A R T
I am currently reading Frequently Happy by David Larbi. You might recognise him from his poetry on Tik Tok! He’s recently released his own poetry book! Each chapter comes with a journaling prompt for every season and I’m currently drawing the prompts instead of writing as I’ve come to enjoy using art in journaling rather than writing! I hope to finish reading this in February and have a collection of doodles inspired by his prompts.
B O O K S
In January, I read 6 books, 2 novellas and 3 poetry books. I’m still not sure how I managed to read this amount of books this month. I guess I’ll just chalk it up to finally utilising my commute time to work more efficiently this month.
For transparency, books marked with an asterisk (*) signify books I received through work at PRH.
A feel good and simple self help book about navigating adult life in a overly saturated and digital life. With charming illustrations alongside simple suggestions on how to stop comparing yourself to others. I’ll be honest I hate self-help books so I kind of just read this purely because Jungkook (BTS) read this book. It has helpful advice but it doesn’t really resonate well with myself.
I really enjoyed On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, having read it during lockdown, and as I was about to starting to read The Emperor of Gladness, I thought why not get through his two poetry books on my commute home. Time is A Mother follows Vuong’s grief of losing his mother and then having to carry that grief through the COVID-19 pandemic. Night Sky, Vuong ‘s debut poetry, is about identity and the immigrant experience. Both works are succinct and heartfelt. Like with self-help books, I feel like poetry was another genre that I never fully connected with. But Vuong’s way with words resonates well and both works are beautiful and powerful collection of poetry.
When a Star, one of the many merciless gods that roam Elara’s world, wreaks havoc on her kingdom, she is forced to become a weapon and face the prophecy that her parents had long kept hidden from her: her destiny to fall in love with a Star and that will be her downfall. Now in enemy territory, she is forced to train under the ruthless Prince Lorenzo who, despite being a prince of Light, holds secrets darker than the Kingdom of Night.
My thought process while reading was: this entire book just feels like a checklist for romantasy tropes. Honestly, did I like this? Not really. Was I entertained while reading? Definitely. Lore wise – this is really interesting! Sadly everything else felt so dense and it doesn’t help the pacing in this book is non-existence. Honestly, I just sound SO mean right now so I will stop but if you’re a fan of tiktok romantasy enemy to lovers style of books, then this is perfect. But when I finished this book, I was just happy to be done with the book. Knowing that it’s a trilogy, I think it’s best I just leave the series with book one because the idea of reading two more does not entice me at all.
The oldest daughter of popular YouTube channel, 8Passengers, Shari Franke speaks out about her mother’s abuse for the first time. I didn’t realise that Ruby Franke is the same woman who went viral telling the Internet she was okay with her child (not Shari, a younger sibling who I will not name) going hungry in order to teach her a lesson until Shari mentioned it in a chapter.
What a vulnerable and devastating story. I hope Shari and her siblings get the peace they deserve.
I was enticed by pretty art on Tiktok (link is the full art on Twitter) and ended up reading two pretty steamy fantasy romance novellas about a trans prince who is desperate to fall in love after having struggled to find love growing up due to his royalty status. I was so enamoured by the lovely art I bought this without even fully checking the plot – so I was in for a surprise. I know this is meant to be a short smutty novella series, but I was genuinely thinking this plot could do with some better development. But to be fair, no one is picking this up for plot. Enjoy away steamy romantasy readers.
As the Yorkshire Murders terrifies its residents, Miv is worried the deaths will convince her dad they should uproot their family and move down south. But leaving Yorkshire and her best friend, Sharon, behind is unthinkable. So Miv decides to solve the murders and then maybe they could stay after all? She sets off to make a list of suspicious people in their community – strangers, friends and family are not free from her detective senses.
A coming-of-age mystery set against the backdrop of the 80s when the Yorkshire Ripper roamed across the county. Heart-breaking and endearing all at once. I remember finishing this book and my first thought was, “wow that was great, but I’m so sad I never want to re-read this book ever again.” Go read this book so you can feel the same.
A gorgeous anthology of poems all about the sea, seafaring and the legends who across the ocean! A mixture of old and modern pieces. As someone who is currently reworking an old story that follows a cartographer who lives on a boat, I LOVED this selection. Definitely had a few bookmarked for inspiration!
As nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of bridge, ready to jump, the last thing he expects is to for an elderly woman to call him out across the river. Grazina is an elderly widow who is slowly succumbing to dementia and brings Hai in to her home. Out of options and nowhere to stay, Hai becomes her caretaker and over the course of a year, the two develop a bond like no other.
I had the chance to hear Ocean talk about The Emperor of Gladness last week at work! I’m so excited for people start reading this. I thought it was going to be a tough job to beat the emotional mess that On Earth made me. But Emperor did all that and more. As someone who spent six years working as a waitress, I truly resonated with Hai and the circumstantial found family he finds in that greasy fast food store. HOW CAN I HAVE ALREADY READ ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2025 ALREADY?!
When Jet is violently attacked on Halloween, she suffers a catastrophic head injury and the doctors are certain she only has a week to live. As her condition deteriorates, she is determined to find her killer before the aneurysm kills her. To her surprised, her family have a lot more enemies that she thought and suddenly anyone could be her killer. From her parents, to former best friend turned sister-in-law – Jet only has a week to find her killer.
Thriller are a big hit or miss for me so I was surprised when I found myself really enjoying this! I had the chance to hear Holly speak about this new book briefly and I absolutely loved her energy and the way she spoke about her work! I don’t remember much from when I read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and never really branched out in her work beyond that one book but I definitely think that I’ll stick with all of her future adult fiction titles instead!
M U S I C
That’s it for this month! Tell me what went on in YOUR life this month! What sort of things was important for you this month? New obsessions? New TV shows? Or book? Any new song recs (I’m always open to new music!)? Best books you read this month?
as told by zaheerah 