December 2020 Reading Wrap-Up

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog! 

Wow. We did it. We made it through 2020, cue applause. This month was pretty okay, reading wise. I read ten novels, but they were all on the shorter side. No tomes this month. Also, my Goodreads says I read eight manga volumes this month, but they're actually manga that I read earlier in the year chapter by chapter, where the volumes came out later than what I had read. So I didn't technically read them this month, but I wanted to make sure my Goodreads was as caught up as possible. I'll be including them here for continuity's sake. 

Also, I completed my Goodreads challenge! That's right, I read 255 books this year. That is by far the most I've ever read in a year and I'm shook. I doubt I'll ever be able to recreate these numbers in the future. 

Okay, let's get into the books I read in December. 

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Novels

1. Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour (ONE DAY READ)
Star rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Page count: 272 pages
Days read: 12.01
Goodreads thoughts: Wow.

I’ll come back to the rating later bc I don’t know how I feel yet. This only took me like three hours to read so it’s all kind of blurring together, but I do know that this was beautiful beyond imagining. I don’t even know how Nina comes up with these kinds of stories, but her metaphors and imagery always seem to take whatever I’m feeling and dunk into the sadness river and let it seep into me.

2. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (REREAD)
Star rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 421 pages
Days read: 12.02 - 12.03
Goodreads thoughts: N/A

3. Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
Star rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Page count: 512 pages
Days read: 12.01 - 12.03
Goodreads thoughts: Once again Jenna Evans Welch managed to completely transport me to the other side of the world. I’ve always known that I wanted to go to Greece more than anywhere else in the world and this book only makes me want to get on a plane more. And I really hate flying, so that should tell you something.

I found myself getting annoyed with Olive at some points throughout the book, but I think that’s just the characters that Welch writes, since I had the same problem with her protagonist from love and gelato. I just wanted Olive to let go of her pride and her stubbornness for one moment and really talk to her dad, because if there is one thing I hate more than anything else in drama, it’s miscommunication. It had me wanting to tear my hair out in some places, but overall it was a good story, and full of wonderful Greek imagery and scenery. Now I really want to watch one of the documentaries mentioned at the end (even though I know I’ve watched them before. I’ve watched most docs on Greece, actually. It’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me.)

4. Legacy by Shannon Messenger (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8)
Star rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Page count: 816 pages
Days read: 12.01 - 12.12
Goodreads thoughts: Hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I’m just. I’m getting tired. And upset. I don’t know how Shannon keeps pulling ten different plot twists per book and yet have EIGHT BOOKS, and it’s kind of grating on me? But that also could be because I binged this whole series this year. But like? How could she possibly top what she’s done already? I don’t get it?

I was super excited about the romance when it was confirmed last book, but then I just got frustrated when we got constant “will they/won’t they” vibes from two people who clearly have feelings for each other but they just kept sabotaging, and then with another character always seeming to be put in the middle of their arguments and it just seems so FORCED.

I don’t know. This is my least favorite of the series so far. I still enjoyed it immensely. BUT. There were things. I did not like those things.

Tam is now my favorite character. Sorry Dex.

5. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Star rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 260 pages
Days read: 12.12 - 12.17
Goodreads thoughts: Ah my heart. This was just phenomenal, the sheer emotion in the writing had me tearing up more than once. I’m docking half a star because the last third of the story didn’t really interest me as much as the beginning, but that last chapter was just so good! And the messages of hope that came with it, immaculate.

6. The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (The Kyoshi novels #2)
Star rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Page count: 368 pages
Days read: 12.17 - 12.23
Goodreads thoughts: Amazinggggg Kyoshi is such a badass and I love her!!

7. Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton (Dragonslayer #1)
Star rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 304 pages
Days read: 11.13 - 12.24
Goodreads thoughts: AAAAAHHHHHHHH THAT WAS SO GOOD

THAT CLIFFHANGER THOUGH

IM SHOOK

8. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo (The Singing Hills Cycle #2) (ONE DAY READ)
Star rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 176 pages
Days read: 12.24
Goodreads thoughts: absolutely incredible, I can’t wait to see what other adventures await Chih

9. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Star rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 320 pages
Days read: 12.25 - 12.29
Goodreads thoughts: If I wasn’t already a vegetarian, this would have convinced me to become one.

So fun fact my dad is a hunter, specifically an elk hunter. When I tell you this made me beg him to never hunt again...I mean I’ve done that in the past but this REALLY got me trying to stop him.

I’m usually not a fan of slasher horror just because it’s not something I like to read about, but the added creature psychological aspect of it had me keep going. I’m still a weenie when it comes to horror, so this had me tensing every time I turned a page. But mostly I was sad (again, I think it’s because of the whole dad hunting/being a vegetarian thing).

10. The Archer by Paulo Coelho (ONE DAY READ)
Star rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Page count: 160 pages
Days read: 12.29
Goodreads thoughts: While extremely poignant and inspiring to me, I feel like this would fall flat for people who’ve no interest or background in archery. Of course, Coelho’s metaphors are meant to be applied to all aspects of life, but I feel like I only understand them because I have that knowledge of archery and how it feels to practice such an art. But I’m biased anyway since his books just hit different for me.

Manga

1. Attack on Titan (vol. 32) by Hajime Isayama
Page count: 192 pages

2. Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba (vol. 20-23) by Koyoharu Gotouge
Page count: 808 pages

3. The Promised Neverland (vol. 19-20) by Kaiu Shirai
Page count: 456 pages

4. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun (vol. 13-14) by Aidalro
Page count: 364 pages

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Total page count: 3,433 pages (5,253 pages including manga)
Favorite book of the month: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Least favorite book of the month: Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
No DNF's
No unfinished books

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Okay, that's it for this wrap-up! My end of year stats will be up later today.

Until next time!