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2024 READING, WATCHING & BLOGGING RECAP // last year in review ft all the stats, charts, race to finish my reading goal & 2025 goals
My TikTok fyp got boring so I forced myself to be here. Which sounds like a bad thing but how could I not like looking at the charts? I know you all do. Anyway, started off 2025 a bit lazy and back into my old ways but let’s try to fix that and get into my groove! Without further ado, into the recap <3<3<3 2024 RECAP: READING What do you mean I had to lower my goal from 50 to 45 books? Not again Ruby. But I did mention bad habits and here’s to changing those. Maybe? My Goodreads might say 46 books, but that’s because they suck these days and I read 2 short stories that the app refuses to add. So there. Not salty AT ALL. Also yes who is surprised I read the majority adult romance ebooks? Nor the fact that graphic novels from December make up most of my formats read. Lol couldn’t be me. I have issues. BUT interestingly I read a lot of rivals to lovers and I’m most definitely not mad about that *insert heart eyes* The monthly reads are near abysmal but at least no 0’s amirite? Not sure where my 2024…
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THE BEST OF 2024: BOOKS, MOVIES & SHOWS // ranking my favourites of last year in journal spreads ft. honourable mentions
Somehow I thought I was terribly late to this post but turns out last year me also only posted this in January. Enough chatter, let’s get right into my absolute favourite post to make every year. And just as we did last year, I’ve decided to show you my faves in journal spreads, because this is my blog and why the heck not? best of 2024: tv shows honourable mentions: In order: All The Light We Cannot See, Sharp Objects, True Detective S1, True Detective S2 In order: 3) Bridgerton S3; 2) My Lady Jane; 1) Heartstopper S3 best of 2024: movies honourable mentions: In order: How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000); The Wind Rises (2013); The Princess Bride (1987) In order: 11) Turtles All the Way Down (2024); 10) Parachute (2023); 9) Monkey Man (2024); 8) The End We Start From (2023); 7) Challengers (2024); 6) Wicked: Part One (2024); 5) Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024); 4) Poor Things (2023); 3) Dune: Part Two (2024); 2) The Boy and The Heron (2023); 1) The Wild Robot (2024) best of 2024: books honourable mentions: Mostly in order: One of Us Is Back by Karen M. McManus; Your Blood, My Bones…
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MOST ANTICIPATED 2025 RELEASES // adding 80 books, 20 movies & 4 shows to my list and yours
IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL POST OF THE YEAR… almost. One of the most wonderful if we’re dealing with the nitty gritty details here *sighs* Anyway, love how I say every year that I’m limiting my list to books I only genuinely want to read. But when I looked at what was on last year’s post,,, yeah hah not sure how many I did read.. But I mean it this year. I pinky promise. Speaking of how I did this post last year, we’ll be chatting all things books and films, and I do think I’ve gathered QUITE the list this year. We’ll call it a comprehensive list, because I think I’ve picked what will be the best of the best. I know, smug much. But I’m only being honest folks. Lol with that, I think we should drive right in! books — JANUARY Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot by Alexis Hall (1 January 2025): have I started this series? No. But do I love this author and want to read all they write? The answer would be yes. A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young (7 January 2025): I’ll pose an almost similar question because have I read ANYTHING…
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THE BEST OF 2023: BOOKS, MOVIES & SHOWS // ranking my top reads and watches of last year in journal spreads ft. some honourable mentions
At least the wait was not long in between. You could at least be grateful for that. I’m kidding. Yes I am embarrassed it took this long. But I’m wrapping up 2023 with a BANG. One might say that I’ve been ~inspired~ or,,, creative? Who’s to say? Not me. But I saw some people on TikTok do these journal spreads for books and suddenly I had FOMO. But, of course, I’m not about to make spreads for all the books I’ve ever read (never going to do that btw) but I thought I’d start with my favourite reads of the year for funsies. Then suddenly LIGHTBULB! I am going to share them here. And I’ve written reviews for basically all of them so to switch it up, I’m sharing my favourites in pretty graphics aka journal spreads I created on my iPad. That was long-winded but I hope you understood. Before we get into the books, I do have movies and shows to share. Whilst I have not made spreads for each of them individually, I have made some rankings. Enjoy the ride *wink wink* BEST OF 2023: SHOWS Hope you were here yesterday for my 2023 recap, and in…
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2023 READING, WATCHING & BLOGGING RECAP // last year in review ft reading stats, content posted, movies i watched, pie charts galore & launching my substack!!!
Anonymous caller: Hello? It’s 2023 calling. She wants her stats sent over. Me: No problem, here you go. — Hope you enjoyed my little improv back there. As you can tell, I am an actress. Also ACTING like it’s not a week into the new year and I’m only now getting to the stats (and yearly faves next up shhhh). Folks, I was writing my thesis all of November and I was tired okay,,, So hence the lateness. Take it as a reward that I’m combining all the stats this time around even though it’s due to laziness. Anyways, yup, we’re recapping everything I read, watched AND all the content I posted in one post. Let’s dive in! 2023 RECAP: READING What do you mean my goal was lowered from 55 to 50 books on the 29th of December? I think you’re imagining things man,,, #ihavenoshame It was the year of graphic novels AND equal amounts YA and adult. Also a lot of friends-to-lovers, and whilst the bar is lower than the others, also a fair amount of second-chance romance. Was living my best life tbh. For proof of Kay Claire and Chloe Gong, see below: Read mostly really great…
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MOST ANTICIPATED 2024 RELEASES // an all-in-one screaming session ft exciting upcoming books, movies & tv shows out next year!!!
Doing it a lil differently this year so keep up! No, I’m kidding, of course, I’ll explain. I completely forgot that we do these posts every year and quickly had to do my research. And then I realised that every year I put down a whole list of books that sound slightly interesting and I might be excited when they come out, but never really get to them,,,, To keep myself sane in 2024, I have selected a list of books from authors I have read and loved before, and a very small list of others that I am 99.9% positive I will actually read. Hopefully, I do, you never know. And to spice it up because technically the list is shorter (idk maybe not), we’re talking about film here too because why not? I’m a book blogger and film major so I’m just combining my hobbies here folks. Without further ado, let’s jump right in! books — JANUARY — The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil by Shubnum Khan (1 January 2024): this is the local title of Shubnum’s latest book and it goes by The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years in the US and UK. I attended the launch…
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2021 & 2022 FILM RECAP // wrapping up all the fave movies and shows, 2022 stats and anticipated 2023 film & tv releases
I just need to thank you all for your patience and hopefully still caring about these kinds of posts even though I’m more than fashionably late. At least it’s not April aka a time I’ve definitely never posted so late *nervous laughter* Anyways, I have quite a lot to cover today, so I’m keeping it as short as possible. Same as last year, we’ve also got anticipated 2023 releases. As well as an additional section for stats which I’m now obsessed with doing!!! I’m putting three posts into one here folks so I guess grab some popcorn and a beverage of choice because this could take a while. Let’s jump right in!!! 2022 OVERVIEW & STATS Ugh gotta love Letterboxd but I’m not about to do 2021 with this so sticking to only last year’s films. I also did my best to manually add shows but since I estimated episode length it’s probably not that accurate. I had to do a lot of maths on those hours so you all better appreciate haha. I actually converted them into total days which was only 3 and a half full days of watching, which is pretty small and I can’t decide if…
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ONE OF US IS LYING SEASON 1 & 2 // spoiler-free tv show review: a perfect teen mystery you will binge in two days ft. drama, cute romance and all the fun
This post has been in the drafts for far too long so thank the heavens I’m actually getting around to it. I honestly do not remember how to post film reviews even though I’m a film major. I choose to ignore that detail. Anyways, I’m going to shoot my shot here because I really want to yell about this show. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing but giving it my best folks, just bear with me. Quick disclaimer: this is mostly going to be about season two because it’s been a hot second since I watched the first season. And I don’t plan on spoiling any major plot points, I’m not an awful person about to ruin your fun. Let’s get into it! CASTING & CHARACTERS I literally have one complaint about this show and it’s that some of these actors look like they’re 30. Nothing against them because their performances are great but I struggle to picture them as teens #sorrynotsorry. Casting is accurate and inaccurate at the same time and I don’t know what to think. Aside from that, they all did a great job and what I love is that the cast feels so connected…
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WRAPPING UP 2020 IN FILM // a smol list of 2020 favourite films AND anticipated movies & tv shows of 2021
Hello, and how are we doing today? I don’t know which one of you kept me in your prayers and manifested this but LOOK WHO IS ON TIME WITH END OF YEAR POSTS? What a crazy time to be alive tbh… No, but seriously. This is the last of this set of posts that I have planned and I’m quite chuffed with myself. Before I get on with the films, lemme just explain the title. Now, I don’t know if you heard but the world kind of shut down last year? I mean, it still is in a lot of places. But that meant that a lot of movies also didn’t get released. And also we couldn’t go to the cinemas (AS IT SHOULD BE!!). Plus, I also didn’t watch all that many movies last year anyways? I rewatched quite a few of my old favourites, which shouldn’t shock you by this point. So my favourites list is VERY VERY SMALL. Therefore I thought I’d just combine both my favourites and most anticipated shows. Got it? Good. Let’s get started. FAVOURITE MOVIES OF 2020 If you’re new to how I talk about my favourite movies, then I’ll just briefly explain.…
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PAIRING UMBRELLA ACADEMY CHARACTERS WITH BOOK CHARACTERS // playing platonic (maybe) matchmaking because I actually watched a tv show ft. dysfunctional characters galore
Love that my brand is about never watching tv shows yet here I am watching like a million. Quarantine is making me do it. I may have disappeared for a while because I forgot that once you scheduled one post you actually had to prepare another one. So that’s fun. I’m also just going with the flow here and doing whatever posts I want to. But also, sorry I abandoned you for like almost two weeks. That was unintentional. This post could be a disaster and I have no idea how it’ll turn out but I had this fun idea and I just wanted to do it. I recently decided I needed to finally watch this show and wow we had a great time. It’s not Stranger Things level for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and was so… surprised?? I didn’t expect it to be as well-made as it was and I genuinely had a good time. Anyways that’s enough rambling so let’s just get on with it. Also, I’m going to try not to spoil anything and if there are any I’ll be sure to mention it because obviously, not everyone has seen the show hehe. Header image…
