Hey everyone, and here’s a belated Happy Valentine’s Day!! 💝🌹💌🌷🍫💐 This post is also extremely late in the month. I usually like to do my monthly wrap-ups within the first week or so into the next month, but that didn’t happen here this time. Oh well. But yeah, here’s my reading wrap-up for January 2026!
January was alright. I read a couple of books and my blog activity was pretty high, for me at least. I’d have liked to do better in regards to how many novels I read, but two books isn’t terrible, especially with how half of last year was. Hopefully I’ll do better for February, or at the very least, match my reading from last month.
Anyway, let’s just start talking about my StoryGraph statistics from last month!
January Reading 2026
I’ve decided to do things slightly differently this time around. The analysis of my Moods and such is staying the same, but I’m adding a few more stats up here.
I read 📚 2 books and 📑 923 pages in January, and my average star rating was ⭐ 4.0 stars. Also, the average length of the books I read was 📈 461 pages and my average time to finish was 🗓️ 3 days.
😐 MOODS: For this past month, my Moods were Adventurous, Tense, Funny, Emotional, and Dark, with the largest part of the pie chart being Adventurous.
👢 PACE: The pacing of of the books that I read in January was 100% medium.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Concerning my average Page Number per book, 50% of the books were above 500 pages, and 50% of the novels were between 300 and 499 pages. So one book was 500+ pages and the other was 300 – 499.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: Regarding the ratio here, the books I read were both fiction.
🎭 GENRES: All of the Genres I read in January were Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, and LGBT+. They were each only applicable once to either of the two books, so they’re all equal.
📄 FORMAT: The Format for both books was print, so they were both physical copies.
📊 STAR RATINGS: I’ve already mentioned this above, but this is what it looks like on the graph. Both novels I read I rated 4.0 stars, though.
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I didn’t read anything over the first half of the month, unfortunately, but I did during the second half. I read quite a bit between the 16th and the 19th, but my biggest peak was at the end of the month on the 30th and 31st.
So yeah, January wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping it would be, but I can only hope to go better this month. I’m happy with how consistent I was with blogging, though, even if I had wanted to do better with my book reading.
Regarding what I want to read next, I’m thinking Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson, and then maybe Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn. After that, I’m not absolutely sure. I’m also considering Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawsett, however.
This post was late in part because I wanted to get all of my reviews for the books I read last month out first, but also because I wanted to alter my monthly wrap-ups a little bit, but wasn’t super cute what exactly I wanted for a small while. But I’ve finally figured it out, so I’m finally posting this. Yay!
Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my January reading in 2026. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
Jeez, I can’t believe it’s been another week already. Oh well, time flies when you’re being relatively productive, I guess.
Last week wasn’t too bad, in regards to both my reading and my blog activity. I finished a book and reviewed it – and it was my first of both for the year too! I also managed to post a few times, and am happy with the amount of blog posts I was able to do. So yeah, a pretty good week overall.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!
Wednesday 1/21: The Ashfire King Review
Last Wednesday, I finally posted my review for The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah. It’s the sequel to The Stardust Thief, as well as the second book in the Sandsea Trilogy. This one was a long time coming – but I finally read and reviewed it!
The book ended up being slower than I expected for a good portion of it, but I liked it overall. The plot and characters are still great, and the writing is as engaging as ever. I gave it ★★★★☆.
On Thursday, I participated in Birthstone Book Covers at a more reasonable time for the first time in months. Birthstone Book Covers is a fun little post created and hosted by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black.
Each month, for the post, you feature book covers that are either the same color of the month’s birthstone or include the color in the title. This month was January, and its birthstone is garnet. So the colors to pick from are shades of red.
Last Friday, I participated in First Line Friday for the first time in a few weeks. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words. It’s where you guess what book the post is highlighting based on the book’s first words.
So yeah, my reading and blogging this past week was pretty good. I’m pretty happy with all that I did. I hope this week is just as good.
Concerning the blog this coming week, I want to participate in at least a couple of the usual weekly posts that I participate in as well as do a book review. So hopefully I’ll finish the book I’m about to start reading before the end of the week so that I can review it.
Speaking of what I’m planning to read next, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune. I already have it checked out from the library. I haven’t read any of his works in a couple of years, so I’m looking forward to it. This has actually been nebulously on my TBR for about a year, lol. I was going to read Water Moon and The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao, but I ended up not feeling either of them at the last second.
Being in late January, we’re now in the midst of winter, and it really displayed that in my area late last week. It snowed quite a bit, and said snow is still piled on the ground even now. It’s also been freezing cold and will continue to be for at least the next several days. Brrr. In other news, my spouse and I are still trying to be healthier.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
Every story is a memory. A tale that happened neither here nor there, but in another time and place. Our job as story-tellers is to describe that reality as we understand it. It is the listener who must determine what is and is not.
A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.
Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter – one of her bodyguard’s old comrades – she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
My Review
There is no such thing as a single truth. There are just the stories we tell others, and the ones we tell ourselves.
It’s been quite some time since the first book in the Sandsea Trilogy. This is true for me as well even though I read and reviewed The Stardust Thief about a year after it came out, I’m also reading and reviewing its sequel nine months after it first released. So it’s been almost as long for me as it had been for everyone else last April.
I don’t know why it took me so long to read The Ashfire King. I got the book the day it came out and I was so excited about it (it was one of – if not my most – anticipated new book of last year), but then I just… didn’t read it. Part of it is because I was currently in the middle of another series and I wanted to wait to read anything else, I think. I’m disappointed it took me this long to read it, though.
Anyway, to the review!
General Thoughts
“So long as I breathe, I will not falter. To live is to persevere. For the world, and in spite of it.”
I did enjoy this book a lot, though not as much as its predecessor – that one I loved. I think it might be because it was a little slower, plus I didn’t vibe nearly as strongly with it as I did the first book. Oh well, I still liked it, though.
When we left our characters at the end of The Stardust Thief, the party was split. Qadir was captured by Omar, Loulie and Mazen were hurtling down into the jinn realm with the ifrit Rijah, and Aisha was fleeing into the desert.
And The Ashfire King pretty much continues from where the first one left off. It should be noted that the book starts off with one of the trilogy’s ‘story sections’ and this one kind of gave a little summary of what happened in the first book, which was very nice after the gap. It was integrated well into the story itself, as well, since there was a new character introduced that needed to be caught up on the events of book one. Not to mention it was in-character, what with Mazen being a storyteller and all.
The Characters and Story
She gasped at the sight of the compass in his hands.
Her compass.
Loulie stifled a cry as she grabbed it from him. The moment she felt its magic humming beneath her fingers, she grinned. Even had she wanted to, she could not have smothered that smile.”You went back for the compass?”
“You came back for me. It was the least I could do.”
Speaking of the main characters, they each continue to have their own little arcs here.Loulie is desperate and determined to get back to the surface and find Qadir, and she’ll do whatever it takes. Mazen is struggling with Omar murdering their father the sultan, his uncertainty of Hakim’s whereabouts, and his fear of returning home. Aisha has sworn revenge on Omar for lying and betraying her, whilst she deals with sharing a body with the Resurrectionist after their bargain in the first novel. And Qadir and what happened to him is unknown, though it is strongly implied he’s been captured by Omar. And everyone’s character development was extremely compelling here – I ultimately really enjoyed where they all ended up at the end of the book.
The plot was pretty slow, as I mentioned earlier. There were a lot of big moments throughout, but the book didn’t really ‘pick up’ so to say until almost two thirds of the way through. I’m not sure if this is a case of middle book syndrome, or if this book is just kind of slower just because it is, but I don’t recall the first book being as much of a slow-burn. I remember being pretty invested in that one for almost the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, the plot here was interesting and I enjoyed all the character moments. But parts of it did feel slow.
The Romance and Writing
Remembering the last time they had flown-the last time he had convinced Loulie to fly – he smiled and said, “Are you scared, Loulie?”
She cast a sharp look back at him. Just as they had been then, her eyes were filled with defiance. She gave him the same answer.
“Never.”
The climax was great though, and I generally liked the ending (except for the cliffhanger – ugh). The romance and relationship development is also a very slow-burn, but that was fine as it works for this story and makes sense with the characters. (I will confess to being unsure of its existence occasionally, however, with how slow it is, lol.)
The novel’s writing is also just as strong as its predecessor. I again also really enjoyed the way the little story sections were written and stylized. It’s probably one of my favorite things about this series.
Final Thoughts
His dedication flummoxed her. But then she realized she felt the same way. She did not know when it was she had come to rely on Mazen bin Malik, but at some point, the thought of losing him had become unbearable.But he was safe. They were safe.
But he was safe. They were safe.
For a moment, Loulie let herself believe it. She leaned her cheek into Mazen’s chest and thought, I refuse to lose anyone again.
Somehow, she would make certain of it.
The Ashfire King is a pretty good sequel to The Stardust Thief, and it clearly sets up the third book in the trilogy well. I definitely recommend it to fans of the first book – I think they’ll probably enjoy it. I also think it’s a good read anytime of the year, though you should definitely only read it if you’ve read the book one.
As always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Oh wow, it’s been a bit since I’ve done this post, huh? This is what I get for going with the flow on this blog, I guess. Happy Saturday everybody, by the way. Now let’s talk about a Bewitching Book Cover.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.
This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah! I’ve been meaning to get to its sequel, The Ashfire King, but I’ve been both distracted and busy, so I’m hoping doing this post will hype me up to read it.
Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp.
Neither here nor there, but long ago…
Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.
With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.
Book Cover Rating: ✨✨✨✨ • 4 handfuls of magic
Ahhh, it’s been so long since I’ve read this (ei: about two years, lol). But seeing as The Stardust Thief’s long-awaited sequel has finally released, I thought it was finally time to gush about this book cover art.
I’ve always loved this book cover; and I actually owe it to the cover for getting me to pick up this novel. It really caught my eye, for some reason. I think it was the colors and the way they supplemented one another, along with the book’s really interesting sound title. So I guess let’s start with that – I really like the colors and how they’re used here.
If you’ve read any of my Bewitching Book Cover posts before, you know that I have trouble resisting a cover when it has purple on it, particularly when it’s used well. I also happen to like how the fire is integrated well in a cover, and this book has they too, which I of course enjoy. The bonus is that the range and purple complement one another really well, which bumps the cover up when higher in my rating.
The font used for the title and author also looks very nice. I especially like the presentation of the title – the little extra swirl on some of the letters is pretty in a simple way. And it’s not overly detailed, which I enjoy about it. The way the dark purple and gold colors used for the fonts of the title and author’s make respectively, is also pretty cool. I love a good contrast, as well as complementary stuff on covers, so this novel having both makes it extra great.
So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read The Stardust Thief? If you have, have you also read The Ashfire King, its sequel?
Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!
Hi everyone. It’s been, what, three weeks since I’ve participated in this post? Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Anyway, here’s First Line Fridays.
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
Neither here nor there, but not so long ago…
There lived a merchant named Loulie al-Nazari who was as legendary as she was elusive. Garbed in midnight-blue robes, she was known as the Midnight Merchant, a magic-peddler who sold enchanted jinn relics in hidden souks.
Know the book yet? If you don’t, here’s another couple of hints…
Still have no idea? Here are some lovely photos of books to look at while you think about it a bit longer…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!!
A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.
Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
(Edit: Ugh. For some reason this didn’t post yesterday, and I just noticed a minute or so ago. Welp. I already made it, so I’m still gonna make sure it gets posted, because next week will be too late. Oh well. Technology sucks sometimes.)
This week’s book is:
The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!! ⏳🔥
I know that some people don’t like it, but I really enjoyed The Stardust Thief. I’ve been looking forward to the continuation of the Sandsea Trilogy since I read the first book, so this is probably one of my most anticipated books of the year.
A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.
Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
Are you looking forward to the release of The Ashfire King? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!
Here we go! One of my favorite weekly posts to participate in!
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!
The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Thing I’m Still Reading (I’m Almost Done, LOL)
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!
This last week was so much more productive than the ridiculous week before, and I’m so happy. Now, I’m back in the groove! (Yes, I know this is technically a day late. Shut up.)
I haven’t had the best start so far this current week, but I’m hoping I can pick up the momentum a little bit nonetheless. And yeah, I’ll go into it a bit more closer to the end, but I’m not expecting to post like last week. I’m hoping to have almost as much proclivity as usual, but we’ll just have to find out how much together.
Anyway, on with the wrap-up!
Monday 5/29: Majestic Monday
Last Monday, I did the first Majestic Monday that I’ve done in a long time. It felt great, and I’m excited to post more of these in the future. For those who don’t know, Majestic Mondays are when I gush over covers that I like.
Thursday was when I finally posted my review for The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah. It’s an excellent Middle Eastern fantasy that I absolutely adored. I gave it ★★★★★.
Last Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays. It’d been a bit since the last time I was able to (courtesy of the power so generously deciding to go out the week before), but I managed to do it last week. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words.
On Sunday, I finally got around to posting my monthly reading wrap-up for May 2023. It’s no later than I usually get to it, but I usually take a bit to get to it sometimes. I didn’t read and post as much as I’d have liked last month, but what can you do? Sometimes life just gets in the way.
This week I’m aiming to be almost as productive as last week. The key word here being almost. See, there’s sort of a vacation-y kind of thing going on at the moment, so my spouse and I are doing some stuff this week, which means I’m gonna be distracted. Like, a lot. So I’m hoping to post at least four times, but we’ll see.
But yeah, not a lot specifically planned this week. I just want to post a few things of anything really.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and have a great day/night!
Sooo… this is a bit later than I hoped it’d be, but here it finally is – my monthly wrap-up with my May 2023 Reading statistics!
Anyway, talking about May – I’m not super happy with how much I read last month. My statistics were meh on The StoryGraph. It was the least amount of reading that I’ve done yet this year. But I kinda get that a lot of stuff went down this past month, so I didn’t have the time or the mental energy to get the stuff done that I wanted to.
Anyway, I’ve prattled on enough. On with the stats!
May 2023 Reading Stats
I read 3 books and 1171 pages
😐 MOODS:Adventurous was the biggest slice of pie once again. But there are a lot of different kinds of pie on the Moods graph this time. And they’re all pretty equal, which I found kinda funny.
👢 PACE: Unlike pretty much all of the previous months, fast-paced books were the biggest part of the pie. There’s still a chunk of medium-paced, though.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: I read a lot of shorter books in May, similar to what I read in April. 300 to 499 was the only kind of pie here.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: I read a nonfiction book this past month! Yay, finally! This is probably gonna be a once in a blue moon kind of thing though, as I rarely read it.
🎭 GENRES:Fantasy was the biggest part of the graph this time, as per usual. Science Fiction was also on here like it normally is, but Memoir also made an appearance this time… cuz I read a memoir.
📄 FORMAT: The little StoryGraph pie chart for this is wrong once again. (Yeah, I’m never gonna fix it, lol.) 33% (one book) were printed copies, and 66% (two books) were digital.
⭐ RATING: My median star rating for the month of April was 4.33. I wasn’t all over the place with my ratings in May. I gave two books 4 stars and one book 5 stars. (According to my StoryGraph stats anyway. Once again, I didn’t add any of the manga I read to it. Otherwise there would’ve been two books with 5 star ratings.)
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I read quite a bit during the first week and a half, but dipped down a ton in the middle. During the last few days of May though, I read a bunch.
So yeah, May 2023 reading was kind of a bust. I know that a crap-ton of stuff occurred that I couldn’t control, but I’m still irritated with the reading and blogging that I was able to do.
I’m determined for June 2023 to be different. I’m going to read more books than I did in May, and then I’m gonna write reviews and post them. I’ve had an okay start so far, and I’m determined to keep up the momentum. And the May 2023 Reading Wrap-Up comes to a close.
Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!
