I do not open a new reading year with ambition. I open it with intent.
January is not the month for proving anything. It is for listening. To my shelves. To my attention span. To the small, persistent pull of books that have been waiting far longer than is polite. A quiet reset, not a performance.
In 2026, that meant starting with a book I had already half-decided not to read.
My first read, and the first slot filled in my 26 of 2026 challenge, was The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigette Knightley. It had been sitting on my shelf since publication. A beautiful hardback. Pink sprayed edges. Exactly the sort of book you buy because it looks like a promise, then quietly avoid because you are not sure you will like what it delivers.
I did not expect to love it. I expected it to be fine. Maybe charming. Possibly a DNF candidate if my mood turned.
What I did not realise, until after I bought it, was that it was based on a Dramione fanfic. That discovery gave me pause, more out of surprise than anything else, and I put the book off longer than I needed to.
The hesitation was unwarranted. Entirely.
The book is sharp, self-aware, and emotionally confident. It knows what it is doing and does not apologise for it. Starting the year with a book that quietly exceeded my expectations felt corrective in the best way. A reminder that shelves deserve a second look, and that assumptions are often just another form of procrastination.
The second book came from a very different place. Less intention, more instinct.
Tangled by Moonlight by Kes Winter was an ARC I picked up through NetGalley. This was a guilty pleasure choice, and I knew it going in. A fast-paced wolf shifter novel with no desire to be literary or clever. It wanted momentum. I wanted momentum.
I read it in 48 hours, which is fast for me. Suspiciously fast. The kind of reading that happens when you stop checking the page count and start telling yourself just one more chapter. The full review is already on the blog, and it stands as proof that not every January read needs to be worthy. Some just need to remind you that reading can still tip into obsession if you let it.
Read my review of Tangled by Moonlight.
Then there is the book that has been watching me.
The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout is my third read of the year, and at the time of writing I’m about 80% through it. This one arrived late in 2025 and has been guilt-tripping me from the shelf ever since. I devoured the earlier books in the Blood and Ash series back to back. Waiting for this release was meant to be a reward.
Instead, it became pressure.
Starting it now feels like returning to a conversation I never meant to abandon. The characters are familiar. The stakes are already heavy. It is not a gentle January read, but it is a necessary one. Some series demand continuity. Ignoring them does not make the pull disappear. It just sharpens it.
I can see how my reset will look after reading these three books together.
One book that challenged my assumptions. One that reminded me how quickly I can still read when I stop overthinking it. One that honours a commitment I made to myself.
That is how I want to choose my first books of the year. Not by trend. Not by obligation. Not by what looks good on a list.
By what has been waiting. By what feels unfinished. By what quietly asks for my attention, then rewards it when I finally listen.
