Hello Cozy Family!

It's been a long time since I thought about creating an official top 10 ranking, so I figured I would give it a shot. It was much harder than I expected!! And I'm currently reading a book that I know will be high in my top 10 after finishing, but the idea of removing any of the mentioned books below from the ranking physically hurts aha.

I might have to start doing re-rankings every other month if my reading keeps being as top tier as it has been so far this year! A brilliant struggle to have!

What would be in your top 10 list? Please do share all the incredible books that could very well uproot all of our rankings!

Without further ado, here is my (current) official top 10 books:

1. For Whom the Belle Tolls

2. A Court of Silver Flames

3. Judgement Road

4. House of Earth and Blood

5. Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

6. Project Hail Mary

7. On the Same Page

8. Heir of Fire

9. The Phoenix Keeper

10. The Unmaking of June Farrow

Honourable mentions (because I couldn't just list 10 when these were so close to making the cut):

• The Atlas Six

• Broken Bonds

• A Discovery of Witches

• Heroes of Olympus

• Uprooted

• Wisteria

The book I'm currently reading that I KNOW will disrupt my current top 10 is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid! Just wow! But as I haven't finished it yet, it feels wrong to add it to my official ranking just yet.

The same goes for The Women by Kristin Hannah, which I always tell everyone is one of my favourite books of all time, and yet I haven't technically finished it... It was destroying me too much and I had to pause due to personal circumstances at the time. That was 2 years ago lol. I do plan to finish it, and I know it will then rule over my top 10 list, but until I'm ready to be emotionally destroyed by the ending, I'm putting it off. I want to finish it this year though, so it should be in my ranking by the end of 2026, fingers crossed!

I'm volunteering to help organise and run a Youth Group (11-18 years old) in my local village this summer! I will be in charge of everything book related and I cannot wait!

Any ideas for further things I could do, or things I should change up to make eve better, please do share all your thoughts!!

My current ideas and plans are below:

• Prompt jar to pick from every time you finish a book to help decide your next read in a more fun and engaging way

• Scrapbook for reviews. There will be review cards you can fill out and then stick in, or you can get artsy and design your own review page directly in the scrapbook

• A box full of books to choose from (for free!!), collected from charity shops and local donations. Add books in and take them out as you like

• Flyers with library app details so you can download ebooks and audiobooks with more ease and accessibility

• Headphones provided, but must be packed up at the end of the night so as not to wonder off. Immersive read your audiobook and physical book, listen to the audiobook whilst doing a creative activity, or listen to music whilst you scrapbook

• Notebooks and pens for creative writing, with a jar of creative writing prompts to inspire you. Plus take your notebook home at the end of the night!

• Colouring books and puzzle books will be available to use whilst listening to audiobooks or music, or just chatting with your friends

• A box of scrapbooking supplies will be provided, including: card (white and coloured), coloured pencils and pens, stencils, washy tapes, and stickers

I'm so excited to get started and kick off the Youth Group in the summer!!

I've officially signed up for a 10k run in September!!!

Have I done a 10k before? No.

Have I done a 5k before? Yes, but that was approx 10 years ago...

Am I at least fit currently? Also no...

I am essentially doing a couch to 10k, so wish me luck!!

Why am I doing this? Why am I torturing myself like this? Fair questions honestly ahaha

I want to turn my life around, to work on myself, to become happier and healthier. I want to thrive, not just survive. And honestly, I've just been surviving, especially for the last few years. Do I need to run a 10k to be happy? No. Do I need to run a 10k to be healthier? No. There are plenty of ways to improve myself that don't involve running, and I am doing those too (so stay tuned for updates on my other activities/methods of joy). But I always loved running in school and want to challenge myself, so I signed up for a 10k that is in 13 weeks.

To help motivate myself, I have selected a list of audiobooks that I have waiting in my Audible library that I really want to read, and have set myself the rule of not being able to listen to them unless I am doing training. It's only week one but it is working so far!!

The first audiobook on my list is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I am loving it so far!!

I will update with my progress, both with my 10k training and my audiobook progress, as often as I can. With the goal of updating weekly, if I am able to! So stay tuned and I hope to see you at the next update!