Hi and welcome to a new monthly wrapup! The last one for 2016…
Can you believe it’s the end of 2016? This year has flown right on by. It also means that next month I have my 1-year blogoversary coming up and I am super excited about that. This whole blogging journey has definitely been one of the highlights of the year for me. I am infinitely thankful that I started this journey and got to know all of you in return. So here’s to many more wonderful years to come!
But first, let’s wrap up December.
What I read
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
December was pretty much the month of my Kasie West binge-fest. I read PS I Like You earlier this year and loved it. So I picked up The Distance Between Us next and absolutely loved it. THE SARCASM. IT IS GLORIOUS! Seriously, give me a main character that is super sarcastic and has amazing dry wit and add the cutest romance and I am in love.
Check out my full review here.
The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
Next up on the Kasie West binge-fest: The Fill-In Boyfriend. And though this book had more annoying and selfish characters, I still loved it so much. Because annoying characters go through the best character development. Also, I will always love the “pretending to date” trope.
Check out my full review here.
On The Fence by Kasie West
On The Fence was my last Kasie West book. That’s it. I’m out until By Your Side is released. But On The Fence definitely lived up to the Kasie West name. It was cute, fluffy and adorable and I read it in a day. Though I don’t have a full review on this one, I would easily rate it 4 stars.
The Goal by Elle Kennedy
The last book in the new adult off-campus companion series about hockey player romances was… good. Though I liked this series as a whole, unfortunately I did like each subsequent book in this series a little less. Maybe I just got tired of the hockey player romances? Book 1, The Deal, will alwyas be my favorite though. Followed closely by book two, The Mistake. But even though it wasn’t my favorite in the series, The Goal was still a fun, solid 3 star read!
Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch
The final installment to the Snow Like Ashes trilogy was a solid ending that took the series to a satisfying conclusion. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the second book, Ice Like Fire, and though Frost Like Night was so much better, this series will not go down as one of my all-time favorites.
Check out my full review here.
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
OMG YES, THIS SERIES IS GOING DOWN AS ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITES! Okay, it may be a little too soon to say that since we are still waiting for the final installment, A Conjuring of Light. But A Gathering of Shadows was absolutely amazing. I am flailing all over the place because of my love for this book and its badass characters.
Check out my full review here.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Another solid 5-star read. After my binge of Kasie West and her fluffy highschool contemporaries and my binge of Elle Kennedy and her sexy college contemporaries, I was looking for… something more. Something that was the perfect mix of fluffy and sexy. And OMG, I found it in The Hating Game. This story about two office nemeses working towards the same promotion was pure gold. I read it in a day – it was funny, cute and sexy. If you’re a fan of the enemies turning into lovers trope, I HIGHLY recommend this one.
Check out my full review here.
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This essay can be read in 30 minutes and I feel like everyone should take those 30 minutes and just read it. Or at least watch the TEDx talk it is based on. Because it talks about feminism and how many misconceptions there are around it in such an easy to digest, understandable and even fun way.
Check out my full review here.
Other blog features
Top Ten Tuesday
- 27 December 2016: Fangirl Alert – My Favorite Books of 2016
- 20 December 2016: Ten Books On My Holiday Wishlist
- 13 December 2016: Most Anticipated Releases For The First Half Of 2017
- 6 December 2016: Top Ten Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016
Waiting on Wednesday
- Hunted by Meagan Spooner (read)
- Heartstone by Elle Katharine White (read)
- Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare (read)
- The Valiant by Lesley Livingston (read)
Other
- Dumbledore’s Army Readathon TBR (read)
- 2016 End of Year Book Survey (read)
What I listened to (2016 Edition)
Instead of a monthly wrap up of what I listened to, I thought I’d talk about what I listened to in 2016 in general. Because first of all, December was not that different from November. Secondly, I love yearly lists. And thirdly, I only really got back into music in 2016 after a music slum that lasted years. I discovered a few new bands and had quite a few musical obsessions this year.
So, here’s a playlist of my 2016 obsessions:
If I had to pick 5 favorites from 2016, it would be:
5. Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton OST
4. My House – Pvris
3. Youth – Troye Sivan
2. Free Now – Sleeping With Sirens
1. King For A Day – Pierce The Veil (ft. Kellin Quinn)
What I Watched
This December I have become obsessed and have completely embraced two new fandoms. HELLO, NEW FANDOMS! 
Sherlock
OMG, this show is sooo good. Why did I wait so long to start this? I was hooked from episode 1 and have binge-watched all 3 seasons in a week. I mean, what’s not to love? The snark, the intelligence, the sarcasm, the amazing villains, the moral greyness, the humor, the acting 
I love my little high-functioning sociopath and his BFF. The bromance in this is PURE GOLD. These two win my favorite duo in the history of ever award. Who’s anxiously awaiting season 4? Yep, that’d be me!
Yuri!!! On Ice
I never would have guessed I would become addicted to an anime about ice figure skaters, but here I am! I saw this show mentioned on Twitter regularly and got intrigued so I checked out the first few episodes and became hooked. It’s about Katsuki Yuuri, a Japanese figure skater who lost badly in his last Grand Prix. He’s suffering from crippling self-doubt and anxiety and is thinking about retiring until a video of him skating the routine of his idol, Viktor Nikiforov, goes viral and none other than Viktor himself shows up to coach him. This show is just so beautiful and funny and heartwarming. Yuuri is such a relatable main character and the evolution of his relationship with Viktor (an actual canon LGBTQIA+ relationship) is a joy to watch. I adored the 12 episodes and am keeping my fingers crossed for a second season!
I’m not usually that much into anime but after watching Yuri!!! On Ice, I want more. The only other anime I used to watch and love was Rurouni Kenshin / Samurai X. Anyone have any recommendations for me?
What’s on the January TBR
In January I’ll be participating in the Dumbledore’s Army Readathon, which is hosted by Aentee @ Read At Midnight. It’s a Harry Potter themed readathon, focusing on diverse reads and runs from January 1st until January 15th. You can check out my TBR here.
Life update
I also still wanted to make a quick update on my life. If you’ve been following me for a while, you may have noticed that I have often said that 2016 has not been very nice to me personally. Though I never went into detail, the truth is that this was always work related. Things have been changing for a few months now that have made me quite anxious. And what I had been fearing for a while finally happened at the beginning of the month: after 9,5 years I lost my job. Due to economic reasons I was let go and I’m not gonna lie: it hurts. I loved that job with all my heart. My coworkers were my friends and I envisioned myself spending the rest of my life there. It was my first job after graduating and something I was proud of and that made me grow so much as a person. It was the main reason I got more self-confident and learned to deal with my anxiety. And then it all fell away and I was left feeling all that anxiety and self-doubt creep back on me. I’d like to say that I’m seeing things more positively now and looking forward to the future, but honestly, I’m having good and bad days. I’m looking at 2017 with a mix of fear for the future and hope for a new and better chapter to begin.
Great books!!! Glad you got to read so many 🙂
AHHH Sherlock!!! I’m a big fan as well!! I can’t wait for series 4….
So sorry about the issues you had to endure in 2016 🙁 I hope 2017 is a much better year life wise, and that things improve <3
Thanks! 2016 was definitely great readingwise! Aahh a fellow Sherlock fan YAY 🙂 I’m so excited for season 4 as well, luckily for me I didn’t have to wait that long for it.
Thank you, that’s so nice <3 I hope you'll have a great 2017 as well - Happy New Year!
Looks like you’ve had an amazing month and year!! And OH YES I LOVE SHERLOCK TOO <3 <3 *sorry about the craziness :P* oh I'm desperately waiting for Hunted too!! Ah, I did a yearly wrap up post too but back when I was working on the post I didn't know of Jamie's (wish i had). I only got to know later! Her format is awesome! But yearly wrap ups are so fun to write!! Happy Happy new year to you <3
OH YAY SHERLOCK! Haha, don’t be sorry, I’m just as crazy about Sherlock 😉 I’m so happy season 4 will begin soon! Yes, Hunted sounds soo good! Oh, sorry you missed the survey! But any wrap up post is always fun, they’re one of my favorite posts to write and to read. It’s like a summary of everything we loved and they always make me happy 🙂 Happy New Year to you too!
1) Nice Kasie West month. 😉 2) I LOVE LOVE Sherlock so if you need someone to geek out with email me or go to my blog. 3) I’m so sorry about your job. I know that doesn’t mean much. But I’ll be thinking about you. And you know the book community is here for you.
Haha, yes December was definitely the month of Kasie West for me and it was amazing 😉
Oh, that sounds great, I’d love to geek out about Sherlock!! Especially with season 4 about to start, YASSS!
Awww thank you that’s so nice <3 Talking to all of you in the book community has definitely been the highlight of my year. Hope you'll have an amazing 2017 and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2016 totally sucked for me. Maybe I will write about it on my blog? Dunno. Hope you feel better! 🙂 And finally someone talked about yuri on ice! I watched it this month only and am totally going to write a blog post about it. IT WAS AMAZING AND SO GOOD. And happy new year 🙂
Oh I’m sorry 2016 sucked for you! I hope 2017 will be so much better for you and me both! Writing about it can really help I think – you can write it all down and then you can still decide whether you still want to post it.
OMG, yes another Yuri On Ice fan! I am already looking forward to your blog post because I am so not over it yet! I just want to keep rewatching and keep talking about it 😉
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I am so excited and scared for A Conjuring of Light! I hope nothing bad happens, omg. I don’t think I could handle it. I feel like Victoria is gonna break our hearts though, haha. Amazing playlist too!! So many good songs in your top 5. Hamilton, Pvris and Pierce The Veil ♥♥ I’ve been watching YuriI!!! on Ice too and am up to like episode 4 I think. It’s so ridiculously cute and addicting, haha.
Did you see Victoria’s tweet where she said the book will be 50% magic, 35% death, 15% sass and 10% dick jokes? I mean, most of that sounds great, but that 35% has me very worried. I just want all main characters to live happily ever after… OMG, yay for Yuri on Ice! It really is so cute and addicting – so much so that on top of reawtching the season a second time I’ve also been youtubing real life ice skating performances for days haha 😉
I’m sorry to hear about your job, and I hope that 2017 has awesome things for you in store, wishing you all the best <3 I can't wait to read A Conjuring of Light, I am a bit scared of it ending haha, I hope everything will be well haha 🙂 Happy New Year <3
Aww thanks Marie, I really appreciate it <3 Wishing you all the best for 2017 as well, hope it will be an amazing year for both of us 🙂
I know, I am both really excited and nervous about ACOL as well! I'm hoping our hearts won't be broken too much...
Happy New Year!