Reading Stats for 2022 | Goodreads & Storygraph

Hey guys!
Today I’m going to be sharing my stats for 2022.
Wouldn’t say it was an amazing year for reading but it certainly wasn’t bad.

I use Goodreads to track my reading. I’m so terrible at using Storygraph throughout the year. Goodreads is just second nature. I ended just adding all my reads from 2022 in one go at the end of the year. (Terrible I know) Maybe 2023 is the year I finally get into Storygraph.

Starting off with the goals:

Original goal: 70 Books
Revised goal: 50 Books
Books read: 51

Moods – Not something I’m particularly concerned about in terms of my reading habit and goals. I don’t really consider this when I’m reading. It’s always interesting to know though, at the end of the year.

Genre – No surprise there my top two are YA and Fantasy, they’re my faves.
I’m happy to see a variety of genres here, 27 different genres! I’m quite surprised by this. I do like to try and branch out of my comfort genres (SF/F) and I managed to do that in 2022. Hoping to do the same in 2023 too.

Pace – Unsurprising my ratio here. I despise slow pace books, so not at all shocked they made up 6% of my reading. I tend to prefer a fast pace but medium pace has taken the cake this year!

Page number – I was very slumpy for a lot of 2022 and also just busy so I definitely favoured shorter reads. Still managed to read a few big books which I’m happy with!

Non-Fiction/Fiction – Very happy to have actually read some non-fiction in 2022. In 2021 I managed to read a whopping 0 non-fiction books. 18% for 2022 is pretty good going for me, I’m happy with that.

Shortest/Longest Books – For the second year in a row a Stormlight Archive book is my longest read. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson was bloody enormous but bloody brilliant. Well worth the long read.

How was your reading in 2022?

December Wrap Up | 2022

Happy New Year!

I managed to squeeze 6 reads into December. In a desperate attempt to reach my revised Goodreads goal of 50 books. Neglecting my reading a little in 2022, so definitely had a bit of catching up to do in December. Luckily, I had some short audiobooks to binge!

A Manual for Heartache by Cathy Rentzenbrink (audiobook)

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

Rating: 4 Stars

Climate Change Is Racist by Jeremy Williams (audiobook)

Rating 3.5 Stars

And Yet: Poems by Katie Baer (audiobook – gifted)

No rating

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore (audiobook – gifted)

Rating: 3 Stars

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Rating: 3 Stars

That’s my quick wrap up. Last reads of 2022. No new favourites this month.
Let me know what you read in December!

November Wrap Up | 2022

Happy December!
Can’t believe how fast this year flew by.

I participated in Nanowrimo in November, so I didn’t get much reading done. The books I did manage to squeeze in I loved!

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

A cosy, light-hearted fantasy was perfect for me during November. Low stakes and wholesome vibes. It was a slow but cute read.
Rating: 4 Stars

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (mix of audiobooks and physical)

This took me ages to read because Nanowrimo took over my life, but I loved it. Perfect autumn/winter read. A gothic novel with beautiful prose and an LGBT undertone message (very subtle). I do love a novel about good versus evil, questioning morality and human nature.
Rating: 4 Stars

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (audiobook)

Lastly, the star of the show. A new favourite. I won’t say too much about this as it’s very easy to spoil. It’s a little confusing, weird and wonderful. I think this is a book you just have to read for yourself. It’s one of those you’ll either love or hate it. Personally, I loved it. I binged listened to it in under 24 hours.
Rating: 5 Stars

Overall, very happy with my reading this month, despite the low number of books read. It was definitely a month of quality over quantity!

How was your reading in November?

NaNoWriMo Update: I WON!!! | Reflections, Thoughts etc.

Hello everyone!
Final Nanowrimo update, November is over.
First updated here, second update here.

I won Nanowrimo!! I wrote 50k words!!
I am beyond happy, I thought I might quit as it was pretty bloody hard. But I persevered and it did it.

Word counts for the final days:

Day 22: 1758
Day 23: 1720
Day 24: 1600
Day 25: 1607
Day 26: 1545
Day 27: 1668
Day 28: 1703
Day 29: 1464
Day: 30: 965

Total word count for the month 50,030 words.

Reflections:

• Planning is key – it’s so much easier and faster to write when you have a plan.
  There were days when I just winged it, I struggled to write and procrastinated a lot more.

• Ignoring everything you’ve written and just continuing is the best practice for getting the first draft. I have a terrible habit of wanting to edit while I write

• Reading helps… A lot.
  I didn’t read much during November but when I did I felt more inspired to write, even though what I read was completely different to what I’m writing.

• I’m usually an early bird but when writing I’m a night owl!
  I did most of my writing in the evening and nighttime. I weirdly became motivated around 9pm and felt really creative at night.

Overall, I had a fantastic month of writing. Nanowrimo went so well, and I’m thrilled with my writing. Very proud to have completed Nanowrimo, after feeling inspired for most of 2022, it was great to be writing again and to write so much within a month. It was hard going but I’m glad I stuck with it. The first draft is almost completed, I will be revising my work so far and then finishing it off, ready for draft two in 2023!

Would I do Nanowrimo again? Probably! It was a really good experience and I recommend any writer give it a go. Even if your word count goal is not the full 50k words, it’s a good way to motivate yourself to write!

Thanks for reading!
Let me know how your Nanowrimo went if you participated!

NaNoWriMo Update: Week 2 & 3 | Ahead of Schedule

Hello everyone.
Another NaNoWriMo update, though this one is a 2-in-1. I was too busy to write a 2-week update on the 14th. You can check out my first update here – I talked about my WIP and there’s a mood board/aesthetic for the story, if you are interested in that!

Week 2 word counts:

Day 8 – 2000
Day 9 – 1701
Day 10 – 1712
Day 11 – 1705
Day 12 – 2200
Day 13 – 1709
Day 14 – 1667

Week 2 total: 24712

This week was quite hard for me as I came down with a flu-like virus. I felt really unwell and had terrible brain fog! Despite this, I managed to stay on track with my daily word count and had my best writing days so far.

Week 3 word counts:

Day 15 – 1714
Day 16 – 454
Day 17 – 1716
Day 18 – 1704
Day 19 – 1763
Day 20 – 2202
Day 21 – 1735

Week 3 total word count: 36000

My worst week, as you can see on the 16th I had my worst writing day of the month. I usually work from home but on the 16th I had to go into the office for the day and it took it out of me. It was such a long, busy day, I was too tired to write when I got in. I forced myself to write a few hundred words then gave up.

It’s definitely getting harder as the days go on. Fair play to anyone doing NaNoWriMo with full-time jobs/kids/commitments. It has taken over my life! I’m happy I’m doing it and will be finishing it but I will be relieved when it’s over.

That’s my update for now, I’m ahead of schedule (somehow) and very happy so far! I cannot believe it’s the 22nd today. 8 days left!

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo let me know how it’s going for you!

One Week of NaNoWriMo 2022 | Wordcount, Mood board & Things Learnt

Hello everyone
A bit of a different post today. I thought I do a little Nanowrimo post, mostly to hold myself accountable.
I’ve been posting updates on Twitter and Instagram – follow me there for daily updates and more bookish content. I’m mostly active on Instagram these days.

Anyway, I thought I do weekly updates for Nanowrimo, just sharing my experience. This is my first time properly doing Nanowrimo, I did do Camp Nanowrimo in July 2021 for outlining and planning. This one is a draft of a novel WIP.

About my WIP:
Genre: Fantasy
Age group: New Adult – it’s kind of in between YA and Adult
POV: First Person / Single POV
Starting word count: 23k (ish)
Nanowrimo goal: 50k
End goal: 73k (ish)

Mood board for my WIP.
*Pictures are all from Pinterest/Google.

Week 1 of Writing

Daily word counts:

Day 1 – 1700
Day 2 – 1668
Day 3 – 1714
Day 4 – 1741
Day 5 – 1719
Day 6 – 1730
Day 7 – 1746
Week 1 total words: 12,018

Things I’ve learnt:

1. Planning is necessary – having an idea of what to write, rather than just sitting with a blank screen and no place to start.
2. Writing 1667 words (minimum) per day is pretty hard – it’s super time-consuming, especially trying to work it in on busy days and working full time. I’m lucky I work from home and can do things on my breaks.
3. Mindmaps are such a good brainstorming tool to have on hand
4. Try not to edit as you write. Just get it down, word vomit all over your draft. Don’t go backward.

Are you doing Nanowrimo? Or do you have a WIP? I’d love to hear about it 🙂

ARC Review: Cursed by Marissa Meyer (Gilded #2)

Goodreads synopsis:

It isn’t true, she wanted to whisper. To lean forward and nuzzle her cheek against his temple. To press him against the wall and mold her body to his. I am not his. I will never be his.

Serilda and Gild cannot break the curses that tether their spirits to Adalheid’s haunted castle. There they remain trapped for eternity. On the night of the Endless Moon, the Erlking means to capture one of the seven gods and so be reunited with his lover, Perchta, who has been banished to the underworld.

But it soon becomes clear that the Erlking’s hunger for vengeance won’t be satisfied with a single wish, and his true intentions have the power to alter the mortal realm forever.

Serilda and Gild have no choice but to thwart his plans, all the while solving the mystery of Gild’s forgotten name, and freeing all the ghosts kept in servitude to the dark ones. As the evil forces gather, it seems only their love is strong enough to sustain them . . .

---

*May contain minor spoilers for book one. Check out my review for Gilded here.

My thoughts:

After the cliffhanger ending of Gilded, I was desperate to know what would happen. This was probably my most anticipated read of the year.

Firstly, the pacing. After the ending of Gilded, I expected this to be quite fast-paced and action-packed. It’s the concluding novel in the duology. But this book takes a slower pace. It really felt like filler for the most part.

It was overly descriptive to the point where it just takes away from the plot. I like pretty descriptions and vivid writing, which was what I liked in the first book. It felt like a fairytale. However, this takes it too far. The descriptions overtake the plot and the characters. It slowed the pace too much, this sequel would’ve benefitted from some urgency in the pacing.

I found myself really bored through the first half. It took so long for stuff to happen and for the story to pick up. It didn’t feel like a final book.

The plot – as I said before is very slow and overpowered by the descriptions.
It had some interesting elements but overall pretty predictable. As it is a fairytale retelling, the plot is going to be a little predictable as they tend to follow a formula.

I did like the dark elements, it’s one of the darkest YA fantasies I’ve read. It really feels like the classic fairytales in that aspect, which I enjoyed!
How the Rumpelstiltskin aspect wraps up and the origin in the story was a nice twist. I loved the history side and the mystery of Gild – those parts were less predictable. I did guess Serilda’s mother, that didn’t surprise me at all. It was well foreshadowed, not sure if it was easily predictable or I’m just a good guesser haha.

The ending – It did have some good moments once the pace picked up and some action took place. The ending wrapped things up nicely, it took a while to get there but the ending was sweet. As it is a fairytale retelling, it did end with the happily ever after as you would expect.

Overall, I’m a bit disappointed. I expected more. It was just an okay read. I was hoping for a new favourite but alas, it did not make it. I think if the filler parts of Gilded and Cursed were taken out and these two books combined, it could’ve been an amazing standalone.

Rating: 2.75 – 3 Stars

Cursed is out tomorrow! (November 8th)
You can get these beautiful copies with sprayed edges now!

*Cursed was gifted by the publisher. All views are my own.

October Wrap Up | 2022

Happy November!!

The first book I finished was
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (audiobook)

This was a carryover from September.
I found it amusing but confusing. It’s a tad overhyped in my opinion. It was hard to get into and hard to keep up with. The narrator did a good job. Overall it was just an okay read.
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Next up was Sadie by Courtney Summers (audiobook)

Another audiobook. This one was incredible. Such an amazing, emotional read.
I have a full review here for this. A new favourite for sure.
Rating: 5 Stars

Lunar Living by Kirsty Gallagher

The moon and spirituality fascinate me. Not sure how much of this moon magic I believe in but it was interesting to read. It was mostly for research purposes.
I won’t rate it for that reason.

Finally,
*Cursed by Marissa Meyer

I was very lucky to receive an ARC of this. I read Gilded last year and loved it, I highly anticipated this sequel. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Review coming soon!
Rating: 2.75-3 Stars

Not the best reading month. I’m doing Nanowrimo this month, I don’t expect to read a ton but hopefully, what I do read will be good!
Let me know what you read in October!

The Perfect Autumn Read | Book Review: Sadie by Courtney Summers (audiobook)

Goodreads synopsis:

A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial-like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. And an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about.

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

My thoughts:

It’s an ugly tale, told so amazingly.
It gives the harsh reality of girls that go missing, and the book’s ending reflects that.

This is not an easy read at all. It’s very graphic and violent and definitely not for everyone. I will list triggers at the end of my review, there is a lot! It’s gritty, dark and devastating – It will really move you. It’s a book I will never forget reading, will likely reread it in the future.

This book can only be described as heart-wrenching.
The characters and the story feel so real, it was like listening to a documentary. I felt so deeply invested in Sadie’s story. This is the kind of book you cannot get out of your mind while reading it. I just needed to know more, I was both horrified and hooked throughout. It’s a hard listen but also I couldn’t stop.

The podcast element really shines in the audiobook.
Had I read this physically, I’m not sure I’d feel the same. The story lends itself to being heard rather than read.
The narrators were great! It has an excellent cast of voices, it all felt so real.
Rebecca Soler does Sadie’s chapters – She’s one of my favourite narrators having listened to a good few books she’s narrated.

I appreciate the representation in this story, I have never read/listened to anything with the main character having a stutter before. I can’t comment on the accuracy side as I don’t have one. From what I can tell it was well portrayed.

Trigger/Content warnings: Pedophilia, ableism, grief, death, murder, abandonment, assault, sexual assault, substance abuse, explicit violence + more (basically very very dark and all the triggers you can imagine)

Rating: 5 Stars

If you’re looking for a dark, mystery book to read this Autumn/Winter – I highly recommend this.

September Wrap Up | 2022

Happy Spooky Season!
September slipped away fast…

I read a few books this month. All pretty average. Did read a nice variety of genres though!

The first book I finished was
Persuasion by Jane Austen

I listened to the audiobook and read the physical book.
Enjoyable read. I love Austen’s writing. This had a lovely romance, more so than her other books.
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Then I listened to
My Dear Friend Janet

and From the Desk of Lady Miss by Keke Palmer (audiobooks)

I thought the first was amusing. Didn’t enjoy the second. Will likely not continue this series. Keke is a bit too dramatic of a narrator to me. It felt overacted and was a tad annoying. Hard to focus on the story.
Rating: 3 Stars / 2 Stars

*The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar

Rating: 3 Stars

Attached by Dr Amir Levine and Rachel S.F. Heller

This was interesting, I found it an insightful read. I learned a lot about myself and attachment in relationships. It was nice to read some non-fiction for a change. I am a fan of self-help/mental health literature but never read one to do with love/relationships before. Has definitely opened my eyes and changed my way of thinking! Definitely worth a read.
Rating: 4 Stars

What did you read in September?