Hi everybody, first of all, HAPPY OCTOBER! Time for the best month of the year!
As for September… well that was NOT the best month. It started out okay as I took my first blogging break in years to relax, read some books and take the time to prepare blog posts for a few months ahead so I could be a chill and on-top-of-things book blogger again.
But then, when I was ready to get back into things and itching to write posts… I could not create, edit or copy a single post. That started a 2-week journey of me (a not-so-tech-savvy-person) to try and find the issue. I eventually pinpointed it down to an issue with the Jetpack plugin and am in contact with Jetpack support, but it seems to be a difficult issue that takes more time to solve. Eventually, I did some more testing and found ONE specific Jetpack setting that caused the issue: Jetpack blocks. The minute I turned that setting off, I could post again. Only problem? I used the Jetpack Tiled Gallery block in pretty much 90% of all my posts, so now my older blog posts just look wonky. Ugh.
Jetpack is still looking into the issue but for now I can at least post again so I’m happy about that. But I’m now also super behind in posts and comments and trying to fix any wonky posts until a permanent solution is found. So what was supposed to be a chill reset turned into absolute CHAOS. Meaning, yes I’m back but also please, please be patient with me as I try to get back into a rhythm in all of this. I’ll probably not be up to my normal posting/commenting schedule just yet.
One thing I did realize in all of this? I am NOT ready to stop blogging yet. Take my blog away from me for a month and I am an absolute mess, haha.
Anyway, that intro turned out wayyy longer than usual, so without further ado, let’s recap September!
My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
This was an enjoyable read with a real cinnamon vampire hero, which was quite refreshing. That said, it was also not super memorable and the ending was a bit of a bummer.
Rating: 3,5 stars
Cruel Seduction (Dark Olympus #5) by Katee Robert
I went into this without high expectations because I didn’t LIKE any of the main characters in the previous books, so I wasn’t super excited for a romance between them. But Katee Robert delivered, because I was rooting for them all so badly by the end of this book.
Rating: 4 stars
Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter
I ADORED Better Than The Movies! It was adorable and cute and the perfect high school romance full of love of romance movies & tropes and it came with its’ own playlist which is always a win for me.
Rating: 4,5 stars
The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
The Love Wager was an enjoyable read, but I didn’t really connect with either of the characters or their romance so it wasn’t my personal favorite.
Rating: 3,5 stars
The Honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren
This was such a fun audio novella and a great follow up to The Unhoneymooners. I loved the full audio cast and Ami and Brody’s story.
Rating: 4,5 stars
10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall (ARC)
I received an ARC for this from Netgalley and really loved it! Full review to come.
Rating: 4,5 stars
A Ship of Bones and Teeth by Karina Halle
This dark retelling of The Little Mermaid with a dash of Pirates of the Caribbean was a fun read (not too dark) and I liked the enemies-to-lovers romance but the ending fell a bit flat for me.
Rating: 4 stars
No posts were written at all this month due to the above mentioned technical drama 🙂
Stand-out songs of the month for me were:
Against The Current – Silent Stranger
I always love Against The Current songs and this new one is no exception!
Troye Sivan – Got Me Started
Such a catchy song, I love it!
Not much this month, but what I did watch was a lot of fun!
The Little Mermaid
I loved this live adaptation so much! I think it’s one of the best Disney adaptations so far. I liked how they stayed quite true to the original Disney movie, but also fleshed it out a bit more.
One Piece
I have to admit I never watched or read the original, but I am LOVING the adaptation! It is such a funny little show that doesn’t take itself too seriously but is just a blast to watch. I also think the main characters are all so perfectly casted, every single one of them shines.
This month has not been so great health wise for my family. In the beginning of the month, my grandmother was hospitalized for a few days with heart issues. Luckily, she was better and back home the day we left for our holiday (otherwise I would not have felt comfortable leaving). But then when we came back, my grandfather was hospitalized. Luckily, he’s also feeling better now and should hopefully be able to go back home in a few days. So it’s definitely been stressful, but I’m glad everyone’s better now and that my entire family has really pulled together in taking care of everyone and everything in this period, so that was a good thing.
So besides that, here are some positive things to end this post with:
Things that made me happy this month:
- I went on a weeklong holiday in Mallorca with my husband, brother, sister-in-law and godchild and it was a fun week with nice weather. I mostly lounged around reading all week, so not too bad 🙂
- Since I had 3 weeks off from work in total we also spent 2 weeks at home working on home projects. We repainted/redecorated our bedroom and redid our wooden garden panels.
- My husband and I celebrated our 8-year wedding anniversary!
THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:
- OCTOBER AKA SPOOKY MONTH AKA THE BEST MONTH!
- HALLOWEEN (aka my birthday)
How was your September? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in October?
Welcome back, Lindsey! I’m sorry about the difficulties (those are the worst!) and the health challenges of your grandparents. I hope they’re getting better each day and you’re all enjoying a calmer life now. Yay for some good reads and a fun trip. 🙂
Thanks so much Rissi! My grandfather was allowed to go home this afternoon so we’re really happy and relieved. Now back to blogging 🙂
I’m so glad you had a wonderful trip! I’m also glad your grandparents are doing better. That is so stressful! Ugh, the blogging issues – what a bummer! But I’m happy to see your posts again!
Thanks so much Angela! I’m glad to be back too, hopefully without too many more issues 🙂
I’d wondered where you’d gone off to for so long but welcome back! Sorry to hear that September was such a rough month for you blog-wise and also health-wise in the family but I hope October will be much better! I’m hoping to read My Roommate is a Vampire this month but I have started seeing some mixed reviews for it. I also watched the live-action of One Piece and immediately started the anime cos I loved it so much. The anime is even more quirky, ridiculous, OTT and hilarious than the live-action and it’s such a good time! 😍 I hope you have an amazing month ahead, Lindsey!
Thanks Dini!
I hope you’ll love My Roommate Is A Vampire! Though it wasn’t a favorite for me, it was still an enjoyable read.
Ahh, I’m so happy you also loved One Piece though! And good to know the anime is so good too, because I’m already missing these characters so much, haha 🙂
I’m so glad you’re back, Lindsey!
Also, I felt the same about Cruel Seduction. I didn’t have the highest expectations because I didn’t totally love Radiant Sin but ended up really enjoying it. Best feeling ever when reading books!
Thanks, Stephanie!
I’m so glad you had the same feeling about Cruel Seduction! It really is the best when a book totally surpasses your expectations.
Yay! I’m glad to see you back. Sorry those technical issues are still kind of plaguing you. How frustrating! But at least you can kind of carry on. Happy anniversary and almost happy birthday!
Thanks so much! Yes, at least I can post again, I was missing it way too much 🙂
Yaaaaaaay!!
Thanks Sophie! 😀
Welcome back! So sorry to hear about the tech issues though. Those are the worst. And I feel the same way. A couple of times I’ve had weeks where I hardly posted and it felt weird! I would miss the blogging!
Anyways I still need to try One Piece. And ooh Mallorca- I just discovered a blog from a Mallorca person and it looks beautiful.
Thanks, Greg. Yes, tech issues are the worst indeed!
I hope you’ll love One Piece! And Mallorca is indeed very pretty.
Ugh that sounds so stressful. I’m glad you managed to figure out what it was. I hope jetpack can fix the issue and that you won’t have to go and fix all your old posts. I tried doing that when my image hosting kept stopping and all my photos stopped showing. I ended up just deleting a lot (of not loading photos) and not replacing them because it was so much work I didn’t end up being able to actually get to reading and blogging.
Oh yes I remember your image issues! I’m indeed wondering whether it’s worth the hassle to go back and fix all my old posts, even if Jetpack can’t find the solution… I don’t like my old posts looking wonky, but like you said, I also don’t want to spend all my time doing that instead of actually reading and blogging either…
[…] going rogue today because I’ve been MIA for a bit due to a blog break and then some technical difficulties and I missed the ‘Fall 2023 TBR’ post. And those TBR posts are ones I ALWAYS do so it […]