I have temporarily come back to life to do a quick round-up for 2019 in preparation for a brand new decade. Technically, I should be writing up some final lesson plans before I start student teaching but I've procrastinated most of 2019 so let's end on a strong note for something.

   

I just barely made my Goodreads goal which goes to show that 2019 was a bit of a struggle when it came to reading. For some reason, I wasn't finding the same amount of joy which made picking up a new book pretty difficult - to be honest, I think the number of books I've dnf-ed is almost as much as the number of books I actually read. However, I still found some favorites and started a couple series that I'm excited to continue into the new year.

the winter of the witch

Hands down my favorite book of 2019 and the most satisfying conclusion of a series that I have ever read. Each chapter seemed to up the stakes a little bit higher and I fell in love with the writing style and characters all over again. 10/10 highly recommend this entire trilogy.

the shadow glass

This book also marks the end to another one of my favorite series and because my love for this trilogy as a whole was so character-driven, the thought of never reading about them makes me a little sad. Regardless, there were so many loose ends that were wrapped up and all the wonderful interactions ADD

spin the dawn

A new favorite that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I read it - Spin the Dawn has such a beautifully constructed world and storyline that it reads like a butt-kicking fairytale with a pair of magical golden scissors. I've already pre-ordered the sequel and everything, July just needs to come soon-ish.

the fountains of silence

Historical fiction always hits me with the right amount of nostalgics emotions and Ruta Sepetys is the master of that. I love that I'm always able to learn a bit more from a historical perspective whenever reading her books and that she focuses on educating her readers in addition to crafting a beautifully poignant story.

According to Spotify, I spent almost 10,000 minutes listening to Taeyeon and that is 10,000 minutes well spent in my opinion. I also basically had CLC's No.1 mini album on repeat for the entire year which I'm also not complaining about - the fact that they had three comebacks this year is a blessing from CUBE. Here's to a hopeful first full album in 2020 and all the wins possible. Also, LOONA just dropped a # teaser and I am so ready - BBC please send some new music my way.

I actually watched quite a bit of movies and shows this year so I thought I could do a quick summary of all the minutes I spent in this entertainment category.
   
Personally, I'm quite surprised after looking at some lists that these were the ones that stood out to me. Hotel Del Luna is a no brainer, I was in love with everything about this drama and IU literally slayed my existence. Toy Story 4 is just nostalgia in a movie for me and I admit to bawling in theaters when realizing that the end of this story marks another finite end of my childhood.

I can't believe I'm putting Frozen 2 on the list, old me would be shocked - but honestly, my expectations were so low and I did end up really enjoying the character and plot development. And of course, who could not include How to Train Your Dragon 3 - another conclusion to a lovable franchise and the music score is also just A++.

And that's my year. It feels underwhelming in a way but I'm still glad I was able to experience so many different favorites. I'm already setting up plans and lists for 2020 and with less than half an hour left in the decade left, here's to a successful and productive new start to the road ahead.

In retrospect, reading eight books is not terrible by any means, but I definitely planned on reading a lot more with a more consistent schedule. With summer officially over and school back in session, I need to once again refigure out my life schedule and hopefully remember to incorporate book things into that mess - we'll see how that goes.

      

the rose society by marie lu - (★★★★) 

power is addicting but choices can be damning

I flew through this book so fast and for some reason haven't made the move to read the finale. The character development for each individual reflected the changing pace of the storyline which amps up the tension and stakes for the third novel. I'm almost scared to continue because I know the ending will take down the bad guy but I want so badly for the 'villain' to be victorious.

the language of thorns by leigh bardugo - (★★★★)

the classic fairytales reimagined in gruesome beauty

The buzz around Leigh Bardugo's series has been tugging at my attention for a while so I thought I'd get my toes wet with a collection of short stories. I love fairytale re-tellings but after a while, they sometimes can become repetitive or too out of the box. This wasn't either case - I loved the unique and slightly sinister atmosphere each story adopted and it definitely piqued my interest for more of her works.

young love by janelle stalder - (★★)

good girl with a golden bright future and a brooding neighbor she has the hots for

It has been years since I read a New Adult novel but some tropes have remained ingrained in my memory regardless. This book was just trope upon trope foundationally without much a distinctive plotline. It was predictable in a way that felt underwhelming and addressed the "harder" topics in ways that personally I couldn't quite get on board with.

      

descendant of the crane by joan he - (★★★★)

humans have to pay for the mistakes that gods make

m y    r e v i e w 
I went into this book with very little background information and admittedly high expectations. The story is one full of thought-provoking politics and a call to attention for the bigger problems at stake. Like I mentioned in my review, I fell in love with the potential this book has to flesh out that bigger conflict and will now wait patiently for the opportunity to read more from this world/author.

monstress volumes 1-3 by majorie liu - (★★★★)

lots of death and violence to find answers accompanied by cute fox child and cat

Completely picked this up on a whim and flew through all three volumes in a day. The art is graphic and gorgeous and completely out of the box for me. There are so many things happening at the same time and the intricacy of everything is stunning. I also adore Kippa and she is (lowkey) the reason I will keep my eye out for the next installment.

throne of glass by sarah j maas - (★★★)

to get the job offer of a lifetime you just need to pass some extreme tests...easy

After years of waiting, I finally caved and read one of the bookternet's most beloved titles. I've heard a lot of praise for the Throne of Glass series and many reviews agree that the first book is not the best but it gets better. As of right now, I'm still not sure if I want to invest in this series since its opener was quite underwhelming but I might see if I can pick up the rest of the books on audio. Celeana and cast just didn't quite make a big enough impression on me to capture my interest.

Since school will now become the center of my attention for the next couple of months, I did want to set some goals for myself to keep the motivation strong so that I don't fall back into an academic induced reading slump. I've been giving myself little monthly reading challenges and thought it'd be helpful to list them here as well so I can come back and track my progress at the end of the month.

listen to an audiobook
read a book a week - approx. 4 books total
read a new to me author
read a popular book
read a book I brought to college

I'm definitely hopeful that I'll get to everything on this list but we're already one week into September and I haven't read anything just yet. If you've started school once again, here's to a productive semester and a reminder to take breaks and do something you love (like read) every once in a while.

A couple of eons ago when I first joined the blogosphere - I was introduced to the concept of a readthon through the ever beloved BOUT OF BOOKS. Years later, I still get super excited when another round rolls by and I start prepping my tbr. 

My favorite thing about BOUT OF BOOKS is it's incredibly low-keep atmosphere. There are fun daily challenges but how you design your tbr is completely up for grabs. Since I had such a successful run with the Reading Rush last month, I might have gotten a bit too excited and ambitious and here are the books I plan on reading.

      

the first girl child by amy harmon - netgalley eARC

crown of coral and pearl by mara rutherford - netgalley eARC

the midnight star by marie lu - own/physical

      

onyx and ivory by mindee arnett - hoopla/audiobook

stronger than a bronze dragon by mary fan - own/ebook

throne of glass by sarah j maas - own/physical

I seem to have an ongoing color scheme that is 100% unintentional but it looks pretty cool. Honestly, the more I look at this list the more excited I get to start reading so it's probably time to actually begin - if you're participating, what books are on your tbr?

Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own.
Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death... because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.
Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?
In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, debut author Joan He introduces a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggling to do right in a world brimming with deception.

it is time for change
Descendant of the Crane begins with the murder of a king and the princess committing treason - quite bold moves to begin a story with for sure. One of the most central themes  throughout the novel is this idea of radical change - of tearing down the existing government structure and replacing it with something better. This process, as we all know, doesn't come without a price and it was quite interesting to get into the heads of all the different characters to analyze their motives for trying to birth a new social order.

jump cuts
Much of the written story feels like a movie with several scenes that are all just pasted together with no transition. Especially at the beginning, the scenes and instances change so rapidly that the plot feels like a badly edited film. With that said, this is a debut novel and honestly isn't the worse one I've read - the pacing of the story (with all the jump cut editing) was still able to keep me continuously engaged. The author shines in bringing her visions to life in a very simplistic and convincing way which, honestly, can be relief when many writing styles now focus on overly lyrical and vivid storytelling methods. 

enemies all around
Princess Hesina lives in a very tumultuous time with enemies that check her powers at every turn. She is a ruler with much to learn and a knack for becoming easily overwhelmed by forces both external and internal to her. It's easy to see her character as weak but one must be blind to not observe her growth. I loved the historical Han court life that is described and the treachery that lurks in the hearts of all. Hesina could easily outsmart her enemies, she just needs to the time to learn and believe in her abilities.

protecting those we love requires sacrifices
Sacrifices take on such an interesting definition that changes with every character. However, the recurring theme that links them all together is the understanding that those we sacrifice for sometimes cannot see the reason of our actions at the time. Particularly from Hesina's perspective - while her enemies are drawing closer, her family and friends are making decisions that drastically alter her path in ways that she doesn't understand. She does become the puppet of other people's actions and ambitions, yet, it is their sacrifices that continue to mold and sharpen her character.

potential built on a strong foundation
I was quite conflicted after I finish reading Descendant of the Crane because it left me with so many strange emotions. If I were to analyze the story solely based on the writing and development of the plot, I would give it a solid 3.5 but I left this story feeling excited for the potential to see the greater story arc unfold.

Princess Hesina is not the most memorable character for me but her perspective of the story has just set the wheels turning for a bigger revolution and that's what excites me. I know the author has stated that nothing is currently in the works, but I will patiently wait for hope for the future when she can revisit this world and finish the greater story.

Recently, I finished a book that left me with a bit of an existential rating crisis. The book itself comes from a genre a rarely dabble in and has been sitting on my shelves for quite some time. While I did fly through the story quickly, I was stuck on deciding how I wanted to rate the story.

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After browsing through Goodreads trying to come up with some comparisons that could help me narrow down my options, I realized an interesting habit of mine. Being quite wary of confrontations, I tended to slap on a three-star rating to many books that I found to be just okay reads and I rarely gave anything a one or two-star rating. There was some skewed understanding in my mind that chalked a lower rating as somehow damaging the image of the book for others.

While there are exceptions to that understanding - I didn't think my dislike of this existential novel warranted that type of damage. After some (probably useless) debate, I came to the realization that I had fallen prey to a construed sense of what the rating system is and the pressure of using that system on a social platform. If I did not use Goodreads to track my reading progress, I could very well not have the same conflict writing a two-star next to this novel's title in my journal.

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So the triumphant conclusion for a conflicting hour of my life - it's ok to give 2 stars. Completely mind-boggling I know but I genuinely had a mental crisis over this. According to my personal scale, a two-star means I didn't enjoy the story and it is an accurate representation of how I felt. That does not make this novel less substantial in worth. This could be the perfect book for someone who loves that particular genre and make another person smile until their cheeks hurt because it touches their heart.

For me, that novel did not hit those spots but that is perfectly ok. At the end of it all, that is the beauty of the written word. A unique combination of spaces and letters form to create individual stories that impact each reader differently. That is what draws us into reading - that personal connection we receive from the stories we come across.

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Honestly, I'm probably just in shock because this is my first two-star book this year, but I hope I managed to put some of my thoughts into a combination of spaces and letters that get my point across. I'm also curious - when you start a book, how does your mind approach rating? Do you start with five stars and go down or the other way around?

This was supposed to go up last week but I somehow got either food poisoning or a stomach bug so it took me a while but I have risen from the dead. I'm still a bit surprised at the total number, but I read 8 books in July - E I G H T. That's absolutely insane and the even crazier part is that I read most of them in one week during the Reading Rush. This is the first time I truly went all in and actually felt accomplished during a readathon. I guess you can say it's been a good month

    

the young elites by marie lu - (★★★☆) - book junkie trials // book with royalty
power is addicting and people cannot be trusted
m y   r e v i e w 
For the first novel in a trilogy, The Young Elites sets up the origins for our morally ambiguous anti-hero Adelina. The courts of Estenzia are incredibly lush and exciting - throw in a heist to overthrow the incompetent king and Adelina's struggle between choosing the "evident" good and her growing addiction to her dark powers - and you have a great introduction to a fantastic new world.

the smoke thieves by sally green - (★★★★) - reading rush // purple cover
kings are inconveniently incompetent and the kingdoms are falling apart
There are so many perspectives that coming up with a summary is difficult - regardless, the story introduces a wonderful and diverse cast of characters who each are inevitably drawn into the mess of fantasy politics involving a highly forbidden drug and war is about to happen.

wicked fox by kat cho - (★★★☆) - reading rush // non-human character + debut
k-drama in book form teach why you should not hold grudges
Reading this was so weird and fulfilling at the same time. I was experiencing all the k-drama feels but I was physically holding a book instead of my laptop (so strange). As with any k-drama, you have all the cliched tropes: rebellious bad boy everyone loves, an aloof girl with a secret, cheesy lines, and heart-wrenching feels - what more can you want?

    

stardust by neil gaiman - (★★★☆) - reading rush + book junkie // book to movie
your classic fairytale story of self-discovery, love, and heart-eating witches
I loved the movie as a kid so being able to finally read the source material and rewatch the movie was a dream. This truly is a textbook fairytale story but with a special spoonful of snarky and fun - I genuinely love these characters.

making faces by amy harmon - (★★★★★) - book junkie // tear-jerker + favorite
each face is beautiful because they represent an individual story to tell
This was a favorite of mine and after a tearful re-read it remains as a favorite. I forgot how touching and meaningful Amy Harmon's words are and was reminded by the wave of emotions I experienced. Ambrose, Fern, Bailey - every one of those characters feel so incredibly real and my heart can't handle it all.

nimona by noelle stevenson - (★★★☆) - book junkie // steal a book from another person's tbr
a good-at-heart villain and his orange shapeshifting sidekick kick butt
A light read I picked up on a whim after watching Chandler's Reading Rush vlog that I fell in love with. It's the right combination of whimsical fairytale tropes and gorgeous artwork with down-to-earth banter that just hits all the right places.

  

the poppy war by r.f. kuang - (★★★?) - reading rush // book you meant to read last year
opium is the gateway to talk to your gods but self-combustion is an unforunate side effect 
FINALLY FINISHED - it only took me three months. This book was a lot harder to get through because it was full of war, tragedy, and bloodshed. Just serves a small reminder of how brutal high fantasies can be - story-wise I'm very conflicted on how I feel but writing-wise, this was so solid.

the bird and the blade by megan bannen - (★★★★) - reading rush // 5 word title
unrequited love and turandot's terrifying marriage proposal 
I skimmed this last year when it first came out and was once again immediately struck by how easily this story grabs and drowns you in feels. My heart stopped beating multiple times throughout because of events and all the relationships especially our main two are just precious and I wish I could protect them all.



I definitely had way too much fun with those summaries but I hope they convince someone to pick the book if they haven't heard of it before. August is here and I am dreading the start of school but I am on a reading kick so here's to staying motivated and moving forward.