This week has been all over the place. Absolutely no blogging has been done and I do feel a little bit bad but I've been feeling insanely lazy. I think I’m going to keep blogging in December very low-key after my month started with my barely looking at other blogs and not having much time to write anything for mine. I know we’re all busy so I think the smartest idea is to keep it to looking back at the year and making plans for next year instead. So expect a couple of reviews, a discussion, and a whole heap of favourites posts. I think I want to mostly keep it to wrap-ups/favourites/plans for next year.

What was keeping me busy this week, then? I went back to work after a lovely, relaxing week off and... it wasn't that bad. I mean, it started well, anyway. I had a really good first day back and felt really positive about work and was pretty happy to be back. Sadly, it didn't last into the rest of the week with higher-ups making stupid comments which only made my whole team question why they even bother coming into work. That feeling carried through to the rest of the week and then with various small dramas that happened I was mentally exhausted by Friday. I won't go into the small dramas. I told my mom about some of them and honestly felt like I was back in school. That's how ridiculous some of the things were. I was ready for the weekend and so far have been lazy, I do need to head to the shops today, though. We’re doing a work secret santa and I realise I have nothing to wrap the presents in unless I can find a gift bag.

I#m trying to think what else has happened this week and really all it was was work, Christmas shopping with a friend, and then train woes. I feel the need to start calling my rail company on their bullshit as I’m a little fed up of leaving work to another cancelled train. Where I work if a train gets cancelled it’s a full half-hour wait in the cold from when the last train was due. The train isn’t due until 15 mins after I finish work. That’s 45 mins of waiting in the cold. My alternative to waiting in the cold is to get the train going in the opposite direction and getting a train from the next station because more trains stop there. I should have to travel away from where I want to go to get home! I certainly shouldn’t have to have my train cancelled two days in a row due to a shortage of train crew and then on the third day have it running (after other trains were cancelled due to shortage of train crew) only to find they’re sending out a train with fewer carriages than usual. It infuriates me that they say they didn’t know about the shortage of crew when they made plans for the carriage set up yet when they proposed their timetable months ago they would have said how many carriages they planned to put on, they haven’t suddenly got fewer carriages, they do seem to have less staff than they need to run to their proposed timetable, though. Just, my train rants are long and this is just the tip of the iceberg. The last company who had the franchise in my area had it taken it off of them due to poor performance but this current company is actually worse. I’ve never had so many train problems.

I finished two whole books! Yes, people, I was at work and managed to read two whole books with no DNFs. This is practically unheard of, for me. First off, I read Mia Vincy’s latest and... it was slow going, but I warmed up to it by 25%. I worried I was going to have to DNF but thankfully I grew to love the MCs and was enjoying it by the end. And then I read Pride. This Pride and Prejudice retelling has been on my to-buy list forever. I had a whole drama with getting this book I won’t go into but as soon as I received it I knew I needed to read that next. It was definitely an enjoyable read and stuck to the original story in some ways but kept things exciting and had its own original take on some stuff. I won’t go in-depth but hope to review soon. I did then try to read another book last night but I just couldn’t get into that so I’m now on the search for my next book.

I haven’t bought too many books. I got Pride (which was part of a book drama as a I said above) I was meant to have had this weeks ago, possibly even months ago, and so it was a total surprise receiving that in the post. And I did a book swap for Reign of the Fallen and I admit, I hadn’t heard much about it but I couldn’t help but want to read it. Hopefully, I won’t be disappointed.

What have you been reading this week? And am I alone in wanting a low key December all about looking back at the year and getting ready for next year?

Hi guys!

We’re at the end of another month and we’re actually into the final month of the decade! Yep, that’s a scary thought, I know. I’m not totally ready for December and I’m certainly not ready for the start of a new year but what can you do?

I’ve not done a wrap-up post since August! As such I’m basically wrapping up three months and that’s cool. I’ll, first of all, put some music, I’m a firm believer in a good playlist for folks reading, and I love creating playlists (which have no cohesive theme, just putting it out there).

Now we’ve got the music out of the way let’s actually talk and catch up. Or, I’ll type at you anyway.

It’s been a weird few months. I went through a blogging and reading and slump. I put an offer in on a house. I have gone through a whole bunch of stress to actually get this whole house buying process sorted. And hopefully, I’m on the way to actually buying this house. It has honestly been so stressful. And in amongst all of that, I’ve tried to get back into blogging and reading. I’ve been kind of successful but I honestly wish I was more organised and had someone to do some of the leg work for me because there is so much to blogging. I refuse to let this stress me out, though. blogging is fun and I am trying to keep it that way.

I can’t really remember what else has been happening in my day to day. I honestly feel like my time has mostly been spent playing Stardew Valley and Sims 4. I mean, I’ve basically reverted to teen me. I need to listen to angsty pop-punk and slam a couple of doors and a full reversion will have happened. I mean, actually, I do still listen to angsty pop-punk, but I am most definitely beyond door slamming so I’ve progressed in some way. I think my real life has mostly been spent stressing about all the job problems. People being made redundant, etc, so the mental break playing games was needed!

Huh, when you show all of the books like this that is a lot of books! But it’s also three months worth with several DNFs along the way. But only a couple of meh reads which is a total success. And my enjoyed and favourites list sorts of blurs together really.

Sunday Summary // 01.09.2019

Monthly Wrap Up // August 2019

Sunday Summary // 08.09.2019

Bringing Down The Duke // Powerful Feminist Read With A Swoony Romance

At What Point Do You Admit To Having a Book Buying Problem?

Sunday Summary // 15.09.2019

Call It What You Want // Another Brilliant Book From An Author Who Always Hits the Mark

Sunday Summary // 22.09.2019

I’m back… and things are about to change

This Earl of Mine // It Hit The Spot With A Woman Doing It For Herself

Blogging is the worst… let me count the ways

Sunday Summary // 03.11.2019

Island Fling With The Tycoon // Transports You to Sunnier Climes And You Fall In Love Too

Bookish home shopping… because why not?

Sunday Summary // 10.11.2019

Emergency Contact // It Was Slow But So Good

Another One Bites The Dust // Introduction & Part One

My Sister’s Grave // A Surprising Read I’d Expected to DNF

Sunday Summary // 17.11.2019

Get A Life, Chloe Brown // It Was Love At First Page

Sunday Summary // 24.11.2019

Trail of Lightning // It Was Spectacular

Show Your Appreciation // Blogs I Love (and I’m Probably Missing A Few… Sorry)

(Must remember to start adding these links throughout the month because that was killer, too many posts!)

I want to return to featuring some links from around the internet (but mostly just from your blogs) so here are a few posts I enjoyed in the past month. I must get better at saving these somewhere because I’m missing loads!

That Bitch, Imposter Syndrome @ Infinite Limits of Love

The Benefits of Reading Outside Your Comfort Zone @ Boats Against the Current

The Inequities of Ebooks @ We Live And Breathe Books

The Best Things About Book Blogging @ Boats Against the Current

Have YA Prices Gotten Out of Hand? @ Wordy and Whimsical

8 International Book Bloggers Share Their Experiences – Part I @ The Quiet Pond

Dear Authors, Pls Stop: Tropes and Stuff I Wish I Wouldn’t Have to See in Books @ Wordy and Whimsical

Tales of a Social Media Failure: Is Bloglovin’ a Thing of the Past? @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

Hopefully, I’ll start featuring more links each month but I’ve found a few cool things over the past month and I’ll keep trying to browse the web and find some more cool posts for you to go check out (in case you missed them).

And I think that’s everything! I hope to feature lots of things with my monthly posts, hopefully, keep it interesting but we shall see. How was your month?

How is it December? Ugh, it’s crazy how quickly the time has flown by. I am honestly shocked. I feel like we should still be in September or something, but what can you do?

It’s been another boring week. I had the week off of work and honestly, I’ve done very little. I did some Christmas shopping, I sold/swapped a few books and I did a bit of tidying and organising. But really, my week was spent watching way too many Youtube videos and playing a whole bunch of Sims 4 because turns out I love the University pack and I can’t wait to explore the Realm of Magic pack. Yes, I spent way too much money on these games but I don’t care, they’re bringing me joy controlling these little Sims.

I intended to spend my week off being super productive, and I kind of have. Some of you may have seen me post some books I needed to get rid of on Twitter, well I also posted them on Depop and managed to sell a few. I’ve still got more to list but honestly, it’s finding the time to take photos and that. I had a whole drama when it came to posting books out, though. All I can say is Hermes is the worst. I already knew Hermes were the worst because if you live in the UK and ever had a parcel delivered by them you know that parcel can end up anywhere. I’ve had parcels chucked over the side gate to our house. I’ve had parcels left behind plant pots. And occasionally, if we’re lucky, they get left with a neighbour. It’s ridiculous and annoying but there is little I can do to stop it. You may be questioning why I decided to use them to deliver some parcels, then. They're cheap! Like, so much cheaper than Royal Mail, but anyway, I was merrily taking them to a nearby shop for them to be collected… and then they refused my parcel. Turns out they’d not had the collection they should have done and had no space for it. Fine, but I’d just walked there with 5 heavy parcels and the next nearest shop is like a half-hour walk from me. I was getting well annoyed so I thought I’d contact Hermes to sort a collection. Oh no. Hermes has the worst customer service known to man. The only way to speak to someone is to use their online chat. Their online chat where they just told me to either cancel the delivery (and wait 3-5 days for a refund) or go to another shop. I kindly explained I can’t drive and the next nearest shop is not in a nice convenient location. It’s not on a bus route and unless I want to waste an hour getting there and back again or get a taxi it’s really not gonna work for me. I thought they would be apologetic and at least confirm they would arrange a collection from the shop so I could go back. Oh no, I had the guy saying he’s offered me a solution and I should be happy with it and that pissed me right off. And when I asked for a call from their complaints team or whatever to get this resolved… they called back three days later and basically did nothing. Luckily for me, my stepdad offered to take me to another shop to drop them off but I’ve never had such a drama just to post a parcel! Never again, guys. Never again.

So there was that. I also had a minor breakdown about my house. There’s a whole thing with an internal wall being removed and building regulation certificates and it was honestly making me feel like I didn’t even want the damn house. My solicitor was getting nowhere and I felt like pulling my hair out. I called up the estate agent… and they got it all sorted in a day. Honestly, why do they make house buying so hard? I need a cheat sheet to know who to contact in which situation to get things resolved as quickly as possible. So yeah, don’t buy a house guys. It’s the worst. Way too much stress. 100% do not recommend.

What else? Well… I bought myself a new iPad. I know, I didn’t need it and I’m probably stupid for doing so. But I don’t care. It’s brand new I’ve got 3 years protection from me breaking it (yay) and it’s so pretty! I still need to get a case for it but I’m honestly feeling few regrets about this. I’ve had an iPad Mini for so long, and I love it, but the screen is way too tiny for some things. Like waaaay too tiny. I hate online shopping on it because I can never see anything properly. The new one I bought with an Apple Pencil (I know, stop judging me and my splurging ways) so I’m hoping to take quick notes and attempt to get back into some art (you can blame the drawing urges on these art channels I keep following on Youtube). I'm also hoping to get a cute little keyboard to maybe do a bit more blogging on it. One of my main reasons for never blogging and commenting as much as I want is I cannot be bothered to lug my laptop around the house, it’s not heavy or anything, I just never normally have it fully charged.  Hopefully, having a cute iPad will remedy this… but having a cute iPad did mean I ended up downloading Dream Daddy from the app store (it was free to try, ok) and I am fully debating getting the full version but don’t know which platform would be best to play it on. I didn’t think the game would be that good… but I’m a little obsessed. I’m either getting the full iPad version or getting this on Switch.. just saying. I want to date all the Daddy’s… which sounds weird, let’s forget I said that.

Why yes, I have in fact read three books this week. And none are a DNF. This was mostly inspired by the fact that I needed to be able to read them to reply to a comment somewhere else (don’t ask). But let me tell you, I thought it was going to be slow going but I gradually got sucked in and I finished The Queen of Nothing in one sitting last night (I should probably have started reading it earlier). That series! I mean, there are issues and I’ll try and go into some of them when I review The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing, but even though I knew I shouldn’t like the characters and where their story was going I just couldn’t help myself.

Just one new book this week! And I did shift two off of my shelf… and I have a whole bunch in the get rid pile. Check me out maybe balancing out my shelves. A Beastly Kind of Earl was actually a pre-order and the book I think I will read next. I was so excited for Mia Vincy’s next release so I’ll get to that real fast. I am feeling pretty upbeat about clearing my shelves. Speak to me again in a couple of weeks when I’m behind on my ARC reading again and am in a slump.

What have you been doing this week? Anyone else as shocked by December’s arrival as me?