2020 End of the Year Survey

I've seen the End of the Year Survey around for years, but I've never actually done it myself... until now! I am very excited! I borrowed the images below from The Perpetual Page Turner, the creator of this fun survey 😊

Top 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2021

The last of my top 10 (sometimes 15 😂) posts of the year! I like what I like, so a lot of these are part of a series/from authors I've read previously... Mostly 😉

Top 10 Favorite Characters of 2020

Today I am sharing some of my favorite characters of the year!

Fear Street Books... Do I Actually Like Them?

When I was writing my Most Disappointing Books of 2020 post, I realized that over half of the books on the list were Fear Street/R.L. Stine books. Subjectively, I love reading these books, but it did make me wonder whether I actually like these books, objectively. So I made graphs! I took a look at each year I read an R.L. Stine book (I included non-Fear Street books such as those in the Point Horror series) and made a graphs to see what rating I gave each year.

Top 15 Disappointing Books of 2020

Today we are talking about the books I didn't love so much... yay 🙃

The Festive Christmas Book Tag

I was going to post my most disappointing books of the year today, but... It's Christmas Day, so let's not do that 😂 Instead I found this fun tag to do over at a Great read!

Top 15 Favorite Books of 2020

Today we're taking a look at some of my favorite books of the year. And because I had a hard time picking and I make the rules around here, we're gonna look at 15 instead of 10 😉 15 was the lowest I could bring it down... which isn't bad considering last year I had 20 favorites 😂

Top 10 Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020

It's the end of the year which means it's time for all the end of the year posts! First up are some books I wish I would've gotten to this year but didn't because my mood changes faster than my brain can keep up with 😂

2020 End of the Year Freak Out Tag

I saw this cool tag over at a GREAT read. I've been doing the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag for a couple years now, but I had never seen this one until recently! I'm very excited to take part in it!

Looking Back at Books I Wish I’d read in 2019 & Anticipated Books of 2020

Last year I did this post and I had a lot of fun doing it, so I thought I'd do it again! Basically, I'm gonna look at the books in my Top Books I Wish I’d Read in 2019 AND the Top Books I was Most Looking Forward to in 2020 and see if I actually read any of those books throughout the year.

2021 Reading Challenges

2021 Reading Challenge

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Just like every year, the first reading challenge I am doing is the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I tried to be ambitious in 2020 and things did not go well 😂 But 75 seems to be a good number for me, so I'm gonna stick with it for now.

2020 Reading Challenges *Update*

It's the end of the year so I thought I'd take a look at my progress so far on the Reading Challenges I decided to take part in. I keep track of all the books I read during the year, which you can check out here! This was a tough year, and my reading was just... no good. I don't think I'm doing all that great in these challenges, but I guess it's a good thing I participated in only a handful of them 😅

Monthly Wrap-Up: October 2020

My month has been more of the same... my grandmother is still not doing well. My parents are back down in California visiting again but I stayed back home with the kids this time. I'm hoping she'll turn a corner soon, but honestly, I just don't know.

In other news, I've been playing less Animal Crossing and reading more! Well, it felt like I was reading more, but really, I read the same amount of books as I did last month 😂 BUT I did write some posts/reviews this month, which is something! I feel like I'm finally emerging from the slump... hopefully! 🤞

Review: The Trailwalker (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #13) by J.L. Bryan

Title: The Trailwalker

Series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #13

Previous books in this series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (#1) | Cold Shadows (#2) | The Crawling Darkness (#3) | Terminal (#4) | House of Whispers #5 | Maze of Souls #6 | Lullaby (#7) | The Keeper (#8) | The Tower (#9) | The Monster Museum (#10) | Fire Devil (#11) | The Necromancer's Library (#12)

Author: J.L. Bryan

Genre: Adult, paranormal, horror

Publication date: October 1st 2020

Published by: J.L. Bryan

Source: eARC from author

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon

Synopsis: The old campground in the mountains has a shrouded history wrapped in legend. Located by the mysterious mounds of a vanished people, it was once a popular summer destination for children, but closed long ago under tragic circumstances.

Josh and Allison Conner have moved out from the city, inspired to create a retreat for children in need, a place to build skills and character. They've brought their own children with them, and now they're hurrying to rebuild and update the old camp in time for their first opening day.

But something lurks in the wilderness around the old summer camp, something that strikes against the Conners' best efforts to revitalize it. They feel watched, then threatened, but after sinking their savings and their hopes into the place, they are unwilling to walk away.

Paranormal investigator Ellie Jordan must sort history from legend to determine what haunts the camp and how to fight it, before it inflicts more harm on the well-meaning family attempting to bring life back to the remote abandoned campground.

My rating: ★★★★★
In this installment of Ellie Jordan, we’re heading to a haunted camp! Very exciting! Especially because we don’t get too many cases set outdoors in this series, which is not a bad thing at all! But I really liked the change. Actually, the settings of every book are quite different from one another and I really appreciate that. But yeah! Haunted camp! 👻

Review: The Necromancer's Library (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #12) by J.L. Bryan

Title: The Necromancer's Library

Series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #12

Previous books in this series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (#1) | Cold Shadows (#2) | The Crawling Darkness (#3) | Terminal (#4) | House of Whispers #5 | Maze of Souls #6 | Lullaby (#7) | The Keeper (#8) | The Tower (#9) | The Monster Museum (#10) | Fire Devil (#11)

Author: J.L. Bryan

Genre: Adult, paranormal, horror

Publication date: April 2020

Published by: J.L. Bryan

Source: eARC from author

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon

Synopsis: The antebellum mansion sits isolated in the overgrown countryside like a forgotten temple. Within it lie the dark, twisting paths of a private library possessing secrets from across the ages. The collection of ancient and medieval occult manuscripts tell of conjuring spirits and raising the dead, of making contact with supernatural realms and beings usually forbidden to living mortals.

The house's recently deceased owner was a reclusive former professor who transformed his home into a great library, but his desire for hidden knowledge and arcane power may have led him into madness, even death.

Disturbing specters now haunt the new occupants of the house, who turn to paranormal investigator Ellie Jordan for help. Ellie must unravel the mysteries of the occult library before she can banish its ghosts and make the house safe again for the living.

My rating: ★★★★★
It's been a hot minute since I read the last Ellie Jordan book, so I was really excited to dive into this one! I missed Ellie and Stacey and their fun bickering! 😂 And things get even more fun once Jacob arrives! The quips between the characters is one of my favorite things about this series! And just the characters in general! I love Jacob and Ellie and Stacey who is just really sassy and bubbly! I love her!

Buying Different Editions of the Same Book

I was never one to buy different editions of the same book, or even the same book in different formats. I thought it was pointless. But boy did things change for me. Lol. Today I wanted to share the books I own several different versions of and why I decided to buy them. Things started off pretty innocuous, but then this March things got crazy...

Spooky Scary Book Tag

Why, hello there...

Happy Spooky Season!

Long time no see! I wanted to squeeze in some spooky content before, you know, spooky season is over 😅 This is probably the first post I really work on since the blogger change, and let me tell you, I HATE IT! I liked to work on my posts in the html view, but now they've made it harder! And adding these two gifs above? ☝ A nightmare! And you know I love my gifs! It took me a bit to finally be able to add them BUT THEN I couldn't freaking resize them so then I had to mess with their html... UGH! So if the formatting of this post is all over the place and the images don't show up... you know why 😒
Anyway, I hate change 😂 But onto more fun stuff! I saw this fun tag over at The Book Critter!

Monthly Wrap-Up: September 2020

It was another not-very-productive month. Literally all I've been doing is playing Animal Crossing, and now with the recent Halloween update... I'm sorry but I'm not stopping now! Lol.
My mental health has just not been great these last couple of months. As you know from my previous post, my grandmother has cancer. She isn't doing terrible well, unfortunately, but she has her good days. I think that coupled with lockdown and just all the other awful things going on in the world have really gotten to me. My anxiety isn't as bad as it was early in the summer, but it's definitely still there.
I've been in a better mood since Fall came around, but I still haven't been doing a lot of reading.  Besides Animal Crossing, I've also been re-watching a lot of stuff. I've been rewatching Supernatural because it is coming to an end and I am not okay 😩 Anyway, I'm up to season 10 with that. I also started rewatching all the Marvel movies in the order of their release date. This week I watched Thor Ragnarok which is just incredible! I love it! Up next is Black Panther, I believe. And lastly, yesterday, very late in the day, I decided I wanted to do the whole 31 days of Halloween thing where you watch one horror/Halloween movie a day. Yesterday I watched Child's Play and right now I'm actually watching Child's Play 2! I love these movies!
So that's what I've been up to. Oh, I've also been painting my nails a lot, but what else is new. Lol.

Monthly Wrap-Up: August 2020

It's been a tough month. In July we found out my grandmother had cancer and a couple of weeks ago we went to go see her down in California. She's not doing great but she has her good days. It was really good to see her and the rest of my family down there. We don't get to see them very often just because we're all the way up in Washington. Plus, it was nice to just be around people. I haven't seen my extended family that lives here near me in MONTHS. Me being super antisocial, I thought I was okay with being in lockdown, that I was made for this. But man, this past month it made me realize that I'm not. I miss interacting with people and going to the store without fear hanging over my head that I might catch something. Speaking of that, traveling down to California, I was terrified. It is definitely not an ideal time to be traveling right now, and if it wasn't a family emergency, I wouldn't have even gone. It's about a 16 hour drive and even though we made as few stops as possible and were safe and wore masks and used sanitizer and did everything we were supposed to, it did not lessen my fear of traveling. All of my family down there is being extra safe what with my grandmother being on chemo and being immunocompromised, so that gave me peace of mind. And luckily we made it down there and back without issue.

Besides that though... I'm still addicted to Animal Crossing lol, AND I just changed up the design on my blog! Idk, I felt like I wanted a change so one morning I just woke up and tweaked things a bit. I like it!

Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2020

This month was tough. It started off pretty good, I mean I read three books in the first two weeks of July, which was great cause I've been in a reading slump since this whole disaster started in March. But then halfway through the month I started having anxiety. It wasn't bad but it was present for like a week. Not fun. After that was mostly gone, we found out that my grandmother was really sick. And just yesterday we found out that she has cancer. As I said, it has not been a great month. I have not found the motivation to read and I'll I've been doing to keep me together is play Animal Crossing and watch movies. I hate this year.

Sunday Post #255: Just Animal Crossing and Supernatural

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

Sunday Post #254: Officially Addicted

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

The Bookshelf Tag!

I actually don't remember where first saw this, but this tag was created by Sajiid from Books are my Social Life.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #204: My Love For Greek Mythology Rekindled (But Also Horror Lol)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Sunday Post #253: Mmm Treats!

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

Finish the Series #10: Reading Slumps Are the Worst!

In the past I've done these Random Reads posts where I would randomly choose a series to finish, but that hasn't worked out that well for me, me being a mood reader and all. So I decided that I would just pick a couple of series I'm in the mood for every so often and then post about it to really cement in that commitment 😅

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Book Tag!

I recently started playing Animal Crossing and when I came across this tag last week I thought it would be very fitting to do right now. Lol.

I saw this tag over at Monstrumology and was created by Bec and Angharad at Two Book Thieves!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #203: Greek Mythology Retellings

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Sunday Post #252: Video Games? Me?

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

Summer Library Reading Challenge

I was scrolling through my library's website recently and I came across their summer reading program. I think it's an annual thing because I also came across it last year. They have a bunch of challenges that are not only reading-related, but also writing, and even challenges of going out into the community and going for a hike and stuff like that.

2020 Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

It's that time again for the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag! I did this in 2018 and 2019 and I originally saw it over at Abby's Reading Corner.

I set a rule for myself cause otherwise I would put Malice in all the favorites categories lol: no repeat books in the categories! It was hard. Lol.

Monthly Wrap-Up: June 2020

It was another sad reading month, but I am determined to get out of this reading slump next month! I WILL do it! Lol.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #202: Mythology or Horror? I Can't Decide...

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Sunday Post #251: Nail Polish Addict

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

Top 10 Favorite Books of 2020 (So Far)

We're somehow halfway through with the year, and I'm not gonna lie, with everything that's been going on, my reading has not been going great. I started the year off strong but then March happened and my mood to read just plummeted. Exhibit A:



To go from having read 22 books in February, to 3 books in March is insane! I haven't been able to get my groove back just yet, but I am reading a little. Oh, and Goodreads is not helping with its whole, "You're 8 books behind schedule" thing 🙄😭 😂



All that being said, let's take a look at some of the books I've loved so far this year!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #201: More Like Queen of Feels and Heartbreak

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Sunday Post #250: Unsatisfactory Nail Art? Buy More Nail Polish!

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #200: Fear Street FTW!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Sunday Post #249: Supernatural All Day Every Day

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

Finish the Series #9: Where Did the Progress Go?

In the past I've done these Random Reads posts where I would randomly choose a series to finish, but that hasn't worked out that well for me, me being a mood reader and all. So I decided that I would just pick a couple of series I'm in the mood for every so often and then post about it to really cement in that commitment 😅

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #199: Vampires? Me?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Sunday Post #248: The Last Book Box... For Now

Welcome to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where I talk about what is going on in life and the blog, and show you all the bookish things I got that week!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #198: Idk...

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and Unleashing Reads.