#january wrap up

[bookaddict24-7]

January was a stressful reading month for me because Libby + the holidays had me with a ridiculous amount of library loans. ✨

• I read 41 books

• 22 of those were books I owned.

• Fave book: Lotus by Jennifer Hartmann

• Least Fave: Suddenly by Isabelle Autissier

• I DNF'ed II books

• 1 Unhauled 9 books

#books #january wrap up #reading wrap up #monthly wrap up #read #reading #booklr #bookish #features #bookworm #bookaholic #book blogger #book blog #bookstack #reader #books and reading #bookish photography #books books books #book aesthetic #readers of tumblr #bookblr #readers #my photography

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - January 31st - Read in January

I had sort of an underwhelming reading month, despite reading a lot of books that were quite good. I just didn't really feel strongly about any of them - but hopefully February will be better 💕

#read in january #read last month #january wrap up #justonemorepage #jompbpc #booklr #bookblr #trcc original #portraits #2024

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

January Drama Wrap Up

January was a month of ups and downs (and some very big let downs) but over all I enjoyed what I watched. I tried out a new country's dramas and discovered some classics at the same time and I've built myself a pretty solid Currently Watching List to take me into February.

📊 The Stats

Total Dramas: 12

Currently Watching: 3

Completed: 4

Dropped: 2

On Hold: 3

My To Watch List: 60

🎭 The Dramas

🤼💰 Like Flowers in the Sand - Currently Watching

Like Flowers in the Sand is going to be another one of those k-dramas I am never going to be able to explain to my non k-drama watching friends without sounding like I've lost the plot a little.

"It's a small town drama about a minor league ssireum team and a wrestler who's been in a years long slump. There's also an investigation into a murder linked to match-fixing but that's kind of a side plot and it's linked to the wrestler's childhood friend who's reappeared incognito after disappearing mysteriously many years ago ... I promise it's good!"

It's probably not the drama for everyone but as someone who has historically loved sports centered k-dramas and who loved When Camilla Blooms this drama ticks so many of my boxes. I'm very excited to watch the complex relationships and politics of small town life be put under a microscope and dissected and I can already tell I'm going to love how morally grey all the characters are.

It also doesn't hurt that the ML is the biggest himbo to ever ever himbo and I love him and his empty brain to bits.

Prediction: I become a ssireum fan.

🕹️💌 Love For Love's Sake - Currently Watching

I've been staying away from K-BL these past few months because I've been struggling with their short run time but Love for Love' Sake lured me back in like a moth to the flame and I have no regrets.

Is Love For Love's Sake Perfect? No, there are definitely some pacing issues that are leaving me feeling very temporally confused about how quickly or slowly events are unfolding and the lower than average k-drama budget does show at certain points but, do you what?

I don't care.

I wholeheartedly love this drama and it's going to have to mess up its last 2 episodes Last Twilight style to change that.

The relationship between the main couple? Adorable. The openly gay leader of the school delinquents? We stan. The oddball friendship group forming because they're all slightly crushing on the ML? Sign me up! The addition of a glitch in the game that's starting to mess everything up? Horrifying and I love it.

Prediction: A new favourite K-BL is born and it's all thanks to this mf

🩺😭 Doctor Slump - Currently Watching

I'm watching this because it's on my Plan To Watch list and Netflix started playing the trailer after I'd finished watching an episode of The Way of the Househusband.

I won't lie, this is definitely the drama, out of all the dramas I'm currently watching, that I'm least certain I'll finish but, at the same time, I was pleasantly surprised by the first two episodes. Yes, it does do that typical comedy k-drama thing of mixing ridiculous over the top laughs with some incredibly difficult topics (because who doesn't want to be laughing hysterically one minute and then doing some deep self-reflection the next?) but so far the balance and the boundaries between the two moods has been relatively well struck and only time will tell if it manages to stay that way.

I appreciate tackling the topic of burn out and depression in a country that still champions overwork and mental fortitude above all else and I'm interested to see where it goes with that part of its arc. The "being framed for murder" I am a little less certain about, but it has definitely added a layer of intrigue to a story that would otherwise be relatively mundane and by the books.

As I said, time will tell if I continue to enjoy Doctor Slump but I'd say my only quibble with the drama so far is that I'm not sure "accused of (and potentially framed for) murder" and "suffering from depression due to burn out and work place abuse" quite fit what is normally meant by the word slump.

Prediction: Maybe I won't drop this half way through like I thought I would.

👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🎥 BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita - Completed

My first Japanese BL ever and it was a good one. Yes, it was 3 episodes long, but it used its runtime perfectly. All of the main characters felt properly fleshed out (and the side characters were caricature enough that you only really needed one scene to know who they were and what they stood for), the pacing was great (it couldn't afford to drag but it didn't speed through scenes either), and it found the right balance between BL shenanigans and forrays into deeper messages. This was exactly what I needed at the time and, for someone who doesn't normally like mini-dramas that much, I enjoyed myself immensely.

Verdict: 8/10, I also want a life-size cardboard cutout of Aoyanagi to cuddle and hide behind when I open the door.

✒️💕 Cherry Magic, Japan - Completed

I'm planning to buy the manga.

I plan to watch the film next month (I never watch films).

I may have even checked out the fanfic scene in a bout of withdrawal.

Anyway, what I mean to say is that I get the hype, I really really do. This drama is fantastic.

Cherry Magic is one of those classics that you watch as a newbie and go "oh yeah I get why everyone is obsessed with this". The premise is novel and well executed, the characters are oh so easy to love, the main romance is so incredibly shippable, and the friendships are just as endearing.

I personally love the role Adachi's mind reading plays in shaping his relationship with Kurosawa and how the way it's handled means the audience feels what Adachi is feeling right alongside him. How can you not be charmed by the inner monologue of someone so sweetly and respectfully head over heels for you? But at the same time just because you're charmed, does that mean you like them back or is it just because you can see them at their most vulnerable? And what about once you're in the relationship? Do you give up the thing you know made it possible? Or do you pull back so you can't mess up once the crutch you rely on is gone?

There was so much quiet nuance to Adachi's and Kurosawa's relationship to each other and those around them and, when I one day sit down for a rewatch, I'm looking forward to unpicking them all.

Verdict: 8.5/10, Adachi and Kurosawa are going to be one of those couples that's impossible to leave behind. This is going to stick with me for a while, and once it's unstuck I'll just watch it again.

📸🌦️ Welcome to Samdal-Ri - Completed

I know some people thought the premise of Welcome to Sandal-Ri was unrealistic but, personally, I found it hard not to draw parallels between what happened to Cho Sam Dal in the drama and what happened to Kim Seon Ho in real life. Yes, the situations may differ somewhat (Sam Dal faces false accusations of work-place bullying by an employee while Seon Ho was accused of coercing his girlfriend into getting an abortion) but there were enough similarities (the media frenzy and the sheer intensity of the backlash, the scandals happening just as their careers peaked, the gradual revelation of what actually transpired) that I would be very surprised if there was no link at all.

For that alone, Welcome To Samdal-Ri had my attention from the get go. If this story were from a Western perspective, I would certainly have been much more wary of a story tackling false accusations (looking at you Euphoria) but from a Korean perspective, where celebrity culture is far more intense and volatile and in which false accusations have happened before and cancel culture can indeed end a career for even minor infractions (like dating), I wanted to see how it would be handled.

Ultimately I was satisfied, not wowed, not disappointed, satisfied. The show didn't dig that deep into the subject (personally I would have appreciated Sam Dal's case juxtaposed against another case in which the accusations turned out to be true) but it handled it deftly enough and felt "case-by-case" enough that I didn't feel as though it inadvertently gave off the message of "not believe anyone bringing accusations against celebrities".

Other than my own personal interest in the premise, Welcome to Sandal-Ri did a good job of holding my interest. In terms of overall vibe, it felt like a mix between (perhaps unsurprisingly) Hometown Cha Cha Cha (the idyllic small-town community filled with friends and loveable elders) and Our Beloved Summer (childhood lovers unfairly broken up but still pining for each other after years apart). The pacing was good, the characters loveable (I am now in love with Cho Hae In), and each episode felt like sinking into a warm bath for an hour.

Verdict: 8/10, it tackled an interesting topic while providing its audience with plenty of comfort and heart. It could have done without the love triangle though, just saying.

📃👩‍❤️‍👩 Out of Breath - Completed

I don't have too much to say about Out of Breath given it was 3 episodes long and less than an hour run time in total but I'm glad I watched it. Firstly, because it was nice to watch a (rare) Korean GL and secondly, because it managed to fit a lot into its short run time. Two break ups, a love triangle/unrequited love, cute dates, commentary on living queer in Korea, commentary on being out in Korea.... This show really had it all.

It was short, it was sweet, and it had a lot to say. I can't say I'd watch it again in a hurry, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a realistic portrayal of queer (and specifically) lesbian life in Korea.

Verdict: 7.5/10, it unpacked a lot in a short amount of time, the couple was extra cute too.

🫂💕 Cherry Magic Thailand - On Hold

I realised very early on into watching Cherry Magic Thailand that I'd probably get a lot more out of it if I watched the original first. I'm not normally someone who says watching the OG is necessary to watch the adaptation (in fact I normally rebel against that idea with a whole lot of passion) but in this case it became very clear that without watching Cherry Magic Japan first, I was missing important reference points and comparisons that were pretty key to understanding and appreciating that plot fully.

Anyway, I've now watched and loved Cherry Magic Japan so Cherry Magic Thailand is back on the menu, I just want to give myself enough time away that when I go back to it, it's with completely new eyes (and I'm excited for when that moment comes).

Verdict: On Hold until I can give it a proper fresh start.

🩺🍲 Cooking Crush - On Hold

I watched this at completely the wrong time. I struggle with rom-com dramas at the best of times but by now I should know that I absolutely should not try to watch one when I am going through a period of high stress.

I am not kind to rom-coms when I am stressed, even the ones I might otherwise enjoyed.

As it is, I initially dropped Cooking Crush because I was struggling to stay focussed enough to finish an episode and the characters were grating on me. Looking back, part of me thinks that my lack of focus and general irritability may have had less to do with the drama itself and much more to do with the fact I could barely focus on anything during that time period and that I had barely any spoons left to give people in my actual life, let alone fictional ones.

So...

Anyway, Cooking Crush has continued to come across my dash in gif, meme, and analysis form and I've realised that I actually really like what I'm seeing, enough so that I've moved it out of the "dropped" pile and into my "on hold" list so as to give it a second shot in the not so distant future (something that doesn't normally happen).

I genuinely think I might like this drama, I just need to make sure I'm in the right mindset for it first to give it a fair shot 💪

Verdict: On Hold until my next holiday.

🐍🦅 The Sign - On Hold

On paper The Sign sounds like it's right up my street, after all what's not to love about star-crossed lovers doomed by the threads of fate and history to lose each other?

But that's the thing, "on paper". In real life The Sign is well, messy and a bit too cop-heavy for my liking. Sure there are some great moments, Billy and Babe's chemistry is on fire, and it may have one of the best and most artistic sex scenes ever to grace the BL screens of the world but sexy times does not a good show make and I've found myself torn about whether or not I should keep going or just give up at this point.

To help me decide I've taken the "on paper" part of The Sign very literally and bought the book to read. If I like the book (the translation is a bit choppy but I can overlook that if the story is good) then I'll finish the show, if I don't then into the land of the dropped it goes.

Verdict: On Hold until I've actually experienced it on paper.

🌄🖕 Last Twilight - Dropped (episode 10)

I won't lie, this is the second time (the first time being Only Friends) that I've ended up being grateful my busy schedule got in the way of my drama watching because wow this show really took a tumble at the last hurdle. There was so much Last Twilight could have done, so many societal boundaries it could have crossed and reshaped and re-imagined but instead it went with... well a literal "fix it fic" ending that fixed nothing but instead broke all it had built up beyond repair.

I'm not going to go into detail about how Last Twilight let nearly every single one of its principal characters down, about how Mhok was never allowed screen time to process his own emotional trauma, about how the show briefly touched upon and then completely glossed over the very different social and financial circumstances of the both couples and the effects this would have on their experience of the world, of how there was so much ableist messaging around both the treatment of Dad's character which was always lurking under the surface but which only really came to light alongside the ending..... All I'm going to say is that, up until episode 9, Last Twilight had a choice about what messages it wanted it's audiences to come away with at the end, and it picked the wrong fucking ones.

It could have been a challenge to the ableist and classist mainstream norm so often portrayed in the media, instead it perpetuated harmful and hurtful rhetoric and stereotypes against the very people it claimed to champion.

Maybe one day I'll watch it again, but only because I want to properly break down what went so wrong.

Recommended reads by people who expressed it better than me:

This Discussion under "Last Twilight, episode 12: final reflections" by @waitmyturtles

"Last Twilight: Ep 12" by @wen-kexing-apologist

"Last Twilight Episode 12" by @lurkingshan

This post by @simplemindedmockingjay

Verdict: Dropped for betraying it's audience and those it claimed to champion.

👨‍⚕️⏳ Triage - Dropped (episode 10)

This one hurts me.

This one well and truly hurts me.

Because, the thing is, I loved so much about this show. It does so much right and up until episode 10 I was preparing to rank it among my favourite BLs of all time; the plot was fast moving and carried you from episode to episode in a whirlwind of anticipation, the romance (although minor compared to most other BLs) was highly shippable, the characters had depth and flaws and strengths that made you root for them, and the time loop plot device was doing things that were genuinely new and innovative.

I was hooked.

And then everything I loved just disappeared.

I don't know what possessed the creators of this show to completely change the universe of the drama for the last 2 episodes, maybe they thought the old one was getting stale (it wasn't).

All I can say is I absolutely hated the new turn of events.

Familiar characters with entirely new personalities and character arcs who I was apparently expected to root for (I don't know who they are anymore), time travel rules thrown out of the window because the plot demanded it be so (I'm sorry but the notebook time travels now? And a kiss will bring back memories?), the entire premise of the show just dropped and never even properly answered (why did Tin need to save Tol????? What about his heart murmur????)....

No.

Just no.

I'm out.

Verdict: Dropped for becoming a completely different drama in the last 2 episodes

⭐ The Awards

I fell in love with a lot of people and things this month so let's talk about them

☺️ Smile That Could Launch A Thousand Ships

Yuuichi Kurosawa (and his actor Keita Machida) is, quite frankly, a ridiculously gorgeous man in the most normal of circumstances but his smile takes it to a whole new level.

Truly a sight that could light up a room (and the whole building the room was in), this smile is filled with such genuine happiness and love that it's hard not to smile right back just as brightly, whether you be a hapless audience member beaming at your computer screen or a flustered Adachi trying desperately to hold on to your heart.

What I also love about this smile is that it only comes out when Kurosawa is properly, over the moon happy. He's got other smiles for other occasions and they're all very pretty but this one? This one sits above them all and makes them pale in comparison.

🩷 Biggest Crush

I have a type and that type is Cho Mina (and quite possibly Kang Mi Na, I clearly need to work through her filmography for... science). But seriously, this woman is STUNNING and is made all the more so by her dedication to her daughter and her refusal to let society pressure her into being ashamed of being a young single mum. She's strong, she's kind, she's independent, she's beautiful both inside and out. I don't care if she got the least screen time out of all the sisters, she stole the whole show for me and I am smitten.

📃 Line That Hit Me Like A Freight Train

"I'm used to pretending to be normal"

"pretending to be normal"

I'm going to be forever grateful to Cherry Magic for giving me positive and thoughtful Ace rep in Fujisaki, for showing her happy and confident and unbothered by society's expectations that she should one day couple up and settle down, for giving voice to the Ace experience of "pretending to be normal" in simple line that holds so much meaning and so many layers.

I know it's not canon, but in my head Fujisaki does tell Adachi out loud one day, and she gets her response of "is that so".

🛌 Plot Device That Made Me Sit Up and Go "Yes"

I may have ended up dropping Triage but credit where credit is due, it did do a lot of things right and one of those things was its ideas around time loops/ time travel. The idea that where you fall asleep at the end of the time loop directly affects how far back you travel back in time for the start of the loop?

Genius.

Why haven't I seen this done before??? It's such a clever way to provide the loop-character with the agency they need to actually make changes without breaking the established rules of the time loop and it allows for each iteration of the loop to be significantly different depending on how early or how late the changes to the timeline are made.

It literally solves almost all of my usual issues with time loop narratives.

It was genuinely intriguing watching Tin try to work out where he needed to fall asleep in order to go back as far as he needed and it was such a shame that, as the show neared its end, that aspect of the time loop experience just sort of fell away.

I want more time loop ideas like this and I want them now.

🌄 Scene That Took My Breath Away

Last Twilight may have ended by taking this scene and its significance and flushing it down the toilet but you know what, the author is dead and I killed him. I'm taking this scene back.

Day wanting his last experience with his quickly disappearing sight to be a homage to the book that helped him come to terms with his disability and see the world anew, his description of the sunset he could see in his mind's eye that is far more brilliant and beautiful than reality could ever dream to be, his clear moment of realisation that yes, he could live without his sight and not only could he live without it, he could well and truly thrive, the last thing he sees being Mhok's face as the ultimate declaration of love....

The last twilight in episode 9 could have been a truly special moment and, taken in isolation, it still is. It's just such a shame that such a beautiful depiction of growth and healing and self-love and self-acceptance was ultimately papered over with an ending that didn't fit it at all, one that erased the positive and affirming messages this scene held.

#January wrap up #like flowers in sand #love for loves sake #doctor slump #cherry magic #i became the main role of a bl drama #out of breath #welcome to samdalri #cooking crush #the sign #cherry magic th #triage #last twilight #thai bl #kdrama #j bl

[asexualbookbird]

It was not a great month for reading enjoyment. It did not start off strong, a book I was really looking forward to enjoying was boring as hell, and now my brain is too foggy to enjoy anything more complex I've been wanting to read. It WAS a good month in terms of volume, though. Two chonky books, and eight overall, if we care about those stats. Which I do a little bit. Numbers are arbitrary, but it does give me a sense of accomplishment when I read an 800 page book, I will not lie.

Eryie: Gryphon Insurrection by K Vale Nagle ⭐ - I'll admit, this is partially my fault. My brain skipped right over the Gryphon Insurrection part of the title, so I wasn't really expecting gryphon genocide, the children's novel. On top of that, it just wasn't well written! POV changes well over halfway through the book, no character is distinct, only thing it has going for it is it finally made me jump into Guardians of Ga'Hoole, but. uh. Well you'll see.

Dragon Pearl by Yoo Ha Lee ⭐⭐⭐- It was fine! Entertaining! I know YA and MG books don't have the luxury of going too deep into lore or anything, but it was really lacking here. She was sad about her brother being dead for like. One line. And then got over it. Kids deserve to read emotional depth! It was a cute adventure, but nothing I'd read again. It does make me more excited about Ninefox Gambit, though, because I can see the bones of good writing!

The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng by KS Villso ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Ow. What an end to a series. Everyone is awful, everyone sucks, except Khine, love of my life. It's always harder to talk about the books I like, but I did really enjoy this series. I'd like to reread it one day!

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward ⭐- I was sooooo looking forward to this. I even bought book two (at a secondhand shop thankfully) because I really thought I'd enjoy it. LOL. It took 800 pages to say nothing at all. It was long for the sake of being long. It was like four different plots trying to be one, and none of them really amounted to anything because the focus was so split. Really, similar problems as Priory, but at least that was gay.

The Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky (1-4) ⭐⭐⭐- Finally starting this series after a million years! It came highly recommended from many friends throughout my life, so I've naturally been putting it off. It's fine. I did really enjoy the first one, but reading more left me really picking it apart and it's a solid three stars for me. I think Animorphs is more well rounded, but it's still an entertaining series. My biggest gripe is the inconsistencies! Soren and crew decides to withhold information from the Guardians, and then the next book the Guardians have that information? And said they got it from the gang?? Not sure how th timeline works for Metal Beak to be Soren's brother when Metal Beak was supposed to be a Big Scary Enemy to all of owlkind. Thought it might be a Dread Pirate Robert's situation, but nope! Kludd has been the only Metal Beak! Kids deserve better lol I'll read what I have (eleven books) but probably nothing more than that.

I don't have reading plans or goals for February. I'm still sick, doing things is hard. I'm just trying to survive over here. If you have recommendations for easy to read silly books, I am all ears!

#bookbird babbles #reading wrap up #january wrap up #monthly wrap up #snapshots #books #booklr #trying a new layout i think i vibe a lot with this #also how did it take me this long to just color pick from my blog colors lol

[godzilla-reads]

❄️ January Reading Wrap Up ❄️

The first month of the year has me at 14 books, which felt like a lot to me. My Top 3 Reads are starred below:

🖤 My Gothic Heart edited by Charlie Castelletti

🦎 Dorohedoro Vol. 1 by Q Hayashida

☀️ East of the Sun & West of the Moon by Mercer Mayer

⭐️ Dragon Lore: A Treasury of 10 Dragon Tales by Emma Roberts and Tomislav Tomić

👒 My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee

⚔️ The Bronze Dragon Codex by R.D. Henham

🎶 The Book of Ballads and Sagas by Charles Vess

❄️ The Ice Dragon by E. Nesbit and Carole Grey

🐣 Domnall and the Borrowed Child by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

⭐️ Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Dragons

⭐️ Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

❄️ The Little Winter Book of Gnomes by Kirsten Sevig

🧚‍♀️ The Fairy Universe by Olivier Ledroit

🧚‍♂️ Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book by Terry Jones and Brian Froud

#godzilla reads #january wrap up #books read in 2024 #book blog #reading #reading wrap up #January reading wrap up #booklr #bookworm #bookish #booklover #bibliophile

[aliteraryprincess]

January 2024 Wrap Up

I'm a little bit late getting to this, but hey, at least we're only halfway into February, right? January was a decent month; nothing to complain about, but nothing especially exciting either.

Books Read: 9

It was a good reading month though. My favorite was my first read of 2024: Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands! Such a wonderful sequel. There really isn't a least favorite of the month; I had some issues with The Night Dance, but I still enjoyed it.

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett - 5 stars

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz - 3.5 stars

Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf - 3.5 stars

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang - 4 stars

Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Literary History by Franco Moretti - 3 stars

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher - 4 stars

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid - 4 stars

Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot - 4 stars

The Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn - 3 stars

On Tumblr:

Lots of quotes here this month and one tag.

December 2023 Wrap Up

Book Quotes: The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

Book Quotes: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Book Quotes: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Book Quotes: The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

Book Quotes: Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot

Tagged: 24 in 2024

On YouTube:

All my yearly wrap up content is over on YouTube this year. There's my top 10 books and my reading stats.

January TBR | let's be more realistic in 2024

December Wrap Up | 13 books for Remember December, the George Eliot Project, & more!

My Top 10 Books of 2023

What I Read for My PhD in English Literature | Milton

Currently Reading 1/15/24

2023 Reading Stats

February TBR | FebRegency & We Love Jenny Readathon

The George Eliot Project | Felix Holt, the Radical

#booklr #book photography #books #january wrap up #january 2024 #monthly wrap up #wrap up

[poetic-gays]

January Wrap-Up

- Alone With You in the Ether: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- 10 Things That Never Happened: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Atlas Complex: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Ghostkeeper: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Gwen & Art Are Not In Love: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Every Time You Hear That Song: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Only Girl in Town: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Henna Wars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Playing For Keeps: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

#book #books #january #january reads #january wrap up #alone with you in the ether #10 things that never happened #pride and prejudice and pittsburgh #the atlas complex #don’t want you like a best friend #gwen & art are not in love #the only girl in town #the henna wars #olivie blake #adiba jaigirdar

[literateish]

books read in january

kim jiyoung born 1982 by cho nam-joo - 4 stars

fen by daisy johnson - 3.5 stars

faces in the water by janet frame - 4.25 stars

the night watch by sarah waters - 4 stars

jane eyre by charlotte brönte - 4.25 stars

wide sargasso sea by jean rhys - 4.5 stars

paradise lost by john milton - 3.75 stars

the diary of adam and eve by mark twain - 2 stars

the yacobian building by alaa al aswany - 4 stars

disgrace by j.m. coetzee - 3 stars

the patience stone by atiq rahimi - 4.5 stars

a good girl's guide to murder by holly jackson - 4 stars

the sailor who fell from grace with the sea by yukio mishima - 3.5 stars

unlikeable female characters by anna bogutskaya - 3 stars

getting away with murder by kathryn foxfield - 3 stars

love her or lose her by tessa bailey - 2 stars

#honestly very impressed with the amount of books i’ve read #i am an english lit student though so most of these were for my degree #only four of them were just books i read for fun and not as work lol #reading wrap up #january wrap up #books #book reviews #han talks books

[princessofbookaholics]

January was a short reading month. I already have my first 2 star read of the year and no 5 stars which isn't shocking since I was in a reading slump. Hopefully the romance readathon of february is going to fix that for me! Here's the wrap up:

The Villa ⭐⭐⭐

What Lies in the Woods ⭐⭐

Divine Rivals ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ruthless Vows ⭐⭐⭐

Next of Kin ⭐⭐⭐

The Tourist Attraction ⭐⭐⭐

#books #booklr #book #reading #read #bookworm #reads #bookaholic #bookaddict #january reads #read in january #2024 books #january wrap up

[franticvampirereads]

January has been a wild ride, with a snow and ice storm that knocked out power for a few days, reading way more than I had planned, and birthday celebrations! It’s been interesting to say the least. I think the thing that I’m most shocked by was just how many books I’ve managed to read this month, so here’s what I read:

Daja’s Book 4.5⭐️ {review}

Us 4⭐️ {review}

Epic 4.5⭐️ {review}

Briar’s Book 5⭐️ {review}

The Dragon’s Betrothed 4⭐️ {review}

Last Courtesan Of Olympus 4⭐️ {review}

A Psalm For The Wild-Built 4⭐️ {review}

I’m Kinda Chubby & I’m Your Hero 4.5⭐️ {review}

Omega’s Forever Home 3.5⭐️ {review}

Omega’s Runaway Love -currently reading

My favorite books this month were The Dragon’s Betrothed and Last Courtesan Of Olympus. They were both so much fun!

#January wrap up #booklr #january reads #reading #books #reading wrap up #read #book #bookish #bookworm #lgbtq+ books #queer books #circle of magic #him #us #epic #the dragon’s betrothed #last courtesan of Olympus #a psalm for the wild built #I’m kinda chubby and I’m your hero #omega’s forever home #Harris cove billionaires series #omega’s runaway love #omegaverse #omegaverse books #manga #sports romance

[millennialgrandma]

January 2023 - Retroactive Words Recap

The fact that this little bitch has been sitting in my drafts for 10 months is quite frankly, nothing short of criminal.

Things I Wrote

There weren't a lot of my own words that happened in January (however, looking back, it was probably my most prolific month of the year. which is honestly devastating to think about.) I know I put in some time on the dramione MCD fic (switched it to first person POV for maximum pain). I also squeaked out I can't wait to see you again (dramione, E, 1.9k) right at the end of the month.

Things I Read

January was the first of the very busy stressy depressy lemon zesty months. My reading that month was almost entirely a product of several bouts of being a horny monster, which meant the pairings (and fandoms) I read varied. Lord only knows how I fell into HotD.

Fiction:

Nonfiction:

Fanfiction:

Complete: (approx. 116.5k)

Only for Love by dalula (druna, E, 4.1k)

Yes Mr. Malfoy by @emotionalsupporthufflepuff (draco/rose, E, 1.1k)

Lessons by orphan_account (scorose, E, 1.3k)

Grindhouse by @provocative-envy (draco/rose, E, 2.2k)

Draco's Birthday Wish by sarahsempra (draco/hermione/ginny, E, 6.3k)

When Snakes Bet by peach_poppy (dreomione, E, 13.5k)

Take a Chance by @acciomjolnir (nevmione, E, 4.7k)

Summer Healing by emsie_writes (ronmionarry, E, 5.4k)

Future Thinking emsie_writes (ronmionarry, E, 4.9k)

Reread: Under the Moonlit Sky by arabellawrites (harmony, E, 5k)

Come to Me by @frumpologist (sirius/ginny, E, 2.4k)

Reread: Movements by @olivieblake (sirius/pansy, E, 2.6k)

Run For It by @provocative-envy (sirius/pansy, E, 4.4k)

How to Drain Your Dragon by @vukovich (luna/charlie, E, 3.7k)

Long Jacket by Willowfairy (parkweasel, E, 5.5k)

Mile End by @pacific-rimbaud (parkweasel, E, 8.4k)

Reread: Tied Up by @ladykenz347 (percy/pansy/hermione, E, 3.6k)

Reread: Incensed and Aroused by @ladykenz347 (parkweasel, E, 4.3k)

Useful by DontStopHerNow (parkweasel, E, 1.6k)

Boyfriend Dick by @fw00shy (parkweasel, E, 3.9k)

the difference between (being fucked and being taken) by LumosLyra (parkweasel, E, 1.7k)

Grey Days by MidnightChardonnay (parkweasel, E, 2.1k)

A Very Merry Christmas by @a-loveunlaced and LumosLyra (arthur/hermione, E, 3.9k)

jailbird by cordeliacordate (harwin/rhaenyra, E, 4.7k)

Partition by elegantmoonchild (harwin/rhaenyra, E, 1.4k)

A Terrible Lack of Respect by obsidian_hearts (harwin/rhaenyra, E, 7.6k)

menace. by orphan_account (harwin/rhaenyra, E, 0.7k)

Punishment by pecanbrandies (harwin/rhaenyra, E, 2.7k)

Reread: Practical Punishment by rockthecasbah18 (harry/rose/draco, E, 3k)

WIPs: (approx. 18.6k)

Kingdome Come by @inadaze22 and @jaxxartbox - Chapter 11-12 (dramione, E, 12k)

Good by @lovesbitca8 - Chapter 6 (dramione, E, 6.6k)

#wrangling the words #january wrap up #fics i've read #apparently i'm writing? #retroactively clawing back these words to add to my airtable is going to be my villian origin story

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Read in January 2024

*facepalm* I've just realised I actually read two really good books this month despite what I've said in my other wrap-up posts. Butch is a Noun and Stone Butch Blues (a reread) were absolutely wonderful - I forgot about them because I haven't got physical copies 😂

the rest of my reads were a bit underwhelming but at least I crossed off lots of stuff from my TBR 😊

Series read:

Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known - 4/5

Evander Mills series by Lev AC Rosen

Lavender House - 4/5

The Bell and the Fog - 4/5

Backlog books:

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick - DNF

Other reads:

Camp QUILTBAG by Nicole Melleby & AJ Sass - 3/5 (audio)

Butch is a Noun by S Bear Bergman - 4/5

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis - 4/5

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg - 5/5 (reread)

Very Bad People by Kit Frick - 4/5 (audio)

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand - 2/5 (audio)

Cackle by Rachel Harrison - 3/5 (audio)

Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly - 4/5

The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein - 4/5 (audio)

The Complete MAUS by Art Spiegelman - 4/5

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang - 4/5

Spinning by Tillie Walden - 4/5

#january wrap up #read in january #read last month #2024 #trcc original

[tolive1000lives]

Reading challenge 2023 is underway!

#reading challenge 2023 #reading challenge #january wrap up #bookblr #books #bookworm #book blog #bibliophile #reading #book stack #reading list #booklover #book journal #reading journal #book spines #read in january #reading goal #reading goals #bookshelves #book haul

[sixofravens-reads]

January Wrap-Up!

A good start to the year! 6 books read, 2 in progress, and just 1 DNF. I knocked a couple oldies off my TBR, and that's always a good feeling!

Read:

The Unspoken Name - A. K. Larkwood

The Tensorate Series - Neon Yang

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - J. R. R. Tolkien

The Thousand Eyes - A. K. Larkwood

Biting the Sun - Tanith Lee

The Bedlam Stacks - Natasha Pulley

Currently Reading:

Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett (page 56)

Woodsqueer - Gretchen Legler (page 116)

DNF:

The Apollo Murders - Chris Hadfield (just not sure if it interests me as much as I expected, might return to it later.)

#books #january wrap up #january reading #currently reading

[magicalyaku]

Hello and welcome to another reading year! Following the devastation Dark Heir cause in my heart at the end of 2023, I didn't really feel like reading much for about two weeks. I did catch up on a few manga series, most notably 8 volumes of Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi. While it's still very good, I think binge reading helped quite a bit to keep me invested. :'D After that, I read one book that will definitely go into my worst books of 2024. Refer to the later half of the post if you want to know more. Let's focus on the good ones first!

Cursebreakers (Madeleine Nakamura): This one was really good! I was positively surprised. The world is magical, not medieval but futuristic! The story around the conspiracy is interesting and intense and the main characters are difficult people that might be hard to like in real life but they complement each other so well and it's so nice to see their relationship grow (no love story here!). I also really liked the way it is told. The protagonist has bipolar disorder which is a huge factor in the story but he recounts the story from a later perspective, so rather than being right in the moment with every dramatic and sometimes questionable decision we get a little bit of distance and insight into his actions and thoughts which works really well.

Twelve Bones (Sixteen Souls 2) (Rosie Talbot): The first volume was a already a little dark but all the bad stuff involved a limited circle of people (most of them ghosts), this one takes a full dive into the swooping dark threatening the entire city, living and dead! The stakes, my dear. Ugh! Based on that I wouldn't call it fun ... would I? I liked reading it, though! The cast of characters is really endearing. The story is good. The struggle felt warranted. The ending is kinda mangaesque but I like manga, so I don't mind. xD I wonder if there'll be a third volume. If not, I'll look forward to the author's next work. :)

The Necromancer's Light (Radiance 1) (Tavia Lark): I picked up the set of the trilogy which has a much better cover than the indivual books. :'D This one is very simple and straightforward, it's cute. The characters are likable. The hurt/comfort in here is indeed comforting. I think I like the first part with the pining best. This story's animal is a horse! (I read half of the auther's Perilous Courts series and there's friendly animals in every volume there as well. Nice touch.)

And now for the first book of 2024 I did not like. Heir to Thorn and Flame (Court of Broken Bonds 1) (Ben Alderson): I read the author's self-published Darkmourn series last summer and quite liked it despite its issues with the writing. Now this one has a tradtional publisher so I wanted to know if that made any difference. On a whole, the writing feels a little bit smoother than Darkmourn. But it's still long, repetetive, and tries to hard to sound fancy by exaggerating a lot. The premise of the story isn't even that bad. Boy finds out he has magic, accidentely kills the prince, has to take his place and political stuff occurs with two countries on the cusp of war over him and his magic. The first thing that annoyed me: The story feels unnecessarily cruel. It literally starts out with attempted rape which is already the second time protagonist Maxiumus is assaulted in his life. People are killed right in front of him, he is forced to shoot someone he cares for. People violently dig through his memories and still don't believe his story afterwards. And the villains are just caricatures. They have the balding hair, yellowed teeth, bony fingers, stinky breath, and leering eyes. They're ugly and evil! It was so over the top that I couldn't care at all. The other characters have nothing going on for them either. I don't like Maximus at all. He's whiny and indecisive and only worries about his parents. He does have that superstrong magic he uses to rip people apart when he's angry, wow. He also has two love interests and I don't see the chemistry with either of them (I suppose it tries to be Slow Burn but not very good). But they're so good-looking, the strong arms and nice smell, so tall! (eyeroll) The second one of these guys is named Simion. He's the only one remotely nice to him in the beginning, so Maximus likes him. Then he hates him. Then he likes him, then Simion reveals stuff and Maximus hates him again (even though he's just the messenger). But then he's suddenly attracted to him again to the point they even kiss … but oh no, Maximus can't kiss anyone, because he is married to the other guy by magic (against his will)!! And everyone treats it as this big thing "oh old magic you are bound to each other now for life" etc, but nobody explains what the handfastening (as they call it) even does for 80% of the book! Until Maximus kisses Simion and the magic causes him pain because he's cheating!!

Here my mind went on a tangent. The magic seems to have a conscious in this story, alright, but I want to know it's moral values then. Does it only detect kisses and sex? Physical acts? Can it differentiate between consensual und non-consensual? Who is doing the touching? Does is only clock sexual attraction or romantic attraction as well? What if he has a crush and never acts on it? Would it still cause him permament pain? What's with platonical kisses? Now you ask, do we have to explain all of this in a book like this? No, we don't (there's also two sequels), but I sure hope the author thought about it when he introduced a complex thing like this. Oh, also Simion forces his way into Maximus's mind via telepathy several times. Such a nice way to get to know each other. And speaking of the morality of the magic, it counts how many people are killed with it. On the wand. As tally marks. How does it know? Why does it only count humans, not animals? Why does it care?

Two more things I found annoying (there's more, but this is long enough already): First, the parents. Everything happening in the story hinges on their whereabouts, it's back and forth and very tiring. The Red King has them so Maximus has to stay with him, then the Blue Prince has them, then they get kidnapped so Maximus follows, then it turns out they've never been kidnapped and the Blue Prince kept them all along! In between he freaks out over his father not being his father and when they're reunited, but before they can talk, the father dies. Yay. Tragic. Not. The same thing happened before already. The one lady Maximus was forced to kill? She survived! She was saved and he goes to meet her, they talk for 30 seconds and then she's eaten by a dragon. :D I was pissed for wasting my time.

Which is a sentiment I kind of share about the whole book, but also not. It made me angry but sometimes it's good to have an outlet for the rage. :'D

#yaku reads #january wrap up #books #queer books #queer lit #lgbtq books #bookblr #cursebreakers #twelve bones #heir to thorn and flame #the necromancer's light #tumblr kept telling me it couldn't save my post because I made my paragraphs too long ...? #you're weird sir

[libertyreads]

January 2024 Wrap Up--

January was a weird month for me. I've been trying to keep in control of my reading since my goal for the new year is to read fewer books. My goal is between 52 and 104 books for the year. Which would be such a drastic decrease over the past couple of years. I managed to stay within the two books per week maximum boundary that I set for myself. But only just. I'm still fighting the feeling I get when I'm doing some other hobby instead of reading that I'm doing the wrong thing. Hopefully this gets better as I continue to work on this goal.

Comics/Graphic Novels--

Short Stories/Novellas-- 1. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin--3 stars.

Novels-- 1. The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes--3.75 stars.

2. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros--5 stars (original rating).

3. Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer (kindle)--2.5 stars.

4. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (NetGalley)--4 stars.

5. Going Postal by Terry Prachett--4 stars.

6. Liar's Beach by Katie Cotugno (library)-- 3.5 stars.

The average star rating for the month was 3.68 stars. Not a bad reading month at all. I'm glad I'm keeping with my goals and still having a good time.

#monthly wrap up #January wrap up #wrap up #books read in 2024 #2024 reading challenge #goodreads challenge #goodreads #booklr #bokblr #bookstagram #bookish #books #reading #Fourth Wing #The Last Watch #Going Postal #The Westing Game