January 2014: a fresh start!
January Reads
Books Read:Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge Avalon by Mindee Arnett Uninvited by Sophie Jordan The House of Hades by Rick Riordan How Zoe Made Her Dream (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller |
Book of the Month:![]() |
January Reviews
- Monthly Wrap-Up: December 2013
- Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer ★★★★½
- Book Haul #5: The Christmas Edition
- Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton ★
- Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2014
- 2013 End of Year Book Survey
- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones ★★★
- How to Keep Track – My 2014 Yearbook & Other Useful Spreadsheets
- Evertrue by Brodi Ashton ★★★
- Top Ten 2014 Debuts I’m Excited For
- Book Nerd Problems #16: Keeping Yourself Unbiased
- Avalon by Mindee Arnett ★★★½
- How To Manage Your Book Inventory & TBR
- Hana-Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo ★★★
- Book Haul #5: The One Where I Flail About Contemporaries
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge ★★★★★
- Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist
- Uninvited by Sophie Jordan ★★★★
- Music Match-Up #2: Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Maid-sama! by Hiro Fujiwara ★★★★½
- The House of Hades by Rick Riordan ★★★★
- Top Ten Dystopias I Could/Couldn’t Handle
- A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller ★★★★★
- Full Fathom Five & Why I Boycott Their Books
January Posts
- Monthly Wrap-Up: December 2013
- Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer ★★★★½
- Book Haul #5: The Christmas Edition
- Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton ★
- Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2014
- 2013 End of Year Book Survey
- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones ★★★
- How to Keep Track – My 2014 Yearbook & Other Useful Spreadsheets
- Evertrue by Brodi Ashton ★★★
- Top Ten 2014 Debuts I’m Excited For
- Book Nerd Problems #16: Keeping Yourself Unbiased
- Avalon by Mindee Arnett ★★★½
- How To Manage Your Book Inventory & TBR
- Hana-Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo ★★★
- Book Haul #5: The One Where I Flail About Contemporaries
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge ★★★★★
- Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist
- Uninvited by Sophie Jordan ★★★★
- Music Match-Up #2: Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Maid-sama! by Hiro Fujiwara ★★★★½
- The House of Hades by Rick Riordan ★★★★
- Top Ten Dystopias I Could/Couldn’t Handle
- A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller ★★★★★
- Full Fathom Five & Why I Boycott Their Books
January Obsessions
- Sherlock by SHINee. CHRISTINA. I BLAME YOU. I explored more k-pop this month, but THIS SONG MAN. IT HAS TAKEN OVER MY LIFE. When I’m at work, on average I listen to it 4 times per day. And strangely I regret nothing.
- Coffee Prince and Nodame Cantabile. Asian dramas ftw. I do not have enough time to watch them as I would like, but I binge watched both this month and just SO MANY HAPPY FEELS.
- I found a new favorite YouTube channel: Sleightly Musical. It combines instrumental (violin) covers of awesome songs and sleight of hand magic. I just looooove their videos and I watched all of them. No regrets.
- Men at Work. I just LOVE this sitcom. It barely gets the buzz it deserves. The new season started and as a result, I started bingewatching the first two again. I can’t even imagine how many times this makes because this show is a drug to me.
- Sherlock. It came back. It was glorious. It was brilliant. And then it was over again. And I cried. *sigh*
- Spreadsheets. Obviously.
In Real Life

- I went to the Maroon 5 concert, but while they were amazing, some idiots in the audience totally ruined it for me. From now on, I’m no longer going for standing room at concerts. No no. Can’t handle it. I was excited by the prospect though that Adam announced that the next time they would perform in Amsterdam, he and James would sing She Will Be Loved in their underwear. That was preeeeetty hilarious. And they always keep those kinds of promises. So. *sigh* Guess that means I need to go next time too :’)
- The BFF came round twice this month! In total he was only here about three days, but whatever. We always have a good time.
- Boekenfestijn, the traveling book fair, came to Rotterdam, and I went there with Daph and Daisy. I love those girls. It was a really fun day, and I cooked for them and they stalked my bookshelves, lololol. Fun for everyone :’) You’ll get to see my Boekenfestijn haul tomorrow!
- I BOOKED MY TICKET TO NEW YORK. I’M GOING TO BEA!!!!!
Ah, Maroon 5!! That’s awesome. Sucks that some idiots ruined it for you, but that’s just double motivation to next time, right?
Just out of curiosity, what are you writing your thesis on? I miss studying!! My life is work, work, work these days. Sorry if you’ve mentioned this a million times and I missed it!
Oeh, Boekenfestijn! Ik was ook nog geweest 😀 Ik ben benieuwd naar je Haul!
That song is so catchy! And I can’t tear my eyes away from the video.
The Maroon 5 concert sounds like it was amazing! I’ve never seen them live, but my sisters have and they say it’s a pretty epic experience. Glad you were able to go, but sorry that it was a bit of a testy experience for you. And also, just seeing that you truly enjoyed AMWF is making me REALLY excited about reading it!
Dude, your life is awesome! Getting into Sherlock by Shinee and going to Maroon 5 concert in one month?! Wow! I hope I can get into a Mad Wicked Folly soon. I’ve heard lots about it!
Uninvited, Cruel Beauty, and Being Sloane Jacobs are books that I’ve been wanting to read, but haven’t gotten around to. 😛 And I own all the Percy Jackson books, but I’ve only read up to The Son of Neptune. Pathetic, I know, but I’m just going to wait for The Blood of Olympus, because I know that I’ll want to marathon the series. I just know it.
Aaaaah, Maroon 5 concert!! That’s fantastic! I have a co-worker that made me promise I’ll go with her next time they tour Europe!
Yay for Sherlock!!! Now the trauma to wait till we have any idea when will the next season be filmed and aired, and then wait for that!! Why is that show so brilliant and so evil??
I think the cover of I Mad Wicked Folly is beautiful. I might have to read it at some point. Looks like you had a great month. Hopefully February will be equally as great.