It’s been a hot minute, but I’m here to pop out and send greetings!

And uh… fill you in on my life’s happenings for March and April, which is about as sad as February’s and January’s. Just minus the health problems, unless we count work stress affecting me physically in addition to mentally.

But I hope everyone is doing well and taking care of themselves!

March and April Musings

• [10 Mar] A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik ★★★½
• [24 Mar] 2022 Planning + Journaling: Bullet Journal Setup + Digital Apps

• [7 Apr] The Cup and the Prince by Day Leitao ★★½
• [7 Apr] The Curse and the Prince by Day Leitao ★★
• [7 Apr] Because of Us by Nina Arada ★★★★½

Books Hoarded

So I got nothing in March or April, which my wallet and bank account, as always, will be thankful for. (Although it was absolutely tempting to get some books during Independent Bookstore Day, but I’m trying to save here.)

• Always a Bridesmaid by Cindi Madsen (publisher)

Books Devoured

I thought February was a good sign reading wise, but it quickly became not the case at all since I read exactly one book each month.

• Because of Us by Nina Arada
• Spy X Family Vol. 8 by Tatsuya Endo

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

Not many movies or shows were watched, sadly.

• Iron Man 3 – I’ve heard mixed reactions with most of them being negative so I was wary going in, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting? It wasn’t good (because I pretty much forgot what happened mostly – we’ll blame my lack of brain cells), but it wasn’t bad either.
• Spider-Man: Far from Home – So… I accidentally spoiled myself with Endgame. (It’ll be fine; I’ll hopefully forget it.)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I also barely kept up with music as well, but here’s a few releases that I’ve jamming along to (which surprisingly is a lot more when I actually put this list together):

• I’ve IVE by IVE – Kitsch is extremely catchy and I just can’t get this song out of my playlist. Send help.
• Honestly by Limelight
• expérgo by NMIXX – I personally hated their debut song and had a love/hate relationship with later releases (Dice was pretty good), but their latest release is by far my favorite.
• History of Kingdom Pt. VI. Mujin by Kingdom – As always, I have a love/hate relationship with their title songs (something about the production combined with the vocals just doesn’t… it doesn’t mesh well – aka it feels a little off – because I absolutely love the instrumental version), but their b-sides I generally love them all or have a few favorites. This album’s favorites are Love is Pain and Song of the Wind.
• Rover by Kai – As much as Kai is one of my favorite members of EXO, his previous releases aren’t really my type of music to listen to (which is fine). Rover, somehow, is kind of just spinning around in my head as much as Kitsch has.
• Flower by Jisoo
• Nugudom by Craxy

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

The last two months honestly feel like an absolute blur. Not in the sense of, “Time passes by so fast,” (though that’s accurate as well) but more in the sense of… brain fog? I guess. The only thing I really remember clearly is things got bad enough mentally (we love work stress) that I started getting physically sick (won’t get into too much detail here though), so I spent most of my off days in March doing nothing* unless it was to go grocery shopping.

*I miss blogging and visiting blogs and just being a functioning human being with more than a shell of a brain cell.

Other Things I Did/Attempt to Do (But Really There was a Lot of Gaming)

• Become obsessed with Cookie Clicker way too much
• Got Kiwi Clicker while it was on sale (and got a little obsessed but not as much Cookie Clicker)
• Got roped into playing Final Fantasy XV: War for Eos (we don’t talk about the amount of time I spent on this in the past couple of weeks but we will say I was trying to complete an offer for gems to read webcomics and somehow I just can’t get myself away from it)
  • I thought after Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire I would be done with this, lol
• Ran out of my emotional support chocolate (but I got a restock recently!)

It has been a very hot minute since I last did mini reviews — well over a year ago! The last set of mini reviews I did was back in November 2021 and it was to clear out some super old reviews (I had more, but I later opted to just post them on Goodreads only to get them out of the way). Thankfully, no terribly old reviews this time around, at least.

The Cup and the Prince by Day Leitao

When a girl set on revenge meets an arrogant prince, sparks fly and tempers rise.

Yes, Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a very good reason: Spite.

Her ex was an asshole and thought she could never attain glory on her own. Just because she's a girl. So she took his place.

Now she's competing for the legendary Blood Cup, representing the Dark Valley, a place where shadow creatures spawn in the dark and survive in sunlight. It's her chance to prove her worth and bring glory to her people. If she wins, of course.

But winning is far from easy.The younger prince thinks she's a fragile damsel who doesn't belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate her at all costs, he's stacking the challenges against her. Ha. All he's doing is making her want to win this competition more than ever.

The older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in dangerous flirting games.Flirting. The last thing she wanted.

And then there's someone trying to kill her.

Trigger & Content Warnings: cheating, misogyny

The moment Zora decided she was going to take her ex’s place in the Royal Games as revenge because he thought she could never attain glory on her own (or do things by herself) was the moment I decided I might enjoy (even love) this book. Because that is peak queen behavior and I love she sees her worth (wish I could do the same sometimes).

Or I’m a petty bitch. Also possible (but her ex is a cheating scumbag, so I think he deserved it).

Unfortunately, while The Cup and the Prince has a great concept, with all the elements that I love in a book (revenge and royal competition), it was not so great at the execution. At least it was a quick read.

I think the book’s strongest element is the themes explored throughout by Leitao, especially being female in a male dominated world, which is a huge, integral part of the novel. Zora is the only female at the Royal Games, and she’s mocked and underestimated from almost everyone around her the moment the games begin. She doesn’t let that take her down though, and I love some moments in the games where she proves this to everyone.

Everything else, however, was where things didn’t turn out so great. The writing isn’t the greatest and doesn’t flow well; implied romance felt shoehorned (seriously, the chemistry was just… no); characters are mostly unforgettable and relatively flat (even Zora, as much as I love her), but I did like how they fit into the overall plot. Leitao does a pretty good job of keeping you knowing as much as the protagonist does and doesn’t show all the cards until the end, but I felt this backfired in the world-building, which we sadly don’t get to know too much.

All that said, this was quick to read, and I’m honestly curious how things will develop in the second book, so I dove into The Curse and the Prince shortly after finishing.

The Curse and the Prince by Day Leitao

A troubled prince.
A deadly curse.
A mysterious cup.
And the power to save or doom the kingdom.

Of course things didn’t go as planned at the Royal Games. When do things go as planned?

Now Zora is on the run, and has to join a disgraced prince in order to retrieve a powerful magical artifact that might undo her valley’s curse. For the first time in her life, she has real hope for her people.

Problem is, for the second time in her life, she’s falling for someone she shouldn’t. Finding a hidden object is hard enough on its own, she could do without the heart palpitations and lack of air. And she could certainly focus better without the constant memory of his lips on hers, his arms around her… Gaah! See? How can she avoid pursuers and decipher enigmatic writings when her brain has been turned to mush? Painful, hopeless mush.

But the real trouble is that there’s more than one curse in the kingdom. And not enough objects or time to get rid of them all.

Trigger & Content Warnings: sexual harassment, death, periods (mentioned)

The Cup and the Prince turned out to be more of a disappointment, but I was fully invested in finding out what happens in The Curse and the Prince after the ending of the first book. And I was very much hoping the second book in the Kingdom of Curses and Shadows trilogy would be an improvement from the first, but it just wasn’t in the cards. I DNFed this at 41%.

• There’s more POV switching in this one; the first simply had Zora and Griffin (and one other for a chapter). While I’m all for getting into the heads of new characters in sequels, when they’re mostly unforgettable, it makes things difficult to waddle through.
• The writing flows a tad better compared to its predecessor, but not by much.
• Literally nothing happens in the amount that I read.
• Moment of appreciation, but I love the discussion of periods were included, even if it’s just 1-2 sentences. So little books talk about this, especially in the fantasy genre. It’s such a small thing, but definitely worth mentioning (at least, in my opinion).
• There’s more world-building in the sequel, which I loved reading about. I wish we got to spend more time in the Dark Valley where Zora grew up because I feel like it’s such an integral part of the story and plot of the series from what we did get to know.

This ultimately felt like a bit of a repeat of the first book where Leitao only shows a few cards and keeping us on our toes (mostly whatever the character knows) and then will only reveal the rest at the last possible moment (and I’ll get suckered into reading the next book because I’m simple). The only difference here is Zora and Griffin are on the run after nothing goes according to plan at the Royal Games, and I felt like too little was being shown that added with all the other issues and the pacing of the book, it was a disappointment.

Because of Us by Nina Arada

He was my first love. He was my twin brother's best friend. He is my undoing.

Wes Miller gave me an unforgettable summer, but our chapter ended as quickly as those warm nights spent in his arms, and I left town with a broken heart.

Seven years later I return stronger than I've ever been, and our worlds collide. His presence awakens emotions that should have been left in the past, and I’m overwhelmed with how desirable I feel beneath that familiar ocean hued gaze.

He wastes no time trying to right his wrongs with gifts that prove he hasn’t forgotten a thing. The tattoos that mark his skin show he’s changed. And the way he loves to hate my workout shorts tells me he’d worship my body just like he used to.

There’s no denying the fire still burning between us, but can I trust him? Can I give him my heart and go all in like we did that summer? Will forgiving him destroy the years of progress I’ve made?

Is Wes Miller worth a second chance?

Trigger & Content Warnings: sexual assault (on page), alcoholism, car accident, death of a loved one, drunk driving (mentioned), abortion (mentioned)

Whew, Because of Us gets heavier the further you get along in the book, but it was so worth the emotions it brought out in me.

I love good second-chance romances (the history! the pining! the tension! chef’s kiss), but they usually end up a hit or miss for me. Arada’s debut novel was definitely not a disappointment – the chemistry between Josie and Wes? AMAZING. The entire time I felt like Josie’s close friend Cassie when she and her partner Brandon found out they had a history and just started shipping them together (Cassie is such a fun character; I love her and must protect this sunshine).

The book alternates between seven years ago when Josie and Wes form a secret relationship and the present when they cross paths again. While the alternating might not be for everyone, I felt like it added a lot of depth to their characters and it was great seeing how they’ve developed over the years. I also think had the story focused solely on the present day, it wouldn’t have been as emotionally impactful as it ended up being. I laughed, I wanted to cry, I wanted to hug the characters.

Because of Us isn’t for everyone though. It has its light and fun moments; I enjoyed this a lot and I’m looking forward to reading Arada’s next novel. But a good portion of the book dances around heavy topics that’s very central to Wes and Josie’s history. It also goes into a fair amount of detail as well, so if you do plan on picking this up, I would definitely take note of the trigger warnings.

Last year, when talking about my 2021 Bullet Journal, I said, “So in 2022, I’m challenging myself to go in with the free reigns and creativity of blackout journals, and seeing where I go from there.”

And I fully intended to utilize the blackout journal because they’re uber cool, and I had a great time making layouts. But then I stopped. And I abandoned bullet journaling for the second time. sad trumpet noises

I did not stop planning, though (consistency might not work for me, but there’s some sense of organized chaos to appear put together and provide me a guide at least). 2022 started out with bullet journaling, but it was also a foray back into using digital apps, all of which I’ll mention in this post and how I use them.

(I’m aware posts like these are generally posted in January, but I truly could not bring myself to write it earlier, so here we are nearly at the end of March.)

Blackout Bullet Journal

2022 was a lot of figuring out what works best for me in a bullet journal, so surely 2023 will be a little easier because I’ve figured out exactly what layouts I want? I went from an A5 notebook to a B5 one, and it is so very spacey and roomy (especially when creating my media consumed layouts – there was a lot of consumption in January since I was stuck in my room waiting for my COVID test) and I was overall very excited to jump into the year.

Switching to a blackout journal (where all the pages are black instead of white), was challenging in its own way, but also fun, because I figured out what I wanted, mostly. I got to play with gradients here and there (you can see it in action with the bit of purple I attempted in my 2022 cover above, which didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, but it wasn’t terrible) and really got to use my white gel pens to fully play with minimalist styles. I also upgraded from 120gsm to 160gsm for my journal, which wasn’t something I was looking for since 120gsm doesn’t bleed for me, but it was handy to have in case I pressed just a little too hard.

Honestly, I preferred the blackout journal over the regular white layout journal that most people use and what I used in 2021 – I love that the colors just pop without having to do too much, but I can also be elaborate as well if I wanted to. Personally, I played with outlines rather than coloring them in when creating my layouts, and I opted to not use any washi tape or stickers since 1) I keep forgetting they exist and 2) my current collection doesn’t go well with a blackout journal.

I will say having a blackout journal isn’t exactly budget friendly, though, and there are a lot more options available in terms of pens and journals if you opt for a regular bullet journal instead. But if you’re looking to do something different with bullet journaling, I think it’s well-worth the try if you have the budget and means to do so (I’ve also shared links to them on Amazon if you want some recs to start out).

Unfortunately, it also didn’t work out too well, because in true Sophia fashion, I stopped bullet journalling around March. To be fair, 2022 was the first year that we also switched to a hybrid environment at my work, and because of that, I also got internet access at home. I originally went into bullet journalling because of the lack of internet access, and now that was no longer the case, I didn’t think I needed it anymore, at least for now (there were other reasons, too). I do plan on continuing to use the rest of the pages in the journal for other things, though (I will not waste these pens!), and possibly for future planning as the need arises (or if I feel like going analog again).

I started using more digital tools available on my work laptop like the built in sticky notes to keep track of everything, so all of it was right in front of me, and just overall adapted to whatever resources I had right in the moment. My bullet journal was across the room, and it felt like a little too much effort to get it.

(These days a lot of things feel like effort though.)

Habitica in Place of the Bullet Journal

Habitica and I are like those exes that get back together and have an on and off relationship. I can’t tell you how many times I’ll pick up Habitica and then just promptly abandon it months later (sounds like me with bullet journalling and a lot of things).

I first discovered Habitica back in 2016 when I looking for gamified to-do list apps, and I thought it was the coolest concept ever (even if the UI isn’t the best). I stopped after a few months, but then I picked it back up in 2018, along with a few other blogging friends, before we all dropped it one by one. And then around April 2022, Clo mentioned Habitica again randomly during one of our many daily conversations (and we roped a few blogging friends as well), so it is now Try Three and, as the saying goes, maybe third-time is the charm.

I will say that this try is lasting longer than the others so far, though I will admit I’ve been looking for alternatives since a situation cropped up around December and morally, I’m not okay with it, nor am I keen on supporting Habitica further given the way things were handled.

Unfortunately, I haven’t exactly found an alternative yet (I do use it less now, though), but I could very well go back to the good old bullet journal method with my Rocketbook Everlast Mini* I found after forgetting I had one I got for college to carry around for quick to-do lists (right now I’m using it for quick work notes). It’s small and the whiteboard storage I have does not fit on my shiny new desk that I got in February due to health reasons, but Rocketbook kind of operates like a whiteboard but in notebook form with the addition of sending it to various digital places if I so choose (I have a habit of forgetting this function exists, though. It will bite me one day.).

*It looks like they’ve since rebranded this to the Rocketbook Mini and Rocketbook Core for the bigger executive and letter sizes.

What I Use Habitica For (and Changes I Made This Time)

For my third try, I opted to keep things relatively simple (because that seems to work out well for me, or at least better), though it definitely doesn’t look like it from the screenshot of my current setup.

• I abandoned dailies (recurring tasks – they actually changed it so you can do it weekly or even monthly now, which I love) mostly unless I was absolutely sure I would do something, like following up on tickets for work (at least until we moved, then I turned it off), reading (also turned this off), journalling, a list of monthly bills, etc.
• I still used habits, mostly so I could keep track of my subscriptions and learn to use them instead of abandoning them (unless it was Netflix, since my mom uses this), but also so I could remember to promote blog posts once in a while even though per my 2022 Book Blogging Stats Transparency post, I would be fine without it.
• To-Dos were ones I used often, though I reserved it mostly to keep track of the books I’m reading, the dramas I’m watching, and when I need to go in the office according to the schedule (plus remember to make tea for the long drive and restock snacks in my desk drawer as needed because it would be tragic to be without snacks).

Finch for Self-Care

Habitica isn’t for everyone, if my on-and-off relationship is any indication. Kal introduced me and the others in our Habitica party to another app called Finch, which promotes self-care with a virtual pet (a penguin). Finch is adorable, and I think it’s an excellent combination to use with Habitica, especially if you find the Dailies function not your thing. There’s also a journalling option for self-reflection with prompts.

How Habitica essentially works in a party is if you miss a daily or two (or more) and there’s a quest to fight a boss, everyone in the party is punished, not just you. It can make things high tension if someone gets mad at another person for missing their dailies and doesn’t understand that shit happens. Finch doesn’t punish you for missing any tasks, which I really love, and your pet doesn’t die if you decide to abandon the app for a few months.

Habitica doesn’t kill you if you abandon the app for a few months or years since it starts with checking in from the previous day, but I can imagine someone taking a huge hit and losing all of their gold and a piece of equipment if they last exited with say, 11 health points. Anything that I would normally miss on my dailies (and some that I flat out copied over), I moved to Finch. The few times I did take a break from Habitica, I noticed I still used Finch, even if I do sometimes take breaks from that as well. It’s just so wholesome and brings a small, daily dose of joy.

(They even send half-birthday and birthday messages. )

I personally hate that it’s mobile only (both iOS and Android) and doesn’t have a website version, though, but maybe this is something that will change in the future as they seem to have started in recent years so it’ll be a bit unrealistic to expect a small startup to have the whole nine yards.

Notion for Blogging and Webtoon Tracking

I first tried Notion when it was all the rage and had the entire book community (and world) in a chokehold, but I also found it had terrible lag on mobile (no internet at the time) that grated on my patience and the mobile version had limitations. All of the cool stuff was on the website version, which, given that my reliability was my mobile hotspot, didn’t work out well, and I decided Notion was not right for me (at the time).

So in March 2022, I gave it another try, because surely the lag would’ve improved (even marginally), right? I can’t confirm this exactly, though (at least in terms of mobile connection), since I got internet access and it’s pretty decent, but I notice there’s still some lag when loading up images.

Unlike (seemingly) many people who put their entire lives on Notion (hey, no judgement; you do you), I opted to just put my blogging life – editorial calendar, some basic blogging tasks, keeping track of review copies, and end-of-year favorites (should I choose to do a post for it). Basically, all I wanted from my Notion was this:

• Something simple – nothing elaborate or fancy.
• Something that still gives a bit of a personal flair – a pop of color here and there, favorite book quotes, etc.
• Something that doesn’t require me to check it daily, because I originally just wanted to keep track of blog tour dates that were pushed back and changed around due to supply chain issues (and I didn’t want two stops to end up on top of each other). I wanted to not check it often and it’ll be fine even a month later (aside from maybe putting in a few things for updating).

A small part of me wanted to change the layout around late 2022, but then I decided not to because I saw nothing I wanted to change. Everything that I currently have in the layout works perfectly fine, though I might change a photo or two sometime this year for a somewhat new look.

I did end up making a webtoon tracker, though, because I read so many in December, there was no way I could keep up with them all (I need to update it soon, oops). My webtoon tracker is even more simple than my blogging one, and I also learned some basic formulas before my brain started sputtering with complex ones and I gave up to customize a few things.

Another part of me also wanted to start slowly putting my bullet journal (minus journalling, which I use a separate app and don’t even have in my analog bullet journal) on Notion as well, but I opted not to in the end because while it’s nice to have everything in one spot, I also think I’ll just overwhelm myself and abandon it, even if the layout would be just as simple.

Additionally, my routines are extremely simple and I know it like the back of my hand; there’s little change, and that’s probably why bullet journalling didn’t work out for me: because there’s really nothing for me to track exactly (which is also why normal planners never worked either). I know the entire purpose of bullet journalling is making it all your own, but my brain has the tendency to overthink and all that free space doesn’t help too much. I feel like I should have more. There’s a chance I’ll come back to it later if/when circumstances change, but for now, that’s not happening.

Journey for Journalling

I love journalling. There’s something extremely therapeutic about venting into the void of space and time; it’s kind of like a quiet way of standing on the balcony of a tower screaming in the night air. If there’s one thing that I could say has been consistent throughout my entire life, it would be journalling.

At first, it was through a regular notebook, disguised like the ones I used for class (the cheapest spiral-bound ones at your local major retailer). This, unfortunately, also didn’t have any privacy, so I always had to curate my thoughts in case someone (like IDK, a school bully) picked it up because they were curious and wanted to know what pre-teen me was thinking about when I just wanted the solace of my thoughts and not punch someone in anger.

Eventually I graduated to an OpenOffice document password-protected on my laptop (I know anyone can break into it; I’d rather it be broken into only in some cases, not “oh, let me see what she’s thinking!” on a random Friday night). Around 2018 was when I looked for a journalling app because the death of my first laptop meant I couldn’t look back on those entries (not that I want to) if I wanted to do so. I had a few requirements when looking for journalling apps (none of this has changed over the years):

• Notebook wouldn’t work. At all. There had to be some sense of privacy, at least in an illusioned way. I know using a cloud-based solution means I can’t be 100% truly private, but I also have nosy household members. There is no privacy in this house (unless I’m in the bathroom; obviously no one will barge in unless something is on fire), and sometimes I wish to be a person in Existential Crisis in peace.
• It had to be portable and can sync across different devices. Working in the service industry can take a huge toll on mental health, and I needed a place to vent quietly if it’s a rough day at work during my breaks because not doing so meant there was a much higher chance of me breaking down.
  • This wasn’t a surefire way to 100% prevent it, but I felt infinitely better and in a much better mindset after spending even two minutes writing a quick thought or two on my phone.
• It had to be available offline. This was the single most important thing (along with the above) that I looked for, because nothing is more awful than needing a place to let out my anger, only to find out I don’t have a place to do so safely.

The moment I heard about Journey was the moment that I instantly wanted to try it, because it met every single one of those requirements and offered a few additional features I didn’t care for either, but handy to have if I wanted to use them down the road (tags, photos, location, mood tracker, etc.).

The free version worked out well (if limited), but I subscribed to their annual membership after trying it for a few weeks, and got a lifetime one when they finally implemented one because I used the features enough that it was well worth the cost. (Plus, I hate Notion’s lag as much as I like it and use it.)

Using an app for my journalling also proved to be advantageous later on because of my wrist injury. I can be extremely wordy in my entries, and hand writing things for too long causes my wrist to hurt even if I have both braces on to ease the pain a little, which is another reason I don’t add a journalling section to my bullet journal and keep it separate (besides nosy household members).

Final Thoughts and Continuing Into 2023

2022 was a lot of bouncing around for me, and 2023 so far is a relatively similar layout so far minus the bullet journal. I’ve yet to sit down and find some time (and energy) to figure out layouts for my Rocketbook and what I want bring over from digital back to analog, but I’m hoping this will happen at some point (if life stops low balling me for once).

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The first book of the Scholomance trilogy is the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic.

I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.

Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.

I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.

At least, that’s what the world expects. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that’s crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school certainly does.

But the Scholomance isn’t getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone’s idea of the shining hero, but I’m going to make it out of this place alive, and I’m not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either.

Although I’m giving serious consideration to just one.

Trigger & Content Warnings: assault (graphic), attempted murder, death, violence

For all its flaws, A Deadly Education was intriguing, brilliant, and overall a blast to read… once you actually get into the story.

And it was very hard to get into the story. The first in Naomi Novik’s The Scholomance trilogy is so intricately crafted in its world-building that my brain practically exploded with the amount of information presented throughout the novel. It’s very textbook and lecture style that sometimes I feel like while in some books the romance overshadows the plot, it feels like the world-building overshadows the entire novel instead in this one. I truly hated myself reading it (because I’m not one for textbook styles), and I checked out so often at the beginning that I’m surprised I walked away with a relatively solid grasp of the world Novik builds, but alas, it hasn’t been too long since I was last in a school setting.

Except this school setting is much more deadly: the Scholomance is essentially where anyone magically gifted will be whisked off to at 14-years-old and for the next four years until they graduate, they’re in for the fight of their lives. Anything and everything might lead to their end, including the very food they eat and the bed they sleep in. I’d likely die the first night, and as morbid as it sounds, the sheer deadliness of the school drew me to read A Deadly Education in the first place. You just can’t trust anyone or anything in there, but not going to school is a worse option because then you’re just a tasty magical snack for the maleficaria.

Galadriel, or El, is currently a third-year at the Scholomance who is antisocial and prefers to keep it that way. There are few people she lets in her circle, though if she had the choice, she’d probably go at it alone (and she does… mostly) because of her power. She knows full well she can destroy the school and the people within it, if she only just gives in to the temptation and lets go of her self-control. After all, she’s prophecized to go to the dark side and has an affinity with death/destroying things.

Being in El’s head was both painful and not so painful, because while some people might love her narration, I actually hated it, at least at the very beginning. The narration is very stream of consciousness (which I hate), and not only that, but the textbook style makes it feel like she’s lecturing and looking at the world from a bit of a clinical lens and sometimes dismissive of the world around her. You could say she’s in her own bubble of sorts.

But she can also be terribly relatable, made some of the creative of choices that I don’t think I would’ve come up with at all, and came up with some of the best insults like “blob of unsteamed pudding.” She’s witty, grumpy, and underestimated by those around her, and added to the way she views the world and processes her thoughts? It made her a fascinating and entertaining character overall that is well-developed and has a lot of depth. As much as I hated the narration, the depth of her character is well worth looking over her constant rambling. Personally, I’m interested in seeing how she develops as a character in the next two books.

I enjoyed El’s relationship dynamics with other characters as well, like with Liu and Aadhya that started out as a strategic alliance that slowly grew into a blossoming friendship over the course of the novel. And then there’s also Orion, who with her tendency to lie low and have restraint instead of fulling crossing over to the dark side, puts them in a frequent cross-paths of him stepping in and being a constant hero. Orion sometimes amused me with his heroic actions, though, because even if he’s a privileged boy who is clueless and tries to be the hero even when it’s a terrible time to be a hero, you kind of just want to adopt him under your wing while also knocking some sense into whatever brain cells he has left. Like a lot of aspects of the book, I’m excited to see how El’s relationship with all of them develops further in the rest of the trilogy (assuming they survive).

All things aside, A Deadly Education was overall deadly brilliant, full of humor and wit, but it’s also not for everyone, especially if you hate (or can overlook) stream-of-consciousness writing styles added on top of a lot intricate world details that really could’ve done with some cutting and still be perfectly fine. With the ending of the novel, I’m invested in finding out what happens next to El, especially whether she and the others make it out alive or not.

February was short, not helped by the fact there’s only 28 days this month. Life threw another card at me (more details later), but I’m still alive and kicking, and overall doing okay.

(Also like January I’m posting this on the last day of the month?)

February Musings

• [11 Feb] 2022 Book Blogging Stats Transparency: Sharing Numbers, Comparing Stats Over the Years + Personal Insights
• [16 Feb] The Matchmaker's Royal Mess by Frieda J. Downing ★★★★
• [28 Feb] Bookwyrm Breakdown: February 2023, Where I Read Books? (And then stopped.)

Books Hoarded

Just one book made it into my life (or more accurately, a preorder came).

• Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare – “If Chain of Gold was a disappointment, why did you get Chain of Thorns?” Honestly? It probably comes down to the fact I have both the first two books as the first collector’s edition and it would be weird not to have that for the final book either. (I know, it’s a terrible reason.)

Books Devoured

I read books? And not just one book (which was all I thought I would for a blog tour), but six books? cue surprised Pikachu face

Spoiler: It didn’t last long, unfortunately. It lasted maybe a week, tops.

• The Matchmaker’s Royal Mess by Frieda J. Downing – The only book I thought I would read and maybe cured my reading slump a little.
• The Cup and the Prince by Day Leitao – This was okay… but it was overall lackluster. I’m still interested in continuing, though, so I started the sequel (The Curse and the Prince) not long after.
• The Curse and the Prince by Day Leitao – I wish I could say the second book was better, but I ended up DNFing this at 41% because nothing even happens. Given my experience with the first book, I didn’t like it was worth continuing, which is devastating because I thought the second book would get better.
• Don’t Date Your Best Friend by Mahi Mistry – It was a wild time reading this one (and not in a good way like The Matchmaker’s Royal Mess was). That is all I have to say.
• A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – This was confusing, but I enjoyed myself for the most part, and here I am with the second book just sitting from my library instead of reading all the other books that have been on hold for two years.
• Winterspell by Claire Legrand – I started this way back in August 2022 and loved the writing, but then I never continued (like all of my other books at that time). At first I thought it was just my reading mood, but it turns out this one just didn’t mesh well with me for a lot of reasons so I DNFed it at 44%.

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

I felt like I watched only one or two things, but it turns out I actually watched a fairly decent amount in this short month.

• Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure – This was short, cute, and all in all, I had a good time. (Also, being a lazy egg is a huge mood sometimes.)
• Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie – I really am living my best childhood nostalgia life this month.
• Heaven Official’s Blessings (天官赐福/Tiān Guān Cì Fú)
• Spy X Family – I finally got around to Part 2 of Season One and I loved every moment; I wish I savored it more instead of binge watching it, though.
• Spider-man: Homecoming – Don’t mind me going out of order in the MCU. I’m already scattered anyways, what’s wrong with being more scattered? I’m here to embrace chaos.

On the music end, I didn’t keep up with much of anything; I usually pull up YouTube once a week and save music videos to my watch later list but I don’t think I pulled up YouTube even once (maybe that’s good for me). I did, however, listen to Purple Kiss’s new mini album Cabin Fever, which I absolutely adored – I think this is my favorite release after their debut.

(Also one of my friends informed me Kingdom is making a comeback in late March, so I’m looking forward to that as well. Can’t wait to pop up into Clo’s messages when the album releases and the music video drops.)

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

(Okay, this section turned out longer than I thought.)

February swooped in and decided, “Yeah, so, you thought the last few months were rough mentally? Lol, how about let’s take out your back and get physical?” so the last week and a half of the month was spent in pain and playing Tetris with my bedroom during work so I wasn’t sitting since that was making it worse, only the issue is my knees are kinda fucked up from standing for long hours while working in food service.

All in all, it was a grand time (read: terrible). My laptop may have fallen a few times, but it’s definitely still alive (and hey, mom, my book collection came and saved me for once!) and trekking.

(My back is doing a little better now, though. And I got some chocolate on sale after Valentine’s Day!)

In other news, though, I did get a more proper desk. I had a lightweight (very portable) coffee table for middle and high school, and then I stayed until evenings on my college campus and used the WiFi there to do everything I needed to do (no internet at home), so I didn’t really need one (I might have been a commuter, but I truly wasn’t home all that much since if I wasn’t in classes, I was working, lol).

And then when my work switched to a hybrid model (finally) about a year (almost two) into the pandemic, I opted to work from my bed and moved around often to stretch because I knew full well that working from that position is just asking for problems (and I’m trying not to let that happen, or at least draw it out from happening). Yet I held off, because it’s one less thing to lug around (my wrists are worse than my knees and I have practically zero strength) when we finally [hopefully] move in a few years (the plan was originally last year but that fell through).

Anyway, I have a (standing) desk setup! I’m about halfway to a PC setup at this point, though I doubt I’ll ever get a full one, and there’s not enough room either so I ended up getting a laptop riser to use the desk space more beneath it instead of it being all laptop and nothing else. It’s very minimal overall with an angry Pikachu figurine (best investment, no regrets) staring at me all day (mood, though) and a very happy yet sleepy Snorlax on a desk mat along with Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and Pikachu hanging out.

(It’s so weird getting used to a new keyboard and a mouse, though. I keep hitting my keyboard barrier that’s part of my desk because that’s where the trackpad is usually at.)

Other than health issues, February was overall okay. But tell me about your February? Hopefully without health issues like me?

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She’d rather give a mountain lion a bikini wax than mess with love again.

Been there, went viral, never going back. Hattie Montague’s life as a backcountry guide for the spoiled and famous suits her just fine, thanks. It’s the only place she feels completely safe being herself. So what if she has nightmares that she can only speak squirrel and craves pine cones for breakfast? It beats leaving yourself vulnerable to humans. Fine, all of them aren’t bad. She likes probably three, so when one needs her help, she drags herself back to civilization. If she can navigate white water rapids, she can babysit a matchmaking office for a weekend. It’s not like she’ll have to deal with people or, you know, be nice. Ew.

Alexander Greye ruined her life ten years ago. Not his proudest moment. Known as the Winter Warlocke, he’s a man born and raised to lead a country with logical precision. Yet around her, he can’t seem to think rationally. He’s never met anyone who dives into the unknown like she does or tames chaos like she can. In a world as perfectly controlled as his, that makes her irresistible and utterly dangerous. And he’s willing to risk it all to thaw his frozen heart.

It’s half past too late when he realizes his carefully laid plans to win her over covered everything except the theft of the Crown Jewels, an abandoned mine where they’d have to face their deepest fears, and the betrayal that forces them to let go. Quite literally.

Warning: Not for the faint of heart. If you threw Sandra Bullock in a royal romance, well, this might just be it. Sassy romantic adventure, with instances of chaos, misunderstandings, and feels. Oh, and the occasional sheep. Sparks will fly, it’s gonna get awkward, and the Happily-Ever-After will be well-earned.

Trigger & Content Warnings: sexual harassment (past, mentioned), parental abuse (emotional, side character), gun violence

The Matchmaker’s Royal Mess is probably the most outrageously ridiculous book I’ve read this year. The year is young and there are plenty more books behind the curtains, so one might top this. We’ll find out.

That sounds like the beginning of a negative review, but honestly? I haven’t read a book in nearly two months. It was funny; it got confusing in some parts. And most importantly, how dare boba get called lumpy tea? This is a crime I cannot forgive. (On a serious note, boba isn’t for everyone.)

But it was also something that I needed in this speck of time, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself mostly, even if I might question how outrageous things could get. (And now I’m on my fifth book of the month, so that went well if I say so myself).

Ten years ago during high school prom, Hattie Montague’s life got ruined after being framed for grand theft auto after exchange student Alexander Greye and his cousin stole the principal’s Camaro, wrecked it (and ran off after throwing the keys in her hands), and a video went viral after being posted of her getting arrested. Since then, she’s been working as a backcountry guide in her hometown and views the world through a very cynical lens with a constant wall up around her except for a select group of people.

I’d be cynical and hate the universe too in Hattie’s shoes because what a trashy way to ruin someone’s life; I’d want to call whole man disposal services to get rid of the entire man, even if he’s a prince. There will be no time of day for him when I climb out of the hole that opened up beneath me from a viral video and gather my violent ducks together so I can send him straight to Hell. Even if I lose, which I will.

Anyway, I hold grudges when I’m scorned.

So despite Hattie’s cynical lens, she quickly wormed her way into my heart because she, too, has a grudge after getting scorned deeply like that. And she does not let Alexander forget it when he comes back to win her over (as she should) with his plan that backfires spectacularly, even with their hilarious banter.

But deep down she’s a softie who truly cares about those around her (like her childhood friends and family), even if she doesn’t outright show it. I love we see this develop throughout the novel, though. Also, her talent for improv in multiple scenes? What the hell. I’m jealous.

The Matchmaker’s Royal Mess is definitely not a novel that deals with any serious themes; it’s a very light, quick and easy read. A lot of the events and scenes are unrealistic, exaggerated, and in fact, outrageous. You could even say things can get pretty chaotic; if I listed everything that falls under this category, it would be quite long. Sometimes things moved so fast it was confusing and the writing isn’t anything stellar with romantic lines that will make your heart squeal. But considering the state of my mental health when I started the book, it was practically perfect; all I wanted to do was vibe along and go with the flow: no thoughts, head empty.

If you prefer your romantic comedies more on the realistic side, this would be a very hard pass (especially considering no amount of misunderstandings or reasonings would excuse what they did to Hattie). Don’t even think about picking it up (even if you’re like me and the tagline, “She’d rather give a mountain lion a bikini wax than mess with love again” piqued your interest because of the chaotic vibes), because you will quickly be disappointed on just how unrealistic it can get. It’s not a bad thing, and I felt it worked great here, but it’s also not for everyone.

In other words, you kind of have to be in a certain mood to truly enjoy this.

But if you don’t mind things getting pretty messy in the most chaotic of ways that sometimes make you go, “what the hell am I even reading” or “why is this even a thing,” The Matchmaker’s Royal Mess might be something up your alley.

Giveaway

Sharing my blog stats is pretty nerve-wracking; I feel like I’m baring a piece of my soul for the universe to see, and I have no clue what people will make of it. How nerve-wracking, you ask? The urge to delete this for the past four months, fretting about in Clo’s DMs (I do this regularly anyway), plenty of imposter syndrome.

While I feel we should be more transparent about stats, we don’t talk about statistics either; it’s a bit of a taboo topic in the community. And maybe validly so: I don’t want to feel like I’m bragging and numbers shouldn’t be a validation of our hard work, not for something that’s a hobby for most of us. Except it’s kind of ingrained: many aspects of society depend on a hard numbers game to show success and productivity. (What’s your engagement rate? How many followers do you have? What’s your average monthly page views?)

But I’m nosy about my stats (and I’m sure you’re nosy as well if you’re reading this post). They’re fascinating, especially when something unusual happens that skews the entire data, and you want to scratch your head figuring out why something happened the way it did.

So I’m here today to share my blogging statistics of last year, to (hopefully) normalize sharing them. I’ll be pulling some average numbers from Pages Unbound’s Book Blogger Stats survey they began in 2016 (spoiler: I’m quite average) and also compare some numbers from the years I’ve been on WordPress. Plus, I’ll share some insights on why I think something might have happened or why a post did as well as it did.

Some Things to Keep in Mind

AKA things that likely skewed my stats.

• This blog has been around for over a decade and moved from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress in February 2018.
• I deleted a huge chunk of posts posted between 2012 – 2018 because of the work to go through and revamp, and it was easier to get rid of most instead of keeping them.
• I had a snafu with Jetpack in 2022 while testing, which messed things up a little since likes don’t transfer (oopsies), but there’s still insight to glean from everything else!
• I occasionally write movie/TV show reviews, along with other posts. Book-related posts, however, make up most of my content.
• Since many use Jetpack or free WordPress, I used WordPress analytics for this rather than Google Analytics, which measures statistics differently (and has my stats from before the move).

With all of that said, let’s jump in!

Blog Followers and Average Page Views

In the 2022 Book Blogger Stats Survey conducted by Pages Unbound (referred to as “the survey” later on), Briana found “about 50% of bloggers answered either 0-25 or 26-50” and that “high followers don’t necessarily correlate with high traffic or lots of comments.”

This correlates with my statistics, as I currently have 281 WordPress followers. This has been relatively stagnant since around 2019-2020, when I had maybe 250 followers, if I recall. Not much growth there if I want to be hard on myself.

My page views have historically fallen between around 15-25 page views a day, although since September 2022 this has jumped up to 40-80 views a day. My best years (numbers-wise) seem to be in 2018 and 2019, before dropping and then substantially picking up in 2022.

Outlier Posts

There are two outlier posts, and they’ll be mentioned often throughout this post (because yes, they play a huge role):

• My review for the 2018 reboot of Meteor Garden, like many of my reviews, died a tragic death roughly two months after the post first went live. However, in October 2020, roughly six months later, the post had a sudden burst of life and has since been consistent.
• My review for Love Between Fairy and Devil did not, however, die a tragic death, nor did I expect it to because the drama was experiencing a lot of success. The show was also being uploaded to Netflix when my post went live near the end of September, so many people would be looking for reviews and insights. So compared to most posts, it actually went flying straight out the blogging gates. Within a week, it bowled over nearly every other stat and knocked out Meteor Garden as the top post of all time in roughly 1.5 months.
  • If you’re concluding that this post is why my stats started picking up in September 2022, you would be correct.
  • I’m a bit entertained by how this post is doing because I practically laughed in “WTF did I unleash on myself” in Clo’s DMs for a week straight.

Meteor Garden is based on the manga Hana Yori Dango while Love Between Fairy and Devil is based on the Chinese Novel Cāng Lán Jué (苍兰诀), so they’re not too far off from my usual book-related posts given that they’re adaptations.

Did I write the posts because they were successful so that it could boost my stats? No. I enjoyed writing both, though I wrote the second to see how it would affect my stats in the long term based on the first. I think I’d be less amused and more stressed if I wrote posts for the stats, and that’s not why I blog.

Some Insights and Commentary

I took part in more linkups like The Sunday Post and Top Ten Tuesday in 2018 – 2019, which brought in more views and comments. I was also a host for Blogoween and Bookend Events, and I used my blog for a class project in the Autumn 2019 (so there were more posts). All of this could be why I experienced more views.

I took part in fewer linkups beginning in 2020, which was the start of the pandemic, and lockdowns were in full effect. Blogs are long-form content; with most people’s mental health not the greatest during lockdown, consuming long-form content isn’t exactly enticing. As things opened back up again, things actually went back to normal and, in fact, became relatively steady.

This might be why we saw BookTok (and Instagram Reels?) gaining a lot of success and books achieving success when promoted on those platforms, though there has also been the push toward short-form video content even before the pandemic.

On the other hand, some blogs might have experienced higher views during the lockdown because people have more time to read longer content, and stats go down once things start opening back up. From talking with a few friends, I seem to be the special cheesecake here, or maybe I deleted so many old posts compared to the content I’m writing, it hurt my views, and 2022 was when I bounced back up because I’m no longer deleting those posts. Additionally, since I’ve definitely grown as a blogger over the years, the quality of my posts has changed/increased.

Another thing I’ve noticed is I often forget to follow blogs, even if I visit regularly. I know, I’m a terrible person, I’m so sorry! (Six months later I realize, hey, have I followed you? I think I did. Fool’s me, I did not.) But I do wonder if this plays a role in the correlation between views and followers. Most people have a social media account and don’t have a WordPress account, and most are selective about sharing their personal email addresses. My email subscribers are the lowest (but I also send nothing else aside from my posts).

It’s easier to type a URL or search for a blog name, and it’s easier to search for a post by that blog versus a social media post because most blogs have a search function available (if you don’t, I highly recommend it). And it’s not like I lock my posts to email only or have additional email content. So following might not be as big of a deal to some if they’re bookmarking their favorite sites and checking up regularly for new posts.

(It is, however, nice to support your favorite bloggers by following them right at the source, though.)

You could say it’s also convenient to be on a social media platform with one tab vs. 20 tabs of different blogs. If Amazon Prime has taught us anything, we like fast and convenient, and that’s exactly what social media is designed for.

Number of Posts/Consistency

We’ve all heard it: being consistent is key. I originally didn’t include this information, but after talking with some friends about statistics, I decided to go down a rabbit hole and create a spreadsheet to see if posting consistency might have affected my views. Spoiler: It did not. Not really.

I was all over the place in 2018-2019 since my goal was to post twice a week. I’m still inconsistent from 2020-2022, but it’s less jumping from 12 posts to 3 because I settled with once a week (alternating Tuesdays and Fridays usually) working best for me.

Additionally, I deleted a huge chunk of posts from 2012-2018 around 2020-2021 and finished in 2022. No one enjoys getting a 404 error (neither do search engines), and I had a lot of those, so this could be why I had the exact opposite effect during the lockdown, where my views plummeted a bit. As I wrote more content and in a more consistent manner (and didn’t delete as much), things probably steadied out.

TL;DR, while consistency is nice to have, if you’re worried about posting daily or twice a week and need to change your posting schedule later on to better fit your life and your schedule, don’t beat yourself up over it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen bloggers fretting over what to post and saying, “But I have to post because XYZ.” It is okay to skip a post or two.

Comments and Engagement

In the survey, Briana found that “nearly everyone answered they get 0-5 comments per day, regardless of how many followers they have or how many page views they get.”

Let’s look at the average comments and likes over the years! Or I guess lack of likes because of my oopsies. This is why I can’t have nice things.

Like my page views, I have average engagement, and we can notice that it’s fallen over the years even if we remove 2019 (which has more posts) from comparison. From the sounds of it, it’s not just my blog: there seems to be less engagement in the book blogging community overall.

Some Insights and Commentary

I’m not very social; I’m more consistent with posting content than I am with replying to comments and blog hopping. In a small niche like book blogging, when most of our audience is other bloggers, it might feel like not engaging is a death sentence. The only time I’ve gotten comments from non-bloggers were for Meteor Garden and Love Between Fairy and Devil (and a few trolls, once in a blue moon).

While I’ve become more social over the years, I have never been social overall. I don’t know if this is because I’m naturally reserved except for those I’m close with, witnessing others have negative experiences, or just not having enough energy and time. Perhaps a combo of all three, but I try to make an effort to reply within two months and at least visit/like because I enjoy supporting other bloggers. (Lately, I’ve been terrible at this for personal reasons.)

Additionally, I’m not as active on social media in recent years, mostly because it’s better for my mental health. I’m terrible at promoting my content, so it feels like I should have lower stats since a huge emphasis seems to be put on social media and promoting.

If I promoted my posts and put more effort into social media, I might receive more views. If I commented and engaged more with others, I might receive more comments and engagement and, therefore, more views or possibly more followers.

But every blogger is different in what they consider successful. Not everyone has the time to put in all the effort, and that is perfectly valid. While I would like to have more engagement, I’m also not too bothered because I don’t think I could keep up.

Traffic Sources

Approximately 37.5% of respondents in the survey stated most of their traffic comes from search engines, 33% from the WordPress Reader, and 18.2% from social media.

According to Google Search Console Insights, 79% of my traffic comes from search engine hits from the past 28 days. 18% are direct hits and 2% are from socials. This is, of course, largely affected by my review of Love Between Fairy and Devil. I’m usually around 45-60% prior to that post going up.

Overall, much of my traffic comes from search engines, followed by the WordPress Reader and Twitter. I also get quite a bit of traffic from linkups like the Sunday Post and Top Ten Tuesdays, but I no longer take part in the former after switching to monthly wrap-ups. The latter depends on the topic, and how I can make it uniquely mine beyond a simple list (if that is your jam, that is okay — there is nothing wrong with just posting a list and a sentence or two or nothing at all).

I find it strange the WordPress Android App is considered a separate traffic source, though. There’s not a separate one listed for iOS.

Some Insights and Commentary (ft. Mini Case Studies)

Do bloggers actually need social media to be successful (at least in terms of numbers)? While I think social media is a powerful tool that can be utilized, there are other factors that play a part as well. At the end of the day, you have to do what works best for you. If that’s Pinterest, focus your efforts on that. If that’s SEO, focus your efforts on that. If you just care about the content you put out, that’s also okay. Based on my personal stats, I don’t need social media to be successful. Much of my blogging effort actually goes toward my content and basic SEO, because that’s all the energy I really have.

I personally believe that reviews, including book reviews, are evergreen content because a good portion of my search terms are looking for reviews, analysis, explanations of endings, etc. Most of them do not pull up posts like weekly and monthly wrap-ups, and I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at a few posts since they make up a lot of my traffic!

Insights from Love Between Fairy and Devil and Meteor Garden

You could say that despite these two being outliers, they’re my most successful. (After all, they’re currently my top posts of all time.) Here’s why I think Love Between Fairy and Devil did so well out of the gate:

• The drama aired from August 7 – August 29, 2022 on iQIYI, with special content airing between September 12 – 16.
• It started airing on Netflix US beginning September 9, 2022 (US is my biggest audience).
• It became one of the most popular Chinese dramas of the year when it began airing, and its popularity continued after the final episode broadcasted.
• There weren’t many reviews out there already (this has likely since changed).

Not only was it a review, but it was also timely, and I just rolled myself into a spot casually and parked. It’s too early to tell how this will do long-term (though, it’s going steady months later), so let’s look at Meteor Garden, which has three years of data and was posted two years after the drama aired, so it wasn’t as timely.

• The drama was also one of the most popular Chinese dramas when it aired in 2018, mostly because Meteor Garden (or one of the many versions) was many people’s first introduction to Asian dramas (including mine!). It was definitely nostalgic and introduced the story to a new audience. (Plus, it catapulted some new careers in a good way. We love to see it.)
• The ending was confusing. I, too, was confused, and everyone was pretty Big Mad.
• There weren’t many reviews out there already, and even fewer talked about the ending.

This actually died before coming back to life and staying alive (so you never know when a post will suddenly get hits months or years later). Based on the screenshot below of overall monthly stats since it was posted, you can see it jumps up and down over the years but is steady.

It jumps slightly in June 2022, but especially in September and October. I think this is likely because Dylan Wang (Wang Hedi) is the lead actor for both dramas, and I have both reviews linked to each other. June is likely when heavy marketing began for Dylan’s drama (though some form would begin earlier with teasers, casting announcements, etc.), so people might be curious about his past works, along with the leading actress, Yu Shuxin (Esther Yu).

Insights from Book Reviews vs. Wrap-Ups

“But Sophia,” you say, “Those are drama reviews. What about book reviews?”

Let’s take my review of The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco, which is my most-viewed book review, and third most-viewed overall.

I genuinely have no clue why this review did as well as it did outside of being part of the blog tour and posting shortly after the release, but I imagine it may have something to do with others reading Chupeco’s works and then coming back to their previous novels. If you like an author’s work, you’ll likely look for past works, and you might look for reviews too.

It may also be because it’s the last novel in a series (people really like to search for endings…), as Send Me Their Souls is another post that has seen similar success. However, my next top review is Six Crimson Cranes, the first in a duology. With the release of its sequel, The Dragon’s Promise, in August, it has a slight uptick in views, likely because people may reread the first novel, need a bit of a refresher, or are curious about the first.

Stand-alone novels can also do well, though why my review for Pretend She’s Here did well will remain a mystery.

If we grab the stats from one of my old wrap-ups and see how it’s done over the years, you’ll notice it dies a much tragic death. While they sometimes get traffic later, 95% of the time, they stay dead after the first two months. They’re really just there for memory’s sake (and for anyone who is curious about my life over the years, but I’m pretty boring).

SEO works in the most mysterious ways sometimes, but what we can take away from this is reviews will always have the potential for traffic long term. (One of mine died for about four years before coming alive again.)

I think we sometimes get caught up in how well a post does when it goes live that we often overlook the power reviews actually have in the long run. We’re more caught up in the instant gratification (likes, retweets, etc.) that comes with it. It’s easy to get discouraged when you see a post do a giant belly flop. And that’s not really the entire point of blogging, either. Like I mentioned earlier, blogging is more about the long game rather than instantaneous, but I think it’s important to enjoy yourself as well, especially if you’re not making a living out of it.

Insights from Looking at the Top 20 Posts

If we ignore my two little outliers and non-book reviews and look at the rest of my Top 20 posts, nine posts are book reviews. That’s roughly 45% of my top posts. If we include my non-book reviews (but still reviews), 14 posts are reviews and 70% of my top posts are bringing me the most traffic. That’s a lot of reviews.

There are, of course, a few things affecting this:

1. Most of my posts are reviews, so it makes sense that reviews would likely be my top posts. (Although, in 2018, my top posts were not reviews because I didn’t review as much. I did a lot more discussion and fun posts that year.)
2. I haven’t tried lists and recommendation posts (outside of TBR lists), which might affect stats as well. The thought of doing them is a little daunting and doesn’t bring me as much joy, though, so I choose not to do them.
3. While I started out posting daily (and even twice a day), I now post weekly. Sometimes I only post once or twice a month. We often get told we need to post often, daily if we can, to see any form of numerical success or receive higher views in a day. On days a post goes live, some people might see a higher number of views, and on days there are no posts, some people might see no views.

Is it possible that my daily posting in the past could’ve affected my current stats and why I’m still average instead of tanking because there are folks who continue to read my blog over the years? Possibly. Is it possible that I could’ve keyworded my reviews right (and naturally) with the help of an SEO plugin? Also possible. Or am I majestic unicorn with a magnetic aura and I’m not aware of this? I cannot confirm this one.

Based on earlier stats shared, mine is usually steady regardless of whether or not I post, though this may sometimes affect daily views a little, depending on the type of post. As fascinated as I am with daily data, I don’t like to look at them too often unless something Very Interesting is happening (then I’m all over it like a little goblin for a while before ignoring again).

I think the pivot to more reviews than discussion and fun posts is also partially why I have had less engagement in later years; it’s a lot easier to comment on wrap-ups, lists, discussions, and fun posts than it is to comment on reviews. What do you really say beyond “Great review” when you haven’t read the book yourself?

Anyways, I’m going to keep dying on the hill that reviews are evergreen. This is not me telling you to write more book reviews and write less fun content like tags and weekly memes or that you should choose another niche and abandon book blogging completely. You should post whatever makes you happy and whatever you have the energy for; if that means book reviews primarily, that’s completely okay.

Final Thoughts/Key Takeaways

I think my brain exploded while writing this post. I mean, this is a lot of words (help – 4k?!) but also lots of numbers, and it exposed me.

• We could use some more stats transparency in the community, so they’re more normalized.
• What works for me might not work for you.
• More Followers ≠ More Traffic or Engagement.
• A variety of factors affect overall stats.
• Reviews, including book reviews, are evergreen and have the potential for traffic even if they die a tragic death.

I started out this post mostly wanting to look at my 2022 stats, intending to do it annually, but then it morphed into the last nearly five years on self-hosted, comparisons and mini case-studies/insights. So maybe we’ll do this for 2023’s or 2024’s stats (let me know what you’re curious to see)? Assuming I’m still around in the blogging world? We shall see. But I hope this (very long) post was helpful and gave some transparency with my blogging stats (and perhaps even be reassuring).

It actually feels weird posting this on the last day of January because I never do this? I always wait until the closest Tuesday or Friday (and even sometimes I push it off), and here I am, posting my wrap-up like a normal person on the last day of the month. Who is she? I don’t know her.

Not gonna lie, it was tempting to skip it until next week.

In a nutshell, January was wild. It felt like it was crawling, but it wasn’t.

January Musings

• [3 Jan] 2022 Musings, Highlights + 2023 Aspirations
• [13 Jan] Bookwyrm Breakdown: December 2022
• [17 Jan] Phantom School (2022)
• [31 Jan] Bookwyrm Breakdown: January 2023

Books Hoarded

One book made its way somewhere in my room (and will probably never see the light of day until later this year).

• Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin – I enjoyed Kerin’s debut, so when I was offered a chance to review her second novel, I couldn’t resist (even if I’m trying my best not to add any more review copies).
  • My “choking on a sharp pineapple” legacy began with The Phantom Forest; I am nothing if not creative with my threats to evil characters.

Books Devoured

I regret to inform you all that I have not read a single book in January. I did, however, start a new book on top of the ones that I started last year and didn’t finish.

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

Last month I got Disney+ so I can get somewhat caught up on the MCU but also live my best childhood life rewatching Stitch. January was a lot of rewatches, but we’re covered for a bit of time (at least until Black Panther, Shang-Chi and Avengers: Age of Ultron).

• The Incredible Hulk
• Captain America: The First Avenger (rewatch)
• Thor (rewatch) – Okay, technically I didn’t fully rewatch it, mostly because about 10 minutes into the movie I felt like I watched it, but I didn’t remember when or where and as I got further along, it was very much I definitely watched it in the past few years so I just skipped around to get a refresher (also, Loki is the best part).
• The Avengers (rewatch)

I also watched other things as well (it is not all MCU here).

• Heaven Official’s Blessings (天官赐福/Tiān Guān Cì Fú) – I started this sometime last year and never continued since I got preoccupied with Avatar: The Last Airbender. I still have a few episodes left, though, but I think I’ll finish it sometime in February.
• Reborn Rich – Honestly, as much as I enjoy this and want to watch it to the end (I’m already on episode 7), I’m tempted to drop this as well because there is a lot going on, but mostly because I’m struggling on identifying who is who aside from a couple of characters who can be identified in other ways. It’s very much a “it’s not the show, it’s me.”

Unlike last month (almost wrote last year, ha), I did keep somewhat on top of new music, though I spent a good part going through MAMAMOO’s discography and listening to Scream from High School Musical 3 (because it sums up my mood currently) on repeat.

• The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION by TXT – minisode 2: Thursday’s Child was by far my favorite TXT EP, but their latest is a close second.
• Heartbreak Feels So Good by Fall Out Boy
• The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday by Red Velvet
• SKZ-REPLAY by Stray Kids – Probably the only one I remember listening to in December but it obviously slipped my mind (to be fair it was a late December release and my brain cell was out the door).
• Red Moon by Primrose – This duo just debuted on January 13, 2023 and I personally enjoyed the album overall, so I have my ears open for future releases.
  • But also I love supporting lesser known groups when I find them.
• The Fifty by FIFTY FIFTY – Also a recent debut (November 2022) that I have my eyes on. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped I would, but the music isn’t exactly my type.
• Dream Land by XEED – A third recent debut! I haven’t listened to the rest of the mini album just yet, but I did like the title track when putting it on in the background while working on this post.

(There’s been a lot of media consumption in my world lately.)

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

I wish I could say January was better, but I would be lying. If we count it by the number of average hours, it was marginally better (which I’ll take). Maybe this is a sign that things are looking better; we’ll see.

(I feel like I’ve been a sad sap in recent months.)

Other Things of January:

• Journaling didn’t look as sad; I actually wrote ~8 entries this month! (And I’m probably better for it.)
• Went into a rabbit hole of world-building tools and family trees.
• Still in the BitLife hole sort of (not as much as last month, though).
  • The Holmes family is still going on strong, though there were a few close calls where my attempt for a 5,000 year legacy (I’m going achievement hunting) almost ended…
  • The Herondales ended after 3 generations. Big oof.
• A lot of existential crises. More than likely why the month felt like it was crawling, but not at the same time.

Phantom School immediately caught my attention because I wanted to watch an Asian drama (and it sounded like something right up my alley), but I wasn’t keen to invest as much time as I would in a drama. I’m also a sucker for school-based settings, especially one with fantasy elements, so this sounded right up my alley.

The web drama is only eight episodes long with approximately 25-30 minutes each, so it’s perfect if you’re looking for a quick watch. I started this shortly after it aired on Viki and followed along each week as the episodes released because of the short length.

The opening scenes of Phantom School immediately give off a bit of a horror vibe with some fantasy elements in a contemporary setting, with phantom beads being stolen from the magic world and released in a school, resulting in different malicious phantoms influencing students. Each phantom is based on different sins and emotions, and there are Phantom Hunters who take on the responsibility of fighting them.

One of them is Kang Yuna (NC.A), a trainee sent by Master Hunter Glow to locate the beads so a Master Hunter can retrieve them. Rather than doing as she’s told, she steals Glow’s Soulance (a ring used by Phantom Hunters to seal the phantoms) instead and goes undercover as a student in the school the phantoms are expected to appear at.

If this were a book, I’d actually pick it up in a heartbeat, or at least put it on my TBR list to read soon. And given that this is a web drama, there are definitely different expectations compared to a regular drama. But while the concept was great, the execution not so much, even if a second season happens. So far, no signs of that happening.

Phantom School is predictable and simple, but it also quickly bores because most of the episodes are essentially the same thing with little progression. As harsh as this will sound, if it were a drama, I probably would’ve stopped after watching the second episode because I wouldn’t want to watch 30+ hour long episodes of the same thing happening. I actually did want to give up on this after the fourth episode, but by that point, I wanted to finish it for the sake of closure. (I also wouldn’t hate myself either over the length.)

It is, however, written for a younger audience, though, and I definitely am not the target. The predictability and simplicity reminds me of quite a few shows (Code Lyoko, for instance) that I enjoyed a lot when I was younger that I likely wouldn’t like as an adult, and Phantom School captures the fun and lightness of those shows decently.

There are a lot of plot holes and world-building issues – I think I left with more questions than I got answers. Let me run down just a couple of things that bugged me without giving spoilers:

1. Phantom Hunters beyond the very core of what they do: hunting down and fighting phantoms before they cause too much of a ruckus. Heck, we don’t even know anything about being trainees, either.
2. The demon world and magic world: they’re mentioned, but we also know nothing.

Like I mentioned, I know this is a web drama, so my expectations are different, but we have two-hour movies that pack an entire story and amazing world-building even if there’s a continuation. While Phantom School does have a storyline, it feels vastly incomplete, like it was cobbled together and thrown to the wolves of the universe. You could even say it felt like we should know the world already, even though we don’t. It’s unfortunate considering there’re heaps of potential with this.

The acting is okay; it’s not anything stellar, but it’s not the worst. Most of them seem to be rookie actors from a quick glance through MyDramaList, and I have seen none of their previous works if any, so the jury is still out there. (I will say there are rookie actors who do nail their roles better, though, and we’ll leave it at that.)

There are definitely cringe-worthy and secondhand embarrassments, but I think this comes down to the way the characters are written (not so good) rather than the actors’ portrayals of them. They’re so surface level I just wanted to cry because it felt like they got slapped with the shortest end of the stick. I loved their friendship dynamic a lot, though, and I enjoyed following Yuna and her newfound friends as they worked together to track down the phantoms. [View post to see spoiler]

With that said, though, there are some logistics that go hand-in-hand with the plot and world-building that don’t go together well or make little sense, but going into the nitty-gritty would give off all the spoilers. It brings us back to the drama feeling more on the incomplete side rather than there is a satisfying circle of completion with the promise of more in store; there’s a balance to be struck, and this didn’t exactly balance very well.

Phantom School was overall mediocre bordering on disappointing, but it was easy and quick, and it was a good, fun break from what I usually watch. Assuming there’s a second season in the works that hasn’t been confirmed or announced, it’s a somewhat solid first season that leaves you with a lot of questions yet also interested in more if you make it to the end. But if it’s just the eight episodes, it’s definitely not worth taking the time to watch, even if it’s quick, because it’s hard to say that I would even watch a second season.

2023 is officially underway, and I’m very much hoping things will shape up better than the sour note 2022 ended on. Thankfully, not a COVID scare like last year at least (god, I hated those two weeks of prime anxiety), because it is the bare minimum the universe can offer, and I will take it.

(Although I forgot the blog a bit. But that seems to be the same pattern as November, and I’m not entirely worried about it.)

Let’s hop in for a somewhat quick wrap-up of the last month of 2022!

December Musings

• [2 Dec] Bookwyrm Breakdown: November 2022
• [6 Dec] Is Book Blogging Dying? No, but it’s Evolving

Books Hoarded

I’m continuing to avoid ARCs like the plague because I really and truly want to finish my overdue ARCs and clear out the eldest of my library holds, but there are a few authors that I would absolutely make an exception for. December said hello to just one ARC.

• Winnie Zeng Vanquishes a King (eARC) by Katie Zhao – Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend was a lot of fun to read and I’m excited to see what Winnie’s next adventure is!

Books Devoured

Sometime in December, I slipped into a webtoon hole again like I did in May 2021, and I have not come out (it’s bad). Unlike in 2021, though, the reading monster did not rear its giant head because I only read two books.

• Take the Lead and Off the Ice by Jacqueline Snowe – You would think I would’ve read The Puck Drop (I even downloaded it!) to finish up the series, but I didn’t, because webtoons kept me in its clutches and did not let go until around late in the month. I might get around to it in January, but we’ll see.

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

November and I had a good deal, and I was hoping December would continue that deal: one day or week I’ll focus on reading, the next I’ll go catch up on some shows or movies. December decided n o, but I got a good chunk of media time in either way.

• Avatar: the Last Airbender – I FINISHED! Please be proud of me; it only took me a good part of the year. But I really enjoyed myself, and if I had to choose one season as my favorite, it would definitely be the third one (there’s so much character development! Ahhh!).
• Secret Society of Second-Born Royals – This wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good; it felt like trying to be the MCU but with a different concept that’s on par for what we know Disney for. Which is fine, but overall meh.
• Iron Man and Iron Man 2 – My experience with the MCU so far is scattered across the board, but I caved and got Disney+ before the price increase (damn capitalism), so now I’m watching all the ones I’ve missed. So far, my only thoughts on Tony Stark is he has an annoyingly big ego, and it was amusing having everyone put him in his place (but I do like him in The Avengers).
• Phantom School – If this is only one season, you will be thoroughly disappointed. If there’s a second season in the works, the jury is sort of still out there, but I don’t know if I’ll even watch it.

December did not have me following much music; a lot of the albums and songs I’ve been listening to have been ones from earlier this year or the past few years.

I’m realizing this could very well be the longest section of this month’s wrap-up; everything else feels short. (I say this as this post is over 1K words long…)

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

December was relatively similar to November in the sense that life has been stressful and I’m trying to be kind to myself, but it’s a lot easier said than done.

The past month in a nutshell:

• Sleeping a lot (it’s borderline unhealthy, but I’ve accepted that while others seem to lose sleep when they’re stressed, I run the opposite direction).
• Journaling went out the window (I don’t think I wrote a single entry?! This makes me a little sad because I love journaling).
• Created a Notion to keep track of the webtoons I read because it was bad, and by bad I mean I went through at least 50+ webtoons in less than two weeks.
• Being irritated at the universe and the cards I got handed.
• It snowed right before Christmas! Except it also melted two days later.

I also got back into BitLife after first downloading in 2019 and becoming absolutely obsessed with it until around 2020 when I changed phones and I just stopped playing (but BitLife doesn’t have a cloud save option – they still don’t – and I hated losing all my progress, so secretly, it was also a rage quit moment). Two years is a lot of content to catch up (even though I think there could be a lot better improvements to some of it) since I stopped shortly after God Mode came out, and it’s been a wild time creating some fictional character lives.

Some Wild Moments in BitLife:

• Duke (I was playing with the royalty update) Sherlock Holmes died at 4 years old. So much for that detective life. (I was going to have him abdicate his title so he can be a detective since you can’t really do anything as royalty in BitLife lol.)
  • This is where I’m a little annoyed at the design of the game, especially in regards to succession and abdication (because every country is different), but I get they probably wanted to make it simple according to the game’s current design.
• Queen Rose Holmes got murdered by a banshee while engaged and expecting a child. RIP Holmes Reign, but I guess the generational wealth is nice. (Her dad was obsessed with haunted property and did no exorcizing. But hey, don’t mess with the dead.)
• The Holmes family cannot fully get away with royalty because a few generations later, and after emigrating to Monaco, they married into the royal family.
• Will Herondale kept cheating on Tessa and gave her the worst engagement ring ever. What happened to your undying love for her?!

Now that I think about it, I stopped playing The Sims 4 around that time as well, so maybe I miss it deep down.

(I lied earlier; I thought that was long. Turns out this section is long, but if we take out my obsession, it’s not long at all.)

Let’s talk: How was your last month of 2022? Any games you’re obsessed with currently?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (It’s been a while.)

2022 felt like a combination of 2020 and 2021, sometimes worse, sometimes better, but overall if I had to describe my year in a couple words, it would be “weird rollercoaster.” Frankly, it’s a bit of an improvement from last year, because I described it as feeling like a hamster in another wheel and not liking it.

(Except 20222 had one last shitty hoorah for me, so I’m back to not liking that wheel.)

But here’s to hoping 2023 will bring in better things in store than 2022! The annual highlights and goals post is something I started back in 2020 based on the Bookend Winter prompt from Lauren @ Northern Plunder, and I didn’t want to skip out on it. It’s easy to forget about the good things that happen in the midst of everything, so this post is a good way to reflect on those and perhaps look back on years later.

Blogging Highlights of 2022

For the past two years, I focused a lot on doing behind-the-scenes work: cleaning up posts, tags, categories, media files, etc. While I did a little of that in 2022 as well, it definitely wasn’t as intensive as the past couple of years. I had time to do other blogging things I wanted to do, but I didn’t get to do previously! (I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m focusing a lot more on self-care and not beating myself up as much as I used to. It’s a work in progress.)

The biggest thing is I got to experiment with posts and start defining the content that I want to have. I’ve gotten pickier about what reviews I want to write about, and I’ve accepted that it’s okay to write in-depth, longer posts; in fact, I probably enjoyed writing them sometimes. Most of my content was still book reviews, but I also pulled out two posts that I originally wanted to publish years ago, overhauled them (mostly) and finally published them rather than keeping them in the dungeon.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that I’m wordier, but I feel like my writing style has definitely evolved over the past few years (I would hope so) and for once, I’m actually proud of those posts (not all of them). I can probably say they were my favorite posts to write this year.

And well, if we want to talk about statistics, 2022 is my best blogging year in a while (aka double of last year’s views!); it actually makes it more special that November also marked ten years of this blog. To everyone who stopped by this year (and every year) and read posts, left comments, or followed/continue to follow my shenanigans, thank you for popping by! I hope you’ll continue sticking around.

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts

It’s always fun to look back and see which posts were read the most because sometimes there are posts that make the list when they’ve been forgotten or just weren’t expected to make it. Reviews dominated both 2020 and 2021 most viewed posts on the blog, and 2022 was no exception. Last year (feels weird to say last year when it’s not even a week into the new year), however, has quite a few surprises.

(Sometimes I think it’s better to move this in the best of post that I started in 2021, but I think these sometimes qualify as a personal highlight of blogging, so I’m leaving it here.)

Love Between Fairy and Devil Review

This review for Love Between Fairy and Devil did not play any games the moment it published; it literally smashed every blogging milestone within weeks. And okay, I knew it would do well because of the timing of the post (and the fact it was one of the most hyped Chinese dramas of the summer), but I did not expect it to uh… stomp all over my stats that quickly? insert shocked Pikachu face But I enjoyed writing this one a lot (it’s also one I experimented with differently compared to prior reviews), and it’s one of my favorites of 2022, so I’m thrilled that it’s doing well.

We also have a brand new top post of all-time! (The data nerd in the deep recesses of my soul is also curious how the stats for this one will affect the overall stats of the blog in 2023, but that’s for me to know when I’m feeling nosy about numbers.)

Side note: I actually didn’t plan on writing a review for this one and then decided, eh, why not? I keep saying I want to write more about Asian dramas, but I never follow through.

Meteor Garden Review

Like the previous post, this review of the 2018 reboot of the Taiwanese drama definitely carried the blog throughout the year, and I truly thought this would be the top post for the third year in the row. Having this knocked from the top blog pedestal so quickly is probably the biggest surprise I’ve gotten.

Should You Blog Under a Pen Name? Why It Is Absolutely Okay

I first wrote a draft of this back in 2019, and the current live post is very different from the original draft, which says a lot about how my writing style has changed in the past three years. Sharing my insights about blogging under a pen name is another favorite post of mine (because I think it’s important the use of pseudonyms is normalized in blogging), but unlike the top post of this year, I didn’t expect this to make it into the Top 5, especially since it’s one of my longest posts ever, if not the longest.

Is the Shadowhunters TV Show Better Than the Movie?

The second biggest surprise is my post from way back in the day about Shadowhunters, which I completely forgot about but also I thought it was more dead than dead (is that even possible?). But somehow, it got a second life four years later (where did you all come from) and reminded me I definitely wrote a post about Shadowhunters (even if it’s just over season 1, episode 1) and that I should probably continue the show since I did originally want to do a full write up between the differences (I thought it would be fun). Will I, though? Probably not; I’m a little occupied watching Asian dramas and it’s very cozy in here. I’ve also moved on from the show if I want to be honest with myself.

I don’t dare open this post, because I don’t want to think about my writing style from 2018 and more than likely I wish for a hole to open up beneath me. Anyway, if you saw that post and see any typos or sentences that sound funny, just pretend you saw nothing.

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Six Crimson Cranes nearly takes the fourth spot for the second year in a row, but it actually got shoved out of the way last second. This is likely because of The Dragon’s Promise, the second book in the duology, released in August as well.

2022 Personal Highlights Musings

While the rollercoaster goes up for blogging, the rollercoaster in my personal life crashed a few times throughout the year. 2022 was hard on my mental health in a lot of ways, but especially around April-May and August-now. I won’t get into details about the cause of those, though.

In a nutshell, self-care was very much a priority for me this year. I’ve gotten better at not beating myself up over not being productive because rest is important, though I think I still have a ways to go before the niggling voice at the back of my mind that keeps telling me I need to do something at all times fully leaves me alone. I’ve gotten the chance to jump back into Asian dramas again, which I have sorely missed, but I’ve also spent more time actually watching other shows and movies to relax instead of forgetting about my Netflix account. And I know my goal was to watch 52 movies or shows for the past two years, but I think I went over that number.

I also got back into reading more webtoons! This was a little later in the year (December), but it’s better late than never, right? (As they say.) Unfortunately, the stint didn’t last too long because for the past few days I found myself obsessed with BitLife again and it’s been a very wild time. (Sherlock Holmes born into the British Royal Family as a Duke but dying at 4 years old is just one of them. So much for being a world-renowned detective… sad trumpet noises)

I thought I would keep up with bullet journaling, but it turns out I just collected notebooks instead. 2022 was a shift back into Habitica and Finch after Kal discovered it earlier this year, and while it’s different from bullet journaling, it’s what’s currently working for me. Whether that changes in 2023, though, that’s a different story.

I hoped I would get back to learning Korean, but honestly, I didn’t touch a single lesson and I am okay with this because language learning is hard (and also trying not beat myself up over not being constantly productive every minute). I am, however, happy with the fact I can understand a few basic words from dramas, and I remember most of the alphabet still. Assuming I actually get back into language learning in the year, I’ll definitely need a refresher before I continue, but for someone who hasn’t touched a single lesson in over a year, it’s a win that I remember that information since I feel like I’ve been in a brain fog for much of 2022.

With all that said, this section feels more like a personal reflection of the past year rather than highlights. 2022 could definitely be rougher, but having/knowing I have friends who support and value me that I hang out with regularly (albeit virtually) has made it much better. (I’m looking at you, Clo.)

2023 Goals

As much as goals are fun to set up, I end up not going through with it because I do, in fact, forget about most of them a week later. (Or if I do, I feel like I didn’t because I’m harsh on myself, and yes, I should be kinder to myself.) I also realize that habits and consistency don’t really work for me; setting something concrete and following it to a tee (like journaling every Sunday) usually results in me not doing it more often than actually going through with it.

But it’s a little fun to have a few aspirations in the new year. Some of these are repeats from previous years, and that’s okay, because everyone goes at their own pace. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Blogging Goals

Long story short, 2023 will be a year of experimenting and figuring things out. The blog has grown a lot in the past decade, and I’ve grown personally as well (not just in the very obvious mid-teens vs mid-twenties). It only makes sense for the blog to evolve along because it would feel weird if I kept it in the same style as when the blog first started.

Like I mentioned earlier in the post, the past two years have been pretty maintenance/clean-up intensive (added on top of not getting internet access at home and relying on mobile internet access), so I didn’t really get the chance to do things in blogging that I wanted to do. My 2022 blogging goals were very much a repeat of the ones I set in 2021, and it’ll mostly be the same for 2023 with a few changes and some crossover with my reading goals.

My biggest hope this year is completing my old ARCs and writing those reviews, because I then want to evaluate and define what kind of content I want to post. A lot of my content comprises book reviews, and while I do like writing my thoughts about books I read, I think I’ve reached the point of book review burnout. I don’t know if it’s just my review style or if it’s that I’ve been doing this for so long and want to move on* (but don’t really want to), but that’s something I hope to figure out in the new year.

*omg no, I’m not quitting blogging; I love blogging, and I must continue plotting for world domination keep my writing skills sharp through a creative outlet.

I’ve also been hoping to write more Asian drama reviews since writing about Meteor Garden and I didn’t really get to do so until late 2022, so I’m hoping I’ll do more of those in the new year.

Additionally, I’m hoping to pull out a few drafts I’ve written back in the day and finally publishing them instead of leaving them in the dungeon. Chances are they’ll get an overhaul like my post about book blogging evolving rather than dying, since I think all of them were written nearly four years ago and I have more insights to share than before.

I genuinely don’t think I’ll be any more active and on top of blog comments and hopping than I have been, so I’m accepting my current pace of responding/hopping every 1-2 months as the way the cards fall and the energy that I have. With that said, I do hope that I’ll find new blogs to visit at the very least.

Last, but definitely not least, but Clo and I should definitely work on a collab post or two. As she puts it in DMs, we talk way too much and come up with way too many ideas, but we’re somehow incapable of making this become an actual thing.

Reading Goals

I mentioned this in the last section because there’s some crossover, but I’m hoping I’ll finish all of my old ARCs in 2023. You can say it’s perfect timing with Kal’s Project Backlist Reading Challenge.

I was originally hoping to finish the 12 I had in 2022, but yeah… that didn’t exactly happen. But I finished a few books, which is still progress and better than nothing, and I currently have 9 books total to read and review, 1 of which is a 2023 release. Theoretically, I should finish, but if the last two years are any indication, I’m notoriously bad at this. This does not stop me from hoping, though, and maybe third year is the charm?

If all else fails, I think it’s time for me to accept I’ll probably not get around to them (or until five years later, like I did with Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor).

There is one book that will be an exception though, at least until HarperCollins management gets their ducks together and the union gets a better contract.

I’m also hoping I’ll get around to my library holds and cleaning those out so I can make room for new holds and begin the cycle again. Some books I had on my end of 2022 TBR have been on there for over two years. I need help.

My reading goal this year is going down to 30 instead of 50, even though 100 is a more accurate and still attainable number. 30 makes things less stressful for me (mostly since I don’t feel like I’ll be reading as much — I haven’t touched a book since early December), though, because nothing like “You’re 5 books behind reaching your goal!” giving prime anxiety. I can always adjust it later.

Personal Goals

Bullet journaling may have been abandoned, but journaling remains strong even if it’s inconsistent. But inconsistency sums up my life currently, so at least I’m on-brand. I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to journal more regularly, whether that’s once a week or once every few days. Journaling has always been my go-to when the going gets tough, because something about squawking into the void of paper feels very therapeutic when therapy is expensive.

I still want to keep my goal of 52 movies or shows, because I’ll only abandon it if I don’t and 52 seems like a reasonable number while still reading regularly. A great majority of those will probably be Marvel, though, because I’m hoping I’ll catch up on the MCU (even if I’m going to be scattered). And there’s a lot of those.

It’ll be nice to get back into language learning, but like last year, it’ll be at the bottom of my priorities since I’m also focusing on the other non-disclosed goal from last year and that will definitely take up a chunk of my energy. Self-care is definitely something I’ll have to prioritize again (or at least being kinder to myself), and hopefully 2023 turns out better for me personally and is kinder to my mental health.

Let’s talk: how was your 2022? What do you have planned for 2023?

“Book blogging is dying,” or “book blogging doesn’t matter” is a discourse we’re all well aware of. Every few months, something goes around in some shape or form: leaving book blogs completely out of ARC forms, leaving book bloggers out of the conversation when they’re clearly talking about book blogging in particular or a variety of platforms, or articles talking about how XYZ saved the publishing industry and therefore resulting in publishers putting more of their budgets toward sponsored posts through those platforms—we’ve heard them all. (It’s pretty exhausting, honestly.)

Blogging has come a long way since I first started back in 2012. Back then, it was a way for people to share their knowledge, opinions and news in the niche they were interested in, and social media was just starting out. This hasn’t changed, but with the rapid rise of social media in the past decade, it’s no wonder people ask if blogging is heading to a decline.

It probably doesn’t help that those who start out as bloggers eventually jumped the blogging ship for a different platform after low statistics and engagement (not that there aren’t other reasons; this is merely one reason). As much as numbers shouldn’t matter, it does hurt to see maybe two views a day and no engagement after pouring so much time and energy. Don’t we love hustle culture.

In a world where numbers are constantly used to measure our success outside of blogging, it makes sense that statistics feel validating. So can we really blame anyone for leaving blogging? Why bother with something that doesn’t work when you’ve found a place that works?

After all, in a fast-paced, rapidly changing world where most people hang out regularly on 3-5 platforms, there’s only so much time and energy we can invest into something. As much as we would love to extend our arms and legs everywhere, doing so just isn’t plausible without burning out. Most of us in the book community aren’t doing this as full-time jobs or making thousands of money that blue moon articles like to talk about the maybe 1-2% that do – we have outside jobs, families, social lives (not that I have any – in this pandemic? Ha.), etc.

Book blogging isn’t dying, nor will it. Here’s why.

I am of the opinion that book blogs are still relevant and will always remain relevant regardless of whatever social media platform(s) are highly active/trending. If Twitter sinks into a tragic death or Hive becomes mainstream, blogs will still be around. This opinion comes with a multitude of reasons, even if I might be biased. I’m a blogger, after all, and I did start before social media truly exploded into the giant mass it is today.

I can’t speak for the bloggers who started after me, nor can I speak for those who leave blogging for a different platform (because, again, everyone’s reasons are different, and it’s not necessarily the numbers). But with Twitter possibly imploding before the end of the year, I figured it was high time to pull it out of the draft dungeon and discuss why book blogging isn’t dying. (This could be applied to regular blogging as well, but we’re mostly here to talk about book blogging.)

We don’t own the content posted on social media.

Remember the Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp Blackout of 2019? If there’s one thing all of us can take away from those hours of Internet Darkness, it’s that we don’t own the content we post on social media (and you should not keep your eggs in one basket).

Theoretically, we do. We created it and posted it on our account, right? Plagiarism isn’t okay, regardless if it’s social media or a blog, but at the end of the day, Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and Elon Musk owns Twitter. If they go down, they take the content with them. You can’t get that content back. They sure don’t care if they took your content with them, and the worst part? They don’t need to give you any warning to take down your content. It’s like blogging on non-self-hosted WordPress and Blogger: you’re at the mercy of the platform you’re on.

(Note: this isn’t to say self-hosted is better and free is the worst thing ever because self-hosted isn’t cheap, but you are at the mercy of WordPress and Google.)

Back when I wrote stuff and thought about being an author, I posted my stuff on a site called Miss Literati. Years ago, when I thought about looking at my old stuff because I was nostalgic (and maybe needed some story ideas when I still wanted to be an author), I found out that the site had shut down. No warnings, no emails, nothing. I sure won’t be getting those stories back. They’re embarrassing too, so at least that worked out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe you’re lucky if you back up those photos so you can reuse them, or you already reuse them. Most of us don’t really think about backing that content up, though. Hell, I wouldn’t even remember to back my blog up without my host and a plugin doing it automatically regularly. I definitely didn’t do it as often as I should have back on Blogger.

Anyway, here’s your regular reminder to back up your blogs, friends. If you have not done so lately, consider this a callout! (I woke up and chose violence, didn’t I.)

But when a site goes down, you still have your blog, especially if you’re self-hosted. You own the content, so you get to choose what you want to post or feature or when you want to stop blogging. You don’t lose your audience or readers, even if it’s just ten squirrels regularly reading every post with their nutty laptops sitting on acorns spilling nut crumbs over their nut screens. Even if you’re on a free platform, you can still choose what you want to post or when you want to stop.

You’re at the mercy of whatever platform you’re on (because you don’t own it).

Remember those days on Instagram and Twitter* when the posts of everyone you followed were in reverse chronological order by default? Yeah, those were good days. Now I’m lucky if I get an outbound link click on Twitter.

*Twitter has the option to switch to the latest tweets, at least, but it’s not the default.

Social media changes rapidly; what’s here today might not be here tomorrow. MySpace is a great example of a once huge platform that eventually got replaced by Facebook, but I think the ongoing situation on Twitter is the perfect one in this scenario. In just mere days and weeks after Musk brought Twitter, the platform has changed so much my head is spinning with keeping track of what’s going on. Will it survive in 2023? Who knows? But I know it’s going to hurt those who have made Twitter their primary platform/source of income.

Who’s to say another billionaire like Bezos won’t buy out TikTok next and come up with something like TikTok Plus, where you can buy the blue checkmark and be prioritized in feeds like Musk is doing with Twitter?

Since you own your blog, you also get to choose what you want to do with it. If you want to do a static homepage and have all your blog posts in a different section, by all means, design your homepage to your happy heart’s desire. If you want to sort your posts in the default traditional reverse chronological order most blogs stick with, you can. Want to do it the other way around and put your oldest posts first? Not sure why anyone would, but you do you.

And, of course, if you want to sell it for a whopping $44 billion to Musk as well, then yes, that option is theoretically available.

You could argue that by being on WordPress, I’m at the mercy of whatever they come up with, with the prime example of switching from Classic to Block Editor a few years ago. You would not be wrong, but overhauling an editor does not affect how my content shows to my audience like social media does (if it even shows up).

Not everyone has social media, and not everyone feels social media is the place for them to start conversations.

It’s a little harder to have a meaningful conversation on Twitter and Instagram (I don’t mean in DMs). Most people scroll quickly as they like and retweet, and quite a handful only leave comments like “great photo” before moving on. This, of course, isn’t any different in blogging, but the comments section of a post has much less of a limit than on Twitter, where you have to get straight to the point or start a thread.

Some people just like the person-to-person conversation and engagement they get on a blog. Sure, you can get that same style of conversation on social media or slide in DMs, and anyone can still jump into a conversation in the comments section, but it’s also less likely to get lost in the flurry of other conversations. There’s a lot of noise, and it’s easy to lose track on social media.

Your blog might be the only way for some people to access your content for a variety of reasons: they might not have social media (or even want it), social media platforms are blocked for them, etc.

You can create long-form content on a blog, but you can’t do it on social media.

I don’t know about you, but I love reading blogs. With all due respect to YouTube, I don’t watch long-form content there. It just isn’t the same for me, and I prefer using YouTube for music videos and other fun content. I’d rather watch bloopers on a music video set than listen to a review*.

That might work for some, and that’s perfectly valid—by no means is this meant to shun YouTube because I love that there are a multitude of ways to consume content. But YouTube aside, you can’t really create long-form content that goes into an in-depth analysis on Instagram like you can with a blog post. How do you do a full-blown tutorial in an Instagram caption or tweet? Social media is meant to be short, quick, and to the point – most people don’t hit “more” before they move on to the next thing. Sometimes you just can’t explain something that’s meant to be said in 2K words into 280 characters instead. It just doesn’t feel right because some things are more nuanced and complicated.

Imagine if my review for Love Between Fairy and Devil was on Twitter verbatim or my post about blogging under a pen name. That’s an extremely long thread. I might love writing them, but even I wouldn’t want to read all that on Twitter.

On a blog, you get a lot more freedom to express yourself. That’s not to say you can’t express yourself through social media, but for a wordy person like me, cutting myself on social media is a personal hell (feels like applying to colleges again when the maximum word count for essays were 250-500 words only). And just like in social media, when someone finds your content valuable, they’ll come back for more and potentially stay around for further content.

You can repurpose your blog posts.

Fun fact: I repurposed this post from a piece I wrote for an internship in 2019, which, funnily enough, was inspired by the same discourse that flows through the community every few months.

There’s a lot of material that you can work with blog posts that you can’t really translate with other platforms. Not only can you turn a blog post into a social media post, but you can also turn it into videos, infographics, emails, podcasts, etc. You can link back to previous posts, recreate a new social media post after a period of time, use it to inspire your other works or new posts, etc.

You can repurpose a social media post into other content, but you can’t link it to a previous or new post like you can with a blog post or search for it as easily as you can with a blog. While some will view some of your old posts and tweets to see if they want to follow you, most won’t go back and read your first social media post because that’s too much scrolling—who wants to go through 100K tweets or 2K Instagram photos? Not I.

“But Sophia,” you say, “I don’t want to read a 1-3K word blog post!” My most popular posts of all time would like to disagree (I will admit that 3K words is kind of stretching it, though), but would you rather read a 3K word blog post or go through 3K Instagram photos and read them word for word?

Blogging is long term.

Sometimes it feels like backlist books (and shows) don’t get enough attention; while many people are interested in recent upcoming books, there’s also a good handful of people who are interested in older ones too. This is similar to blogging; sometimes, it feels like recent posts don’t get enough attention, even though it really comes down to if it’s an evergreen or timely post.

Social media is designed to be more of an instant gratification where most of your likes and comments will roll in the first few days, but then it dies down. And once it dies down, it’s just dead (sometimes it’ll go viral later, but that’s rare). No one’s going to read your first Instagram post. In other words, social media doesn’t really have evergreen or timely options that will continue months later.

Blogging isn’t designed to be instantly gratifying in terms of social approval; it’s more about the long game. You never know when an older post will suddenly get a second life. My review for Meteor Garden died a tragic death two months after it went live. My impressions about Season 1, Episode 1 of Shadowhunters died a very tragic death a month after it went live, and views went down year by year (honestly, it was a shit post, and I forgot it existed). The former got a second life six months later, the latter got a second life four years later.

The only competition is yourself.*

On social media, we’re at the mercy of the algorithm. They can change it whenever they want, however they want, and you can’t stop them no matter how much you complain about no longer having reverse chronological order, the algorithm favoring multiple posts a day, or the pivot from a photo to a video and entertainment platform.

The only feed on the blog is yours, and if you have multiple bloggers, your co-bloggers and contributors. I highly doubt you’re competing with your co-bloggers, though. Anything that’ll normally catch someone’s attention to another feed is likely leading them deeper into your blog’s post archives. Only you get to define what your success is in blogging, and you get to choose whether you want to keep it chronological.

*Okay, you can disagree and say your (hopefully friendly) competition is other bloggers (at least in terms of SEO), and you’re not entirely wrong. Most of us are here for a good time, though, mostly because we’re doing this as a hobby (at least in book blogging) rather than full-time.

If you don’t want to look at numbers and stats, you don’t have to. I don’t check my stats regularly unless something majorly interesting happens, and I’m fascinated with how it plays out.

So, no. Book blogging isn’t dying. It is, however, evolving.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, blogging has come a long way since I first started back in 2012, and not just for me changing as a person as I grew older. More bloggers started blogs, and other platforms (social media!) emerged and fell—the world marches on, industries change, and so does blogging.

I think Marie puts this really well back in 2020 about how book blogging has changed in five years: just having a book blog doesn’t feel like it’s enough, and people are talking more on social media because it’s quicker and easier to just scroll about on one platform. And that’s not all the changes that have occurred, too; Louise talks about the differences in book blogging then vs. now in August 2022, and I agree with a lot of points because I’ve also noticed a lot of those differences.

Personally, I’ve focused most of my energy on the blog over any other platform in recent years. I used to be extremely active on Twitter and was active on Instagram for about a year before deciding that keeping a balance between the three platforms was too much for me. I even thought about doing a booktube channel at some point, but then decided against it. And Goodreads, especially in groups, was definitely my jam for the first few years of blogging.

While I’m no longer actively posting on social media (aside from what’s automatically set up and the occasional tweet), I think it’s a powerful tool to use in addition to blogging because I’ve discovered new blogs and made friends that way through conversations beyond blogging. And while search engine makes up a huge portion of my traffic, social media has contributed. Maybe there has been less blog engagement over the past decade, or traffic has fluctuated up and down, but as long as there’s a need for information or entertaining content from a wide variety of perspectives in a written format, there will be a need for bloggers.

November felt like September in some ways but also not? It can definitely be summed up in one GIF though, only instead of no motivation to read, it sums up the universe at me.

(Also how is it December and only one month away from 2023?)

But before we dive into the wrap-up, there are some important things to talk about! Let’s jump in.

If you’re an active member of the book community, you’ve probably heard about #HCPonStrike, in which members of the HarperCollins Union have been trying to negotiate for a better contract with management for 11 months. Starting November 10, they’ve been on indefinite strike.

As someone who once aspired to work in the publishing industry (but couldn’t because of the unlivable wages) and as a blogger who’s content is primarily book-related, I believe those who work in the industry deserve so much better than what they are getting and I think other book bloggers and even readers should support them in their fight for a fair contract. Nicole from Thoughts Stained with Ink recently put a post together on why book bloggers, readers and aspiring writers should also support #HCPonStrike.

For those who are in Missouri like me, our Secretary of State is proposing a new rule that is seeking to keep books out of libraries receiving state funds (public libraries like the St. Louis County Library and St. Louis Public Library) as it would impose limits on what books we can access. Part of the proposed rule states, “no funds received shall be used to purchase or acquire materials in any form that appeal to the prurient interest of any minor.”

In other words, libraries can’t acquire books that discuss sex and even events will be required to have ratings. It also forces librarians to enforce censorship and essentially take away the rights from parents and families to make a decision that works best for them (really, there’s a lot I could go into about this). And it doesn’t go to a vote either. A 30-day comment window opened on November 15 and closes on December 15.

November Musings

• [2 Nov] Happy 10th Birthday (Decaversary?), Bookwyrming Thoughts
• [5 Nov] Bookwyrm Breakdown: October 2022
• [8 Nov] It’s the Final Countdown: Books I Hope to Read Before the End of 2022

Books Hoarded

Just one book in November! I was not kind to my wallet considering I went on a little spree during the Steam Sale and treated myself to ProWritingAid Premium, so it was probably a good thing I didn’t go look at books even if I was tempted.

• Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima (Publisher) – The Seven Realms series was pretty big back when I was in high school and I’ve always loved the covers for the series even though I never picked the series. But Norse mythology? I’m here for it!
  • At the moment, I’m holding off my review when I finish the book because I believe those in the publishing industry deserve to be paid living wages.

Books Devoured

November felt like September in a way that I wanted to read, but the effort to pick up a book was not there. Or, more accurately, the effort to pick up a fantasy book was not there, but I was definitely picking up romances. My end of the year TBR is going out the window really quick, but attempts were made (I finished one!)

• Ex-Appeal by Cathy Yardley – Second chance romance can be a hit or miss for me, but Ex-Appeal was so good, and I loved every moment of the book (and the entire Ponto Beach Reunion trilogy, which I recommend!).
• From the Top by Jacqueline Snowe – Right after finishing Ex-Appeal, I had zero desire to finish the whatever many books (I’m scared to look) I have in various states of currently reading. So I went on a little hunt for a new book and snooped on Sumedha’s list for romance novels on Kindle Unlimited, because I really should use that more often and not abandon it like my Netflix (my mother cannot use all my subscriptions for me, lol), and here we are.
  • I finished the book after this one, Take the Lead, just before writing this wrap-up and too bad I finished it in December, but I’m going to sneak it in here anyway.
• The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon – I loved The Boyfriend Project and thought The Dating Playbook was good (not my favorite, probably my least), but The Hookup Plan is hands down my favorite out of the trilogy.

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

I watched quite a bit in November, and I have a feeling December might be the same case.

• Enola Holmes 2 – I watched Enola Holmes a few months ago and enjoyed it a lot, so I was definitely looking forward to the sequel when I found out about it! This was a good follow-up to the first, and I liked the inspiration from history as well that they included (although it was mostly fictional when I went down a mini rabbit hole to learn more).
• Vampire in the Garden – Quick and bittersweet, I finished it in one evening and wanted to cry a little.
• Abominable – Probably one of my favorites of this year — I loved this so much.
• Reborn Rich – Y’all, this is so good so far and I’m looking forward to episodes coming out each week. I’m also trying my very best not to binge, and I seem to have good luck with it so far. Watch me write a 2.5k review gushing over it. Who will stop me.
• Phantom School – Unlike Reborn Rich it’s not as good, but it’s only eight episodes (each about 25 minutes long) and since I’m already over halfway (because I’m a glutton for getting hooked on finding out what happens next and the concept is pretty cool), I might as well finish and get some closure when the rest of the episodes are out.
• Avatar: the Last Airbender – I finally started Season 3! I’ve forgotten how long ago since I watched Season 2 (time is but a concept), and I am by no means close to finishing the show, but I’m making progress. I think it’s possible I could finish this before 2023, but we’ll see.

Spotify Wrapped came out and the amount of times I’ve listened to ATEEZ does not surprise me in the slightest. Neither does the amount of times I’ve listed to Wonderland by AleXa or any of the other songs listed in my Top 5.

Other Songs and Albums on my Playlist for November:

• Eye to Eye by Limelight
• Girls Gone Vogue by Alexa
• Forgive Me by BoA
• Dragon by Tempest
• BIBI Vengeance by BiBi (I loved the music video for this as well)

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

November was a little kinder to me compared to October, which I’m grateful for. I think I’m still in the throes of burnout, where I’m just irritated at everything in the universe, so I may or may not have been besties with journaling a few times (it hasn’t been helping, but it’s better than nothing). Getting up is unfortunately still difficult, and I’m still craving sleep a lot/feeling like going to sleep at 6pm that my mom may or may not have roasted me at some point. But allergies are definitely leaving me alone (at least until February/March, when we repeat the cycle again), and I’m trying my very best all things considered.

I’ve also been pretty busy in my personal life and it’s been an overall stressful month (probably obvious given that I just dropped off the middle of November without a word); I’m definitely looking forward to being less stressed about said thing, especially the nice long weekend given by pure luck of the work schedule later this month (thank you, universe, I truly needed it).

Let’s talk: tell me about your November! What are you looking forward to in the final month of 2022?

Alexa, play The Final Countdown.

For some reason, publicly posting a TBR list makes me a little more motivated to get said books completed. There were maybe three books from my Spring 2022 TBR I posted earlier this year I didn’t get around to, and I think that’s a pretty decent record considering that I’m a mood reader. (Right now, I seem to be chomping on quite a bit of romance in between my usual meals of fantasy…)

It’s probably a good idea to post this in December and not November, but I know full well I’ll just never finish any of the books by then (maybe one or all; kind of at the mercy of my reading mood, really). Plus, I like to give myself some sort of flexibility. So two months (okay, a little less, but I did want to post it in late October…) it is!

Final Stretch of the Year TBR

Most of these are probably old ARCs because my goal in 2022 is to knock as many of those out as I can (and some are going to be from my Spring list because, yeah… I should get around to those*. Slowly but surely, I’ll make it!

*We’re not going to talk about how long I’ve pressed the “Deliver Later” button at my library. Two years for one book…

It was hard to choose exactly the number of books I wanted to get around to, but ten seemed like a pretty good amount since it’ll be about a book a week. Since I’m usually reading between 2-3 other novels, it’ll give me some flexibility with my mood reader self so I can pick up books for enjoyment outside of the list (I find that it works best over a set list after trying it out multiple times and failing).

When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles

I think last month marks two years (?!) since I first put this on hold, and I still haven’t gotten around to reading this. I mean, part of me is probably scared of picking this up because some friends just… didn’t like this book as much as they hoped they would, and since my tastes are kind of similar to theirs… well… it doesn’t really bode well? I also want closure and answers after reading Where Dreams Descend but also, why are decisions so hard to make? They should make themselves, truly.

All of Our Demise by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

Call it cheating if you want to, but I do have this checked out currently (and started it to an extent) because All of Us Villains is still sort of fresh in my mind, and I’m super excited to jump into All of Our Demise and back into the world Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman created. Definitely more excited than When Night Breaks because why else am I putting this one first when it should be the other way around? (Does it really matter as long as I have both on my list to finish before the year ends? Probably, because watch me finish this one and not the other one.)

The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton

Dhonielle Clayton’s debut middle-grade novel is also one I keep pushing off on the hold list and utilizing the “Deliver Later” button a little too much because this one is heading toward a year old probably? I’ve also been wanting to read more middle-grade novels since they just bring me a lot of joy that middle-school me never got the chance to enjoy.

Also, I love books set in magical schools.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

So as much as everyone I know loves and shouts and recommends The Poppy War trilogy to me all the time, I really don’t think I’ll ever get around to reading it due to the content warnings. Maybe one day I’ll get to it when I’m in the right mindset, but I think it’s going to be a while yet before that happens. Until then, I’m still interested in Kuang’s works, and what better than Babel since that’s her newest after The Poppy War?

The Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao

I’m here for more Katie Zhao novels because The Dragon Warrior is one of my favorites, and I enjoyed How We Fell Apart (for the most part) along with Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend. And there are academic rivals in college??? The synopsis reminds me of Ace of Spades a bit, which was one of my favorites of 2021, so I’m holding out hope that while I did enjoy Zhao’s debut YA novel, I’ll enjoy this one even more.

Also, I know if I don’t put this on my TBR, I’m probably going to shove this under old ARCs really quick since it’s publishing in a few weeks (and this is my last ARC for 2022 before I focus on old ones, so maybe it’s cheating a little but I’m Committed).

Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao

Fairy tales and family curses? Sign me right up. Broken Wish is the first in The Mirror quartet, which follows a family and their curse over the course of a few generations. Each book follows a different character from that family and is written by a different author, and the entire premise (plus I’m a sucker for fairy tales) drew me to the series in the first place.

I got accepted for an ARC of it back in 2020, but that year kicked my butt as much as it did with most people, so I never got around to it. I’m honestly hoping that I will get around to this, though, because I also liked Julie C. Dao’s Rise of the Empress duology (especially Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix).

On the bright side, I can at least binge most of the series after finishing this one.

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

The Atlas Six has been at the very unfortunate end of the stick where every time I change my “Deliver Later” settings to say that I’m ready for it to be delivered as soon as it’s available, I end up not having the time to read it when it’s available. Is there a curse involved, or is it just terrible timing?

Me @ book: I swear to god, you’re going to be read one day, even if that means putting you on every TBR list I make. T_T

Side note: I love how I said most of my list would be old ARCs, but we’re at book seven, and there are two ARCs, with only one being an older one. BRB while I put on my clown shoes.

Suns Will Rise by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

The final book making up the trio of books I didn’t get around to this Spring (and the final book in the System Divine trilogy) has been on my Hold list for a decent amount of time, but it’s thankfully not subjected to the same amount of bad luck that seems to happen to the other two books. Or maybe just silently ignoring the book’s existence is its own sort of curse.

Or I’m scared of what might happen to them because it’s the end, and Les Mis isn’t exactly happy vibes considering the meaning of the word itself. We’ll go with that excuse.

The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon

I enjoyed both The Boyfriend Project and The Dating Playbook, especially the strong female friendship between Samiah, Taylor, and London. I jumped on The Hookup Plan as soon as I was able to because I’m super excited to see London getting her happy ending. Also, the enemies-to-lovers trope is involved, and as much as I think the friends-to-lovers trope is far superior (and childhood-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers even more superior), I still love a good enemies-to-lovers novel.

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

When I say it took everything in me not to request If You Could See the Sun (because I’m trying to finish my old ARCs) or join the blog tour, I do mean it took everything. The internal struggle was absolutely real.

Ann Liang’s debut just sounds like a whole bundle of fun, and if this novel were a drama, I would somehow morph from a book dragon to a book goblin just to watch this. Also, I heard there are academic rivals, which makes it more fun. (As long as I’m not one being blackmailed, that is…)

Let’s talk: what do you hope to read or do before the end of the year?

In a nutshell: October was terribly eventful, especially in the last week of the month. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but it’s been a mix of emotions.

Blogging, however, has been quite a few wins!

October Musings

• [2 Oct] Bookwyrm Breakdown: Reading Pretty Much Exited the Chat
• [8 Oct] The Empress of Time by Kylie Lee Baker ★★★★
• [11 Oct] Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim ★★★½
• [21 Oct] Dragonfly Eyes by Cao Wenxuan ★★★★

Books Hoarded

• The Gatekeeper’s Staff by Antoine Bandele – I’ve had this one on my radar since it was released in 2021, and the audiobook was available for review, but I didn’t have the time to do so. Maybe I’ll finally get around to reading it? We’ll see.
• The Shiver Series by Maggie Stiefvater – Way back in the day, when Shiver came out, and I read books sitting in Barnes & Noble while my mom was shopping (because I hated shopping), I was absolutely engrossed with the book and finished it all in one day. But I also forgot everything except for what happens at the end until nearly an entire decade later, so imagine my excitement when I found out the long lost title, and it was on sale.

Books Devoured

Sometime in October, my romance reading era came about, and I just seem to be teetering back and forth between a few romances before going back to my fantasy ways. Occasionally, I’ll pop in a graphic novel or two, or maybe a middle-grade, and then the cycle repeats. This probably means I should diversify my reading genres a lot more, but old habits currently die hard.

I do seem to have broken free from the slump-like hold that grabbed me by the scruff of my neck a bit in September, though I still seem to be struggling just a little bit. I’m keeping my head above the reading water levels.

• Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim – This was maybe my most anticipated book of the year, and while I enjoyed Sophie Kim’s debut overall, it sadly wasn’t my absolute favorite. But I’m still looking forward to the rest of the trilogy!
• The Empress of Time by Kylie Lee Baker – It’s strange for me to admit because this hardly happens, but I think I liked this more than the first book?
• Secrets of Camp Whatever Vol. 1-2 by Chris Grine
• Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lai
• Faking with Benefits by Lily Gold – It was fun, the podcast scripts were absolutely unhinged, and I loved them, but a miss at the end of the night.
• Gouda Friends by Cathy Yardley – Cathy Yardley is quickly becoming a favorite of mine (at the very least, if not a favorite, then I’d read most of her books), especially with the way she writes friend groups. But also puns. I love them, and I’m currently reading the next book in the Ponto Beach Reunion series, Ex Appeal.
• The Forever Night Stand and Falling for the Enemy by Katie Golding

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

Did I change the GIF from Spongebob to one from Tom & Jerry? Yes, absolutely (the expression at the end is absolutely accurate, though).

EVERYONE SHUT THE FRONT DOOR THERE’S A PERCY JACKSON SIXTH BOOK COMING NEXT YEAR also, does this boy even get a break? (Rick Riordan, what do you mean Percy saved the world twice and still needs recommendation letters from the gods to attend college? Meanwhile, I’d just faceplant into the bottom of the ocean in his shoes. Although I will admit if he needs a letter from Ares, it would be amusing.)

Anyways, let’s dive into what I’ve watched:

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – I know I haven’t watched all the Marvel movies and basically given up keeping track of whatever order to watch I’m probably just skipping around, but my heart is so full after watching this.
• Red Riding Hood – I don’t know, honestly. I think I wanted to sleep more? It wasn’t bad, but it was pretty bland.
• Snow White and the Huntsman – When the trailer for this first came out, I was super excited to see this since it sounded amazing and dark. (Also fairytales!) This had a good concept, but it didn’t have the greatest execution, unfortunately. (Charlize Theron’s acting was chef’s kiss, though.)
• Mr. Bad – I started watching this shortly after Love Between Fairy and Devil because the concept sounds like a load of fun, but something must not be clicking since I’ve abandoned it currently. I’m only two episodes in, though, so we’ll see if that changes!

And then we’ll talk about some songs on my playlist that I can think of from the top of my head while I’m writing this post:

• Taylor Swift’s new album Midnights is out! Don’t murder me in my sleep because the vibe of the album isn’t really my jam. But I do like Anti-Hero, Vigilante Shit, and Bejeweled the most, and I wouldn’t skip a song from the album if it started playing during a random shuffle. Midnights is one of those where I feel like I have to be in a particular mood, and it’s just not my mood currently.
• LE SSERAFIM released their 2nd mini album, Antifragile, and it’s one where I hated the title song at first, but it was catchy and slowly grew on me over time compared to their debut. My favorite song would be No Celestial, though.
• Lee Chae Yeon’s debut Hush Rush was absolutely amazing, and I’m excited for what she releases next! She’s best known for being a member of the project group IZ*ONE.

I also seem to be getting into my Mandopop and J-Pop era again, maybe?

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

I feel like, at some point in October, I reached true burnout (at least the tip of the iceberg), which is probably very noticeable with how getting up each day is just difficult. Even though I sleep an optimal amount everyone says you should (7-8 hours) nearly every night, I don’t feel like I’m energized unless I sleep 9-11 hours. And then I’m tired at 6 pm, which I don’t think it’s because I’m heading toward my 30s in half a decade, considering this was my cycle in college when I was a stressed little ball.

Just earlier this week, I woke up 5 minutes before I had to get up for work when I usually give myself at least 30 minutes to an hour in the morning (depending on if I’m going into the office or not), which probably sums up how I’m doing lately very accurately. (I promise I’m not slacking and not always like this, lol.)

I’ve also been besties with my allergy meds because it’s always the turn of the weather and temperatures swinging around like a wild pendulum that gets me every season, but especially going from autumn to winter. T_T

Life might have been on the downturn a little bit, but blogging has actually been pretty kind to me, and October 2022 may be my best month for the past few years!

Am I extra for using trophies? Yes, but I rarely talk about statistics, and I’m actually pretty proud of myself for reaching those milestones considering I usually fall in the average. (My stats transparency post that’s currently cooking in the blogging oven is likely going to be a wild time to write.)

Let’s talk: How was your October? What do you look forward to in November?

LOOK, MA, THE BLOG MADE IT TO TEN YEARS!

Blogoversaries (blogiversaries?) have historically been something I skipped/forgotten, but this year is a bit of a momentous one in a way that I don’t think it would be okay if I actually skipped it. Because it’s not just any blogoversary, it’s the 10th blogoversary (decaversary?). And that’s a pretty freaking big deal.

I also wrote this end of September so I wouldn’t forget about it near the end of October… and then ultimately decide not to write a post at all. Will my November self have regrets over this post and want to hide it? Probably. But that could apply to any post if I want to be honest with myself.

Once upon a time in 2012… (in a blog far, far away…)

Ten years ago, on November 2, 2012, a very naive and small-sized Sophia published her very first blog post on this blog. It was probably unhinged, like many of her posts back then (and maybe some of her posts now, but we don’t talk about that), but it made her happy, even if it was mostly in the void. She was a mere 15-year-old and had just entered her first year of high school, having just come to terms that blogging about games (or maybe just one game specifically) just wasn’t for her after approximately five months.

Most importantly, she had no clue what the hell she was doing (she still doesn’t sometimes).

So she launched that blog post with just a mere sliver of hope that she wouldn’t quit after five months like her first blog, after spending two months figuring out how she wanted her blog to look and the perfect name (or what she felt was) for it. Because it would be a tragedy for her small self if she quit after working very hard (so she thought) and thinking it was Excellent.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would be blogging a decade later, in 2022. She genuinely, genuinely thought she would stop after six months, maybe a year. Heck, maybe after four years, when she started college and when society deems people who have graduated from high school to be somewhat or fully independent. In reality, she still needs her mom to kill spiders because they terrify her greatly.

And yet, she’s still here.

Happy 10th birthday to this blog, you’ve made it to the double-digits!

Decaversaries are hard to come by, given that over the years, I’ve seen a lot of bloggers who have disappeared or quit after a few months or years. Every time I go back into my blogroll and see a name I feel like I haven’t visited in a hot minute, and then visit only to find out they haven’t written a post for years, it always sends a sad pang.

Uni (or adulting) tends to get nearly everyone in its clutches, though, I’m no exception. Blogging probably just became my coping mechanism and happy place.

I think out of all of my blogging friends (the few I had) from the beginning, maybe Roberta from Offbeat YA (who recently turned ten as well!) is still around. I’m sure there are more around, though, like Ruby from Bookishly Ruby, who I didn’t get to meet until we ended up on a Discord server together since we blog about vastly different bookish topics (we would never have, honestly).

But anyways, we’re not here to be mopey because blogoversaries, especially decaversaries (still can’t decide if I should just say 10th blogoversary/blogiversary), are a cause for celebration. I’ve spent the past year trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, and one of them was actually a makeover (new decade, new look) that I pushed to last year instead since we had plans to move homes this year (which later fell through).

Nothing honestly seemed right (I already did a here’s how I continued blogging for so long post), so I finally opted for a ramble/personal reflection post with a reintroduction.

Going down memory lane (spoiler: I get sappy really quick)

When you start blogging at an early age like I did, blogging becomes such a huge, integral part of life and even my personality (to an extent). It probably sounds weird, but I won’t lie: I’ve thought about quitting a few times over the years and had more than a few existential crises regarding the blog name.

After all, the name did come from a 15-year-old who was carefree and loved that she had a little online corner where she could talk about her little books. Quite different compared to someone now in her mid-20s.

It took time, but I’m honestly pretty fond of the blog name after long debating what name would fit better and keep the dragon. “Bookwyrming Thoughts” may be long, but it fits. Plus, I get to keep my dragon, which subconsciously, I think I chose because it’s a nod to my Chinese roots because dragons are an integral part of our culture (even if purple dragons aren’t a thing). I think feeling the name fits is all that matters in the end (and it’s become part of my brand).

For those who have been around from the beginning, you’ve pretty much seen me grow up and cross quite a few milestones (at least what I choose to reveal online). I mean, you’ve seen me from my ups and downs, from:

• getting my first job
• graduating high school
• getting my first internship
• contributing to another website (The Arts STL)
• graduating college
• getting my first full-time job after graduating

You’ve been there from the very first design giving huge “Graphic Design is My Passion” energy, the changing cursors from Pikachu to Hello Kitty, the years when I graduated from a dark background to changing color palettes (and design) of the blog to match the season, the multiple times I’ve broken the blog, and when I decided to diverge from book-related posts to movies and TV shows, music (even if it’s just one post a year) and even back to gaming. The last one is a little ironic, and while the last gaming-related post was in 2019 from Lupe, it feels a bit full circle in a way.

You’ve been there in the years when I thought blog posts were like school papers and indented every paragraph and realized five years later, “Why is everyone not indenting? OHHH.” (No one told me, omg, can’t believe you all would let me do that for years. Maybe that was endearing.) You’ve been there when I finally, finally figured out a color palette that worked out for the blog and this thing called branding, and finally got the dragon I’ve always thought fit the blog (still can’t figure out their name…) after moving from Blogger to WordPress. Everyone was probably relieved by then — “finally, Sophia has her branding ducks more together.”

And you’ve been there when the makeover happened last year and the subsequent rebranding that occurred with it. That’s a lot in the grand scheme of things if you ask me, even if a lot of my monthly wrap-ups are very much “life was very boring; I ate food, slept, worked, repeat cycle.”

Wow, that got sappy really quickly.

All of that said, much like book blogging has evolved over the years, I’ve grown a lot over the past decade as I transitioned from a teen to a young adult, and I guess I’m now an adult(?). There’s been a lot of changes over the years, and not just in the blog itself in terms of writing style and content. It truly feels surreal this little blog of mine has been around for ten whole years.

Who do I even thank? (spoiler: I get sappier)

I don’t even know where to begin with my list of people to thank over the years because it’s probably a mile long. I’ve always struggled with this, honestly; maybe it’s why I tend to skip these posts because I sometimes feel like it’s obligatory to include a list. And probably why I’m not winning an Oscar or Emmy or even a Grammy…

I’m truly grateful for everyone who has been here, whether it’s from the moment I wrote my first blog post and following my journey over the years or even if it was from a post you stumbled upon somewhere on the internet and decided, “this person seems pretty cool; I’m going to stick around.”

(Lots of power to you if you came to my Meteor Garden 2018 reboot review and stuck around because I know I don’t post about Asian dramas that much, even though I hope to do more of those. You probably came for the dramas, but you likely stayed for the books.)

But here’s a small handful of people who deal with my chaotic shenanigans on a regular/semi-regular basis:

• Roberta from Offbeat YA – I’m glad you’re still around in the blogging world and that we became friends really early on. I don’t know if you were my first follower like I was apparently your first follower, but sometimes it feels like this was the case (so we’ll assume that, yes, you were). Our friendship started out from a follow train back when follow trains were for the purpose of creating friendships and not just to boost numbers, and it’s turned into a friendship where we now yell GOOD MORNING on each other’s blog posts sometimes.
• Clo from Cuppa Clo – If I actually left you off this list, I think I’d get a message somewhere in less than 24 hours telling me off saying, “HEY. YOU LEFT ME OFF. HOW COULD YOU.” I have zero regrets about chucking you into a K-Pop and Asian drama hole, and I love our regular DMs. It would feel weird without a Clo screaming about something on a near-daily basis.
  • Also, happy late birthday! I’m glad this blog’s birthday is the day after yours (it would be cooler if it were the same day, haha). It kind of feels like destiny that you’re one of my closest blogging friends.
  • If we stopped procrastinating, maybe we’d have the collab posts we keep talking about finally published. That’s not a callout on both of us, but it truly is.
• Jayati from It’s Just a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile – I think you’d tell me off, too, lol. Our texts bring me joy, and I’m glad you’re one of my birthday buddies.
• Kal from Reader Voracious – AKA Spreadsheet, Email, and Data Queen. I love our buddy reads and geeking out over data and other things with you; I’m absolutely honored to know you and have you as one of my friends.
• Suhani from Random Reader’s Rambles – We’ve only known each other for less than a year (and therefore less than everyone else on this list), but your blog comments bring me joy (even if I’m terrible at blog hopping and replying to comments) and make my day when I see them. I’m really glad our paths have crossed, and I love our buddy reads as well! One day we’ll get our ducks together.

A Few Highlights and Stats (I’m not as sappy, but I’m proud)

Because they’re kind of fun to do, and it’ll be more fun to come back to in a decade from now (or even five years), assuming I’m still blogging. Cue a happy tear sliding down one side of the face.

Total Pageviews: ~302,600

When I first started drafting this post (hahaha, bold of you to assume I edited much; I deserve to ramble for once here) and looked at my stats, I was sitting at ~298,600 total pageviews. Getting 300,000 in time for the blog’s 10th birthday didn’t even feel possible (but definitely close).

Let’s just say that didn’t age well at all. In fact, it aged quite poorly.

Total Published Posts: 258

I don’t think anyone would remember, but there were definitely a lot of blog posts, according to my sixth blogoversary post. I did delete a huge chunk of them, though, because while they’re fun to go back to and see how much I’ve grown since back then, it was a lot of work to rebrand them all. Hard but necessary choices were made. I won’t miss them… much.

(I’m a little curious if combined, I would’ve had 1,500 posts… that’s too much math for me; we’re not doing it.)

Most Popular Post: Meteor Garden (2018 reboot) Review

I don’t think this is a surprise, as I revealed in my 2021 highlights and 2022 goals post that my review for the 2018 Meteor Garden reboot became my top review and post of all time* by around April – June 2021. For those curious, this was previously held by my review of The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco!

Unfortunately, for both posts, my review for Love Between Fairy and Devil is quickly became a contender for the top post, and it’s already the second most popular post of all time. You’ll have to stay tuned to see if this knocks a certain post off its podium by the end of the year.

(It actually brings me a lot of joy that my top three posts are reviews for Asian dramas and a book by an Asian author.)

A (Re)introduction! (I’m definitely not sappy)

So… I never did an introduction post. I just started posting, and that was that, so is it really a reintroduction, or is it a long overdue introduction? Either way, I thought it would be fun to do this after seeing Kat from Life and Other Disasters do one for her eighth blogoversary. As Kat puts really well in her post: “My style, the content of the blog, me as a person, have all changed over the years, and so has the audience here.”

I’ve always struggled to talk about myself and put myself out there. Is this why I skipped the first time because, deep down, I just wanted to slide right on into the community?

Anyways… let’s jump in!

I’m Sophia, a Chinese-Vietnamese American* from St. Louis, Missouri. I like playing games, listening to k-pop and c-pop, and plushies. I probably have a gif for everything.

*I tend to be more comfortable identifying as Chinese, mostly because my upbringing has been heavily influenced by Chinese culture rather than Vietnamese. Long story short, it’s complicated, and I often feel like an imposter in my own skin.

I started my first blog over the game Wizard101 in February 2012 when I saw official fansites were creating posts, and I thought it was cool (plus, I wanted my own corner). While I no longer play the game (and consequently no longer blog about it), I still hold it close to my heart.

On average, I read about 50 books a year, although since I graduated from college and no longer have to worry about papers and assignments, this has since increased to 100-200 books. I’m very much a mood reader, and while I read across a variety of genres, I tend to gravitate toward fantasy and science fiction the most. I also have a huge soft spot for books featuring Asian characters by Asian authors since I grew up with little representation and took whatever scraps I could get.

As such, I gravitate toward Asian dramas and music a lot, although I also listen to other music and watch other shows. I occasionally review Asian dramas, and I hope I get to do more of those in the future (when I’m feeling up for it)!

Unlike a lot of book bloggers, I actually didn’t get into reading like fish to water; in fact, according to my mom, I hated it, and she pretty much had to sit down and make reading a game to get me to read. My love for reading didn’t really begin until I got into middle school, and I didn’t become an obsessed reader until I started this blog. (My mother probably didn’t have this on her bingo card.) Maybe this is partially why I eventually gravitated out of blogging solely about books and into other interests.

Wow, that actually turned out longer than I thought. I think I’ll shut up now.

Here’s to more blogging years!

And here’s to more memories as well. I hope you’ll stick around longer with my chaotic shenanigans, however long they may last (I did renew my domain for a few years so I don’t forget about it, though, so I think I’ll be around a little while longer).

Side note: will I post anything for 11 years, or will I just skip it very casually and sneak by like the blogging dinosaur I am because there are only so many blogoversary post ideas I can do? Who wants to place their bets lol.

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From acclaimed Chinese author Cao Wenxuan, recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, comes a compelling family saga spanning fifty years and three generations.

Ah-Mei and her French grandmother, Nainai, share a rare bond. Maybe it’s because Ah-Mei is the only girl grandchild. Or maybe it’s because the pair look so much alike and neither resembles the rest of their Chinese family. Politics and war make 1960s Shanghai a hard place to grow up, especially when racism and bigotry are rife, and everyone seems suspicious of Nainai’s European heritage and interracial marriage. In this time of political upheaval, Ah-Mei and her family suffer much—and when the family silk business falters, they are left with almost nothing. Ah-Mei and her grandmother are resourceful, but will the tender connection they share bring them enough strength to carry through?

This multigenerational saga by one of China’s most esteemed children’s authors takes the reader from 1920s France to a ravaged postwar Shanghai and through the convulsions of the Cultural Revolution.

Trigger & Content Warnings: racism, assault, bigotry, death of a loved one

Dragonfly Eyes is probably my most underrated read of this year and perhaps the most surprising as well (to an extent) because I’m generally not the biggest fan of non-linear books without a plot. But I’ve found that I love books that deal with family or are told over the course of a few generations (if The Green Bone Saga is any indication), and family is definitely one of the prevailing and core themes in this book, along with Ah-Mei’s bond with her Nainai (paternal grandmother).

This was one that originally started as a bit disorienting for me, mostly because I typically struggle with non-linear books, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve read a book that pretty much has no overarching plot. Cao Wenxuan jumps us around a lot after setting up the story when Ah-Mei’s Nainai and Yeye (paternal grandfather) fall in love and start a life in France, but eventually move their family to Shanghai for the family’s silk business. One moment we see Ah-Mei at a young age, but the next, she’s in middle school. Then we’re back in France when Nainai is younger and about to depart for China with Yeye and their family.

All of that probably sounds like a mess to read, but it’s far from that, though it might not be a style some would like.

Personally, I found myself absorbed in the story; each of the chapters honestly felt like its own individual, quick-to-read story, kind of like snapshots into Nainai’s and Ah-Mei’s memories. It kind of gives off that feeling of when you’re cozied up in bed in the dim flickering flames of the candlelight late with your grandparents in the chair beside you, and they’re telling you stories from their past before sleep shuffles you off. I found myself slowing down and taking my time with each chapter of Dragonfly Eyes, and while this is typically what happens when I’m not vibing along with a book, it was the exact opposite in this case. I was absolutely there for the feel-good vibes.

With that said, it’s no surprise that I enjoyed Cao’s descriptive and flowy writing a lot. I think what stuck out the most to me were the tiniest details put into some of the moments, like Nainai’s and Yeye’s love for each other over the years (they’re the cutest), the family’s support for Nainai and Yeye, and of course, Ah-Mei’s and Nainai’s close relationship throughout given that it’s a core part of the book. Their close relationship comes from their resemblance to each other, and I just love them so much.

But Dragonfly Eyes isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though, because it does go into some serious topics like bigotry and racism. There are cute and impactful moments, but there are also bittersweet moments that’ll make you emotional and moments where we see how events (especially the Cultural Revolution) deeply impact the family as a whole and the characters individually. All in all, I had a good time with the novel.

If you’re not a fan of non-linear novels where you’re not entirely sure which age or year the story could be set in, Dragonfly Eyes is probably not for you. But if you’re looking for something that makes you feel like you’re being told stories at a campfire, bed, or anywhere you enjoy a short story that leaves you wanting to come back for another story, and you don’t care about the jumps, then I would definitely give Cao Wenxuan’s novel a try.

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After the destruction of her entire Talon gang, eighteen-year-old Shin Lina—the Reaper of Sunpo—is forced to become a living, breathing weapon for the kingdom’s most-feared crime lord. All that keeps her from turning on her ruthless master is the life of her beloved little sister hanging in the balance. But the order to steal a priceless tapestry from a Dokkaebi temple incites not only the wrath of a legendary immortal, but the beginning of an unwinnable game…

Suddenly Lina finds herself in the dreamlike realm of the Dokkaebi, her fate in the hands of its cruel and captivating emperor. But she can win her life—if she kills him first.

Now a terrible game of life and death has begun, and even Lina's swift, precise blade is no match for the magnetic Haneul Rui. Lina will have to use every weapon in her arsenal if she wants to outplay this cunning king and save her sister...all before the final grain of sand leaks out of the hourglass.

Because one way or another, she'll take Rui's heart.

Even if it means giving up her own.

Trigger & Content Warnings: death, death of a loved one, violence, blood and gore, murder, addiction, drug abuse, physical abuse, PTSD

Last of the Talons was honestly one of my most-anticipated releases of this year; the moment I found I was granted the eARC, I ran around in Clo’s DMs screaming excitedly. Sophie Kim’s debut novel, and the first in the Talon series, has everything I would enjoy in a book: enemies to lovers, Korean mythology, and failed assassination attempts! The last one is not concerning at all when taken out of context.

From the moment I opened up the book, this was one of those where I knew I would love it. Last of the Talons was overall a fun read for me; there’s plenty of sass and banter from Lina and Rui, and I loved seeing their relationship progress throughout the book as they got to know each other. I also liked their backstory, especially the flashbacks featuring Lina’s sister, Eunbi (the absolute cutest from the few scenes she’s in).

The world-building was intriguing and immersive, taking inspiration from Korean myths, and Kim’s writing was very engaging, with beautiful lines and quotations. With each chapter, I was interested in reading the next one and finding out what would happen next to the characters until the very end, and it left me wanting more.

Last of the Talons was also one of those books that, by the time I finished the book, it ended up being an unfortunate disappointment when looking back. But since it’s the first in a series, this could work perfectly in the long run, and I’m just very conflicted, so I hope I don’t shoot myself in the foot. Ratings are hard.

While I loved the world-building and writing style and the side characters, in addition to the mains, it was overall slow-paced. While there’s a relatively solid backstory for the characters that left me emotional at times, the transition from present to flashback was disorienting, rocky, and a little surface-level.

We don’t get to know the Talons (at least the people Lina spends a lot of time with) all too much, and it sounds like being a part of them was a huge and formative part of Lina’s life that it feels a bit lacking not to have more beyond what leads up to her becoming a part of the Blackbloods. I also wished we saw more of Rui’s council because they feel like Important Side Characters. Since the book is mainly in Gyeulcheon, it feels like there were missed opportunities because they float around easily forgotten.

Additionally, there’s a lot of telling rather than showing. We get told a lot that Lina is known as the Reaper of Sunpo, a name she chose when she became a part of the Talons: someone who is grim, violent, and a ruthless killer. But we don’t get shown this, though it’s hinted at during Lina’s multiple failed assassination attempts on Rui. We find out early on that she’s treated poorly by Konrarnd Kalmin, though, so while it would’ve been nice to see her live up to her nickname, it also would’ve been unlikely. And considering this is the first in a series, it’s not the biggest of deals for me (but it might be for others).

Last of the Talons is very much a set-up novel, which I personally find a struggle to read (though I appreciate them). But I was very much invested in the entire story and enjoyed myself a lot while reading this because each of the chapters had a slow buildup that ultimately left me wanting more. Despite my qualms with the execution, this promises a more exciting and fun sequel, and everything that I didn’t enjoy so much here could fit well with the rest of the series.

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In this riveting sequel to The Keeper of Night, a half Reaper, half Shinigami soul collector must defend her title as Japan’s Death Goddess from those who would see her—and all of Japan—destroyed.

Death is her dynasty.

Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami Ren Scarborough is no longer the girl who was chased out of England—she is the Goddess of Death ruling Japan’s underworld. But her problems have never been greater. Her Shinigami see her as a foreigner on the throne. Her brother, Neven, is gone, lost in the deep darkness. And her fiancé, Hiro, has been killed by her own hand.

Then Ren receives the most troubling news yet—Reapers have been spotted in Japan, and it’s only a matter of time before Ivy, now Britain’s Death Goddess, comes to claim her revenge.

Ren’s last hope is to appeal to the god of storms and seas, who can turn the tides to send Ivy’s ship away from Japan’s shores. But he’ll help Ren only if she finds a sword lost thousands of years ago—an impossible demand.

Together with the moon god Tsukuyomi, who shares an uncanny resemblance to his brother Hiro, Ren ventures across the country in a race against time. As her journey thrusts her into the middle of scheming gods and dangerous Yokai demons, Ren will have to learn who she can truly trust—and the fate of Japan hangs in the balance.

Trigger & Content Warnings: blood and gore, death, racism

Although The Keeper of Night wasn’t my favorite and was a struggle for me at times with its pacing, I overall enjoyed reading Ren’s story, and I was looking forward to The Empress of Time and what Kylie Lee Baker had in store for our very angry (and morally grey?) protagonist who just wants to find a place where she’s accepted for who she is.

This sequel is set ten years after the end of the first novel after Ren has proven herself worthy and claimed her place by Death’s side, and then ultimately becomes the Goddess of Death herself after killing Hiro. She’s lost her brother, Neven, to the deep darkness, and we quickly learn she’s trying to find a way to get there so can get him back, even if that means eating more souls than she could count and breaking all the traditional rules of death.

But while she now rules Japan’s underworld, being a goddess comes with its own set of problems as well, namely her Shinigami seeing her as a foreigner who stole the throne by seducing Hiro and therefore had no right to sit on it or give them orders. She’s continuing to experience some of the same problems she faced when she first stepped foot in Japan after fleeing from London, except she doesn’t even have the one person remaining she cares for by her side. Much like she did in London, she feels alone and isolated, and the only thing keeping her going is the hope she’ll be reunited with Neven again.

As such, Ren’s relationship with Neven continues to play an integral role in The Empress of Time and is the driving force for all of her actions. Her identity also continues to play an integral in the sequel as well, and while I did feel Ren sort of flatlined as a character compared to the first novel, I overall liked her character arc by the time I got to the end and looked back across both novels.

The Empress of Time is very much a journey novel; a good part of the novel, after Ren finds out the Reapers are in Japan and Ivy is coming for her, is her trying to appeal to the god of storms and seas and then trying to find a legendary sword lost thousands of years ago so he could help her. It’s very much slow-paced and heavily focused on world-building, but I also found myself a lot more engaged and just overall invested in finding out what happens.

Like the first novel, this one is just as dark and gory, and Lee Baker doesn’t hold back with those descriptions. The visuals clearly paint the world created, and I found myself truly immersed in the world from page to page, even though I usually struggle with books featuring a side quest for a portion of the book. I also loved seeing the different yokai along the way and the appearances of some of the gods/goddesses, especially Tsukuyomi, who quickly grew to be one of my favorite characters. I especially enjoyed his banter with Ren.

While it’s definitely not my favorite, The Empress of Time is an overall solid conclusion to The Keeper of Night duology that ties everything up nicely without feeling rushed. I think I personally enjoyed this more than the first novel (which feels a little strange because it’s usually the other way around) because it just left an overall feeling of satisfaction, and I’m honestly looking forward to reading future novels!

It feels like reading has collectively exited or nearly exited the chat for the book community as a whole throughout September (at least from what I’ve seen in the brief moments I’ve been on Twitter, that is). I was missed last year for sure, but this year I’ve definitely been caught by the ankles of no motivation to read.

But it’s finally chilly! (And I can actually roll myself into a burrito at night, so while it’s not yet time for hoodie season just yet, it’s sooo close I can practically feel it.)

September Musings

• [1 Sep] The Dragon's Promise by Elizabeth Lim ★★★★
• [9 Sep] Bookwyrm Breakdown: August 2022, Where Burnout is Definitely a Thing
• [14 Sep] Secrets of the Looking Glass by J. Scott Savage ★★★★
• [23 Sep] Love Between Fairy and Devil (2022)
• [27 Sep] Oversize Love (2020)

Books Hoarded

I got one book! (Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually got more games than books this month…)

• The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry

Books Devoured

I don’t know about the rest of you, but reading was rough in September. I wanted to read, but the motivation? The effort to pick up the book? Yeah, it was not there. At all. But I did read a small handful of books! (Only three, which is better than nothing.)

• Secrets of the Looking Glass by J. Scott Savage
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – I actually enjoyed it more in audiobook (narrated by Rong Fu) than as an eARC, which I highly recommend!
• The Lost Sisters by Holly Black – I don’t care about Taryn, and I never did while reading The Folk of the Air trilogy. But I did enjoy the audiobook.

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

Before we even get into what I consumed, let’s just talk about two big things that happened in September because I’m just over the wall freaking excited, and yes, I must share with the universe even if the universe may be aware of these things.

1. Xiran Jay Zhao’s debut YA novel, Iron Widow, got optioned for film! Weirdly the night before this was announced, I had a dream about “What if this was a movie? It would be absolutely cool?” I got to reread the book for a readalong in a Discord server in audiobook throughout September, and I honestly enjoyed it more than when I first read it as an eARC last year. Either way, I’m excited about this!
   • Okay, but what if I somehow roped my mom into reading this just by saying Wu Zetian because she’s actually one of my mom’s favorite historical figures… except I don’t think this book is something she’ll enjoy, and that pains me.
   • I mean, she was snooping on my copy of Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor when I first got it (and middle-grade novels are definitely not something she likes reading), so we’ll see.
2. PERCY JACKSON TEASER. “LOOK, I DIDN’T WANT TO BE A HALF-BLOOD.” I’m screaming, that is all. And yes, I absolutely dared to put this second after Iron Widow, do not come after me.

Now that we have the two biggest news from September out of the way (there were other things that happened, too, like Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action cast announcements), let’s talk about the things I watched throughout the month!

• Love Between Fairy and Devil – If anyone else watches Chinese dramas, you might have heard of this one because this has been gaining hype since the end of August, and it was my entire personality for a week straight while I was binging this during my week off.
• Oversize Love – It’s one of those that probably had a good concept and message, but the execution was not it.
• Best Mistake – Short and sweet, and not my favorite, but I have Best Mistake 2 on my watchlist currently.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (Season 2) – Finally! I made it through Season 2! We won’t count exactly how many months that took; no, we won’t.
• Everything, Everywhere, All At Once – I was kind of confused about how the multiverse worked, but I think that’s mostly due to the fact my brain has been feeling a bit fried lately. At times it was outrageous, but this movie spoke so much to me in so many different ways — the intermingling of languages in the house, the relationship dynamics with Evelyn and Joy and Waymond, etc.

It’s been a while since I talked about music, but I’ve been in my nostalgia era for the most part (I can’t tell you how many times I keep listening to Alessia Cara’s Scars to Your Beautiful in the past month, and I don’t know why). While I’ve been keeping up with new releases from a few artists, I didn’t exactly take note of them… but here are a few I remember off the top of my head:

• KINGDOM is making a comeback in October with the next of their History of Kingdom album series, this time with Louis. The announcement, though, was in September, so that counts.
  • They also added a new member Hwon to the group since Chiwoo left earlier this year due to personal reasons.
• Blackpink made a comeback on my birthday with their album, Born Pink! Pink Venom was very catchy though the chorus personally felt off-tune for me. It’s slowly growing on me, though, along with Shut Down.
• NMIXX released Entwurf, continuing the beat change in the middle of the song that was in their debut. Personally, I liked Dice more than O.O, though. It was definitely experimentation, but it felt like there was more structure this time that felt a little more cohesive. Cool was my favorite, though.
• The OST for Love Between Fairy and Devil, especially Parting Love (诀爱) by Faye (Chan Wenting) and The Oath of Canglan (苍兰契) by Li Changchao.
• League of Legends released the Worlds 2022 Anthem, Star Walkin’ by Lil Nas X, which I really like.
  • I’ll agree that it’s definitely not as powerful as the previous ones, but it doesn’t have to be? (Personally, I liked it, though.)

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out.

So burnout was a thing in August, but not the worst type of burnout, thankfully. I almost always catch myself before I truly get the worst of it, but a lot of the time, I also think I’m just so used to operating at the bare minimum of spoons (mental health stigma, fun times) that it’ll likely take a lot before it’s actually the worst of it. I’d really prefer not to get there, honestly.

But September is usually the month I take a week off (since it’s my birthday month) and use up the PTO time that I’ve accumulated, and it was so welcoming, even if a week doesn’t feel like it’s enough to recharge fully. I’ll take small mercies, though. I spent a lot of that time stress sleeping in, and for once, I actually woke up one day actually feeling energized after a long time (I went back to stress sleeping the next day, though).

Other things I did during that time of reprieve (outside of sleeping):

• Celebrated 25th birthday (god, I’m old) by playing Littlewood most of the day and hanging out with friends virtually on Discord (I’d get ice cream for myself, but yeah… didn’t feel like going out the whole week).
• Kind of got addicted to Littlewood a little for a couple of days after.
• Cleared out most of my review backlog (didn’t get through all of it, but eh, I did my best).
• Become very fascinated with my stats for Reasons. Poor Clo has been dealing with my fascinations for the past week.
  • We’re actually both fascinated, to be honest.

I also started catching up on comments that I didn’t get around to and did some blog hopping, including a few new-to-me blogs. Who am I, and what happened to the real me? (Knowing me, I’ll probably fall behind again.)

Let’s talk: tell me about your September!