Chrisell🌷

Book Review📚| Taking Initiative by Elle M. Stewart 🎲💚🌪️ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (swipe for synopsis & some of my favorite quotes) “But love is about the choices we make, Felix. Not only the way we feel.” Another romance has been added to my 2024 reads, and it is as adorable as its cover!✨ This was such a sweet story with feel-good themes and fun, lovable characters. I loved Jo and Felix as a couple, but I also really loved them individually. The secondary characters also made an impression on me. Jo’s friend group was so supportive, especially Aida, and Felix’s relationship with his grandpa was everything and more. I’d never read a book about gaming before, but I did read this around the time I was watching Stranger Things, which talks about Dungeons & Dragons, and I think that made me feel more invested in this book’s game, Monsters & Mythology. It created a feeling of community throughout the book, especially when it came to Jo and her friends. Something I’ve always and will always appreciate about romance novels like this one is the way both characters have their own personal issues to work through. They need to do some self-reflection and inner work before being able to have a strong and healthy relationship. This feels even more important when a character has previously been in a toxic relationship, the way Jo had. I loved the way the book stressed the importance of recognizing your negative patterns and breaking them in order to heal. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend it if you want something feel-good!🫶🏻 Thank you @ingramsparkbooks for the gifted copy! #indiebook 💫 💭Q: What’s the last romance novel you read, and what did you rate it?

‘tis the season for new BOTM picks 🎄📦💙 @bookofthemonth #ad A new month calls for a new curated list of books from Book of the Month! They’ve had such an incredible selection all year and December is no exception.❣️ 🎄These are my December picks 🎄 📚Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney: ✨I honestly had no idea Feeney was releasing a new book, so I’m glad to have seen this as an option. I love her books & I’m so excited to read this one! The cover is stunning. 🤩 📚Most Wonderful by Georgia Clark (add-on): ✨It’s not Christmas without at least one holiday romance on my TBR, and this one looks like a good one!❣️ If you want to join BOTM, or gift a box to someone, you can use code: TINSEL to get your first book for $5! (new and existing members will also receive a fun holiday themed sticker sheet🎄!) 💭Q: If you have a BOTM subscription, what were your December picks?

a late November recap 🍂🕯️🤎 💭Q: What was your favorite book from the month? 📚 What I’ve been reading: 🍂The Unmaking of June Farrow - 5⭐️ 📺What I’ve been watching: 🧣Wicked - 10/10 I cried so much & got chills multiple times. Everyone truly poured their hearts into the film! 🧣Stuck in Love - this has been one of my favorite movies since I was 13. I rewatch it every year around this time.🫶🏻 🧣Cobra Kai - I’m almost done with my rerun; I’m prepping for when the final episodes are released.🥲 💘What I’ve been loving/ doing: 🍁Cross stitched a cute Christmas themed decor piece.🎄 🍁Baked my heart away. 🥧 🍁Had a great thanksgiving dinner with my family. 🍽️ 🍁Picked up some fabric on Black Friday for upcoming sewing projects.💓🪡 🍁Decorated for Christmas & put up the tree🎄 🍁I’ve been diligently working on crochet Christmas presents. I’ve made lots of progress already! 🧶 🍁Finished the coziest puzzle during a chilly night in. It’s one of my favorites to date! 🧩

“42 to 21, like the turkey, Ross is done” 🦃🧡🏈 Happy Thanksgiving sweet friends!🍂 I hope y’all have an amazing day filled with lots of love, gratitude, and great food.🥧 I spent the morning watching the football-thanksgiving episode of friends, which is a tradition at this point. @cozyreadsshop recently sent me this friends sweatshirt, inspired by this specific episode, & I’ve been wearing it 24/7. It’s so cozy! Can’t recommend enough if you’re a friends fan.🤎 💭Q: What’s your favorite thanksgiving food? The bread rolls are my fav 🍞

Books I can’t move on from 📚🕯️🤎 With evermore season in full swing, I wanted to share some books that I haven’t been able to move on from. Some I read last year, some this year, but they’ve left me frozen in time, unable to leave the restaurant.🍽️💫 Books: 🍂Little Women 🍂The Winners 🍂Iron Flame 🍂Kingdom of Ash 🍂Just for the Summer 🍂The Last Housewife 🍂Summer Romance 🍂Book Lovers 🍂A Court of Mist and Fury 🍂Carrie Soto is Back 🍂The Wedding People 🍂The Unmaking of June Farrow 🍂One Dark Window 🍂Hello Beautiful 💭Q: What’s a book you haven’t moved on from?

Romance books you should read 💕🌷💓🎀💘 💭Q: What genre have you found yourself gravitating towards most this year? For me, it’s been romance! I’ve always read romance novels, but for some reason I’ve felt a stronger pull towards them this year. I love that they always leave me feeling warm and full of hope. The ones I’m sharing in this post have been my favorites from this year!💓 📚Books: 💕The Paradise Problem - 4.5⭐️ 💕Funny Story - 4.5⭐️ 💕Ready or Not - 4.5⭐️ 💕Check & Mate - 5⭐️ 💕Yours Truly - 4.5⭐️ 💕Practice Makes Perfect - 5⭐️ 💕Just for the Summer - 5⭐️ 💕Elizabeth of East Hampton - 4.5⭐️ 💕Taking Initiative - 4.5⭐️ 💕This Summer Will Be Different - 5⭐️ 💕The Rom Con - 5⭐️ 💕Nora Goes Off Script - 4.5⭐️ 💕Summer Romance - 5⭐️ 💕Better Left Unsent - 4.5⭐️

Book Review📚| The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young Rating: 5🌟 (swipe for a synopsis & a playlist 🎧✨) “And then I spoke my vows into the summer wind. That I’d love him forever. That I would always, always come back. That no matter what, I would find him.” To everyone who recommended this book and told me I would love it…… You were right.🥹 The hold this story had on me was quite the experience. I sat down this past week to try and get a couple of chapters in before bed, and I ended up finishing the entire book in one sitting!! It was emotive, intriguing, magical, and the writing was beautiful. I loved that along with the central mystery, there was also romance and heartfelt moments. That ending made me SO emotional; it felt like a full circle moment. This will 100% be in my top 10 books of the year.🫶🏻 If you haven’t read this one yet, don’t wait as long as I did to pick it up!🤎✨ 💭Q: Have you read this one yet?

RED (TV) Songs as Books ❣️🍂📚🧣🍁 When I think about Red as an album, I can’t help but think back to the lines of a poem by Pablo Neruda that Taylor mentioned in the original album prologue: “love is so short, forgetting is so long.” These lines perfectly encapsulate the way I see Red as a body of work. This album is a mosaic composed of treacherous, sad, beautiful, tragic, desperate, thrilling pieces, that combined, make up a love that is red. A love that you don’t see coming but forever changes you. Similarly to a love that is red, this album forever changed my life and the relationship I have with music. I grew up screaming the words to all too well in my bedroom, and later in my car when I started driving. I counted the days, months, and years, until I could finally sing 22 while being 22. When I finally did turn 22, it was with Taylor’s version of this incredible album. I will forever hate that Taylor’s masters were taken from her, but I will always be grateful for her decision to give us the albums as they were meant to be listened to. I’ve gotten to relive my childhood and appreciate these songs so much more than I could’ve imagined.❣️🍁 📌 The full list of Songs as Books pairings will be pinned in the comments.🫶🏻🧣🍁 💭Q: What are your favorite songs off of Red?

autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place 🍁❤️🧣 💭Q: What book are you looking forward to reading this month? 🍁a recap of the last 2 weeks🍁 📚 What I’ve been reading: 🍂The Year of Magical Thinking: 5⭐️ 🍂The Answer Is No: 5⭐️ 🍂Taking Initiative: 4⭐️ 📺What I’ve been watching: 🧣Little Women (2019) - it’s a must this time of year 🫶🏻 🧣Finished Killing Eve, which was good overall, in spite of season 4 🥲 🧣Finally watched Stranger Things, after years of being pestered by my sister. It’s safe to say I’m obsessed and cannot wait for s5! 💘What I’ve been loving/ doing: 🍁Finished a Halloween puzzle 👻🧩 🍁Lots & lots of baking 🍪 🍁Made a quilted heart coaster, which is episode 6 of The Cozy Hobby Diary & will be up soon🪡💕 🍁Putting together a craft corner in my room, which is slowly coming together! 🍁Working on the RED TV songs as books post 🧣

1 Book 1 Quote ✍🏻💙📚 It’s officially Non-fiction November, and I want to share some nonfiction book recommendations with a tag that I created last year! I know many of us read for escapism; to find comfort in other worlds so far from our own. But I think it’s equally important to dive into real world stories. To step into the shoes of people who exist or have existed, and read about their journeys and experiences. While not always comfortable, there’s shared human emotions we can find ourselves in, and the one’s we can’t, always grow our ability to empathize. This is also your reminder to go out and vote today, if you haven’t already, because voting is also a practice in empathy. You’re not just voting for yourself, you’re also voting for the kind of world you want to live in, alongside others, and the one you hope to leave behind.💙🫶🏻 ✨How the 1B 1Q tag works: Recommend a list of books by sharing your favorite quote from each book. My list is down below in order of slides! 1. Becoming 2. Tuesdays With Morrie 3. Little Weirds 4. The Third Gilmore Girl 5 You Could Make This Place Beautiful 6. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World 7. Conversations on Love 8. Know My Name 9. The Year of Magical Thinking 10. Year of Yes

Author Appreciation Post ✍🏻💓🔎 Anytime I’ve been in the mood for a cozy, feel-good, and heart warming book, Freya Sampson’s books have delivered. Her stories always have lovable protagonists and side characters that create a strong sense of community, which usually includes the found family trope. This and so much more has made her a comfort author for me. I can’t recommend her books enough.🫶🏻💘 📚Books: ✨The Last Chance Library - 4.5⭐️ ✨The Lost Ticket - 4.5⭐️ ✨Nosy Neighbors - 4.5⭐️ 💭Q: Do you have a comfort author?

Book Review📚| Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors 💙❤️‍🩹⛈️ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (swipe for a playlist, synopsis, & some of my favorite quotes) “Lucky is twenty-six-years old, and she is lost. In fact, all the remaining sisters are. But what they don’t know is this: As long as you are alive, it is never too late to be found.” How does one continue living while missing a part of themselves? When phantom pain recurs and they’re reminded every day of what they’ve lost, how do they make it to the next day and the next after that? The Blue sisters are grappling with exactly this when we meet them. It’s only been a year since they’ve lost their sister Nicky, and they are falling apart at the seams. They are used to being four, and now they are 3. There’s a gaping wound full of guilt and grief where their sister should be. Blue Sisters is a raw, life-affirming, and remarkable portrayal of sisterhood. Regardless of where you fall in your birth order or whether you have siblings at all, there’s something in each sister that is relatable. This, compounded with their different personalities and characteristics, makes them fly off the page. There’s this running quote throughout the book about the way the sisters exist around one another, which is being quick to anger and quick to forgive. Only beginnings and endings, because the middle parts are too painful. As someone who grew up with siblings, but more specifically a sister, I found this deeply interesting and incredibly relatable. The bond between sisters is unlike any other. Add to that a deeply layered and painful family history, and the waters become even more muddied; however, one thing is clear: love is at the root of it all. It is this the Blue sisters keep coming back to, even when it becomes too much to carry. This book is them sifting through experiences, untangling family ties, and deciding what to keep, and what to leave behind. The best way I could describe the feeling this book left me with is with this quote from Grey’s Anatomy: “And people can be broken, sure, but any surgeon knows, what’s broken can be mended. What’s hurt can be healed. That no matter how dark it gets, the sun’s going to rise again.”❤️‍🩹