Beat The Backlist 2026 - January Update

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my first update on my January progress for the year long Beat The Backlist 2026 reading challenge, hosted by Austine Decker.  You can see my original tbr here.  In January, I completed 3 books for a total of 3 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  Pretty good progress so far, I'd say.  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in January:

3. acronyms: there are a lot of acronyms in the story or the title includes one

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True Beauty Vol. 3 (True Beauty #3) by Yaongyi is a series that I wasn't expecting to like nearly as much as I do.  I'm glad I got started in on it.  Anyway, I wasn't expecting the flashback between Suho and Seojun to be so heavy. Wow! Now, I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series and maybe I'll even give the tv series adaptation a try since I see it's available on Netflix at the moment.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

24. to the moon: about or featuring anything space related in the story or on the cover

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The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink is a book I totally picked up based on how much I love Welcome to Night Vale.  I'm glad I did because it was right up my alley.  I hope Joseph Fink write more novels in the future.  While this didn't quite wrap up as solidly as I would have liked, but I was still incredibly invested in the story and characters.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

18. novella sweet spot: between 150-200 pages

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A Literary Scandal (Locust Point Mystery #5) by Libby Howard is the third book in a cozy mystery series that I've never read anything of before now.  This story was fine, but it didn't particularly stand out one way or another for me. I did appreciate that it's especially bookish though.  I won't be back for the rest of the series.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

Are you participating in this challenge?  Have you read these books?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!