January Round Up: What’s on My Plate for February
31 January 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Backlist books, Book Reviews, book-blog, Bookforager's Picture Prompt Book Bingo 2026, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, February reads, fiction, January Round Up, reading, What's on my Plate
This year I’m once again going to try to post a wrap up for the end of each month, mainly to help me to keep track of my reading and at the same time look at what I’m intending to read during the month ahead (inspired by Books Bones and Buffy’s What’s on My Plate.
My Monthly Wrap Up: January
I had a really good reading month in January. I managed to complete all my review books, plus I read two of my February books. I also picked up one of my backlist books. I have three reviews outstanding which I am hoping to post next week. Here’s what I read:
- Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
- A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St James
- Rings of Fate by Melissa de la Cruz
- The Wolf and the Crown of Blood by Elizabeth May
- Fiend by Alma Katsu
- Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis
- Traitor in the Ice by Karen Maitland
- Nightshade and Oak by Molly O’Neill
- Storm by Rachel Hawkins
- A Forest Darkly by AG Slatter
What’s On My Plate: February:
- Nightshade and Oak by Molly O’Neill – Already Read
- A Forest Darkly by AG Slatter – Already Read
- Temple Fall by RL Boyle
- Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
- Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
- Loving a Vampire is Total Chaos by Aura Hayes
- The Magician’s Daughter by HG Parry (Backlist book)
Backlist Book
Traitor in the Ice by KJ Maitland (review to follow next week)
February’s Backlist book: The Magician’s Daughter by HG Parry
Bookforager‘s Picture Prompt Book Bingo
And the ‘wordy’ version:
Picture Prompt Book Bingo 2026 (text version)
| 1. A teacup and saucer | 2. A set of weighing scales | 3. A moth | 4. A hand holding some fanned out playing cards |
| 5. A hot air balloon | 7. A human eye | 8. A cooking pot hanging over a campfire | |
| 9. A griffin | 10. A large, old key | 11. A hand holding a threaded needle | 12. An octopus |
| 13. A plant being repotted | 14. A skull and crossbones | 15. A decorative water fountain | 16. A pinch-clip purse |
This month I’m going to tick off No.6 – An acorn by using Nightshade and Oak (which feels very appropriate) – I mean, check out the cover:
Books and travelling with Lynn 
We have some of the same February books, of course. I can’t wait to read Nowhere Burning and A Forest Darkly. And well done in January! I need to look into Loving A Vampire is Total Chaos, it’s new to me😁
Yes, that was new to me too to be honest but it looked fun and possibly light hearted so I thought ‘why not’.
Nowhere Burning is my next read and I’m really looking forward to it.
Lynn 😀
We’ll have few books in common to read in Feb – Heather Fawcett, Molly O’Neill, Catriona Ward for sure!
I’ve read the first two and Catriona Ward is next hope – fingers crossed for that one. I have high hopes.
Lynn 😀
Yay I’m thrilled to hear that you had such a successful start to the years reading 🥰 I’m very excited to see your reviews for The Storm and A Forest Darkly soon too. I havent heard of Traitor In The Ice but the covers left me instantly intrigued so I’ll definitely be looking it up.
Ooh so excited for Agnes Aubert this month!! I’m avoiding the reviews until I read it myself but saving them all to check out once I’ve done so. I can’t wait to see what you think of The Magician’s Daughter if you get to it too.
Well done for crossing off your first Bingo prompt too, definitely a fitting choice 🥰
January was a good reading month for me. A little slower so far this month but then we’ve had visitors staying so less spare time. I loved A Forest Darkly and The Storm was also really easy to read with the author’s customary twists.
Traitor in the Ice is an enjoyable addition to the series. I do enjoy historical fiction but tend to read less these days, something I’m working on. I will read the rest of the series. It’s intriguing and I like the period, I’m not happy with comparisons on the whole but if you like Sansom, for example, you might enjoy these books, similar period and style although I did sometimes struggle to follow along with Daniel – it didn’t stop me reading.
Lynn 😀
I hope you’ve been having a lovely time with your visitors at least 🥰 and I’m glad both of those books were such strong reads for you.
I realised it was part of a series when I looked it up, so I added the first to my TBR instead. I haven’t tried anything by Sansom but his books have caught my eye before. And I generally like historical tales, although I havent picked up many with mystery elements. It should be fun to try out something fairly different to usual though.
Hey Lynn 👋 Great to hear you had such a successful month of reading: finishing all your January and two of your February books! 🤩 Happy reading this month – I rather like the look of Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett. Blessings, Jessica 💌
I have read the Agnes Aubert book – I think definitely something you would enjoy very much.
Lynn 😀