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!

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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

Review

-reread-

5.

Title: Tourner

Author: Jane Washington

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

6.

Title: Sauter

Author: Jane Washington

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Review

-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

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November 2024 Wrap-Up + Book Haul

End of the Year Book Tag: 2024 Edition

Bookish Resolutions for 2025

Most Anticipated Book Releases of 2025

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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! 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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March 2020 Book Haul!

So...I got a lot of books in March. After not purchasing a single book in February (though I did get some for free) the number I bought this month is a bit much...though I do have my reasons. I got 17 books this month, though 8 were preorders or used gift cards, 3 were sent to me by publishers, 2 were for class, and the others were ones that I really wanted to treat myself to. Let's just go ahead and dive right in!

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The first book I got this month was Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. I had preordered this months ago with a gift card so I was eagerly anticipating the date that it would finally arrive. While I don't expect to read this soon, I am beginning my reread of the Infernal Devices so that I can dive into this new book with fresh eyes! Plus, the cover and book itself is just absolutely stunning.

Up next, I have two copies of House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas. One is the regular US hardcover that I picked up from Barnes & Noble on release day and the other was the Waterstones edition with red-stained edges that I picked up while I was in London. I am also getting the special tour edition and another copy with a bookplate, so look forward to those in April!

Then I got the entire Ash Princess trilogy by Laura Sebastian. This was sent to me by the publisher for my participation in the Ember Queen blog tour that was hosted by FFBC (you can find my post here). I was really happy to get copies of this trilogy since I'd only had the ebooks of the first two! I also read this entire trilogy in March and it was quite a great ride!

Up next, while I was in London, I got the entire A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy (minus book 2 since I already had it) in the gorgeous UK paperbacks. This series is getting an entire new set of covers and I knew that I wanted these editions before they went out of print, so while I was visiting London I picked them up.

I also picked up Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout while I was in London. Jennifer is one of my auto-buy authors and I'm slowly trying to collect all of her books. Since she has over 50 published, it's taken me a while to buy them (and I'm still only halfway). This is one of her young-adult standalones and I figured that it's cheaper to buy in the UK so I picked it up when I saw it in Waterstones.

When I got back, I had to buy a couple of books for my classes since I no longer have access to the campus library. These were The Escape by William Wells Brown and The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton. The first one is a play written about escaping slavery while the other is about African-American folktales. I'm taking an African-American Literature class and it's probably my favorite class this semester, so I'm really excited about both of these books.

Up next, I have five books from Barnes & Noble. One of my amazing friends gave me a gift card that she wasn't going to use and I went a little bit crazy? I actually didn't spend over the gift card amount but I did try to get as many books as I could.

First, I picked up the paperback edition of Kingsbane by Claire Legrand, which actually releases April 7. I thought I was preordering it but I guess they sent it early because it arrived with the rest of the books. Anyway, this was one of my favorite books of 2019 and I am so excited for the final book to be releasing later this year. This book absolutely wrecked me and I cannot wait to reread it. The paperback is also a lot simpler than the hardcover and it's just so pretty.

I also got the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy in the US paperbacks (minus book 2 since I already had it). Again, as with the UK paperbacks, I picked these up because I wanted them for my collection. Since the series is getting new covers, I also knew I wanted to get them before the new covers released so that I wouldn't run into the challenge of trying to find out of print books (because I hate that).

The last book I got from Barnes & Noble was She's With Me by Jessica Cunsolo. This was originally published on Wattpad and was my favorite story on there, so when I found out that it was being traditionally published by Wattpad Books, I was so excited. I finally got my hands on a copy and I ended up reading it the same day that it got delivered! I also just want to reread it immediately!

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So those are all of the books I got in March. I definitely didn't expect to get that many and I am setting a goal to myself of not purchasing a single book in April (though books that I previously purchased that are on their way don't count). It will be tough since I have more time to read and I find that my urge to buy books goes up whenever I'm reading more, but I am trying to be strong and not spend money because of this whole pandemic situation. Either way, I do know that I'll be getting some books from publishers this month, so I'll see you in the next haul!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Let's Talk: "Lord of Shadows" by Cassandra Clare

Title: Lord of Shadows

Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: "The Dark Artifices" #2
Genre: YA Fantasy

Page Length: 699 pages

Publication Date: May 23, 2017
Date Started: January 11, 2019
Date Finished: January 19, 2019
Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

*The first part of this review will be non-spoiler for both Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows. After that, I will place a warning before I move into the non-spoiler review of Lord of Shadows that may contain spoilers for the first book*

*This review has been updated...the more I think back on this book, it was really a 3 star read and I was disappointed in a lot of it. I thought most of this book was slow and unnecessary, but I don't really wanna talk much more about it at this stage.*

ORIGINAL REVIEW...

DAMN

Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can get into talking about how good this book was. I enjoyed this book. I think my favorite thing about it wasn't the plot but the characters. For me, it doesn't matter how good a plot is if I can't connect with the characters. And I loved following the characters in this book!

Lady Midnight, for me, was and still is the best book I've read by Cassandra Clare. Despite it being only about 10 pages less than this one, I flew through it and read it in two days. I couldn't put it down and there was never a dull moment. But Lord of Shadows wasn't the same.

Despite how much I liked the characters and how much I cried, the fact of the matter is that there were a lot of times during this book that I was bored, thought the story was moving slow, or just wanted to be done. I don't think this book was as good as Lady Midnight but I am still loving how much of the character development we got to see.

*Possible Lady Midnight spoilers from here on*

One thing that I think hurt my reading experience was the fact that the perspective shifts so much. I'm completely fine with multiple POV books, and I quite enjoy reading them, but this was a bit much. What I'm talking specifically about was the fact that there were chapters where, in a single chapter, the perspective would shift back and forth every few pages. And it wasn't a shift between characters in the same scene, the whole scene perspective would shift. One second we'd be in one place with a set of characters and the next page we'd be miles and miles away with a different set of characters. I think the reason for this is to keep the reading wanting more because the perspective would shift after a "oh crap" moment. I just think that shifting the perspective 6 times in a single chapter was a bit much.

I can't really pick a favorite set of characters to read from, but I think it would probably be Kit, Ty, and Livvy. I just loved their adventures and they're all so smol and pure yet fierce and protective. I cannot wait to see more of these characters in the next one.

Another thing I absolutely loved was that, like Lady Midnight, there were cameos from TMI characters. I loved seeing that because it just ties the stories together well and gives us a glimpse at how those characters are doing after that series.

Overall, I'm a little scared for the next book. This one ended on a serious crap show (omg that ending) and I have no idea how the next book is going to go. Hopefully it ends with all my favorite characters happy, healthy, and living happily ever after.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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December 2018 Wrap-Up!

Wow, last wrap-up of 2018. This year flew by and I can only imagine that the same will be true for 2019. This was my best reading month of the year: I read SIXTEEN books in December! Or rather, I finished sixteen. In terms of what I read, some of it was for school but a lot of it was books I chose on my own. Most of the ones I chose for myself I ended up really enjoying or even loving. I also had to edit my favorite books of 2018 list TWICE due to books I read toward the end of this month. On top of that, I was pretty good with posting on my blog and I also watched quite a few TV shows and movies. This could be attributed to winter break, but I also had finals until the 21st so I didn't have that much of winter break in December as most of it will be in January. Anyway, we have a lot to talk about so, without further ado, here is my wrap-up for December 2018.

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BOOKS READ

1. 

Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Author: Unknown  

Rating: 3 // 5 stars

It was pretty good, I guess. I enjoyed it a lot more than all the other books we've been reading recently in my lit class, but it wasn't amazing or anything. There was a plot twist I didn't see coming but overall, I quite enjoyed this compared to others we've read in this class. Most of the time, though, I couldn't stop thinking about the TV show Merlin. 

2.
Title: Her Three Rangers
Author: Roma James
Rating: 2 // 5 stars

It was alright, but not great. I think for me what lacked was how fast it moved inside of a such a short story. While I'm sure there were scenes of the characters getting to know each other and it's possible to develop a relationship in this amount of time, we didn't get to see the relationships develop really at all. It seemed very insta-lovey to me and a bit one dimensional. The steamy scenes also weren't that great, if I'm being honest. They were short and lacked...steaminess. I did enjoy the story and read it in one sitting, but I wish it had been longer and more developed.

3.
Title: Jackaby
Author: William Ritter
Rating: 3.5 // 5 stars
Review

4.
Title: Strength 
Author: Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review

Rereading this book was as much fun the second time around as the first. Let me just tell you, this book is such a great addition to the series and I made me fall in love with these characters even more. Willa is my spirit animal and reading this was a godsend during finals week because I was laughing out loud and getting de-stressed while reading this. I'm beyond excited to see how the final two installments of this series go.

5.
Title: Neutral
Author: Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Review

6.
Title: The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume 1, 9th edition
Edited by: Martin Puchner (et al)
Rating: 3 // 5 stars

I read most of this anthology (over 3/4 of it, so I'm counting it towards my challenge) for class and it was alright. Some stories were pretty interesting and others were the most boring stories I'd ever read. Of course, I was being forced to read this for my class so that could have impacted my reading experience. Over all, you can't really rate an anthology well when there's so many stories in it because each story leaves a different impression with the reader, hence why I decided to go with a neutral rating. 

7.
Title: Social Psychology: 10th Edition
Authors: Aronson, Wilson, & Sommers
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

I read this book over the course of a semester for my Social Psychology class and I felt that it was quite informative and added a lot to my learning experience. Over all, what I learned from this class and this book will stay with me long after my final exams are over and I know I'll use this new knowledge when approaching many different situations in my everyday life.

8.
Title: Pain
Authors: Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review

9.
Title: Forged Decisions
Author: Katherine McIntyre
Rating: 3.5 // 5 stars
Review

10.
Title: One Apocalypse
Author: Kristy Cunning
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

I thought this was a pretty good resolution to the story. It didn't happen exactly like I wanted it to, but what I wanted was also less realistic within the parameters of the stories and characters. I also definitely liked it a lot more than the third book. This one was easier to follow and the plot was well-executed. Also, the smut was on par and I really enjoyed it. I just wish it had been slightly longer so I could have had more of these characters.

11. 

Title: Truthwitch

Author: Susan Dennard

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Review

12.

Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight 
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review

Rereading this book was so fun at the holiday season. I knew from when I first read this book back in May that I wanted to reread it at the holidays. Since this book largely revolves around Solstice-Time and there are a lot of festivities in this novella, I had such a fun time reading it while having my own Christmas celebrations. Plus, just revisiting these characters was like going home.

13.
Title: One Hundred Breaths Later
Author: Hayley Stumbo
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Review

Rereading this was fun and I was instantly sucked back into Hayley's strong poetry. I connected with a lot of these poems and I found that a lot of them were even more powerful the third time around than when I first read them! 

14. 

Title: Lady Midnight
Author: Cassandra Clare
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review

Rereading this book was definitely an experience. It's been so long since I read this book for the first time (two and a half years) that I didn't remember most of what happened. Sure, I remembered the ending and a few events but, overall, this was like reading a new book that you already know what happens. It was fun and, oh gosh, I love the Blackthorns so freaking much. And Emma...oh my god. I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book, though I've been told that it will break my heart.

15.
Title: The Darkness We Crave
Author: Katie May
Rating: 3.5 // 5 stars

This book was hilarious and fast paced and also a bit heartbreaking. Quite a bit happens in this book but I also felt as if it happened so fast that I finished it almost as soon as I started it. I  really enjoyed the main character. She's hilarious and has no filter yet is pretty freaking strong to survive all of the shit that comes her way. I'm definitely super excited to see how she and the others progress in the next book. I also think it's great to see the end of the world actually happening, versus all of the post-apocalyptic books that we get where we're just told the world as we know it is over. I'm interested in seeing how that plays a role in how the character relationships develop in the next book. Overall, a fun book but trigger warnings for gore/murder, abuse, self-harm, etc.

16.
Title: Internment
Author: Samira Ahmed
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review

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POSTS

November 2018 Wrap-Up!

November 2018 Book Haul!

Top 5 Wednesday: Book Wish List

Let's Talk: "Neutral" by Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington

Most Anticipated Releases of 2019!

Let's Talk: "Forged Decisions" by Katherine McIntyre

Unboxing: Fairyloot's "Dragons"

'Tis the Season Book Tag

Top 5 Wednesday: Books I Didn't Get to in 2018
Everything You Need to Know About "The Gilded Wolves" by Roshani Chokshi
Let's Talk: "Truthwitch" by Susan Dennard
Book Series I Finished Reading in 2018
Bookish Goals for 2019! 

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TV/MOVIES

I finished season 2 of Covert Affairs and ended up binging season 3 pretty quickly after that. I'm currently working through season 4 and things have definitely gotten intense.

I also finished watching season 2 of Big Time Rush. One of my friends and I have been watching this show together and it's been so fun. Sadly, she's studying abroad next semester but I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Then my friends and I watched The Holiday Calendar, a new Christmas movie on Netflix. It was super cute and definitely helped get me in the holiday mood.

When I was procrastinating, I decided to start watching Shadowhunters and I finished the first season. I'm also currently working on the second but have prioritized this break for reading, not TV. I'm enjoying it as long as I keep my idea of the show separate of how the books actually go.

The first movie my family and I watched when I got home from break was Office Christmas Party, a hilarious comedy about an out-of-control Christmas party at a business. It was so funny and I think it was definitely an interesting spin on traditional holiday movies.

Then we watched The Spy Who Dumped Me and holy shit you guys, this movie was hilarious. I was dying pretty much the entire movie and I am definitely going to watch it again. From the first time I saw the trailer, I knew I was going to love this movie and it didn't disappoint.

Lastly, I watched Blockers, which was pretty funny but not as much as The Spy. I can only say that it had it's super memorable moments and I would definitely be pissed if my parents pulled what the parents in this movie did.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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You can follow my bookstagram here. A brand new giveaway will be posted soon!

To get more awesome content like this post, click the follow button to the right! 

I am a "BookishTextDesign" Influencer! Use my code LAUREN10 for a discount off your bookmark purchases! Check out the shop here

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link

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