January 2022 Wrap-Up

Hello hello!

I can’t believe that January is already over. It feels like the month just started and I blinked; now its 30th January and I am writing my wrap-up post for the month. I don’t really know what to think about this month if I am being honest. It was a weird time for me. For the first few weeks, my entire family was sick and though we tested negative, I am sure all of us had COVID. Then later in the month, I had an important medical procedure done for which I had to go to the hospital…and it was an okay experience.

But in terms of reading, I think I had a pretty good month. I read 14 books in total, including some that have been on my TBR for ages. I also found some of my all-time favourite reads this month which was amazing.

Without any further ado, let’s get into my wrap-up for this month!

BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH

For this month, I read a total of 14 books, most of which were e-books along with some physical reads. And because I am kind of drafting this at the last second and I have like three assignments to do, I’m going to only talk about my 5, and give one line thoughts for 4.5 and 4 star reads and just mention my 3 star reads. From next month though, I’ll be changing my wrap-up format a little bit so I’ll be working on that throughout this month.

5 STAR READS

From left to right

WE HUNT THE FLAME, WE FREE THE STARS BY HAFSAH FAIZAL
This was such a hyped series and when I started reading it, I was going in with sky high expectations and felt like I would be disappointed. But nope. This duology is one of the most incredible series that I have read and I adored every single thing about. Zafira and Nasir have my heart. And Altair…god, I just love him so much.

DOWN COMES THE NIGHT BY ALLISON SAFT
When I first started reading DCTN, I thought it would be those usual fantasy reads that I would eventually end up forgetting, but it wasn’t. This is the perfect cozy, winter fantasy that I could not put down. The world building was amazing, the magic system was simple and easy to understand…and the romance might be one of my favourites ever in a fantasy. I instantly fell in love with Wren, the main character; I felt connected to her in a way that I have only experienced with a rare-few characters. I felt as though as I was seeing a part of me represented on the page, a part that I usually keep hidden. I highly recommend this one!

LEGENDBORN BY TRACY DEONN
If I have to sum up my thoughts about this in one sentence, I’d say this; holy crap, what an incredible book. Legendborn is another hyped book that people told me that I would enjoy a lot and I really did. I’ve been a fan of Arthurian myth and legend for a long time and Tracy Deonn’s spin on it became my favourite after reading Legendborn. I love and adore Bree so much.  I loved how realistic the portrayal of her grief was and how viscerally it struck me. Throughout the first three-four parts of the story, I was a BreeNick shipper, but after finishing it and slowly falling in love with Sel throughout the process, I’m kind of leaning towards a BreeSelNick relationship hehe. CAN’T WAIT FOR BLOODMARKED LATER THIS YEAR AHH!!

4.5 STAR AND 4 STAR READS

4.5 STARS
MANGO ALL THE TIME BY FRACASWELL HYMAN: A fun and cute little middle grade that makes me want to read more of the genre.
THE JADE SETTER OF JANLOON BY FONDA LEE: The perfect return to the world of Janloon; I was so happy to see cameos from some of my favourite characters in this
TWICE SHY BY SARAH HOGLE: A lot of people didn’t like this, but I somehow just fell in love with the story. I do have some issues with this, but overall this was a nice read with a romance I had fun reading.

4 STARS
SERENDIPITY (ANTHOLOGY) EDITED BY MARISSA MEYER: Such an adorable collection of stories by some of my favourite authors.
YOU HAD ME AT HOLA BY ALEXIS DARIA: I’m a sucker for celeb romances and this one was no different; the characters had very clear chemistry right from the start and it was a lot of fun seeing their relationship grow.
THE EX TALK BY RACHEL LYNN SOLOMON: First time I am reading one of RLS’ books and it was pretty damn good; the banter between the two leads was just impeccable and made me crack up at many points in the book and the romance was so cute.

3.75 STARS: The Liars Beneath by Heather Van Fleet
3 STARS: The Enemy Trap by Maren Moore , The Newspaper Nanny by Maren Moore

THINGS I WATCHED THIS MONTH

SHOWS/MOVIES

SHOWS

THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: I’m a casual Star Wars fan (became one after watching the Mandalorian) and so far, especially with episode 5, the show has been pretty damn interesting. I’m looking forward to the finale because I just know it’s going to be pretty fun.

TALE OF THE NINE TAILED: I’m so in love with Lee Dong-Wook and I ended up watching this drama because of him; and I absolutely love it. I’m halfway through this and the storyline so far is amazing and the romance even more so. Can’t wait to watch more of it.

DEMON SLAYER SEASON 2: One of my favourite animes!! I have read the entire manga already and seeing some of the incredible moments animated is always so much fun. This season has such insanely pretty animation and I cannot wait for the whole arc to be animated.

MOVIES

ETERNALS: One of my favourite MCU movies, I have watched this so many times since it came out on Disney Plus. This was really such a refreshing movie in the MCU and overall, just a fun watch.

ENCANTO: This movie just made me cry so hard. And the songs…oh the songs. Surface Pressure just hit too close to home

ARMY OF THE DEAD: I just randomly watched this one day because it popped up on my Netflix recommended and it was a pretty fun movie.

VARIETY SHOWS

I’ve been on a rabbit hole of BTS videos and I’ve binging a lot of episodes of Run BTS in the last two weeks of the month. They’ve just made me love BTS and their music so much more. And I am so looking forward to consuming more BTS content in the coming months.

(Also..get well soon, Jimin!)

BLOGGING

I was pretty happy with my blogging this month. I managed to make a post at least once every week of January and I also made some of my favourite posts this year, including my post on 2022 releases I cannot wait to read (part one) and my post about the series I want to read this year.

Unfortunately, I was not able to do a lot of blog-hopping due to this month just being a busy one with some personal stuff cropping up. So my plan in February is to do a lot of blog hopping and discover new blogs in the process.

I’m also behind on replying to comments and I’m going to use the coming month to catch up as well as keep up with them

how was january as a reading month? how many books did you read? what was your favourite read?