January was such a messy month and felt so much like 2020 never ended, but had some pretty glorious and delightful moments too. Specifically, the fact that Kamala Harris is now MADAM Vice President!!! I am honestly still on Cloud 9. Does this solve all of the problems in the U.S.? Absolutely not. But wow, isn’t it so nice to know we have a leadership in place that doesn’t think 400,000 people dying of COVID-19 is acceptable? Setting politics aside, the other absolutely amazing moment of 2021 is that my friend got me a signed and personalized copy of Archangel’s Sun by Nalini Singh!! Nalini Singh has WRITTEN my name!!!!!! I’m obsessed with this present and also stunned by how thoughtful this gift was. Also extremely confused he legitimately seemed to think I wouldn’t love it. It’s my new most prized possession probably.
But we’re actually here to talk about books and I read a lot of them. I was off work for the first two weeks of the year and since I didn’t have anywhere to go, I read SO much. Lots of novellas because I didn’t have much of an attention span, but also a book I can already tell you will be a favorite of the year. So let’s talk about books! Before I dive into what I read, I have to say that so much of my reading this month was really inspired by the Swoon Awards! I made a list of every book I haven’t read that was nominated (minus the few I just will not be reading) and I plan to slowly work my way through them this year. Hopefully. I mean, it’s over 100 books, so will that work out? Probably not. But also, WOW. That’s so many books that were recognized because I have also read A LOT of those books! Oh, also, these links are to Goodreads and I have made a concentrated effort to review books in at least a few sentences on there as it was a goal of mine. I think I have two books to review from January and then I will have accomplished that goal!
A Visual Representation of the Books I Read
A Written List of the Books I Read and the Rating I Gave…
- Resolutions by Lucy Eden – 2 stars
- Round Midnight by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner – 4 stars
- The Way You Hold Me by Elle Wright – 3 stars – ARC Review
- Ever After Always by Chloe Liese – 5 stars – ARC Review
- Scandal in the VIP Suite by Nadine Gonzalez – 3 stars – ARC Review
- Earth Bound by Christine Feehan – 3 stars
- Blind Date with a Book Boyfriend by Lucy Eden – 3.5 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle – 4.5 stars
- Office Hours by Katrina Jackson – 3 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- Fire Bound by Christine Feehan – 3 stars
- The Chocolate Rose by Laura Florand – 4 stars
- Birthday Sex by Té Russ – 4 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- Just One More by Jodie Slaughter – 3.5 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- Archangel’s Sun by Nalini Singh – 5 stars – Reread
- Flirting with Forever by Cara Bastone – 5 stars – ARC Review
- Destiny’s Captive by Beverly Jenkins – 3.5 stars
- Get It Right by Skye Kilaen – 3.5 stars (Swoon Award Nominee)
- The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins – 5 stars – ARC Review
- The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon – 5 stars – ARC Review
- Gifting Me to His Best Friend by Katee Robert – 5 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- Bottle Rocket by Erin McLellan – 4 stars (Swoon Award Nominee)
- My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh – 2.5 stars
- Once Upon a Dream by Sierra Simone – 3 stars
- A Midnight Feast by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner – 5 stars
- A Marriage Worth Saving by Therese Beharrie – 4 stars
- A Dirty Valentine by Nicole Falls – 3 stars
- Baby, Be Mine by Alexandria House – 4 stars
- Brave Hearts by Nicole Falls – 4 stars
- Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan – 5 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- A Wedding One Christmas by Therese Beharrie – 4 stars
- A Big Surprise for Valentine’s Day by Jackie Lau – 4 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- For the Duke’s Eyes Only by Lenora Bell – 3.5 stars
- The Sweetest Fix by Tessa Bailey – 5 stars
- How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin – 4 stars
- Candy Hearts by Erin McLellan – 4 stars (Swoon Award Nominee/Finalist)
- First Comes Like by Alisha Rai – 4.5 stars – ARC Review
- Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery – 5 stars – Reread
- A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley – 5 stars
- The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley – 4 stars
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne – 4 stars – Reread
- Weapon of Choice from The Deadly Hours by Susanna Kearsley – 4 stars
Statistics
Total Books Read: 41
Average Rating: 3.98
Format Read: 30 ebooks, 6 audiobooks, and 5 physical books
Authors of Color: 16
Own/Borrowed/Hauled: 21 owned + 7 ARCs, 10 borrowed, 3 hauled
Favorites
Favorite Full Length Romance Novels
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon — I’ve talked so much about The Ex Talk, but I just need to take a moment to reiterate that I loved this book so incredibly much. It’s definitely a favorite of the year.
Gifting Me to His Best Friend by Katee Robert — This book blew me away. The way Robert managed to pack in SO MANY emotions is just wild. I loved this novella immensely.
A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley — Susanna Kearsley manages every time to make me so completely invested and swept away. I got to recommend her yesterday to a friend and I live in hope that she will become as obsessed as me.
My Favorite Posts of Mine This Month
I’m so relieved and pleased to finally have the evermore + Romance Recommendations, Part One and Part Two completed! Those are probably my biggest accomplishments. But I also got you my Favorites of 2020 Non-Contemporary Romances, Non-Romance Favorites, and Favorite Backlist Titles. Plus, the Capricorn Book Recommendations and the Venus in Capricorn + Romance Novels post.
A Round Up of Posts I’ve Loved from Around the Internet
- Melinda and Melanie’s Deep Dive and Spoiler-y Review of Slave of Sensation. I am loving this and can’t wait to read more installments in this series.
- Since I mentioned my love of The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon, do you want to see Nick’s review + interview with her? Yes, yes, you do. Also, while you’re on Nick’s blog site, do you want to see the list she made of 200+ Romance Releases for January – June? (Yes.)
- Rebecca Roanhorse did a couple of interviews this month about Black Sun, here is one with New Books Network. And here’s the one with Audible. Plus, here’s some Serapio fan art for you.
- This really fun fan art for Alyssa Cole’s How to Catch a Queen.
- Diana Biller gave us some updates!!!!!! (Did you forget how much I loved The Widow of Rose House?)
- Nalini taunted us with the fact that she’s still not writing Nakita and Anthony. (I love her.)
- I really love Charlotte’s Close Reading Snapshot feature on her blog. She did You, Me, U.S., which I have GOT TO READ at some point soon.
- Kate Clayborn was on Learning the Tropes and they talked Taylor Swift! I mean, who isn’t delighted by this?
- I’m obsessed with this Marriage in Trouble recommendations post from ShadesnPages and this one from @_bookish_affair_.
- Here is @whittyreads announcement post for #BlackAuthorReadathon.
All in all, it was a very good month of reading. What was your favorite book of January? I would love to know!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 
4 responses to “January Wrap Up”
But wow , that’s one incredible reading month!!
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It really was such a good month for reading!!
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OMG Jen! You read so many books! Teach me your ways! I need to be better about reading some of the Swoonies nominees myself. There are too many though lol. I’m happy that you rated The Sweetest Fix 5 stars. I’m hoping to pick it up soon! Also, I love how Bridgerton has gotten a lot of us to read a few more HR here and there!
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I’m so glad you all came up with The Swoonies! I read SO many 2020 releases, but there were so many more with a lot of people loving them!
I hope you like The Sweetest Fix when you pick it up!! And yes, I fell out of historical so hard over the last year or so, but I’m dipping my toes back in at least. Lol
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