I had every intention to stream last week, but I fell through on my stream schedule due to a very long “quell well” (work week).

I also thought I would be up to streaming multiple days this week, but then I forgot to take my afternoon dose of antidepressants today.

So to be on the safe side, my stream schedule this week is just going to stay at one day.

I thought about teasing an impromptu stream on Thursday or Friday, but I’m not sure how missing a dose will affect me this week.

I also have a fair bit of stuff to complete on Friday for work and for errands, so it’s also probably best to take the day for myself.

So for now, my stream schedule continues to stay at one day.

I hope to see you Saturday for some more Sims and brunch!

Upcoming Plans

Next week, however, will be a bit more streaming, hopefully!

I have Friday off of work (trying to use up PTO instead of lose it), so I’m contemplating a Thursday evening stream.

I’ll also be participating in ThanksInternet’s Charity Stream on Friday April 29!

(You can find her stream schedule image in the tweet below.)

Next Friday I'll be live for 24 (to 30) hours raising funds for Trans Empowerment Project!

This is our first charity stream this year and I'm so excited to be able to do a 24 hour stream for such a deserving cause.
We have lots of amazing guests – I can't wait! pic.twitter.com/UbVD1an15V

— thanksnternet (@ThanxInternet) April 19, 2022

I don’t think I’ll stream while active on her channel, but I would like to try and raid in to the start of her event.

I should hopefully have more details about games and times when I’m ready to post next week’s stream schedule.

I’m chancing a stream schedule post today because I’m feeling better with my medications.

Granted, I have a psychiatrist appointment tomorrow, so she might want to change things again.

I think I’m going to refuse this time, though. I’ve had enough jerking around with meds for now.

Normally I try to keep my streams to one of three days. But this work week is a busy one.

I also don’t have the weekend available for stream because I will be spending it with Manthing.

So I decided to stream on a day that I might not normally—Friday! And it’ll be DBD shenanigans.

Friday night DBD just feels like it will hit the spot after this work week.

I hope you’ll come hang out! Don’t forget to follow my Twitch so you get notified.

Upcoming Plans

Website Rebrand

I mentioned a bit ago that I’m contemplating rebranding Gamer Girl Confessions to just Chestnut Plays.

I’m still a bit waffle-y about the choice, but I’m leaning towards the rebrand.

Chestnut Plays is just an easier URL to type and to remember.

Right now I’m still doing some research on how to handle it mindfully and not destroying everything I’ve created over the past eleven years.

Which, honestly, is not something I thought heavily about when I moved from Blogger over to WordPress. Unfortunately.

More Posts

I’m trying to create a bit more content lately so that this doesn’t turn into just a random stream schedule website.

That would be boring for y’all. And for me, honestly.

But I just haven’t had a lot to talk about. The only media I am consuming on a regular basis are books.

And writing a book review for every post would be boring to me. Or at least, it’d get old after a bit.

Especially since book reviews take some thought. I can’t make micro-posts out of them very well.

Before we dive into April’s TBR stack, let’s look at what I read in March!

In March I read twelve books: six audio books, five ebooks, and one physical book. I also DNF’d one ebook.

• Magpie’s Fall by Allison Pang (3 stars)
• The Diviners by Libba Bray (re-read, 4 stars)
• Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 5 stars)
• Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James (3 stars)
• Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 4 stars)
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (re-read, 4 stars)
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (4 stars)
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (4 stars)
• Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 4 stars)
• Bacchanal by Veronica Henry (2 stars)
• Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (DNF, 1 star)
• The Thing Beneath the Stairs by Heather Elizabeth King (5 stars)
• River Marked by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 4 stars)

So for March I read another four books as a part of my Mercy-verse re-read and eight of the remaining books were on my TBR list for the month.

Library Run

This month I plan to pick up quite a few books from the public library for various reading challenges.

• Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch – This will be a re-read since I want to continue the series. I’ll also be using it as a part of the Creating Camelot Readathon hosted by Creating & Co. It will also fulfill a prompt for the It’s Only a Game Reading Challenge by Creating & Co.
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan – Believe it or not I have never ready any Percy Jackson novels. I feel like I’m a bit behind the curve with them. So I figured now was as good a time as any to start reading them. It will fulfill prompts for two reading challenges: Into the Bookverse 2022 Reading Challenge, and the Creating Camelot Readathon.
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – This is the group read choice for the Creating Camelot reading challenge. Though it’s been on my want to read list for a while.
• Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes – I added this book to my TBR stack to fulfill prompts for multiple reading challenges as well, including the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge and the Spring Reading Challenge from Creating & Co.
• Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn – I picked this one up initially for a prompt in the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge, but it will also nicely fit a prompt in the Creating & Co. Spring Reading Challenge.
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – Iron Widow was added to my TBR stack as a part of the 12 Challenge but it will also fulfill a prompt for the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge.
• Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo – I initially picked out this book to read for the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge, but it will also fulfill a prompt for the Creating & Co. Spring Reading Challenge.

Shop My Shelves

The rest of the books I plan to read this month are ones I own (whether new to the TBR stack or not).

• A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon – This is a carry over from March’s TBR stack.
• Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark – This is another rollover from March’s TBR stack.
• Shadow Fall by Erin Kellison – Yet another book from March’s list.
• 3 Months to No. 1 by Will Coombe – I swear this is the book that never ends. I am absolutely determined to finish it this month so that it doesn’t show up on any other monthly TBR stack posts!
• Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson – This was a birthday gift from my brother over a year ago now (maybe two). One of my goals to get my reads down to a manageable stack is to work my way through all of the comics I own, whether I use them as a part of a reading challenge or not. However, I will be using this for both the It’s Only a Game Reading Challenge, and the Creating Camelot Readathon.
• Wayward Vol. 1: String Theory by Jim Zub – This has also been sitting on my comics shelf for a while so I added to the monthly TBR stack as a part of the Creating Camelot Readathon.
• Bound in Stone by Stefanie Simpson – Have to add on yet another monster fucker book for the month that is not a carryover from March’s TBR stack. So that means this one! Which is also fulfilling prompts as a part of the Into the Bookverse Reading Challenge, as well as the It’s Only a Game Reading Challenge.
• Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – This will be a re-read, but I want to tackle the whole series this time instead of waiting. I’m also using it for prompts in three different reading challenges: the Level Up Reading Challenge, the It’s Only a Game Reading Challenge, and the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge.
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse – I had wanted to read this one last year but never fit it in. So I used it to fulfill prompts in the Into the Bookverse Reading Challenge, and the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge.
• These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong – This will be a re-read for me as a refersher for the second book in the duology. It will also fulfill a prompt for the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge and for the Creating & Co. Spring Reading Challenge.

New Purchases to the TBR Stack

I may have gone a bit overboard with eighteen new books to my library. But at least I’m sort of zooming through the ones I own right now?

• The Secret of Dragonhome by John Peel – I could write an essay on this book. It was a purchase back in 1998 (when I was in elementary school) during Scholastic Book Fair week. And it was pretty much my gateway into fantasy of all types. I still have the copy I bought back in 1998, but it’s taped together because I’ve read it so much that it started falling apart. So I felt like I had to get it on Kindle. I will be reading this one this month for prompts in various reading challenges. And just because I want to.
• Elemental: Shadows of Otherside by Whitney Hill – Urban fantasy own voices by a black author? Hell yeah!
• Handjob for Mortals by Dani Harem – What can I say? I’ve been in a bit of a paranormal smut kick, and this was a 99 cent buy.
• The Slayers of Dragonhome by John Peel – I don’t plan on reading this for the month of March, but it’s getting adding to the TBR pile meaning it will show up probably sometime next month. It is the second book in the Dragonhome series and I have never read it before.
• The Siege of Dragonhome by John Peel – The final book in the Dragonhome series that I have also never read. It is also getting added to the TBR meaning it will also probably show up as a read for next month.
• The Emerald Tablet by JM Hart – This was one of those freebies Amazon offers that sucked me right in.
• Girls of Might and Magic by Various Authors – This was an anthology I saw cross my feed on Goodreads and it looked intriguing. I love anthologies beacause it helps introduce me to new authors I might like without having to completely dedicate myself to one of their books immediately.
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris – This has been on my “want to purchase” list for a while, and one of my co-workers was raving about it when we had some time to BS at the end of a meeting and I figured why not grab it?
• Steampunk Fantasy Adventures by Various Authors – As I just mentioned, I quite enjoy anthologies of novellas and/or short stories. However, this one ups the ante with five full-length steampunk fantasy novels! I’m looking forward to it!
• Cleopatra’s Dagger by Carole Lawrence – I’m pretty sure this one was the Amazon First read for the month of March. It was the only one that even mildly piqued my interest.
• The Goddess and the Crane by Cailee Francis – A sapphic shifter romance novella? HECK. YES. In my cart it went!
• Teach Me by Olivia Dade – This is one of the books I plan to read this month for challenge prompts, including ones in the It’s Only a Game Reading Challenge, and the Creating & Co. Spring Reading Challenge.
• Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong – As I mentioned earlier, I plan on re-reading Our Violent Delights (the first book) as a part of challenges, but also just so I could get into this one. I’m so excited! I despise Romeo and Juliet, but this retelling is so much fun so far!
• Love, Laugh, Lich by Kate Prior – Like I said, I’ve been in a bit of a paranormal smut kick.
• Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray – I made sure to pick this audio book up so that I can add it into my rotation between Patricia Briggs’ books. I’ve also heard that the rest of the books in The Diviners series are even better than the first. So I’m looking forward to it!
• Whispers in the Woods by K.C. Carmine – Another shifter romance novella. I like supporting authors that come across my Twitter feed, but also have interesting options, okay? Also LGBTQIA2S+ rep in this one!
• The Love Con by Seressia Glass – I stumbled on this one through Goodreads and it looks SUPER cute and fun!
• Queen of Shades by Eli Hinze – Another Amazon freebie that screamed “grab me!”. So I did.
• The Druid by Jeff Wheeler – This was my choice from the Amazon First reads for April. Not sure when I’ll get to it, as I’m not particularly in a high fantasy mood as of late.

Earlier this week I pondered over on Twitter why I couldn’t find a daily planner to meet my needs for a structured look at the day.

If you don’t already know, I’m a big proponent of the bullet journal method. You could say that I’m always nerding out about the bullet journal.

I started using one in late 2016 to test it out, and by 2017 I was using it daily.

And I continue to use one daily to this day. However, there’s just no easy way to draw in a week-at-a-glance schedule that has timings for as long as I need it.

So of course, I bemoaned my situation on Twitter. A few folks made suggestions like the Stalogy (which I already use as my B6 size bullet journal), and the various Hobonichi options.

But I couldn’t think of ways to use the Hobonichi, outside of the timed weeks, that weren’t duplicates of what I already do in my bullet journal.

So I did some YouTubing and brainstorming, and I think I’ve figured out a way to make use of it. As such, I’m now nerding out over it.

My bullet journal will remain my “main carry” as planner folks would say.

It’s my to-do list with access to a not-time-blocked weekly overview and month.

And it houses all the minutiae that I need to dump out of my brain on a daily basis so that I can continue to work as unhindered as possible.

But my new Hobonichi Cousin Avec set (two half-year A5 size planners) is going to help fill in some things that I’ve wanted to do but couldn’t figure out in my bullet journal.

For instance, the monthly at-a-glance page that a lot of folks use as an index?

That will now be replacing the four pages of sales trackers I currently use every month in my bullet journal for my content creation.

The weeklies will be my bread-and-butter section. They’ll be my timeblocked days, as well as house some extra information like holidays and birthdays.

The daily pages will now become a sort of scrapbook meets journal meets art. I guess that’s called creative journaling?

I do journal in my bullet journal right now, but I don’t necessarily have the space within to paste in cute clothes tags I may get on an outfit, or a card from a friend.

These items and more will go in the daily pages of the Hobonichi Cousin.

And I’m actually really excited to just doodle and collage on the blank pages I have available to me.

Are you a stationery or journal fan? Is there anything in that category (stickers, sticky notes, pens, notebooks, etc.) that you’re currently nerding out about? I’d love to hear it!

Normally I would have liked to post my stream schedule for the week on Monday.

However, I’m dealing with some medication changes, and wanted to make sure I was really feeling up to streaming this weekend come the middle of the week.

So far, I think I’m good to go! I’m going to be picking up where I last left off with the Flower Legacy Challenge.

Our second generation heir is now a toddler, and we have some goals to finish for our founder, Rose.

I’m thinking of doing a small Just Chatting segment to start, and then jumping in to chill and cozy Sims.

I hope you’ll join me! Don’t forget to follow my Twitch and turn on notifications for when I go live!

I started playing Dead by Daylight (DBD) sometime in mid-September of 2020. And despite finding it enjoyable, I never really found a survivor that I adored.

In DBD, suvivors and killers each get unique perks that can be learned by other suvivors or killers. Killers also get unique powers.

DBD survivors, however, end up being purely cosmetic once you’ve unlocked all of the perks (since they have no special powers).

Once I started getting to a spot where I could treat my survivors more as a cosmetic skin rather than the skills they came with, I couldn’t really find a character that I wanted to “main”.

Folks that play DBD seem to gravitate towards at least one survivor character that they tend to play. Even to the point of never playing any other character or outfit.

I’ve always just kind of round-robined my survivors. When Yun-Jin, and then Élodie came to the game, I played them a bit more often than the other survivors.

But I still didn’t have a survivor that I really would call a main… until Mikaela came around.

Mikaela Reid

Mikaela Reid was introduced to the lineup of DBD survivors on October 19, 2021 with the release of the “Hour of the Witch” mid-Chapter DLC.

With her introduction, she brought a new mechanic to the game: boons.

In DBD, there is a mechanic around totems. The idea is that since the beginning a killer can use a perk to “light” (or hex) the totem and get a very strong skill to put pressure on the game.

Survivors can “cleanse” totems, thus rendering the associated perk obsolete for the rest of the game. It’s a risk/reward kind of thing. But that’s all survivors have been able to do—cleanse totems.

With the additiona of Mikaela, DBD survivors could now make use of the totems for their own benefit with new skills to “light” (or bless) the totem.

This mechanic addition really called to me. I found it fascinating since it plays to my more altruistic gameplay of assisting fellow survivors.

Not only that, Mikaela is a red-headed witch. Absolutely sold! Until Mikaela, I’ve never thought to Prestige any of my characters.

Well, that’s not fully true. I’d thought about doing it with either Yun-Jin or Élodie, but there was no burning desire to do so.

Mikaela changed all that. The only thing that could have made it a million times better is if she had a larger body-type.

We have Jeff with his dad-bod… why can’t we get a chubby female-presenting DBD survivor that has more meat than just the sterotypical gaming additions of tits and hips?

Yun-Jin Lee

Yun-Jin Lee was added to the survivor lineup on March 30, 2021 with the “All-Kill” Chapter DLC.

Yun-Jin called to me just with her lore. She is very closely tied to the Killer (The Trickster) that also released in the same DLC, which is somewhat of a first for original content in Dead by Daylight.

She very much could be a killer in  her own right; she is no innocent like some of the other survivors have been in DBD.

While she had not yet murdered anyone herself, she protected The Trickster (the artist Ji-Woon Hak) and kept the murders she knew he was behind a secret all in the name of protecting her career.

That’s a big step from gray into black. And this called to me. Plus, she’s just downright stylish.

Élodie Rakoto

Élodie Rakoto joined the plethora of DBD survivors on December 1, 2020 in the “A Binding of Kin” Chapter DLC.

What drew me to Élodie was also part of her backstory—the fact that she is akin to Indiana Jones.

Élodie is an occult investigator, driven to find the thing that took her parents from her.

In order to obtain information and resources to track the thing down, she starts working for someone called “The Collector”, and obtains magical artefacts for him.

I mean, it sounds quite a bit like Indiana Jones to me.

One of the other things I like about Élodie is that she knew one of her fellow DBD survivors (Felix Richter) canonically before being brought into the Entity’s realm. Which I think is a first.

And of course, like Yun-Jin, Élodie is an absolute fashionista.

Monday means a stream schedule post! I plan on streaming Saturday with some cozy Sims 4.

I want to get some time in with the Flower Legacy Challenge family!

This past week got out of hand more than I thought it would.

I was dealing with some dosage changes to my antidepressants, and it made streaming well beyond my capabilities on Saturday.

Good news is that I’m being brought back down to the dose I was initially on (and doing well with), so I’m hoping that I’m leveled out for streaming this weekend.

If I still don’t feel 100%, I would like to try going no-cam, or even trying a no makeup stream, before having to cancel.

We’ll see how I’m feeling, however, before I make a final decision.

Be sure to follow me on Twitch and keep an eye on my Twitter for any stream schedule updates.

Website Rebrand?

I’ve been putzing around with this whole blogging thing for twelve years, now, and all of those years have been under Gamer Girl Confessions.

But I think it’s time to bite the bullet and rebrand. I use Chestnut Plays everywhere else, and I’m thinking of changing the blog URL/title to align.

That way I don’t need a separate site that just boasts links and a bio, and redirects here for all my actual content.

I’m not sure when the switch will happen, but when I officially change the URL I’ll let y’all know to update your links.

I will still be keeping the Gamer Girl Confessions domain, however, as a redirect to the new URL.

I’ll probably also put a “formerly Gamer Girl Confessions” in the header image as well.

Have y’all ever rebranded your content after years of using your current name? I’d love to know how it worked out for you!

February has come and gone, and it’s time for March’s TBR stack. But first, February’s recap!

In February I read six books: three audio books, two ebooks, and one physical book.

I also DNF’d two books, both of them physical.

• Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 5 stars)
• Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 4 stars)
• A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier (4 stars)
• Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (re-read, 5 stars)
• Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison (re-read, 4 stars)
• Stalked by the Kraken by Lillian Lark (5 stars)
• Murder in Wizard’s Wood by Michael J. Allen (DNF, 1 star)
• The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young (DNF, 2 stars)

Three of the books I read were a part of my Mercy-verse re-read.

The remaining five were all on my TBR list for the month. Look at me go!

Library Run

I didn’t get to the library borrows and Kindle Prime rentals last month, so some of these are from February’s TBR stack.

• Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James – A rollover from February for the 12 Challenge.
• Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – The other rollover from February’s TBR list for the 12 Challenge.
• The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch – This one is new to the TBR for the month, but is also a part of the 12 Challenge.

Shop My Shelves

A large portion of these are from February’s TBR list, but some are also new for the month.

• Shadow Fall by Erin Kellison – I did not get to this one as a part of the Make Waves Readathon like I wanted to, but I do plan to spend time getting to it this month.
• Magpie’s Fall by Allison Pang – I almost finished this during the Make Waves Readathon, so I’d like to just finish it out and hope the third book comes out eventually.
• 3 Months to No. 1 by Will Coombe – Last month I figured that I’d have this on my list again for March. I’m hoping that I finally get through it. It’s tough to read when I’m still getting through stuff I already know just by figuring out SEO plugins like Yoast and RankMath on my own.
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – I want to finish up my Creating & Co. Winter Reading Challenge, and since spring doesn’t start until March 20, I figure I’m good to sneak it in since I’m already a quarter through. This is a carry over from last month.
• Bacchanal by Veronica Henry – Another read for the Winter Reading Challenge I carried over from last month’s TBR stack.
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – I’m looking forward to this one so much. It is also a carry over from last month’s TBR list for the Winter Reading Challenge.
• The Diviners by Libba Bray – The final carry-over from February, and final book for the Winter Reading Challenge. I’m about 80% through the audio book, and I’m looking forward to picking up the next one.

New Purchases to the TBR Stack

I did better with new purchases this month! I got eight books off my list (including re-reads…), and only added eight more!

• The Witches’ Almanac 2022-2023: Issue 41 – I initially picked this up from the library, but felt it would be much more useful to purchase and read throughout the year, as well as use the included information.
• Zoey Matthews, the Undead Ghost, and the Demon by Heather Elizabeth King – I thought this looked super interesting. And as I’ve mentioned before, I’m really trying to read more diverse authors within my favorite genres. So this fits the bill!
• The Thing Beneath the Stairs: A Tale of Horror by Heather Elizabeth King – I’ve been looking for a short horror novella to read, and this looked like it’d fit the bill. This is what led me to finding the Zoey Matthews book, actually. So I figured I’d add it to my TBR stack for March’s reading choices. I’m using it for one of the prompts in Creating & Co.’s Level Up Reading Challenge.
• A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon – When I found out this had some tentacle smut, I had to pick it up and add it to my TBR list for March. I’m going to be using the book for a prompt in the Creating & Co. Spring Reading Challenge.
• Deceived by the Gargoyles: A Love Bathouse Monster Romance by Lillian Lark – I loved Stalked by the Kraken so much that I had to add the second book in the series to my TBR stack for March on principle. I’m also going to be using it for a prompt in the Creating & Co. 2022 Reading Challenge.
• Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade – As soon as I saw Olivia Dade tweet that the third book in the Spoiler Alert series was available for pre-order, I picked it up. I won’t be able to read it until November, but I will gladly wait. I will also probably re-read Spoiler Alert and All the Feels in October to hype myself up.
• Spirits and Spells by Michell M. Pillow – I saw this come across my twitter feed as a 99 cent deal, and grabbed it. Then I realised that it wasn’t the first book in the series… so I had to grab that one, too…
• Love Potions by Michelle M. Pillow – The first book in the afore mentioned series. It’s currently free on Amazon, so if you’re interested, be sure to pick it up.

I ended up needing to take off January and February, but I’m back with a new stream schedule for the week!

I’m really trying to get back into it, even if it’s only one day a week. I miss it something fierce.

This week I’m only going to do one day because I have quite a few meetings at day job this week as I wrap up some projects.

I’m hoping that this bodes for a bit of a more normal work load so that I can get back to streaming more than once a week.

But I’m not going to try to push myself too hard or too fast—I’ll take it one week at a time.

So be sure to follow me on Twitch and keep an eye on Twitter for any updates!

Content Goals

A while ago, I mused on a schedule that I wanted to use for the blog.

Since then a lot has changed.

I’m no longer just blogging; I’m also trying to stream and put out YouTube videos because I miss doing both.

So here’s a sneak peak at what and when I’d like to post SFW content (at least for March and April).

• Monday
  • Stream Schedule blog post (here)
• Tuesday 
  • Possible stream night (Twitch)
• Wednesday 
  • n/a
• Thursday
  • Blog post (here)
  • Possible stream night (Twitch)
• Friday
  • YouTube video (ChestnutPlays)
• Saturday
  • Sims/Story Saturday (Twitch)
• Sunday
  • Blog post (here)

Saturdays also end up including adult content. Now, will I always stream on Tuesdays and Thursdays? No.

But the days are there as options depending on what’s going on in my life and at work.

I know that it doesn’t necessarily look like a lot in schedule form, but that’s not including a lot of backend and admin work for all of my content.

It also doesn’t include all the daily exclusive content on my Fanhouse and adult subscription sites.

Wednesdays are pretty much my only “day off” content because I have therapy, and it’s date night with Manthing.

Do you have a set schedule for your content endeavors? Has it changed any over time like mine? I’d love to hear about it!

I’ve never really been someone that has a sweet tooth.

I don’t really crave candy or sweets on a regular basis. I mean, I have a bunch of candy bars just sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten.

It’s just not something we had in the house often as a kid, and it’s a habit I have continued as an adult.

Until recently. Lately, Twix have just been hitting the spot. I’ve never quite been a fan of them before.

But there’s something about them now that’s just… divine.

I’m going to chalk it up to finally watching the newest season of the Great British Bake Off.

If you know, you know.

Nerding Out Over Romance Books

I’ve mentioned before that my favorite genre of books is paranormal romance.

There’s just something about a werewolf or a vampire or a shifter falling in love with a witch or a human or a… well, you get the idea.

But lately, I’ve found myself getting more into contemporary romance as well (and I’m trying out historical romance again).

The last time I really read a romance novel outside of paranormal (before starting this contemporary kick in the last year) was probably back in the sixth grade.

My mom let me read one of her romance books because I liked the cover.

It was long and I found it absolutely boring. So it swore me off all other kinds of romance except the fantastical creatures kind.

But this past year I dabbled into contemporary romance with Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert since it was nerdy and featured a fat woman as the main character.

And I was not disappointed. But I thought it may have been an outlier of enjoyment. Until I picked up Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur.

It was a group read pick for a reading challenge I was participating in. But I was more open to giving it a try since it was a sapphic relationship.

I enjoyed it immensely. And it started opening my eyes to a world of romance books that weren’t actually like the romance book I’d read back in the sixth grade.

This year, I have a lot of romance books I want to read. And I think it’s because it’s a great way to escape the current environment of the world.

So I’m looking forward to nerding out over more romance novels and hopefully starting to share a review here or there for the ones I enjoyed.

Nerding Out Over a Spring Reading Challenge

Creating & Co. has just released their newest reading challenge for Spring!

One of my favorite things to do when I find a new reading challenge is to plan out the books I would like to read based on the prompts.

I love reading challenges because they give me ideas for which books to pick next out of my collection that I haven’t yet read.

Every so often they also let me pick off of my (even larger) “want to read but do not own” list of books.

I thought since I had fun nerding out over planning out my list yesterday that I’d share it today!

You’ll also see these titles pop up in my TBR Stack posts the next few months.

Explanations for why I picked the books will also be in those TBR Stack posts.

• Prompt #1: Published in Mar/Apr/May – A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon.
• Prompt #2: Floral Cover – Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark.
• Prompt #3: Clocks/Time Travel – Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes
• Prompt #4: Save the Earth – Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
• Prompt #5: Yellow Cover – She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan
• Prompt #6: New (to me) Genre – The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
• Prompt #7: Spring Into Action – Rat Queens: Sass & Sorcery (Vol 1) by Wiebe & Upchurch
• Prompt #8: Siblings – Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Prompt #9: Small Town – Teach Me by Olivia Dade
• Prompt #10: Title Starts with T – These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
• Prompt #11: Secret Club – The Ravens by Kass Morgan & Danielle Paige
• Prompt #12: Group Read – I don’t know what this one is, yet.