Well, I (and you, if you’re reading this) survived January 2025! One month down. Do I keep having to remind myself that Rep TV, Debut TV, and TS12 will come eventually so there are things to look forward to so I don’t just fall into a full on depressive episode? Yes. I am doing all that I can to avoid that depressive episode, but wow, are we putting my anxiety meds to the test. Anyway, let’s talk about the 16 books (and three DNFs) that I escaped into to make it through the month!
Books Read by Rating
5 Stars
I absolutely loved starting off my year with Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar, which I had an ARC of (thank you, Netgalley; review here), but also I’ve now purchased a physical copy with Aardvark because it’s a February pick! All that to say, I definitely recommend picking this one up if you’re a fan of Sweet Home Alabama.
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop was the most welcome surprise of my life! I loved it so much. Did it make me consider quitting my job to open a bookstore more than ever before? Yes. (Was the amount I think about that already too high? Also, yes.) But also, it’s such a great book about burnout and how to reframe success and what that means to someone. After finishing the audiobook, I immediately pre-ordered the paperback which doesn’t come out until this summer because I desperately want to annotate.
Binding 13 and Keeping 13 are the first two books in the Boys of Tommen series and they are my new personality. Like, these books are my new Magnolia Parks. I am so in love, so obsessed. I tabbed the hell out of these books. I love Johnny and Shannon so much, I’ve literally downloaded fan art to my computer to make a spread in my bullet journal just for this series and I don’t even do individual book spreads… But I’m about to start.
And apparently upper YA was just hitting in January, because I also absolutely LOVED Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood. Like, started it on audio while running errands for my niece’s birthday party and then kept wanting to sneak away to listen to more of it while I was spending time with my family. It was so much fun and I loved it so much.
4.5 Stars
Ne’er Duke Well was so much fun for me. I’m not sure why exactly I loved it as much as I did because there were times where I was like, “I swear if y’all don’t USE YOUR WORDS,” which is often something that detracts from my enjoyment enough to really cause my rating of the book to suffer, but I loved it so much. It kept me company on my drive to Charlotte for training and my first two nights in the hotel where I just sort of cozied up, ordered take out, and colored while listening to the audiobook. It was a whole vibe.
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros is a book where the rating could change 2500 times before I ever settle on one for sure. But ultimately, this is a fantasy romance series where I just get so wildly swept away and I just love these dragons that it’s like a turn my brain off and go kind of read. The only thing that kept it from being a 5 star book for me is that I truly did not know ANYONE it felt like. I needed the list of people provided in the front matter to be about six times as long because there were a MILLION people in the book that suddenly had names and I was like, “Ma’am, who tf is this?” Like I remembered Rhiannon, Violet, Xaden, Aaric, Sloane, Imogen, Mira, and [spoiler]. Plus the three main dragons. And then there are like 600 names casually being dropped and I was like, excuse me? Whom?? Anyway, all that to say, I still enjoyed it so much, I just had to decide to treat this like the first book in a series and not pretend like I knew anyone.
Give Me Butterflies by Jillian Meadows is a book that I had as an ARC and I absolutely loved it. I love the friends, the family, the sisters, the romance, the everything. I owe y’all my ARC review, which you will get just as soon as I finish my final January ARC. Which I will do. Promptly.
4 Stars
Glint by Raven Kennedy was my reread in my attempt to finish the Plated Prisoner series this year. It is much better than book one, but also, like, the way that it ends? I’m upset. I need to start book 3 ASAP, but I haven’t picked it back up yet.
The Favorites by Layne Fargo is maybe a 4.5, but maybe a 4. I’m kind of undecided. For today though, I’m saying that it’s a 4.5. I think my ARC review is already posted for this one as well, so you can check that out to see more of my thoughts. But essentially, I think this book worked well for me because of the format.
Welcome to Pawnee by Jim O’Heir was a fantastic reading experience because I read a chapter a day with my best friend. We also watched Parks & Rec together and so it was just the most wonderful part of my January, to be honest. But I did wind up with a four star rating because Jim talks a lot about his weight and the way that it was done wound up making me really uncomfortable. That said, they’re stories of his life so he can obviously tell it however he chooses! But one of my favorite parts is the sheer respect and adoration he has toward so many of his co-stars. I loved that.
Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti is another book I had as an ARC, though I read it via audiobook I purchased myself. I enjoyed it so much that I think depending on the day, I could rate this up closer to a 4.5. This was just such a fun romp, but the end was a little lackluster in my opinion. The way that it resolved took a lot of loose strings and then tied everything up, but in a way that left me slightly confused and then the romance just super quickly got wrapped up. But regardless, I’m definitely vibing with this series from Vasti so far!
Yin Yang Love Song by Lauren Kung Jessen was really wonderful. I absolutely loved the way this book talks about healing from heartbreak and how sometimes heartbreak can be from things like your job or your family or things aside from a romantic relationship falling apart. Also though, there’s the whole fact that given how much I’m struggling with burnout, this book really talked a good bit about that. I would definitely recommend! This also is really a slow burn and, while I really liked the prose and everything plot wise about this book, the romance was not always a win for me. But I believe I have my ARC review posted for you already so feel free to check that out!
Bourbon & Lies by Victoria Wilder is on Kindle Unlimited and I really enjoyed it. I would say to skip the prologue because it’s about the MMC’s girlfriend being murdered and pretty graphically bleeding out. Then in chapter one we have FMC being delivered to MMC’s family farm/bourbon distillery place for witness security reasons after she witnesses a crime. The two of them have an immediate ZING so to speak, but the actual romance is pretty slow to develop because MMC is pretty closed off. I wound up really liking it and loving the small town world that was created so I immediately downloaded book two and I can’t wait to read it.
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill was my in person book club pick for the month and I’m so glad I got to talk about this book. I really liked the writing in this book, but ultimately, I just felt like this was missing a few things. Like I wanted to see the dragons taking vengeance on the symbols of patriarchy. And I wanted to see what the heck the dragons were up to when they left. But I did like the story as it was. I just could have LOVED the story, I think, if it had given me a little more.
DNFs
I received all three of these books as ARCs from Netgalley so I am sorry I didn’t want to finish them, but at the same time… I’m trying not to read so many mediocre books this year or books I just don’t like.
I have my DNF review of Work in Progress already posted, so I can link y’all to that here. But the long and short is that I thought I was really enjoying this at first and then the humor started grating on me and there was a reference to Harry Potter and I decided I was better off not finishing it. I’ve resolved to have fewer three/2.5/2 stars this year so if you catch me DNF’ing a lot more this year, that’s a big part of the why. It’s not that I think I would have hated this book, but I wasn’t really having a good time anymore, so I quit.
With The Year of Cecily by Lisa Lin, I was listening to the audiobook and was finding it fine except we went from “I hate this man so much I don’t even like to think his name” to making out with him? And the book was like… still in the first third? It was… odd. So, I put it down and picked up Ne’er Duke Well instead.
As for My Inconvenient Duke by Loretta Chase, despite generally enjoying her writing style, there was something about picking up this book that felt like hitting my head against a wall of text with nothing penetrating my brain. So… again, I just sat it down. But I can’t tell you anything about whether or not it will work for you, unfortunately, because this one seems very personal to me.
Closing Thoughts
Since I wanted to do more talking about the books, I decided to skip the statistics for this month’s wrap up. What do you think? What are the parts about my wrap up that are important to you? Also, if I’m just talking to the void, that’s fine too. 🙂 Anyway, let me know your favorite books of January! Or really, just how was your reading in January?
xx
firewhiskeyreader 