Hello, dear readers!
So, I tried to do a new monthly series last year called my Bookish Breakdown: a monthly wrap up of books I’ve read, books I’ve hauled, some posts I’m really proud of writing and posts I really enjoyed from across the blogosphere! I…didn’t do a great job of making that happen. The end of the month always crept up on me and half the time, I forgot to post it at all. One of my main blogging goals this year was to make this post a priority. I love reading these types of posts from other bloggers, so I’ve always wanted to do my own spin on it. Hopefully, it doesn’t turn out to be too unbearable. 😉
That being said, I’ll be working on the formatting, trying to add graphics and whatnot for the first few months as I try to figure this post out, so please feel free to offer any feedback of that sort. I would really appreciate it!

What I Read

Charmcaster by Sebastien de Castell [review]
The Gods of Men by Barbara Kloss [review]
The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan [review]
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike [review]

What I Hauled

ARCS:

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft: Huge thanks to Orbit for being willing to send me the first book of this series (I know, I know, I am woefully behind, please don’t throw stones).
The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan: Once again, Orbit, you are the best book fairy could I have ever have and you made my second read of the year a pretty dang incredible one.
The Smoke by Simon Ings: Courtesy of Titan Books (and thank you so much!) for this sci-fi drama that seriously has piqued my interest so heavily. I don’t think I’ll be able to resist for very long before I’m buried deep inside this intriguing novel.

Bought:

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks: So, I already owned a paperback version of this (and usually, Mass Markets are my favorite). But I read that one, got the second book from the library, before buying each of the following as they came out, in hardback (I just loved this series that much that I didn’t want to wait for the paperback release or the library holds line). So when Half Price Books had the first two books on a massive sale in hardback, I couldn’t resist.
The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks: Also, the fact that the second book is easily double the size of the first…*massive heart eyes forever*
The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron: Oh, and this beauty was also at that Half Price Books sale. The cover drew me in and even though I don’t normally read omnibuses, I just couldn’t resist that less than $10 price tag.
Chasing Graves by Ben Galley: I don’t normally buy a ton of books, just because the budget doesn’t allow it, but I really wanted to start posting on Amazon, so I had to spent $50 at least in order to do that. I immediately went the self-published route and had no doubt in my mind Galley was one I wanted to check out.
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton: Also another no-brainer. I’ve been wanting to read Ashton for a while now and I’m so glad I finally own one of his books, so I can start doing just that (as I just really avoid eBook reading like the plague, if I can help it).

Gifts:

The Gods of Men by Barbara Kloss: This gem almost made me cry when she signed my book and I just love having it on my bookshelf. It’s perfect.
A Threat of Shadows by J.A. Andrews: THIS WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL SURPRISE. I am so excited to read this series and continue to support J.A., who is also just a gem of a person.
Pursuit of Shadows by J.A. Andrews: An.absolute.gem.
Out of Nowhere by Patrick LeClerc: And dear Patrick, believing in your book was easy. I can’t wait to read what happens next.

Library Snags:

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve: After watching the film, I just had to know more about the lore that was missing in the adaptation. I’m a little disappointed already the book is so…short, but still excited for this afternoon read (I honestly think I can read it in less than an hour?).
Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet: ONE OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED READS THIS YEAR and I finally got my hands on it at the library!! I have some ARCs I need to finish reading, but I’m also heavily leaning towards binging through this one and probably causing me to derail utterly into a romance spiral…
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: I know, I know. One day, I won’t jump on bandwagons years late (but give me a little credit, I was number 88 on hold at the library when I first put it in months ago).

Received For Review:

Priestess of Ishana by Judith Starkston: Thank you so much to Starkston for reaching out and asking me if I’d like to write on honest review if she sent me a copy. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis is so intriguing, so I’m definitely stoked to try this one out!

What I Posted

Here are a few posts that I either a) really enjoyed writing, b) am really proud of or c) was hoping to get a little more interaction on this past month!

• Amping Up the Blog: my vision for Thoughts Stained With Ink this year.
• Reading Outlook 2019: 58 books I hope to read this year from my daunting TBR pile.
• Pressure and Expectations: discussing the differences between fantasy and reality when it comes to affording life as an author.
• And I tried my hands at finally doing discussion posts, which I’m really stoked about: Book Blurbs and To Read or Not Read Reviews.

Posts I Liked

And here are a few posts from other bloggers in the book community which I a) really enjoyed, b) really resonated with or c) just want more people to be aware of, because they are just plain awesome.
(Quick caveat that there are definitely more posts that should be on this list, but I was horrible at adding them to the draft I had on WordPress as I was catching up on reading blogs. So I promise to try and do better in future breakdowns!)

• Dani at Perspective of A Writer talks about blogger love and what that looks like.
• Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds reminds writers that progress in writing comes in many different forms and shapes (and this is a good thing).
• Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books (who writes some of my all-time favorite discussion posts, let me just say) has an awesome discussion about reading critically as a book blogger.
• Petrik at Novel Notions hosts an awesome interview with author Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
• Shealea at Shut Up, Shealea convinces me to join my first ever reading challenge after announcing the Year of the Asian reading challenge!

And that, my friends, is the conclusion of my first Bookish Breakdown of this year! *wipes brow* I definitely need to do a little more planning for this post, but I can’t lie and say it wasn’t fun to write. I hope you enjoyed reading it and would love to hear your thoughts on any and all aspects that you have thoughts about in the comments below.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and weekend. Let’s just ignore the fact that January is over, shall we? May your February be filled with met goals, warm blankets and many nights whispering, “Just one more chapter.”
Read on!