January 2025 Reading Wrap Up

15 books. Over 5,000 pages. Here are my thoughts on all I read.

The first month of 2025 is in the books and man, was it a long month. Did anyone else feel like it lasted forever?

I do feel like I finally got back into the groove of reading a lot and wanting to read more than scroll and to be honest, escaping right now seems like a pretty good idea.

I am a bit of a mood reader and currently I’ve been gravitating toward dark fantasy. I am wanting emotional reads too-maybe as a way to feel emotions that aren’t “real” to mask all of my real emotions? I’m not sure if it’s that deep, but it’s a guess.

Anyway, onto what I read in January. I am going to give a little plug on Storygraph because if you like the graphics below, that’s where they came from! You can easily import your Goodreads reading too-it’s a good place to move to if you are looking for a new book home. Follow me here.

I would love to hear what you are reading!

Summary of my reading

Storygraph had a goal for January to log reading every day and I really like seeing how much reading I did each day. I am a huge data nerd, so these stats are so cool. I find it pretty incredible that I read equal digital, audio, and print too. I am also proud of myself for having nonfiction on here! It’s a goal to read more books that I can learn from (even though we learn from all reading) and so that is a step in the right direction.

Books and Ratings

The Wedding Witch was such a fun, witchy, holiday romance. Erin Sterling’s books are great for when you need an escape. They are quick and fun.

Hidden Pictures was a book I had high hopes for and I thought it was going to really creep me out (kid and drawings), but I think I set it up to fail. It was good. It was tense. It was different. But, not as amazing as I had hoped.

Golden Son (Red Rising 2) kind of saved this series for me. For some reason I couldn’t love Red Rising like I thought I would. Again, probably built it up in my mind more than I should. I did enjoy this second book, especially about halfway through, and I will read the next book.

Slewfoot was a fantastic witchy horror. I loved the character of Slewfoot, the multiple points of view, and the focus on an independent woman and her struggles against society.

The Broken Girls was my book club read with my friends (Brunch Bunch Book Club) and it was my first Simone St. James book. I really liked it-especially when it took a historical turn. I can’t say what it is, but let me tell you it made me keep reading. I also enjoyed the dual story lines and dual timelines.

The Haunting of Velkwood was a book a friend told me to read since I loved the show Yellowjackets and yes! She was right. I listened to the audiobook and it was a great mystery with high stakes and depth.

In the Dream House and The Woman In Me were both memoirs I have read and I have seen other reviewers who don’t give memoirs star ratings and that is something I have been considering. However, I went ahead and rated the reading side of the book-how well I thought it was written and the storyline. I felt that In the Dream House was a solid read. It was fast-paced, unique, and an emotional journey. It was everything I love about memoirs. The Woman in Me was more choppy and all over the place. Although Britney’s story is an important one, the writing itself lacked a bit. But I do recommend each of these for their own purposes.

One Day in December is hard to describe…my feelings are pretty much all over the place. I was torn on even reading it because of a Booktuber who said she hated it and I was like-what? Why? How? So then I tried and I can see why she had strong feelings. This book made me angry a lot. But I also think that’s why I kept reading. It was a great portrayal of real life, real people making real mistakes. You had trouble rooting for anyone. I did have to step away a few times, but overall it was worth reading.

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls was a reread for my school librarian. At our school, a committee reads new books before placing them on the shelves and I knew I had already read this one and that I loved it, so I decided to pick it up again. Cece Rios is such a fun world to escape to and it reminded me I need to read the next two books.

Old Wounds is a read that was on a list for an award committee I was on and never got around to reading. I am so glad I read it. It is everything I love in horror and also had a trans perspective that I learned a lot from. It was also dual perspective, which I always like when done well.

Dragon Surf, Standard Models, and Gloria Buenrostro is Not My Girlfriend were books I read for Read Your World (read more about it and my reviews here) and they all centered on asian main characters. Bringing diversity onto my bookshelves is important for me and this was a great opportunity to find new books and authors.

Valor Wings was a middle grade read that I read for my Read to Write KidLit podcast. I highlighted and tabbed so many interesting lines and I really enjoyed Sam Subity’s dragon historical fantasy. You can listen to my interview with Sam here.

A Snapshot of My Reading Schedule

This is such a fun graphic to show my reading each day and I hope to keep logging pages each day so I have an accurate picture.

Other Fun Stats:

• Emotional and dark reads were my top moods.

• Half the books I read were between 300-500 pages.

• 4 books were ARCs (advanced reader copies).

• 3 books were on Kindle Unlimited.

• 4 of the books I read were books I had bought.

• 1 book I finished was a gift.

February Option Pile

I am working on my option pile for February and will share soon! In the meantime, if there are any books by BIPOC or by marginalized voices that I should read, leave me a comment! I know one of my goals is to read books by black authors that I already own-get that TBR pile down while also learning and growing.