New year, new endeavors | Ringing in 2022! // While also summing up the end of 2021

Greetings readers!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Let’s just get to the bare bones of it: I have taken a significant step back from this space. This past year was just a lot, in terms of you know school, and the pandemic and other things and well Real-life Rendz got carried away with real life.

It didn’t help that I hit a massive reading slump and had exactly zero time to read for fun while I was juggling everything.

LioPhuki Official GIF

All this to say that I missed this space. I missed the moments of creativity and outreach that came with writing up posts and publishing them. Nonetheless, I did also enjoy taking a bit of a breather from the bookish-sphere as well.

Still I have a few things that I want to share with you!

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The End of 2021: A Rendz Reflection

Half a year’s worth of reading

So I didn’t read really anything after September that was for me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t highlight the wonderful books that I did read in the months before hand!

It was difficult to narrow down, but I did manage to reach a top 5!
1. Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp
2. Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
3. Velvet was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
4. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
5. The Chronicles of a Bitch Queen by K.S. Villoso (yes a series, but still)

But of course I also had to bring up some honourable mentions like:

Flamefall by Rosaria Munda
Some Other Now by Sarah Everett
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Bouley

From what I gathered in my wrap-up, I leaned on contemporary books to get me through the year. Of course I read some jaw dropping, amazing fantasy books, but contemporary books had me living in my feels as well. I needed the fun and the fluff and I was very grateful to find these stories to carry me through the year!

And though I read nothing from September to December, the BOOK MAIL WAS ON FIRE!

RIP to my wallet, she served me well. But I am not sorry. I got some really amazing books in the mail. New releases that I can’t wait to jump on, some older books that I have BEEN wanting to get. Most of them are fantasy, so I am predicting some intense adventures this 2022!

Here is just a snippet of the SMG mail I got over my unexpected hiatus. I’m sure no one is surprised.

And to wrap up this 2021 reflection I have to shout out the reason I made it through those final intense months of the year.

BTS.

Hello GIF By Spotify

I’ll be honest, never saw this coming. Obviously, I knew about BTS, how could I not? But I was one of those foolish people who never paid full attention to them — the shame I feel T^T.

But now ~~now~~ I’m paying attention.

And while technically you can trace my origins with BTS to their Fake Love era, the Butter era really marks my entry into the fandom. You know the drill, I just googled them to know their names and I’ve been down the rabbit hole since.

To be very honest they are just what I needed to stay afloat for the second half of 2021. My nature is to obsess to distract myself from the anxieties of my everyday. (Maybe not healthy, but I cope) Usually I turn to books, but after hitting a huge slump and finding no energy to be artistic, I found myself struggling to keep the worries at bay. Is it cheesy to say that this band helped me get out of my head? Maybe, but it’s true.

And it’s not just the band itself, but the whole internet culture surrounding them. Some of it is intimidating for me, but the memes, YouTube compilations and TikToks are probably my favourite thing in the world right now. ARMY is so talented and funny, I love it.

And if you’re wondering, I have a new favourite song like every week (literally trying to catch up on 8 years worth of music), but the ultimate number 1 is Pied Piper. (A song about obsessing? Very me.)

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So What Comes in 2022

I’ll Be Around, but I’ll Mainly be Chilling

I don’t want to be stressed by this space (anymore), so I want to take it easy. I’ll write posts and reviews as I can (it took me a whole month to put this together). Even if it is just a thought or two every now and then, eventually it will compile into a full post right? But I will most likely be more focused on keep a more regular posting on my Instagram, so please visit me there to if you have the space to!

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Reading Will Also Be Chill

I am going with the flow. No set TBR. No reading goal. I just want to live my best reading life and actually get through all that book mail I got these past months.

Also, I am going to seriously restrict myself when it comes to requesting. Having yet to complete some reviews from last year, it’s only fair that I take my time to get those done. Plus, requesting just heightens my anxiety when I can’t finish in time and with the amount of reading I have to do for school this year…yeah, I gotta take it easy on this one. It’s going to be hard. I will fail and give into temptation because I can never deny myself an anticipated read (my downfall), but I am going to try. I’ve already started so yay, good start but I need to keep up the good energy to keep going. Please send good vibes.

Relaxed Pool Party GIF By Jason Clarke

I’ll Be Making My Rounds

Of course, I can’t just stick around for myself. I miss visiting your pages. I miss seeing all your creativity and reading your reviews! Be sure, I’ll make my rounds eventually to say hi and obsess over you!

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I’m hoping this first month of 2022 has been relatively smooth going for you all, and if you’ve already had some times, I’m sending you all my love to get through the rough patches.

My wish for you all this year are to read some amazing books! Tell me, what are you most excited for!

Happy reading!

Rendz