December 2021 wrap up

Hello bookworms!! It’s time for the December 2021 wrap up.

It is finally 2022!! I mean, it’s been 2022 for like a week now, but YAY!! This is (the first of my many) final wrap ups of 2021. THANK GOODNESS. I mean, I’m not convinced that 2022 will be any better than 2021, but I can still be hopeful for a bit. But I am convinced that 2021 being over can only be a good thing.

And with that in mind, let’s look at what I did in December!!

December 2021 wrap up

I read 8 books in December, which I think was super reasonable given I barely read for two weeks… 😅 Every year I think the Christmas period will be when I can catch up and read more. And every year… I am wrong.

the books

Book	Author	Series	Year of publication / Symbols	Rating	Cover
Aurora’s End	Amie Kaufman / Jay Kristoff	The Aurora Cycle #3	2021 🚀 🏳️‍🌈 🧠 ♿️ 🧘‍♀️ 🗒 🐨 🖋	⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The Ex Hex	Erin Sterling		2021 ⛱ ❤️ 🍄 🍆 👩‍🦳 📱	⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Queenie	Candice Carty-Williams		2020 ⛱ 🖤 🗣 🧠 🌑 🧘‍♀️ 📱	⭐️ ⭐️
A Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility	Anyta Sunday	Love, Austen #6	2021 ⛱ ❤️ 🍆 🏳️‍🌈 🌑 👩‍🦳 📱	⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The Geek Who Saved Christmas	Annabeth Albert		2021 ⛱ ❤️ 🍆 🏳️‍🌈 👩‍🦳 📱 🎄	⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Only One Bed	Keira Andrews		2021 ⛱ ❤️ 🍆 🏳️‍🌈 👩‍🦳 📱 🎄	⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Window Shopping	Tessa Bailey		2021 ⛱ ❤️ 🍆 🌑 👩‍🦳 📱 🎄	⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The Scorpio Races	Maggie Stiefvater		2011 ⛱ 🍄 🌑 🧘‍♀️ 📔/🎧 🌀 🖋 🪆	🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

the faves

The fave for December was always going to be The Scorpio Races… but it’s a reread (and my favourite book ever), so not really a shock.

I did really enjoy the dark side of Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey though. That book had hidden depths and I was not expecting it.

I was actually planning to spend the last week of December in rest mode… But I worked up til (and including) Christmas Eve. Then we went to mum’s for Christmas, and I was helping her organise and cook for the day. Then we did the rounds visiting some family and friends, and we didn’t get home again until 27 December. After that I had a day out shopping with my cousin and her daughter. Then it was a or so of washing laundry and cleaning our house. Then a whole day of resting and doing nothing!! After that it was New Year’s Eve and we had people coming so it was more cleaning and cooking and making beds etc. And then December was over!!

gaming

In December I spent a LOT of time playing Spritfarer on the Switch in December. Partly because it was so easy to take away with us. But mostly because I am ADDICTED to this beautiful and sad story. I’m at 93% completion right now, and I’ll likely finish it this month. But I’m going to be VERY sad when I do. 😭

tv and movies

There was SO MUCH MCU content for December, and I was such a happy Meeghan!! We watched:

• Hawkeye
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (SO MUCH CRYING, yes, in the cinema)

But before both of these, my friends and I continued our MCU (+ other Marvel based movies) rewatch. Which means that in December we watched:

• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Into the Spider-verse

Other things I watched:

• New Amsterdam season 4
• The Last Duel
• A Discovery of Witches season 1 & 2
• Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares (UK) season 2
• Jojo Rabbit
• Encanto

I did not think I was going to like Encanto as much as I did. Don’t get me wrong, I thought I would love it. But I like REALLY LOVED IT. Like, it’s not far below Moana. And that’s really saying something.

I also totally binged on A Discovery of Witches (on Binge… haha). My plan is to start reading the books this year, but the show is *chefs kiss*. I love it, and I don’t usually love anything with Theresa Palmer.

BUT, top movie of the month goes to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Every time I think Marvel gets to a new height and that they won’t top anything, they get me. I mean, No Way Home wasn’t Endgame, by any means. But it was so much more than what I was expecting. I want to watch it again, but I think it might even be rivalling Into the Spider-verse for my fave Spidey movie of all time.

December was… interesting. I started off the month pretty strong. I had a plan — I was doing #blogmas. Nothing was going to stop me. Until it all fell very flat and I didn’t post for like 2 weeks. HAHAHAHAHA😅😓😭😭😭

I kind of almost turned it around at the end, but it didn’t really work out as I had planned. But that’s ok. We live and learn, and I forgive myself for trying to do things that don’t always pan out.

Topics for December’s Top 5 Tuesday were mostly wrap-up related. They were top 5:

• books on my (holiday) wishlist
• covers of 2021
• new (to me) authors of 2021
• books of 2021, and
• because I am a glutton for punishment, I also did a Top 5 Tuesday wrap up post where I check off (or don’t check off, as the case normally is) all the things I said I was going to do in 2021.

Apart from this, the normal haul and wrap-up posts and a couple of tags, December was a pretty quiet standard month!!

Was I catching up on blog-hopping today before I published this?? 👀

Here are some of my fave posts of yours!!

🎄 Christmas recommendation lists and reviews 🎄:

Look, it’s never too early to bookmark this for next year!

• Bron @ Bookish Bron gave us some Aussie Christmas romances
• Michaela @ Journey Into Books also shared some Christmas reads that she enjoyed
• Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm reviewed The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

Other recommendation lists

• Sabrina and Vera @ Wordy and Whimsical shared their favourite books of 2021
• Charvi @ It’s Not Just Fiction made a list of 2022 releases on her radar
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane books recommended 10 fast-paced YA books to get you out of a reading slump
• CG @ Paperfury listed her fave books of 2021

Discussion posts:

• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane books talks about Blogging vs Social Media, and it’s a really interesting read
• Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen wrote about using the phrase ‘reads like fanfiction’
• Malka @ Paper Procrastinators discussed unhauling books (and why it’s good for you)
• Kal @ Reader Voracious talked about why book blogs are relevant marketing tools

Reviews:

• CG @ Paperfury reviewed The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
• Tracy @ Truffles Literary Wonders reviewed Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto
• DB @ DB’s Guide to the Galaxy reviewed Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
• Meaghan @ Hail and Well Read reviewed The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters

There’s two more posts that I really wanted to share, but I wasn’t sure where to put them. I guess they’re more of an announcement than anything else.

• CG @ Paperfury announced that she has written sequels to The Boy Who Steals Houses (still one of my fave contemporary books ever). She is putting them on Patreon to read — and honestly I am dying about this.
• Kal @ Reader Voracious released her 2022 book blogger / reading tracker spreadsheet. And it is a thing of WONDER AND BEAUTY!! In case you aren’t aware, Kal updates this spreadsheet every year, and every year it amazes me.

How was your December?