Is it me, or did January seem to last a long time? I feel like all January’s feel longer than 31 days. It’s weird. On one hand, it makes it easier to read more books in the month. Especially if they’re shorter books. This month was about average for me, reading wise, as I read 7 books. I probably would’ve read more if I hadn’t read the last two School for Good and Evil books, which were both 600+ pages, but I know if I waited to read them, I would’ve been confused about the story.

The problem with reading a series, am I right?

Anyway, I read a lot of good books in January, including some rereads. I even listened to an audiobook, which is very weird for me to do without it being a challenge prompt.

1. When We Were Strangers – Alex Richards ✰✰✰✰
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling ✰✰✰✰✰ (reread)
3. The Girl in the Headlines – Hannah Jayne ✰✰✰✰
4. In the Ballroom With the Candlestick – Diana Peterfruend ✰✰✰✰
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling ✰✰✰✰✰ (reread; audiobook)
6. November 9 – Colleen Hoover ✰✰✰✰
7. A Crystal of Time – Soman Chainani ✰✰✰✰.75
8. One True King – Soman Chainani ✰✰✰✰✰
9. The Words We Keep – Erin Stewart ✰✰✰✰✰

1. Two Truths and One Liar – Deidre Riordan Hall (DNF @ 39% – 141 pages)

I really hate to DNF a book, especially since this one was a review copy given to me by the author herself, but I just couldn’t get into the story. The characters all sounded the same and there were these little jumps in narration where I had to go back and reread a paragraph to see if I missed anything. The pacing was pretty good, it didn’t take long for the mystery to start, but this book just wasn’t for me.

I obviously bought books this month, as I got a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas. I didn’t spend it all though, which I feel is a win. I did also get Amazon gift cards as well, which worked for books that I couldn’t find at the bookstore nearby and wanted them sooner than later. I also pre-ordered a few books as they were on sale (B&N) and one was through an indie store that the author lives near. I had to.

Physical Books (regular haul)

• Christmas In Vermont – Anita Hughes
• Don’t Breathe a Word – Jordyn Taylor

Ebooks

• A Love Hate Thing – Whitney D. Grandison
• A Thousand Boy Kisses – Tillie Cole

Pre-orders

• Sense and Second Degree Murder – Tirzah Price (physical book; 4/5/2022)
• Full Flight – Ashley Schumacher (ebook; release 2/22/2022)
• How to be the Best Third Wheel – Loridee De Villa (ebook; release 5/3/2022)
• Long Story Short – Serena Kaylor (ebook; release 7/26/2022)

I started Gossip Girl last year when it was on Netflix, and then Netflix took the show off… of course. So I never got past episode five (or something like that). I subscribed to HBO Max at the beginning of January specifically for the Harry Potter reunion, and found that this was on there as well. I’m not far into it again, as I’ve been reading more than watching anything, but I do plan to keep my subscription and keep watching the show to see if I really want to stick with it all the way through or not.

Along with Gossip Girl, I saw that Pretty Little Liars is on HBO Max as well, which I never watched before. I did watch the spin-off, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists because Sofia Carson is in that series, but unfortunately, they canceled it after one season. Which is annoying because it obviously left off on a cliff-hanger. Anyway, I’m also not far into the original PLL, but I’m going to try to watch more of it as I do enjoy a good mystery series such as this. Hopefully I’ll want to stick with it and make my subscription worth keeping.

And that’s finally it for my January Wrap Up! I definitely didn’t plan on buying as many books as I did, but the good things is that all but one book were purchased with my gift card that I got for Christmas (and I still have money left over on it!). I’m not expecting to read as many books for February, as it’s the short month, but I do plan on reading some good ones.

What did your January look like?