Welcome to January’s Monthly Minutes at Midnight!
Here’s the deal: I’ll share the books I’ve obtained, posts of interest from others, giveaways I have happening, and just general random shenanigans. You know I love a shenanigan. Also, covers all link to Goodreads, because I am awesome. As always, I link up with the Wrap Up Round Up, too!
The Books
For Review/From Publishers:
Nothing this month!
eARCs:
Huge thanks to the publishers for these lovelies! Well. It’s been worse? 🤷♀️
Purchased:
Not so bad! Just wait until all the pre-orders from the most recent B&N sale start coming in though…
Atlas of Us ♦ Principle of Moments ♦ Some Shall Break
Won/Gifted/Traded:
Thanks to the publisher for this one!
Shenanigans Since Last Time:
I read 15 books this month. You’d think this would be a decent number but… I have TWENTY (20) review books for February. Because I am bad at this.
There is a lot of win here at least!
Giveaways: Click Here, or on Sidebar
Blogosphere Bulletin
Here are some of the loveliest/most entertaining/super helpful/just plain interesting posts I found this month!
- AJ @ Read All The Things! tells us about all the “best of 2023” book lists (legit, like all of them)
- Kym @ Black Librarian Blogging discusses review anxiety (I feel this one!)
- Julie & Lynn @ Chapter Break talk about whether it is harder to review books you love (the answer here is “very yes”)
- Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Reviews asks if she should take over the New Release Challenge
- Jessica @ A Great Read talks about prolonged sequels (honestly guys I hate these!)
- Jessica @ A Great Read also celebrates 15 years (!!!) of blogging
- Kit @ Metaphors and Moonlight shares songs that match book villains
- Heather @ Based on a True Story asks if characters need to be “relatable”
Fancy & New Since Last I Saw You!
I love looking at pretty covers! So here are some new ones that I have fallen in love with since our last update!
Pretty covers are pretty.
Things we need to talk about at this juncture:
- January was… something. Sam had surgery on the fifth, so it has kind of been… well, a lot. He has been quite miserable on a liquid diet (he finally graduated to “soft foods” last week!) and was pretty bummed that he was stuck on the couch. He is doing much better now, but really, that was the bulk of our month.
- Otherwise… pretty status quo. Since Sammy is a big Chiefs fan and Lena is a big Swiftie, it is quite a time to be alive. I am subbing day-to-day which… is not super fun honestly. I like knowing what I am doing, and the inconsistency is rough. Also, it is all change and I hate change. I took my final Praxis and start my penultimate class next week, so yay for that at least! And Conageddon is less than 6 weeks away! 😱(The Powers That Be™ have said this will very likely be the last, so… sadness, and also excitement.) And you know, happy new year! 2024 sounds like a sci-fi year, it is scary.
Thanks for the mention! Wishing everyone only health and happiness!
Thank you so much!
I like seeing Sam up and out of that bed. Must have been stressful for you *Hugs, mom*
Subbing is hard. It’s different when you have a relationship with the kids (and it can still be tough then). Hang in there. It’s better when it’s your own classroom.
Thank you! I just felt so bad for him that he could not eat- 3 whole weeks! Even now he is limited, but alas.
And yes- I think the worst part is the downgrade from having my own class to just being a glorified lackey. It is… a blow to the ego, if nothing else 😂
Aw, bless Sam’s heart. Sorry to hear about the surgery. Seeing him surrounded by his stuffed animal friends in the hospital bed is too precious.
Thank you! He really is the sweetest! I am just so, so glad this is behind him now, it is not fun! We were worried there would need to be a second surgery but so far, knock on wood, it looks like the surgeon did the whole thing in one go!
I’m glad Sam is doing okay! And woah, you got a lot of reading done this month. That’s awesome. My reading has been off to a slow start this year -and some DNFs too. But it happens. Hopefully February will be a bit better.
Good luck to Sam with recovery, ugh poor kid (and mom!) I’m so curious to see what you thought about Projections and What Feasts. And I’m glad we agree about Your Shadow Half😬 Strangely we don’t have a lot of the same Feb. books. But yep, so many releases next month!
I still haven’t read The Prince & The Apocalypse even though it was one of my most anticipated last year *sigh* But I’m glad you got your hands on Some Shall Break 😍 Also, wishing Sam a speedy recovery 💜
Aww, poor Sam. I hope he heals quickly. Have an awesome February!
Stop showing off with your mad reading skills. I read…0…books in January lol
“Since Sammy is a big Chiefs fan and Lena is a big Swiftie, it is quite a time to be alive.” LMAO
“I read 15 books this month. You’d think this would be a decent number but… I have TWENTY (20) review books for February. Because I am bad at this.”
How bad am I at this then, if I have 7 ARCs to read (4 being Feb-Mar ones) and 8 reviews to write?…..Seriously, STOP 😠😉.
(A Step Past Darkness and Bad Graces are on my list BTW! Not that I got ARCs of them…).
I hope Sam’s doing much better by now, poor lamb.
“I like knowing what I am doing, and the inconsistency is rough. Also, it is all change and I hate change.”
My long-lost twin! I hear you so much. I hope you’ll get a permanent position soon…
You always have so many interesting and pretty books in your posts! Thanks for mentioning my post 🙂
So many beautiful covers!!
Good to hear Sam is on the mend.
I too hate not having a proper schedule.. I hope it changes for you soon.
So happy Sam’s better, sending him all the healing vibes!!
It’s so great you got a copy of Heir, Apparently, I’m so excited to read this one. I really enjoyed the first book!
I hope February will be kind to you, take care!! xx
I am always in awe of how many books you can read. And how pretty all those covers you show are!!
Kill Her Twice was one I’m hoping to read too! Hope you enjoy your new books! Glad Sam is finally getting better after his surgery. And guess we’ll both be watching the Chiefs tonight! Hope February is going better for you so far! I remember the days of subbing, I was not a fan of the same things you mention.
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/02/02/the-looooong-and-the-short-of-it-january-2024-wrap-up-post-and-looking-forward-to-february/
Wow, thank you so much for linking all those interesting posts! I’ll have to bookmark these and come back to read them at a later time. I hope Sam is feeling better now and recovering well!