January 2022 Wrap-Up

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And just like that, the first month of 2022 is over! January was quite a stressful and eventful month for me so buckle up, this Wrap-Up is going to be a bit of a long one…mostly, because I attempted to read 30 books in 31 days. Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, apparently, I like suffering. Grab a cup of your favourite drink and a comfy blanket and read on for all the chaos that January brought to my reading and personal life. Let’s get into my January Wrap Up!

For your navigational ease, you can click through to different parts of this post with the table of contents!

The Books I Read in January

As I mentioned, I attempted to read 30 books in 31 days this month. When did I decide this? Oh, just spontaneously on January 1st. Like the queen of chaos that I am. I started off strong and read a book a day for almost two weeks! But then life got in the way and I quickly fell behind on this lofty goal. But if there’s anything I have, it’s the blind faith and borderline arrogance that everything will be fine. And it turns out: I was right! I actually read 30 books this month.

Because I read so many books, I have decided to format this post a little differently, to save your eyes and fingers from at least some scrolling. I’ve also linked the reviews that I’ve already written and will keep updating this post with the ones to come. And don’t worry, I am also working on a post all about the experience I had with this challenge, so look out for that soon! Now, let’s get into all these books, shall we?

Mooncakes – Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker

This was an adorable start to my 2022! I really enjoyed the art style but ended up wanting more from the story and world-building. The final act was too fast-paced for my liking but I absolutely loved the characters!

TThe Starlight Watchmaker – Lauren James

I borrowed this as an ebook from the library on a whim and loved it! It’s a really sweet sci-fi middle grade with fun (and queer!) characters that I read in one sitting. Unfortunately, the sequel didn’t manage to capture my attention but this one was exactly my kind of story!

The Kindred – Alechia Dow

I actually started this back in 2021 but it carried over into the new year. I love Alechia Dow’s books so much! The Kindred is so fluffy and funny and I love that the characters get to exist unapologetically in all facets of their identities. I really hope Alechia gets to write more books in this world because I am obsessed with it!

The Upside of Falling – Alex Light

This is a cute fake dating romance with some family drama and all the fluff! I love anything fake dating and this hit the spot. The dynamic between Becca and Brett was adorable and the third act breakup actually made sense!

A Killer by Design – Ann Wolbert Burgess

After binge-watching Criminal Minds for a few months straight, I knew I had to balance it out with some nonfiction. So I actually read two books by former BAU agents and profilers! This was the first and definitely my favourite out of the two, even though it didn’t quite give me what I wanted. You can read my full thoughts in my review!

As If On Cue – Marisa Kanter

I’m not gonna lie, this book made me miss my theatre days. It was also a brutal reminder of high school drama and needless competitions which you couldn’t pay me enough to go back to. If you like rivals to lovers romances, this might be for you!

The Magpie Society: Two for Joy – Zoe Sugg and Amy McCulloch

Despite not super loving the first book in this duology (you can find my review for that one here), I wanted to read the sequel. And it was fun! Chaotic and just as clumsily plotted as the first book, but enjoyable. However, the ending was a really odd choice that somehow managed to undermine everything the authors had set up. You can read my full review here!

Heartstopper Vol. 2 – Alice Oseman

As you can tell, I read a few graphic novels in January! It’s a genre I want to read more of and the challenge of reading 30 books meant I gravitated towards shorter books, too. I enjoy the Heartstopper series but I don’t love it, I’m just not particularly invested in the characters.

The Light Streamed Beneath It – Shawn Hitchins

I got an ARC for this queer memoir and had high hopes, but was unfortunately disappointed. I don’t think this is a bad book, it just wasn’t the book for me!

Blackout – Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon

This book is phenomenal. It’s soft and funny and a celebration of young Black love. I loved the way the stories intersect and how shared characters popped up between them. And while some of the stories were a bit too insta-lovey for me, I ended up swooning quite a bit!

The Martian – Andy Weir

Nobody is surprised. Listen, you didn’t really expect me to go a month without rereading this, did you? At this point, it’s embarrassing that I haven’t written a review for it…but how am I supposed to review my comfort book? Anyway, nobody wants to hear more about this so we move on!

The Empress of Salt and Fortune – Nghi Vo

This has been on my TBR for a while and I’m so glad I read it! I really loved it and can’t wait to read it again to see if I understand it better the second time around. I can’t help but feel like there are secrets this book has yet to whisper to me. I’m particularly fascinated by the way this book used oral history and storytelling within the story!

Nobody Knows But You – Anica Mrose Rissi

In January, I was in a YA thriller/mystery mood. And this book helped! While it’s not fantastic and not the best thriller I read this month, I did enjoy it. Particularly the format of letters and thus a somewhat unreliable narrator was intriguing, even though I saw the plot twist coming from a mile away.

The Killer Across the Table – John Douglas

And here’s my second profiling book of the month! This ended up basically being retellings of the crimes these serial killers committed and I did not care. I just don’t care about that kind of content without any scientific insight, of which this book had far too little for my liking.

The Only Living Girl on Earth – Charles Yu

I picked up the audiobook for this on a whim because it was suggested for me on Scribd, and I loved it! It’s a super weird, definitely dystopian sci-fi short story! I’d happily read more stories in this world because it was strangely intriguing.

By the way, if you would like to test Scribd for 60 days for free, you can use my invite link! It’s totally free (just make sure to cancel if you don’t want to continue using the service!) and if you end up joining I get 30 days added to my own subscription for free!

The Griffin Gate – Vashti Hardy

I had high hopes for this steampunky middle grade but ended up being thoroughly underwhelmed. Don’t really have much more to say other than “meh”.

The Angel of Khan el-Khalili – P. Djèlí Clark

I read A Dead Djinn in Cairo in 2021 and loved it a lot, so when a friend recommended me this short story, I jumped on it. Overall, I’m just so so in love with this world and I want to know everything about it! So A Master of Djinn is on my 2022 TBR!

Time Will Tell – Barry Lyga

This YA thriller had an interesting premise: a group of teenagers find evidence of a crime in a time capsule their parents buried. That had me hooked! the audiobook is great, but the ending and overall pacing was disappointing. You can read my full review here!

Gespensterjäger im Feuerspuk – Cornelia Funke

This is a German childhood favourite that I read on a weekend back home. I am happy to report it still holds up! Cornelia Funke is the author who shaped my childhood and love for stories, so whenever I reread one of her books it feels a little like coming home.

I Hope You’re Listening – Tom Ryan

This is another YA thriller I listened to on audio! The MC’s best friend was kidnapped when they were kids and now she runs an anonymous podcast helping to find missing people. It has a cute sapphic romance and lots of twists and tension!

The Ivies – Alexa Donne

This is probably my favourite thriller of the month! I had been meaning to read it for quite a while now and am so happy I finally did! I love mean and insufferable girls and this book has a lot of them. You can read my full thoughts in my review here.

Prosper’s Demon – K.J. Parker

Sometimes you read a book and you wish you had written it? Yeah, that’s Prosper’s Demon for me! This is funny because I knew nothing going into it! It’s such a strange little book and I’ve added it to my well of inspiration for my own art in the future.

Light Years From Home – Mike Chen

This is my favourite book of the month and definitely a 2022 favourite too. It’s such a beautiful story about family dynamics, trauma, belief and perception. Mike Chen has become one of my favourite authors and this book just solidified that. Absolutely stunning, please read it!

The Coldest Touch – Isabel Sterling

I got an ARC for this sapphic vampire YA story and it was a blast! For the most part, I was just immersed in this world of magic and supernatural creatures and abilities. But I also really loved the romance, particularly that the MC only realises her queerness in the process of the story! More representation for questioning queer kids, please! You can read my full review here!

Keep This To Yourself – Tom Ryan

My second Tom Ryan book for the month, as recommended to me on twitter! I did quite enjoy this and the plot twist surprised me, but I just wasn’t as invested as I would’ve liked.

Sweetdark – Savannah Brown

I haven’t read a lot of poetry and this collection has been sitting on my shelf for a while. But I am a huge fan of Savannah Brown’s work, her debut novel The Truth About Keeping Secrets is a forever-favourite of mine! I liked this collection a lot, but don’t fully have the words to express my thoughts. As expected, some poems really resonated with me and others didn’t!

Finna – Nino Cipri

This was such a blast and I think if you like Doctor Who you’ll love this! Two employees at definitely-not-Ikea are sent into a wormhole to retrieve a customer. They are also recently broken up exes. And the parallel world stores are dangerous and weird. Absolutely hilarious, queer and anti-capitalist!

The Monarchs – Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige

I loved this sequel/conclusion so much that I immediately went to reread the first book in the series. I just love ambitious girls and witches, okay? This was exactly as high-stakes and spooky as I hoped it would be and I’m so sad that there probably won’t be any more books! Especially, because this opened a few new worldbuilding corners I would have loved to explore. You can read my full review here!

The Last to Die – Kelly Garrett

This short YA thriller is potentially my least favourite book of the month and in a while. It was just so boring, I hated all of the characters and found the plot utterly predictable. Not a vibe.

The Tea Dragon Society – K. O’Neill

This was my last read of the month and I’m so happy about it! It made my heart yearn for more soft and queer graphic novels because this was absolutely precious. I am also now in need for a tea dragon plushie!

Goal Check-In

Welcome to a new section of my January Wrap-Up! It’s a checkpoint for me to look back at my 2022 goals and give you an update. Considering the length of this post, I’ll do my best to keep this short.

Reading

As obvious from above, I read 30 books in January. This means I am very close to hitting my baseline goal of reading 33 books this year! Now, I am also attempting to have 50% of my reading to be from my existing TBR pre-2022. And I am happy to report that out of those 30 books, 16 were from my TBR. That’s just a little over 50% so I’m right on track!

I am not counting the one German book I read towards my goal of reading 3 German books. It was a reread of a book I was pretty sure I’d love again.

I did absolutely nothing to work towards my other goals, so we’ll see how I’ll approach them next month!

Blogging & Social Media

I hit my goal of publishing a blog post every week! I also have a few reviews drafted that I just need to finish. I’m not going to write reviews for every single book I read this month, but I want to make room for my favourites.

Additionally, I also managed to post at least 3 times a week on Instagram and it’s been so fun! I recently got a new bookshelf and am super excited about the new photo spots I now have at my disposal. In general, a goal for February is to get creative with my posts and really stretch my creativity.

Do you follow my bookstagram yet? If not, just click here and you can come say hi!

I didn’t blog hop quite as much as I wanted, so for February, I’m making it a priority! Which reminds me, if you’re a new or small blogger, please say hi so I can visit your blog and support you! I want to be your cheerleader!

All other goals are still works in progress but I’m excited to get to work on them!

Writing

I did basically nothing for my writing goals this month! It’s a little frustrating but I also have to admit that January was a stressful and busy month! I did make some new writing friends on Twitter and it’s been so lovely! Definitely inspired me to get back to work on my WIPs! For February, I hope I can actually schedule and stick to the hour for writing that I planned! If I can make that a habit, I’ll be very happy.

Personal

I’m not really meditating as much or consistently as I would like. Most days I do sort of a half-assed attempt. However, I’ve gotten into the habit of doing a short sleep meditation in bed because it helps my body to calm down! So I guess that’s progress?

I actually went outside and took some photos this month! On January 30th because it was the last day with decent weather of the month. I just took a short walk and took some nature photos. If I was a better blogger I’d insert some here. Honestly, they’re not that great so I’ll spare you having to scroll even more. I’m just proud I actually did it! In February, I want to visit my university’s botanical garden and bring my camera.

Posts I Wrote

As always, here are the posts I wrote this month, in case you missed them!

• I Failed All My Reading Goals | 2021 in Review
• 2022 Book Releases I Look Forward To
• My 2022 Goals | Reading, Writing, Blogging and Personal Goals
• Audiobook Review: Vox Machina — Kith and Kin by Marieke Nijkamp
• Audiobook Review: Time Will Tell by Barry Lyga
• Audiobook Review: A Killer by Design by Ann Wolbert Burgess

Posts I Loved

Here are some of the posts by other bloggers that I loved in January!

• Sumedha over on The Wordy Habitat wrote a wonderful post reflecting on her 2021.
• Kat gave book recommendations to celebrities based on their taste!
• I also really loved Charvi’s post recommending books based on your favourite board games!
• Kate recommended some short and diverse books for anyone participating in Pondathon (or just looking for short books).
• Fadwa shared 6 language learning tips that actually work…and that post went straight to my bookmarks!
• Marie and Nyx recommended YA books to read based on TV shows you might like!
• Shealea shared some 2022 book releases that you might’ve missed but that should be on your radar!

Some Closing Words

Phew, that was quite the Wrap-Up! If you’ve made it this far, thank you for sticking around!

January was very stressful and included multiple almost-breakdowns over uni work I had to do. Unfortunately, it’s not all done and I still have a lot to do, but some of the big things that were stressing me are done! I also had a lot of fun experiences, including the first session with a new D&D group! And of course my new bookshelf, I love that thing so much.

Going into February, I am happy to be reading at my own pace again but my challenge also gave me momentum and excitement about books! So hopefully that lasts longer than a few days.

How was your January? If you set any goals for the year, how did you start approaching them? Did you try something new this month?

I hope you have a lovely day,

If you like my work and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee!