wrap up
Bookish other,  Wrap-ups and TBRs

January 2021 wrap-up

Hello bookworms!! Yes, it’s the last day of February and here I am doing my January 2021 wrap-up… I swear I am trying to stay on top of blogging… it’s just so hard some weeks!! (Months? Years?) On the plus side, I am on top of blog-hopping, so yay me!!

Umm… January was a time. I normally take time off work to enjoy the summer, but this year I went back to the office on Monday 4 January. I was expecting it to be pretty quiet, but that was not the case. It was full-steam ahead from the very start of the year, so I didn’t get to do as much in my “down-time” as I had hoped.

So, let’s look at what I did in January.

January 2021 wrap-up

what i read

I read three times as many book in January as I did in December… Not that that means a great deal when I only read two books in December. However, six books is better than none, so no complaints here.

SYMBOLS
Symbol
Key
Symbol
Key
Symbol
Key
⚔️ fantasy contemporary ? sci-fi
? historical fiction ❤️ romance ? crime / mystery
? thriller ? classic ? dark academia
? paranormal ? urban fantasy ? non-fiction
? mental health rep ♿️ disability rep ?️‍? queer rep
? BIPOC author ? own voices ? body positivity
? dark themes ? nerd references ? sport references
? middle grade ?‍♀️ young adult ?‍? new adult / adult
? hardcover ? paperback ? ebook
? graphic novel ? audiobook ? gift
? friend pick ARC / review copy ? Aussie author / #loveozya
? DNF ?‍♀️ buddy read ? reread
? Beat the Backlist ? PopSugar

Emoji table for reference

Book
Author
Series
Symbols
Rating
Cover
Crush Tracy Wolff Crave #2 ❤️ ? ? ?‍♀️ ? ? 4 Crush by Tracy Wolff
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Garth Nix ? ? ?️‍? ?‍♀️ ? ⏰ ? ? 3 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
Sticks and Scones Ngozi Ukazu Check Please Vol 2 ⛱ ❤️ ?️‍? ? ? ?‍♀️ ? ? ? 5 Check Please Vol 2: Sticks and Scones by Ngozi Ukazu
Harvest of Sighs Sierra Simone Thornchapel #3 ❤️ ? ? ?‍? ? ? 3 Thornchapel 3 Harvest of Sighs by Sierra Simone
Door of Bruises Sierra Simone Thornchapel #4 ❤️ ? ? ?‍? ? ? 3 Thornchapel 4 Door of Bruises by Sierra Simone
Conventionally Yours Annabeth Albert ⛱ ❤️ ?️‍? ? ?‍♀️ ? ? ? 4 Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert

OK, so it wasn’t a great month of books. I did force myself to finish The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Nix because I’d been reading it for ages. It’s a shame this book didn’t do it for me, but I absolutely love everything else Nix has written that I’ve read. I’m still yet to write my review for it, but it was definitely on me, not the book.

Despite the ratings, I have to say my favourite book of the month was Crush by Tracy Wolff. Crave was definitely a bit trashy, but I would say the series overall is a bit like Twilight x ACOTAR. It definitely gets better the further you go on. And the ending to Crush was *chefs kiss*. I will 100% be reading Covet when it’s out next month.

what i did

Gaming

OMG. I played a LOT of The Sims 4. I put at least 4 Sims through university, upgraded houses, moved households around, had multiple babies. It was a time. The new expansion pack Paranormal came out at the end of January as well.

Of course there was a lot of Animal Crossing going on as well, but only for the first few days. Every time a new month starts I seem to play the crap out of it to try and collect as many new bugs and fish, and then it goes on the backburner again.

And – most exciting for me – we started a new D&D campaign!! We are playing kind of a bastardised version of 5th edition, and we’re at sea. My character, Karou, is nothing like her namesake. (I always steal one of my favourite character names, except for one. So far I’ve played as Iseult, Sabriel, Tikke and now Karou.) I’ve also moved away from being an elf – so it’s a whole new world for me.

Karou is a tiefling cleric. She has lived her whole life sheltered in a monastery serving Mishakal, the goddess of life. However, she has been sent on a mission to watch over her grandpapi (played by my husband which is all sorts of weird), and to spread the gospel of Mishakal. In terms of playing the character, calling her naïve would be kind. She’s also so regimented in doing things a certain way, that is now completely lost as she’s on a ship heading to a new country and nothing is familiar, that she has started to present with this social anxiety. I’m having so much fun!!

TV and movies

Things I watched in January were:

  • Community season 2
  • The Witcher season 1 (rewatch)
  • Step Up
  • The Wedding Year
  • Sabrina season 4
  • Fate: The Winx Saga season 1

Yes, for the first time since October, I didn’t watch Julie and the Phantoms. I am shocked too. I did rewatch The Witcher though…

And I watched Fate: The Wix Saga and I loved it!! It was so good!! I never watched the original cartoon though – so I had nothing to reference it back to. But I imagine the outrage is similar to the outrage I had when they ruined She-Ra and I ended up hate-watching the first season.

Music

Hello, my name is Meeghan, and I only listen to Taylor Swift now.

I don’t even know why I have a music section any more. I feel like the last six months have just been me crying over folklore and then evermore. And some Julie and the Phantoms songs thrown in for variety.

on my blog

Top 5 Tuesday for January was a lot of fun!! Topics were:

If you ever feel like joining in late (sometimes we are busy people on Tuesdays) please just drop me a comment or a pingback, and I will happily add you to the list.

on your blogs

These are some of my fave posts from your blogs in January:

There were also a few anticipated book lists for 2021 (thanks for adding to my TBR!!):

How was your January?

(Yes, I know it was forever ago…)

until next time, happy reading! Meeghan xo

8 Comments

  • Charvi

    Ooh the Check Please! series is just chef’s kiss! I absolutely love it. Ah yesss the Winx series is a big yikes, the original series was my childhood obsession so I decided not to watch this new one and spoil it. Thank you for adding my post to your wrap-up, makes me so happy you liked it <3

  • dbsguidetothegalaxy

    My friends keep yelling at me to read Check, Please ??‍♀️ How can I tell them I have 5 other mountains of books to get through? I can’t remember the last time I watched a Step Up movie. I was somewhere in Season 2 of Sabrina, but have forgotten a whole chunk and a half, so of course have to start all over again ? I have not watched Fate: The Winx Saga yet, but when I do, it’ll be a hate watch because how dare they get absolutely everything wrong? ?

    • meeghan

      OK, when you watch Winx you have to know going into it that it’s not for kids any more. It’s like a darker, scarier version made for adults. It’s like the difference between the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
      Also, HOW HAVE YOU NOT READ CHECK PLEASE?? It’s honestly so adorable, and it’s only got 2 volumes. Plus you can read it as a webcomic!! I’ll send you the link.

      • dbsguidetothegalaxy

        i think that’s definitely the issue because I loved the cartoon – even if it was totally cringey. Especially when I heard they’re going to reboot Powerpuff Girls and make it all dark and gritty too ?
        I’ve only seen gifs of the original Sabrina but I do like the darkness of the reboot. I guess it’s different if I haven’t watched the source material.

        I’ll try to read it soon!

  • dbsguidetothegalaxy

    My internet has been acting up so I’ve had to write my comment a few times ? My friends keep yelling at me to read Check, Please! Unfortunately, there are about a million and five other books I have to read first. I can’t remember the last time I watched a Step Up movie ? I was somewhere in the secone season of Sabrina, but have forgotten literally everything so a restart is in order. I need to hate watch Fate: The Winx Saga. Also, I do recommend you watch the cartoon (it’s on YT) because it was so fantastic and I hate that they changed everything for a ‘dark and gritty reboot’ when we so CLEARLY do not want that. When will they learn to LISTEN TO AUDIENCES.

Let's chat!

%d bloggers like this: