End of the Month Wrap Up - January '25

 

Here we are at the end of the first month in this new year! I can't believe it's already over! This edition of the Wrap Ups is going to be packed with some information about my bookish life on top of the breakdown for where the books that I was able to read in January fell! 

Bookish Life Update- I have managed to put together my second book shelf and it's already almost full. I need to buy another...already. My backlog of special edition books is so large that once I get them all, I know the list will still continue to stay long! I have added another subscription to my line up. Which brings me to a total of 6. One of them I'm thinking about canceling...simply because I haven't really known any of the titles that they have and they don't seem to have many special editions outside of the subscription. We'll see how I feel by the end of the next renewal. Anyway, I've decided to set my goal for this year at 100 books! Which is 25 more than last year. For some reason my Goodreads count is a little bit off already. I will just use my spreadsheet to keep an accurate count. I have also renewed my commitment to doing more with my socials! I will try to be more active on Tik Tok and I have already started being more active on Instagram as well as Bluesky and Storygraph! So look for me on those platforms. I will drop my linktree at the end of this breakdown!

This month I managed to read 10 books! This month was full of surprises! Some of them good, some of them bad! So without further word vomit, let's get a refresher on the books and then go into the superlatives!!

       

Favorite Character - Oraya (The Serpent & The Wings of Night) I really enjoyed getting to know Oraya. She was in a really hard place and even knowing that she was someone who was inbetween two differing species, she still tried to be the best she could be. She was in a dangerous place and didn't let that deter her despite having a traumatic event in one of her most formative years. I really admired her for what she had to deal with in this book. It was a lot. This book really surprised me.

Best Voice Actors - Queen Takes Triune I think I might have only listened to 3 books this month. I enjoyed this one the most. The male voice actors had to take on so many different characters and even though he didn't do much to his voice with each character, the fact that he still made them distinct was a nice touch. I also enjoyed the actress who played Shara as well. I am not ready to say good bye to them but the next book in this series, I will probably end up reading the e-book. 

Best Cover - Corrupted Angel This book might not have been my cup of tea but man this cover is amazing! I don't know if it's the filter or what but this is the kind of cover I love. Especially since it seemed to catch the essence of a dark romance perfectly. I also love covers that have characters that appear as dark as the theme that they are portraying and this one took the cake for sure! I picked this up almost off the cover alone!

Top Baddie - The Ring (Your Bloodline) This book definitely demonstrates bad parents at their worst. Just about all the parents in this book are terrible and subsequently they are kinda the bad guys in this book. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see matricide like I was at the end of this book. It was so deserved because ma'am WHAT. I am really looking forward to continuing this series. It really stepped things up with this book and now I am ready for Our Bloodline! The cliffy has had me gasping! I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes academy based why choose books! 

Spiciest Book - Your Bloodline They definitely let nothing stop them in this one. They kinda stepped it up. I love that they focus on her relationship with each of the guys on their own and then the dynamic that they have together. I think that is what makes the best why choose books! It makes the moments that they have together hit that much more which is exactly what happened in this book. This reminds me of another series that I will probably add to my re-read series. It also did the whole focus on the individual relationships well. 

Best Storyline - The Serpent & The Wings of Night The emotions that were felt in this book. Oh man, I definitely did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I really enjoy just about every aspect of the story. From the beginning where we meet our FMC as a young child being taken by the big bad, but not without showing her teeth, til the end where she finds herself in a position she never thought to be in. It is just mind blowing how things changed and I really can not recommend this book enough!

Book of the Month - The Serpent & The Wings of Night I don't think that there was any book that I read in January that can eclipse the feeling that I felt when I was reading and once I finished this book. This one was hands down the best book of the month for me. I really loved it. I can't wait to dive deeper into this series. It is easily going to be one that will make my top series list. I enjoyed the War of Lost Hearts by this author but this one...bypassed it by a MILE. Recommend, recommend, recommend!

Author of the Month - KC Kean I know this one might seem like a surprise since Carissa Broadbent was stealing so many categories BUT the way the second book in the Featherstone Academy series took this series from ok this is good, to oh wow...yeah I have to finish this one, can't be praised enough. Usually for most series, the first book hooks you and then the rest just kinda coast. Rarely do you find a series that the later books manage to fully surpass the first book. This one managed to do that. I really liked this second book. It made me excited for the next book and I had to instantly download it. I will finish it in the coming weeks! I definitely want to applaud her for that and also recommend this series! Get it so we can fangirl and fight over the guys!!