January Wrap-Up | We’re Already a Month into 2022?

January is already over?! How? It literally just started. I refuse to believe that we are already into the month of February. But, we are, so I guess I’ll just have to accept it. For those who celebrate it, happy Lunar New Year! Today marks the first day of the celebration, as well as the first day of the Year of the Tiger. Let’s hope this year is better than the last two.

BOOKS READ

The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1) by R.F. Kuang|📖|★★★★.5
I can’t believe I waited so long to read this. I absolutely loved this. The writing, the characters, the worldbuilding. The history and government was so detailed. R.F. Kuang did not shy away from the brutality of war. There were some parts in here that were hard to read, which is why I took off half a star. I still loved it, though. And Rin! she was strong and impulsive and morally gray and I loved her.

The Awakening Storm (City of Dragons #1) by Jaimal Yogis & Vivian Truong|📖|★★★★|My Review
This was an enjoyable read! I love dragons, so I knew I had to read it. The Awakening Storm was a fun start to a series; I’m excited to see where it goes as it ended of a bit of a cliffhanger. The artwork was beautiful and fit the mood of the story perfectly.

A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth #1) by Piers Anthony|📖|★★★
I enjoyed this way more than I thought I was going to. The storyline was interesting and while it was slow in some places, it was overall fascinating. One thing that I really disliked was that this book is very sexist. I can’t say much because of spoilers, and the one big sexist thing is basically a huge spoiler, but it focused around looks versus intelligence and was displayed in a very wrong way.

The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) by R.F. Kuang|📖|★★★★★
“Could it get any better?” I asked myself. Yes, yes it could. The Dragon Republic brought even more than The Poppy War did. So much happened in this book, I can barely even comprehend all of it. The war still rages on and we see how it affects so many people. The character arcs in here were everything, especially Rin’s and the themes that drove this book held so much power in them.

The Bronzed Beasts (The Gilded Wolves #3) by Roshani Chokshi|🎧|★★★★
Wow, this book. This whole series, really. I have some very mixed feelings about the Gilded Wolves Trilogy. I love the characters and the premise of the story, the found family and the character arcs. The one thing that really got me, though, was the pacing. There were times when I was listening to this where I just wanted them to hurry up. There was so much internal thought or background stories, the drawn-out suspense was killing me. Some of the back stories were necessary, others not so much. However, all in all, I still enjoyed this book. Even with all the parts I thought were kind of unnecessary.

The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5) by Rick Riordan|🎧|★★★★★
I read the fourth book in this series probably three years ago, when it came out. I didn’t remember a whole lot when I began listening to this again. I had the main details though, so I just went with it. I forgot how funny Rick Riordan is and what a great narrator Robbie Daymond is. I loved Apollo’s character arc in this; he learned so many lessons from his time as a mortal, the most important one, I think, from Jason Grace. Also, I can not believe that this may be the end of Camp Half-Blood. Percy Jackson was a major part of my childhood. Now it’s all over?

CURRENTLY READING

TBR FOR FEBRUARY

I’ve heard so many good things about the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Series. My order for the first book arrived last week and I’m so excited to start it. I’ve been wanting to read more mystery novels and thought this would be a perfect start. If I manage to finish the series, I’d like to read The Ones We’re Meant to Find. It was one of my most anticipated releases for 2021 and I’ve heard a lot of positive things about it.

MY POSTS

I actually stuck to a schedule this month! For the most part. I had more time this month, which I was happy about. Here are my posts for the month:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2022
• My Favorite Reads of 2021
• 2021 Wrap-Up|Review of my Reading and Blogging Year (Lots of Graphs) + Goal Setting
• A Hike to the Falls
• Life in Books Book Tag
• Double Review: We Are Not Free by Traci Chee and The Awakening Storm by Jaimal Yogis & Vivian Truong|A Heartfelt Story of WW2 and an Entertaining MG Fantasy
• My Favorite Quotes From Books|aka things characters said that pull at my heartstrings
• The Liebster Award

AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

• Liza @ Literary Liza wrote a review for Daughter of the Moon Goddess and it made me so excited to read it.
• Ritz @ Living, Loving and Reading shared a discussion on banned book lists.
• Sara @ Lyrical Reads wrote a love letter to The Weight of the Stars and I agree with it all.
• Erin @ Reading on a Star shared alternatives to Amazon for buying books.
• May @ Forever and Everly celebrated her 5 year blogiversary.
• Rafaela @ Dragons and Paperbacks shared her most anticipated releases for January-March of 2022, lengthening my TBR even more.
• Riddhi @ Whispering Stories reached 1000 followers on her blog and created the Eximius Blogger Award.

I actually got some decent writing done in January! The scenes I’ve written are coming along pretty well. I’ve changed a lot of the plot line in the last few weeks, so I’m excited to write those parts. So far, I think I’m about half way through writing the third draft. I started this one last year, in July, so it’s definitely been a while. I’m hoping to finish this draft in the next few months, depending on how crowded my schedule is. For now, I will leave you will the last paragraph of my most recently finished chapter.

“The full moon is in four days time,” Abilene says. “Tomorrow, you’ll have three days to get to Moons Meadow. I suggest spending your first night at the base of the mountain. You’ll need to be alert and ready for any obstacles once you enter the forest. Flying is out of the question–it will draw too much attention. Travel by foot and keep your eyes hidden until you reach the mountains. You never know who you’ll meet.”

School started up again, but I didn’t actually go back in-person. COVID cases have been through the roof since the holidays and Omicron started surfacing, so my family decided it best to keep me out for a little while until the COVID surge is over. I’ve been on independent study for the past few weeks. I have to go back tomorrow, which I’m excited about but also not looking forward to. The surge probably won’t be over until around mid-February, but my school only allows 14 days of independent study at a time before making us come back. Hopefully, things will quiet down soon.

On a happier note, I got accepted to do a youth mentoring program to help little kids with their reading. It’s all virtual and there are training sessions beforehand, which is very helpful because I’m kind of clueless. I’ve never done this before, but I’ll be paired with an elementary school student, most likely somewhere between the age of 5-10. I love kids and I love reading, so I was really excited (and a little nervous) when I got accepted.

January Goals:

• Read at least 5 books ✅
• Post at least 7 times ✅
• Work on WIP ✅
• Finish transcribing English notebook ✅

February Goals:

• Read 5 books
• Post 7 times
• Work on WIP
• Write 2 reviews (I haven’t been writing them much later)

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How was your January? Did you read any good books?
Do you have any fun plans for February?