January 2019 Wrap-Up

The first month of 2019 has officially ended! So now it's time to reflect all of the new things I consumed and experienced in this month! I will list my book reviews, other blog posts, movies, tv shows, life updates, music, and plans for the next month. I will of course link any reviews and anything non-bookish (which means I don't have a review) I will write a few sentences of my general thoughts! This is the year I plan on reading books I either on my shelves or on my kindle that I really need to get to. I also need to tackle finishing a lot of series I have started in the past.

Let's jump in!

* = favorite of the month

Book Reviews

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake *
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab *
Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab *
Song of the Dead by Sarah Glenn Marsh *
The Spiderwick Chronicles (#1-5) by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi 

Other Posts (Non-Reviews)

Most Anticipated Books of 2019
New To Me Authors in 2018
TBR Books I Didn't Get To In 2018
Middle Grade Books Recently Added To My TBR

Movies Watched

[Cinema] Mary Poppins Returns - It has been quite a long time until I've seen the original movie, but I just had to watch the new one! Mostly because Lin Manuel-Miranda was on the big screen, but also because it just looked like so much fun. And it was! I loved it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix DVD] Murder on the Orient Express -  This was okay. I enjoyed it and I found it to be entertaining, but I don't see myself re-watching it. I loved the huge cast of actors and anytime I get to watch a full length movie with Daisy Ridley in it I'm content. ⭐⭐⭐
[Cinema] Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse - I know this was in my December wrap-up but we HAD to see it once more in theaters. It's the best Spider-Man movie that's ever been made and I personally think that although it'll be a fun time watching it at home, the visuals are so beautiful I needed to watch it again on the big screen. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] The Mummy- Matt & I noticed Netflix had the Mummy movies and so we decided to watch this one and the second one (I'll get to that below) and I loved it. These two movies (and only these two) are the absolute best. Brandan Fraser and Rachel  Weisz have such amazing chemistry. Bisexual culture is crushing on both of them at the same time. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Hulu] Avatar: The Last Airbender - So, I wanted to watch this movie because we had finished the first season of the show (for me, for the first time). Of course, it's an awful adaptation and an awful movie, but I needed to see for myself now that I had seen the first season. And yup, it's terrible. ⭐
[Netflix] Fyre Festival: Fire The Greatest Party That Never Happened - This was SO interesting. I don't have much else to say about this documentary. I (like many others) followed the event when it backfired so to see more of the backstory to a lot of what happened was super interesting to me. ⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] The Mummy Returns - I couldn't believe how much of this movie I had memorized until I watched it this time. I must have watched it a lot a long time ago and maybe I just don't remember? I am not sure, but this movie, like the first one, is amazing. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[DVD] Crazy Rich Asians - This was SO CUTE OMG! I am so happy I have finally watched this because I was really excited about it when I saw the trailer. Constance Wu is one of my biggest crushed and she's one of the best actresses ever so I am always glad to see her in more stuff. I cannot wait for the sequel and now I am considering reading the books. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[DVD] The Hate U Give -  I am so happy I have finally seen this movie. I love the book so much and I cried every single time I watched the trailer when it came out. So you can imagine the water works when I watched the movie as a whole. It's a fantastic adaption and a brilliant movie. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

TV Shows Watched (Finished)

[Netflix] Switched At Birth (Seasons 1-5) - This is one of my favorite shows and I love it so much. It makes me happy, angry, bawl like a baby, etc. I highly recommend it! Netflix has all of the seasons. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[DVD] Avatar: The Last Airbender (Season 1) - This was so good! We are in the middle of season two right now and honestly I am just so happy how much I'm loving this show. Now I feel like I understand why it has such a huge fan base. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] You (Season 1) -  This was so good! It has me interested in re-reading the book since it's been about three years. I am hoping to make it a priority some time maybe in the spring or summer. I think it was a good adaptation, but like I said it's been a while so I would need to re-read. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes - This was so creepy. I knew way less about Ted Bundy than I thought I did. It's of course terrifying but it is also incredibly interesting. I may actually be into true crime stories? I never thought I was but now that is something I want to experiment with. If you have any true crime books please send those recommendations my way. ⭐⭐⭐

Currently Watching

[DVD] Avatar: The Last Airbender - Like I said, we are loving this show. Matt already has watched this show, so it's not new to him but it's completely new to me. I am loving the Earth season. Toph has become my favorite character.
[Hulu] Adventure Time - We are so close to the end of this show! We are on season seven. I love this show so much I am going to be so sad once it's over.
[Hulu] Finding Carter - I only recently started this show because I wasn't sure what to watch after finishing Switched at Birth. I'm liking it so far! I am not too far in so I don't have too much to say.

Music Videos & Music I Enjoyed

[Music Video] Juice by Lizzo - This song is amazing and an anthem for everyone but especially fat women because Lizzo is a fat icon. I highly recommend all of her music. She has a new album coming out so I am pumped.
[Music Video] 7 Rings by Ariana Grande - Although this isn't my favorite Ari song,  I do enjoy this one a lot. I think it's a lot of fun.
[Music Video] Monster by Dodie - I wasn't sure about this song at first but the more I listened to it the more I ended up loving it.
[Music Video] Hazy Shade of Winter by Gerard Way ft. Ray Toro - I will forever love Gerard Way's voice (RIP MCR 😭😭) so it's nice to hear it again. This cover works so well with the trailer for Umbrella  Academy (talked about more later).
[Music Video] Animal by Aurora - This is such a good music video & song. I love Aurora so much her voice is so beautiful. I think her music video for Queendom will forever be one of my top five favorite videos but this one is cool too.
[EP] Human by Dodie - Honestly, this isn't my favorite Dodie EP that she has released. I love most of the songs, so it's not really that, I think it's the fact that like a lot of her EPs you can find the songs on YouTube in the early stages so it feels like I've already listened to them on repeat. I hope one day she releases an EP or album of mostly new music. I do recommend Monster,  Not What I Meant, She, and Burned Out.

Movie Trailers That Have Me Pumped

[Trailer] The Umbrella Academy - I really disliked the comic book but I am really excited for the show. It looks so good.
[Trailer] Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile - This Ted Bundy movie has already gotten a lot of controversy because they think the movie is glorifying Bundy, a known serial killer. Although I partially understand what they mean, I think the scenes of him (Zac Efron) taking off his shirt and such which is a bit uncomfortable. Also the movie choices aren't the best. However, the trailer is only showing a fraction of the movie so we will see. It's supposed to be in Bundy's girlfriend's POV so we are experiencing everything with her so maybe him looking charming and being attractive is supposed to be like that. I mean like I said earlier, I didn't know much about Bundy before watching the Tapes on Netflix but it's obvious that his charm and good-looks gave him a huge advantage and unfortunately a creepy fan base of the same young women he'd attack if he could.
[Trailer] Spider-Man: Far From Home -YAY ANOTHER SPIDER-MAN MOVIE! I saw this was supposed to be a teaser trailer. This is the most generous teaser trailer I've ever seen.
[Trailer] Shazam - Yay Zachery Levi! I am so excited about this! It looks so funny/cute. I don't know much about Shazam but I am excited to get to know him.
[Trailer] Avengers: End Game - Ahhhh I am so excited! This may break my heart.
[Trailer] Alita: Battle Angel - This looks so cool! Those big eyes are going to mess me up the entire time we watch it but it'll be worth it because it looks like it's going to be an amazing movie.
[Trailer] Dark Phoenix - More X-Men! Yes Yes Yes Please!!

Random Favorites

Essential Oil Diffuser - Matt's mom got me this amazing Essential Oil Diffuser and I put it on right before I nap or before I'm about to read. The Peppermint Oil, Lavender Oil, and Sweet Orange Oil are my favorites.
Unicorn Massager - Matt got me this stuffed unicorn where you squeeze the leg and it turns into a massager. It's great for my shoulders but also to help with cramps during that time of the month. I just curl into a ball with it against my stomach and cry for like a week. It's great.
Bullet Journal - I have been keeping up with a bullet journal for the first time and it's been going okay so far. Is anyone interested in a post of how I do mine? I'm not super artsy but I am trying my best.
Learning Tarot - Matt got me a Tarot card deck and a book that came with it and I've been studying! I am hoping to keep studying and to learn as much as I can. It's honestly been so much fun and I can't wait to learn to do readings.
Coin Master [App] - My family got me into this came and I'm pretty obsessed. It's making me a competitive vengeful woman, something I haven't really ever been in the past (I think?).

Books DNFed

Enchantée by Gita Trelease - I got this as an ARC in a giveaway and I was initially really excited to read it. From what I had gathered from the summary on the back it was this historical fiction book set in France and there were fantasy elements weaved into the story. Which sounded really cool. Unfortunately it was a bit too slow paced for me and so boring. I felt detached from the characters and overall by the time I finally decided to stop it was because I couldn't find any the enthusiasm I had when I originally picked it up. I read about 250 pages into the ARC which was about half way through.

Life Updates

The beginning of 2019 has been going really well so far. The only downside so far has been my sleep schedule is still a bit off. I am now having no issues falling asleep & staying asleep thanks to the melatonin gummies, but I am still experiencing nightmares. Before the melatonin I had nightmares that would have me wake up in sweat or experiencing full on fear. But now I am just not able to wake up from them and I am a bit trapped. It's scary and I am honestly not sure what I prefer between the two (not well rested but able to wake up from the bad dreams or being "well rested" but also kind of terrified all night).

I have been picking up pretty amazing books. I've been lucky that all of my books have been four or five star reads. Between my brilliant reading choices, learning and studying tarot, and sending out Save-the-Dates this month has been a really good one. 2019 started out really well.

February Reading TBR

This month I am going to attempt to read some romance books that I've seen are fairly popular and being hyped up. I don't read a lot of romance, so I am hoping that these are the good ones since I see them being talked about a lot. I am not the best at TBRs because I am a mood reader, but here are a few I am hoping to read.

Next Year in Havana

Chanel Cleeton 

Amazon | Goodreads 

The Hating Game

Sally Thorne

Amazon | Goodreads 

The Wedding Date

Jasmine Guillory 

Amazon | Goodreads

The Kiss  Quotient

Helen Hoang

Amazon | Goodreads

These are just some of the books  I plan on reading in February. I have others but these are the ones I specifically requested from the library.


Thanks for reading!