Showing posts with label december. Show all posts
Showing posts with label december. Show all posts

Thursday, January 2, 2025

December 2024 Wrap-Up

The final monthly wrap-up for 2024...what a year. I'll get into a yearly wrap-up later but, for now, I want to focus in on December. In terms of reading, I had a fairly good month. I enjoyed or outright loved everything that I read. I only hauled four books in the month of December too, which is keeping in line with my goals regarding book buying and consumption. So, without further ado, let's dive into December!


1.
Title: The Book of Azrael  
Author: Amber V. Nicole
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Review TK

2. 
Title: The Teller of Small Fortunes
Author: Julie Leong
Rating: 

3. 
Title: A Pack for Winter
Author: Eliana Lee
Rating: 5 // 5 stars

4. 
Title: Plier
Author: Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
-reread-

5.
Title: Tourner
Author: Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
-reread-

6.
Title: Sauter
Author: Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
-reread-

7.
Title: Relever
Author: Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review TK

8. 
Title: Glisser
Author: Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review TK

9. 
Title: Bloody, Slutty & Pathetic 
Author: WhatMurdah
*fanfic*

10. 
Title: Sugar & Spice
Author: InLoveWithForever
*fanfic*

11. 
Title: Lights Out
Author: Navessa Allen




I hauled four books this month and I'm pretty happy with that number. One was a gift and one was something I paid for over a year ago so I'd say the finances were pretty happy in that regard (though we'll not mention the other expenses surrounding Christmas). I do anticipate my January book haul to be significantly larger, though. 

The first book I got in December was The Dawn of the Cursed Queen by Amber V. Nicole. Either she or her publisher(?) was running a thing where you could get a stamped copy of the book if you paid the shipping since they had lots of extra stock. I signed up and ended up getting one! This is the third book in the Gods & Monsters series, which I just read the first book of in December. I love a big floppy paperback and this series looks to have some of the best. 

Then I picked up Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood. I read this book earlier in 2024 and absolutely adored it. It was so addicting and, honestly, one of my favorite Ali books that I've read. I read it from the library so I didn't have my own copy. When I saw a sale at the beginning of December I knew I couldn't pass up the chance to get it. I love seeing on my shelf next to Ali's other books as they're all so cute with their colors. 

We then got the second shipment from the Seasons of Shadowhunters Kickstarter that Cassandra Clare hosted last year. Though we were theoretically supposed to get them all in 2024, I don't mind waiting longer than initially expected for all the books. They're beautiful books and I am just glad to be able to add them to my Shadowhunters collection. This shipment was for An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of the Downworld, which is a companion book to all the Shadowhunters books. I had been meaning to get a copy for years so I'm thrilled to have such a gorgeous edition on my shelves. 

Lastly, one of my friends got me Jumper by Steven Gould. She said this is one of her favorite books so she gifted me and another friend a copy each for Christmas. I don't know much about it other than it's a sci-fi from 1992 that she loves. I'm hoping to give it a read through very soon so I can discuss it with her! I'm just touched that she got me a copy of her favorite book. 

That's it for my 2024 hauls. January is going to be quite a bit bigger as I've got an exciting book splurge coming. Every year, I set aside $1 for every book I read and then take the money I accumulated and spend it guilt-free on books. It really helps me control my book buying throughout the year knowing I have this big haul to look forward to. I have $133 to spend towards it and I'm so excited to pick those up in January. Stay tuned for that large haul! 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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Friday, January 5, 2024

December 2023 Book Haul


Last month, last book haul of 2023! December was a rather small month for book buying and I'm quite proud of that. One of my goals that I'm continuing from 2023 into 2024 is to keep buying less and less books as I go. I'm being very intentional with my purchasing nowadays and that means that, while this haul is small, I'm really excited about what I have. I only got four books this month and one was a gift. Let's go ahead and dive in!  



Up first is Heartstopper, Volume 5 by Alice Oseman. I absolutely love Heartstopper and this was such a beautiful volume in the series (yes I've already read it). These characters are so precious and this was such a fun installment after the quite serious topics of the last volume. I'm so eager to see volumes four and five come to life on the tv show (and I think Alice said both would be in the next season). This is a series that I know is going to be so foundational for a lot of kids and teenagers as they grow up and discover themselves and I'm just so glad that it exists. 

Then I splurged a bit and got the Stardew Valley Guidebook during a Black Friday sale. I recently started to finally play Stardew Valley and I knew I wanted this guidebook when that happened. I held off on purchasing it until I knew I was going to like the game and, well, I love the game. I use this guidebook nonstop while I play (even after putting over 100 hours into the game I still look at the guidebook daily). It's so beautiful and so informational and such a good resource. 

I then got Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat for Christmas. This cookbook has been on my radar for a while now but I officially put it on my wishlist at the beginning of 2023. I intended on buying it for myself many times during the year but never ended up clicking "Buy." When it showed up for Christmas I got so excited. I love cooking but I'm also very new to it. I can follow a recipe well but when it comes to making my own meals without guidance I'm still a newbie. I've heard this is a quintessential resource for learning the basics and I'm eager to dive into it in 2024. 

Lastly, I picked up Murdle: Volume 1 by G.T. Karber. This is a murder mystery logic puzzle book and I'm obsessed with it! Murdle is a daily game you can play online for free but I knew I wanted this book after I blew through the daily puzzles and was desperate for more. There's 100 puzzles in this first book and I've already gotten through 53 of them (only three days later at the time of writing). They're just so fun and I love a good logic puzzle. I can see why it's been so popular lately and I anticipate that I'll soon be getting the other volumes and blasting through those too. 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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Monday, January 1, 2024

December 2023 Wrap-Up


And with that, the final reading month of 2023 has come to an end. I'm not going to sit and think too hard about 2023 but I will say that I had a pretty good reading year and that continued right into this last month of the year. I'm already excited about all the books I want to get to in 2024 and I'm hoping it will be just as good of a reading year, and a better overall year outside of reading. 

In December, I read nine books. I thought I was going to read more but some of these books were quite long (over 700 pages) and I also started playing Stardew Valley. I put around 115 hours onto Stardew Valley this month which is insane and the main reason why I didn't read more. However, I'm pretty happy with my reading month and I have been really enjoying SV so I can't complain. Let's go ahead and dive in!


1. 
Title: Sauter
Author: Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars

2. 
Title: Ensnared
Author: Rebecca Quinn
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Review TK

3. 
Title: Freefall (from the Silk Anthology)
Author: Rebecca Quinn

4. 
Title: Kingdom of Ash
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
-reread-

5. 
Title: Across Dark Seas
Author: Clare Sager
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Series Review TK

6. 
Title: Beneath Black Sails
Author: Clare Sager
Rating: 4.25 // 5 stars
Series Review TK

7. 
Title: Entangled
Author: Rebecca Quinn
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Review TK

8. 
Title: Heartstopper, Volume 5
Author: Alice Oseman
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review TK

9. 
Title:  A Court This Cruel and Lovely
Author: Stacia Stark
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Review TK




January is going to be a busy month and it's leading up to one of my most anticipated releases of the last few years (House of Flame and Shadow), so I'm hoping to do an in-depth reread before it comes out. I already reread Throne of Glass in the last couple months of 2023 so this month is mainly for ACOTAR and Crescent City. Any other books are mainly a guideline, though I think I'll be able to get through these pretty easily...

1. [New Release Redacted under St. Martin's Press marketing boycott]
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
3. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
4. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
5. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
6. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
7. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
8. House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
9. A Kingdom this Cursed and Empty by Stacia Stark (current read) 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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Friday, April 14, 2023

Unboxing: Fairyloot's "Come One, Come All" (December 2022)


Another month, another Fairyloot box to share with you all. This is the last box I have to unbox from 2022 and we ended the year on a good one. Before I get into the unboxing for this month, I'm just incredibly excited to see what 2023 holds for Fairyloot. If the boxes continue being as well put together, it's definitely going to be a good year. 



The first item in this month's box was a face towel designed by @blanca.design and inspired by The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I've not yet read this one but it is on my TBR and I've heard nothing but good things about it. I also think the design is neutral enough to use the towel without needing to have read it first. I'm not sure how practical it is for me, though, as I'm pretty particular about my face towels. It might get used for something else, though. 

The next item was a set of carousel bookends designed by @jezhawk. These are fandom neutral and just themed after circuses and magic and whatnot. It's a gorgeous design and these one currently look like they'll hold up a bit straighter than the previous bookends I got from Fairyloot. I'll definitely find a use for these once we move and I'm looking forward to finding them a home. 

The next item was a book sleeve designed by @kimcarlika_art and inspired by Caraval by Stephanie Garber. This is another great quality book sleeve from Fairyloot and I really enjoy the design. If I'm being honest, I much prefer designs like this where it's more of a pattern than a character fan art. I'll definitely be happy to add this to my book sleeve collection. 

The last item was the next two installments in the collectible foiled mythology bookmarks designed by @gracezhuart. These two feature Aphrodite and Ares from Greek mythology. They're absolutely stunning and I'm so excited to add them to the bookmark set. I've been really enjoying collecting these as they're quite beautiful. Plus, this set of bookmarks are so soft to the touch that it's great to just hold them honestly.

The tarot cards for this month were themed after Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan and designed by @arz28. We have Lei as The Sun card and Wren as The Moon card. Once again, these are absolutely stunning. I've not yet read this series but I do own all the books and plan on (hopefully) binging them this year. We're almost at a year of this new deck as well which is quite exciting. 

The book for this month was Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston. This edition has an exclusively redesigned cover, digital sprayed edges (that are stunning), artwork on the endpages and foil on the cover designed by @kirisy_art, and is signed by the author. The character art on the back of the author letter was also designed by @kirisy_art. This edition is absolutely stunning and I am pretty excited about another standalone. Part of why I've struggled reading series lately is because of the time commitment so I'm hoping to embrace some more standalones in 2023. Hopefully, I'll soon have a shelf for just beautifully designed standalones. 






Overall, this box was well done. I like all of the items and I think I'll use all except the towel. I'm also quite excited to get into this book (hopefully) this year. Is it my favorite box I've ever gotten? No. But I still think it's a good amount for the money I spent. I'm intrigued by January's announcement so we'll see how that one turns out. I also think I'm enjoying the YA subscription more than the Adult one for now. 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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