Words of October || Wrap-up

Gosh, October felt so long.

It feels like I wrote my last wrap-up several months ago instead of less than a month back. At the same time, October flew by because I was busy doing things and I didn't give myself any "free" day. There are so many things that I want to do at the same time and not enough time for them.

I clearly have a lot to update you on. As usual, grab your favourite drink and settle down on your couch, let's catch up ☕️

books

October didn't start off as a great reading month because I was super busy for the first two weeks (more on that later). The second half of the month saw a bunch of reading, though. I read 10 books—9 ebooks and 1 audiobook. 6 were part of a series that has hooked me in.

A Deal with the Bossy Devil by Kyra Parsi. It was weird in the beginning and I was pretty sure I'd hate it but the book got better as I kept going. I enjoyed the second half of the book enough for it to make up for the beginning. I think there was an idea for the start—to be funny and unique—but the execution wasn't good. The way the characters got together was kinda unbelievable and felt too forced. Their relationship development was nice, though.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley. This has been on my TBR for a while and I was bored of trying new books that I had just heard about so I picked this one from my backlog. The banter in this book was top notch. The insults that the main characters threw at each other were so creative. It was really fun to read. The author made them real enemies who hate each other and very slowly warm up to each other due to an unavoidable circumstance. They're clearly enemies down to the fibre of their being, but that's what makes it so nice to read. I did not know that it was a duology, though. Looks like I'm waiting for a sequel now.

I loved Bride so I've been looking forward to Mate by Ali Hazelwood. Unfortunately, this was a disappointment. I enjoyed barely a few aspects of the book. The romance didn't make sense to me, there wasn't much chemistry between the main couple, and the age gap was bearable only until the plot twist at the end was revealed. What was that plot twist?! Why was it?! I have quite a few complaints with a book. I'm debating whether writing a full review to complain about it is worth my time and efforts.

Two's A Charm by Heather Spellman was my first audiobook in several months. I was painting and finally got bored of listening to music so I tried this audiobook from the Libro.fm catalog. It wasn't bad but it wasn't too great either. The story had a few different angles to it and they didn't go together really well. Half of it was a bit too surface-level enough though it had potential for more details and nuance. The story was ping-ponging between the different topics. The dual POV of the sisters was nice but were annoying many times because of the way the chapters were broken. The do-or-die moment suddenly arrived out of nowhere and it didn't feel well-paced. It gave me some company while I painted but I will probably forget about this book in a few weeks.

Fragile Sanctuary by Catherine Cowles. I've read a couple of books by the author before—Ashes of You was really nice—so when I saw this in the Libro.fm catalog, I had to try it out. I listened to about 10% of the book while I painted. It was a good story but I knew that I'd like it better as an ebook so I got the ebook and read it at night. It was great. I liked the plot, I liked that the characters weren't perfect, I liked that they mistakes, and I loved the Colsons family. The murder-mystery aspect was great. The insta-lust between the main characters wasn't my thing but the relationship growth was nice enough. I loved the Colsons siblings the most so I had to read the entire series.

Delicate Escape by Catherine Cowles. This story was hinted upon in the previous book so I was looking forward to it already. The characters didn't seem like the right couple from the lens of book 1 but I was convinced in book 2. I was most intrigued by the plot. I liked the family and the siblings' group chat even more. I guessed the next couple before they were officially hinted about. I was invested in the villain getting trumped and was taken totally by surprise by the plot twist. I read the book in one day by reading it on my phone in snippets whenever I took a break from work—even if it was just a few minutes to grab a coffee—and quickly finished the remaining 50% at home.

Broken Harbor by Catherine Cowles. I was excited about this couple because we did not get any hint about their backstories so I was curious about the plot. It wasn't as elaborate as the previous two books but the plot was still interesting. I loved the cute kid in this one. I was, again, taken by surprise by the plot twist. I did not guess that. I started this immediately after book 3 and read this in basically one sitting. This is one of the few hockey-player-single-mom books that I did not dislike. This book also showed of the siblings that weren't much in focus before and I loved the family even more.

Beautiful Exile by Catherine Cowles. Could I please be adopted by the Colsons family? I want to be one of the siblings. This book is about the sibling that talks the least so it was interesting to read from her perspective. There was insta-lust again, which I didn't like, but the relationship growth was better. We were back to the elaborate murder-mystery plots too, and I was hooked! I realized a few things while reading this book. 1. Even though I knew the siblings a bit, reading their book is still a new experience because things are super different from their perspective. Kudos to the author for making the stories distinct and keeping the focus steady in each book, instead of over-showing cameos of other couples like a bunch of other series tend to do. 2. Although I guessed a few things, each book's plot twist still took me by surprise. Even the guesses that turned out to be right weren't confident guesses. The author is keeping me on my toes. 3. I love every single person in the Colsons family. They're awesome and pretty badass. I haven't even spoken about the character growth in these books.

Chasing Shelter by Catherine Cowles. I was really looking forward to this book because I liked Trace, the main character. He was always supportive and doing whatever he could for everyone else in the other books so I wondered who helps him, you know? Turns out it was his best friend and the family helped wherever they could, which was awesome. The romance wasn't as interesting as the previous books, it was pretty straightforward, but the mystery aspect was nice. Again, I did not expect the villain reveal at the end. It was so far away from any of my guesses, lol.

Secret Haven by Catherine Cowles. I was worried about this story because I'm not a fan of "forbidden" romances and the main characters became foster siblings when they were teenagers. However, it was done really well and I didn't dislike any of it. The main characters liked each other since before they became siblings which cleared a bunch of issues. There were no "she/he is my sister/brother, this is wrong" annoying monologues. The point of tension—why they didn't get together until now—was something else entirely. Again, I didn't guess the villain in this. After they were revealed, I took a minute to run through the possibilities to guess why and at least I got that right 😂 I usually guess things well in advance so plot twists and reveals don't take me totally by surprise. This series has taken my ego down 🤪

All-in-all, I really liked the Sparrow Falls series by Catherine Cowles. Especially considering how I read most of the books in one day. I will probably read other books by her next. There were a few cameos from other completed series in this and one awesome supporting character's story takes place after this series, which is the start of another series, I think. I don't know how the author is able to write and publish so many well-thought out books so quickly.

Clearly, I'm not reading with specific intention at the moment. I'm following my whims and interests. I may not read at all for a handful of days and then binge-read a series in a week. I'm quite close to hitting my reading goal for the year so I'm not thinking about it at all. It's fun and freeing.

The only thing is that I haven't read a paperback in several months. I decided to see if any of the unread ones on my shelf catch my interest and found mold growing on a few of the books. It's been months since I cleaned the shelf and this city is very humid 😢 I spent an afternoon cleaning the shelf and prepping the books to dry out the moisture. They're currently chilling with desiccants in zip lock bags. I will make an effort to read paperbacks once I've finished cleaning and putting them back on the shelf.

Actually, I did finish one paperback but I don't think it counts as a regular one since it's like a course. I finished The Artist's Way! It's been 6 whole months since I started it and I lowkey feel like I've come far since then. I wouldn't say that the book changed my life or even that I liked all of it. But it did have an impact of me and I took away a few things from it. I've already written posts on my experience of the course for week 1-4 and weeks 5-8. I'll try to write about weeks 9-12 soon.

writing

I barely wrote anything in October. I was super busy in the first half of the month. Returning to blogging from a long break was hard, as usual, and I didn't feel like writing anything for another week. When I finally tried to write, it took me a couple of days to get the hang of it again. At one point, I was so unmotivated to blog that I considered going on a hiatus, even though keeping up my regular posting schedule till the end of this year is one of my goals.

I'm currently working on a super long post about my recent vacation. It's taking me a whole day to write about one day in the vacation so it'll be a while before you can see the post. I have a couple other posts in mind but I'm not sure about when I'll write them. It depends on my mood.

Hopefully, I will get back into the writing flow soon because I'm all out of scheduled posts right now. I've been ahead of the schedule since early this year so it feels a bit weird to not have any post lined up. I had accounted for weeks of no blogging but I didn't account for not wanting to blog even in the second half of the month. I'll have to set a goal of blogging 3-4 days a week—it's the only way I'll be able to keep up with the schedule while writing super long posts.

Considering the above, it might be time for me to change my posting schedule. Maybe not this year because I have only a couple of months left and I'd love to publish 52 posts in 2025 (this is the 42nd post). I want to spend more time on other hobbies and try new things as well. It's hard to do that when so much of my time goes into blogging. While I love writing, I recognize that sticking to what I'm comfortable with isn't a good thing.

I'm thinking about reducing my posting schedule to 3 times a month from 2026. I'm not sure what the exact cadence will be like because I haven't done the math yet. Maybe 1 post a week for the first 3 weeks of each month. It will give me some free time at the end of each month to work on the newsletter and other life admin things that one needs to do. I'll think about it more before deciding on anything.

When January comes around, I'll have been blogging for 10 years! Gosh, it feels surreal. I started on a whim, daily blogged a bunch, switched domains a few times, tried different aesthetics and themes, and now I'm still writing and my posts are only getting longer.

I want to write a special post for the 10th blogversary. I'm not sure what to write yet, though. If you have any topics in mind or requests, do tell! I'd love to hear some ideas haha. Whatever I come up with seems too less or too unrelated to commemorate 10 years of sharing my passions on the internet.

content consumed

Blog Posts

I've been so out of it in October. I barely thought about my blog and I barely read other blogs. I think I read blog posts maybe on 2 days out of the whole month. I read a few good posts on those 2 days, though!

• Hannah shared her 2025 stationery faves (so far) which introduced me to some products which I had not heard of.
• Michelle shared money mindset shifts she made in her 30s
• The Orangutan Librarian wrote a fun post on scary stages of a reading slump

TV Shows

My TV show bingeing came back with a force in the second half of October.

• Spy x Family season 3 is slowly releasing on Netflix. Of course, I jumped at the chance of a new episode without seeing the cadence of releases. One half an hour episode a week is too less 🙁
• I got about 20 minutes into Genie, Make a Wish before closing it. I was intrigued because it had Bae Suzy and Kim Woo-bin and I liked them in Uncontrollably Fond years ago but this drama was way too cringe for me to stick with it. I didn't like any aspect in the 20 minutes that I saw it.
• I binge-watched Reunited Worlds and hated how it ended. I understood the point of the story but I also felt like the person coming back from the dead ruined some crucial things for some people. I hated how Min-ju's role diminished in the second half of the drama. The main character cutting her own hair was a funny quip that lasted 5 minutes but we had to watch her with the bad haircut throughout the drama despite time passing in the plot. As usual with most dramas nowadays, the ending sucked. The villain shows up to apologize out of nowhere, seemingly regretting all his decisions?? Without any push?!
• Romantics Anonymous seemed interested so I gave it a shot. I was super confused in the beginning because I recognised Han Hyo-joo immediately then wondered if I was wrong because she looked so different here, and then I was confused more because she started speaking in Japanese. Was it a Japanese drama? And then she spoke in Korean at one point and I became even more confused. Turns out that it's like a mix of Japanese and Korean dramas. Think of it like a collab. It seemed to be aimed at Japanese viewers who liked Korean plots, though. I didn't like how Han Hyo-joo was a super timid woman with a weird haircut but her growth was nice. The chocolate themes were great. I liked how every episode highlighted a specific chocolate. Unfortunately, they took the Kdrama route with the ending because it sucked. The cousin who tried to backstab the main character suddenly apologised?? What was that about light and shadow?!
• I watched two episodes of Our Generation before losing interest in it. It looked fine but just didn't grab my interest much.
• I started watching The Bureau of Magical Things, a 2018 Australian show similar to fantasy YA novels around that time. Watching it felt nostalgic due to the familiar plot themes but it's also a story I don't know so I'm enjoying it. It feels like to watch a simple teen show which isn't "dark" for no reason.

All-in-all, I watched a lot of TV.

life

The main highlight of October was that I went to Japan! I went for 12 days with a few of my friends from college. It was my longest vacation yet and my first international trip. We'd been planning it for months and it was so cool to be there. Actually, it's a bit weird now to think that I was in a different country with a totally different routine a few weeks ago.

My friends and I absolutely packed our itinerary and were doing so many things and focused on taking everything in as much as possible. We all quite forgot about real life while we were there. I completely forgot about my job, this blog, and everything that I wasn't doing at that time in that country. The trip had its ups and downs but overall, it was amazing. I loved Japan.

I won't say too much in this wrap-up because I'm writing a trip log that will (hopefully) be up soon. It's already about 8k words and I've only written about 4 days so far 🤪 It looks like it will surpass my Margins of the Week post about a wedding trip to become the new longest post. Keep an eye out for the Japan trip log! I also want to write a haul post with everything I bought which will come after that. I have a lot of ideas and a lot to write but not enough time, oof. It's because I'm don't want to give a 100% of my time to blogging, I want to do other hobbies too.

Speaking of other hobbies, I spent a lot of time painting. I had a 3 day weekend due to Diwali and spent all 3 days painting, totally spending about 15 hours on it. I spent another 6-ish hours the next weekend. I'm estimating that I've spent about 35 hours on it so far, already. Maybe more too. It's finally about 90% done!

I thought paint-by-numbers would be easy but I ended up picking one that has way too many details. I'm mostly working with the smaller brushes. Plus, I'm not rushing to finish it because the process is meditative and fun. I love focusing on it, forgetting about other things. I mostly listen and sing along to music while painting but this month I got a bit bored so I listened to a couple of audiobooks.

Although it feels quite tiring after a few hours of painting, looking at what's left makes me want to immediately pick up the brush again. Sometimes it's actually a struggle to stop for the day. The farther along the painting comes, the better it looks and I want to make more progress. I'm really happy with how it's coming along too! I should paint another coat in a bunch of places but it still looks good. Hopefully, I'll finish it in November.

There was a glass painting event at work and I've never tried that before so I joined to give it a shot. I literally sucked. I did not know that the outline has to be super thick and made it too light. I had to redo the outline to make it thicker. By the time I did that, most of the others finished the whole painting with the colours too. I felt a bit like a failure. But it's ok! I tried something new! I'll do better next time! (Yes, I'm trying to reassure myself.)

Now that I'm done with The Artist's Way, I should have a bit more time to do something else. I'll probably spend it cleaning, though. I cleaned my bookshelf after months last week and found mold on 3 books 😭 I am now determined to clean up the other shelf and also my wardrobe. My wardrobe is due a reorganisation and unhaul too.

I should start using my planner again so that I can keep track of all of these things and actually do them. I didn't use my planner on the vacation (of course) and I just didn't feel like picking it up in the middle of the month. I shall start using it now and get my life together.

what have you been upto?

What did you read or watch? Did you go anywhere? How would you describe your October in one sentence (7 or less words)?