It feels super weird to be typing a January TBR, but we are more than halfway through December so why not go ahead and post this? I have somehow acquired entirely too many advanced copies of January releases, but I’m determined to do a better job reading my ARCs in 2026 than I did in 2025. We’ll see how that goes. Also, I’ve accidentally joined three book clubs at my local romance only bookstore because I had copies already of all of the picks (including for the fourth one, but I’ll be out of town for that meeting). So… My reading is definitely sorted out for January, so pray the mood reader in me doesn’t revolt. Anyway, let’s look at what we have, shall we?
Advanced Copies via Netgalley
Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone by Christine Riccio comes out on January 1st, which is super weird because that’s a Thursday. But setting aside the oddness of the date, the book itself follows a woman on the cusp of 30, who is really determined that she’s going to find herself a partner. She just doesn’t expect the man she’s interested in to be someone who lives across the country from her. But also there’s some kind of magical twist, so I don’t know what that means. I know that Riccio and I have similar things we like in our books (by which I mean, we both had the Year of Ali Hazelwood this year) so here’s hoping I’ll love her writing!
The Starseekers by Nicole Glover is described as Indiana Jones meets Hidden Figures and I pretty much stopped reading after I saw Indiana Jones paired with that cover, tbh, because I’m sorry, I’m obsessed with the cover. I don’t know what it is about this cover, but I love it so much. “Including Cynthia Rhodes, a brilliant arcane engineer at NASA’s Ainsworth Research Labs. Talented in math and magic, she hosts a magical educational show… a job she took mostly for a chance to regularly see the dashing Theodore Danner, a professor of arcane archeology.” And then she and Theo are both sleuthing to try and figure out what’s up with this museum curator? Y’all, I’m ready. I actually haven’t read any of the other books in this world, but I have The Conductors so I’ll try and read that one before the end of the year, but I don’t think you have to.
The Odds of You by Kate Dramis has a synopsis that honestly refuses to stick in my brain, but what I’ve taken from it is that it’s going to be one of those emotional reads that I’ve been loving and part of it takes place in Scotland. For some reason, that’s about all it took for me to want to read it. I’ll report back with an actual synopsis ASAP. Both The Starseekers and The Odds of You come out on January 6th.
Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez is her first book since the duology that introduced me to her, What the River Knows. I’m really looking forward to this one in large part because the setting is Florence, which is my favorite place on Earth, pretty sure. Here’s the last paragraph in the synopsis: “As alliances shift and war brews on the horizon, Ravenna must navigate the treacherous line between survival and betrayal, between love and duty. With time running out and her every move watched, the choices she makes will determine the fate of not just her own life, but the fragile balance of magic and power that could unravel Florence itself.” Again, I don’t fully understand what the book is about, but I will report back! This is out on January 13th as is the next book…
Fated Skates by Victoria Schade is a book that I really just couldn’t resist as a person who loves to watch ice skating, even if I do forget about it until the Winter Olympics roll around. I’m not sure why. Anyway, setting that aside, Fated Skates is about Quinn, who is an ice skater trying to make a comeback after a not so great Olympic performance last time. On the other side, we have Bennett, whose reputation could use a bit of work and it would really help him if Quinn would let him get the inside scoop on her comeback. I’m really looking forward to this one, but if she doesn’t win gold… Y’all. Real life sports are terrible. I need fictional ones to be exclusively perfect.
Turning now to January 20th, I only have one ARC of a book out on this particular day and that is Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies by Jenny Elder Make. This book sounds wild and I believe was sent to me by a publishing person who told me that I would enjoy it because of my love of Finlay Donovan. I’m willing to take the chance! It’s essentially about a woman in publishing who is purchasing the memoir of some rich dude who has written basically an expose of all the people who he did gross rich dude stuff with and then he shows up murdered and the memoir has been stolen. Color me intrigued about how the author is going to balance the humor that’s been promised with what sounds like a rather serious expose topic. We’ll find out!
And then on January 27th, the remain FOUR ARCs release. What have I done to myself? First up, let’s talk about Last First Kiss by Julian Winters. “They say you never forget your first kiss. But Jordan Carter wishes he could forget the one he shared with Jamie Peters as teens. And the one they almost shared again last year before Jamie made it clear he wasn’t the “right” man for Jordan to be with while he’s figuring himself out.” This book is a companion novel to I Think They Love You, but it doesn’t appear to be marketed that way so I’m not sure what that’s about. Anyway, I was intrigued by these characters in I Think They Love You so I’m definitely excited to pick this one up!
Next, let’s talk about Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik, a romantasy from probably my favorite sci-fi romance author! Here’s the second paragraph of the synopsis: After being rescued and healed from her fight in the forest, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. Riela soon learns Garrick is not a mortal mage at all—he’s a powerful Etheri sovereign who has been locked out of his kingdom in Lohka for nearly a century, and his powers are weakening. So… Yeah, I’m excited to read this one.
Then we have Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis, which is the sequel to Wooing the Witch Queen, which I loved. In this installment, Queen Loralei kidnaps the General, who is all about loyalty to the kingdom to make up for his parents committing treason. Meanwhile, Loralei is… well, she’s certainly something. I am so excited to pick this one up!
Finally, we have King of Ravens by Clare Sager, which follows Rhiannon, who is dying of something, when the King of the Underworld shows up and says either you come with me or I’ll kill your family, basically. So I’m intrigued by this one, for sure, especially since it’s giving me Persephone vibes. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Sager, so hopefully I will enjoy her writing!
Book Club Commitments
I really should have already read Our Vicious Oaths because I had an advanced copy, but I’ve since purchased my own physical copy. And I’ve had the audiobooks of Sorcery and Small Magics and For One Night Only for quite a while, so it will be good to knock those off my list as well. I look forward to reporting back about each of these books.
Other January Releases
Buzzword Reading Challenge
I’m going to try and keep up with Kayla’s (booksandlala) challenge on a monthly basis rather than just squeezing things in as I go throughout the year, so January’s word prompt is either “before” or “after” and the cover prompt is internal body part. For the cover prompt, I’m probably going to read Phantasma so I can finally give my sister her book back. Hopefully. For “After” I should really finally read And They Lived Happily Ever After by Therese Beharrie so that I can finally write my ARC review of that one. I’m years late on it at this point and I do so love Therese Beharrie. I’m not sure what my problem is, honestly.
Closing Thoughts
I’m really excited about a new year of reading. I’ve got my bullet journal well on the way to being ready to go as soon as January 1st hits and that’s always so exciting to me! I’m also trying out a couple of new things in my journal (hopefully), so that’s exciting for me too. It’s amazing what a new bullet journal can do for your level of excitement. I used to feel this way about school supplies in August, but now, it’s actually happening at the change of the year, so that’s different. Anyway, I’ve said a lot to say not a lot, so I’ll just leave it at I’m really hoping we have a great 2026. I hope that it’s better for us than 2025. I am trying to be optimistic even if I have a lot of stress about it too. But for now, here’s to us finishing off 2025 strong!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 