Here we are at the end of January, and what a month it’s been! It’s been the most productive month on the blog so far (but I have my guest reviewers’ diligence to thank for that) and I’ve also gotten a great head start on all my reading obligations for the year. I decided that a weekly wrap up was just too much for me to keep up with right now; some weeks there was plenty to share and others were snoozeballs and crickets. A monthly wrap up will allow all the recaps for those who may have missed without overloading your inbox with repetitive nonsense. That said, I’m going to break it down by category and see what all’s been happening in January.
Books Read:
It was an excellent month for reading! I completed 19 books, but that number feels a little like cheating because two of those were almost completely read in December (I just finished them on January 1) and 4 of them were kid’s picture books + Peter Pan. So that leaves a more realistic number of 13 books which I am still so proud of! I’m including the links below to my reviews either via Goodreads or my blog in case you missed my thoughts on any of these. ❤
Something Very Sad Happened by Bonnie Zucker (5 STARS)
Harold And The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (3 STARS)
Keep Her Safe by K.A. Tucker (4 STARS)
Vegetables In Underwear by Jared Chapman (5 STARS)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (4 STARS)
Unsub by Meg Gardiner (5 STARS)
Just Between Us by Rebecca Drake (3 STARS)
Hydra by Matt Wesolowski (5 STARS)
Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones (5 STARS)
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1 STARS)
The Innocent Wife by Amy Lloyd (4 STARS)
Strangers by Ursula Archer and Arno Strobel (2 STARS)
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (3 STARS)
The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard (4 STARS)
Wicked Charm by Amber Hart (4 STARS)
The Diviners by Libba Bray (4 STARS)
Into The Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner (4 STARS)
Wish You Were Here by Renee Carlino (2 STARS)
The Social Affair by Britney King (5 STARS-Review To Come!)
Updated Stats:
I decided to up my Goodreads Challenge to 150 books and I’m currently 6 books ahead of schedule if I want to meet my goal for 2018. My personal goal for February is to read 15 books, but if I read a little more or less I’m cool with that. I read 7/50 books for my Popsugar Challenge so I’m well ahead there. I was able to clear two books off my NetGalley TBR (The Liar’s Girl and Shadowsong)… But I added four more new ones in their place. 😉 You’ll find out which ones when I post my February NetGalley update! I was able to complete one of our Suspenseful Clues and Thrilling Reviews club choices this month (The Cruel Prince) and am rotating The Ghostwriter into my February TBR since I’ve already read our adult fiction choice. Bentley, Scrill, and I’s buddy read of Hero Of Ages by Brandon Sanderson is now taking place beginning of February as well. I feel like I completed my month’s goals for the most part and am proud of all the discussion posts I wrote for January!
Bookstagram and Giveaways:
*That’s it for this month! Feel free to follow my book-related journeys via Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram and happy reading! ❤
19 books! Wowza!
Had you ever read The Hobbit before? I read it all the way back when I was a freshman in high school, but really need to re-read it as an adult…
You are probably the first person to see a 3 star rating for The Cruel Prince! Everyone has been going bonkers over it, which always makes me a little leery of picking it up. The hype typically kills it for me.
Happy reading in February 🙂
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Thanks Amanda! I think I had somehow skipped over The Hobbit in high school, but I loved The Lord Of The Rings and I’m glad I made the time to go back and read that one as an adult. I’m planning on rereading the trilogy this year as well!
Yep, I haven’t seen many lower ratings for Cruel Prince yet. It wasn’t bad by any means and I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment, I think I just had my expectations way too high on it and I found myself a bit let down. Happy February and wishing you success in your books this month!
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Wow, so many thrillers and crime novels. This is definitely a genre I want to explore this year…
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sounds like a pretty solid reading month!! i also found peter pan to be disappointing 😮
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Well done! I managed 10, including a couple of audiobooks. Also, I am loving the sound of ‘Vegetables in Underwear’!!
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Sounds like you’ve got this reading thing in hand Chelsea. LOL Seriously though, Well done you! I’m just finishing off my tenth book of January.
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Thank you so much! 🤗 It helps that we were mostly sick and homebound the entire month. 🤣
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Amazing month, beautiful! I hope you have an amazing February, love! 💖xx
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Thank you so much babe and same to you!!
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Way to haul ass on those reads! I was thinking last night that my cut from 150 to 75 was a bit drastic and was thinking of bringing it back up myself, but I think I’ll keep my life stress free.
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Thanks girl! I’m really excited about our buddy read!
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19 books in one month is pretty impressive. I wish you luck in February, and thanks for some great books to look for. Thanks again, and take care
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Thank you Patrick and same to you!
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Holy moly! 19 books read! You’re an inspiration to me tbh. Looking forward to our buddy read this month! 🙂
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Aw thank you B! I think it’s just because we were all sick and stuck at home this month. 🤣
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Reblogged this on Angie Dokos.
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Thanks Angie!
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Wow, you read so many books this month! I was way too busy this month, but I did manage to read 11, which is good enough for me so far! I’m so glad you loved The Diviners; it’s one of my favorites! ❤️
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11 Books is amazing Mikaela! I think the only reason I managed to read so many is we were all stuck at home sick and there was nothing else we could do. 🤣
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19!!!! Wow! Looking at your rating seems like you had fun tho! I’ve read 9 books in Jan, but that’s already more than what i thought i will 😀
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Thanks girl! I did; I enjoyed almost every book I read which was refreshing!
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