Monthly Rewind: April 2022

It feels so nice to be writing a Monthly Rewind post and actually having stuff to talk about. So hey, a little life update, I finally left my current job after almost six years of waitressing. While my new job is temporary, I’m enjoying it a lot. I’ll be honest, it feels great to not be a waitress anymore. My co-workers were great, but it was a very demanding role where I felt I was going nowhere in my life being there. I initially got this job during my gap year and only planned to stay for as long as my degree but 2020 obviously said otherwise. I ended up being stuck there for much longer and my job search was… very frustrating to say the least. My temp job is less demanding and I’ve really settled in well after only two weeks! At least I have a break from job-searching after two years though I am not looking forward to doing it all over again in August. OTL

A R T

I was so busy with Ramadan and the new job, I found myself ina a serious artblock. I’m very grateful for Genshin Impact for being a game that really de-stresses me a lot. I find that drawing fanart for the game as well helps me relax as well. Of course, 2 out of the 3 recent pieces, ended up being a Diluc x self-insert. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know how much I love Diluc. If you happen to play the game as well (and you’re on the EU surver) feel free to drop me your UID! I like to think I’m slowly growing into my own personal art style and I hope I can one day be truly happy with the art I make.

B O O K S

I read 7 books (+ one dnf) this month! My new job has a lot of downtime and since it’s working from home most of the week, I have a lot more free time to read during and after work. As a waitress, I used to be so wiped out after a shift and on top ofconstant job-searching, I found it difficult to read and also keep my with my blog as I felt like I had no energy to do anything creative. Most of my reads this months were ARCs that I neglected because of my terrible work-life balance but also a few recommendations from Tik Tok. (which is surprising because I’m not a fan of booktok in general)

• The Beekeeper of Aleppo – My cousin has been trying to get me to read this for months and I decided to read it during my lunch break.
• Bloodscion – I got this as an ARC last year and I’m kind of annoyed at myself for taking so long to read it. It was a lot of fun and it surprised me a lot especially since most YA fantasy tend to disappoint me
• Jay’s Gay Agenda – Another ARC I accidentally neglected but, oh my god, I enjoyed this a lot until the cheating trope popped up and ruined my entire mood.
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles – Tik Tok made me read it and I was not expecting to be so overwhelmed by a book from the perspective of a cat. God damn.

• XOXO – A cute quick read, but it made me realise that most K-pop based YA novels really give me the ick. This is the third one I’ve read so far and they are always a bit too cringey for me. XOXO might be one of the better ones I’ve seen so far but the main character was not the one. She came across as way too stuck up for me.
• Little Fires Everywhere – I started watching the TV series last week and I really enjoyed it. The show really does justice to the book, but I heard it’s getting a second series which is disappointing because I loved how the ending was open-ended. I forgot how much I enjoy stories that delve into the lives of messy families.
• Six Crimson Crane – Another book I took forever to read. SO GOOD. I will have a full review gushing about this one soon.
• The Atlas Six – (DNF @ 60%) I have restarted this book three times already. Twice when it was still self-published and the third during its revised, traditionally published version and I just can’t seem to get stuck into this like everyone else has. I thought it would be right up my alley but it ended up being so disappointing. My biggest ick with this book was the characters all just sounded extremely pretentious. There was one girl who I was interested in, but it was not worth reading through everyone else’s POV. I ended up just reading the spoilers online and it still disappointed me.

• Queen of the Tiles
  • Super excited to read a new book from Hanna Alkaf. Tasya wrote a great review for Queen of the Tiles!

• Attack on Titan S1E8, 9, 10 Musings
  • I really enjoy Neha’s posts about Attack on Titan. It makes me feel really nostalgic since I started reading/watching AOT back in 2013. I am also very tempted to re-read the series but I am so behind on so many current mangas, I cannot risk falling back into my Reiner obsession again.

• 5 asian adult fantasies to add to your tbr
  • A quick but great recommendation list from Jayati. I’ve actually read and adored most of the books on this list. (Especially The Poppy War and Jade City!!!) Sword of Kaigen keeps popping up on my timeline so I took this as another sign that I need to read it.

That’s it for this month! Tell me what went on in YOUR life this month! What sort of things was important for you this month? New obsessions? New TV shows? Or book? Any new song recs (I’m always open to new music!)? Best books you read this month?