Hello readers! It’s time to talk about what I read in January. I feel like I didn’t read that much, but I actually did really well this month.
I also really enjoyed most of what I read in January, which is already a better start to the year than I had this time last year, so I can’t complain.
I didn’t get to one of the books on my Wheel of TBR, which was Sweet Tooth, but honestly, it was intentional. It was a TBR Jar pull, and I just didn’t want to read it. My rule was to unhaul the books I don’t read from the jar and I just decided half way through the month that I’d unhaul it. My TBR has one less book I need to get to!
In January, I read 2,851 pages across 8 books. 4 were on my physical TBR. I started two series, but I also finished two series. 70% of my reads this month were diverse in some way, so I am also doing well on that goal.
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The first book I finished this month was The Luis Ortega Survival Club. This was such a good book. It follows an autistic girl named Ariana who was really taken advantage of by her boyfriend because she is mute most of the time.
She then meets 4 other people who were victims of him as well and they decide to take him down by exposing his antics to everyone.
I loved the way these people bonded, I loved the romance that is sort of in the background of the whole book, and the way they speak about the effects of a person who love bombed them in the past.
There was one thing I did not like. The mom. Her mom would use her as a therapist and treat her really badly, along with her dad, and it was excused because the mom had experienced trauma in her past. I did not like that at all.
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The Sea of Monsters is book two in the Percy Jackson series. I am really surprised as to how much I’m enjoying rereading this series! It’s not like I disliked it before, but I’m enjoying everything much more.
I’m really excited to continue this series through the year and the whole universe it’s connected to.
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Nevermoor has my whole heart. I loved this book. It follows a girl who is cursed to die on her birthday, sort of cheats death, and ends up being the heir to a man named Jupiter North, who lives in a magical world called Nevermoor.
It also has one of my absolute favorite tropes, being trials. We get to see her go from her being friendless and thinking she will die in three days, to not knowing what will happen with her future, to gaining a found family and friend group and a bright future to look forward to.
I love that we got a small look into the overarching villain of the story. We got to know him a little, but there was a lot left for us to discover in the future. I HOPE the next book does not go the way I think it will with their relationship, but who knows? Morrigan is sort of a Luke Skywalker type character who could choose either side of this coin.
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Finishing off the Lemoncello series was so emotional for me and I can’t even explain why. I had this as an ARC. It came out back in November and I just now got around to reading it.
This whole series is about the love of games, libraries, and knowledge of all sorts. This is the type of book that makes me love middle grade. I am going to miss this series and characters so much, but I also have the prequel that follows Mr. Lemocello as a kid to read.
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Family of Liars is the prequel to We Were Liars. It follows the aunt (Carrie) of the main character in We Were Liars when she is a little kid.
Overall, this book was really sad. It has a lot of familial trauma and secrets. The reviews of it are not the best on Goodreads, but I enjoyed it. Did it add a lot to We Were Liars? Not really, but we got a backstory of Cadence’s mom and her sisters, which I did enjoy reading.
I don’t think there will be more from this family on the island, but if there were, I would read it.
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I sort of randomly picked up Vanderbeekers of 141st Street and it was a pretty good read. It takes place right before Christmas when a family is told they are going to be evicted by the end of the month.
The kids try everything they can think of to make the landlord let them stay. They weren’t behind on rent or anything, so the kids don’t have any idea why they are being asked to leave.
Honestly, this book is full of this family of kids who are just so precious. They are willing to do anything for their family regardless of anything in their way. It’s honestly such a cute book.
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This one is a middle grade book written in verse about a girl who is very insecure about being fat. Everyone in her life bullies her about her size, including her mother.
It was a good story, but I’ve honestly read better ones. That is the only reason I gave it a 3 star.
And it was perfect for the Buzzcover prompt of a cover with a pattern. She said it didn’t have to be a perfect pattern, and I thought the water is perfect for this.
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This was such an interesting story. There were two different ones we were seeing. One through pictures and the other through words. We are following a young, deaf girl in the 20s who runs away from home to New York City through the pictures. And a young, recently deafened boy running away from home to New York City in the 70s.
Their stories are nearly identical, and it’s such a moving story. I enjoyed it a lot. And I only finished it with 30 minutes left to spare in the month. I kept pushing it back because I knew I could read it pretty quickly, and then it was 9 PM on the 31st and I had to read it for my Wheel of TBR.
I am so happy I finally read it as I’ve had it out from the library since November. I will probably grab something else by him next time I go because I enjoyed the way it was told. And I have read Hugo Cabret by him too.
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