Life Update: And then BAM, 2021 is almost over!!1!
Sunday, December 12, 2021 • life, life update
Yikes. Hello there. I've only been MIA for, what? Almost 8 months? π Things happened, what can I say?!?
I'm really overwhelmed about going through ALL of the happenings in my life since late April, so let's do some highlights! Cool? Cool.
Our window view in Hawaii |
Rowan at the beach in HI |
π How has your week been? Are you even still here? Hello? Bueller?
Watch List: April 2021
Thursday, April 29, 2021 • watch list
Let me start off with saying that I LOOOOVE watching tv shows, I really do! Let me follow that up with: I don't have a lot of spare time to watch the shows that I want to watch! Between parenting, reading, blogging, exercising, and doing my side-photography gig... that doesn't leave a lot of extra room. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to sleep. (But oh, how I love to sleep. π΄)
Nevertheless, I still love talking TV and what I've been watching, so here's my (small) list of shows I watched in April!
April: What I Watched
A Teacher | Cruel Summer |
---|---|
I binged this 8-episode series on Hulu, and mosly because of Nick Robinson, not gonna lie. But Kate Mara was really good too! It was a heartbreaking and disturbing thing that I feel happens way too often in the real world, where teachers have intimate relations with their underage students. | Another Hulu show, except I can't binge it because it comes out one episode per week!! π I'M IMPATIENT. Anyway, this is a delicious mystery about a girl basically taking over another girl's life, and it's creepy and I wanna know more! Currently 2 episodes in. |
Shadow and Bone | The Masked Singer |
---|---|
Only 3 episodes in, but... IT'S HERE!!! I've been super excited about the Grisha trilogy coming to the small screen, and even though I haven't read Six of Crows yet, I've been thrilled to learn about Kaz, Inej, and Jesper, who I've heard such amazing things about. I can't wait to watch more this weekend! | Last month, my boyfriend and I started watching The Masked Singer together because it's such a fun show to guess who the singing celebs are underneath the mask. I've been watching season 5, but we've also been making our way through the old seasons, just 'cuz we didn't want to watch just one episode per week. π |
Tell me, how does one read at least one book a week and keep up with TV shows and work a 40-hr job with a side hustle and be a parent and practice self-care and exercise and sleep 7-8 hours per night? Would love to learn your tips and tricks, if you have any!
π What are some of your favorite shows to watch?
Most Anticipated Books of May 2021 & the Books I Got in April!
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 • books, most anticipated, stacking the shelves
Hey y'all, May is right around the corner!!! What?!? Why don't you grab a cup of your favorite drink, maybe a comfy blankie, and just prepare yourself to add all of these titles to your TBR? Because let's be honest, you probably will. (I did.)
So, I'm excited for May. Next week, it's my co-teacher's birthday and it's Teacher Appreciation Week! I can't wait to show my new co-teacher appreciation (we've only been working together for about 5 weeks, but I LOVE her), and also to receive it! π€£ ALSO, it's my birthday month, as well. π I'm looking forward to a 3-day stay-cation I've taken off for myself to do whatever the heck I want. Maybe nap? Maybe read? Maybe day-drink? Who knows!
covers take you to goodreads.Coming Out in May 2021
Realm Breaker (Realm Breaker #1) Victoria Aveyard |
10 Truths and a Dare Ashley Elston |
The Summer of Broken Rules K.L. Walther |
May 4, 2021 | May 4, 2021 | May 4, 2021 |
Take Me Home Tonight Morgan Matson |
Cool for the Summer Dahlia Adler |
Last Chance Books Kelsey Rodkey |
May 4, 2021 | May 11, 2021 | May 18, 2021 |
It Goes Like This Miel Moreland |
May the Best Man Win Z.R. Ellor |
Perfectly Parvin Olivia Abtahi |
May 18, 2021 | May 18, 2021 | May 18, 2021 |
Sixteen Scandals Sophie Jordan |
Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating Adiba Jaigirdar |
May 25, 2021 | May 25, 2021 |
What I Got in April
physical buys | ebooks bought | netgalley e-arcs |
House of Leaves The Crown of Gilded Bones |
Between Dusk & Dawn Not Pretending Anymore Falling Out of Hate With You Shadowed Heart Only The Pretty Lies Gild |
It Goes Like This Don't Hate the Player The Girl Least Likely (audio) |
π What books are looking forward to release in May? Did you receive/buy any new books?
Top 10 Bookish Animals That Give Me Heart Eyes
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 • books, top ten tuesday
Happy Tuesday, my friends. Tuesday is the perfect day for a list, don't you think? The prompt for this list is 'animals in books', and boy did I have a hard time with this list! π
And naturally, all of the ones that came easy to me were from the imagination of miss Sarah J. Maas. She always creates creatures and pets that give me heart eyes! π
The artwork is by Taratjah, and it's a picture of Manon riding Abraxos from the Throne of Glass series by SJM.Top 10 5 Animals in Books that I've Read
1. Abraxos (Throne of Glass) ⌁ This magnificent creature is a wyvern, and he's actually a soft lil bby and I love him so, so much. One of my favorite fictional relationships is between Manon and Abraxos. He was a "bait beast" in the beginning, abused and scarred with broken teeth, until Manon claimed him as hers and replaced his teeth with iron ones and put iron spikes on his tail, and even fixed his broken wings by grafting Spidersilk to them. But even though he's on the smaller side, he's super intelligent and enjoys wildflowers, and is affectionately referred to as "worm" by his rider. π
2. Syrinx (Crescent City) ⌁ Like I said, SJM creates the BEST pets! Syrinx is a chimera that belongs to Bryce Quinlan. He is an affecrionate beast, but is not afrqaid to be vicious when it means protecting those he loves. He has the power to pick locks, and even teleport!1!! (Which is super amusing when Bryce found out after putting him in a crate at night for so long.)
3. Fleetfoot (Throne of Glass) ⌁ Fleetfoot is a regular species of dog, gifted to Celaena Sardothien by Prince Dorian Havilliard on Yulemas. She's just the goodest girl who is loyal to Celaena, and cautious of any other stranger. I have yet to read Kingdom of Ash and I swear if anything happens to Fleetfoot.......
4. Silas (Sorcery of Thorns) ⌁ I know this is stretching it a bit... If you've read Sorcery of Thorns, you know that Silas the cat is actually a demon, and not really a cat at all. Despite his demon capabilities, I really believe he is the goodest, most loyal demon.
5. Kishmish (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) ⌁ A cute little chimera from Laini Taylor's imagination; he has bat wings with the body of a crow and the forked tongue of a serpent. Cute, right??? He's the sweetest little messenger. Fun fact: Kishmish means "raisin" in Persian!
And... well, guys, that's really all I've got! I think the moral of this post is that I need more books with memorable animal characters!! Give me some suggestions?
π What are your favorite animal characters from books you've read?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted here.
Life Update: Boyfriend's Bday + Bipolar Weather
Sunday, April 25, 2021 • life, life update
Once again, the midwest just can't pick a season! We've had snow, we've had cool, spring days, and we've had days where we sweat because of the heat. When will the madness end? Yeah, probably never.
My boyfriend had a birthday! It's the tenth birthday I've spent with him. π We had a nice day (despite having a moment of bickering, because we're old and crochety now) and I got him a new gaming mug and a Deadpool blanket – because he's obsessed with Deadpool. We went out to eat at Daruma, which is a hibachi-style restaurant, and it was beyond delicious! We've been going out to eat a little bit more; Texas Roadhouse last week for my in-laws' anniversary, Daruma this week, and I even sat in a gyro place with my friend that we really love.
π What have you been up to lately? Have you been personally victimized by the weather, too?
Top 10 Colorful Books on My 'Read' Shelf
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 • books, top ten tuesday

Happy Tuesday! For the past two weeks, I've had intentions of doing another Top 10 post, but then life gets in the way and I don't finish it, or I don't get to it. You know the feeling, right?
Any-who-ser! Something COLORFUL this way comes! The prompt this week was just colorful covers in general, but I took it one step further and just included books that I've already read, because there are just too many books to choose from! This helped narrow it down just a wee bit, and didn't make my head want to spin. π
Top 10 Colorful Covers of Books I've Read
π What are some of your favorite colorful covers, read or unread?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted here.
Music Monday: Keep Reaching Out Your Hand (A Nesta + Cassian Playlist)
Monday, April 12, 2021 • music, music monday, playlist
Happy Monday, and you know what that means?? It's Music Monday! So I finished A Court of Silver Flames not too long ago... and just, wow. SJM has really crossed the border of Young Adult to ADULT. (If you've read it, you know.)
I'm still cooking up a condensed review, but for Music Monday, I thought I'd compile a little Nessian playlist for your auditory enjoyment.
Artwork created by Charlie Bowater.
A playlist dedicated to Nesta + Cassian, from A Court of Silver Flames. Listen in playlist mode here! 1. smoke - pvris2. starving to be empty - dayseeker
3. gasoline - haim
4. eyes open - taylor swift
5. her eyes - fame on fire
6. anywhere away from here - rag'n'bone man + p!nk
7. one more time - i prevail
8. forever - chvrches
9. outnumbered - dermot kennedy
10. align - nina nesbitt
Life Update: Easter, Egg Hunts + Vaccinations!
Sunday, April 11, 2021 • life, life update
Despite the drastic weather changes the Midwest is wreaking on my sinuses, I managed to have a good holiday last weekend, and this past week wasn't terrible either. In case it wasn't fundamentally clear with the pictures above, I basically only take pictures of nature's phenomenon, and my son! π (Also, you know, the occasional book pic.)
I do have a side photography business, though, and I've got 4 projects I'm working on right now. I'm looking forward to this coming Monday (which is a day I've taken off) so that I can catch up on pictures, watch some shows, and read my current books! I do want to try and mentally train myself to take more pictures from my daily life, for the sake of the blog. But I swear... I've currently got 6,486 pictures on my phone right now, and I bet 95% of them are my son Rowan, and the other 5% is probably book photos for my Instagram, or some weird screenshot. Ha! My son (and my family) had a great Easter! This was the first year my boy was able to do an Esater egg hunt, and actually know what was going on! π Last year (as you all know) sucked as far as any holiday goes, and we weren't able to do it. This year, he LOVED it, and kept saying "more eggs?" once it was over (hehe), but he had a blast opening all the eggs to see what was inside. The Easter Bunny also made an appearance at our school, and Rowan got to dance for him and show his belly (as toddlers do, right?). I've also been able to take him to lots of parks now that the weather is nice and I can't wait to take him to many more this summer! And speaking of weather, will you just peep that double rainbow picture?? How beautiful! I was in awe looking at it in person this past Friday, I just HAD to snap a quick photo! Last but not least, I'm fully vaccinated! I got my second dose last Tuesday, and I'm feeling great! No side effects, other than a little tiredness and slight soreness in my arm, so yay! Hopefully we're all on the road to some sort of back-to-normal! ππ»π What are some things that happened to you this week? Did you have a good Easter?
Bite Sized: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Regretting You, & Lucky in Love
Friday, April 9, 2021 • bite-sized, books
Welcome to my first round of Bite Sized mini reviews! This is a collective of small reviews of books that I've read since I revamped my blog on March 23rd. π
I so badly wanted to call this "Friday Night Bites" since it's Friday, but decided against it. π
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
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★★★ |
12 hours ⌁ Read via library/Libby
Add on Goodreads ⌁ Trigger Warnings
Regretting You
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★★★★ |
11 hours, 17 minutes ⌁ Read via Scribd
Add on Goodreads ⌁ Trigger Warnings
Lucky in Love
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★★ |
Most Anticipated Books of April 2021 & the Books I got in March!
Saturday, April 3, 2021 • books, most anticipated, stacking the shelves
Hey, happy weekend!! I meant to post this yesterday, but I've been a bit down and out with a sore throat, cough and headache due to spring allergies. π€§ It's not been fun. But talking about books is bound to cheer me up, especially the handful of April books that I'm super-duper excited for the release of! So sit tight, grab a cup of your preferred beverage, and prepare to add ALL of these titles to your Goodreads to-read list.
April not only brings the birthdays of the two most important boys in my life (boyfriend + son), but it brings some pretty awesome books (especially a most-anticipated sequel!!!)
Covers take you to goodreads.
Coming Out in April 2021
The Infinity Courts (The Infinity Courts #1) Akemi Dawn Bowman |
House of Hollow Krystal Sutherland |
Zara Hossain is here Sabina Khan |
April 6, 2021 | April 6, 2021 | April 6, 2021 |
She Drives me Crazy Kelly Quindlen |
The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash #3) Jennifer L. Armentrout |
Witches Steeped in Gold (Witched Steeped in Gold #1) Ciannon Smart |
April 20, 2021 | April 20, 2021 | April 20, 2021 |
Now... let's talk about the books that I've acquired during the month of March!
What I Bought in March
- Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- Eden Conquered by Joelle Charbonneau ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss by Kasie West ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- It Sounded Better in my Head by Nina Kenwood ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- I'll Be The One by Lyla Lee ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.
- The Reckoning of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin ⌁ Bought via BookOutlet, check out on Goodreads.

Yep, I went on a BookOutlet buying spree. I wanted the free shipping, okay?? I only spent $40, so I consider this a WIN.
π What books are you excited for in April? Did you buy any books this past month?
Quarterly Report: What I read this past winter!
Thursday, April 1, 2021 • books, quarterly report
This is NO JOKE, the first three months of 2021 are over!!! I honestly don't know whether to feel amazed that it's April, or flabbergasted that I've read 17 books so far. If you look at my track record from previous years (2020: 28 books; 2019: 24 books; 2018: 13 books; 2017: 20 books; 2016: 14 books), you'll see that I've really upped my game this year!
I started my very first book blog in 2014, and those first two years are the only years I made it over 50 books a year. This year, something has changed. That something is audiobooks. I'll be honest when I tell you that my attention span has been going to crap, especially since I had a baby. I thought audiobooks would be so tough to try, but it really has been a game-changer. I definitely had to train my brain to stop wandering as I listened, but I started with an easy series: Harry Potter. I listened to all seven books on audio, and now I just crave more. If I don't have a book to listen to on the commute to work/home, or something to listen to as I edit my photography sessions, I feel lost. π₯΄
The Monthly Breakdown
JANUARY | FEBRUARY | MARCH |
---|---|---|
8 books | 3 books | 6 books |
480 pages read | 939 pages read | 757 pages read |
73 hours listened | 12 hours listened | 53.75 hours listened |
4.0 rating avg. | 4.3 rating avg. | 3.8 rating avg. |
Books I've read from January - March
- A Court of Wings and Ruin ★★★★★ Re-read, via audiobook. It was super nice to re-read this series as audiobooks this time around. I swear, I've become quite the audio-reader! I have a 20+ minute commute to and from work each day, so it's become quite useful to listen to books.
- A Court of Frost and Starlight ★★★★★ This was a first-time read (I know, I'm late to the party), but I felt like it was a nice interval between ACOWAR and ACOSF.
- You Have a Match ★★★★★ This was such a surprise! I didn't expect to love this so much, but it was the cuuuutest. I totally loved that the MC was into photography, and that it was a camp setting. Also, long-term unrequited best-friend love - gimme more!
- Love at First Like ★★ This book was pretty aggravating. And the MC was annoying lol so I can't really give this any more than 2 stars.
- Technically, You Started It ★★★★ Okay, the way this book was formatted was w o n d e r f u l. It was strictly text conversation, 100% through the book. Not joking.
- Today Tonight Tomorrow ★★★★ This was another pleasant surprise. It was a hate-to-love, senior-year rivalry between valedictorian candidates. Highly recommend!
- Escaping From Houdini ★★★★ I read the first two books (Stalking Jack the Ripper and Hunting Prince Dracula) last year and it took me a pretty long time to finish this one. I wasn't as into the second half of the series, but I definitely still loved the dynamic of Thomas and Audrey Rose.
- How to Hack a Heartbreak ★★★ This was a nice read, but it wasn't exceptional. It's basically about a techie who makes her own app called 'Jerk Alert' to point out all the douchebags in the online dating world.
- Capturing the Devil ★★★★ Like I stated with Escaping from Houdini, I didn't love it as much as the first two books, although this held a satisfying end to the series! Also, can I have my own Thomas?
- A Song of Wraiths and Ruin ★★★★ This was pretty amazing, I'll be honest. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel.
- Ninth House ★★★★★ WOW. I knew Leigh Bardugo could write well, but this blew me away! Even though I had moments of confusion, everything pieced together so nicely and left me wanting so, so, so much more. When are we getting this sequel???
- Kind of Cursed ★★★ This book gave me such Shameless vibes with the way the older sister has to take care of her younger siblings... except they were financially better off. And they got a brand new kitchen remodel, led by a handsome, dreamy guy. It was a nice book to listen to on my commute!
- 99 Days ★★★★ A re-read for me (vis audiobook this time), and the rating stayed the same. I really liked the story, and I'm looking forward to making time to read the sequel that's sitting on my bookshelf!
- Ugly Love ★★★★ Holy crap on a cracker. CoHo did it again! I know I'm late to the party on this book as well, but wowww. I'm definitely making a point to read more CoHo books this year! (Regretting You is on my Spring TBR)
- A Court of Silver Flames ★★★★ π₯΅ Is it hot in here, or is it this freaking book??? I didn't really know I needed the Cassian/Nesta side of the story...until I got about 15 chapters in. Then BAM, I was obsessed. I know a lot of people are harping on the fact that Feyre and Rhys had too much of a presence in this book, but... I think it was fine. The only thing that threw me off was it all wrapped up way too nicely. I was expecting a big ol' fat cliffhanger? I mean, I guess I shouldn't complain. π
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January ★★★ I think it took me longest to read this book than any other so far this year. I started out listening to the audiobook, borrowed from the library, but I had to return the book before I finished. I had to read the rest of it (I think just the last 30%) and my reading pace has been super slow. It was good, but I wasn't blown away by it.
- Regretting You ★★★★ This book gave me feels. π₯Ί CoHo really knows how to weasel in and squeeze my heart, y'all.
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