Happy Wednesday!
2022 is three days from being over. We made it guys! Another year checked off the list. This year has been packed full of so much. So much to be thankful for and so much to learn from. It's always a good year when you can look back and realize you're finishing the year better than the way you started. I've already written a post about all the big life stuff that happened this year, so for now, let's talk books!
Favorite Books of 2022:
A Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
Definitely one of my favorites of 2022! I love all of Stephanie Garber's books so much, but her Once Upon a Broken Heart series has to be my favorite so far. I relate to Evangeline so much and I love Jacks so, so much. I can't wait to see what happens in book 3!
Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger
Stellarlune!! My absolute love! Another top favorite book of the year! This book gave me everything I could have wanted. The Great Foster Oblivion is quite possibly over and I am here for it!
Wishtress by Nadine Brandes
This book took me a minute to get into it. At first I thought it was just a fun YA read, but by the end of the book, it ended up blowing my mind! One of the best Christian allegorical books I've read in a very long time. I don't know how Nadine Brandes does it, but it was beautiful and amazing.
Fluff with a Side of Treason by Jenni Sauer
This book gave me all the feels! 😭😍 I loved the little snippets we got to see of so many of my favorite Everaft characters. They get me in a way no other fictional characters do. I see myself in them more than I see myself in any other characters and it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy whenever I read about them.
The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George
Man, this book was crazy!! It was so good. I don't usually read murder mysteries or contemporary anything at all, but I will always make an exception for Caroline George. Her books are always A+++ all the time. They have the most meaningful themes, the most beautiful prose and this eerie vibe to them that I can't quite explain and that I enjoy so very much haha
House of Earth and Blood by SJM
Look, I won't talk about book 2 cus book 2 isn't worth reading, but this book? This book got me in the feels. It started out slow, but then she hits you with the big twist and your heart is just ripped out by it. I was hooked after that twist at the beginning. It made me fall in love with Bryce. I don't know what it is about Bryce, maybe because I relate to her about certain things or because I wish I had her confidence, but I just love her character so much.
The whole Shatter Me Series
I was a little iffy about this series at first. Book one had me on the fence, but it has quickly become one of my favorites. The enemies to lovers is perfection, I relate to Juliette in a lot of ways and I loved watching her character development through the series. Also, this book got me through the end of my horrible Covid sickness at the beginning of the year.
The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi
I cried. I love this trilogy so much and reading the final book left me in tears. Definitely not the ending I was expecting, but one that I think fits the characters. There is going to have to be a reread in the new year for sure.
Favorite TV shows/movies of 2022:
Morbius
I know this movie got a bad rap, but I loved it! I loved it so much I saw it in theaters twice and made a friend watch it with me haha I loved the take on vampires, the characters Morbius and Milo and the dynamic between the two of them. This movie also helped inspire my Immortal Circus book too haha
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Again, a lot of people seemed to not like this one, but I loved it! It had me in tears within the first five seconds of the movie. I think there were some aspects that could have been done better, but overall it was really strong. They focused a lot on Shuri's emotional arc, which I appreciated. I also loved the villain. Whoever is writing the villains for the Black Panther movies needs to write them for all the other Marvel movies cus they do such a good job haha I love that both have had more antagonists than actual full on villains.
The Batman
This is darker than the movies I usually watch, but I think Robert Pattinson did a great job with Bruce. I really enjoyed it and I like how they focus on a younger Batman, who's still trying to find his way. I'm excited to see what they do with the next movie.
Avatar: The Way of Water
Thor: Love and Thunder
This was such a fun movie! It had a rom-com feel to it and was just overall funny and feel good (except for that ending that had me in tears haha).
Rosaline
Another super fun movie! This one came out on Hulu and is a comedy retelling of Romeo and Juliet. It was so fun and imaginative and I loved the twist they did with the original story.
The Bad Batch Season 1
I feel like this show could have been better. Like it didn't quite live up to its potential, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I thought it was fun, though I kept waiting for something bigger to be revealed about Omega. To me it just seemed like they were leading to something bigger and then it just never happened. Though, I will say, I think the pilot episode is one of my favorite pilot episodes I've seen in a long time. It had been glued to the screen the whole time and wanting more when it was done.
Heroes
I know this is an old show, but I rediscovered it this year. It's so good!! Oh my gosh. I remember now why it was my favorite show for so long. The cast is so good. You end up loving and caring about every single character. And Sylar? Hands down one of the best villains I've ever seen. He's just so good at being bad. It still hurts my heart that the show was cancelled 😭
MoonKnight
This show made my Egyptian mythology loving heart very happy. It felt like it was made just for me. I loved Layla. A curly haired archaeologist who loves Egyptian mythology? That's the girl for me right there. 😍 I think this might actually be my favorite Marvel show they've done yet.
Obi-Won Kenobi
I don't have super strong feelings for this show. I thought it was a fun watch. Was it necessary? I'm not really sure. I don't think so, but it was fun anyways. I loved little Leiah. The girl who was cast as her did an excellent job. I loved the end parallels in the fight between Vader and Obi-Won and the fight between Ahsoka and Vader in Rebels. That made my Star Wars nerd heart very happy haha
2022 Writing:
I know last year was a little rough for me. I had finished writing the Archive Series and started publishing the series. I felt unsure about where my writing was going and what I was going to do next. There were a lot more stops than starts last year.
This year I feel way more sure about my writing. I was able to dive into drafts and actually get things written, though I do feel like I've started to lean more toward upper YA and NA than the usual YA was writing. Maybe it just comes with getting older and wanting to write about my own experiences, or maybe it's just my writing growing and stretching, but I definitely have been dipping more into more mature themes and older characters in my books.
I started out the year publishing not one, but two books. Emerald Phantom came out in January and Desert Flower in March, and now I'm finishing the year by publishing the third book in the Archive Series (Scarlet Phoenix) and having published Heart of Xion during the summer. Overall, not a bad publishing year.
Writing-wise, there are only two noteworthy drafts that came out of this year that will be making an appearance next year. The first being another Desert Flower spin-off that I'm calling IWWP at the moment and my upper YA supernatural fantasy called Immortal Circus. Both are definitely more upper YA, if only because the MC's are seventeen and eighteen. They explore more mature themes, and I wouldn't say there's spice in them, but I would say the romance scenes are a bit more than the ones I've written in previous books. I would say probably like Once Upon a Broken Heart level if that makes sense. I also wrote the sequel to Immortal Circus and am excited to see where this series goes.
Overall, I did a lot of work this year so that my plans for next year will work out. Lots of new books coming your way very soon!
Goals that I Completed:
- Published Emerald Phantom and Scarlet Phoenix
- Published Desert Flower
- Edited, revised and published Heart of Xion
- Overcame my driving anxiety (when I made that goal last year I didn't actually think it would happen haha)
- Graduated
- Read more than 20 books
- Got my first job
Life Stuff:
I feel like I covered most of the big life stuff in my 2022 Reflections blog post, so I don't really want to rehash all of that. But here's a list of some of the noteworthy things that happened during 2022:
- Turned 24
- I started going to a new church and found new community
- I got a car and am able to drive on my own more than I ever have before
- Started seeing a functional doctor and have gotten so much more control over my anxiety and depression
- We moved into a new house! That feels like a lifetime ago that that happened haha This new house just feels so natural, it feels like we've lived there forever
- I got my first boyfriend and my first break up
- Went on my first fall church retreat and hiked two mountains!
- Got my first official job
- Graduated from college with my bachelor's!
- Published four books
- Got to see my long distance bestie twice
- Hosted lots of parties (something I never saw myself doing a year ago haha)
- Got to see the off Broadway showing of Anastasia
- Went to a Onerepublic concert and a Breaking Benjamin concert
- My brother that I talked about in last year's wrap has his own place now and is in a much better situation than he was in last year
What were some of your favorite books/shows/movies you read or watched this year? What are some of the most notable things that happened to you in 2022?
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