Monthly Rewind: September 2017

It's all about those beginning-of-October, end-of-September posts this week, and here's another one for you, my monthly recap of September.

Here's what I read this month:

- They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera
- Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
- Nejma - Nayyirah Waheed
- Before I Let Go - Marieke Nijkamp
- The Princess Saves Herself in This One - Amanda Lovelace
- The Gifts of Imperfection - Brené Brown

I didn't really like any of the novels I read this month. I thought Adam Silvera's book was very gimmicky and not really genuine, Long Way Down was boring and weird, and Before I Let Go was bizarre and super problematic. I was disappointed in Nejma after loving Salt, but fortunately loved Amanda Lovelace's collection, The Princess Saves Herself in This One. I also found The Gifts of Imperfection very fascinating and enlightening. However, overall, September was lackluster in terms of reading. Fortunately though, I started The Hazel Wood at the end of the month and it is definitely breaking my 3-star reading streak.

What were my most popular posts?

I was surprised by what my most popular non-Bloggiesta-related posts were this month, because they were reviews. Reviews are usually low view days for book bloggers, but that has not been the case for me this time around. Apparently people were really interested in reading my reviews of Wicked Like a Wildfire and They Both Die At the End, neither of which I liked. I guess my strategy of titling my posts as something other than XYZ: Review on the blog and on Twitter links is helping.

Another popular post was my list of the best books I read over the summer. One of my lifestyle posts was also popular, in which I wrote about things I've done well this year. Looking at it again, I feel like I need to get back to doing these things because my stress levels over the past couple weeks have made me not do any of them as well as I had been. 

What else happened this month?

September has been a very stressful month for me. I've been getting used to my internship at the library and struggling with the confidence to put myself out there, but I think I'm calming down about that a little and feel ready to tackle what I need to do this month. I was also super overwhelmed by starting my retail job since I have no prior experience in retail, but that has turned out to be fine and I feel much more comfortable there and perfectly able to do the job well.

I've also been dealing with some tough friendship issues that have really shaken me and made me feel overwhelmed and super emotional most of the time. I've struggled to make friends since graduating college, and now it feels kind of hopeless and pointless to even try because I know I want to move to either Virginia or Baltimore eventually to be with my boyfriend, and if that happens soon, there's really no point in making more of an effort to make friends. I also don't live in a place with a lot of people my age, so it's kind of impossible anyway. Dealing with my issues with this particular friend has been especially hard since we used to talk almost every day, and without that friendship I just feel really alone.

Here's to hoping October is less emotional and stressful.