Hello, lovelies!

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a lovely December (as lovely as 2020 will allow, at any rate). After a last hurrah of very busy franticness at my day job, I took two weeks off and let me tell you, that has been heavenly. I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a long time, able to sleep as much as I need, work on my blog and other personal projects without needing to worry about checking my email; plus, having the freedom to choose some days to just be lazy and play games all day, if I want to. It’s been glorious. I’m trying to not let myself become completely bummed out having to return to work remotely on Monday today, actually (since I wrote this post on the weekend, yet it’s going live today! Instead, I’m trying to get excited that I can go back to a job I do enjoy, even if it’s at times draining, stressful and certainly underpaid.

I got to see my parents and siblings after isolating for two weeks and meet my niece for the first time, which was pretty amazing. I’ve since learned that my Dad has been exposed to the virus about a week after we saw them, so I am waiting anxiously to see if he contracted it or not, and praying that he, and none of my family members who live with him, have gotten it, as a few of those members are high risk, including a newborn.

Otherwise, I was working a lot of this launch and prepping posts for January, which has been really lovely! I’m feeling cautiously hopeful for 2021, but I’m trying not to hold my breath.

But, let’s see how December faired, eh?

What I Read

The Bone Ships by RJ Barker

What I Hauled

ARCS

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (Orbit)

Thank you so much to Orbit for the review copy of one of my most anticipated reads!!

Library Snags:

**Nothing this month**

Purchased:

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The Bard’s Blade by Brian Anderson
Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Linn
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad
Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside out and Never Say Diet Again by Rebecca Scritchfield
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell
Child of a Hidden Sea by A.M. Dellamonica
Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade
The Women’s War by Jenna Glass
The Afterward by EK Johnson

I got some money for Christmas, okay. 😂

Received for Review:

**Nothing this month**

Gifts:

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The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik
To be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
Scythe by Neil Shusterman

Thank you to my sister, brother and mother for these kind gifts over Christmas! 🖤

What I Posted

In this section, I like to share posts that I personally wrote this past month that I either really enjoyed writing, am really proud of or wish might have gotten a little more attention.

**I didn’t really post anything because I went on a hiatus to go self-hosted, so check out January’s wrap-up to see some of my favorite posts from this month!**

Reading Challenges Update

A new section I decided to add this year, so I can actually keep track of the challenges I signed up for (so I’ll hopefully actually complete them this time around).

Since I will cover this on my 2020 Reads post coming out this Wednesday, I’m just going to leave the final counts and then move on! So, check out that post if you want more details or musings in regards to these challenges!

2020 Discussion Challenge: 13/12 Discussion Posts

Year of the Asian Readathon: 4/20

StartonYourShelfathon: 15/143 (7/67 ARCs)

Goodreads: 30/150

Intentions Update

Another new section! To try and hold myself accountable, I’ll be sharing where I’m at on the goals I’ve made for myself this year, all of which I detailed in this post.

Overall, I, um, didn’t do so well on my 2020 intentions this year, which isn’t really surprising, tbh. Again, I’m going to cover this in more detail in my 2021 intentions post, going live this Friday, so we’ll just move on and focus on what I can do going forward, instead of what I didn’t achieve in the past.

Write two novels, edit one and write for me ✖️

Productive Routine That Promotes Self-Care ✖️

Six Clients ✔️

Read More ✖️

Cook New Recipes ✖️

Cherish Connections and Friendships More ✔️

Less Social Media ✖️

Finish Home Projects ✖️

Posts I Enjoyed

Curious what blog posts I really enjoyed around the blogsophere this month? Check them out here:

⚔️ CW @ The Quiet Pond shares an amazing blogging resource on how to write book reviews when you feel out of your depth or inexperienced! Also, this recommendation post on books inspired by mythologies *other* than Greek mythology is *chefs kiss*.

⚔️ Amber @ The Literary Phoenix talks about why StoryGraph is amazing and a must switch from Goodreads!

⚔️ Meredith launched her new editorial services: Crosbie Editorial! Historical, fantasy or even academic writing, you don’t want to miss working with someone who is so supportive and an amazing editor!

⚔️ Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books shares a list of amazing time management tips for bloggers!

⚔️ Shealea @ Shut Up, Shealea created an AMAZING free database of Asian-authored books out in 2021 that you should totally check out.

⚔️ Kal @ Reader Voracious shares my favorite spreadsheet of all time for all of your reading tracking and book blogging needs.

And that’s a wrap for December AND for 2020. I know 2021 won’t magically be any better, but let’s hope it doesn’t become any worse. I wish you joy, rest, productivity, forgiveness, hope, love and strength for the upcoming year. While I don’t know what the new year will bring, I’m excited to be here in my corner of the internet with you all!