January Wrap-Up // February TBR | 2015

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image source: here. edited by me.

Hello! How's your first month of the year? I still can't believe how it seems like January just passed by so quickly. Don't you feel that way too? Because it seems it was just yesterday that we celebrated the new year. Because last month I didn't read that much book, I tried my best to make up for it and pushed myself harder to read more books. And I'm quite satisfied with the number of books I've read this month. Although it's not that much, it's obviously a little bit more than the number of books I usually read. So here are the books I've read and reviewed this month, non-review posts in January, and a list of books I'm planning to read in February.

Happily Ever After by Winna Efendi

My first book review of the year! And it turns out to be a really good one :)) I didn't expect the book to be this sad, but I ended up crying several times while reading it. I absolutely love the message of the story, which I think is perfect to start the new year. 5/5 for this one :)) ✮✮✮✮✮

Kania by Hapsari Hanggarini

The author personally asked me to review her newest book, but unfortunately it seems I wasn't able to relate to the story. It actually took on quite an interesting topic that intrigued me, but I feel like I couldn't relate to the characters. Sadly I had to give 2/5 rating for this one. ✮✮

Walking After You by Windry Ramadhina

Another amazing book by one of my favorite Indonesian authors! I had so much fun reading this book, mostly because of the adorable male character. The plot itself is sometimes gloomy, because the theme talks about regret. This one is also a great read to begin 2015. Definitely 5/5. ✮✮✮✮✮

Koala Kumal by Raditya Dika

I am always highly anticipating books by this author, because I always enjoyed his past works which never failed to crack me up. However, this book actually talks about the more melodramatic sides of the author's life, which is about heartbreak. Even though I still enjoyed it nevertheless, I was hoping for more humor in it. I gave it a 4/5 in the end. ✮✮✮✮

As Seen on TV by Christian Simamora

The story in this book is pretty cliché, but I guess I just liked anything that Christian Simamora writes. He has a very distinct writing style that's always fun to read. However, since the story is quite predictable, I only rate it 4/5. ✮✮✮✮

Hannibal Rising (Hannibal Lecter, #4) by Thomas Harris

Finally finished this series after so long! Even though it's the last book in the series, this book is actually a prequel. But I was quite disappointed because it was slow-paced, and didn't really give me what I want. Maybe my expectation was too high for this book. However, I'm still forever amazed by Hannibal Lecter's character. 2/5 for this last book. ✮✮

Hai, Miiko! Vol. 27 by Ono Eriko
A quick read of my favorite manga! It's actually quite thin, but there are several stories that instantly became my favorite. I still ship Miiko-Tappei, and it's such a shame Tappei didn't get to make his confession XD A 5/5 for this cute manga :))  ✮✮✮✮✮

Single Ville (싱글빌) by Choi Yun Kyo (최윤교)

Penerbit Haru sent me this book in exchange for an honest review; and I was actually highly anticipating this. I really liked the premise of the story, but was only able to give it a 3.5/5 stars. Don't forget to join the GIVEAWAY I'm holding for a signed-copy of this book :) ✮✮✮½

I read 8 books in total this month, and I also finished The Mark of Athena recently but haven't got the chance to write the review yet—so I will include it in next month's wrap-up. I guess it's a pretty good start for this year, hopefully I can keep up the reading. (Though I think I can actually read more books if it weren't for the distractions that I will talk about later on.) Besides reading a number of books, this month I also watched quite a lot of movie adaptations. I also succeeded in joining the first Opini Bareng event by BBI, which is really fun to talk about in a non-review post. Below, I also listed the books I'm planning to read next month :))

Non-Review Posts in January:

Happy New Year 2015 !
Movie Adaptation Review: Paddington
Movie Adaptation Review: STAND BY ME ドラえもん (Stand By Me Doraemon)
Anticipated Book to Movie Adaptations in 2015
Top 5 Wednesday: Series You Want to Start This Year
Top Ten Popular Authors I've Never Read
Movie Adaptation Review: The Kite Runner
Opini Bareng: Ekspektasi
Movie Adaptation Review: The Best of Me
I Mustache You Some Questions!
January 2015: Book Haul

February TBR: (I might have more books coming in next month, so this list can change and is quite flexible) 

Jatuh Cinta Adalah Cara Terbaik Untuk Bunuh Diri by Bernard Batubara The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus, #4) by Rick Riordan The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5) by Rick Riordan A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness Wonder by R.J. Palacio

 

I mentioned distractions earlier. And the biggest distraction this month has got to be Korean dramas. Yes. I think this happened before, and I also mentioned it in my Reading Distractions post. But there are SO MANY good dramas coming out this month! The first one that I watched is Pinocchio (피노키오), and it's totally my favorite kind of drama. It's about revenge, dark family past, mystery, and everything intertwined with romance. I really enjoyed this drama, mostly because the actors/actresses did an excellent job portraying the heartfelt characters. The drama ended already, and now there are more good dramas that are currently airing: Healer (힐러) and Hyde, Jekyll, Me (하이드 지킬, 나). I haven't started these two, because I know I won't be able to stop if I started. I'm planning to wait until the drama ended so I can just marathon them. Some other dramas that also intrigued me included Misaeng (미생 - 아직 살아 있지 못한 자), which is very popular in South Korea. Not to mention, Spy (스파이), a drama that also intrigued me because Jae-joong from JYJ is in it. I'm currently watching The King's Face (왕의 얼굴), a historical drama, which will end within 3 weeks I think. The conclusion is, sometimes Korean dramas can beat my love for reading. When I'm watching a drama, I would be in a dilemma between wanting to read a book, or watch another episode.... Have you watched any of these dramas? :))

And to start off this year, I did a decent amount of exercising by joining Blogilates routines. Because I'm not a gym/fitness center kind of person, I think this kind of thing suits me better. If you didn't know already, Blogilates is a Youtube channel (and also a blog), that Cassey made to teach us ways to lead a healthier life. As the name states, most of the routines are pilates that I can also do at home. Even though the moves looks quite simple, it's actually pretty hardcore. And I think it's a great way to start exercising with this small steps, so that I won't get sick of it too quickly. I hope I can commit myself to doing this for the rest of the year, not just in January.

I also resolved to be more frugal in 2015, thus I made an Excel file with all my monthly expenses (yes, including my book orders). I try to limit myself to a certain amount of money, and so far it's been going pretty well. Seeing my expenses restrained me from buying unnecessary stuff. But of course, books are necessary. Some of the other resolutions, I'm going to start in February. I will talk more about it in my next wrap-up post ;)

Okay, that's it for this month's wrap-up! What about your resolutions? Did you manage to complete anything in the first month of 2015? I hope everyone had a good first month, and of course I wish you better ones ahead! Don't forget to keep reading! ;))

   by.stefaniesugia♥ .