Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!!! Can you believe that it's 2020 already?

I'm going to be spending probably the next three months trying to remember to write "2020" instead of "2019" or anything of the other years in the 2010s. Jeez, that's kind of crazy to think about it...we can now say "2010s." So weird! Also, if any of you have any tips to help me remember not to write "2020," do let me know. I'm always really bad at it haha.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful start to your new year. May this year be filled with tons of happiness, friends, family, and of course, great books!

Happy 2020 to you all, and happy reading!

Happiest of Holidays!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to wish everyone the happiest of holidays! Whether you're celebrating Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, anything else or none of them at all, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and festive remainder of the year.

Here's to the end of 2019! Happy reading, and may it be filled family, friends, good food, and a few last-minute books :)

I'M ALIVE

HELLO WORLD!!!

A public announcement: I am alive! And I have SO many reviews to put up! You can expect them starting really soon.

Everyone: "Erika. You disappeared on us AGAIN. You're HORRIBLE. I've lost all hope on you."

Yes, I know. I know! But for anyone who is still reading this (I have a feeling that number is now but a trickle), let me share my reason. I just finished the entirety of my academic schooling, meaning I have spent the past few months slaving away on a thesis that refused to give me any time to read, write, or blog. It was like being chained to a slavemaster. Ugh. *shudders* But with luck, never again!

Aaannndddd, that means this will be a new chapter in my blogging life. Because I actually have TIME. No other academic obligations! Which means I can reveal another secret: I'm currently participating in NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know about it, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. I'll just leave that there for you to make inferences.

Ahhh, I have so many book reviews and rants I want to go on! I can't wait to get started!!! And I can't wait to reconnect with you all!

I hope you all have been doing well! Let me know what's been new with you all :) 

Until then, happy reading!

And Months Later...

Hey guys!

So...yes. I know it's been a few months since I've surfaced. Months. Ugh. It leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth.

What's going on???

Excellent question. The same question and the same answer I've been fugitively giving the entire past year: school.

I'm into my final year of another academic program. Way more demanding, since it's research based. Meaning time has been extremely tight, leaving less room to properly blog. I'm still reading--evident by my active and constantly updated Goodreads account--and doing mini reviews there, but nothing in the same capacity as my blog.

So what does this mean? I'm now faced with two options: a more permanent blogging hiatus until I complete my schooling in its entirety, or doing smaller, less time-consuming posts.

Honestly, I'm kind of inclined towards the second option. I miss the blogging world.

And so! That is my New Year's Resolution. I can't promise you a full return, but I can promise you that I will be trying as hard as I can to post every now and then. Which, in my opinion, is way better than just disappearing permanently.

But do let me know what books you've been reading lately (I'm currently reading Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson and To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Cristo)! And also, what books are you looking forward to reading this year?

Okay, that's all from me. Short and sweet apparently will have to be my new motto, huh? *groans at time constraints* Also, just a note, the fastest way to reach me is probably going to be by messaging me on Goodreads (find me here!).

Happy reading, everyone!

Bookish Musings and Ponderings: To Be Fictional or Not to Be Fictional?

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another instalment of my Bookish Musings and Ponderings, where I discuss random book-related topics for my (and hopefully your) entertainment :)

Today's topic...to be fictional or not to be fictional?

Bookish Musings and Ponderings: Reorganizing Bookshelf Distractions

Welcome back to another one of my Bookish Musing and Ponderings posts! These are posts where I discuss book-related things.

Today's topic: reorganizing bookshelf distractions!

Bookish Musing and Ponderings: Book Hangovers

Welcome to another of my Bookish Ponderings instalments! This is the third one, I believe :D

So from this post, I asked everyone to vote on a topic I should discuss. The answer to the poll was book feels (BOOK FEELS HELP), and though that still is partially the topic, my posted ended up morphing into a discussion about coping with book hangover feels. So I'll just go with it and do a separate Musing and Pondering post on coping with spontaneous book feels another time :)

Bookish Musings and Ponderings: Goodreads Challenge

Welcome to the second segment to my Musing and Ponderings instalments: discussion-based posts on book-related topics!

Today's topic of discussion: the Goodreads Challenge!

Musings and Ponderings: Bookmarks

Welcome to a new instalment of posts! I'm calling these my Bookish Musings and Ponderings, where I pick a topic related to books and talk about them. I welcome any and all discussions, so please leave comments!

Book Nerd Loneliness

Let me introduce to you to a short list of the worst nightmares of a book nerd.

1. No one to talk to about books. This is every reader's worst nightmare. When you read an awesome awesome AWESOME book (see: Snow Like Ashes) and there is NO ONE to talk to about/obsess over it. It's hard. Painful. Lonely.

2. People don't know what's happening to you. All that internal screaming? The bottled up emotions that you're experiencing because of that plot twist or cliff hanger? No one understands the torment you're going through. And it gets better when these things start to have an effect on your life. "Why is Erika lying on the ground?" BECAUSE MY HEART WAS SLAUGHTERED BY CHARACTERS AND EVENTS AND I CANNOT MOVE ON IN LIFE.

3. People that don't understand books. Yes, I get overly emotional when I finish a good book. No, that does not make me crazy. "Oh, it's just a book," they say. "It's not real." 
WELL MY FEELINGS ARE REAL AND I'M EXPERIENCING THEM.

4. "Lower literature"/Judging. This one bugs me the most. There are so many people against YA, and I've even heard of some articles about how people who reach 21 should be "ashamed of reading young adults books." That's ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with reading about first loves, about being bewildered and overwhelmed and feeling out of control. So it's unrealistic. So what? I don't know about the rest of the world, but I like being swept away into different realities, I like reading about the different ways people can grow up under fictional circumstances. I like using my imagination. I like the endless possibilities that are presented to me. And I like YA books. They say you're only young once, but in the case of YA, you can be forever young. So yes, I read YA. Is there a problem?

Basically, this is just me complaining about my lack of YA book friends. Which is crazy, because I know there are tons of people online, but nothing ever really compares to being able to physically sit down with some, face-to-face, and simply talk and gush and everything. I know, I know, you're saying I should join a book club. I should. But that consists of taking time out of my schedule when I could be reading...

What do you guys think? Am I being too immature here? Unrealistic? Whiney? Gone too far into "la-la" land? (that's a direct quote from someone I know who called me that) Let me know your thoughts, and if you have any other book nerd issues, I'd love to hear them! :)