Hello, it is I, The Writing Mufflepuff. Mufflepuff was founded by Melga Mufflepuff. Mufflepuffs are particularly good finders.
Anyway…
How is May over already (well, almost, it’s technically still May but ssh). But it being June is very exciting though! 1) it’s Pride month! 2) My birthday is June 6th!* and 3) School ends this month! Hopefully! If I pass everything! Please teachers I beg of you I will do anything!**
* Even though I don’t want to turn 21 because uh yes hi the past year I kept forgetting I wasn’t a teenager anymore do you have any idea how even more embarrassing that will be if I’m 21
** And by anything I mean show up at your house and cry until you give me a passing grade
Anyway, how was May?
💛My Name is Victoria by Lucy Worsley⭐⭐ – Turns out Worsley’s books are not for me. This was the second book of hers I read and both times I had similar problems. There just isn’t much plot, which meant I was quite bored. The plot twist at the end also ruined my experience
💛 Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson⭐⭐⭐ – Uh a bit of a let down? *hides* I have a full review (possibly a mini review) planned but yeah. It took me SO long to finish this one. This book is partly at fault for me not reading as much as last month. I just felt like it was way too long, with not that much happening.
💛 Over Raging Tides by Jennifer Ellision ⭐⭐⭐ – FEMALE PIRATES KICKING ASS, STEALING STUFF, JUST BEING PIRATES HECK YES. This one was a lot of fun, but unfortunately it was a bit underdeveloped. I definitely do recommend it though
💛 Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – THIS BOOK. WHAT EVEN. WHERE IS THE HYPE. WHY ISN’T EVERYONE READING THIS AND YELLING ABOUT IT IT’S SO GOOD. IT’S A GIFT. I’M SORRY THAT PUN WAS TOO EASY. PLEASE DON’T LET THAT PUT YOU OFF OF READING THIS. DON’T SLEEP ON ANGER IS A GIFT
💛 All of This is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor ⭐⭐ – Well this was a disappointment. I wasn’t fond of the writing style (though the format was interesting) and I found the characters very flat. There was barely any difference between them. Then there was the plot twist that really disgusted me so yeah. Full review hopefully coming this Saturday!
I usually don’t talk about personal stuff in my monthly wrap ups, because I usually do that in my weekly ones already so I don’t want to repeat myself*, but I just want to talk about what a weird month May was? Like at the start of the month I finished and handed in my final essay, truly ending my period abroad which is so odd. First of all it just doesn’t feel like that happened this month. Not that it feels longer ago, but it just feels like this separate thing? I don’t know how to explain it. Second, this was my first full month back home which is so odd? Sometimes it feels like I never actually went haha. Anyway, I got another grade back and I passed that one as well, so now I only have to wait for the final one *fingers crossed*
If you read my last wrap up you know my mental health wasn’t that great last week, and honestly it kind of continued to be bad. Thankfully I started feeling better on Tuesday.
* Unless of course I haven’t written a weekly wrap up in forever which actually happens quite often lol
* I wonder if I got the amount of a’s right in ‘baaaaaad’
** Now I’m wondering the same thing about ‘uhhhhh’ also what a great post title
Well that isn’t too bad! I have no idea what will happen next month. I want to be really active, especially with Pride, but I also have exams coming up, so we’ll see? I might end up posting a bunch of Pride posts at the end of June after my exams lol
I added my lil bees and hearts but I have no idea why because I have nothing left to say? Uhhh buy and read Anger is a Gift
How was your month? Best book you read? Or the worst? Are you going to read Anger is a Gift?
How is May almost over already what is this sorcery what even is time
I finished Anger is a Gift and I’m dead. So so intense, but so so good guys. Please pick it up (it’s out already because I’m slooow but hopefully I’ll have my review up this Thursday). I pretty much immediately startedAll of This is True because it’s coming out this week. I’m definitely getting my review for this one up after the release date as well but oh well 🤷🏻♀️ Can’t be helped. I’m not really sure how I feel about this one yet? It’s intriguiging but also a bit underwhelming, mostly because of the writing which I’m not really impressed with. But we’ll see!
Well this week was terrible! My anxiety has been through the roof and today I’m still not doing so great. I can’t really talk about what happened, but something triggering happened this week that honestly made me feel like I took SUCH a step backwards when it comes to my mental health and now I’m just,, really struggling.
That said, it wasn’t entirely garbage, as I went to the Moco Museum with my mom yesterday which was fun and I also had to work on Friday evening, which was a welcome distraction. But my anxiety won’t really,, go away. I mean, it never truly goes away, but it’s been very present this week no matter what I do or what happens.
Fingers crossed that this week will be better
Oh but on a lighter note, I really love my new design and am so so happy I decided to change it already after all! I had been sick of my old design for so long now, but I had trouble finding a theme that I really liked. I don’t know why the current theme didn’t catch my attention earlier? Oh well I’m using it now and I’m happy with it
Two posts, which I’m honestly happy with! I used to post three times a week plus a weekly wrap up, but that’s just not do-able for me right now, so I changed my schedule to twice a week (plus a possible wrap up, depending on how I’m feeling on Sunday) and look! I made it!
Despite my struggles with my mental health I’ve actually been kinda throwing myself into blogging?? Why can’t I do that when my mental health is better adlgkfsj I’m actually kinda keeping up with the blogs in my wordpress and bloglovin feed and even trying to branch out and find other posts to read. I’ve actually kinda been neglecting school, though also not really because I DO feel like I’m kinda keeping up with it, but I’m just used to giving it my all, putting all my time into it, working ahead etc. so now it just feels weird?? My anxiety is of course not helping because it keeps telling me that I’m behind!! And I should work on school!! Or I’m going to fail!! Which is ridiculous because I know I probably won’t (did you notice the ‘probably’ because I did sdkgjh) but… Ugh
me @ my anxiety
I just can’t wait for school to be over for the year tbh even though that means I’ll have all the time worry about next year and internships and freelance work and then graduating hahaha
How are you guys? Hopefully doing better than me, if not sending you lots of hugs. Read anything good? Find anything good to watch now that B99 is on hiatus? Let me know in the comments!
It’s been over a MONTH since my last weekly wrap up and?? I don’t know how that happened?? I did talk about some personal stuff in April’s wrap up (IT’S ALMOST TIME TO WRAP UP MAY HOWWWW) but I didn’t share any blog posts that I read?? Be prepared to get lots of great posts thrown in your facesMy memory is failing me and I have no clue what I’ve read since my last wrap up (both weekly and monthly) so I’ll just talk about what I’m reading right now which is okay because it’s SO GOOD. I was hooked from the first page and I immediately knew Anger Is A Gift would be a new fave. It’s coming out tomorrow so I should have finished it by now so I could have my review up but… I requested it not that long ago thinking I wouldn’t get accepted anyway, but then I DID and now I’m kinda screwed. But I’m halfway there so my review should be up next week at the latest*
* That’s what I thought when it came to Starfish and that took me a MONTH hahahaSo last wrap up I didn’t talk about what classes I’m following this term, which surprises me because I remember being prepared to RANT but then I just forgot because school is eating my brain. Oh well
Anyway, in either your third or fourth year you need to choose a specialisation. I chose culture, which means I’m taking fine arts, film, literature and philosophy of culture. Fine arts and film are a lot of fun, philosophy of culture is okay – it’s not a lot of philosophy, mostly it’s history and a lot of it I already knew? And then there’s literature
Now I know what you’re thinking: ‘Michelle, you’re a book blog! Are you saying you don’t like your literature class?’ hahahaha
That’s exactly what I’m saying
Okay but hear me out. My entire class is focusing on ONE book. ONE. A book of course written by a white, abled straight cis man, who also!! Is incredibly islamophobic, sexist and homophobic!! So the book we’re reading?? A MESS. My teacher? LOVES IT. My anxious ass? QUIET. I really wish I could speak up but,,, ugghh. Anxiety. The teacher doesn’t seem to have a problem with the book at all. She even went out of her way to say that she doesn’t think it’s islamophobic. Oh and the sexism?? ‘so absurd that it’s unrealistic’ yeah the main character thinking women shouldn’t vote is so unrealistic hahahahaha and the objectifying of women? Doesn’t happen!!! Never!! But to make matters worse there was this:
”Do you guys think there’s any humour in this? I do”*proceeds to read aloud a quote that I personally found homophobic/lesbophobic but apparently she thinks it’s funny!!*
And of course a few people laughed
Meanwhile I felt like I had been slapped in the face and was about to cry
So yeah. FUN
But my other classes are a lot more inclusive! Not as much as I’d like, but still. Plus at least they’re not this woman :) We have to fill out surveys for each class each term, so I’m definitely going to say something about her and her class. Maybe I’ll find the courage to speak up in tomorrow’s class now that I’ve finished the book but that woman makes me really anxious (speaking up itself already does sdjgh)
Anyway what else happened?
💛 EUROVISION. Eurovision was once again a blast, though there was not enough weird Eurovision stuff, glitter and gay. Also I don’t like the winner. I had SO many faves why did my two least favourite ones end up first and second. Countries were robbed. Not enough meme material. But it’s Eurovision and I will always love it
💛 MY OTP GOT MARRIED AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT AND GINA RODRIGUEZ FINALLY APPEARED ON B99 AND IT WAS PERFECT AND ROSA’S REACTION WAS ICONIC AND RELATABLE AND SUCH A MOOD (don’t want to spoil anyone so I’m being vague lol)
💛 Two weeks ago I had to take care of the neighbours cat and she was the CUTEST thing #blessed
💛 Uhhhhhhh
💛 I seriously need a PensieveSince my monthly wrap up I wrote four posts wow so much many posts much impressed
I have four more weeks to go until summer break* but it feels sooo much longer. Probably because I never even got to properly rest from last school year dskngjhd I have so many blog post ideas and I’m so excited about blogging again, but it’s hard to find the time and energy to be honest. Even though I don’t want school to dominate my life (which I’m kind of succeeding in?) I just can’t bring myself to blog as much as I’d want to. I also really, really want to change things about my design** and technically I could make time, but I’d rather use that time to write posts and blog hop. It’s starting to bug me though, I really want to change things haha
* If I pass everything please I’m begging you
** You may have noticed I changed my ‘summary’ and ‘review’ banners in my review
So yeah after I scheduled this post I got reaaaally annoyed with my old design and realised that the new posts I’ve got planned (emphasis on planned I haven’t written anything lmao) wouldn’t be done justice soooo LOOK NEW DESIGN. And a few new graphics. It’s not done yet, as I need to replace a bunch of other graphics and I want to clean up my categories more (you may have noticed that my menu is a lot smaller, but I want to come up with more categories and just order everything better) So if you only see one post from me this week blame the new design lol Are you almost done with school? (please don’t tell me if you’re done this week I will cry out of envy) How are you hanging in there? Read any amazing books? Did you cry at the Peraltiago wedding? Let me know in the comments!
Am I the only one who’s reading ‘baaaaaaad’ with a goat voice
Just me?
ok
💛Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I HAVE NO WORDS. Which is also resulting in me still not having finished my review*. That and that I’ve been busy with my final essays. But yeah, absolutely love this one. If you haven’t read it yet go read it now
💛Sugar Lump by Megan Gaudino ⭐ – Really disappointed by this one. I didn’t expect to love it, but I was very intrigued by the mystery surrounding the town and well, the mystery was ridiculous and over the top soooo… Also the characters were flat, insta-love for your ole regular brooding YA bad boy *eye roll*, token stereotypical gay character… I just can’t say anything positive about this one except that I liked the MC’s dad but he was ruined for me thanks to the mystery so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
💛The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed ⭐⭐⭐ – Incredible plot, very important and empowering, but I couldn’t really connect to it and the characters because of the writing style. Mini review to come at some point hopefully. This is definitely a case of ‘it’s not you it’s me’ though, so definititely consider picking this one up!
💛 Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Really loved this one! While it deals with a heavy topic (attempted sexual assault), it’s still at the same time a fun read, as it really balances the more serious moments with fun scenes with friends and family. Janna herself felt very real and I loved how much she grew. Mini review DEFINITELY to come as I’ve already written it
💛 A Step From Heaven by An Na⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I honestly don’t know how to review this one all I know is that the moment I finished it I felt like crying this book touched me without me even realising it before the last words.
💛 All American Boys by Jason Reynolds⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of this one before? It really deserves a lot more recognition, as it’s a very important book. I can’t really find the right words right now, so hopefully I’ll be able to come back to this later and write a better review than this, as All American Boys truly deserves that. If I never come back to it because I’m forgetful and lazy, do pick this up! I had trouble putting it down, as I wanted to know what happened next. It was interesting to read from the two different perspectives and to see how they came together. Plus, like I said, it’s just a really important story
💛Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Really enjoyed this one! Very empowering, covers a lot of important topics, discusses white feminism, inclusive, has girls supporting girls… Everything I love in a feminsit book, but the writing itself just didn’t really blow me away, thus the four stars.
* I have two sentences wow I’m so close to finishing it
All in all I’m really happy with my reading this month! I read quite a few books, which I all enjoyed except for one, and all of them (again, except for one) were very diverse, inclusive and important. I am a happy bookworm
I skipped two weekly wrap ups in a row, the first one because I was busy with my essay, and the second one because I was at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, an art museum, for most of the day and was too tired to blog when I got home. I’m really crossing my fingers that everything will calm down once I’ve finished my final essay*. After that I do have to catch up a bit on the schoolwork I neglected to focus on my essays and I am planning on hanging out with friends here and there and doing some other fun stuff, but still! I have a lot post ideas that I’m excited for, some of them already written out, so hopefully this blog will be up and running regularly again soon!
* I had planned on finishing it yesterday or today at the latest, but guess who just started today hahahahahah *whispers* h e l p
Speaking of doing fun stuff, I have been doing that! Like going out for ice cream after school with my best friend, going to an opening with my friend who’s usually not interested in art at all??? and she asked me??? #stillshook, going out on Kingsday* with my best friend, going to the art museum I mentioned before… I really don’t want school to become all I do this term, which is something I feel I say every term and then eventually fail, but still. Considering I only have three days of school I do feel like it’s actually possible this time!
* Kingsday is a national holiday where we ‘celebrate the king’s birthday’. I put that between apostrophes because mostly it’s just an excuse for people to go party and drink lots of alcohol. Not me though, nor my best friend. We walked around for a while and eventually escaped the crowds to go eat at a vegan food bar. I’m not vegan, but she is and she fell in love with that restaurant so I thought I’d give it a go. It was really good!
I’m sure I’m forgetting some stuff, since I always do, but oh well. Anyway, wish me luck on my last essay! I curse myself for getting overexcited and collecting so much information
this is how i feel right now
Oh! I’ve also been working a bit on my photography blog, which will now also be an art and travel blog I’m not saying I won’t be sharing my travel adventures on here anymore, but I am transfering my art-related posts to that blog. It’s currently on private and all the posts have been deleted, but it will go live again the 28th of May!
Me: *can barely keep up this blog*
Also me: let’s make a new one!*
* Technically I made it last year but I barely did anything with it lol
April might have been a good reading month, but it was not a good blogging month lol. Five posts, two of which are wrap ups and the other three are reviews
How has your April been? Did you read any good books? Or maybe terrible ones that you’d advice me to stay away from? If you’re Dutch, did you celebrate Kingsday? Let me know in the comments!
yeah so my title is basically just promoting Hayley Kiyoko and I have no regrets – besides I do talk about her album so???
Uhhh I’m going back home in less than two weeks??
I honestly can’t believe how fast these months have gone by! But I’m getting ahead of myself, I’ll talk about that more later on in this post
💛 More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer⭐⭐⭐ – An important read that deals with abuse, but a bit too heavy for me. I personally needed a bit more of a balance between lighter and heavier moments, but that may be because abuse is a topic very near to me.
💛 Head Over Heels (Geek Girl #5) by Holly Smale⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – My favourite of the month! Not that it had a lot of competition with all these three star reads haha, but still! That doesn’t make me love this one any less. Harriet has grown so much, which is very apparent in this book. It was just such a fun read, which I really needed. I love Harriet, her friends and especially her family so much, I’m so sad that I only have one book left!
💛 The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman⭐⭐⭐ – So this took me over a month to read. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it at all, but it was just very, very slow for me. The edition I borrowed from the uni library has all three books, but honestly I don’t have the time or energy to try and get through the rest of the trilogy, which is really a shame as I was really excited to try this series. Maybe one day I’ll give it a try again.
💛 Lost Boy, Found Boy by Jenn Polish⭐⭐⭐ – This one has SO MUCH potential! It’s a queer Peter Pan retelling: Peter is trans and in love with Mir, his Enbyfriend; Gwen (based on Wendy) is in love with Tinkerbell who’s an asexual lesbian computer interface, Hook is a bisexual cyborg and two of the Lost Boys are also pining for each other. Unfortunately this is really short and underdeveloped, leaving me with a lot of questions about both the world and the characters themselves. While I loved the diversity, the characters were very flat.
💛 Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat! volume 1⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Below I just briefly mention the comics I’ve read that I’ve already talked about before and don’t really have anything to say about each month, but Patsy Walker is a new one, so I had to discuss it. Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat has been on my tbr for quite some time now, but I didn’t get to it until now and boy do I wish I read it sooner! It’s such a fun read. Patsy A.K.A. the superhero Hellcat, decides to start a Temp Agency for superheroes and regular people with powers. It’s a great balance between slice of life and superhero, is very diverse and just really cute. If you love Squirrel Girl, I definitely recommend this one as it’s humour really reminded me of it.
💛 Nothing But Sky by Amy Trueblood ⭐⭐⭐ – Definitely a case of ‘it’s not you it’s me’. I couldn’t really connect to the characters or the writing, though I did enjoy this one! There’s a lot of love about this one: a kickass girl who constantly challenges the patriarchy and is a wing walker, a love interest who deals with PTSD, a crew who supports each other no matter what and is more like family… I’m really sad I didn’t enjoy this one more!
💛 The Radical Element (A Tyranny of Petticoats #2) ⭐⭐⭐– Full review should be up sometime next week (I hope haha), but this was a lovely anthology of kickass girls. Some short stories were less good than others of course, which always happens, but overall I’d definitely recommend this one.
💛 Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley ⭐⭐⭐ – As I didn’t know anything about Queen Mary I going in, this was very interesting to read. It also shows us a different side of the affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Everything I knew about that affair focused on the two main players, but I didn’t know anything about what Henry’s daughter Mary went through. The writing style was a bit too simple for me and I was bored at times, but all in all still an interesting read. Full review to come next week!
Can you believe that I’m going home so soon already?? I can’t! I haven’t finished my last two essays yet, but I’m hoping to start writing the third one tomorrow as I’m mostly finished collecting all my information. I’m a bit worried having to balance writing my last two essays and the schoolwork of my new classes once I get back, but I’ll figure it out somehow.
My housemates have left for the Easter Break, except for one. He was actually gone at the start of the week – for almost three entire days I had the entire place for myself and no offense but it was so nice. Anxiety aside, while my housemates are friendly enough, they just don’t think of anyone but themselves. Two weeks ago they came back from going out or something in the middle of the night and were superloud.* Two of them decided to game, and after that watch football. They turned up the volume real loud and were yelling too, until about five in the morning. My anxiety is just too bad for me to go out and say anything, so I just,, had to suffer. Also I just wish they’d keep the kitchen clean? Like I can handle messy, but it’s just,, gross. I knowwww that that’s what a stereotypical students’ dorm looks like, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it! When they were all gone I cleaned the kitchen, because I thought no one would be able to make it dirty again. Until that evening when one of them came back. Next morning it was as if I had never cleaned it
* This is sadly not a rare occurance by the way my sleep here is,, not great
Thankfully my mom is coming soon, and she’s just,, ready to fight him lmao. If he turns up the music again in the middle of the night (like he did last night thanks mate) she’s just going to go the living room, say ‘excuse me’, pull out the plug and then if he says anything she’s just going to pretend to not speak English adsfbsgn*
* I don’t think I really make my pettiness known on this blog as it doesn’t really come up, but in real life I’m quite petty, especially when I’m with my best friend and like,, I definitely got it from my mom sdjdgf
Speaking of my mom!! I’ve been looking forward to her coming since,, pretty much ever since I got here lol. I’m really close to my mom, so even though I Facetime her multiple times a day I still really miss her, especially since I’ve never been away from home for this long. I can’t wait to show her around the city, see Hairspray and Love Simon!!
Friday evening I decided to treat myself after being so busy with my essays all week and go to shopping mall to (hopefully) buy Hayley Kiyoko’s Expectations. I also had to go to Boots because my hair dryer was broken, as in, smoke was coming out.
I could’ve gone sooner that week, but Expectations was coming out Friday so… I was a bit worried they might not have it since the HMV website said it was out of stock but…
So uhh yeah I haven’t been listening to anything else since Friday. I honestly can’t pick a favourite song? They’re all so good?? And all the songs sound so nice together?? It’s truly a masterpiece #supportlesbianjesuspls
Once I got a new hair dryer I decided to see if Claire’s had any new Doug the Pug plushies – I don’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I found out that Claire’s sold them a few weeks ago and immediately went to the one in the shopping center to see if they too had them and there were exactly two left!* So today I took a look to see if they had a different one and well…
This is the nineth plushie I bought while here in three months adfjbsh In my defense one of them is for my mom like I said and also LOOK AT HIM WEARING A DUCK OUTFIT HOW COULD I RESIST**
* My mom wanted one as well to turn into a keychain and hang it on her bag
** I’m turning 21 in a little over 2 months gsnbdhg
On my way out of the shopping center I saw an ad for Love Simon and then when I got off the bus I ran into a cat. Literally. We looked at each other and it ran towards me, wanting to be pet #bless
Also Keiynan Lonsdale released a new song called Kiss The Boy and not only is it SUCH a bop but it’s also so beautiful and boy he got me crying please listen to it
On Saturday I met up with my friend from the exchange students group and a friend of hers who I had met before when we went to see Black Panther, because they’re both going home today. It was a fun day and a much deserved break from my essays haha. In the evening we met up again to eat together.
Have you been listening to Hayley Kiyoko’s new album? Or Keiynan Lonsdale new song? Do you have a plushie obsession? What have you been reading? How was your month? Let me know in the comments!
So uhh while I did post this weekend before that I kind of?? Disappeared again? This gif sums it up perfectly:
So yeah I’m VERY stressed about my essays even though I got extensions BECAUSE I’m stressed* Whenever I get stressed about something (usually school) I just drop pretty much everything and focus on the thing I’m stressed on (yeah pretty much always school) and then I’m just too tired to do anything else. Usually that means I’m also too tired to read, but because I’ve got ARCs to read I HAVE to make time – while that may sound stressful, I’m actually grateful because last year around this time I was in a huge reading slump and pretty much only read comis. While I love comics, I really missed books. So yay at least I’m reading. But blogging? I WANT TO BLOG SO BAD. Like I said last month, I really missed it and found my love for blogging again, but my stress is eating all my desire to blog. But as you can see I’m trying! Cause I’m writing this post! And I posted during the weekend and I’ve been reading a few posts here and there**
Anyway, I’ll talk more about my stress and stuff later on in this post. Let’s get the wrap up started
* I thought to myself ‘boy, there’s a silver lining to having anxiety’ when I got my extensions but then remembered I probably wouldn’t need those extensions if it weren’t for my anxiety nsjdhd
** You may have noticed me reading and commenting on posts from February – that’s because I had a window open with posts to read except I didn’t find any time until now lol
💛 Picture Perfect (Geek Girl #3) by Holly Smale ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I absolutely love Geek Girl and Harriet, but this one felt a bit like a filler to me. Also some really frustrating stuff happens and just asfbjdh Also I really Harriet’s friends, but at least there was a lot of her family! Her parents are just so funny and lovable.
💛 Snow Sisters by Tom Wilinsky and Jen Sternick ⭐ – TRASH GARBAGE NEEDS TO BURNED RIGHT NOW EXCEPT I DON’T HAVE A PHYSICAL COPY (THANK GOD) AND I DON’T WANT TO BURN MY PHONE. Incredibly transphobic, the transphobe is actually portraid as a victim and the authors are trying to get you to symphatise with her (I shit you not), bi-erasure, sexualities used as plot twists… IT’S A HORRIBLE MESS
💛 Flight Season by Marie Marquardt ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Oh my goodness how am I gonna sum this one up?? Centers around a beautiful friendship between three kids (actually I’m not sure about all of their ages but they’re kids to me ok) who’d do anything for each other and how to live with grief. It’s honestly just a beautiful book. Also the MC is a lil bird nerd and I love her
💛 All That Glitters (Geek Girl #4) by Holly Smale ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ -I uh,, don’t remember this one that well?? My mind is just filled with the fifth one which I recently finished but Harriet makes new friends!! And I’m so happy for her!! Also she continues to be so cute and funny and relatable and I love her. There are also some great plot twists in here which I didn’t see coming at all. Harriet matured quite a bit in this one and I love seeing her grow so much through the series.
💛 Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I finally read it!! I’ve been meaning to read this forever, and then ended up reading The Unexpected Everything instead because there’s a pug on the cover (the pug BARELY appears don’t let the pug deceive you even though the book is worth it but don’t expect the pug to appear that much ok?)
So I accidentally skipped a few weekly wrap ups and now have so much to talk about?? Okay it wasn’t ‘accidentally’ – more like I didn’t mean to but I decided to skip them because every Sunday I was just too busy and tired. I thought of doing them on Monday instead but just didn’t have the time and before I knew it it was the next Sunday.
Anyway, my lack of weekly wrap ups is NOT because I have nothing to talk about: I did quite a few exciting things:
💛 I met Elly from A Hufflepuff’s Thoughts and her mom!! It was so exciting to meet them and it was just so lovely. Time went by way too quickly haha. We went to the cat cafe here in Manchester and oh my goodness I want to live there?? It’s just so cozy and relaxing and CATS also rainbow cake!!
I’m not a big fan of cake but 1) my gay ass needed this and 2) it reminded me of red velvet cake and that’s pretty much the only cake I like and I was right! It’s very much like red velvet cake. I couldn’t finish it though because it was just so sweet and if I kept eating I would’ve gotten nauseous
Also I have a LOT more pictures to share but I’m doing a separate post on the cat cafe because CATS
💛 I went to two museums: The Whitworth Art Gallery which is a modern art museum and the Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The Art Gallery of the Salford Museum wasn’t that exciting, but the museum has a Victorian street inside which was really cool!
💛 I went to see the dragon’s parade even though it was VERY stressful because I do not handle crowds well and got a few panic attacks here and there. It was still fun though!
💛 I saw Black Panther! AND BOY WAS IT GOOD. I mean I don’t need to tell you that because everyone’s been yelling that right??
💛 My mom and I booked her flight (and my flight back!) and got tickets to see Hairspray while she’s here and I’m so excited!! I can’t wait to see her, show her everything and to finally see Hairspray live as it’s my favourite musical and I love it so much
Other than that I’ve just been busy with my essays, but as this is my last week of classes I’ll have a lot more time for them now. My mom will arrive on the fifth of April so I’m hoping to have finished by then, but if not my first essay is due the 16th and my last the 4th of May so I do still have time.
I can’t believe that I’m going home already so soon! Thankfully I’ve seen and done the most important things I’ve wanted to do, and I still have time to do things once my mom is here, so I’m not too worried about that. While I’m not too homesick anymore I am definitely looking forward to going home.
I do have quite a few posts from around the blogosphere to share, but I’ll leave that for the next Weekly Hufflepuff. I have no idea when that will be, but we’ll see!
How has your month been? Are you too busy with school? What have you been reading? Have you seen Black Panther?? Let me know in the comments!
I’m so happy to be doing another weekly wrap up as I’ve really missed doing them! I’ll also be wrapping up December and January though, as I really want to get those out of the way. I’m going to try to keep things as short as possible, so don’t worry about having to read a short novel haha
This week I started and finished Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky and Jen Sternick as the publication date is coming out and I need to get started on my review. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this one at all, but I’ll be leaving all of that for the review. I’ve also been reading Northern Lights, as I got the His Dark Material series in one book from the university library. I remember liking the film (yeaaaars ago) and I’ve heard good things about the series, so I thought I’d try it out. So far I’m liking it.
DECEMBER
💛 Take Me With You by Andrea Gibson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I am IN LOVE with this poetry collection. I’ve already raved about it in my review and my favourite books of 2017 post so maybe you’re sick of my yelling about this one BUT I DON’T CARE. It’s beautiful poetry about gender, sexuality, politics, love and so much more and I will never get over this book
💛 Always and Forever by Jenny Han ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – The PERFECT ending to this charming, lovely and fun trilogy that captures what it’s like to grow up and go off to college so well. Had everything I wanted tbh except a guide to find my own Peter yes please and thank you
💛Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I never ended up reviewing this one and I don’t think I will, as unfortunately it was very triggering for me and affected my mental health terribly. It’s well written though and there are definitely things I loved about it (thus the four star rating) but in the end it made me feel like crap. Guess it hit a bit too close to home
💛 None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio ⭐⭐⭐ – an important, fun and quick read, just needed a little more development to its character and plot. I felt like the story wasn’t over yet. Read my review here
💛 Dreams Beyond the Shore by Tamika Gibson ⭐⭐⭐ – another one that didn’t feel over to me once I finished it. There were so many plot points left unexplored! It was still an interesting read and it was fun to read a book set in Trinidad and Tobago. Read my review here
💛 The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – ABSOLUTE PERFECTION IT HAS EVERYTHING I WANTED AND MORE I LOVE THIS BOOK TO THE MOON AND BACK AND AM SO UPSET THAT I HAVEN’T HAD THE TIME TO REVIEW IT YET. Buuut I did rave about it in my favourite books of 2017 post so if you want to know a lil bit more about how I feel about this book, you can click here
💛It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I absolutely loved What’s A Girl Gotta Do? so when I saw It Only Happens in the Movies at the airport when looking for a book to keep me occupied while waiting for my delayed flight, I knew this was perfect. And it absolutely was! Holly Bourne has done it again. It Only Happens in the Movies highlights abusive relationships as they are and doesn’t romanticise them once.As someone who’s very passionate about how fiction often romanticises abusive relationships I was so happy to read this book. EVERYONE needs to read this asap
💛 The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson⭐⭐⭐ (though actually 2.5 stars) – Ahh I was so happy to get approved for this one as it sounded delightfully creepy but alas, that’s not what I got. I do think this is a case of ‘it’s not you it’s me’, as I can definitely see why people would love this. Read my review here
💛 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern ⭐⭐⭐ – I have such mixed feelings about this one. The writing is without a doubt charming and magical, but there was just too much telling instead of showing, especially when it comes to the romance. Once the romance takes the center I started to lose interest as I just wasn’t feeling it.
This week I just really needed to relax, so I only went out for class, groceries or dinner when I didn’t have anything in the fridge. There were a few days where I thought of going out, but I only wanted to go out because I felt like I had to. You know, make the most of my time and explore the city, but there are already quite a few things I’ve seen, I still have time and I don’t have any classes next week. Plus, what good is it to go out and do things when you’re not feeling that energised? It would only make me more tired, so I’m glad I decided to take it easy.
Not to mention it meant I had a lot of time to blog, and I even wanted to! I’ve posted three times this week, four if you count this one and I’ve read quite a few blog posts. I also signed up for the 365 Commenting Challenge to get myself to be more active in the blogging community.
I’m super excited about blogging again and it makes me so so happy!
* Merry Christmas Ya Beautiful Bloggers was a feature for the holidays in which I highlighted some amazing bloggers. This wasn’t limited to book bloggers and the order was completely random. Unfortunately due to my preparations for Manchester I didn’t get to highlight all the bloggers I wanted but I’ll definitely bring this back this Christmas!
What did I even do this week I’m not joking I don’t remember anything from before Thursday???
* Honestly can’t relate to that song it’s freezing hell no am I going anywhere
I continued to reread Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and am almost done. I’ll probably finish it tonight. I’m tempted to continue my reread after, but I’m also very very tempted to read some new books that I’ve gotten for Sinterklaas – OH YEAH THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK TOO. I remember something that happened before Thursday. My memory didn’t completely fail me yay
DID ANY OF YOU WATCH BROOKLYN NINE NINE THIS WEEK BECAUSE NO SPOILERS BUT I’M SO HAPPY IT’S FINALLY CANON AND THAT THEY ACTUALLY DID THAT. DURING THE 99TH EPISODE
Like my revelation in the previous section revealed, it was Sinterklaas (a holiday) this week. I needed to go to the bank and my mom needed to buy a gif for my cousin, so I didn’t really have the time to do much else since once we got back we immediately ate dinner and then left for my aunt’s house. My cousin no longer believes in Sinterklaas (he’s like our Santa) but it was still fun. I mean, a holiday with lots of chocolate and presents, how can that not be fun?
I didn’t take any pictures because I’m incredibly lazy* but I got: Pokemon Ultra Sun; Eliza and her Monsters; None of the Above; Always and Forever, Lara Jean; Girls Made of Snow and Glass; Marie from The Aristocats slippers; Wonder Woman thights and a chocolate letter (it’s tradition to get a chocolate letter during this holiday, usually the first letter of your name but sometimes you’re out of luck and your letter is all sold out)
So I know I said I didn’t remember anything before Thursday, but Thursday wasn’t that special so I’m skipping that one. On Friday I met up with a friend from secondary school who know lives in Rotterdam where she’s also studying. While I had a lot of fun with her, the weather was horrible. There was a strong wind (my friend had brought an umbrella so she was almost Mary Poppins), rain and hail which made it even colder than it already was. It was such a relief whenever we got inside haha.
And now it’s snowing and it probably will tomorrow too so guess who’s not leaving the house
I didn’t write this week, but I might later today? I want to write some blog posts for this week first, so I’m not sure if I’ll feel up for it later, but who knows.
It’s so easy to get behind again haha. Earlier this week I was on top of all the blog posts I needed to read* and now?? Very, very behind. Oh well, here are some posts I liked:
Good news: Didn’t suffer from a blogging slump this week!
Bad news: I did suffer from my mental health and my period rip
Actually I’ve been putting off this post the entire day because I’m just not feeling good mentally, but I talked to my friend for a bit just now and am feeling slightly better, so let’s wrap this week up
I started What’s a Girl Gotta Do? by Holly Bourne before going to sleep and finished it the next day immediately. I just HAD to finish it before doing anything else. I’m not one of those people who can read until the early mornings. I’ve never tried, because eventually I give in and go to sleep, but I don’t handle lack of sleep well so I’m not planning on trying. Anyway, What’s a Girl Gotta Do? is PHENOMENAL and I can’t wait to scream about it in your faces review it.
Friday on the bus I startedTake Me With You by Andrea Gibsonand lemme tell you: THAT WAS A MISTAKE. I almost cried on the bus. Then I almost cried at the bus stop. I finished it today in the privacy of my own house and boy was I a crying mess. I immediately reread it again and I know I will reread it again soon. It’s incredibly moving, powerful and beautiful and again, can’t wait to review it.
I also read DC Bombshells #60. 40 more issues to go before I can go on to Bombshells United. This is honestly one of my favourite comics but it’s taking me forever to read it? Once I’m finally caught up a bit I’ll write a post about it.
This morning I woke up feeling in the mood for Harry Potter, so I started to reread Goblet of Fire. I’ve been meaning to reread it for quite some time now as I started to reread the series last year, but other books just got in the way.
I wanted to go to museums this week but the weather has been terrible and life got in the way so unfortunately it didn’t happen. I’m hoping to go visit some museums soon, since some exhibitions will close while I’m in Manchester so I really need to go before I leave.
We (Blikopeners – a group of teens/young people (you’re a teen when you start) who work at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) wrote our own audiotour, so on Friday we recorded it which was a lot of fun. It felt so professional haha
Yesterday my mom and I went shopping, since we still needed to buy presents for Sinterklaas, which is a Dutch holiday. I also treated myself to this:
IT’S AN EEYORE BLANKET AND IT’S THE BEST THING I EVER BOUGHT IT EVEN HAS A TAIL IT’S SO COMFY AND WARM AND SOFT
Here’s a picture of my grandpa wearing it. He came over for dinner yesterday. He told us that the other day a guy at his retirement home whom he really doesn’t like walked past him, and then he (my grandpa) gave him the middle finger??
My mom: why??
My grandpa: because I don’t like him 😤 and he doesn’t get it 😤 he still doesn’t 😤
My grandpa has that old people mentallity where they don’t care anymore and just do what they want. Honestly part of me wishes I could’ve had that mentallity last term when people didn’t do their work lmao.
So those were the highlights.* Like I said before, I’ve been struggling with my period and mental health, but I’ve continued to talk to my friend while writing this post and it is making me feel a bit better. My mental health is always worse during my period so hopefully it will both be over soon.
* My grandfather coming over was a highlight, not him giving a man the finger
I almost forgot that I actually wrote this week! I was supposed to go out with a friend, but unfortunately she had to cancel because of school. So I spent the day blogging and writing. Not as much writing as I would’ve liked, but I always have trouble writing while on my period. Either I’m in too much pain or I just can’t concentrate.
Anyway, recently I’ve been struggling a lot with my beginning. I realised that I didn’t like it at all, so now I started to rewrite it. So yep, I’ve already started to rewrite my second draft lol*
* I hadn’t gotten that far yet anyway so it’s okay
I’m MUCH happier with it now though, so it was worth it. Hopefully I’ll feel like writing more next week.
Hope you’re all doing well and had a good week! What were some of your highlights? Any amazing blog posts you think I should read? Did you write? Do you love Eeyore? OH AND DID YOU WATCH THE LOVE SIMON TRAILER BECAUSE I WAS ALREADY IMPATIENT FOR THE ENTIRE MOVIE AND NOW I NEED TO STEAL A TARDIS BRB
I think that it was about half-way through November that I realised that I had completely forgotten about my October wrap-up, so I guess I’ll wrap it up along with November 🤷🏻♀️
💛 Masked by J.D. Wright★ – Yikes yikes and yikes. I went into a lot more detail in my review of course, but basically it had potential to be a fun read but instead it had a lot of problematic aspects
💛 Danger! Women Artists at Work by Debra N. Mancoff★★★★ – Really interesting, fun and inspiring read, but I wish it had featured more women of colour and queer ladies. Frida Kahlo is featured, but her sexuality isn’t mentioned, so if you’re unfamiliar with her you wouldn’t know that. Maybe there are more queer artists featured in this, but at some point I got too tired to google every artist to see if she might be queer since until I quit none of them were (or at least it wasn’t known if they were)
💛 Chasing Eveline by Leslie Hauser ★★★★★ – I have so much love for this book. It’s such a refreshing read: realistic, a wonderful friendship between a boy and a girl without any romance, a healthy romance that didn’t overtake the plot, family, fun antics… 10/10 would recommend
Me throwing Chasing Eveline at all of you
💛 Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Prince #2 – uhhh I don’t really remember this issue woops. I love Zodiac Starforce though and I’m definitely enjoying this sequel
💛 Giant Days#31 and #32 – Have I shouted at you guys to read Giant Days yet because please do. I barely ever laugh out loud while reading comics and Giant Days made me laugh out loud multiple times. It’s about three amazing female college students, their antics and their wonderful friendship.
💛Hi-Fi Fight Club #2 – woops another issue I don’t remember?? Again, enjoying this one though. It’s about girls working at a record store who have a secret club in which they solve mysteries and kick ass
💛 Ms. Marvel#23 and #24 – LOVED this team up and I love how they’re currently exploring how the past arcs are impacting Kamala. If you aren’t reading Ms. Marvel yet what are you doing
💛 The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde ★★★★★ – For someone who’s been shouting for about four/five (?) years that I love Oscar Wilde I should really read more of his works. Thus I finally picked up The Importance of Being Earnest and I’m so glad I did. It was such a delight
💛 Runaways volumes 1 – 8 ★★★ for the first 7 and ★ for the 8th volume – The first seven volumes were fun and these kids definitely grew on me. The problem I have with this comic is the pace. I felt it was way too rushed and it took so long for the characters to grow on me. They felt pretty flat to me and so did their relationships with each other (something I find the tv show is doing a better job of so far). Don’t even get me started on volume 8 I found it such a mess yikes. I don’t even want to consider it canon, especially with the way they treated Victor
💛 Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon ★★★ – Ahhh such mixed feelings. I knew there was a lot of controversy about this one before going in and I definitely get where people are coming from. I can’t say anything about it without spoiling it though. My mixed feelings aren’t just because of that controversial thing* but also because it felt very insta-lovey and there were times were I got bored, despite that at first I really liked the writing style and the different formats. No scratch that, I’m in LOVE with the different formats. Controversy aside, this book is so artsy. Besides emails it also has really cool illustrations?? I wasn’t expecting that
💛Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali (reread) ★★★★★ – For some reason I didn’t love it the first time as much as I loved it the second time around – I don’t know if it was the hype getting to me back then or my mood (sometimes I read/watch something and I feel a bit meh about it, but then the second time around I’m in love?? My brain is weird) or the fact that I wasn’t out yet and still struggling with my own feelings and couldn’t appreciate it as much as I could now. WHO KNOWS. Point is I love this book very much
💛 Swan Song by Charlotte Wilson★★★ – The way this one handles grief is very powerful and the romance is cute, but it didn’t blow me away
💛 Lumberjanes#43 and #44 – What can I say about Lumberjanes without repeating myself? It’s still very much enjoyable, the magic and weirdness of it never gets old and I love my girls. FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX
💛 Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman ★★★ – Great action scenes, but unfortunately quite a few scenes in-between were a bit boring. Review will be up next week!
💛 America #8 – eh I dunno? I really want to love this comic, and some of the issues so far have been really good, but this issue had a pacing problem which more of the issues have.
💛 Lumberjanes 2017 Special: Faire and Square★★★★★ – The girls and Jen go to a Robin Hood themed fair!! And there’s a pterodactyl!! Also they re-enact a telenovela to cheer up Ripley!! If you love Lumberjanes and haven’t read this special yet I’d definitely recommend it
💛 DC Bombshells #56 – #59 – Whyyy am I so slow when it comes to this comic while it’s one of my favourites.
💛 Paintbrush by Hannah Bucchin ★★ – Mixed feelings galore!! This could’ve been a fun, cute read, and in a way it was? But it also wasn’t? Character driven novels are great, except when you don’t like the characters #woops Full review should be up soonish
Holidays!! Last month of 2018!!* Last full month until I leave for Manchester!!
Can you tell I’m freaking out a bit!!**
I mean obviously I’m excited but ahhh I’m also panicking. I don’t know yet how much I’ll blog. Like I said in my last weekly wrap up, I hit a bit of a blogging slump last week. This week I’m actually doing fine? So who knows what will happen. The most important thing is that I’m enjoying myself 🙆🏻
* Where did 2017 go?? What happened to it?? Why is time going so fast??
** A bit?? A bit?? Try a lot
How has your month been? Are you freaking out over 2017 almost being over? Any exciting plans for the holidays, and for 2018? What was your favourite book of the month? Let me know in the comments!
