While there’s no actual deadline, timeline or expectation when it comes to sharing my retrospectives, I do prefer sharing them at the very end of the calendar year. But that clearly did not happen last year, so here I am, sharing this retrospective over a month later than I originally planned. And despite the delay, I’m excited to share because 2023 was jam-packed with lots of good things! As you’ll know if you read my 2022 retrospective, that year was challenging for me on a personal level. 2023 wasn’t without its own difficulties, but it was a year that felt so much more fulfilling and fun ..read more

If you’re reading this blog post, you’re likely thinking to yourself, “Is that title a typo? Alexa does know it’s 2024 and that last year was 2023, right?” This title is, in fact, not a typo – I’m writing up a retrospective for 2022 because 1) I can do whatever I want to on this blog since 2) it’s partly a look into my life and 3) my yearly retrospectives are a personal blog tradition. Since it’s been over a full year since 2022 ended, I had to dig a little bit into my journal to remind myself where I was at the end of that year. If 2021 was the year when it felt like my life was starting to ..read more

I truly didn’t mean to disappear from this online space of mine for months on end yet again in 2023. I had the best of intentions to pick up where I’d left off until I slowly found the momentum to be a consistent blogger… except that totally didn’t end up being the case and anyone who’s popped over to this blog up until this point has found themselves only seeing my old posts. Oops. The truth is in two parts when it comes to what made me drop off the blogging train yet again. The first part is that I was, quite simply, very, very, very busy in 2023. It was such a momentous year (and eventual ..read more

My best friend Rachel & I love teaming up for collaborations, and this year, our brainchild collaboration is a series of Buddy (Re)reads. We put our heads together and picked out one book or series to reread together quarterly during this year. Our first pick was Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid! We had both read and loved this novel when it first came out, and it felt like the right time to revisit the story given that the Amazon Prime miniseries aired in March. I'll be sharing my thoughts on my reread and the TV show below. Don't forget to go check out Rachel's thoughts ..read more

It’s been about a month since I first posted about how Kristin & I planned to buddy read a few of our FairyLoot special edition books, and I’m proud to report that we’ve already made it halfway through our list! The three titles that we read are Belladonna by Adalyn Grace, This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede and Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen. For once, I can give you a definitive ranking, so you’ll be getting my thoughts on each book starting with my least favorite and working my way up. VIOLET MADE OF THORNS BY GINA CHEN My hopes were high for this YA debut, but it fell short of m ..read more

How do I even begin to talk about The Last Tale of the Flower Bride? It’s one of those stories that felt deeply personal, both in the actual telling of the tale and in the experience of reading it. It’s whimsical and odd; beautiful and unsettling; relatable and raw. It comforts, challenges, charms and, dare I say, consumes the reader lured in by the promise of the prologue. I’ve read this novel twice now: first, devouring the author’s eloquent, arresting prose on the page; second, listening to the same stunning sentences delivered by our two audiobook narrators. The first time felt like a r ..read more

I truly don't even know where to begin when it comes to talking about TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW. Because, wow. It's a novel that I initially picked up solely for the cover (because I'm a sucker for the exact design style it has). I then picked it up to read with cautious optimism given that it was getting so much praise, and had been a 2022 favorite for so many people... and it clearly worked out very well for me, given that it's left me with the temptation to simply keyboard smash and demand that others read it too. I will, however, do my best to give this book the actual review ..read more

I feel a little out of practice when it comes to writing blog posts these days, as it's been some time since I've actually had the time to sit down and create some content for this little ol' corner of the internet. But I've recently decided that it was high time to make a return to my original space for expressing my thoughts on the internet. And so, hopefully, you are going to see more content in this space for the rest of 2023! I've got some posts about 2022 that I'd still like to catch up on despite their belated nature.  For today, however, I'm keeping things simple by sharing a ..read more

Welcome to another Paranormal Book Club post! The Paranormal Book Club is a casual book club I do with my friends Rachel, Kristin & DJ, and it came into being because we decided we wanted to revisit (or experience for the first time) a few older YA paranormal/fantasy books together. Our fourth and final quarter pick for this year was Something Strange & Deadly, the debut novel from author Susan Dennard. Summary: Eleanor Fitt has a lot to deal with: a missing older brother, a mother determined to marry her off and familial financial st ..read more

It's been a hot minute since I've really properly blogged aside from the odd review or collaboration. (Seriously, I looked at the amount of blog posts I've managed this year and it saddens me a little that this passion project felt a bit to the wayside due to work and personal stressors all throughout this year.) I'm determined to change that come 2023, and while I can't promise consistency right away, I did find myself eager to try out a few new things to see what clicks. And To Be Read (Next) is one such new feature! To Be Read (Next) is the start (I hope!) of a new blog series where I ..read more