Can you believe that 2021 is over? And it’s 2022? Time doesn’t make sense anymore. I had an okay month overall, but a pretty good reading month with 2 new favorites!


Fiction




- Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong | Holy crap, what a ride. I am still shocked. This book broke me, and I love it for it. (★★★★★)
- We Are Not Free by Traci Chee | A stunning, brilliant story of 14 Japanese american teens forced into incarceration camps during World War II. This is not an easy read. We’re talking about imprisoning over 100,000 people for nothing but their ethnicity. We don’t talk about the fact that this happened not even a century ago. It’s heartbreaking. (★★★★1/2)
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson | My favorite mystery of all time, hands down. I loved it all; Pip, Ravi, their relationship, the representation, the plot and mystery. Everything was flawless. (★★★★★)
- Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson | I can’t spoil this, so I’m just going to say that I loved it. (★★★★1/2)




- Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney | This was just meh. The romance was too quick, the main character annoyed me at times, but I loved Olivia and the book was entertaining enough. (★★★)
- As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson | I loved every bit of this. Pip’s character development is amazing (I just love morally grey Pip) and Ravi was supportive as always. (★★★★★)
- Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price | I loved the feminism, main character and plot. However, the romance was just a little too quick and the side characters kind of faded together. (★★★1/2)
- Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson | This was pretty disappointing. Even though it was entertaining, it was largely filler and it was obvious. I didn’t love it as much as the first 2. Spensa’s character development was great though, and her few scenes with Jorgen were literally so adorable. (★★★1/2)




- Sister of the Bollywood Bride by Nandini Bajpai | The Indian representation in this one was everything. I loved reading about Punjabi and Tamil weddings and culture, the food, the dresses, Bollywood music, literally everything. It made me so happy to read about Indian culture in a contemporary book. However, Mini was a bit immature and the romance was too quick for my liking. (★★★)
- Daughter of Sparta by Claire M. Andrews | This was so entertaining! So much action, banter and great characters. I really loved Daphne’s POV and her relationship with Apollo was so cute. I’m excited for the sequel! (★★★★)
- Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston | It was cute, but not amazing. I liked the characters and the romance, but it’s pretty forgettable. (★★★★)
- Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett | How is this enemies to lovers if they liked each other by the 30% mark?? I’m annoyed. Bailey was not like the other girls. And Davy’s addiction was handled horribly, and the characters victim blamed all the time. (★★)
Currently Reading


Here are the posts of the month:

~December Goals~
- Read at least 8 books ✅
- Do more blog hopping ❌
- Post more than 4 times ❌
- Drink more water ✅
- Study more ✅

Life Updates
- I had winter break this month and it was so relaxing. Most breaks I feel kind of guilty for not doing work (which is kind of toxic, you should be taking breaks) but this time I was like, “I worked really hard this term. I did really good, I deserve a break”. And it was so nice.
- I made my friend who literally hates reading read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and she finished it within a day. I feel weirdly proud.
Movies/TV Shows



- Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse | I loved this movie! So funny and entertaining, and I loved the characters.
- Cruella | I thought the acting was great, and Cruella’s character arc was really well done. It’s pretty dark compared to Disney’s other movies, but personally, I really liked it.
- Bahubali: The Beginning | This was a rewatch for me, and I thought the story was good, but like a lot of south Asian films, there was some colorism and misogyny.
- Bahubali: The Conclusion | Another rewatch, and I like this one more than the first. And the climax was great.
Music
- Shower by Becky G
- Boys Will Be Boys by Dua Lipa
- Motive by Ariana Grande & Doja Cat

- Rachel @ A Bookworm’s Paradise shared her year in bookish phases!
- Caro @ Book Cheshire Cat did the Winter is Coming book tag!
- Lotus @ Pages of Starlight celebrated her 1 year blogiversery!
- Cherelle @ A Bolt Out of the Book shared her top 10 books from 2021!
- Maria @ A Character Study did the 2021 book tag!
- Lia @ Chain of Novels reviewed Iron Widow!
- Emily @ Frappes & Fiction reacted to her old writing from 4th grade!
- Thea @ Thea Reads reviewed Our Violent Ends!
- Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant did the Winter Wonderland book tag!
- April @ Booked Till Midnight shared her favorite books of 2021!
- Ash @ Starlight Strands came back from her hiatus!
- Maya @ Pretty Little Scribbles shared her 2021 bookshelf and favorites!
- Amanda @ Bookish Brews reviewed Portrait of a Thief!
- Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm shared her most anticipated books of January 2022!
- Ashmita @ A Fictional Journal reviewed her 2021!
- Abby @ Beyond the Read came back and shared some anticipated releases of 2022!
- Saima @ Stories with Saima shared her most disappointing reads of 2021!
Ahh you had so many great reads this month! We Are Not Free! AGGGTM! OVE! (ok i haven’t read ove yet but i know its going to be amazing)
thank you so much for the shout-out ritz, and happy new year!!
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Ahh what did you think of We Are Not Free? I hope you enjoy Our Violent Ends, it was so good. Ahh you’re welcome Rachel and happy new year!
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I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!! so much so that it was also in my top 10 of 2021! it made me ugly cry so much 😭
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AHHH I’M SO GLAD! It wasn’t an absolute favorite of mine, but I still really enjoyed it.
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You read so many books that I’m interested in! A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder sounds so cool, I should give it a try! Thank you for also including my post. Hope you have a happy new year 💕
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I hope you enjoy A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder! Happy New Year, Maria!
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Great wrapup💕 I haven’t read our violent ends yet, and I’m putting holly Jackson’s books on my tbr now, they seem pretty good.
Happy new year, and hope 2022 is a great reading year for you!!!
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Thank you, Jan! I hope you enjoy both Our Violent Ends and AGGGTM, and happy new year to you as well!
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Thank you for linking my post!
Also–I’m so glad you loved AGGGTM! Still remains one of my favorite book series ever, and the first book was simply brilliant. I wasn’t a huge fan of AGAD myself because I thought it took Pip way out of character, but I am glad that you enjoyed the series and I agree there was a lot of suspense in that one
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Ahh I’m glad you also loved it! Definitely, the plot and mystery were amazing. I understand what you’re saying about AGAD though.
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Great wrap up!!! I’m excited you enjoyed my review! 💕 thanks for tagging me 💕
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Thanks, Amanda! Ahh I really liked it
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ahh yess I adored cruella! It’s pretty dark, but I loved getting a back story on her character. Great post and happy new year!
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Ahh I’m glad you loved it too! I agree, and I love villain origin stories. Thank you and happy new year, Suhani!
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Yes, I’m so glad you enjoyed We Are Not Free and Our Violent Ends! I still need to read OVE but I expect it’s going to be good. Thanks for linking my post!
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Ahh I’m glad you liked We Are Not Free! I hope you enjoy Our Violent Ends, and you’re welcome, Lotus!
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Great wrap-up Ritz! I am going to reread AGGGTM and Good Girl Bad Blood, before reading the third book of the trilogy, but I do remember loving the first two books! I hope to enjoy the third one too! Glad you had such a great reading month!
Happy new year!
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Thank you, Riddhi! I’m glad you liked the first 2 books of AGGGTM, and I hope you enjoy the 3rd as well! Happy new year!
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AGGGTM is SUCH a good series! I can’t wait to read the third, as well as OVE hehe. Also, motive by Ariana Grande ft. Doja Cat is >>> hehe. Thank you for shouting out my post!💜
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It is!! I hope you enjoy them both ❤️ ahh I know, such a good song
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literally everyone’s been talking about a good girl’s guide to murder recently and i feel like i’m missing out. i hope you have a great reading year in 2022 !! also omg yes, cruella was such a good movie.
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It was amazing, I hope you can read it soon! And YES CRUELLA WAS SO GOOD ahh and thank you so much Sam!
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hppy new year! i love the one-line summary of our violent ends, it’s perfect!! agggtm has been on my tbr for forever so maybe finally hopefully i’ll get to it in january
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Happy new year! I didn’t know what else to say, because that book was just PAIN lmao. Ahh I hope you get to read AGGGTM soon!
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that was a very good reading month! I started on These Violent Delights on 31st and Sister of the bollywood bride have stellar representation!
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It was! Ooh what do you think of These Violent Delights so far? And yes, Sister of the Bollywood Bride had amazing Indian rep.
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I love the style of writing and the suspense building up!
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Ahh I’m glad!
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Glad to hear that you had a good reading month 🥰 I also really like the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books, but I still need to read As Good As Dead 😊 Also thank you so much for mentioning my post! 💕 I hope you have a good 2022!
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Ahh thank you, Caro! I’m glad you liked the first 2 and I hope you enjoy the 3rd one, I really loved it. Have a great 2022!
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Ahh I’m so glad you loved the entire AGGGTM series!! ALSO SISTER OF THE BOLLYWOOD BRIDE SOUNDS SO GOOD??!!! Like Indian rep? I’m always up! (especially if there’s FOOD)! AHHH CONGRATULATIONS on getting your friend to read AGGGTM!!! I’ve never heard of Cruella but am looking it up right away! Happy new year and hope 2022 will be an amazing year for you!! Loved reading this!
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Ahh thank you, Anoushka! I hope you love Sister of the Bollywood Bride, the indian rep was amazing. Happy New Year!
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