October Wrap Up

Monthly Wrap Up – October 2021

This month my family and I were trying to get acclimated to our new schedules and squeezing in some fun fall activities. We had 2 covid “close contact” quarantines from school so far. It has been terrible, but thankfully all of us have managed to stay healthy through it all. For Halloween this year I was Mario, My husband was Yoshi and the kids were Bowser and Princess Peach. We had a ton of fun. My mom also invited the kiddos over for a Halloween Party sleepover and so Daniel and I were able to go out for a date night for the first time in almost 2 years. Overall it was crazy hectic month, but we had tons of fun and made a lot of memories.

Samhain
Samhain (Pronounced sow-in) is the pagan holiday that I observe this month. It is the point in the wheel of the year when the veil between the realm of the living and the dead is at its thinnest and we celebrate our ancestors. This year, things were a bit crazy and the focus was on making sure our kids had fun for Halloween so I didn’t really take the time to do anything spiritual. But I spent some time talking to my kids about their grandparents that we have lost and how we feel their love a bit closer right now that we normally can. We charged our special stuffies in the moonlight and we ate candy until our tummies ached. Sometimes being a witch isn’t super glamorous or magical, but just being a mom and staying present in the moment.

NaNoWriMo
This November I am going to attempt to squeeze some NaNoWriMo into my schedule! It stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is a time when the writing community comes together to motivate each other to complete an entire novel in the span of a month. I am not looking to write an entire novel, but I have set my goal at 25,000 words for the month. With 2 kiddos, an in-home daycare along with the holidays and all of my other responsibilities, I think this is a reasonable goal for me. I hope to get a good head start on my book so I will at least have something substantial to build on going forward.

Books I Read This Month

#1) Namesake By Adrienne Young
Young Adult Fantasy (Book 2) – 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Coming of Age, Pirate Adventure, Romance
Check out my review of Namesake here!

#2) A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas
New Adult Fantasy (Book 5) – 4.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
Faerie Realms, Spicy Romance, Found Family, Personal Growth
Check out my review of A Court of Silver Flames here!

#3) Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Young Adult Fantasy – 3.5 stars⭐⭐⭐✰
Carnival Game, Intrigue Coming of Age, Romance
Check out my review of Caraval here!

#4) Legendary by Stephanie Garber
Young Adult Fantasy (Book 2) – 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐
Carnival Game, Intrigue Coming of Age, Romance
Check out my review of Legendary here!

#5) Finale by Stephanie Garber
Young Adult Fantasy (Book 3) – 4.5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
Carnival Game, Intrigue Coming of Age, Romance
Keep an eye out for my full review of Finale, coming soon!

#6) Immortal City By Amy Kuivilanen
Adult Fantasy – 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Murder, Ancient Civilization, Magic, Steamy Romance
Keep an eye out for my full review of Immortal City, coming soon!

#7) Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Young Adult Fantasy – 3.5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐✰
Faerie Realms, Coming of age, Betrayal, Romance
Keep an eye out for my full review of Cruel Prince, coming soon!

#8) The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin
Young Adult Fantasy – 4.5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
Witches, Seasonal Magic, Romance, Climate Change
Keep an eye out for my full review of The Nature of Witches, coming soon!

Currently Reading

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Young Adult Fantasy, 2nd in the Throne of Glass Series.
Check it out on goodreads!

Bone Criers Moon by Kathryn Purdie
YA Fantasy, First book in the series.
Check it out on goodreads!

November TBR Hopefuls
A couple of books I hope to get to next month:

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Young Adult Fantasy-Book 3 in Throne of Glass series
I will probably get pulled in and read a few of these in November if I can.
Check it out on goodreads!

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout
New Adult Fantasy, First in the series
Check it out on goodreads!

I had a pretty crazy, but wonderful month and I am looking forward to November, cozy reading weather, trying to get some writing done and celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. Happy Holidays everyone!

-Jacqui