The first month of 2021 is done, and it flew by. I read a lot of books this month, and celebrated my birthday!
This year I want to focus on my goals for the year. So here we go:
- I wanted to grow my blog, and I got to 265 followers this month.
- I made the decision to focus on drinking more water. While I didn’t hit my water goal every day, I did drink more water throughout the month.
- I wanted to try and schedule my blog posts in advance, but I didn’t do that in January.
- I read a LOT of ARCs, and got my NetGalley ratio up to 80%. Of course, it only stayed at 80% for a couple of days before I got approved for another ARC and it dropped under, but I’ve slowed down on requesting and plan to focus on working through my ARCs.
- I made some progress on diversifying my reading. Only one-third of my books read were YA, and one-third was fantasy. 11 of my books had an LGBTQ+ character (room for improvement), more than half had a BIPOC character, and 25% were written by BIPOC authors (room for improvement).
Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for January:
January Totals
- Books read: 30!!
- Books DNF’d: 1
- Pages read: 7358
- Hours listened: 97:33:55
- Average pages: 367.9
- Average hours listened: 9:45:24
Genres Read in January:
- Fantasy: 10
- General Fiction: 3
- Historical Fiction: 5
- Mystery/Suspense: 5
- Romance/Erotica: 4
- Science Fiction: 1
- Travel/Food: 2
Backlist vs. New Releases
- Backlist books: 19
- 2021 releases: 11
Fiction Vs. Non-Fiction
- Fiction: 28
- Nonfiction: 2
Format Read:
- Print: 9
- Digital: 11
- Audio: 10
Age Range
- Adult: 19
- YA: 10
- Middle Grade: 1
My favorite books of the month were A Heart So Fierce and Broken, Wings of Ebony, and Beach Read.
Here’s what I read in January:
- A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer (Cursebreakers #2)
- A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer (Cursebreakers #3) ARC – This one was just an excerpt that got me desperate for the actual book.
- Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #7)
- Beach Read by Emily Henry
- A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes #4)
- City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda ARC
- When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
- The Final Chance by Cait Marie ARC
- Dark Age by Pierce Brown (Red Rising Saga #5)
- Emperor’s Spear by Alex Gough (Imperial Assassin #4) ARC
- Great British Vegan: Simple, Plant-Based Recipes to Cook the Nation’s Favourite Dishes by Aimee Ryan ARC
- The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
- Wings of Ebony by J. Elle (Wings of Ebony #1) ARC
- The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Maureen Johnson
- In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce ARC
- The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (Bridgertons #2)
- 1000 Vegan and Vegetarian Meals by Editors of Chartwell Books ARC
- Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare (The Dark Artifices #3)
- The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (Bridgertons #1)
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- The Wave by Todd Strasser
- The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
- The Mermaid From Jeju by Sumi Hahn ARC
- Milk Fed by Melissa Broder ARC
- The Removed by Brandon Hobson ARC
- Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
- Murder at Harbor Village by G.P. Gardner (Cleo Mack #1)
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- Written in Starlight by Isabel Ibañez (Woven in Moonlight #2) ARC
- The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
How was your January?
Categories: Monthly Wrap Up
Leah's Books 
Looks like you had an amazing reading month!
I hope February is just as good!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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Thanks! Fingers crossed that February is a good one too!
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Whoa! Whoa on many fronts! First of all, 30 books is amazing 😍 And I’m also looking at your DNF and 2-star ratings and my jaw dropped but also my curiosity is piqued! Hahaha These are both books that I still need to read and well, obviously the hype is super duper real. 😂 At least the majority of your reads were 5 stars though! That’s awesome. I hope you have a great February, Leah!
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Hahahahaha I actually didn’t like The Night Circus either, although I pushed through on that one. I think her style just isn’t for me, which is why I DNFd The Starless Sea. And I just didn’t see the hype with Addie LaRue! Yeah, I did a ton of reading in January 😂 but most of it was good. Here’s to a great February! 💕
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wow what an incredible month you had! I DNF’d The Starless Sea when I read it last year but hoping to give it another go sometime this year
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Thanks! Yeah, her writing just isn’t a good fit for me. I didn’t love The Night Circus, and someone told me The Starless Sea was a totally different experience, so I figured I’d try it, but I just didn’t enjoy it. I hope you like it better when you try it this time around!
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I didn’t get on with the night circus at first either but I re-read it last year and loved it so much – not sure why my opinion had changed! Then tried to get into The Starless Sea a few months afterwards and couldn’t get into it. I agree her writing can be tricky and definitely not for everyone, I will really have to be in the mood for The Starless Sea when I give it another go
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This looks like an amazing reading month!! well done!!
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Thanks!
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Omg 30 books!! That sounds amazing, good job 🤩
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Yeah, I got a little out of hand with the books in January 😆
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I’m glad you had several 5-star reads on January! My own Jan. started off well, and then last 2 weeks met with some really disappointing books. I hope Feb. turns out better but I think I’ll take it slower.
I saw Bridgerton on your list. Inspired by the Netflix show? I heard Season 2 will come soon in March, so look forward to that!
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Yes! I watched the show and then figured I’d read the books. I enjoy them, and figured that I’ll get my fix until season 2 that way!
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Oh my goodness, I’m definitely putting The Mermaid of Jeju on my TBR — and you’ve inspired me to finish The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See! It’s also about the haenyeo of Jeju!
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Ooooh I’ll have to check that one out! The haenyeo were so interesting!
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I’m so happy to see you enjoyed Beach Read! It was my top read for last year. ❤ I'm so jealous of your backlist #. 19 books is awesome! I'm trying to get caught up on my ARCs so I can get to my backlist. 😉 Happy reading in February!
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I’m trying to get through my ARCs too, but I also had a huge backlog of library books that had to be returned in January 😬
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So many books! Also I love how you divide your books by rating, makes it easy to look for books to potentially add to my tbr haha
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Thank you! Yeah, I read a lot 😂 I’m glad to know that I could potentially influence your TBR
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