2016 Wrap Up

Yikes, this year has flown by. How am I already here writing up my wrap up post when I've not posted since October? Ooops. Life happens.

This year has been very busy for me. I've finished up studying Illustration at university, had a volunteer job in an Oxfam Book Shop which I left to work in a book store. I've also worked on a few commissions and continued growing my online book club.

I've also celebrated a year in a long distance relationship and we've had some fun trips out together which have been great (Chester Zoo and our first holiday together to Cornwall). And lastly, I've played some really cool video games - I've shared a few reviews of them here too.

If you want to know more about, and hopefully join, my book club its hosted on Discord and you can follow that link to read an older post explaining it.

Books Read

The Raven Cycle was such a good series, I'm so glad I gave it another chance and read them all this year. I'll met Maggie this year for a talk and signing which I'm so excited for. I finally got a chance to read Shatter Me for my travelling book project but I'm not sure how I feel about this series, I'll give the next book a chance. Felicia Day's book was super interesting to read and I'm finally close to finished the Wicked Lovely series too.

300 Fox Way Holiday Piece & A Minor Raven Boys Holiday Drabble

Unwind by Neal Shusterman really took my breath away, there is a scene that really stuck with me and was super harrowing.Wytches and Low were both very different graphic novels but I loved them and getting back into reading graphic novels was super fun. I did a buddy read of A Great and Terrible Beauty series with Allie and its super great, just one more book to go. GYO and The Dead House were some of the best horror themed books I've read, highly recommend both of them. The Dark World by S.C. Parris who is now a super good friend of mine is worth checking out guys, some really enjoyable fantasy you can sink your teeth into.

Ten left me a little conflicted which I'll talk about more in my review (it has a negative portrayal of mental health that I feel v off about). We Awaken was beautiful and everyone needs to read it. Pass over the unofficial "humour" rewrites of the Mr Men & Little Miss book if you want, they're nothing special and personally I don't think they're worth the £6 each. Oh and why the Chuck Tingle books I hear you assk? Well, beause my book club and I had an evening enjoying his creative titles and then decided we just HAD to make a fanblog dedicated to them and y'know actually read some.

Currently Reading

At the time I'm writing this post I'm actively reading My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins and Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr. I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll have finished at least one of these. I have a 2 hour train journey ahead of me that should help.

Reviews

I've also spent this time catching up with all my reviews I had partly written up or just in note form. So I'm no longer behind on reviews hooray. Here are the reviews I've posted this year:

Right Click by Lisa Becker (4 Stars)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (5 Stars)
Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness by Bryan Lee O'Malley (4 Stars)
Memory's Wake by Selina Fenech (3.5 Stars)
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (3 Stars)
Untouchable by S.A. Starcevic (3.5 Stars)
Video Game: Gone Home
Wytches by Scott Snyder (5 stars)
Girl Hearts Girl by Lucy Sutcliffe (4 stars)
Onani Master Kurosawa (2 stars)
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (5 stars)
Shadow Magic by Joshua Khan (4 stars)
Video Game: Hatoful Boyfriend
The Dark World by S.C. Parris (4 stars)

Challenges

I did it! I only had one challenge and that was to read 30 books this year and I surpassed it. Maybe next year I'll challenge myself further and have a few goals to reach.

Did you meet your challenges this year? What were your favourite reads of 2016?

Well, that is me signing off for 2016. I hope you all have a great New Years Eve with your loved ones.