Books I Read Recently – November & December 2020 Wrap-Up 💀🧚🏻‍♀️

Hi, I hope you’re having a baller day. It’s gonna be 2021 in a few hours? Less than 36 hours? It depends on when this post comes out, lol. Anyway, I hope you have a very amazing new year. I know we’re still in lockdown and all sorts of crazy things are going down around the world, but I do hope your 2021 is a better year and I hope all of us get to have more positivity this year! 🧡

Today, I’m going to talk about the books I finished this month. At the beginning of this month, I was in a reading slump. I was wondering if I would even be able to read anything, so I started watching a few dramas instead and I loved them so, so much, that I didn’t worry about not reading books at all… and those dramas surprisingly pulled me out of the slump. The last few days have been good for my depression and anxiety as well. I’m doing a lot of things that I enjoy and I’ve been productive. I’ve watched a few movies and I’m blogging again! Depression just makes everything feel like a chore and I can’t even write a single word for a blog post when I feel down in the mouth, but the last few days have been helpful. I’m thankful for all the positivity that I’ve found even though we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I’m grateful for having my books, support from people around me, and the things I learned from therapy! I will do a post sometime in the future about my experience with anxiety and depression and talk about the things that usually help me feel better and all that jazz.

I know I’m not as active as I used to be and honestly, I won’t be, probably for a while, as I’m gonna have to prepare for my master’s and if I didn’t get in – the odds aren’t in my favor but I’m still trying – I’ll try to find a job, starting from June 2021. There are just way too many things to finish doing and it’s difficult to juggle with all these things. Blogging is fun for me and I’m so proud of my blog and I’m grateful to be a part of the book blogging community so I WILL definitely be here, but it’s gonna be difficult.

ANYWAY, HERE ARE THE BOOKS THAT I READ DURING MY HOLIDAYS!

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Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

This book is about a girl whose family has a summer house they haven’t visited in five years. The last time they had visited the house, some shit had gone down with the girl and her friends, so she’s kinda nervous about going back there, but her dad wants to spend this summer in that house and there’s a reason for that that you’ll get to know in the second or third chapter.

So, I’ve read Morgan Matson’s Amy and Rogers Epic Detour and it’s one of my favorite contemporaries. However, this book missed the mark. I ended up giving it two stars on Goodreads because honestly, it was so boring and the story could’ve been a lot shorter. And I didn’t even like the reason for which the main character was avoiding her summer house. It felt kind of stupid to me. However, there are a few good things! It’s a cute book – the setting, the characters, and everything… It’s all really adorable. Moreover, the main character has social anxiety/stage fright and that was kind of relatable. A huge trigger warning for cancer, though!

A lot of people love it, so you should read other reviews of it before deciding to read/not read it. I won’t recommend it, though.

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Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Made You Up follows the story of a girl with schizophrenia who starts going to a new school after something happens in the last one and she meets a boy there who’s called Miles. The book kind of follows the adventures of these two characters and there’s just no other way to describe it.

First things first, I want to tell y’all that I don’t know what dealing with schizophrenia is actually like. I’ve only read about schizophrenia, watched it in the movies, listened to people’s stories and I’m aware that most of the time, the representation we see is flawed. I know that we often find “quirky” and “glamorous” symptoms of the illness and the dangerous ones, the ones that are difficult to deal with are left out. Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder and I believe it should be talked about more in literature and other forms of media! I don’t know how good the representation of schizophrenia is in this book. I don’t know how good the representation is of alexithymia in this book. I believe you should read the reviews from a psychologist’s POV and also from the POV of own voice book reviewers.

However, I found this book very entertaining, fun, and different. I was expecting something else from it and it was SO MUCH better than my expectations. It’s quirky, the main characters are amazing and I love seeing great friendships blossom into love. It also had a surprise/twist kinda thing and I liked it! Overall, I believe if you’re in the mood to read a feel-good book that also speaks about some major issues, then look no further. I gave it four stars out of five and I really think I will reread it again. A trigger warning for child abuse, Nazi jokes, schizophrenia, alcoholism, etc.

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The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

This book is about three cousins who don’t know each other much and are called to an island for a summer by their grandmother who disinherited their parents a long time ago.

I think this book probably captures all of my favorite elements. I love a light thriller with teen characters. And I love Karen M. McManus’s writing. I enjoyed the book and loved the small twists that kept me hooked from the very beginning. Even though it’s not a masterpiece, I loved it a lot! A trigger warning for murder, chronic and terminal illness, alcoholism, drowning, miscarriage, etc.

I gave it five stars and would recommend people who like YA thrillers to read it. And I’m already waiting for this author’s next book.

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The Way I Used To Be by Amber Smith

This book is an account of a girl who was raped by her brother’s friend. It shows how her trauma impacts her and changes her through and through and we get to know her life throughout her high school.

I haven’t cried as much in a long time as I did while reading this book. It’s really one of the most gut-wrenching books I’ve read this year. It just felt so real to me and I could understand why she was acting out and I understood her inhibition to be vulnerable in front of people and not trusting any of her friends with the details of her trauma. I really, really understood it and I think Amber Smith has written such an amazing book. Rape is a very sensitive subject to talk about and it’s important to talk about it… And this author does it really well. This book offers hope and does have a few good characters (and some awful ones) but you shouldn’t read it if rape, sexual harassment, slut-shaming, victim-blaming, depression, and substance abuse have a potential to trigger you.

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Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

This book is about two teens who have a lot going on in their lives. One of the main characters, Juliet, has lost her mother and she writes letters to her grave. One day a boy named Declan finds those letters as he works at the cemetery and writes her back. Soon, they start exchanging more letters and become “letter-exchanging friends.” However, they can’t stand each other in real life.

Since I have already reviewed this book multiple times, I won’t be saying much about it. I’ll just mention the fact that I have read it thrice and I still love it. I gave it 5 stars yet again. It deals with a lot of difficult topics like alcoholism, grief, depression, suicidal ideation, car crash, parental neglect, child abuse, cheating on a partner, etc. I would recommend y’all to read it.

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So, thats all for today! Hope you have an amazing New Year’s Eve! 🧡 Have a good day!