Monthly Wrap-Up – January 2021

Hello everyone,

It is already time for my first wrap-up of the year and my goodness, January seemed to pass by very quickly! A lot of the month was spent at home due to the latest round of lockdown restrictions, and for me that perhaps unsurprisingly led to relatively equal share of highs and lows.

Thankfully I managed to get two nice long walks in before we were placed in lockdown, as ever since then I have only been outside for small amounts of time. This includes having to work from home, which I don’t particularly enjoy but it is manageable, and right now, the much safer option!

During this lockdown I have found it more difficult to use my time as efficiently as I would like, so hopefully I can make progress with that in the weeks to come. However, I still managed to have my fair share of good days.

Reading followed a similar pattern. I was getting through books quite fast at the start of January, then fell into a mini slump before picking up speed again in the last few days. I ended up finishing four books, while there are two more that I have started and am still currently reading.

Here are the books I read in January:

The Dark Room ⭐⭐⭐.5
The Confession ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Two Can Keep A Secret ⭐⭐⭐
The End Of Her ⭐⭐.5

Those ratings would have made for better reading were it not for the final few chapters of The End Of Her, which ruined most of what had gone before it (more to come in my review!), but overall I am happy with the books I read. The Confession was certainly a powerful and addictive read which I shall remember for a long time.

My February TBR looks very exciting, as it includes the blog tour for Deity, the next book in the incredible Six Stories series, as well as The Thursday Murder Club, and The House On The Cerulean Sea. Having heard so many great things about each of those books, my expectations are high!

In terms of writing, I made some good progress in January with the time I had. I wrote some more poetry and another magazine article among other things, but hopefully I can really push myself to start on a new WIP – I have a good idea in mind and it’s all about finding the motivation to develop it into something more.

Two of my biggest successes over the month were completing an online course in web development, and finishing off painting my new flat. I’m really happy with how it looks! The pandemic has delayed my moving in as I still don’t really have any furniture, but fingers crossed it will not be long now! I have a feeling that I shall be spending a lot of February looking up sofas and bookshelves and all sorts of other things!

To finish, here are some of my favourite posts in January from across the book blogging sphere:

• Darina posted a thoughtful and detailed list of goals for 2021, as well as a look back on 2020.
• Sammie discussed her thoughts on all the different types of endings, and gave detailed thoughts and examples.
• Veronika read some of her co-blogger Sabrina’s favourite books and shared her thoughts.
• Florence asked if book awards really matter and what impact they have on our reading habits.
• Amy highlighted some of the classic fairytales that deserve to have retellings.
• Chana discussed the highly relevant topic of misogyny in fiction.
• Sofii shared a list of anticipated Latinx books due to be released in 2021.
• Kay marked her three-year blogging anniversary with a recap of 2020.
• Ash also wrote a brilliant 2020 recap.
• Sophie posted her list of resolutions for 2021.
• Alexia looked back on the most impactful books she read in 2020.
• Emily did the super interesting and fun Last 10 Books Tag. I’ve loved all of her recent posts, so it was hard to choose just one!
• Celine reviewed the Washington Poe series by M.J. Craven. It made me want to pick up all three books right away!
• Becky wrote a very detailed review of The House On The Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune – made me even more excited to read it!
• Ellie @ Read To Ramble reviewed One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus, which we buddy read in November.
• Ellie @ Elspells wrote a wonderfully eloquent review of The Clearing by Samantha Clark

Happy reading, and have a lovely February :)