JANUARY 2023 WRAP UP | monster romances, wayward children + the bonds that tie 💀💕🤌📚

Hey everyone, welcome to or welcome back to my blog! It’s somehow the end of January and we’re a full month into the year???? So it’s wrap up time! This month was absolutely wild, I was sick for 3/4 of it and just overall, an absolutely wild and completely unexpected month for me, to be honest. I truly though I was getting into another reading slump this month but then I discovered monster romances and now I’m a whole-ass new human!

Goodreads Challenge Update!

28/100!!!

Quick Stats:

• Books read: 28
• Pages read: 7796

• Most disappointing book of the month – The Tournament by Matthew Reilly
• Worst book of the month – Wicked Games by Zoe Blake
• Most surprising book of the month – Broken Bonds by J Lee
• Best book of the month – All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

MONTH	PAGES READ	BOOKS READ
January	7,796	28

💕 ↣ hoemance book club // 💟 ↣ Graphicsathon // 🔁 ↣ re-read // 🌈 ↣ lgbtqia+
// ✨ ↣ 2023 release // 🎧 ↣ audiobook // 🌻 ↣ buddy read

*Click on the titles for my Goodreads reviews! You can also find my StoryGraph reviews here!

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• All Rhodes Lead Here [03-04/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – 10/10 perfection
• The Wall of Winnipeg and Me [04-05/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25 – funnily enough, this was my least favourite read so far.
• Sweat and Soap Vol 1 [06-07/01] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – The power these two have over me 😍🥰
• Sweat and Soap Vol 2 [07/01] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – In the spirit of the new year, I’m doing things that make me happy so don’t be surprised if you see me reading this entire series.
• Sweat and Soap Vol 3 [08/01] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – So stinkin’ adorable!!

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• Sweat and Soap Vol 4 [09/01] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – I love them, your honour.
• Sweat and Soap Vol 5 [10/01] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – A+ 10/10 Genius-level perfection.
• Roger Ascham and the King’s Lost Girl [11/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐ – No idea what’s happening or who this Roger guy is, but I’m intrigued.
• The Tournament [11/01] 🎧- ⭐⭐ – This was so incredibly uncomfy and i am upsetty spaghetti
• Marriage For One [11/01] – 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – 10/10 perfection

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• Her Stand-In Fake Fiance [13/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐.5 – Oof, it’s a no from me.
• Juniper Hill [13/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐.5 – An absolute fucking joy. I love a simp and his lil family.
• Tempted by Love [14/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐ – Well, that was a lot of something.
• Every Heart a Doorway [16/01] 🎧🔁🌈 – ⭐⭐⭐ – I think I need to stop rereading this entire series annually because I appreciate it less and less on every reread.
• The Dragon’s Bride [16/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐.25 – In the twist of the century, this was so much fucking fun.

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• The Kraken’s Sacrifice [16/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐ – I definitely loved book 1 a lot more, but this one had some really important discussions in it. Don’t be surprised if you see me devouring more Katee Robert books like a maniac in the foreseeable future.
• Barbarian Alien [17/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐.75 – Honestly? I didn’t love this, and I don’t totally get the hype for the series. But I’m not going to yuck anyone’s yum.
• Wicked Games [17/01] 🎧 – ⭐ – What the fuck. Make no mistake, no matter what the reviews say, this isn’t a romance or even a dark romance, it’s just torture.
• Down Among The Sticks and Bones [22/01] 🎧🔁🌈 – ⭐⭐⭐.5 – Obviously written so so well. If I was going to recommend any of the books in this series as standalone, it would be this one!
• Beneath The Sugar Sky [22/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐.75 – I just know with every fibre of my being that I would absolutely despise living in a nonsense world, so somebody explain to me why I love this book so much.

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• In An Absent Dream [23/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I genuinely don’t know if there’s ever going to be a book in this series that surpasses this one tbh. I love the Goblin Market so much and I really believe that if I were ever to open a door and be asked if I was sure, it would take me there. A+++ 11/10 🤌🤌🤌
• Come Tumbling Down [24/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I clearly didn’t appreciate this book as much as I should have the first two times I read it because, as it turns out, this is an absolutely brilliant book!
• Across The Green Grass Fields [25 – 26/01] 🎧🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐ – yep. i am not a horse girl.
• Where The Drowned Girls Go [26/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This was incredibly disturbing, and it was so so good! Seanan McGuire, you genius, this was another absolute banger!
• Lost in The Moment and Found [26/01] 🎧✨ – ⭐⭐⭐.75 – Not at all what I was expecting, and the first few chapters were so scary and hard to read, but this really was a fantastic read! Shocking absolutely no one, this is a new favourite of mine!

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• Eat You Alive [26 – 28/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐.25 – Fucking ridiculous and had a rocky start, but I lowkey hope this is a duology.
• Broken Bonds [28 – 29/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐ – I didn’t *love* this but I am intrigued!
• Savage Bonds [29 – 31/01] 🎧 – ⭐⭐⭐ – nobody talk to me this series is my entire personality now.

[IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT I’M READING WHILE I’M READING, YOU CAN CATCH ME ON GOODREADS OR STORYGRAPH]

🔁 – Rewatch // 🌈 – LGBTQIA+ // ✨ – 203 release

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• Howl’s Moving Castle [18/08] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – i genuinely think this is the first time I’ve ever understood what was happening in this film, and even then, i still think i only understood 60% of it.
• Kiki’s Delivery Service [19/08] 🔁 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – so adorable!!!

[IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT I’M WATCHING WHILE I’M WATCHING, YOU CAN CATCH ME ON LETTERBOXD]

What did you read this month?
Did we read/watch any of the same things?

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