December Round-Up
So, here we are at the end of the year and it simultaneously feels as if it has flown by and taken forever! A lot has happened in the past month alone, with a mad rush at the end of term ( as always!), a nightmare journey through an airport where planes were not taking off due to suspected drone activity and a quiet family Christmas.
In terms of blogging, it has not been a great month, mostly due to lots of ‘life’ getting in the way. I have posted less this month than in any month since I first started blogging in July 2017, but am hoping to get back on the bandwagon in 2019 (like most of the world!)
See my monthly round-ups for January, February, March and April, May, June, July, August , September, October and November.
Books read
Total: 30
Picture books: 5
Graphic novels: 0
Middle Grade: 6
Young adult: 15
Adult: 2
Non-fiction: 2
Poetry: 0
Sources of books
Library: 18
Bought/Owned: 2
Won: 0
ARC: 8 ( 6 e-ARCs from Netgalley)
Highlights this month have included: The Elsewhere Emporium, The Wild Robot Escapes, Witch for a Week, Space Atlas, Vox, The Twisted Tree and The Name of the Wind.
December Posts
Book Reviews: Jaclyn and the Beanstalk, The Dog That Saved Christmas, Gift Books for Christmas
Author Interviews: Mary Ting
Multilingual flashcards: Scorpion, Christmas Tree
Other posts: Art inspired by Victor Dixen’s Ascension series, Me Mam, Me Dad, Me Blog Tour, Hidden Colours Blog Tour, Gift Books for Christmas
I also took part in:
Waiting on Wednesday: Echo North, Chrysalis
Six for Sunday: 2018 Bookish Highlights
December Achievements and Highlights
Successfully completed Arts Week and created an art installation for my school with my class, despite getting horribly ill partway through the week.
Managed to make it back to my parents’ house for Christmas, despite a nightmare eight-hour plus journey (from door-to-door it took over ten hours)
Unfortunately, didn’t manage to post as often as I would have liked on the blog, making this one of my worst months in stats since I started blogging in August 2017. Also, despite having our offer on the house accepted, all of the paperwork has taken so long that it looks like we won’t be able to move in until at least mid-January.
December Favourites
Food/Drink: My festive favourites this year have to be mince pies, fruitcake and shloer. Yum yum!
Skincare: Recently I decided to try out a few skincare products from Primark and am currently loving their Vitamin C Booster Gel Brightening Mousturiser which smells and feels just like the much more expensive equivalent from The Body Shop (£3 vs £16) and their 2 in 1 Primer and Finishing Spray which I use to freshen up and moisturize my skin throughout the day – it has green tea, aloe and argan oil and both smells lovely and makes my skin look amazing. It is also only £3 at the moment (normally £4) so is well worth a try!
TV/Film: Haven’t watched any TV this month, although being home at my parents’ house has given me access to normal TV channels (we just have Netflix) so I am planning to watch a few documentaries and some movies.
I went to see Mary Poppins Returns in the cinema and was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was! It has definitely been filmed with a deep respect and love for the original movie and books.
What did you think of my monthly round-up for December?
How did your month go?
What are you looking forward to next month?
Let me know in the comments!
Also, please link your monthly round-ups below so I can catch up with your blogs!
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Thanks for reading!
So pleased you loved Elsewhere Emporium! Isn’t it magnificent? Did you enjoy Death in the Spotlight? I still really need to get to Only Love Can Break Your Heart and Flight- they’re two I’m really sad I didn’t get to this year (though there are quite a few others on that same list too 🙈). Really excited to read your posts in 2019, I’ve loved doing so this year 💜
Amy x
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Eek, sorry for double commenting but I just spotted Under Rose Tainted Skies and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I really enjoyed both of those, what did you think? X
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I really liked both of them ,particularly To All The Boys I Loved Before becuase I am a sucker for the ‘fake relationship’ trope! I have heard a few people warning about what happens in the next few books which could spoil your impression of the first, but I think I will continue the series. Despite reading less this month than usual, I have read some fantastic books! x
Under Rose Tainted Skies was so realistic!
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The 2nd book was easily my fave of the trilogy if it helps! And I really enjoyed the 3rd too, I read it last week and it was SO sweet 💜
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Okay, I will definitely give it a go then! Have you seen the Netflix movie? Apparently, they’re making the sequels too! x
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I Have! I loved it 💜
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I loved The Elsewhere Emporium, and I expected to as I love The Nowhere Emporium too! Death in the Spotlight was also brilliant! Only Love Can Break Your Heart was completely different to what I was expecting but still very good – unfortunately both of the main characters are quite difficult to like! Flight was great, but much darker than I had been expected for a MG book – I would have put it as more of a YA because of the some of the content. My TBR list is NEVER going to get any shorter – still so many that I want to read! Here’s hoping that I will be a bit more organized with posting in 2019 as I have been almost entirely absent from social media this month…
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Wow you had a good week!
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Thank you! This really has been a tough month!
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Happy new year!
Wasn’t sure about new Mary Poppins as the original is so close to my heart… but have heard great things about it, so maybe.
This year in general has been rubbish for me so I’m hoping 2019 will be better.
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I think the sequel has been made with a great deal of love and respect for the original, so it was much better than I had expected! Hope 2019 is a lot better than 2018!
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Great post ☺️
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Thank you!
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