Welcome to my monthly wrap-up for January 2025! January was truly a month of beginnings. My wife started her new job, and we both continued exploring our new home. The unpacking kept going slowly but surely, as well. I’ve been experiencing a real winter for the first time, and I like it for the most part. I’m definitely looking forward to spring, though. We’ve learned about some of the quirks of our house the hard way. lol. Yay for frozen pipes/vents, broken furnaces, and dead squirrels in the chimney. However, nothing too terrible or expensive has gone wrong. Hopefully, it stays that way.
The blog had a bit of a renaissance in January, as well. I posted way more than I have in a long time and views (total and per post) were up for the first time in almost a year. It’s amazing what a little consistency can accomplish. Now, let’s take a look at what I managed to read last month!
What I’ve Read
Books & Audiobooks
January was a pretty great month. I managed to finish off my TBR and then some. I actually made it into the double digits this month with 10 books (4,579 pages), which is something that hasn’t happened in a while. Interestingly, this was the widest spread in ratings I’ve given in quite some time. Possibly ever. I also had one DNF in January. The books I finished (and DNFd) in January are listed below (ratings link to my review, if available):
- Flopping in a Winter Wonderland by Jason June (🎧 / 3.75⭐)
- The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri (📖 / 4⭐)
- The Hunter’s Gambit by Ciel Pierlot (🎧 / 3.25⭐)
- A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson (🎧 / 3.75⭐)
- Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee (📖 / 4.5⭐)
- Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (🎧 / 2.75⭐)
- Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland (📖 / 3.5⭐)
- Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (📖 / 3.75⭐)
- The Broposal by Sonora Reyes (🎧 / 4.25⭐)
- Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle (📖 / 5⭐)
- The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard (📱 / DNF)
Progress On My 2025 Reading Goals
Let’s continue this monthly wrap-up with notes on my progress with my 2025 bookish goals. I’ve kept my goals pretty simple again this year. I do want to keep some sort of record of the trackable ones, though. So, here’s a quick peek at how my year is going so far.
- Goodreads Challenge: 10/100 books (+10 in January)
- Storygraph Pages Challenge: COMPLETED!!
- Read from My Shelves: 5/50 (+5 in January)
- Books Unhauled: 3 sold on Pango (+3 in January)
- Blog More Consistently: 4/52 weeks with at least 3 posts (+4 in January)
- Read Red Rising: 0/6 (+0 in January)
- Read Book Box Picks: 0 (+0 in January)
I’ve been trying to blog hop a lot more recently. I still don’t do it nearly as much as I’d like, but I am enjoying seeing what everyone else has been up to now that I have a bit more time. I’ve also managed to keep up with my reading journal, which has been fun. We’ll see how long it lasts this year. lol.
As for comic books, I’m kind of avoiding them like the plague… I’ve stuffed them all in a closet for now because looking at all of the boxes is overwhelming. On the bright side, my comic buying ban lasted the entire month of January. Hopefully, I can keep it going. I think I kept buying them because of FOMO. I do enjoy reading them, but it is clearly not my preferred format for content. I just didn’t want to have gaps in my collection of single issues, but I think I’m past that now.
Final Thoughts
The blogging went so much better in January compared to recent months. I wrote a new post on every weekday in January, which far surpassed my goal. I’ve also been reviewing with renewed vigor. I wrote five reviews in January and participated in all of my favorite memes, including Top Ten Tuesday, WWW Wednesday, and First Lines Fridays. You can find all of my January posts in my blog archives, which are linked in the sidebar on the right.
Overall, I had a good month of reading, but my ratings were all over the place. They ranged from 2.75 to 5 stars. My average rating was 3.85 in January, which is considerably lower than normal for me, and my favorite book was Stranger Skies. What was your favorite book from January? Let me know down in the comments!
That’s it for this monthly wrap-up. Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and engaged with comments and/or likes! I appreciate all of you and always enjoy reading your input in the comments. I hope everyone is having a great February!
I’m glad that you’re settling into your new home although dead squirrels in the chimney sounds like something I would definitely prefer to avoid. Well done on blogging so much more. I love to read your posts.
Interestingly, I think my favourite book in January was my non fiction read The Notebook which is definitely an unusual state of affairs.
Yeah. I’m glad to be mostly settled in now. I can say without a doubt that I hate moving. lol. I hope we don’t need to do it again for a long time to come.
The squirrels were definitely a surprise. One that I could’ve done without. I’m just glad the chimney person had to deal with them and not me. 🙂
Dead squirrels in the chimney… Help 😭 All those house quirks sure sound like they’ve given you an interesting time but now that you’ve figured them out, I hope that things run smoother in the house! 😅 Looks like you had a pretty good reading and blogging month as well. It’s awesome that you’ve already found your first 5-star read of the year! I’m going to have to bump that book up my TBR, I think. I hope February will continue to roll along smoothly and that you have a great month ahead!
Yeah. The dead squirrels were definitely a surprise. lol. It is an older house. So, I went into it expecting some hiccups. Luckily, there hasn’t been anything too awful. ***Knocks on wood.***
I’m so happy to have already had my first 5-star read of the year. January was all over the place rating-wise, but the last book of the month finally got me there.