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I’ve decided to do a monthly reading wrap-up where I share everything I read that month and just what I thought of it. I think this will be a fun way for you to learn about new books but also for me to look back on what I thought of some of these. So, first up, we have everything I read in January!
- If you want to listen to some of these, consider trying Audible! You can get your first month free (one free book) plus tons of others they have for free. Get that Audible deal here.
- If you’re on more of a budget, try Scribd! You can get your first month free there. You can read books and listen to audiobooks. It is unlimited (especially the reading) but if you listen to tons of new audiobooks you may be restricted after a few. I don’t listen to enough to confirm this, but I do use Scribd myself and like it a lot. Sign up for Scribd here!
- Shop my collection of bookish goodies on Etsy! These aren’t my shop items, but other shops I’ve curated into a book-themed collection. Shop my Etsy bookish goodies here!
- If you want to read more on your Kindle but don’t want to buy books, Kindle Unlimited is a wonderful option. It’s $9.99 a month but if you read a lot and like to read more than just new releases, it could be worth it. Get Kindle Unlimited here!
- Get $5 off of $25 from BookOutlet! This is a great place to find new books for pretty cheap. They also have sales quite a bit, so keep an eye out for those. I tend to check here for books I want if they’re more expensive other places. They don’t have everything but they do have a lot. Shop BookOutlet here!
- Thrift Books has become my go-to when I’m looking for a book and want it cheap. It’s great if you like buying used books. With this you can get a free book after spending $30!
- Shop my book lists here! You can find every book list I have on Bookshop.org (except my monthly round-ups) and I add everything I can but they occasionally won’t have some. I do occasionally add extras though. If any lists are empty, they’ll be filled in shortly! Shop my bookshop.org book lists here.
- Shopping internationally? Check out Book Depository!
Ever the Hunted
About the book: Britta Flannery tracks criminals with her father, the bounty hunter for the King of Malam, every day. She only feels at home with her bow in the woods.
Her father is murdered and she is caught poaching by the royal guard and she is offered a deal: her freedom in exchange for her father’s killer, except that it’s apparently Cohen McKay, her oldest friend.
Author: Erin Summerill
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: I rounded this one up to four stars on Goodreads, but it was really 3.5. I liked it more than I didn’t, but it was hard to get into. I kept getting this one from the library because of the cover and title, but I wasn’t super impressed. I might finish the series, I might not.
Mother Knows Best
About the book: Claire Abrams passed a deadly genetic mutation on to her son. She wants a second chance at motherhood and when she meets Dr. Robert Nash and his assistant Jillian, she gets it.
Together, they create the world’s first human from three people. When word gets out about their experiment, Robert and the now-pregnant Claire flee, leaving Jillian to serve a life-ruining prison sentence alone.
Author: Kara Peikoff
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Thriller
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this, but at towards the end I was a little over all the twists. And I mean, twist after twist. Oh, and here’s four more just for fun. But, overall, I did really like this and would recommend it if you like thrille
Through the Woods
About the book: This is a collection of five macabre illustrated tales. It’s not graphic or gory, but unsettling and creepy. Each story has it’s own creepy and unnerving plot that will leave you scared with a little suspense in the atmosphere.
Author: Emily Carroll
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Graphic Novel
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this but I wasn’t that scared. I would definitely read this in the dark before bed for maximum creepiness to go into effect. In the middle of a sunny winter day, it just isn’t the same. I would absolutely recommend getting a physical copy of this over an ebook though so you can really enjoy the artwork.
The River at Night
About the book: Glenn and Wendy Ganges have a simple distracted conversation, but when he goes to fall asleep, he’s hyped up on caffeine and we’re taken through the history of his life through a series of flashbacks starting with working for a dot com startup in the 1990s.
Author: Kevin Huizenga
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Graphic Novel
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: I liked this and thought it was fun. Some parts were definitely relatable when it comes to trying to fall asleep. I get you, Glenn. I get you.
The Rule of Many
About the book: Ava and Mira Goodwin defy the rule of one ruthlessly enforced by Governor Roth simply by existing. This is the second book in the series and I don’t want to ruin the first one, so I won’t go into detail, but it’s really good.
Author: Ashley and Leslie Saunders
Rating: 5/5
Genre: YA Dystopian
Format read: Kindle
Final thoughts: I loved this! I’m a big sucker for dystopians and I like most of them, especially this series. I can’t wait for the last one to come out!
The Perfect Child
About the book: Christopher and Hannah are happily married with everything they could hope for, except for a child. Until six-year-old Janie shows up at the hospital they work at, abandoned. Christopher forms an instant connection with her and Hannah insist they take her home to live with them, but Janie isn’t the perfect child they expect. Far from it.
Author: Lucinda Berry
Rating: 4/5
Genre:Psychological thriller
Format read: Kindle
Final thoughts: This was so good but sooo frustrating! I read Baby Teeth and just thought it was a little underwhelming, well this is what to read if you agreed. This was like Baby Teeth x 10 and so much better. Highly recommend!
My Sister the Serial Killer
About the book: When Korede gets a distressed call from her sister during dinner, she knows she has to go over with her bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel, and strong stomach. It is Ayoola’s third boyfriend she has dispatched in “self defense” that Korede is left to clean up. She knows she should go to the police, but she loves her sister. Until she starts dating a doctor Korede works with that she has long been in love with, but saving one would mean sacrificing the other.
Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Thriller/mystery
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: I really liked this. I read the whole thing in a day. It wasn’t quite as thriller as I hoped it would be but I still enjoyed it. I could also understand if you don’t like it, too, though. It’s a fun read but not mind-bending or anything if that’s what you’re looking for.
Lying Next to Me
About the book: Adam and Sophie Warner are on vacation with their three-year-old daughter for Memorial Day at Washington State’s Hood Canal. It’s all going well until Adam watches Sophie get abducted 100 yards from shore, that is.
Author: Gregg Olson
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Thriller
Format read: Kindle
Final thoughts: I though this was ok. It wasn’t anything I’m dying to read again but I didn’t totally hate it. It was fine. I’m not sure if I’m just not easily thrilled, but I feel like a lot of thrillers that I read leave me feeling more let down at the end than anything.
Hit me with your truly thrilling thriller recs in the comments!
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?
About the book: Caitlin Doughty gets dozens of questions about death everyday and this is where she answers them with her blend of knowledge of the human body, history behind common misconceptions, and humor as she answers thirty five of these questions from her youngest fans. Will my cat eat my eyeballs? What would happen to an astronauts body if you pushed it out of a space shuttle? Can grandma have a Viking funeral?
Author: Caitlin Doughty
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Non-fiction/science/humor
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: I love this. I love Caitlin, already, though. Her YouTube channel Ask a Mortician is great for answering questions about death and the funeral industry in a fun, easy way for people to understand. I read Smoke Gets in Your Eyes last year and loved it so had to read this when I saw it was out.
Jackaby
About the book: It’s 1892 when Abigail Rook lands in New Fiddleham, New England in need of a job, when she runs into R.F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with the ability to see supernatural beings. She’s hired and finds herself in the middle of a strange but thrilling case on her first day: they’re looking for a serial killer. But is it human like the police think or nonhuman, like Jackaby is convinced?
Author: William Ritter
Rating: 4/5, but I think 3.75 would be better
Genre: YA Historical fiction
Format read: Scribd
Final thoughts: I definitely liked this and thought it was entertaining, but it took me a while to get into this. I was curious so I pushed through and did end up liking up. I’m reading the second one now, so I didn’t hate it that much. Plus, the covers are SO PRETTY.
Recruitment
About the book: No matter when you’re born in Valta, your birthday is November 1st, the day the government declared war on the Easter Order. But when you turn 17, the recruiters come take you away to never be seen again. It’s Kress’s turn tomorrow and she’ll be taken with her best friend Cardyn, but soon they find out Recruitment isn’t what they expected.
Author: K.A. Riley
Rating: 4/5, but I think 3.5 would be better
Genre: YA Dystopian
Format read: Kindle
Final thoughts: I’m conflicted on this. It was much, much better than the second one, which you can see how I felt about that here. I like the idea of this but it could have done better. I mean, a huge part of their training is basically a bunch of escape rooms? Like, what? I love the idea of Render (her bird), but it could have been much better.
And Then There Were None
About the book: Ten strangers were invited to a private island off the coast of Devon by their mysterious host for a weekend. When they arrive, their host can’t be found and a wicked past and secret that they’re unwilling to reveal has sealed their fate. They start dying off one by one and terror mounts as they realize the methods match a nursery rhyme hanging in every room.
Author: Agatha Christie
Rating: 1/5
Genre: Mystery
Format read: Physical book
Final thoughts: Unlike most people, I hated this. I could not get past the writing style and I didn’t care about any of the characters. I got about 2/3 of the way through and had to stop. I picked it up at the library as we passed it one day and figured I’d give it a shot since it’s such a classic, but it’s not for me.
Sold
About the book: Lakshmi is 13 years old and lives in the mountains of Nepal with her family, who are desperately poor and when the monsoon wipes out all of their crops, her father says she has to find a job to support the family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger that tells her she will work as a maid for a wealthy woman in the city, but soon enough she finds out her father really sold her into prostitution and her life becomes a nightmare she can’t escape.
Author: Patricia McCormick
Rating: 4/5
Genre: YA realistic fiction
Format read: Audiobook
Final thoughts: I thought this was non-fiction the entire time I was listening to it and I was shocked. Turns out, this is fiction, but I’m sure it’s an unfortunate reality for far too many people. This was so heartbreaking and so good and I’m really surprised that it’s YA, mostly because of the subject matter. I would definitely recommend it though, especially if you’re interested in human trafficking.
Have you read any of these? Which ones? What did you think of them? Do you agree with my ratings? Any you wan to read?
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