It sure is a new year! Reading, Writing, and Randomness for January 2025

I wrote most of this in the days before the LA Wildfires started destroying so much of LA County. My heart goes out to everyone impacted, especially those who have lost their homes. Homes aren’t just accumulations of items that can be replaced — they are places where memories and experiences live, in addition to the irreplaceable mementos that remind us of those experiences. No amount of wealth can bring that back for anyone.

This LAist article has some good resources for where to donate or how to help on the ground. Donating to individual GoFundMes recommended by friends is also an impactful way to help.

Reading

• Hot Hex Boyfriend by Carly Bloom

• ✨ Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore

• ✨ Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

• I’ll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow

• Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

• Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin

• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I have finally caved in to the Fourth Wing hype and, as could have been predicted, I am now OBSESSED! But I’ll save that for next month.

Instead of Goodreads, I use The Storygraph to track my reading. One of the things I especially love about it is the sheer amount of neat, nerdy data it produces about what you read. Here’s one of the monthly graphics you can download each month:

They also added some great Year end wrap up graphics. Reading more was one of the things I really wanted to do this year and my tally racked up at 93 books as of December 31st. I definitely skewed to the lighter side of the emotional spectrum in my reading, but still threw a dark and broody book in there here and there.

For 2025, I’ve kept my goal of books read at 50. I want to branch out from Romance a little more with some fantasy, some mystery, maybe a little more non-fiction even. What are you looking forward to reading this year?

Writing

In case you missed it, I released an original short story in December as a little holiday gift just for my subscribers. Check out “Checking In” here:

… and Randomness

• Andrew Garfield continues to break the internet and the hearts of girls, gays, and theys. Last time, it was THAT Chicken Shop Date. This time, it’s putting on his glasses at the Golden Globes in, I’m sorry, the sluttiest (complimentary) way possible. You’re killing us, Andrew.

• Tom Holland and Zendaya may be engaged, which resulted in the proliferation of his Lip Sync Battle all over Threads again. Which is what we need right now… or anytime, really.

• Facebook has stopped its fact checking program. Yeah, that’s not terrifying in the face of disinformation and AI or anything.

• Flags will be at half-mast on January 20th, in memory of former President Jimmy Carter. Thank you, Jimmy, for that one last service to your country.

Take care of yourself as we head into this new, uncertain year of 2025.