January was quite a hectic and difficult month for me. If you haven’t read my recent posts, I became ill and have needed to take some time to physically recover. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of people went through a bad first month of the year as well! If your January wasn’t the best either, I hope February ends up being much better.
Despite all of the chaos of this month, I did still manage to read nine books. I’m surprised by this as I’m dealing with pretty frequent migraines, but it looks like on the days I wasn’t dealing with that I was reading quite a bit. (I guess because my motion has been pretty limited as of late!) I can’t say that I loved every book, but the ones I did I really really enjoyed.
Part of me is also thinking of adding other elements of my life to my wrap-ups – what do you think? I personally like this on blogs because I feel like I’m getting to know the blogger a bit better. I also kind of want to add some stats to my wrap-ups (which I did below) because I really wanted to make use of the cool counters that came with the Divi Builder. 😅
Anyway, here’s everything I read this January and my thoughts!
January In Stats
Books Read
Pages Read
Average Rating
%
Goodreads Goal Progress
BOOKS BREAKDOWN
- 4 PHYSICAL BOOKS
- 4 E-BOOKS
- 1 AUDIOBOOK
January In Books
Shades of Darkness (Ledgers of a Dark Mage #4) by N.K. Leem
The execution is in two weeks, and without his allies, it seems impossible to Thaleon that he will be able to stop it. But Thaleon will continue onward to Varle, even if it means death for him. Dawyn is in disbelief that Thaleon is still alive, and believing that he was taken captive, embarks on a quest to find him. But the Crown is searching for Thaleon, and the both of them will be killed if anyone finds out about his plans to help him.
I was on the ARC team for the release of this book. This was by far my favorite book in the Ledgers of a Dark Shade series! I’ve been looking forward to reading this one since book 3 (I needed answers!) and this book gave us all of that and more. It also contained all of the elements and emotions and twists and turns that I loved from the other books in the series. I can’t wait for more!
The Rosewater Redemption (Wormwood #3) by Tade Thompson
The Rosewater Redemption is the last book in the Wormwood trilogy. The Mayor of new city-state Rosewater is finding the debts incurred during the insurrection to be creeping up on him. Nigeria will not let Rosewater go without a fight. And the city’s alien residents are threatening mass murder. The hope for Rosewater lies in the former fugitive Bicycle Girl, Kaaro, and Femi’s hands.
While this conclusion had a lot of twists and turns, it was a unique conclusion to a very unique trilogy! I loved the expansiveness of the world in this book; I feel like many sci-fi books set on Earth don’t go into very heavy detail on worldbuilding. But with this trilogy, we got so much of that and I enjoyed being immersed in this world.
The Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez
The Afterlife of the Party follows Tansy, who is dragged to a party in Hollywood Hills by her best friend Skyler, and leaves one as a vampire. Now her and Skyler are stuck on the road as groupies with a band of vampires. But when the girls find themselves within a vampire war, will Tansy be able to save her friends?
I really liked the premise of this book, but sadly it didn’t work as well for me! There were so many supernatural elements and it left me wanting to know more about the world behind that, but we didn’t get as much detail on that. And while I didn’t like the characters as much either, I did like the relationships and the friendship between the characters that was explored throughout the book.
Conjure Women by Afia Akatora
Conjure Women is a story that takes place during the course of the American Civil War. It follows Miss May Belle, her daughter Rue, and her master’s daughter Varina. This story explores their bonds at the dawn of the Civil War, while the birth of an accursed child spreads fear among the townspeople.
The writing throughout this book was absolutely beautiful, and I loved the exploration of the different characters throughout as well. However, I found the storyline and the timeline/perspective jumps confusing at times. I’d definitely recommend this more towards readers that prefer reading about characters over storyline – although the story itself has so much depth, I think the story is best told through the characters.
The Project by Courtney Summers
The Project follows Lo Denham, who goes to live with her great aunt after the death of her parents and after her sister Bea joins The Unity Project. The Unity Project has won the hearts of many for its charitable actions, but Lo knows there’s more than meets the eye. And when a man shows up claiming that The Unity Project killed his son, Lo has the perfect opportunity to expose The Unity Project and reunite with her sister.
While I did enjoy this book overall, I wasn’t fully engaged with the book throughout. The concept itself was interesting, but I felt like there wasn’t enough background in the beginning to really make me wonder about the questions waiting to be answered. I still really love Summers’ writing though and look forward to what she publishes next.
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
Difficult Women is a collection of stories about the lives of many women who live unconventional lives. This book explores the lives of these women and how their experiences and traumas shaped them into both who they are now and the lives that they live today.
This book wasn’t what I was expecting at all, but not in a bad way! It made me think a lot of how “difficult” in the context of this book, because while the book is a difficult read, the characters are not. The more I sit on these stories, the more that comes to mind about the meanings behind them. I’m happy I own a copy as I’d like to revisit this book in the future.
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
How to Do Nothing explains the power of attention and why so many entities compete for our attention 24 hours a day. The book also provides commentary on our current culture of productivity and how it leaves no room for rest and recovery. Odell’s commentary and anecdotes provide insights on the state of the attention economy and how to remain connected in a more meaningful way.
I knew that this book wasn’t a how-to book when I picked it up, but I wish this book had more structure overall. All of the concepts and anecdotes shared throughout this book were so interesting, but I felt like they could have been organized much more cohesively, and tied back to the overall ideas better.
Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer
Crownchasers follows Alyssa Farshot, who’s tried her whole life to outrun her family legacy of being next in line for the throne. But when Alyssa’s uncle becomes gravely ill, Alyssa finds out she’s not next in line – instead, he calls for the first crownchase in seven centuries, and the first to find the royal seal earns the throne. Alyssa’s duty to her uncle compels her to take part in the chase, but once the chase turns deadly, she realizes more than just the empire is at stake.
I ended up liking this book much more than I thought I would, and I can’t wait for book two! This book was filled with action and was an absolute page-turner, coming with lots of twists I wasn’t expecting at all. This was a great YA sci-fi and, while it had its hard moments, was a fun read overall.
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Detransition, Baby follows three women, cisgender and transgender, whose lives change after an unexpected pregnancy. After Reese’s significant other Ames detransitions, Reese finds herself coping with her loneliness by sleeping with married men. Ames, with the loss of his relationship with Reese after detransitioning, wants to find a way back to her. When Ames finds out his boss and lover Katrina is pregnant, Ames wonders if this is his chance for Reese to return to his life – and the three of them to be together.
This book was an immensely difficult read but was also so insightful at the same time. There’s a lot of tough, honest conversations, imperfect characters, and difficult moments. There was so much regarding the experiences of transgender people that I have not seen in other books yet that was discussed in such great detail here. I know it’s early in the year, but it could very well be one of my favorite books this year.
How did your month go this January? Did you come across any new favorite books? Let me know! I’d love to know if you’ve read any of these as well and what your thoughts were!
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Great post and wonderful additions ❤️. I agree about The Project. I never felt fully engaged and when I finished, I just felt ambivalent 🤷🏻♀️. But technically, I thought it was well done. Have a great week!