Best of 2021

I always do one of these lovely best of 2021 posts, and admittedly this one is more than a little late, but I’ve been struggling to pick the five books that took my breath away this year. It’s weird because, according to Goodreads which doesn’t include most of my school years, this is the most books I’ve ever read; and at the end of 2020 I felt like I knew exactly which five books were going to make my best of 2020 but that’s not the case this year. Anyway, onto the all-important list letting you know which books I loved the most in 2021!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This book here was the only one I knew was making this list, and it was the first book I read in 2021! Mexican Gothic will probably be the only slow-burn thriller I’ll ever allow into my heart. This book is so atmospheric and tension-filled that it didn’t feel like a slow burn at all, and I think I’ve recommended it to everyone I know. This book will make your skin crawl and your heartbeat a little faster, it’s a truly gorgeous gothic horror.
Goodreads | My Review

The Fever King by Victoria Lee

I read The Fever King webtoon before I picked this duology up, so we’ll count this as a webtoon book crossover edition. I couldn’t put this series down and I fell completely in love with the complexity of the characters, alongside the exploration of trauma and identity within this book. Reading The Fever King and The Electric Heir reminded me of devouring a book at 2am knowing full well I’d have to get up for school in the morning, it’s angsty and I couldn’t put it down for a second.
Goodreads

Vox Machina Origins

This bad boy made the list because how could I not love a prequel about a podcast that took me two-ish years to finish. I recommend listening to season one of Critical Role, or at least watch the Amazon series, to get some context before reading this graphic novel!
Goodreads

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Vampires are back baby! This book is unbelievably chunky, filled with gratuitous violence, and so fantastic. Empire of the Vampire gripped me tight with two different timelines and its vivid world-building, plus the beautiful art from Bon Orthwick made it even better. This book is melodramatic but personally, I feel like this should go hand in hand with vampires and I cannot wait for the sequel to come my way.
Goodreads

Klara and The Sun by Kazou Ishiguro

I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t go into too many details, but this book has such a melancholy sweetness to it. There’s so much nuance within these pages while Ishiguro explores the highs and lows of love through the eyes of an android, it pushed me to think about big philosophical questions through its gentle simplicity. Basically, Klara and The Sun made me cry my heart out.
Goodreads

Well, there you have it! A few honourable mentions go out to Vicious, The Devil Makes Three, and Threadneedle. I read a whole heap of books, many of them were kind of iffy, but here’s to reading way more in 2022.

2021 Wrap-up

This year, as a 2022 treat, I decided to take the first week of January off and delay my usual deluge of wrap-up posts, but we’re back and so you’ll get to look forward to all those lovely best of and most anticipated posts.

It’s been a rather rough year but for once I’m (attempting) to not dwell on the negatives and instead look forwards and toward the future. I’m finally starting to settle into my new role that started in December (a month before Christmas is a bad time to start a new role, btw), but it feels like I at least have an idea of what I need to be doing now. My team are lovely, and the company being based in Bristol has meant that I’ve actually seen my colleagues in person. It’s been more than strange not working with my old team at OUP, and I do miss them terribly, but this new role is definitely making me feel excited about working again.

On the topic of Bristol, I’ll hopefully be buying a place there in the next couple of months, living with my parents for the entire pandemic really did pay off. Back in 2019 buying any sort of property seemed completely impossible on a publishing salary, but saving money is a lot easier without the pressure of paying £700-£800 a month in bills. So here’s to finally, permanently, moving out of my parent’s house!

When it comes to 2022 plans for the blog…there are none. Settling into this new job will likely mean less publishing-related content, as that’s what takes me the longest to write, and instead, I’ll be trying to post more frequent book reviews! I’ve loved writing in-depth about my career the past few years but it can be a little exhausting, I’m not feeling overwhelmingly positive about the publishing industry right now, and I’m trying to not let my anger seep out into my content but it’s chipping away at my soul. Expect more books and more costume breakdowns for 2022 instead, with a sprinkling of publishing talk mixed in. As always, if you have any questions about the industry that you think I can answer, the best way to get hold of me is via Twitter or via my email!

Instead of my usual here’s what I posted in December, I’ve picked a few of my favourite posts from 2021.

Review: A Touch of Darkness* | Review: Mexican Gothic
Prioritising in a Publishing: Trade, Impact, and Monograph
Webtoon has taken over my life | Career Changes: Publishing Post
One Year Working from Home: Publishing Edition
Review: Blackheart Knights | Review: The Other Black Girl

*Hilariously Google loves this post and it’s beaten The Publishing Masterpost in views this year. I’m quite grumpy about it tbh.

July ’21 wrap up

In my June wrap-up I talked a little about all my grand plans for July, but instead I fell into Genshin Impact hell with the new update and have been stuck there ever since. It’s a wonderfully addictive open world gacha game and I’ll accidentally lose half a day playing it so it’s a bit of a love-hate relationship.

I also finally managed to have a fabulous solo adventure to London, it was technically supposed to take me off to the country, but I couldn’t resist the call of museums, mochi, and taiyaki and it was lovely. Turns out Londonin a pandemic without international tourists was a whole new experience, and I actually managed to get a seat on a rush hour tube!

Post-wise it’s been another quiet month but here’s what I got up to:

June wrap-up | Review: Blackheart Knights
Academic Marketing Assistant: What do I do? | Best of 2021 (so far)
Publishing Work Experience Master Post: July Update

What I read in July

This month I really crushed it on the reading front, even with my descent back into The Folk of the Air series hell and picking up Fangirl for the millionth time. I read two excellent graphic novels, although Loki: Agent of Asgard had so many references to a Thor comic that I’m probably going to have to pick that one up too.

Hilariously I don’t think I’ll be reviewing most of these because reading just for enjoyment is a thing, but hopefully there’ll be a review of Rhapsodic coming your way soon.

From left to right*
Loki: Agent of Asgard | Blackheart Knights | The Iron King | Through the Woods | The Cruel Prince | The Wicked King The Queen of Nothing Fangirl | Rhapsodic | Any Way the Wind Blows | Heaven

June ’21 wrap up

Well hello there, it’s been a while and I haven’t posted much this month. Work has been more than a little wild and I’ve found myself a little burned out, so unfortunately the blog has taken the hit for me. I had lots of grand plans for June but hey now we get to enjoy them in July instead!

Over the coming months I’ll be updating a few of the older Publishing Posts with Part twos, including my posts about Upskilling, Remote Interviews, and an update to What I do as a Marketing Assistant to reflect my new role. I thought it would be interesting to show just how different two roles can be despite the job title! There should also be a fair few book reviews coming your way too because I’ve got a bit of a backlog and I’ve been reading way too many TikTok books lately.

Review: The Other Black Girl
Why are some publishers hybrid working proposals so inflexible?

What I read in June

June has been a slow reading month for me too, as I’ve been pulled into the easy to read world of fanfiction again. Sometimes you just need the comfort of characters you already know vs something new, but I’m going to attempt to pull myself of the bottomless pit that is Archive of Our Own.

I read one really lovely translated short story collection about ghosts, and two books that TikTok told me to read. A Court of Silver Flames was painfully long and needed an editor to really cut it down to size, and Burn is pretty fun if you like the whole alpha male spice trend going on at the moment.

Covers from left to right*
Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyoko Nakajima | A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas | Burn by Suzanne Wright

May ’21 Wrap Up

It’s June and the weather is finally getting a little better and now I’m too hot, I’m nothing if not consistently British in my ability to complain about our weather. It’s been a weird month, we’ve gotten a whole heap of freedoms back but I find myself rather reluctant to do anything, but I did make it out on my roller skates a couple of times and my ice-skating past really did me a solid.

I read a whole heap of books this month too, or at least a heap for me, and I actually made it through half of the books I bought in a moment of mad kindle panic. It has been a little light on the posts this month though, and there are a few different reasons for that, but I’m going to attempt to bring you some publishing content this month!

April ’21 Wrap Up | Bimonthly Book Haul | Review: Rule of Wolves
Review: Threadneedle

What I read in May

I read a lot of really good books this month. I think at least four of these ended up being five star reads and I like to think I’m pretty picky, but it was lovely to dig into so many good stories across a range of genres.

The review for Blackheart Knights should come out shortly, and it’ll be no surprise that a girl that wrote her whole dissertation around Arthurian myth loved it. My review of the witchy fantasy Threadneedle is already up, and I think I’m going to attempt to combine my thoughts on the Feverwake duology so look forward to that!

Covers from left to right*
Idol by Kristen Callihan | The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang | Threadneedle by Cari Thomas | Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston | The Fever King by Victoria Lee | The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee | Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro | Blackheart Knights by Laure Eve

February Wrap Up ’21

Hi, hello, anyone actually ready for March yet? I cannot believe that February has been and gone, how has this happened. My office in Oxford closed officially on the 23rd of March, so it’s quickly becoming a whole year since I’ve sat at my desk at OUP and I miss seeing peoples faces. I love the freedom work from home has given me, lunch time naps have been a newfound ability that I love, but I miss my independence and friends.

The part I’m finding scariest, I suppose, is the worry of what the heck I’ll do when lockdown lifts and we’re free to move. Work from home allows me to live anywhere, but I’m so worried that moving away from the southeast will limit my career options. I really am hopeful that more publishing companies will be offering more remote opportunities at all levels, but the closer we get to even the vaguest hint of normal the less likely this seems. It’s a real shame because the industry has proved that it can function without forcing people to exist in London, but hey maybe they’ll get there eventually.

Anyway, lets end this little pity part and push on with the wrap-up. It was a quiet month on the blog, but here are the two lovely posts I published this month:

January Wrap-up | Review: Mexican Gothic
Prioritsing in Publishing: Trade, Impact, and Monograph

Currently Reading

My whole getting my “advanced reader copies read” thing didn’t really work out last month. I did manage to read Reaper of Souls though (review incoming), and I started a book I’ve been waiting forever to read Gideon the Ninth so hopefully that review will come out this month too! My copy of Klara and the Sun arrives this week too, I probably won’t be reviewing it but I’m so excited to read another Kazuo Ishiguro book.

To Be Read

So I need to carve out some real time this month to get through arc’s! This time we’re going to focus on Hall of Smoke and The Cup and the Prince, but I really want to make an earnest attempt at There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job before I dnf it. Hopefully, my mental health will improve and we’ll be powering through books and reviews like a beast!

February has been a bit of a mess, but I’m hopeful that as we come out of the darker winter months I’ll feel much better. Vitamin D and longer days really do make me feel better and more productive, so look forward to more from me this month!