Everlasting January// ft. me screaming and a lot of firsts!

SO… WE’VE ALREADY SPENT ONE WHOLE MONTH IN 2019. WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE??? (I DEMAND ANSWERS)

It is time for the FIRST EVER wrap up of 2019! January was a fabulous month and I loved it! As far as the start of the year goes, this one was pretty impressive not gonna lie. (I congratulate whoever invented January). I hope you guys are comfy because this is going to be a pretty long post (1,500 words and counting!)

Books

I read 9 books in total! That’s not bad at all since I was super busy with school and competitions and things and I was in a HUGE slump at one point! It’s lower than what I normally read but I enjoyed the books I read and I’m focusing on that! My average rating was 4.56. Also I just realised I partially reviewed 3 of the books I read? WHO AM I AND WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MYSELF?!?!

   

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (x2) // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I was so excited for The Wicked King that I wanted to reread This Cruel Prince! It was so good, I had to read the whole thing again! It was also my first buddy read. Thank you ilsa (queen) for buddy reading and freaking out with me!

The Wicked King by Holly Black (x2) // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ THE WICKED KING IS SO FREAKING AMAZING!! I literally died in all the Jude and Cardan scenes. I can’t wait till next year for Queen of Nothing 😭 someone send help.

Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 My IRL friend loved this book and so I gave it a go too! It was super enjoyable and I loved the way it was written in second person! Check out my mini review here.

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this book! It was super cute and so so quotable! Also I kept thinking of The Cruel Prince Jude the whole way through (because of the same name!) Read my review here (pls)

The Guggenheim Mystery by Robin Stevens // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a super cute mystery! I worked out who did it like half way through but this is a MG book so… I rated this from an MG me perspective because if I looked for the things I did in YA it would be quite unfair.

Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster // ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 This is a super unique Sci-Fi story that takes such an imaginative turn on the world! It was written in the form of audio tapes with some information boxes and was completely gripping! Mini review is here.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a really sweet story! I loved Daisy and Davis and Aza too but I think my heart goes to Noah! He’s so broken and deserves to be loved! I didn’t cry but the ending broke my heart.

Favourite book:

I absolutely LOVED The Wicked King! The scenes were beautiful, the ending killed me and Locke was annoying as ever. I FELT SO MANY FEELS THO. If you haven’t read it, please try it!! And if you have, FREAK OUT WITH ME!! I also really enjoyed I’ll Give You the Sun because it was so cute ad precious and NOAH AND JUDE NEED TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS.

Disappointment:

There’s not really a particular disappointment but Human.4 didn’t really make me feel anything and while it was exciting, it was a bit meh as well? It was super interesting though and you should give it a go if you like Science Fiction!

Book Haul

I got a copy of The Wicked King this month and I was so excited!! It’s just such an AMAZING book! I also got 2!! physical!! arcs!! from!! publishers!! ahhh!! someone hold me I genuinely can’t even believe it! These are the first ever physical arcs I’ve got from emailing publishers and I am so grateful! (see why January was such a great month? So many firsts!) I received a review copy of Master of Sorrows and Opposite of Always, both which I am super excited for! I also won The Orphanage of Gods (again, HIGHLY ANTICIPATED!) from a giveaway by the wonderful Zulfa! Thank you so much! I really need to start taking my own pictures

I'm reading Master of Sorrows by @Justin_T_Call!? So far it is wonderful and I love the maps!

Add it to your TBR: https://t.co/JaWMWYA00i

Thank you so much @StevieFinegan @gollancz for sending me a review copy! pic.twitter.com/dR000PHjcR

— Kerys 🍍💛 (@kerys_howarddd) February 1, 2019

Note: I do not mean to brag but putting the books on here helps me recall which books I received and need to review and are a way of showing my appreciation to the author/publisher etc.

Blogging

For the first time in forever… there’ll be music, there’ll be light I posted TWICE… EVERY SINGLE WEEK which is amazing considering my track record and I’m so proud of myself! Hopefully I can do it in February as well hah should have planned some posts then. Also, I slightly changed my feature images!! Do you like these ones better? Le posts:

 

 

Around the blogosphere!

• Rita discussed Marie Konodo’s method of giving away books (and it is super insightful)
• Ilsa posted an awesome guide to getting arcs which is so helpful!
• Ju shared her TBR for YARC and made me add tons of Asian books to my TBR (u are awesome thank you)
• Marie talked about critical reading and whether you need to be critical all the time.
• May talks about the lack of blogger appreciation and shows a bunch of pie charts which are super relatable
• Vicky gave a bunch of mental health recs based on books you’ve previously enjoyed!
• El shared 25 awesome blog post ideas for book bloggers!
• Kim‘s answers to the Unpopular Opinions Tag were so fun and I loved reading them!
• J R Lynn shared some books that have recently been added onto the TBR!

Life+Online (cos they’re both mixed up!)

• Updates
• Well, I won 2 giveaways and this is the first time ever so I’m literally freaking out?? Thank you so much!!
• I became part of the We Hunt the Flame street team!! And it is such an amazing experience!
• Reached 600 on my Twitter which is AMAZING!! And I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCHHHHH (we are so close to 700!!)
• RECIEVED MY FIRST PHYSICAL ARC FROM A PUBLISHER
• Started planning a secret? challenge with the awesome Rita
• DID MY FIRST EVER BUDDY READ WITH A QUEEN
• Worked with a lot of authors for interviews and stuff so keep your eyes peeled!
• Got so much closer to my IRL friends which makes me so happy because they are all just so AWESOME.
• I got closer to more people online! It’s so nice to know someone’s got your back!
• I took part in a lot of competitions this month (for computing and stuff because I’m a total nerd)
• Life was just so good! There were bad points but we dON’T TALK ABOUT IT
• I’m trying out this new calendar and post-it thing for organising posts and it’s working? I mean i ignore it but i haven’t missed any posts so… 
• I’ve done 10,000 steps every single day since Christmas!!
• ate some chocolate, it was good.
• GOT NEW GLASSES
• AND WE FINALLY HAVE A BOOKSHELF!! It doesn’t really fit anywhere though
• It snowed on Feb 1st and I didn’t have to go to school!
• Upcoming
• MORE competitions
• flip there’s a maths one and i need to practice
• my brother’s birthday
• and i’m always so bad at remembering what’s happening?

Goals

Previous goals (I’m going to take the ones from my yearly goals because I don’t have any others)

• Track my reading in a spreadsheet ✅ I completely did this! It’s so fun to see what books I’ve been reading and to see the data appear in pie charts!
• Support more Asian authors and books ✅❌ I HAVE supported quite a lot of two Asian authors! I just haven’t read any Asian books. Maybe YARC will help?
• Write reviews as soon as I finish reading ❌ Lol no. But I have reviewed 3/7 books even though they weren’t ARCs which makes me super proud!
• Post. Consistently✅ YES YES YES YES!! Who’d have thought it was possible?
• Take more bookish photos and maaaybe use in posts❌ I took some photos and they were rubbish but I haven’t used any (yet!)
• Comment on all blogs that interact on mine❌ To everyone reading this, I am so so so sorry that I haven’t been commenting on anyone’s blogs or replying to comments on here but I promise I’ll get to it!
• Make new blogging friends!✅ I made some fabulous new friends this month and I can’t wait to get to know them more!
• Be healthier✅ I suppose. I have done 10,000 steps everyday (which is actually so hard for a lazy dumpling like me)
• Be more selfless✅ I let people use my glue. And my pens. It was hard. I hope you’re all proud of me because I cringed every time I saw them push too hard or use unnecessary amounts and it was scarring.

I did 5 out of 9 goals which isn’t bad! Now I just need to make sure I’m doing these till the end of the year!

New Goals!

• Read 10 books
• Review 5ish books on Goodreads
• READ AN ARC
• Write something?
• Keep posting consistently!
• Do 10,000 steps every day
• Catch up on comments from last month
• Track notable life moments and good posts for next month’s wrap-up

How was your January? Any good reads? What’s life been like? How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? Pandas or sloths? HAVE YOU READ THE WICKED PRINCE?? Anything exciting happen? Do you like my old feature images (from before Jan) or my new ones?? DIVULGE YOUR SECRETS!!

Hugs!

Kerys xx

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