Hi everybody, and welcome to my January wrap up!
I don’t know about you, but I’m happy the first month of the year has already come and gone. I’m never a fan of January, as it always feels like the longest, dreariest and darkest month of the year. It’s my blue month, instead of just a blue monday. The month of meh and ugh and ‘why can’t human beings just hibernate?’. That said, I have done my best to keep the blue-ness at bay with some great books and tv and music and I feel like it helped a lot this year. So let’s get into that!
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
This college romance about a romance between a figure skater and hockey player seems to be loved by many romance readers and with such a cute cover I just needed to try it myself. But I had mixed feelings about this one. I liked the romance buildup, the grumpy-sunshine dynamic, the friendships and the secondary characters (Henry <3) but I also thought the story dragged on, didnāt have a clear plot so was a bit all over the place and just had wayyy too many smutty scenes for my taste. That said, if the next book is about Henry, I will undoubtedly pick it up.
Rating: 3 stars
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson (Re-read)
With The Mysteries of Thorn Manor release in January, I really wanted to do a re-read of Sorcery of Thorns first to prepare myself and get reacquainted with my favorite characters Elisabeth, Nathaniel and Silas. And yep, I still love all of them so much. This is one of my ultimate comfort reads for sure.
Rating: 5 stars
Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson
I really hope this novella has set a trend and more authors will be publishing cozy romance novella sequels to their standalones (or series). Just like the original book, this was such a comfort read, and even more so because it was mostly just domestic bliss and low stakes and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. My favorite characters, the sass, the humor, the romance,… It was the perfect January read.
Rating: 4,5 stars
In The Weeds (Lovelight #2) by B.K. Borison
Talking about comfort reads, the Lovelight series is really in the running for being one of my all-time favorite comfort reads. I already loved book one when I read it in December, and book 2 featuring Beckett and Evelyn was just as cute and fun and adorable and swoony and steamy. Bonus points here though: more kittens, more Beckett and a baby duck!
Rating: 4 stars
Top Ten Tuesday
My Favorite Books of 2022
Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2023
My (Quite Vague and Very Chill) Bookish Goals for 2023
New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022
The 2023 Book-to-Screen Adaptations Iām Looking Forward To
Can’t Wait Wednesday
Forget Me Not by Julie Soto {Canāt Wait Wednesday}
WWW Wednesday
WWW Wednesday: 18 January 2023
Quote It Wednesday
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren {Quote It Wednesday}
Tag Thursday
The 2022 End of Year Book Survey
Something Different Sunday
My 10 Favorite TV Shows Watched In 2022
AND MY BLOGOVERSARY GIVE-AWAY!!
Have you entered already?
Lindsey Reads Turns Seven! ā Blogoversary Give-Away
January was an amazing month when it comes to music. We had some great releases, one of my all-time favorite bands released new music (yes, I’m talking about Fall Out Boy) AND I got tickets to see another favorite band of mine, Against the Current, in November. So not too bad š Here are some of the top songs on my January playlist
Fall Out Boy – Love From The Other Side
2005 me is beyond thrilled with this new bop being on my 2023 playlist!
Omar Rudberg Ft Claudia Heiser – Call Me By Your Name
Taeyang ft Jimin – Vibe
I watched 4 different shows this month! All short shows yes, but still I’m a bit surprised with my amount of TV in January. That said, I loved all of these:
The Witcher: Blood Origin
While this show/mini series did not get good reviews, I personally really enjoyed it. It’s a Witcher prequel featuring a group of outcasts coming together to save the world (so basically my catnip) and I was intrigued by the story, I loved the characters, felt the Witcher vibe and was surprised by the plot a few times, so I’m happy.
Carnival Row (Season 1)
Somehow I completely missed that there is a fantasy TV show out there starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne… I just happened to pass by this while looking for something to watch and 2 weeks later I had watched the entire first season and am impatiently awaiting the second (and final) season. While it took me an episode or 2 to get into the show, once I did I was hooked. Loved the mystery, loved the characters and the romance definitely grew on me too.
That 90s Show (Season 2)
After two “heavier” fantasy shows, I wanted something lighter and That 90s Show was PERFECT. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much as spin-offs/sequels can often disappoint, but I sincerely enjoyed this show. I loved the new kids (the casting for these kids is just PERFECT!) and of course I loved seeing some older beloved faces again too. I also laughed so much. Definitely recommend if you loved That 70s Show.
Alice in Borderland (Season 1 & part of Season 2)
So this Japanese Sci-Fi/Fantasy (based on a manga) is definitely not a light show, but it was on my radar for a while and I decided to give it a try. In this show, a gamer and his friends somehow end up in a parallel version of Tokyo and have to play a bunch of sadistic games to survive. Think Squid Game but more Sci-Fi. I surprisingly loved this a lot, even if it’s a lot gorier than I usually prefer.
Like I mentioned above, I often struggle in January with the darkness, cold and general dreariness, but I think I did a pretty good job to keep the blue feelings at bay this month.
Things that made me happy this month:
- We ought a waffle iron and my husband made banana waffles!
- Fall Out Boy comeback!
- Got tickets to see Against the Current in November!
- Two highly anticipated bookish releases, one of which I already read and loved (Mysteries of Thorn Manor) and one I’m currently reading and loving (Hell Bent).
- A lot of TV time.
THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:
- New Paramore album!
- Several family dates
- Celebrating my dating-anniversary with my husband. We started dating 14 years ago<3
How was your January? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in February?
I love finding new music, so thanks for sharing! And I want to try Alice in Borderland. Carnival Row looks good too and is totally new to me!
I hope you’ll love Alice in Borderland and Carnival Row!
I hear ya on the January blues. It’s so hard to get excited for things when it’s so dark and cold all the time! But, I’m glad you had some fun things this month and more to look forward to in February!
Yes, that’s exactly it! But luckily February is a short month and then in March spring is starting so that’s good š And yes, finding fun things to do and things to look forward to definitely helps.
Lovelight Farms is such a comfort read! I can’t wait for the next book. I could have hibernated this past month as well. I’ve watched a few of the 90’s show episodes. Not as good as the original, but it’s growing on me. I hope you have a great end to the week.
Lovelight Farms is definitely one of those series I’ll be rereading often, I think š Ugh, every winter I find myself wishing humans hibernated, not my favorite season at all.
Glad to hear That 90s Show is growing on you! It’s indeed not as good as the original, but I still really enjoyed it. Hope you’ll have a great February!
I’m glad to hear That 90’s Show is good. I keep seeing it and thinking about watching it but like you said, reboots, etc. are sometimes so disappointing.
Yes, exactly! I really enjoyed The 90s Show, maybe because I wasn’t expecting much so I ended up pleasantly surprised š But now I’m actually already looking forward to a second season.
I’m looking forward to reading rom-coms this month. Good to know you enjoyed That 90s Show. I wasn’t planning to watch it, but I’ll try it now since I enjoyed That 70s Show š
I hope you’ll enjoy all the rom-coms you’ll be reading this month! And I definitely hope you’ll also enjoy That 90s Show š
Happy blogiversary! I’ve been listening to a lot of Fall Out Boy recently too. I hope you have a great February.
Thanks! Fall Out Boy has definitely been top of the playlist š Hope you’re having a great February too!