January Reading Recap

I can’t believe that the first month of 2021 has already come to an end! I had an amazing reading month and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

First of all, I am generally not very good about sticking to a planned TBR. At the beginning of the month, I pick a bunch of books off the shelf that I’m excited to read, but the ever present mood reader usually changes her mind a few days into the month and reads anything but the planned books. This month, however, I set a list of 10 books at the beginning of the month and actually managed to read almost all of them (and with very good reasons for those that I didn’t).

I started the month off with Graceling as part of the #GracelingReadalong and I really enjoyed it. It’s a book that I tried to read years ago, and just couldn’t get into, which just proves how much my interest in fantasy has grown over the past years. Unfortunately, Fire wasn’t nearly as enjoyable for me, so I decided to give Bitterblue a pass (see, good reasons for not sticking to my list!)

I was approved for an egalley of Namesake, which I plan to read next month, so I borrowed Fable from the library. While I didn’t love it as much as I expected to, it was still a solid read and I’m intrigued enough for book two. While we’re on the topic of egalleys, I caught up on one long expired book, The Half Sister, by borrowing that one from the library and then also read The Project in advance of its release next month. I also had Gamechanger on my TBR list, but I couldn’t get into it, so I put it down (second and final good reason for not sticking to my list!)

I originally planned to purchase my 12 books, 12 friends TBR pile a bit at a time, but I went a little crazy with Christmas gift cards and bought almost all of them right away. In an effort to balance out some of the acquisitions, I read a few books off my shelves, but not quite enough to end the month at a lower number than I started. I read Lauren @losetimereading’s pick for me, From Blood and Ash. It wasn’t quite as incredible as I had thought it would be, but it was intriguing enough for me to purchase the second book, which is when the story is supposed to get really good. I also read More Than Words for book club (so, so amazing – I cried!) and Girls Burn Brighter (also such a beautiful book with incredible characters), both of which were on my 21 books to read in 21 list (as well as Graceling). Then I picked up The Water Dancer and I had a hard time getting into it, so I switched to audio and got completely caught up in the story. It’s funny how sometimes a different format just works? The narrator is amazing. I also continued on with my reread of the ACOTAR series by absolutely DEVOURING A Court of Mist and Fury (Chapter 55, anyone?).

By the 29th, I’d already finished 10 books, which was my goal for the month. I was already a few chapters into Furia, so I finished that one too (getting ahead for a buddy read in February) and then tore through Wintering and I Would Leave Me If I Could, both on audio.

I ended the month with 13 books read — what a great start to the year!