My household is a strong believer in hoarding Christmas movies. Throughout the month of December me and my mum marathon all of our festive flicks and force the cheer onto ourselves. The only problem with this is that we have come across some questionable movies (Christmas Angel comes to mind), but.. yeah, you guessed it, go you! We have also come across some gems that were hidden behind the classics such as Home Alone and Elf. Here is a speedy list of my favourites, be sure to let me know of yours in the comments below!

Christmas Cottage

Well, hello there. Long time, no write. This blog has practically been abandoned for the last few years, the reason being that I've just not been mentally strong enough to write. You could say that I'm in a life slump. It would be easy to blame the pandemic and all the chaos that ensued because of it, but I think it started way before that with the loss of my Grandmother. It sent me into a tailspin of depression and lack of interest to continue doing anything I would normally find enjoyable. I'm doing a tad better these days, by no means am I back to 100% yet, but it's a road I'm going down. So, in an attempt to brighten my days a little I thought I would return to this corner of the Internet and write about what I enjoy - books, TV, food, and life. 

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I did start a booktube channel in 2021. While I enjoy the process of making content and interacting with the booktube community who are all lovely, I'm not yet ready to put myself back on camera. Maybe in 2023! There's no rush. I do everything online for fun, mainly to discuss the wonders that are books. I put way too much pressure on myself to be consistent with uploads but, ya know, why? I'm not trying to make a career out of this and I don't ever plan on making money from it. So in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter if I upload a video once a week or once a month. I refuse to allow my brain to suck the joy out of what I like to do on a good mental health day. 

The point is, I'm dipping my toes back into the world of blogging and I do hope to become more consistent on my bookstagram @branchingpages with daily uploads in 2023. My blog will likely be a weekly thing, but who knows when inspiration will strike? I will write when I crave the escapism and I truly appreciate anyone who reads what I post. The blogging world has slowly died over the last 10 years, but it's still a community of people who put themselves out there and share their passions. It's a beautiful thing. 

As for my reading plans for 2023.. well, that's a bit chaotic. I want to challenge myself to pick up more large books, as that 500 page count always puts me off. I'd also like to read more classic literature in an attempt to tick off a few more on the Rory Gilmore Challenge (I may do a blog post about that!). Otherwise, it'll be much of the same. Readathons, too many depressing memoirs, and whatever I can get my hands on in the library. I have made myself a '12 Books in 12 Months' list, which is a relief as I was honestly debating doing a '23 Books in 2023' one instead, but that is just too much dedication as an avid mood reader! 

The last thing I'm hoping to do is do my own take on booktuber Drinking By My Shelf's Balancing the Books game! I will start the year with 0 books on my TBR either add or subtract as I haul/read. I have far too many backlist books so I'm hoping this'll keep me in check! 

So yeah, it's nice to be writing again though I have most definitely lost my flow. We'll get there! Do you have any reading plans for 2023? I'd love to hear them. 

Until next time,

Premise: April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Taking the timid Hannah under her wing, April introduces her to a whole new world of glitz and glamour. Together they form a close knit group of friends – Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily – but not everything is as it seems. Being the IT girl seems to go hand-in-hand with toxicity for April. So it's no surprise that by the end of the school season, she's found dead. 

Now, a decade later, it has been brought into question whether the man who was convicted of April's murder was actually innocent. Being the main witness to the crime, newly pregnant Hannah begins questioning her own memories and sets on a mission to once and for all find out who killed April.

In the past I've had good experiences with Ruth Ware's books. For me they've always fallen into the category of junk food reading. They aren't exceptionally written and usually fall flat in some areas, but are nevertheless fun to read. And I always devour her books within a short time period. However, The IT Girl didn't do this for me. It instead resembled a dry granola bar that was marketed a fun flavor.

It's hard to explain what felt different about this book without giving away minor spoilers, but a large part of it was most definitely the university setting and Ware's lack of ability to write younger characters. You could quite honestly stick this book in the YA mystery section of a bookstore and it'd fit right in. But while saying that, the 'current day' chapters of the book felt more adult. It often seemed like Ware wanted to go the dark academia route but was instead told she had to make it a domestic thriller. It simply had no cohesive vibe. 

If you've read other Ruth Ware books you'll already know that her protagonists are usually duller than dull. But Hannah took that to another level. She was such an infuriating character to read from, and not in a thrillery 'ooh, she's mysterious' way. She was simply bland. You'd think reading from younger her and adult her would be interesting as surely she's matured even a smidge, but alas, nope. Her character continued to be dumb in any decision making and somehow became more whiny with age?

April, however, was interesting. While yes, she was a very stereotypical IT girl from a thriller standpoint, she did have layers and I was interested in reading more about her character. All the other characters, you ask? One of the same. Think The Secret History character list but without the eerie atmosphere surrounding them.

But what is a thriller review without a non-spoiler discussion on the twist? Well.. it was something. The ending of books has never been Ruth Ware's strong point (unless you're talking Turn of the Key, which I did wholly enjoy), and The IT Girl sadly continues that trait. It was lackluster and seemed to drag on without it needing to.

Basically, if you tend to read Ruth Ware's new releases, you may as well pick this up. It's more of the same. However, if you aren't that familiar with Ware's writing and are just looking for a fun thriller to pick up this Summer, skip this. It's not going to be a memorable read.