My Most Anticipated 2024 Releases! (ft. venturing outside my comfort zone) 🎂

hello everyone and welcome back!! HAPPY NEW YEAR 🥳🎊 i hope you and your loved ones have been enjoying a restful and joyful holiday season 💞

i did it again—i disappeared off the face of the planet 😶‍🌫️ between my academic woes (the worries i expressed in august were fulfilled hundredfold) and my plans for the future that were unexpectedly foiled and had to be remade, it’s been a rough few months. my mental health has not been great, but God has been guiding me through it every step of the way ❤️‍🩹

all of which to say, i’ve unfortunately needed to put blogging on hold and i suspect there might be more short-term disappearances in the near future, but i really wanted to write a few posts to put a wrap on 2023 and check in with you all 🫶

because with the new year comes a year’s worth of new books… 19 of which i’d like to talk about today 🥰 (yes, i’m also very bothered by the fact i couldn’t find one more book to make it a round number 😐) this year, i want to start reading outside my comfort zone, so you’ll be seeing a lot more of literary fiction and otherwise unfamiliar genres on this list 😚

without further ado, here are my most anticipated releases of 2024! 💖

Abby’s Autumn Almanac (ft. fall book recs, tbr, music, & shows) 🍂

hello everyone and welcome back! in the time since i last posted, summer has long taken its leave and fall is now officially in full swing 🥹 to mark the occasion, i wanted to write something celebrating my favorite season. fall, for me, is the season of new beginnings, the accompanying self-doubt, shedding leaves, beautiful colors of nature, crisp winds, and cozy reading time. i wanted to ramble about my fall-specific book, music, and k-drama recommendations with you all, which is how i ended up writing this autumn almanac 🤗 for my equator and southern hemisphere friends, this post may not be entirely relevant, but i hope you enjoy the recommendations nonetheless 😅

so without further ado, here’s the post!

The Month(s) in Books: June-August 2023 🌼

hello everyone and welcome back! don’t ask me how, but we’ve already arrived at the end of august 🥴 summer has really slipped away into a moment in time (i’m sure you’re all sick and tired of the “august” references—i promise this is the last one until next year 😆). today, i’m back with a wrap-up for the past three months of reading, watching, and listening; i feel like these multi-month wrap-ups are going to officially become a regular thing for me, so you know what that means!! settle in for another long one 😙

The Functions Book Tag ➗

hello everyone and welcome back!! 😚 i hope august has been treating you all well 🫶 how are we already halfway through the month of living for the hope of it all and never needing anything more?? as for me, I’ve been spending my days commuting back and forth from the city for my internship, agonizing over my personal statement, and trying to keep myself out of a reading slump by bouncing between two books—namely, Les misérables (fahnestock & macafee translation) and happy place. both are going splendidly, although only the former is living up to its title 🥲

Happy Disability Pride Month (2023 Edition)! 30 More YA Books with Disability Rep 🤍

hello everyone and welcome back!! giving myself a pat on the back for posting three times this july 😙 today, i’m back with a very special post, because it’s that time of the year again—disability pride month!! 🌷 i posted my original list of ya books with disability rep exactly two years ago, and the sheer amount of love i received on that post made me 1) want to cry 🥹 and 2) realize that there’s nothing more effective for spreading awareness in this community than giving book recommendations 🫶 so here i am again!!

disability pride: accepting, acknowledging, and celebrating the uniqueness that every individual brings to humanity. even as a non-disabled person, disability representation means a lot to me, because what does it say about our society as a whole if we cannot embrace and honor the differences that affect so much of life for so many people around the world? it’s impossible for someone non-disabled to fully understand what the disabled community goes through on a daily basis, but what matters is that we try. the act of trying seems small, but it’s the most miraculous thing of all—and that isn’t a sentiment exclusive to this particular discussion.

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag (2023 Edition) 📆

hello everyone and welcome back!! we are officially halfway through july and it is a cruel(ly hot) summer here where i live on the east coast ☀️💘 i’ve been trying to sneak in a bit of reading in between doing my internship and procrastinating on drafting my personal statement (someone please hold me accountable 😭), and i’ve already had some amazing reads this month! today, i wanted to talk a bit more about my favorite books of the year so far with the mid-year book freak out tag—thank you so much to the lovely eleanor for tagging me a couple of weeks ago 🤩

as of writing this, i’ve read exactly 20 books, which is eight more than this time last year 🥳 i’ve started and finished two trilogies, started two more, and dnfed one book so far. the genres have been pretty eclectic, so can’t wait to ramble about them today!

so without further ado, here’s the tag!!

Taylor Swift Songs I Associate with My Favorite Book Couples (part 2, ft. more weirdly specific lyrical parallels!) 💌

hello everyone and welcome back! hope everyone’s been doing well and enjoying their summer/winter ✨ today i’m back with the long-delayed part two to this post, where i rambled on and on about the taylor swift songs that i associate with my fave fictional couples 💗 i’ve been living vicariously through youtube videos of eras tour footage for the past couple of months and i’m super excited for speak now (taylor’s version) coming out july 7th 🥹 but until then, i’ll be sticking to fantasizing about random book quote-song lyric connections—which is my official transition into part two 😉

The Month(s) in Books: January-May 2023 🌷

hi everyone! how have you all been? long time no see 🫶 life has been so hectic these past few months and i’m so glad i finally have the time to write something. thank you all for your sweet comments on my blogiversary post—i haven’t had the chance to respond to them, but rest assured that i have read (and tried not to cry over) them 🥺

but for today, i have five months’ worth of reading to update you all on!! i considered just saving the massive wrap-up for the middle of the year, but i was in a rambling kind of mood, so here we are 😆✨

3 Years of Beyond the Read! (ft. so much love and thanks) 💜

hello everyone and welcome back—i hope you’ve all been well! i really had the audacity in january to say that i was going to post every month this year, huh 🫠 what can i say, march was a long haul of a month and time just kind of ran away with me hanging on for dear life 😅 i’m currently on spring break (happy belated easter to those who celebrate!!), which is still kind of stressful because it marks the official dawn of ap studying season, but i’m so glad that i have the time to pop back in here and write something!!

that brings us to the topic of the post today: this month marks beyond the read’s third birthday 🎉 i am completely lost as to how it’s already been three years since i hunkered down in my room during the covid-19 lockdown and decided to take the plunge in making a wordpress account. it feels like only yesterday when i published my first post, heart in throat at the prospect of reaching even an audience of one person. and now there’s almost 400 of you following me 🥹

We Need to Talk About Fang Runin & Chen Kitay (the friendship that ripped my heart out and stomped on it)

hello everyone and welcome back!! someone tell me how it’s possible we’re already through february 😐 and no i did not forget about my january (or february) wrap-ups, contrary to my previous track record! it’s just that i’ve been dealing with a book hangover of the highest degree and quite literally cannot bring myself to do anything but wallow in my emotions. so today, i’ve decided i might as well wallow online with you all! 😚

you’ve all read the title: the books in question are the poppy war trilogy by r. f. kuang 🥹 i’ll talk more about the books themselves in a moment, but the whole point is that i find myself unable to move on from the heartbreak of this trilogy, and i’ve decided to write the most random discussion post to try to cope with it—specifically about the friendship between rin and kitay. chen kitay and fang runin are the tenderest, most precious, most emotionally devastating pair of platonic soulmates i’ve ever had the misfortune of getting attached to; as the title of this post implies, they ripped my heart out, shoved it back in, and smashed it into pieces 😍

full disclaimer that this post is basically a mess of brain vomit and a quote dump… please don’t expect too much coherent thought and please do expect a preposterously high word count 😭 without further ado, please welcome me into my emotionally unstable era!!