It’s a Wrap for 2021 | welcoming new beginnings

Happy New Year!!

Wishing you and your family a very happy and safe year ahead.

As much as I’m happy that 2021 is over, I was a bit hesitant to step into this year. Despite all the sad and negative memories, I ended 2021 with a smile (I’m in denial that Jade Legacy didn’t happen).

While I was happy with my reading goals, I can’t say the same for my personal ones. I couldn’t achieve whatever I had in mind for 2021, but I’ve learnt to take failures in stride.

I had mentioned in my mid-year freakout tag that I wante dto finish two trilogy by the end of the year and I’m proud that I achieved something that I could boast. I couldn’t read any classics that was on my 2021 goals, but plans change. That’s why I’m not gooing to have any fixed TBR for this year and focus on just reading books and enjoying them.

Many of you might have your goals set for 2022 or, maybe like me, will start thinking about them from today. If you haven’t achieved your last year’s goals, don’t worry too much about it. You can look at what you wanted to do and work on them this year. The best part of the new year is to reset and start things fresh.

This post is an overview of what I read in 2021 and some goals I’d like to work on in 2022.

Before we jump to the begin, I wanted to say that there are some books that will be reappearing here. I was so tired and confused to sort my favorite reads and tried to include as many books as I could in this wrap-up.

With that being said, let’s start my quick recap of 2021.

Reading Stats for 2021

• Total Books: 119

• Pages: 47167

I read a lot of Urban Fantasy in 2021. It was a new genre which I was hesitant to explore, and was thrilled by all the stories and the magic system.

Genres Read in 2021

• 10 Books I’m thankful for in 2021

12 of 2021: Monthly Favorites

Top 10 Fantasy of 2021

Reviews:

• Six Crimson Cranes

• Little Thieves

• The Keeper of Night

• These Violent Delights

• Six of Crows

• An Ember in the Ashes

Top 10 YA Books of 2021

Reviews:

• Ace of Spades

• A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

• Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating

• Not Here to be Liked

• Instructions for Dancing

• Kate in Waiting

• Radio Silence

• We Can’t Keep Meeting like This

5 Disappointed Reads of 2021

• I had planned to read more Shakespeare in 2021 but after reading The Taming of the Shrew, I put off those plans for some other time in the future. I couldn’t stand the misogyny in the play and it was no surprise that I gave it 1⭐.

• Making dumb bargains became one of my disliked tropes after reading Lakesedge. It was not like it was terrible but I lost the patience to put up with the mc who came across as someone who had to be the one to save the day.

• if you see the books that I’ve enjoyed in the second half of 2021, it’d mostly be the ones from POC authors or stories that weren’t too popular. Somewhere in 2021, I lost interest in the, so called, popular books because they hardly had anything going on in them like An Enchantment of Ravens.

• While I’ve enjoyed all the books in the ACOTAR series, ACOSF was a disappointment. First of all, I didn’t like that Feyre and Rhysand were stealing Nesta and Cassians spotlight. I felt they were pushed to the background despite them being the main protagonists of this story.

• Caraval was actually an okay read. I was just disappointed that it didn’t live up to the hype or the expectations I had after reading Once Upon a Broken Heart.

Book Series Completed in 2021

• The Mortal Instruments series

• The Infernal Devices Trilogy

• The Dark Artifices Trilogy

I was new to the Shadowhunter world and didn’t know anything about it other than that it was an Urban Fantasy series. 14 books and too many generations later, I’m very familiar with the characters and this world. Reaidng the Shadowhunter Chronicles has been a fun ride and don’t know how many more books I could read in this world.

• The Blood of Stars Duology

Elizabeth Lim became my new auto-buy author after reading this duology. Her stories are fast paced and enjoyable. After reading this duology and Six Crimson Cranes, she became my instant-favorite.

• These Violent Delights Duology

No need to say how much I liked this duology. Chloe Gong is another author whose works I’m eager to read more in the future.

• Caraval Trilogy

I like the Caraval world and a few characters but, overall, this trilogy was very anticlimactic to me.

• The Green Bone Saga

Where do I begin?! This series left me speechless. I was addicted to it and couldn’t put it down for a moment. Definitely worth spending every second reading this series.

• Shades of Magic Trilogy

I didn’t include this series in the image because I read only book 2 and 3 this year. Anyway, I’m glad that I finally finished my most anticipated series in 2021.

Small wins of 2021

• Posting on my booksta was high on my 2021 goals. After changing 4 themes, I have settled with a theme that suits my taste and am happy with the results.

• I also started a small project, Book Bloggers Nook, to promote bookish influencers. I have been slow in sending mails to bloggers but I’ll make sure that there are more BBN posts this year.

• Interacting is hard for me. I begin to worry and question every little thing I write when I’m online, but lately it’s been easier. Though I didn’t engage much in 2021, I have made it a point to interact more here and on other platforms.

Goals for the new year

• 25 Backlist Books on my 2022 TBR

• 6 Sequels I’m planning to read in 2022

• To read more books by Indian authors.

• Get back to setting daily goals.

• To read at least 50 books by the end of this year.

Shows that Kept me Sane in 2021

I couldn’t complete Lucifer and Schitt’s Creek but they were shows I was regularly in the first half of 2021.

Haikyuu is the best show I’ve watched in a while. It brought me out of depression and motivated me to do something again.

I never thought I’d be hooked to My Hero Academia, but here I am. I like where this story is headed to and would like to read both Haikyuu and MHA by fall this year.

I watched 3.5 K-dramas in 2021 and True Beauty was the best of them. It was a surprise. I watched it in December and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was one of those rare K-dramas that was funny with a plot didn’t bore me out.

P.S. Shout-out to every reader who has stopped by this blog and supported me in any way possible. Thank you for all your love and support in 2021🧡