrap up

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December Reading Wrap Up

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Happy New Year! I had a great time reading in December but am now desperately in need of a 5 star, can’t-put-it-down book! I’m hoping this month’s reread of Crescent City 2 does the trick!

❄️ Long Covid Update❄️

In December I started working with a physical therapy program that specializes in chronic fatigue and other Long Covid issues. Exercise with LC is extremely difficult because most people with fatigue symptoms get Post-Exercise Malaise (PEM) – basically you feel worse and can’t do anything else for some time after exercising. And by time, it could be days. So, definitely needed some professional help! It’s going really well overall – some days I feel amazing after PT and others I feel drained – but overall I am learning how to manage my symptoms more so I don’t have extreme energy crashes. I’ve regained a lot of mental clarity and have started to actually make plans and follow through with them! I cannot tell you how much I’ve missed feeling like an adult who can handle adult responsibilities. 

Reading Goals:

❄️ 23 for ‘23: 6 of 4 planned
❄️ PopSugar: 3 of 3 planned (finished the 2023 challenge!)
❄️ ARCs: 6 read, 2 December ARCs missed
❄️ Physical TBR backlist: 6 of 4 
❄️ BOTM: 1 of 1 (finished the 2023 challenge!) (Ok I DNFed it but that counts.)

Key:
😍 Reread
📖 physical/ebook
🎧 Audiobook
📖🎧 = mix of both
📓 ARC / ALC 
🖋 Reviewed on instagram, goodreads, TikTok
📚 Series
If it doesn’t have a 🖋, the review will be coming next month!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📓🖋📚 Undercover Bromance
📖📓🖋📚 Wreck the Halls
📖🎧📓🖋📚 A Lady’s Rules for Ruin 
😍📖🎧📚 House of Earth and Blood
🎧 Long Way Down

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋 The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed
🎧 Amor Actually 
😍📖📚 Lore Olympus Vol. 2
📖📚 Lore Olympus Vol. 3

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📚 The Forest Grimm
📖🎧📚 A Lot Like Adios
📖🎧📓📚 A Merry Little Meet Cute
📖📓📚 Second Duke’s the Charm
🎧📚 A Wallflower Christmas
📖📚 The Captain’s Midwinter Bride 
🎧📚 Tastes Like Shakkar 
🎧 Same Time Next Year 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋📚 Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧📚 Playing the Odds (I read this just to finish the PopSugar Challenge) 

What was your favorite read in December? Do we have any books in common? Do you have any goals for January?

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October Favorites

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This month started very promising – I read 10 books by October 16th. After finishing my 100th book of the year, I lost my momentum with binge reading all day and have only finished two books since then. Which makes it sound like I quit reading, which I haven’t, I’ve just been reading Kingdom of Ash at a reasonable person’s pace of 50 pages a day. Unfortunately that book is almost 1,000 pages long, so at this rate it’ll take me until well into November to finish it.

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Fantasy

Tower of Dawn

Amazon | Bookshop

Tower of Dawn is the second to last book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. If you’re new to Throne of Glass, you’ll want to start with either Assassin’s Blade (novella prequel set) or Throne of Glass (the first book). Right now is a great time to buy if you want the original covers – the new covers come out in February 2023.

Paranormal fiction

Sign Here

Amazon | Bookshop

Sign Here is maybe the best debut novel I’ve read all year. Chapters alternate between Pey – who works for Hell – and the family he is trying to make a deal with. Sign Here is completely different from anything I’ve read all year, and I was riveted until the very end! If you love dark humor, this is for you.

I would check trigger warnings if you have any sensitivities – there are pretty vivid depictions of torture and self harm. There were two pages I barely skimmed and mostly skipped.

For the Bridgerton Fans

A Reckless Match

Amazon | Bookshop

A Reckless Match was my first Kate Bateman book, and I immediately read the second in this series. I would have read the third too, but it doesn’t come out until December!

This series follows rival families the Davies and the Montgomerys (Montgomeries?). No one remembers quite how the rivalry started – was it over a stolen pig or a stolen woman? – but they are committed to continuing the rivalry.

If you like childhood rivals to lovers, you’ll love this one.

Devil in Winter

Amazon | Bookshop

Devil in Winter is the third book in the Wallflowers series, but is everyone’s favorite. If you cannot handle reading books out of order, you can start with the first book – but it’s everyone’s least favorite. I would recommend reading the second – It Happened One Autumn – before Devil in Winter, because it does set this book up nicely.

The Wallflowers series follows four friends – Annabelle, Lillian, Evie, & Daisy – who band together to help fight their wallflower tendencies so that they can get husbands.

All of the books I read in October

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well Met (reread)
The Hating Game (reread)
Pride and Prejudice (reread)
Tower of Dawn
Devil in Winter
The Four Winds

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
It Happened One Autumn

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Reckless Match
A Daring Pursuit
Sign Here
Northanger Abbey