Heyo Bookaholics!

September has been THE BEST reading month thus far!

I have so much to talk about today!

I have left this post till Sunday on purpose. So much has happened this month that I didn’t even realise it was the end of September until I had an event scheduled on the 24th and became hyperaware of the time.

I’ve done enough today to be happy with my progress, and certainly enough this month to make me proud of the person I am growing into.

The entire point of this post was to be about The YA Page’s monthly writer’s meet up which I try to attend and post about every single month, but since I have been far too organised, planning out every post from now till January 1st, I thought I’d add the monthly wrap-up here too.

The YA Page Writing Meet

The writer’s meet was held on the day of the AFL Grand Final, although we were pretty lucky – in terms of traffic and the number of people in the city – because of the time that brunch was held we missed most of the chaos. We did see some supporters in the cafe, other than that, everything was quite tame and I’m thankful for it.

I didn’t have breakfast to save myself for brunch so me being me ordered what I believe to be the most filling thing on the menu; Chicken Pie.

It was tasty, that’s for sure. Very creamy and fresh. The only reason hungry ‘ol me has photo evidence of the food and didn’t immediately demolish it is because I was slightly shamed into taking a photo (hehe).

Thanks as always to Sarah for taking a lovely photo of us all at the cafe. You can find information and photos on The YA Page’s social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter.

We had a wonderful chat about the novels we are currently working on, ordered enamel pins (curtesy of Lucie @whatlucieisreading), and wrote many words. I managed to smash out a huge 540 words which is the most I’d written since I wrote 3,000 in a day!

Books I Read

September was a phenomenal reading month! It was one of those months where I had a mental breakdown, re-organised my life and made much time for myself, relaxed, also had a week off (aka uni holiday) which really helped my mental state.

Books I read this month in order of reading (right to left) are;
   * Wilder Girls by Rory Power ★★.5
   * Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte ★★★★★
   * Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman ★★★★★
   * Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff ★★★★★ (Review: 30 Sept)
   * Monuments by Will Kostakis ★★★★ (Review: 7 Oct)

Reviews have been linked to the text, and reviews to come will be linked when posted.

I also checked my Goodreads reading challenge and I realised that this month has bumped me back on track!

I only have 8 more books to read to reach my goal. That’s almost 3 books a month!

Books I Bought!

I purchased only one physical novel this month, all the others I purchased this month were on Kindle. I surprisingly restrained myself from purchasing any new novels I didn’t need with the exception of Monuments, The YA Room book of the month for September.

Monthly Highlights!

I started off my month by finishing my to-do list and celebrating with a goofy photo on Twitter. Just from that, I should have known that September 2019 would be an amazing month for me.

I’ve become super self-aware, making time for myself, organising my time better, creating (aka knitting & journalling), exercising & listening to my skin by switching up my diet. I also had time to relax and took plenty of opportunities to meet up with friends.

Here are the highlights & events that made this month wonderful!

Wilder Girls Book Meet-Up!
Started off the monthly events with the wonderful YARoom and friends at Readings in the State Library to discuss our book of the month.

Meeting Will Kostakis!
I also had the pleasure of meeting Will Kostakis, listening to him ramble and having my copy of his novel signed by him.

Starting my 6-week fitness course (Boxing, Yoga, Circuit Training)
My best friend and I started a 6-week training course and so far it’s been amazing! This month alone we’ve done a boxing class, yoga and circuit training; the last one being the most painful and rewarding class.

Uni week off
We had out mid-semester break in the middle of September which helped me sort my life out, take a break and have some time for myself. I also got back into knitting and I do that when I’m taking my time out, watching YouTube or winding down for the night so I don’t feel guilty for not being productive.

Photoshoot with Cherry from Trueheart Photography
Cherry from Trueheart Photography asked my boyfriend and I to be a part of a photoshoot for the branding on her website. It was such a fun time! I would 100% do it again! We just got the photos and have to choose 3, the only issue is that I love them all and really can’t choose *insert comically distressed face here*.

BookTube Dinner
Kat @stars.and.embers organised a dinner for a few bookish gals to catch up after Vidcon as not all of could attend the meet-up she’d organised at Vidcon. There was a small group of us and we talked about everything from anime to boobs. It was so much fun and I got to meet Grace from G-Swizzle Books on YouTube! Her BookTube chanel is linked above and is so much fun to binge-watch 🙂

Quitting Milk for Soy and seeing my pimples eff off
As someone who usually has clear skin, pimples annoy the sheit out of me, so realising that my beloved dairy has been breaking me out was really sad. I have stopped drinking milk, but I can never say bye-bye to my lovely cheese.

Feeling overall good about my uni progress and inclining mental health
This one is an overall win for me. It just hit me one day, like a sense of calm washed over me and I realised that things are going well. I am feeling so much more positive about my progress at uni but also how I am going socially, meeting up with friends and putting just that little bit of extra effort into friendships and projects has paid off.

The YA Page Writer’s Meetup
Lastly, the entire point of this post and highlight of my month! Meeting up with my girlies at Mr. Tulk for a soy latte, yummy brunch, writing time and of course a healthy amount of socialisation. I always love hearing the stories that everyone is working on, hoping that one day I’ll have their finished novels on my shelves.

How was your September?? As you can see I like to only focus on the positives of the month and not dwell on the negatives unless I can learn from them. I hope October brings you love and joy xx

Leave your opinions in the comments or alternatively on my social media channels!
Instagram // Goodreads // Twitter // YouTube .

See you back here on Monday’s (book reviews), Wednesday’s (storytime/ writing updates) and Saturday’s (other bookish content).