Well, I had a really good reading month for January and finished 13 books. I can’t really complain about this past month’s reading. Hopefully this is a sign that I’m getting back to my normal amount of reading, but I guess time will tell for sure. One month does not make a pattern after all. 🙂 On the blogging front, I’ve also been doing really good keeping up with almost everything. I think having a shorter commute giving me a little more time in the day is really working out for me here. Of course it means sacrificing other things like having a lot less time for audiobooks. Still, it doesn’t seem to have a negative effect on my quantity of books read overall.
The breakdown:
- 11 novels, 2 manga
- 10 Speculative Fiction–2 Sci-fi and 8 Fantasy
- 3 Romance–1 Contemporary Romance, 2 Historical Romance
- 7 Adult vs 6 YA
Favorite Reads of the Month:
There were many good reads over the past month, thankfully. But here’s a few I want to give a shout out to:
- The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick – Wow. Just wow. This started off slow and ended on a bang. The second half was relentless and I just really really really loved this book. I can’t wait to read the next one!
- The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen – I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did! I thought it would be another kind of generic or formulaic YA fantasy but it really was something unique and special. Looking forward to continuing on.
- The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers – Well of course this is Chambers so I was bound to love it. I’ll have some thoughts coming on this one closer to publication time. 🙂
January’s Book Reviews:
Well, I’m starting off the year a bit review heavy with NINE reviews this past month. I blame it on reading so much. In fact, I’m so far ahead I have several reviews for February already scheduled. It feels good to be on tope of things–not gonna lie.
- The Prince of Secrets by A.J. Lancaster – 5/5 stars
- Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews – 5/5 stars
- The Silvered Serpent by Roshani Chokshi – 4.5/5 stars
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune – 5/5 stars
- Blue Angel by Phil Williams – 4/5 stars
- Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell – 4/5 stars
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – 3.5/5 stars
- Spellbound by Allie Therin – 4/5 stars
- Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg – 4/5 stars
Other Posts:
I had a pretty good amount of tags and topical posts in January. I don’t know how often I’ll be having discussion posts in the future (I’m not that creative and coming up with topics can be hard) but I’m always up for tags so look for several more tags in February.
- My Year in Reading Stats – 2020
- 2021 Reading Goals
- Books I’d Love to Reread
- Are You a Book Snob? Tag
- Anti-TBR Tag!
Plans for February:
First let’s take a step back and see how I did with January’s plans. For January I wanted to mood read and get to my last two review requests. blah. I also wanted to start on the new 2021 r/fantasy bingo card and, well, I guess that will be a February task now. I better get on it because April is coming up fast! I also wanted to catch up on review writing and work on scheduling posts–these are both things I’ve been able to accomplish and mostly keep up on so I feel good about that.
For February I plan to get that bingo card done! Seriously! It needs to happen! Other than that just concentrate on my monthly TBR and mood reading because I’m through my review requests. MOOD READING FTW.
And, that about sums things up. How was your month? Leave a note in the comments, I’d love to chat!
Way Too Fantasy 
Looks like you had a good reading month! I hope February is just as good!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Thanks, Evelyn! It was pretty good. 🙂
Well done on a great reading month! I hope it continues on into February for you. Happy reading! ♥
Thank you so much! ❤
That’s a lot of books and reviews. Well done. Hope February is just as good for you if not better.
Lynn 😀
Yeah, I got a lot accomplished in January. 🙂 Thanks, Lynn! I hope so too. 🙂
You had a great month, Lisa! I’m really happy to hear you loved The Mask of Mirrors. I’m so behind and haven’t read it but I will get to it at some point.😁
Thanks, Tammy!
Oh yes, I loved that one so much. I hope you get to check it out. I think you’ll enjoy it. 🙂
Ooo, I have Merciful Crow on my book cart….might need to bump that up…..
I picked that one up on a whim and I’m so glad I read it. I really enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.
Yay for a good month Lisa!! I’m working from home atm so I don’t really have to worry about commutes but trying to set up a schedule at home for reading vs work has def been a PROGRESS. I have read more than 5 books this month though, so huzzah. And glad you liked Winter’s Orbit and Mask of Mirrors! I have the latter and The Forever Sea and Hall of Smoke set to read this week and can’t decide which one to get to first. 😆
Oh, that must be tough. I know when I was working from home I liked it for certain reasons but then also it’s a bit hard to ‘clock out’ as it were.
I’m glad you’re reading! I hope that you’re doing well. It sounds like you have lots of good reading ahead of you, Kathy! Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Well January was…definitely a MONTH. But at least my reading motivation is back up? I’ll DM you about it later. 😛
And thank you and happy new year!!! (did I say that before? I don’t think I said that before)
<3<3<3
I hope February is just as good to you as January was.
Thank you, Misty!
That’s so many books and reviews! I’m so impressed! Such a great month.
Thank you!
This looks like it was a great month!! Mask of Mirrors is certainly on my (very long) fantasy TBR now haha! Hope your February goes well💜
Thanks, Kaya! It definitely feels good to be back to my regular reading numbers. I hope it lasts. 🙂 I hope you get a chance to check out The Mask of Mirrors. Thanks, I hope you have a great February as well!
You really had a great month!! And you are doing super with the reviews!!!
Thanks, Susy! It was definitely a great month for me, it’s been a while since I’ve read so much in a month. 🙂
That sounds like a good reading month.
Mine was pretty good too. I was in high reading spirit when the new year started, so I was glad for that.
Yeah it was a pretty darn good month, I can’t complain. 🙂
Glad yours was good as well!
I’m so glad you enjoyed The Merciful Crow! It was one of my favorite reads last year, as was the sequel. It was such a satisfying conclusion, and I really love how Owen managed to thread everything together, so I hope you enjoy Faithless Hawk, too! I’m so eager to see what Owen writes next, and I’ll definitely be reading it.
Yeah I really need to get the sequel, the first one was so good it kind of left me wanting more right away haha. Hopefully I’ll be reading it in the next month or two. 🙂
Yay for 13 books! That’s an awesome month of reading 😃 The year has kicked off on the right bookish foot for me too, and I hope we continue to have super months of reading throughout the year! It’s so great that you’re so on top of things too and it’s motivating me to do the same now 😂 I have *so* many reviews to write, welp! Haha I hope February is an awesome month for you, Lisa!
Yeah, I am happy with how my reading has been going, I at least have that going for me! I think blogging and reading are the only things I’m managing to stay on top of but I hope to get more motivated soon haha. Oh, I feel you on being behind on reviews. About a month or 2 ago I was 9 or 10 behind and it felt awful. Hope you can catch up soon! Have a great February, Dini!