Quarter 1 of my reading year started off strong and fizzled out quickly. Most of my reading was done in the months of January and February and by the time March rolled around, I was barely reading anything. I started a good couple of books in March but I never made it past the first couple of pages.
In Quarter 1 I read a total of 11 books:
The biggest take of this quarter was I started reading a lot more fantasy books. I basically read the entirety of the ACOTAR series within a few weeks. I read 400 to 500 pages a day when I was flying through that series and it honestly felt amazing. It provided the perfect escape. I really enjoyed the feeling of losing myself in just one fantasy world and it motivated me to start up a couple of other fantasy series that I can just settle into for a couple of weeks. I love how we get to follow the same set of characters for a nice chunk of time and how I don’t have to think about what to read next as the sequel’s already lined up for me.
The last time I enjoyed reading contemporary romance or romance in general was around May of 2023 and it’s been downhill ever since. I don’t count ACOTAR as romance because while romance was a big aspect of it, it had a lot more fantasy elements than an ordinary romance would. The two romances I read this quarter were:
In fact, my first read of the year was “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe” and I absolutely disliked it. I feel bad saying hate but…. I aggressively disliked it. You can read my full review if you want details but long story short, the romance was barely there and the book had a full cast of pretty aggravating characters. I didn’t really care for the main character or how the toxic friendships in this book were casually brushed over.
Another highlight of my Quarter 1 reading is that I started to read tiny books! By tiny books, I don’t necessarily only mean fiction books with a smaller number of pages. I’ve got a collection of smaller sized memoirs, poetry books, and essay collections that have been building up over the past few years and each month, I tell myself that I need to start making a dent in that growing pile. I finally started doing that in Quarter 1.
I’ve been slowly getting back to booktube recently and rediscovered my love for allisonpaiges and in one of her videos, she mentioned her love for Becky Chamber’s book “Psalm for the Wild Built” and how it was the most heart warming thing ever. Since my insides felt like they were constantly on fire and burn out was imminent, I knew I had to pick up something wholesome and so I picked up Becky Chamber’s book. Allisonpaiges was right, this book was the most wholesome book ever and I highly recommend picking it up when you’re feeling anxious and a bit lost.
I also finally finished my first poetry collection. I’ve been chipping away at “Lullabies” by Lang Leav for a couple of weeks and I finished it on the last day of March. As someone who doesn’t necessarily like reading poetry collections or essays about romantic relationships (I only like reading romance in fiction books) I was worried I wasn’t going to like this poetry collection as it centers around the poet working through a romantic breakup. I was proven wrong very quickly. Lang Leav’s words just speak to me and there were so many poems that I had bookmarked to reread. I honestly teared up in a couple of spots. So if you’re worried that you might not be the perfect audience for this poetry collection for the same reasons as me, give this one a chance. I know a poem or two is going to speak to you and you’ll be happy you found it.
Final Quarter 1 Stats
Favorites
Not Favorites
Honorable Mentions