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Writer's pictureAshley Mongrain

January 2023 | In Review



I've been in a bit of a slump these past few months since I suddenly had way less time to read and my motivation to pick something up when I did was really low. This month though things are starting to look up a bit seeing as I am starting to get back into the groove of things.


Onto the statistics!


 

I read 3 books, 4 volumes of manga, and 1 manhwa/webcomic audiobook for a grand total of 8 titles and 2,534+ pages.


If you want to check out my reviews, click on the pink links! Reviews for titles not linked can be found on my Goodreads page. Now, here are all the titles I read this month:

  • House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

  • Alice in Borderland Omnibus Vol. 1-4 by Haro Aso

  • Immortality: A Love Story (The Anatomy Duology #2) by Dana Schwartz

  • The Drift by C.J. Tudor

  • Sign by Ker


 

I did end up having a couple of DNFs this month. In all honesty, when I don't read a bunch but did DNF several books, I still consider that a success. I will gladly take taking titles off my TBR when they aren't interesting. I ended up putting down 5 titles this month, and here they were and why I put them down:


THE LIBRARY AT MOUNT CHAR by Scott Hawkins

Now, I know that this book is supposed to be weird, but I just found it to be off-putting. I just wasn't liking the family and their dynamic, which you aren't really supposed to, but why read it when you aren't interested in the story or characters?


THE LUMINARIES by Susan Dennard

I was on a months-long waitlist for this book and...I didn't get very far into it. There were elements of this story that I enjoyed, mainly the promise of supernatural creatures, but I reached a certain point in the story that made me hesitant to continue. I didn't really like the starting point of Winnie's journey to becoming a hunter, and it ended up making me not care to read more about her character.


After looking through some reviews as well, I can safely say that this story wouldn't have been satisfying to read at all.


BLOOD LINK by Brothers without a tomorrow

I have read from the author before and thought I would be okay reading it because the relationship in Tale of the Yellow Dragon wasn't toxic. The relationship in this one though started out weird, like really weird and questionable and I couldn't get far into it because of that.


ANOTHER TYPICAL FANTASY ROMANCE by Wolhet

I wanted to give this manhwa a shot because how often do you see a romance where the ML has facial hair? The point of this story was widely to go against the common tropes in reincarnation romances, but I found that I wasn't invested in reading it. Usually, when I read a manhwa, I want to keep reading, but I just didn't care to pick it back up.


HAPPILY EVER AFTERWARDS by Hwang DoTol and Jeongseo

I had never heard of this webtoon before but only picked it up because it was not longer going to be fully free to read in a bit. I didn't get far into this at all having stopped maybe two chapters in. I just wasn't a fan of the setup, with the FL being reincarnated into her favourite novel and immediately trying to marry her favourite character who understandably doesn't want to marry someone he doesn't know. She is so sure she can make him happy forever though and insists on the marriage and...that's as far as I got.


I found it a bit creepy how strong of a fangirl she was. Don't get me wrong, I to like certain celebrities but not to her level where she wants to marry him. The fact that she knew a lot about him also creeped me out a bit for some reason I don't know why because, again, I also know a lot about certain celebrities I like...



 

Ratings


⭐....................

⭐⭐................1

⭐⭐⭐...........6

⭐⭐⭐⭐......1

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.



Not surprising that the majority of the rating are three stars. I didn't really hate anything I read this month, but not much wowed me either which is a bit disappointing.


 

Genres


Horror - 5

Mystery Thriller - 1

Romance - 2


There is a weird lack of fantasy this month, though that might be due to the fact that I DNF'd every single one I tried to read... Clearly, I was in more of a mood for horror/thrillers.



 

Best of the Month - House of Leaves


Worst of the Month - Immortality: A Love Story


Most Disappointing - The Drift

 

Coming out on top this month is House of Leaves, seeing as it is the only book I rated four stars. I still didn't love the book as others do, but it was still a solid read. As for the worst of the month, I think worst is a bit of a stretch since I didn't hate this, but I also wasn't crazy about it. The book didn't end up doing much for me. Skipping over the most surprising since nothing really surprised me, we have the most disappointing. The Drift's mystery didn't deliver me anything which was a bit of a letdown.


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