December was a bit of a challenging month for me. The month started off with work being super busy, then we caught Covid a couple of weeks in. This meant I wasn’t able to do any of the Christmas celebrations and meet-ups that I had planned, which really sucked. I’ve decided that next year I’ll isolate myself before Christmas so I can at least see my closest friends, and I don’t have to worry about the possibility of missing out on Christmas with family.

I did get some good news at work though – two pay rises! Not too shabby at all. If you’ve seen my 2023 goals video on my Booktube channel then you’ll know that I’m trying to save a lot this year as well as continue to make overpayments on the mortgage, so the pay bumps are very welcome. 

As for 2022 overall, I would say I had a pretty fantastic year. I got the promotion that I’ve been aiming towards for a while, I dealt with some very difficult challenges in my job, we were able to travel a little, we had a porch built on our house, and we got engaged in Iceland! I’m really happy with how 2022 went and I hope 2023 will be just as good, if not better.

How was your December?

Reading Highlights

Notes on an Execution ★★★★★

This was without a doubt my favourite read of the month. Notes on an Execution follows the women who were affected by a serial killer in various ways, while the serial killer is on death row and counting down to his death. It was a very compelling story and it’s one I would like to reread in the not too distant future.

Five Survive ★★★★

I got my hands on the new Holly Jackson book! While I struggled to get into this one because of the different vibe, I still found it very thrilling and exciting. I can see why Holly Jackson changed the setting, but I still hope she writes another book set in Buckinghamshire in the future!

Reading wise, November was a pretty average month. I didn’t read a massive amount of books, and I
only had a couple of standout reads. This November highlights post isn’t going to lean into the book
content, since most of November was taken up with my travels to Iceland! I’ll be posting more about that
in future posts, but for now here are the highlights!

Reading Highlights

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
★★★★

I bought myself I’m Thinking of Ending Things for my birthday because I had heard a lot about it. I had heard it was a mind-fucker of a book, and I haven’t read anything that truly blew my mind in a while. While this one didn’t quite accomplish mindblowingness, I still very much enjoyed it. I was intrigued to find out where it would go and what I could figure out. I wanted to know why everything from the start felt weirdly off. This is definitely one to discuss with friends!

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas
★★★

Okay so I actually only gave House of Sky and Breath three stars because it was the most draggy book I have ever read. It took absolutely forever to end. I enjoyed reading about the characters again for the most part, but some characters (Tharion) were pointless and didn’t need their own chapters. I did not care. Also, THAT ENDING?? I hate it. I can’t say why due to spoilers, but I’m considering doing a spoilery review for this one because it offended me. But this is on my highlights reel anyway because I’m just glad I finally read it.

Life Highlights

I went to Iceland!

I spent ten days in Iceland at the beginning of the month and I had the best time! I hadn’t been abroad
since pre-Covid, but I desperately wanted to get away and do something for my and my partner’s 30th
birthdays. We spent the first week travelling along the south coast and seeing all the waterfalls and
glaciers (and the Northern Lights, far off in the distance), and then we spent the final few days in
Reykjavik. Iceland is a beautiful country and there’s so much stuff to do, so we’re definitely going to
return one day! Food is very expensive though, so if you’re planning to go then you should budget for
that.

I’m planning on posting several blog posts about this trip so stay tuned!

I got engaged!

In Iceland! The proposal was a complete surprise to me because, while my partner and I have discussed marriage at length before, over the past few months he had stopped bringing it up so much and basically implied that he didn’t really care for marriage. It was all a lie though because apparently he has been planning this for months and there was a whole event surrounding the ring and someone finding out about his intentions during a wedding we were both at. I might tell the whole story one day if anyone is interested!

I don’t have any ideas of when to get married or where or any of that yet, and let me tell you the amount of questions we’re getting about it already is overwhelming. I just want to be left alone to enjoy the engagement at this point!

We both turned 30!

As I mentioned above, I spent my 30th birthday in Iceland and it was pretty magical. The day itself was a little stressful as I caught a cold and the bus to the Sky Lagoon was confusing af, but I had an amazing trip. My partner turned 30 a couple of weeks later, and we’re actually celebrating that this coming weekend.

Other Highlights

I’ve been playing a lot of Pokemon Violet as I bought myself a copy for my birthday. I was finding it a little too easy compared to older Pokemon games but it’s a good one to play if you’re feeling a bit brain foggy. I also went to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the cinema and obviously loved Namor. We’ve been rewatching The Crown and we’re almost ready to start season five. I can’t wait to see what has all the royals crying. I’d love to go to the cinema a few more times in December as we have a movie pass, and I have a few things in mind to go and see.