May 8th, 2022

I can't believe it's already May. Did I honestly not post anything for almost two months?! That's crazy. A couple of things have happened since, so let's start with my recap right away!

Current reads:

The Phoenix and the Fae by FD Everly I'm sort of currently reading this ARC. I started reading it a couple of weeks ago and I really liked it, but lately I'm more in a writing than reading mood. I'll probably finish it sometime this month.

Books I read + recommend:

April has been a month or rereads. I reread Boyfriend Material (I love this one so much and I can't wait to read Husband Material!), Red, White and Royal Blue and all four Heartstopper volumes. Have you already watched the Heartstopper series?? It's so perfect🥺 (Go watch it now if you haven't!)

Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson

Shaun David Hutchinson was nineteen. Confused. Struggling to find the vocabulary to understand and accept who he was and how he fit into a community in which he couldn’t see himself. The voice of depression told him that he would never be loved or wanted, while powerful and hurtful messages from society told him that being gay meant love and happiness weren’t for him.

A million moments large and small over the years all came together to convince Shaun that he couldn’t keep going, that he had no future. And so he followed through on trying to make that a reality.

Thankfully Shaun survived, and over time, came to embrace how grateful he is and how to find self-acceptance. In this courageous and deeply honest memoir, Shaun takes readers through the journey of what brought him to the edge, and what has helped him truly believe that it does get better.

REVIEW:

I think one of my shortest reviews on Goodreads must be the one for Brave Face: "Everyone should read this." About two weeks ago, I told my bestie about my 'experience' of reading this memoir and how messed up I was after, and I started thinking about it. I still think it's a book everyone should read, because it's so important for people to realise what they are doing when they say or do stuff to make other people's lives really, really hard. But please take the trigger warnings seriously (there are a few throughout the book, so it's really easy to skip parts if necessary.). But yeah, it's such a good book. Everyone should read it 😉❤

WIPs:

Ailene (Ailene #1): I'm still editing and probably will keep doing that for a while. I've decided to publish Ailene in May 2023, so I can do everything without stressing too much. Sometime soon I'm going to start working on the cover, so it's all really exciting!

Purpose (Ailene #0.5): I finished my first draft!!! Writing Purpose was SO MUCH FUN! It's less serious than Ailene, with more jokes and stuff, so I laughed a lot while writing. I can't wait to share it with you!

The Unruly King: So... I actually started writing a new book. Yep, number 3. I'm planning on writing a sequel to Ailene, but I wanted to write another story first. It's not exactly part of the Ailene story, but in a way it is part of the Aileneverse, because it's a book my Purpose characters are supposedly writing.

Confusing? I'll try to explain. In Purpose, Jax and Liam are joking around after Liam is (once again) being dramatic:

[Liam, chapter 14:] “Who knows what kind of misfortune I will call upon them if I do?”

Jax chuckled. “Now you sound like a character from a fantasy novel. Prince Liam or… Sir Gwilym, knight of Llamalot.”

[Chapter 15]: Liam snorted with laughter. “I’ll remember that, King Jaxen, Lord of the woods, son of… Jack, or Jackin?”

Later on, when they are joking around again, they come up with the idea of writing a book about Sir Gwilym and King Jaxen. The moment I wrote this part, I just knew I had to write the book.

I finished the first chapter yesterday, and I love it already. Unlike Ailene and Purpose, The Unruly King is fantasy instead of science fiction, but it's once again (partly) YA LGBT romance. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Digital Art:

I also made some new Purpose drawings. One of Jax and Liam, and one of Liam alone. They're cute, aren't they? :)

That's it for now. Have a nice (EUROVISION!) week & don’t forget to like this post (by clicking on the heart in the bottom right corner of this post), leave a comment below, and/or subscribe to my blog by entering your email address in the Subscribe Form at the bottom of the page.

Be kind & do good.

Love, Annabel