Hello! Welcome back to another very late wrap up post! Yes, I am two months late into posting this, and yes I know it is the same excuse every time – I am a very busy and chaotic woman! I just think we should both stop expecting me to post in an appropriate time frame…
I can’t quite believe that January was already two months ago, and we’re actually nearing the end of the first quarter of the year. There is a lot to catch up on from the last two and a half months, but let’s start with what happening in January.
I seemed to have left my reading slump in 2022… I read 10 books in January! 10!! Yes the majority of these books were rereads, but sometimes returning to a bunch of old favourites is what helps you get to new books.
Reading Statistics:
- Books read: 10
- Pages read: 4,794
- Format:
- Audiobook: 10
- Genre:
- High Fantasy: 5
- Urban Fantasy: 5
Six Crimson Cranes and The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabth Lim
This series has been on my TBR for a while and it had been screaming at me on every app that I looked on. I’ve tried a few times to make myself read it and it was included on my Winter TBR in 2021 and my Spring TBR in 2022. I always try to make my first book of the year one that I think I will love, and I made the right choice here! I loved this series. It is a retelling of The Wild Swans and although I wasn’t familiar with the original fairy tale, it is one of those things that I am seeing everywhere right now! Shiori and Takkan were incredible characters and they were written so well. In the first book, I was not expecting there to be dragons, it wasn’t something I thought was going to be included in the series, but by the second I was disappointed that there weren’t more dragons! Overall, this series is incredible and everyone should read it.
A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight and A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas
I heavily leaned into rereading in January. I needed comfort, and I started my A Court of Thorns and Roses reread in December, so it was inevitable for me to finish the series come January. I always love this series, and it felt really nice to reread A Court of Silver Flames for the first time! Controversial, but I love Nesta and her story, so I loved returning to her story and going through every single emotion within the pages.
City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
After I finished one of my favourite series, I decided to begin rereading another one of my favourite series: The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. I was not prepared for the emotional mess of nostalgia that it was going to make me, but I truly loved it. I still need to continue my reread of the series. My goal for this year is to reread the whole of the Shadowhunter Chronicles because the world and the characters just makes me so happy.
The Awakening by L.J. Smith
This is quite a random reread. I was off sick from work and I wanted a quick read, so I listened to the first book in The Vampire Diaries series. The Vampire Diaries is one of my favourite shows, and I read the books when I was around 15 or 16 but I honestly did not remember much of it. It is not a good book, I will not pretend otherwise, but I have so many good memories attached to it and the TV show that I will always be intrigued by the world. The book is so different and I felt like a detective trying to decipher all of the changes.
Onto the blogging wrap up, so far this year I have only posted in January, so I am sorry for that! I have struggled with trying to get back into my old blogging schedule. The issue being is that I previously burnt out from the schedule of posting every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and then a bonus post some weeks on a Sunday. I have been trying to bounce from burnt out and 0 posts straight back to 3 posts a week. So, I am aiming now for one post a week with bonus ones when I feel like it. I think going forward this is going to be the most sustainable and enjoyable for me!
If you missed them here are the posts from January:
And, onto the writing update. I started out the month, and the year, I had a relatively strong start. It could have definitely been stronger. Balancing writing and having a full time job, and a social life is something that I have been very open with struggling with before. It is something that I have been making progress with, but I will discuss that in a writing update post or in my March wrap up!
As for January, in total, I wrote 6,467 words. The word count is made up of 4 poems with 344 words; and 3,980 words towards the third draft of my Rapunzel Retelling; and 1,958 words towards plotting for my Rapunzel Retelling.
As you can see, I met my word goals for the first two weeks, and after that I trailed off. Unfortunately, it is a trial and error on trying to find a routine in what is sustainable for me whilst working full times. It is really hard, but this is still 3,980 words towards my main project that I did not have before. Progress is progress, no matter how small or large.
That is all for my January Wrap Up! I know that it’s two months late. but better late than never!
Let me know what your favourite book that you have read so far this year has been!
Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Bookshop Affiliate Link ~ Goodreads ~ TikTok
Kira Jeanette 