Hi everyone! I know it’s been a bit since I’ve shared my favorites. It’s been a busy couple of months and the newsletter just slipped my mind. But I thought I would share some favroes and a bit of news and some top moments from the past months (and starting it off differently than usual!)
SALE NEWS!!!! 50% OFF! So starting today (december 15th-January 1st) all my books are up on sale through smashwords end of year sale (even the dark romance preorder) if you are interested in some spice with a little drama go check out my books that are on sale here for 50% off!
Top news from the past few months (like three if I’m counting correctly): October, November and that start of December all were great. Because I went to a concert each month. Starting off in October. If you remember my favorites from prior months I had listed Sleep Token as music favorites. Whelp, I managed to actually get some cheap resell tickets for their second to last gig of the 2023 fall tour. (which is saying something because if you are a Sleep Token fan and are watching the resell amounts now that are coming around for 2024 dates they released like 8K for one ticket should not be a legal amount you should be able to put up for one single resell ticket). But that’s besides the point. I had general admission balcony seats and I dragged my dad along with me. He was skeptical at first until they got on stage and he actually liked it. And I’ll definitely be going to see them again in 2024 (if ticket prices aren’t too wildly priced).
November, the bittersweet end of KISS. Went with my mom to the Hollywood Bowl to see them. They were great. And I cried like a baby on the encore song of Beth (and so did my mom). It was a great concert and Hollywood Bowl was a great venue for them sound quality was great.
December, Forum, Stevie Nicks. Again took my mom to this one. Stevie Nicks played some Fleetwood Mac songs and alot of her own solo songs as well. Once again cried when she played Landslide and dedicated it to Christine Mcvie. She also did a cover of Tom Petty’s song, Free Fallin’ in dedication to him (cried during that as well).
All in all, 3 concerts in 3 months. And I couldn’t say that isn’t just the best way to end 2023!
Fiction Book Favorites: this is going to be quite long, since this is going back to October! (the links provided are affiliate links, so if you purchase through this link I will receive a small commission)
Carving For Cara: A Dark Romance Novella (Wrecked Series Book #1) By Dana Leeann, Melissa McSherry. Obviously read this during October. Now far warning on trigger warnings this is very dark and graphic and gorey. I won’t get into the trigger warnings but I definitely would look them up before reading this book. I’m not gonna spoil anything but whew, that ending even kinda got me a little queasy.
Haunting Adeline / Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton. Yes, I also read these during October. Again very triggering to people so I would look them up before attempting to read this duet series. I previously read Hunting Adeline last year but I couldn’t really remember details so when I saw that there was another book I did a reread. As well as reading the prequel called Satan’s Affair that goes more into a side character that is introduced in the first book, Sibby. Definitely recommend reading the prequel first and then getting into book one. That one as well is very dark and gorey as well, fair warning. There is supposed to be a book series coming up about her more (since she does appear in the 2nd book more as well)
Acotar Series By Sarah J Maas. This is a rereading for I think the 3rd time around. I blame tiktok/booktok but also now i’m prepared for her January release that is coming up so that’s something. Always love me some fantasy/romance, always, always.
The Ritual by Shantel Tessier. Again tiktok/booktok got me onto this. There are trigger warnings and religious implications mentioned. Please look them up before reading. Dark romance. And there are a few more books I will definitely be reading at some point in 2024 for sure.
Fourth Wing / Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. Enemies-to-Lovers for sure. Fantasy, romance, DRAGONS. Like I heard all this stuff about Xander on tiktok (yes you can see a pattern there can’t you?) and I had to check it out. Now I’m impatiently waiting until I believe December 2024 for the next book since the 2nd book ended in a cliffhanger.
Other favorites: If you follow me on instagram I’ve already hinted at adding other favorites and since I’m on tiktok so much I have come to find a few tik tok creators that I end up watching their live streams. And no i’m not into gaming alright let’s get that straight. I came for the attractive guys and stayed for the wholesomeness of their videos and their content. They just so happen to be COD cosplayers. First one is Death, love him. He’s a ghost cosplayer and hes absolutely adorable. Does unboxing videos from his p.o. Box and does cod cosplay videos with audio and other videos really recommended. Total golden retriever energy when it comes to his livestreams showing off his niknaks that he collects. Also his lives playlist is one of my new faves to listen to while writing (he has it listed in his linktree)
Other one is Nik, again another COD cosplayer. Always watch his lives as well. Again does COD cosplaying audio videos. Fun fact he knows asl (american sign language) and during his livestreams he always shares a new sign to teach people. It’s really cool and a fun time all around everytime he does a livestream!(also has a couple playlists listed through spotify, another set of playlists that i’ve been listening to while writing!)
If anyone has recommendations for other tiktokers, comment them
Writing updates: what I’m assuming you guys wanna hear about. It’s just been a hella busy 3+ months for me. I started back up taking classes for a certification for office work. I’ve been trying to apply for a year+ for working for cities and school districts around my area and I can’t get passed the application process without showing proof of units, so that’s what I’ve been kind of busy with. Classwork. A Lot of classwork. But thankfully as of writing this I’ve completed 6 classes and applied for 4 more for spring semester. Never intended on going back to school but here we are and I’ve always liked the routine of it so that’s something. Nanowrimo, I completely failed. Only wrote 18K? Something like that. But that is still work towards the first draft of A Deal With A Demon, so I’m still happy that I have some progress happening. Worked on a couple fanfics in the past couple months, started a sleep token x reader fanfic as well on my wattpad and that’s garnered some attention quickly and the response has been great so far!
Yearly writing total: (since I’m writing this in December I might as well share it with you) 36,173. In the grand scheme of things that’s not as much as i’ve written in past years but since this year for a good 3+ months I was kind of depressed. I’m just surprised that I even wrote that much at all considering how much of a worldwind 2023 has been!
Goals for next year: I’ve been taking into account how crazy this year has been and I know I can’t definitively say I’ll be getting everything done that I hope in 2024. But I know that 2024 is going to be focused towards drafting A Deal With A Demon & editing the first draft and starting the process of alpha readers and beta readers on the project. There is also a goal of mine to get back into youtube, share my writing journey with people (who knows how busy I’ll be between school, work and writing tbh but its the thought that counts). I also want to again work towards being active once again on social media. Through using HB90 system in the spring of 2023 I did build a following on tiktok and I want to get back to sharing my progress on there as well as instagram once again. I love interacting with my followers on both platforms.
Do you have any favorites of the month you want to share? Comment them below!
xoxo,
Jessica Danielle