Montly Rewind: August

I  am SO SAD that August is over! It's one of my favorite months but this year, especially, it was just wonderful. I'm also truly upset that it is September and classes are in full swing! I was so excited to return to college but I forgot a lot of the stress associated with being here and I'm really feeling it now, which is a bummer. I hope to have some great posts out this month, namely a guest post that I am head-over-heels in love with and a review I feel really proud of, but I mostly hope I can find time to read in-between my busy schedule. *fingers crossed*

3 Things About My Life This Month

1. I returned to Wellesley! It's a completely different experience to return to college than it is to move into college as a first-year student. I arrived on campus two weeks before the start of classes for Student Leadership Training and it was amazing! My best friend has been on campus all summer, working at Admissions, so it was so, so nice to finally reunite with her and we spent the better part of those two weeks glued to the hip.

2. Student Leadership Training & Orientation! Student Leadership Training was one of the most inspiring weeks to spend at Wellesley because I was surrounded by motivated, engaging students who were just incredible. I really love my Residential Staff team this year and I just know it's going to be a great year since I'll get to work with them. But, honestly, nothing beat the rush of Orientation. Not being a first-year for Orientation is the best decision anyone can make because it's SO MUCH FUN! We celebrated some of the best Wellesley traditions, got to know the first-years, and it was my first time running workshops and helping students in my leadership role, which was so rewarding. Long story short, if you're a college student considering becoming a Student Leader, you should definitely do it! It's a sacrifice to give up two extra weeks of summer but it's also so, so worth it!

3. My Birthday! So my birthday was during Orientation week this year, like last year, only it was on Registration Day instead of Placement Exam Day (so an improvement...). I was exhausted with all the work I had to do as a Student Leader on my birthday but this was one of the most special birthdays I've had because people went out of their way to really make me feel loved. My best friend decorated my door with hot men (because...HOT MEN!) and my House President actually delivered a cake to me that she decorated! It was so unbelievably sweet of them and I'm so lucky to know such lovely people!

Top 3 Books I Read This Month

1. Burn by Paula Weston - I loved this finale to Weston's Rephaim quartet and if you haven't already picked it up, I really cannot recommend it more. It's just so, so good--please read it!

2. Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White - I typically don't enjoy White's work but this was really the exception to the rule because it wound up being so good. I stayed up all night to read it and just really, really loved it.

3. A tie between After the End by Amy Plum and The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick. I enjoyed both of these books a lot, and in different ways, but they also forced me to alter my expectations quite a bit so I feel as if I'd have truly fallen for them had I had different expectations prior to picking them up.

3 Most Popular Posts This Month

1. ARC Review: A Wish Upon Jasmine by Laura Florand - Florand is one of my favorite romance authors of all time and I really loved her latest novel. Her books are all set in France, which is pretty much all the motivation I ever need to pick them up. Because France.

2. Monthly Rewind: July - I'm so glad that my first Monthly Rewind post got so much love!

3. Review: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler - Easily my favorite book of the year, The Summer of Chasing Mermaids is so near and dear to my heart. Look out for a guest post and giveaway by Sarah Ockler later this month!

Post I Wish Got a Little More Love

My review of Kiersten White's Illusions of Fate because it's a novel I didn't expect to enjoy but it completely blew me away and is a spectacular stand-alone fantasy novel that features diversity and is devoid of insta-love and love triangles, which are all wins in my book!

5 Posts I Starred in my Blog Reader This Month

1. My Indian Parents Are Huge Fans of Cultural Appropriation, Even While My Generation Finds it Appalling: This article is basically MY LIFE and explains a lot of the struggles that Indian American children struggle with. On a related note, I cannot tell you the number of times I've rolled my eyes at a "yoga" class and people haven't understood that I'm not criticizing the exercise but rather that I'm incensed at the "Namaste" and "Om" that are thrown about as Westerners try to pass off "yoga" as part of my culture when, seriously, the "yoga" you are doing is NOT the "yoga" from India. (I know that may be hard to believe, but as someone who was born in India, I can confirm this.) You can read more about the differences between Western Yoga and actual Yoga at this post, if you're interested in stopping the spread of cultural appropriation currently happening!

2. 30 Things I Didn't Do Until I Turned 30: I'm not even close to being thirty, but this post struck a chord with me. Kate is a travel blogger who has visited over fifty countries in her short life--she is so cool! Yet, there were still so many things she hadn't done with her life until she turned thirty; many of them normal, everyday things. And though I read her blog, often with envy at not having traveled to the exotic locations she has, this post made me realize that there is so much I can still do before I turn thirty--and even after.

3. Podcast: Episode 30 (Season 3, Episode 4) - "We Have Some Things We'd Like to Say": I loooove the Clear Eyes, Full Shelves podcast, so if you're not already listening...listen! In this episode there are so many important book industry issues discussed, from portraying people of color accurately in literature (and other sources of media) and the flaws inherent in marketing, namely the onus on readers to buy books when publishers simply aren't marketing the way they need to.

4. On Male-Dominated Spaces and Internalized Sexism: This post basically validates so much of why I attend a women's college. If you ever want to talk to me about my experience at a women's college (or want me to write a post about it) let me know because I absolutely LOVE my college experience and definitely want to encourage more women to consider women's colleges.

5. 10 Things Women In Their Twenties Need to Stop Worrying About: This is a Buzzfeed post but I love how Buzzfeed really tries to push the ideals of feminism while being firmly in the zone of more rights for both men and women. Anyway, I loved this piece and though I'm not in my twenties yet, it's still so applicable.

Obsession of the Month

I've been really obsessed with this mashup of the song "Lean On" with an old Indian song, "Rangeela" (which means colors). It's fantastic and I've been dancing to it all around campus. Oops!

Something I'm Looking Forward to Next Month 

Family & Friends Weekend! Since last year was my first year at Wellesley, my entire family drove up and spent the weekend with me here. But this time, it'll be just my mom and I'm so, so excited for her to visit so we can split the weekend between Wellesley and Boston! :)