Sunday Summary // Since I’ve Been Gone

Hi guys!

I took another unintended hiatus and I can only apologise for that… but not too much because I know you guys understand and I have been trying to pop in to everyone’s blogs when I can, at least.

I hit a book slump and blogging slump hard and the best way to get over it? It was to stop trying. Honestly, the less I tried to force myself to blog and read and the more the motivation slowly returned. It was crazy stuff. I admit, writing the first couple of posts was difficult to say the least, writing words is so much more difficult after time away but I shook off the dust and soon the words started flowing.

So this is a sort of wrap up and update all in one. But since I’m posting it on a Sunday and have no real blog related updates it’ll be a Sunday Summary, makes sense, right?

What have I been doing whilst I’ve not been blogging? Did I tell you guys I’ve booked my holiday? If I haven’t then this is me telling you. We’re returning to New York in June and it’s going to be awesome. Hopefully, June weather will be a touch better than we had in September as we had a whole lot of rain which was not fun, but we did have fun. This time we’re trying to tick the other stuff off the list, like the Statue of Liberty and actually getting to see a decent view from a skyscraper. Our hotel has a rooftop bar and views of the Empire State Building so fingers crossed we manage to get a seat and have a couple of cocktails to enjoy that. I also will try and return with plenty of clothes and books because this is my last big trip for a while. I need to sort myself out and buy a house then.

I had my birthday in February, as well. I am now 28. My friends enjoyed informing me I was almost at 30 (and, on the topic, I was born in 1991 and so when you’re watching a documentary where the narrator person refers to that year as nearly 30 years ago you can bet I am kicking off about that. How rude!). I didn’t really do much on my actual birthday, I booked the day off of work and met up with a friend on her lunch break for a catch-up and presents, which was lovely. I did have a combined birthday night out with someone I work with and it was actually a really fun night out with the folks I work with. Drama free and a good laugh. I also met up with some friends the day after that night out for brunch at a lovely farm shop/café/tearoom/who knows what it was. Despite being knackered (because I never sleep well after drinking) I wasn’t hungover and the breakfast/brunch there was delicious. I definitely want to do that more often.

I also booked another short break whilst I've been away, but that’s to attend my step sisters wedding so I don’t know if counts as a true short break. Also, I’ve been forced to book a caravan with my brother so we can both have flashbacks to family holidays, but it’s down south (this is significant because the south of England is much warmer) by the sea (which is exciting because I live several hours away from the beach so I’m all kinds of excited about going to a beach). It should hopefully be nice, that’s my significant event for August so I need to sort out something to wear. What do folks even wear to weddings?

I can’t think of anything else exciting which has happened. Turns out you’ve not missed out on too much. I need to do more things to fill you in on. I suppose that means we need to move on to the books portion of this post.

What I’ve Read While I’ve Been Away

These are my finished reads and I can’t say I disliked any of them. Ayesha At Last Might be my absolute favourite, I won’t lie, but the rest were decent. Long Shot I thought I would hate because of angst… but I actually quite enjoyed it. And I forgot how enjoyable I find all of Sarah Dessen’s books. Once and For All isn’t my favourite but she still managed to deliver a really lovely read (and I removed another unread book from my Kindle).

These are my abandoned books. I thought I’d love Truth or Beard (and why do I always want to type bread instead of beard?) but it turns out to be totally not for me. The MC was a little annoying, the bearded dude seemed interesting but then I could just tell side drama was coming and I just knew to call it quits. Rivers of London I read as part of an upcoming post. I say read, I read the first chapter and just knew I wouldn’t be enjoying that book. The other two books I read for the post aren’t on here because I’ve not committed to either DNF-ing or to start reading.

And these are the books that I haven’t committed to DNF-ing so I class them as currently reading (and I genuinely am currently reading Invisible Women). I will finish Offensive Behaviour, On The Come Up and Hunting Ground eventually (although Hunting Ground is a reread, to be fair). Invisible Women, though, is one of those rare non-fiction books I commit to reading and end up loving. I mean, it fills with me so much rage and has made me realise a few things, but it is so fascinating. Honestly, I recommend it and I will try and talk about it when I finish.

Anything Else?

I finally watched The Hate U Give (I know, I made poor life choices not watching it sooner). It was utterly spectacular, I was crying watching it. The rest of you will judge me hard for not watching it sooner, I know, but I got there in the end and I have been telling everyone I know to watch it too. I don’t know how many people will listen to me, but I told them, at least.

I think we’re all caught up, what have you guys been doing since I’ve been gone? Any books recs I missed out on? Tell me anything and everything.