I keep asking these questions everywhere and to everyone but someone please tell me, is August really already over? How is it already September and we’re counting down the last few months left of 2022? It really beats me how the year has gone so quickly. August was my last full month in India and it was busy with photoshoots, travelling to Goa for a getaway from city life and to Agra for the Taj Mahal. What a time it has been and I can’t believe that as I’m writing this right now, I’m already leaving tomorrow evening!
Was this trip everything that I had hoped it would be? Yes and no. I think there were definitely challenges that I didn’t expect to encounter (naively) and the life things that I (also naively) thought I’d miraculously figure out in three months of being here were obviously not figured out. But in many ways I feel like I’m also going home feeling more motivated to work on myself because I’ve had to really step out of my comfort “one-person-cave” zone more and push myself to be a little more social and reconnect with myself from a time when I was less socially anxious and happier to engage with others. I’m also going home wanting to keep up with this momentum of taking better care of myself both mentally and physically so I’m taking that as a big win!
I had grand plans for my reading in August and I’m gonna come right out and say that it was not what I planned it to be. I ended up reading 16 BOOKS and compared to previous months, there were quite a few misses. Focusing on the positive though, I discovered three new favourites and they were my five-star read, plus, I also completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge of reading 150 books in 2022! In terms of blogging, though I had my usual posts published, I hardly engaged because I’ve been away from my laptop more than anything. I’ve been feeling guilty about that but I’m hoping to get back to ‘normalcy’ once I get back to Indonesia this month—sorry, friends!
**BOOK COVERS are linked to Goodreads. The TITLE TEXT is linked to my review if available!**
5 pandas
(ARC) The Drowned Woods
(ARC) Belladonna
4.5 pandas
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting
4 pandas
(ARC) Royally Not Ready
(ARC) A Venom Dark and Sweet
3.5 pandas
(ARC) The Dragon’s Promise
(ARC) The Decoy Girlfriend
2.5 pandas
to 
1 panda – 2 pandas
(ARC) Not Betting on Forever
- Jordyn @ Birdie’s Book Nook: Is it Time to Upgrade Your Kindle?
- Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole: Let’s Talk Bookish – All about Ebooks
- Kal @ A Voracious Reader: How to Manage ARC Stress & live your best bookish life
- Maria @ The Character Study: One or Multiple POVs?
- Chris @ Biblionerd Reflections: ARC Review – Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
- Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm: Bookish Box Tea (Pt 1): The Stalking Jack the Ripper Edition
- Suhani @ Random Reader’s Rambles: Unpopular Opinions Book Tag ft. Suhani’s controversial thoughts on your favorite books!!
- Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog: 5 Tried and Tested Ways to Get Yourself Out of A Reading Slump
- Sam @ We Live and Breathe Books: Top Ten Tuesday: Back to School
- Nicole @ Thoughts Stained with Ink: Let’s Talk Bookish: Blogging Balancing Act
That’s a wrap for August, friends! What was your top read this month? Did you discover any new all-time favourites? I hope September will be a great month for everyone. Happy reading, friends! 💜
dinipandareads 
ahhh i’m so glad you had a great full month in India!! i also loved belladonna, it’s such a good book! thank you for sharing my post💜💜
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India was definitely a fun time. I can’t believe the months passed by so quickly there though! I hope you have a great month ahead, Kaya 😊
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Wow! What a fun looking trip. I love all of the pictures!
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Thanks, Deanna! 💜
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Thank you for sharing my Babel post! I’m glad you had a good trip. It looks like it was a lot of fun and recharged you somewhat for the things to come when you get home. I hope you have a safe trip back to Indonesia!
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Your review had me so excited to finally be picking it up. I’ll be buddy reading it next month and I’m SO READY (though probably not because it’s gonna emotionally wreck me, lol)! 😂
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I am so happy to hear all that you learned from your trip. I hope you have a good transition back and that you can keep that forward momentum. Sounds like a rather wonderful and life changing three months.
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Thanks, Sam. It’s definitely been an adjustment being back. It’s not even been a week yet but it almost feels like I never left but it’s kinda weird being back too. 😂 Let’s just hope this forward momentum carries on!
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I loved your pictures, Dini, and it sounds like you had a wonderful time in India. Three months to reflect and take care of yourself is wonderful. I agree, I can’t believe it is September already. I need to get to Drowned Woods and need to check out your review. Have a wonderful week.
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Thanks, Carla! It was definitely a fun time and it went much too quickly. I hope you enjoy The Drowned Woods—it’s such a fun and action-packed read. I hope you have a fabulous September 🙂
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While you might not have accomplished everything you set out to do, it sounds like you had some major wins!! I hope you’re able to carry over the positives back into Indonesia with you.
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Yeah, definitely some major wins and it’s good to remind myself of that on the days I still feel a little lost 😂 But it’s all a process, right? I hope you have a fabulous September, Ali!
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Glad you had a great time! The photos are beautiful. 😍 I hope you have a safe travel home and everything gets worked out for you. ❤️
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Thanks, Joanna! It’s been weird being back but also nice 😂 I hope you have a great September!
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I hope you have a fantabulous September, Dini!! Thanks for the shout out!
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Thanks, Jordyn! Same to you 💜
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Your pictures look so colorful and lovely! It seems like you had a great trip. I also can’t believe we’re already September, when did that happen?
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Thanks, Lindsey! It was definitely a lot of fun 😍 I also don’t even know how it’s already MID September this week? Where does time go!? 😂😭
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Despite some of the challenges, I’m glad you still did enjoy your trip. And actually, YAY for being away from your laptop. While I get what you’re saying in feeling bad you didn’t connect or visit other blogs, it’s also good to be more present with friends or your trip. 🙂 That’s always a good thing.
And I’m with you! HOW IS AUGUST OVER!?
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YES! I’m a big fan of disconnecting from technology (sometimes, according to everyone else, a little too much of a fan cos I go totally MIA, lol) but it was nice to absorb nature and just BE. 😊 And yeah, I have no idea where time is flying this year. It’s already mid-September this week and it’s like HOW?
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Your trip makes me want to take a vacation right now lol…it’s been that kind of “I need to get away” kind of month. But I love your photos and glad you got time to at least step out of your comfort zone, it’s great! You read some amazing books – a few on your list are books I’m looking forward to reading! Have a nice September Dini – and yes…how can we almost be near the end of the year?! 😩
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Ah, I’m sorry to hear that it’s been that kind of month. I hope you get to have a vacation (staycation?) or just a short break sometime soon to recharge! I hope you have a fabulous and relaxing September, Yolanda! 💜
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I definitely need one!
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Like I don’t know? This whole year seems to fly on by? Maybe because we are out more again now compared to previous years with covid.
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Haha, yeah, this year is just like *blink* and GONE. 👀 Don’t even know how when the start of the year felt like it crawled by but I guess it do be like that sometimes? I hope you have a great September though, Annemieke!
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[…] Monthly Wrap Up: August 2022 […]
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Beautiful pictures! It looks like an amazing trip. This year has flown by, hasn’t it?! I’m happy to see you enjoyed Belladonna! It just showed up in my book subscription box yesterday. 🙂 Happy to see you enjoyed Signal Moon, as well. Happy reading in September!
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[…] Monthly Wrap Up: August 2022 […]
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