2022 Autumn Brew: I Got Bit By A Reading Bug, Oct Was The Month Of Music & Genshin Finally Blessed Me With Childe

This may be the longest brew post thus far? I went a little cuckoo on consuming content. I genuinely haven’t even included any of the Stray Kids related content I watched in these months because uh well…it’s a wrap up. Not a whole damn newspaper. Coincidentally I was bitten by a reading bug. I don’t want to talk about it. I have no idea what happened but Oct/Nov my brain suddenly went ‘oh look books lets read’ so yeah.

As always, you are more than free to hop, skip and jump around this post. Read the parts that interest you, skip the bits that don’t but I hope you enjoy this post!

Blogging Shenanigans

Recent Posts

Eliza and her Monsters // A Warm Hug To Fandom

Travel Diaries: Visiting London For The First Time

Becoming An Atiny 101: A Guide To Ateez

Recommending Books Inspired By My Birth Chart

Bookish Chaos // Discord Server

Posts Around The Blogosphere

This is by no means every single post I hop to during the months but a small selection of some of my favourites, which you may enjoy reading too!

One of my dear friends has returned to blogging, please go Cam @ Vicoli & Caffe all the love!

Everyone please go and say Happy 10th Birthday to Soph @ Bookwyrming Thoughts as she celebrates 10 years of blogging.

Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books talks about How & Why Her Blog Engagement Changed and she reviewed Seoulmates by Susan Lee which honestly sounds right up my alley!

Tasya @ The Literary Huntress shares Why She’s Still Blogging After 7+ Years

Min @ Archived By Min compiled a list of Book Recs Based on K-Pop Songs (Girl Group Edition)

Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat gives us 20 Monthly Wrap Up Ideas For Our Blog + Bonus Tips

If you’re in need of an Asian drama to watch Soph @ Bookwyrming Thoughts reviewed Love Between Fairy and Devil and yes it’s gone right onto my watch list.

Izzy @ Nine Tale Vixen blessed us with a recommendation post of Bi+ Protagonists

Kate @ Your Tita Kate shared an important post on The Problem With Dark Academia as a Genre: White Supremacy, Classism, Ableism as well as compiling a list of 9 Dark Academia Books By Authors Of Colour

Abi @ Scribbles & Stories wrote a post on Series She Needs to Complete and I really loved this post, it also reminded me of all the unfinished series I have.

I discovered Amaya @ Mauve Mumblings’ blog around a month or so ago and I love her posts and blog! Definitely go check out her blog, if you haven’t already!

Content Consumed

Books Read

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Quick, act surprised that I picked this one up mostly because of the title. (if it’s got anything to do with the moon, stars or astrology I’m 10x more likely to pick it up). Anyway, this was the second book by Jenn Bennett that I’ve read and I can happily say, that I adore the writing style and will be slowly working my way through the other books. Serious Moonlight was such a delight, it had me cackling and then nearly brought me to tears numerous times. Birdie and Daniel were just adorable and I found myself relating to Birdie’s overthinking self quite a lot bless her.

Devouring Darkness by Chloe Neill

Did I fly through this book in one go? Why, yes, yes I did. That’s no surprise though as Chloe Neill is one of my all time favourite authors and anything set in the Chicagoland Vampires world is a must read for me. Anyway this was book 4 in the Heirs to Chicagoland spin off series, the main series being Chicagoland Vampires and I am just in need of rereading the main series all the way through. Maybe I’ll do that next year but I love the characters, and I adore the writing. I was worried for a hot minute that we were running out of pages and things weren’t going to you know, get resolved fully in this book but it’s fine. We got a different kind of cliff hanger instead xD

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn

Finally I have read this sweet, fluffy book that made me tear up several times. This was such a wholesome read, Akira is such a sweet soft cinnamon role who I will protect with my life. Kimi was such an endearing main character, witnessing her struggle to accept that her love of fashion was valid was such an honour. I loved her relationship with her grandma and grandpa. Anyway I would now like a meet cute like Kimi and Akira’s, however there’s no Tanuki’s here so…guess that’ll never happen xD

The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegmund-Broka

I inhaled this book in one day. Technically in 3hrs 56 minutes is how much time I spent reading it, it felt like longer and not long enough. I adored the chemistry, the tension and the dual perspectives. Truly this author duo are now on the list of fav authors because I’ve read 3 of their books so far and loved all of them. I think this one may be a favourite though of the ones I’ve read thus far. The fact our main characters are both writers, with a history and ugh. I just want to squeal because I don’t have the words to describe how I felt reading this book.

Soul Lanterns by Shaw Ruzki

This book made me cry, which is unsurprising given it’s set 25 years after the Atomic Bomb that went off in Hiroshima. Seeing understanding dawn on our MC at what exactly happened all those years ago, the realisation on what the lantern ceremony was for. Beautifully written and I really urge you to add it to your TBRs and read it. The way it approaches such a huge event, the aftermath and how everyone processes grief differently. Along with how new generations are growing up, struggling to imagine that such a catastrophic event could have taken place where they lived. That it could affected so many people they knew and their families.

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (reread)

If there’s one series I would happily reread for the rest of time it would be this one. I’d started rereading this at some point within the 3 months and finally finished rereading in November. Listen, nothing will beat the dynamics of Ash, Puck and Meghan, I adore these three characters so much. Will forever wrap them in bubble wrap and no one touch Grim the fey cat. His witty lines truly add so much to the series.

That said, this is the second book in the series, since it had been so long since I initially read the books. I’d forgotten some of the other characters but I still vaguely remembered the plot. Give or take. I will also say I was in Soph’s dm’s throughout the reread, giving her all my feelings so thank you for putting up with me hehe.

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa (reread)

Petition for Julie Kagawa’s books to come with a free pack of tissues for each book you buy? Like I mentioned above, it’s been years since I first read this series and I had totally forgotten about the rollercoaster that was this goddamn book. Soph made me half terrified to continue rereading it because I am still scarred from the ending in Night of the Dragon.

I had totally forgotten what was coming towards the latter end of this book. I cried despite knowing how things turned out. No words. I just adore this world, these characters and I am so soft for them all.

Music

I have been listening to Twice’s Talk That Talk and Queen of Hearts since they came out, both are such good songs that I’ve had them on loop multiple times. Ring ma Bell by Billie is right up my alley, the rock sound is just me all over, Soph wasn’t wrong when she thought I’d love this song based on the teaser. Nirvana Girl by Sorn ft Yeeun is such a bop and I love her voice, particularly how the ‘oh my god can I be myself right now’ goes. Another song I fell in love with was Rose from Blackpink’s song Hard To Love – the lyrics and the melody just hit differently.

NMIXX’s new song Dice released in September, really love the M/V for it and the song in general, wasn’t expecting to like it this much so that was a lovely surprise.

I vastly underestimated how many awesome songs would come out in October. I ran out of space in my small playlist section for Oct, that’s how many songs were coming out which I adored.

Stray Kids had their comeback in Oct and predictably I was on the floor a mess. Chill and Super Board live in my head rent free. Han has no right to write such sad songs that hit my heart – like Chill is so good. Super Board…please why can they put random sounds in and have me absolutely hooked? It’s not fair. The Danceracha unit song Taste is my other fav of the album so…my fav songs are a nice mix of sad, hype and hot.

Taylor’s album Midnights released this month too. My poor ears don’t know whether they’re coming or going. Is it pretty lyrical prose I’m listening to or ‘zoom’ from Super Board? Anyway, I really love Anti-Hero as well as Maroon, Bejewelled, Mastermind and The Great War.

Did not anticipate Dreamcatcher also having a comeback, Vision is a bop and I love the M/V for it as well. Itzy’s Boys Like You is catchy, despite me not feeling like it’s very Itzy, I do love the choreo for it and the chorus sounds similar to the chorus in Taylor Swift’s Love Story.

November was pretty chill in terms of music, at least in comparison to October. I finally listened to The Rose’s new song Sour, which I love and have been listening on repeat. Alexa’s new song Back in Vogue released this month and it’s a bop.

Watched

I’ll be sharing what I’ve watched in this section, from YouTube videos to any dramas to anime and more. I will include links to things where possible though!

Towards the end of August, and just for the past few months, I’ve fallen down the planner hole. Specifically watching TheCoffeeMonsterzCo videos. Her videos relit the remaining sparks I had for planning and journaling, so I of course did some snooping for a journal that was similar to a Hobonichi but not as expensive. Ended up with an A5 Kinbor, which I will be using for next year. If you’re looking for relaxing planning videos and/or cute stickers as Helen also runs her own small business – highly recommend her channel!

Sweet Tai Chi is a Chinese Drama with 24 episodes, primarily the plot revolves around the main leads breaking the ‘family bias’ within Tai Chi. Basically allowing Tai Chi to be taught and passed on to those who aren’t part of the clans. Originally I picked this drama up after seeing a clip of main female lead Piao Piao fighting. My brain went ‘yes, must watch now’. It did take me several months to finish this one though.

Whilst I absolutely loved the focus on Tai Chi, the overall pacing is at times very slow, with the last few episodes feeling rather rushed in comparison. If you’re looking for a cute romance, this is not the drama for you, despite it saying ‘Sweet’ the other two couples in the drama, have more on screen cute scenes than our main leads. This wasn’t a deal breaker for me because I wanted to watch it for the Tai Chi. However, I do feel like they could have added more scenes to show the main leads were together/had feelings for each other.

Overall, I’m glad I watched this drama and I really loved the chemistry and friendships between the main characters. The story line was pretty solid but the pacing was just…not it.

Kiss Goblin is a KDrama with a mere 12 episodes, average run time of 12 minutes, it was a very quick drama. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it though, it was pretty fast paced and things unfolded rapidly. I fell in love with the characters, particularly the lead two, they made me chuckle. If you’re looking for a drama that’s quick, fun with some supernatural aspects to it highly recommend this one. It was very cute. I did breeze through it in one sitting, simply because it ended on a cliff hanger each time.

Love of Summer Night is a CDrama with 24 episodes, focusing on a girl trying to get a basketball team back together after it was disbanded. This was by no means a bad drama, in fact I really loved our main leads a lot. I just…wished it’d explored things in more depth. By things I mean delving into our characters past, exploring relationships and the various dynamics. Everything was very surface level with a bit of delving into our main leads. The episodes were 30 minutes, which is on the shorter end for Chinese Dramas in particular. There was the potential for this drama to be better and it fell short a bit for me.

The ‘mean’ girl drove me up a wall and I really just wished they’d have done something different with her. The whole chasing after our main lead even when he’s said he’s not interested in you like…girl please. He said no countless times, go bark elsewhere. Not gonna lie I think this could have been better if they’d shifted some of the plotline to enable the lead female to also play in the matches more. It would have made it more interesting than her just being on the side lines all the time, which I get is the point of a coach but ugh. Please it would have spiced it up. I enjoyed the main leads, the basketball aspects and it made for a nice watch.

I finally finished rewatching Falling Into Your Smile in November. I wrote a post on my thoughts and feelings about this drama earlier this year, so feel free to check it out if you’d like to know more. In short though this drama follows Tong Yao as she navigates being the first female pro-gamer in China, it follows her journey along with her teammates. The gameplay was one of my favourite parts along with the romance, grumpy x sunshine combo with slow burn? Say less hehe.

Life Updates

Autumn took it’s sweet time arriving, it still felt too warm in Sept and Oct to be honest and it’s only been in Nov that the temps have cooled down so it feels more like Autumn. Ah, these past few months have been a mixed bag again. Still, I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of another year *screams in disbelief*

September

September was a weird month for a multitude of reasons. One being it still felt like summer for the early weeks, the weather didn’t get the memo that it’s now autumn. That being said this month has a few highlights. I worked on my painting again during this month and I think it’s pretty much finished. I don’t see it changing too drastically from how it looks now and I’m really happy with how it looks. My next painting project is probably a sunset and some meadow…maybe a lavender meadow?

Genshin wise I finally got my jellyfish girl aka Kokomi! It took around 75/80 wishes for her to come home but she did and I was able to max her on the same day pretty much. Only due to me pre farming for her, first character I pre-farmed things for and worked on artifacts too. It’s been an absolute joy to play with her, love her so much.

I bought a few things, washi tapes, stickers and some earrings. I’m slowly starting to accumulate a few stickers and functional stickers for next year. Since my planner for 2023 is already set up, I want to try a different approach with planning next year as bullet journaling hasn’t been working for me recently. Naturally this means I’ve spent copious hours staring at stickers on Etsy and watching TheCoffeeMonsterzCo “plan with me’s” because they’re soothing. I also love Helen’s stickers and really want to treat myself to some of them!

These are the earrings I got! I’m a silver jewellery person usually, however the butterfly earrings I couldn’t not get because they’re simply stunning. They’re also copper, which is the next best thing if I can’t have silver. Then the stars I got are so sparkly and I love them so much.

October

Someone needs to scrape me off the floor since Stray Kids comeback was this month, I am not well. I survived SKZ comeback and then had to make it through Taylor’s album Midnights. October came for the jugular with the music releases this month. Other than all the music, it’s overall been a rather chill month, with my mental health decided to board a roller coaster. Somedays I was full of energy and ready to tackle things, only to crash and burn for the next few days.

Met up with two co-workers for Afternoon Tea, which is possibly the most English thing I’ve done, it was very nice though. Other than that, I’ve been living my days watching a ton of SKZ content on YouTube because they keep feeding us and I’m just trying to keep up ok.Season 3 of Finding SKZ came out this month, which was one of the things I looked forward to each week.

Genshin wise I won my 50/50 and got Nilou, who has been an absolute delight to play with in a team comp with a dendro character. I can’t wait to eventually get more dendro characters in this game who aren’t bow users. Anyway, Nilou is so pretty and I love her so much!

November

I’m feelin’ 22! My birthday was this month, it was alright, honestly I refuse to believe I am actually 22. This feels weird and we’re just going to move on with things. Overall this was a rather meh month to be honest, however I did get Childe in Genshin. Yes, I won another 50/50, he came early: 23 wishes with zero pity! I am so happy I finally have him, he has eluded me for three banners already, if I had lost the 50/50 to Diluc again I may have screamed.

This was the month I finally reorganised my bookcase and the kpop shelves. They’ve been needing a good dust for months and I finally got round to doing it. Albeit I decided 8:30pm was the best time to start moving things around, I’m just glad it’s done. I love how my bookcase looks again and I think I may shuffle the kpop shelves again…but only once my ring binder comes in as I’ll need to take them all off anyway to get out the photocards.

Autumn seems to be reaching it’s end, ready for the Winter season to take hold. Hot chocolate season is here and I am thriving. I can’t believe we have 1 month left in this year, where did the other 11 go? I hope you all had wonderful autumns, feel free to let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments! 💜

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