Hi everyone! It’s so good to see you here! I know in my last wrap-up post I said I was going to be more active, and I swear I tried. But life reasons kept me from being more active, and more productive. Which you know… sucks, because I had really planned to post more than a few reviews here and there. But I’m here now, with a great deal of inspiration to write. So I’m going to use all of that energy while it lasts.
I have a lot of stuff to catch you guys up on, so let’s get started!
Life Updates
The big thing that happened this summer is that I finally got vaccinated!! WOOHOO! I can’t tell you guys how happy I am, because I truly do feel safer now. I’m also going to keep my eyes peeled and my ears perked for information regarding a third dose if it comes to that, because I do intend to get as many extra doses as possible as long as this pandemic is still going strong.
Another thing that dominated my summer was the little activity known as retail therapy. I swear I didn’t know how satisfying retail therapy was until now. My most prized buys? A new sewing machine that I fully intend to learn how to use properly and hopefully graduate to a bigger, more complex and more expensive one (actually the dream is to learn how to use my great-grandmother’s sewing machine, but baby steps) and I finally collected the entire Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. Guys…. It took me no less than this first half of 2021 trying to get all of these books. New, because unfortunately here in Italy we don’t really have a lot places to buy used books in English from, and if we do, most shops have very few books in the genres I normally read. Also I don’t know any online stores that ship cheaply overseas, and I am a rather frugal person. I do like my retail therapy, but make it cheap please.
I also have a new bestie: the nice lady at a craft store near me, because I just wandered in one day and promptly emptied her “on sale” box for yarn. I’ve been having fun knitting and crocheting for the last two weeks or so, getting ready for sweater weather.
I also started learning the art of lace tatting, and I have to say, I am in love with it. I do believe that I would have been a very accomplished Victorian young lady, with my pursuit of learning any and all crafty skills I can. If you want to keep up with what I’m crafting, you can follow me on Ravelry.
I’m still looking for a job, but with the way 2021 seems to be going, I’m more likely to find success becoming a YouTuber than finding a regular 9-to-5 job. The job market is just trash, and while there are many many MANY pages online dedicated on how to apply for jobs, how to search for jobs, how to write your resume and so on, I have yet to see any post regarding how to protect your mental health during what I can only call as the most soul-draining activity called job hunting. So. Protect your mental health, everyone!
Books Read
I am keeping my trend of reading few books, but good books. I’m actually pretty happy with what I’ve read so far, and I may be quite far from my initial 200 books read this year, I’m actually not going to beat myself up about it. Also, you will see a lot of Katee Robert in this list. That is because I signed up for her Patreon page and basically it was like Christmas in July. Truly! I think most of the books I read in July are actually her books.
I have to say that I was inspired by Sam @ Fictionally Sam to add icons to this list, to make everything look neater so before we get to what I read, here’s the key:
📘 – ARC | 🎶 – Audiobook | 💭 – Comic book
Here’s what I’ve read this season:
5 cups – 4 cups
- 📘 Uncharted by Adriana Anders – 5 cups – Buddy read with Sam and Haley
- 📘 Bond Of Destiny by Larissa Ione – 5 cups
- A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert – 5 cups
- The Beast by Katee Robert – 5 cups
- Seducing My Guardian by Katee Robert – 5 cups
- 📘💭 The Me You Love In The Dark by by Skottie Young, Jorge Corona (Illustrator), Jean-François Beaulieu (Illustrator), Nate Piekos (Letterer) – 5 cups
- 📘 Treasured by Lexi Blake – 5 cups
- Forbidden Fling by Kat Taylor – 4.5 cups
- Moon Called by Patricia Briggs – 4.5 cups
- 🎶 Neon Gods by Katee Robert – 4 cups
- My Dad’s Best Friend by Katee Robert – 4 cups
- 🎶 Home, Perilous Home by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 4 cups
- 🎶 Belinda Blinked by Rocky Flintstone – 4 cups
3.5 cups – 2.5 cups
- 🎶 Shadows and Dreams by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 3.5 cups
- 🎶 Hungry by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 3 cups
- 🎶 The Most Dangerous Game by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 3 cups
- 🎶 Umta by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 3 cups
- 🎶 Reality No-Show by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 3 cups
- 🎶 Mourning Train by Carrie Harris, E.C. Myers, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, Kiersten White, Matthew Cody – 3 cups
- Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole – 2.5 cups
2 cups – DNF
NONE
Fall TBR
I don’t even know why I’m trying to make a TBR, but here we go: so aside from continuing my Immortals After Dark buddy read with Jamsu, I want to start and possibly finish the Hathaways series by Lisa Kleypas. I also plan on finishing some of the books I bought during my 2020-2021 bookish retail therapy, like the rest of the Bridgerton series, books 2 through 5 of the Mercy Thompson series, and many more. Yes, I do plan on reading my overdue ARCs as well and (lord help me) I may even manage to get on track with my Netgalley ratio.
Song Of The Season
I pretty much failed to add many songs to my Sounds of 2021 this season. I was mostly catching up with my podcasts, and when I wouldn’t listen to those, I went back to my regular playlists. If I did had to pick a song that dominated my summer though, that one would be If I Didn’t Love You by Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood. I just adore that song.
Shows Watched
TV shows pretty much dominated my summer, either because of my regular Turkish shows, or the shows that Jamsu @ Jamsudreams recommended I watch. I had a lot of fun and I’ve basically been on a kick to watch supernatural shows. Here’s what I watched:
- Sen Çal Kapımı
- Maraşlı
- Teen Wolf (this one I actually finished) – thanks to Jamsu
- From Dusk Till Dawn – thanks to Jamsu
- Sex/Life – thanks to Crystal – Crystal and I had a LOT of feelings about this show and I think we wrote entire dissertations on it, but basically don’t call Cooper the “perfect husband” when talking to us, because he isn’t.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Because of my dear Kal @ Reader Voracious I’m starting Battlestar Galactica next week, and I finally caved and letting the great Cam @ Vicoli & Caffè to pick horror movies for our upcoming movie nights. I probably will end up reviewing them here on my blog, so stay tuned. By the way, I do want to say something that cannot be ignored nor kept hidden, even if this paints me as an ignorant idiot. During last night’s game night stream with Cam, Kal, Sam, and I, I realized that my previous claim that I have never watched horror movies is false, I have in fact watched horror movies, my definition of what a horror movie is was totally incorrect. We’ve discovered that my brain calls horror only things that scare me, which apparently is not true. So you know… here’s to watching horror movies I guess.
Bookishly Ruby 