11..., Lifestyle

11… Hopes for the New Year

Enjoying Christmas things in Baytown, Texas. | Dress | Shirt | Boots |

I’ve never been one for resolutions. In reality, I’m not even one for goal setting or manifesting. It’s not that I’m unmotivated; I’m actually incredibly motivated and hardworking. I’ve just found that it doesn’t work for me. Resolutions, goals, manifestations are not for me. 

Happiness and kindness are the two driving forces in my life. Every day I wake up and live my life to the best of my abilities by making choices that make me happy and do as much good as I can in the world. At the end of the day, if I have accomplished those, I have lived a good day and that will culminate into a good life. I hope. 

2020 was quite the year. Filled with ups and downs on a global and personal scale. I did what I could to find happiness and create kindness, but I, like the entirety of Earth’s population, am hoping for better things in 2021. 

I missed the usual Christmas traditions in 2020, but I won’t let it get me down for 2021. | Dress | Flannel | Boots | Earrings |
  1. I hope the pandemic is reigned in. For selfish reasons, I want life to get on with it. For global reasons, I want life to get on with it. Everything has been on hold for far too long. 
  2. I hope to see friends and family again. It’s been over a year since I have seen some of my closest friends and family members. Some live far away and others live just on the other side of town. Due to COVID, I have gone without seeing many people for their safety and mine. It sucks, but it is for the best. 
  3. I hope to travel. Knock on wood, 2020 was supposed to be my year of international travel. Shocker: It wasn’t. I went to none of the places I was supposed to. It makes me sad, but at the end of the day, it was for the best. Most of the trips were postponed, a few were permanently canceled. Time will tell when I get to see Europe again. 
  4. I hope for health. The health of the world and myself. As an imuno-compromised person, this year has been tough. I’ll speak more on how I’m ringing in 2021later, but it’s not the way I was hoping for my family.
  5. I hope to be more consistent. 2020 was anything but my finest year of consistency. I managed to let so many things fall through the cracks that I have never ever let fall through the cracks before. I’m ashamed… Kind of. In all honesty, I’m disappointed in myself, but at the end of the day, I just couldn’t make those things happen. In 2021, I want to get back to being the consistent human I was before and even more consistent than before.  
  6. I hope to get back to working. As a freelance writer, COVID seriously affected my income. I’m not complaining because, at least, I’m still working. It has been a very, very slow year for me. As a creative, I was impacted significantly. Luckily, I have a partner who has been able to work consistently throughout the pandemic, so we have not struggled the way other families have. I miss working, though. Here’s to a better year!
  7. I hope to not wear a mask. I will absolutely continue to wear a mask until it is completely safe to not wear one. I am looking forward to not having to need it, though. 
  8. I hope the vaccine can be administered to one and all. 
  9. I hope my puppies continue to grow healthy and strong. They will celebrate their first birthday in March. I can’t believe how soon that is and how quickly this year has gone by. I was so very blessed to have them and be able to provide for their health and happiness. COVID gave me the time to care for them, and for that, I will forever be grateful for 2020. 
  10. I hope to grow my blog. 2020 was incredibly inconsistent for the blog. It grew and shrunk and stagnated. I’m not complaining. I love this part of my life, but I’m hoping to really dive into it in the way I had been wanting to in 2020 but was unable to. I have a lot of books to catch up on reviews. So I hope to have those all published by May. Fingers crossed. 
  11. I hope to continue chasing happiness and kindness. I want 2021 to be filled with happiness for myself and others. I want to spread kindness wherever I go, making the world a better place as much as I possibly can. 
  12. Bonus Hope I hope to get a bunch of projects done in my house. I very much love it as it is, but there are so many things I want to get done, like painting and decorating. I’ll absolutely document my progress as I go because it’s so fun!!!

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Fiction

Finding Christmas Diversity in Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Worth A Read Yes
Length 320
Quick Review Vivian is dragged on holiday to rural, royal England by her daughter. Not only does she get away, she finds love. 

Every December, my reading list becomes inundated with white people doing holiday things because I read Christmas books this time of year. I try to keep my reading list as diverse and mentally stimulating and challenging as possible. Christmas stories are not diverse… in any way; I have been craving more color in my Christmas reading. I finally found it in Jasmine Guillory’s Royal Holiday. Honestly, this is probably one of my favorite rom-commy books I’ve ever read. It’s real and honest and the characters are believable and interesting. I don’t want to punch them. 

Vivian is a social worker about to get a huge promotion she’s worked towards her entire career. Her daughter convinces her to take a trip to England to get away for once. Her daughter is a stylist and will be helping a Duchess during the holidays, so Vivian gets to stay with royalty. While she’s enjoying a week in the lap of luxury, she meets Malcolm, the Queen’s personal secretary. Also, they’re both Black. 

I love that the main character, Vivian, is a single mom in her fifties with a career, drive, adventure, passion, pizzaz, and healthy boundaries. The rom-com problem for her budding relationship with Malcolm is not only believable but a real problem. So often, the obstacle keeping two people apart is ridiculous. Long distance between two powerful working adults, that’s a real obstacle! Workable but hard. 

Enjoying Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory in Baytown, Texas. | Dress | Heels | Earrings

Royal Holiday is not devoid of clichés, it has them for sure. Guillory leans into the clichés without letting them ruin or run the novel. The main characters are strong and independent. They want love, but they’re also not willing to sacrifice everything for it. Vivian is established and knows herself; there is a confidence to her character that comes from living a full life. Malcom is normal and easy going. He’s a man a woman would want to be with and should want to be with.

The writing isn’t spectacular, but it’s perfectly suited to the book and the storyline. Guillory does well with the dialogue. She doesn’t saturate the narrative with saccharine antics; it’s the right amount of realistic and optimistic. 

I truly love how wonderful Vivian is. Rom-coms have a tendency to make the characters overly quirky rather than making them relatable and wonderful. Vivian’s just a normal woman with anxieties and excitement and hopes like the rest of us. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I love it. I respect it. Royal Holiday has an ending that grown women with careers want to watch play out. 

I love that this romantic comedy features a strong, independent woman who gave up nothing for love. She chose happiness, her career, her family, and the man of her dreams. She sacrificed nothing and still won. Thank you Jasmine Guillory for giving me a romantic comedy I actually appreciate and the two main characters are Black. Yay!!! We need this kind of diversity in romantic comedies and Christmas novels. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Royal Holiday is my favorite Christmas read of the year.

Memorable Quotes
“Vivian couldn’t decide what appealed to her more, hot coffee and fresh scones or that man in the corner who looked like a tall mug of hot chocolate.”
“Plus, she was on vacation, for God’s sake—everyone did something a little out of character on vacation, didn’t they?”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Royal Holiday
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Berkley
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780593099049