A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: nine books read (two from my Up Next shelf and three re-reads), three new books I want to read, including a young adult novel that addresses the adultification of Black girls, a classical historical fiction novel exploring a Black man’s family history and a compilation of essays on racial injustice challenging Canada’s politeness stereotype and my thoughts on re-starting my Up Next progress and a new release featuring a gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast!
Updates
| Last Week’s Blog Updates | Last Week’s Goodreads Reviews |
|---|---|
| 📖 The Weekly Wrap: December 28th to January 3rd 📖 The Monthly Wrap: December | 📚 Waiting on Rain by Claudia Connor 📚 There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon 📚 Waiting For You by Claudia Connor 📚 Realm of Knights by Jennifer Anne Davis |
Contents
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Weekly Review
What I’ve Read This Week
Key: 🔁 re-read| ❌ DNF | 📜 from my Up Next shelf | 📲 eARC
- Waiting on Rain (McKinney/Walker Brothers, #3) by Claudia Connor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- There’s Something About Sweetie (Dimple and Rishi, #2) by Sandhya Menon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Love At First Fight (Dimple and Rishi, #2.5) by Sandhya Menon ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Waiting For You (McKinney/Walker Brothers, #2) by Claudia Connor 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women, #1) by Evie Dunmore 📜 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Daddy’s Worst Nightmare by Jessa Kane ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Love in the Afternoon (The Hathaways, #5) by Lisa Kleypas 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Realm of Knights (Knights of the Realm, #1) by Jennifer Anne Davis 📜 ⭐️⭐️
- Kulti by Mariana Zapata 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Reading Progress
Last week was a hectic mix of a rapidly approaching deadline and a flurry of books read in an attempt to relieve my anxiety. As a result, for the first time ever, I’ve delayed posting my Weekly Wrap until Tuesday! Also, I completely underestimated how many books I read last week. The shift into 2021 has come with a learning curve as I figure out how to balance my new responsibilities (it’s so nice to be pack in class again). Unfortunately, I haven’t made a dent in any of the books I want to finish before February. As I mentioned on my Instagram, my mood recently has been strictly historical romance or sweet, young adult romances.
Speaking of sweet, young adult romances: I finally got around reading the second book in the Dimple and Rishi series by Sandhya Menon, There’s Something About Sweetie. While I preferred the romance (ahem, hero) in the first book more, I loved Sweetie’s characterization! The best part was how her character growth was about learning to set healthy boundaries with her mother. Overall, it was such a great romance and coming of age story.
The emotional chaos over the past few days resulted in a delayed Weekly Wrap post and a delayed posting of my December Wrap on Instagram. I decided to amalgamate the two Instagram posts (my Weekly Wrap and December Wrap) this week to ensure I’m caught up.
Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morgenthaler was one of my two five-star reviews in December. It was the perfect book for my current mood at the time: a sweet romance, non-asshole Hero (a surprisingly big ask) and assertive Heroine. You can check out the rest of my December Wrap here.
Up Next Shelf Progress
A reminder: my Up Next Shelf is comprised of all the unread books I want to read and have purchased.
I’m re-starting my Up Next Shelf for 2021! This means new graphs, and re-starting my progress count from zero. In 2020 I read 48 books from my Up Next Shelf, and my plan for 2021 is to double that number (considering how much I lament said shelf).
The total number of books on my Up Next Shelf has decreased from 94 to 92 books and my books read increased to 2 books (since I’m starting from zero this new year).
Net Progress = Books Added – Books Read
My Net Progress increased to 2 books which means I added more books than I read last week.
Want to Read Updates
You will like Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson if you appreciate:
✨ Young Adult Fiction
✨ Mystery Thriller
✨ Explores the adultification and societal devaluing of Black girls
✨ Unpacks the intersections of the #MeToo movement, racism and trauma
You will like Roots by Alex Haley if you appreciate:
✨ Classic
✨ Historical Fiction
✨ History of slavery in America
✨ Family legacy and history passed through storytelling
The Upcoming Week
To Be Read
Get the Book: 🇨🇦
I’ve been repeating the same to-be-read list since November, and I’ve still made no progress on any of those books (see what I mean by reading last week’s Weekly Wrap here). Therefore, I’ve decided to discuss my current reading mood and the books I’ve been reading to assuage said mood.
I’m still stuck in my desire to only read sweet romance novels. In my reverse harem reading group on Facebook, I discovered Handfuls of Shattered Pieces by Kelly Taylor, a very dark but romantically sweet reverse harem novel. If you have a weakness for reverse harem romances with a Heroine having to overcome trauma and sweet Heroes who support her through it, the Pieces of Us series is perfect. Although I admit the Heroine, Olivia’s miraculous physical recovery throughout the book is not realistic. I’m currently reading the second book in the series (imaged left): Shadows of Shattered Souls.
To Look Forward To This Week
I love fairytale retellings, and a gender-swapped reimagining of Beauty and the Beast hits all my “instant purchase” buttons! Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer releases today, and I’m so excited to get my hands on a copy. I also love that it’s a standalone novel. All the reviews make it sound like the novel will be perfect for my current reading mood.
I’m still finding my groove in 2021 so I’m planning to start posting new reviews next week. 2021 is all about realistic goal setting and considering Friday is a very important deadline for me, I’m going to be kind to myself (and hopefully reduce some stress). Also, I’ve decided to create a new page for my 2021 reading habits. I want a central page where I can capture my reading stats and goals, so that’s currently in development!
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