I’m struggling… // A very personal post about why I don’t enjoy blogging, my struggles with anxiety + why I need a BREAK (aka this is a rambly mess)

Do y’all know that video of the girl who got a speeding ticket and then she has a full emotional breakdown because “her life is going extremely downhill”. Because that is EXACTLY how I feel right now.

I honestly don’t even know how else to introduce this post.

This is basically just going to be me rambling about my life and everything that is going wrong at this very moment.

I’m in a pretty bad mental state, I could not care less about blogging right now, I lack any and all motivation to study for my exam and my reading mojo is off. I usually don’t talk about my struggles on my blog, but I’m tired and I just want to be honest with y’all.

So here we are.

I’m a little nervous to post this, but I just really needed to get these things off my chest and I hope you guys understand where I’m coming from.

Sit down and grab a snack because this is going to be rambly personal AF.

Review: To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo // enemies to lovers!! playful banter!! sirens and pirates!!

Finding the right book to read is hard.

There are people that are constantly talking about certain books to the point that they seem overhyped, mixed reviews are EVERYWHERE and you don’t know who to trust, the book might have cliché and overused tropes, bland characters or shitty writing—everything could go wrong.

But guess what? None of that was the case with the book I want to introduce you to today. *big sigh of relief*

I was delightfully surpried at how much joy I felt while reading To Kill A Kingdom. It even managed to land a spot on my favourites list which is something that rarely happens!

If you’re into pirates, sirens and the enemies to lovers trope, you won’t want to miss this.

February Recap // A successful reading month, actual (!) update on my WRITING, first ever physical ARC and RESTORE ME RELEASE!!!

Do you ever get that wholesome feeling after finishing a Wrap Up post when you realise how successful your month has been?

Because that’s how I’m feeling right now.

I feel so at ease because not only did I manage to read amazing books this month, but I also took care of my mental health and did a lot of things I enjoy but have neglected over the last few months (eg. WRITING!!!) and it feels so GOOD.

And as you can tell by the title of this post, I have some very exciting things to share with you guys!!!! Ahhh!!!

Thanks for being awesome @ February.

Batman Nightwalker by Marie Lu // mysterious gang members, lovable characters but not enough action

Do you know what it feels like to have your life together?

Usually, I don’t either but ohmygod guys I’ve been so ORGANISED lately!

I scheduled/drafted most of my blog posts for March, I’m slowly but surely making my way through my study notes AND I’m reading all most of my ARCs before their release date!

And… if you hadn’t realised, I’m back before my supposed return from my hiatus!!!!!

I said I’d be back on March 6th, but I’ve scheduled posts for the next 2 weeks and this review didn’t fit anywhere inbetween those posts dgjhdfj so here it is!

The day that this goes is up is when Zoe’s 24h Readathon is taking place so I’m probably in the middle of reading my 6th book of the day rn. Jk. I’ll be fully back on Tuesday (AKA RESTORE ME RELEASE DAY) tho!

AND ONE MORE THING BEFORE YOU GO ANYWHERE:

I’m celebrating my 1-year blogiversary with a Q&A so you can ask me any and all questions here. (pls don’t let this flop)

Hiatus Announcement/Taking a short Blogging Break

Hey guys!

I wanted to quickly write this post to let you guys know that I’ll be taking a short break from blogging!

February is almost over (HOW TF DID IT PASS BY SO FAST) and I realised I haven’t done a single thing for my exam in March so I thought I’d use these last few days to intensively work on my revision notes. I want to have all my study notes done so I don’t have to stress about it in March.

I also want to work on my blogging game since I’ve been feeling pretty MEH lately. Swetlana has recently posted photos of her entire blogging schedule for March and it has inspired me to also plan ahead and schedule some posts!

I will most likely be back by March 6th aka THE DAY RESTORE ME COMES OUT DHSJDJJS 10 DAYS GUYS. 10!!! DAYS!!!!!! I’m so excited and SO. NOT. READY. but omggsjdj can you believe we’re so close!!!

So yeah, I wanted to actually ANNOUNCE my hiatus this time (even if it’s a short one) because I hate how I just disappear for an entire month without saying a word 😂

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in March!

Love,

Jackie

2018 Goals // Keep Up with my TBR, Work on my WIP, Self-Care (!!!) and tracking my Habits

Have you ever set yourself New Year’s Resolutions and abandonded them two weeks into the new year?

Yeah. I think we can all relate.

I planned to do a 2018 goals post at the very beginning of the year so I could easily go back to it and hold myself accountable for actually keeping up with them.

As you can probably tell, I already failed that task.

I planned to abandon this post altogether because it seemed pretty pointless to post it when we’re already two months into the year. However, it is NEVER too late to set yourself some goals for the year so here I am.

you may have seen Swetlana’s post from last week about her 2018 reading goals which PROVES that it’s not too late!

Let’s hope I’ll actually stick to these goals instead of abandoning them like I do every year.

RANT REVIEW: Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky and Jen Sternick // a pointless story, transphobic trash and one-dimensional characters

I have bad news.

I wish my first review of the year was a positive one, but this book was just.. very disappointing. And it made me extremely uncomfortable.

Spoiler alert: this is a 1 star book.

I honestly don’t give out 1 or 2 star ratings often because I’m simply too nice lol but after writing this sort of very RANTY review, I realised that there is nothing good about this book and I gave it 1 lonely star.

Obviously, this review is going to include spoilers of the book, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend any of y’all to read it anyway so I think you’ll be fine 😛

January Recap // my life is One Big Mess, it’s #20GayTeen and I’m back from my hiatus I think?? (also RESTORE ME!!!)

Hey what’s up, it’s been a while! [whenever I say this I’ve got Zayn’s song in my head but I don’t think anyone here gets the reference]

Well, as the title of this post suggests, I am back from the dead (again).

I was literally so motivated to start posting again when I wrote my December Recap, but then life happened and hit me in the face like a brick, and I wasn’t READY to have all these responsibilities thrown at me out of NOWhERe.

me trying to dodge school work, exams, blogging, writing, nervous breakdowns, panic, stress, anxiety and anything else that was trying to get my attention in January

My recap ended up being the only post I wrote in January dkhgdk I’M SORRY.

I’m not one to constantly abandon my blog, go on random unannounced hiatuses and post inconsistently, but it has been happening a lot lately AND I HATE IT.

I desperately hope think that I finally regained my blogging mojo though and I’m excited to see what February brings I MEAN IT’S THE MONTH OF LOVE AFTER ALL *yuck*

For now, please enjoy reading about my 5 nervous breakdowns :)))))

December Recap // Christmas celebrations, fangirl mania and SO MANY BOOKS!

I know we’re already in the middle of January, but December was too good of a month for me.

It was Christmas and I got the best presents from family (BOOKS), friends (BOOKS) and myself (BOOKS). And yes, buying yourself Christmas presents is a thing because you can never have enough books.

December was also my best reading month of the year??? And I just barely* reached my unofficial goal of reading 100 books in 2017??? PHEW.

And what kind of fangirl would I be if I didn’t find a ton of new things to obsess about this month.

Bi the way!!! Don’t forget to enter my *INTERNATIONAL* giveaway which ends next week ahhhh!

*I literally read two comics books 30 minutes before 2018 began!

2017 Wrap Up // Best and Worst + Most Suprising and Disappointing Books of 2017 and everything in between!

Well, well, well. Guess who’s back from the dead her unannounced hiatus.

IT’S YA GIRL JACKIE (in case you forgot my name lmao) aka the one who takes a month to reply to comments and almost never blog hops anymore because she’s trash life gets in the way. But what’s new *shrugs*

I actually planned to go on a 2-week long hiatus between Christmas and now, and I planned to have at least two more posts up before I did that and actually announce the hiatus but….. you know….

THE STRUGGLES OF BEING #LAZY AND #DEMOTIVATED.

But I’m back now (at least for a week or two?) before I go on another hiatus because I’ll be in study hell I mean– okay no I really mean STUDY HELL.

Before I do that though, I wanted to take a look at the year 2017. I honestly can’t believe how FAST it went by—I swear, this was one of the quickest years EVER and while I have accomplished and done some incredible things, I still feel that overall it was pretty meh and I could have done MORE.

However, my 2017 from a bookish perspective was fantastic and it was THE BEST reading year I’ve had so far???? I’m SOOOO excited to go through my Goodreads shelves and see which books I loved and hated most this year AHHHH.