Wow, the first month of 2018 is already over! If the whole year goes like this, it will be December before we know it. Today it’s time to look at our reading month. Did the year start off good? How are the goals going that we set for this year?

Candyce

I have to say my reading month has started out pretty good! My goals (except for the Goodreads challenge) not so much, haha. I read 16 books this month! I am even ahead according to my Goodreads challenge. I hope I can keep this up. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish any series this month and I only read one backlist book! I applied for some review books for this month and honestly didn’t think I would have a chance with many of them, but I did, haha. That is what kept me so busy this month. Not a bad thing of course, just kept me occupied. To make it easier, if I have already written the review and it’s online, you will be able to click on the title of the book.

I only read one physical book this month.

My Lady Jane – Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows

Besides being my only physical book, it was my only backlist book as well. I got this book in December of 2016 and I’m mad at myself for waiting this long. This book was AMAZING! I laughed out loud and loved the characters. The only good thing about waiting so long is that I don’t have to wait as long for the second book, haha. I’m hoping it’s just as good. Isabelle and I read this as a buddyread, so you will see our review in the near future.

Everything She Needed – Christina Butrum

I read All She Ever Wanted last year and I loved the book and Cedar Valley. I was happy to hear that Rachel was geting her own story, so I didn’t have to think twice before reading this. I loved reading more about this town and Rachel’s life. My review will be up in February.

Caught in the Current – Pauline Creeden

I read Salt already and this is the novella about Bailey (we me him in Salt). I didn’t like Bailey in that book, but I understand him a lot more now. This novella also gave us more of glance into their world and how they live. This is definitely important information before we read more about Verona.

Stage Kiss – M.F. Lorson

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book and it did not disappoint. It’s not that long, so I finished it in one sitting. This book takes place in 2002 and if you were a teenager like I was in that year, this book brings you down memory lane. I love a good contemporary and this is definitely one. It releases February 13th, so you guys can expect my review when we’re closer to the release.

Buried Alive – Stacey Marie Brown

This book was a lot different than I expected in the beginning, but definitely not in a bad way. I had never read a sports romance with snowboarding and I really enjoyed it.

I Hate Everyone But You – Gaby Dunn & Allsion Raskin

This book was so good until the end, haha. I had some issues with the ending. It was a cute read though and told through nothing but e-mails and texts. This made it a fast and fun read.

The Wright Secret – K.A. Linde

This was another amazing book (I read a lot of good books this month). What I loved about this romance was that the female character was the one with the amazing job. Running a company isn’t something the female characters normally do. It was nice to see the roles changed here. Besides that the Wright family seems like a fun family to be around.

The Girl Without Magic – Megan O’Russell

I got to participate in the blog tour for The Girl Without Magic. This book had a lot of potential and was a fast read, but lacked in certain areas. I think the author wanted to explore too much in one book.

Begin Again Anthology

Mental illness is still a subject that isn’t easily talked about, but it’s so important that people feel free to talk when they need to. In this anthology 21 authors came together and wrote short stories. All the proceeds go to suicide awareness. If you click on the review, it explains everything about this story. This anthology has 21 stories and that’s a bit much to fit in one review, so I decided to split it up. You can find part two on the blog already. The other parts will be on the blog in the near future.

Picking the Corners – Ashley K. Broome

I love sports romances especially involving hockey. I already read Ashley K. Broome’s other book and enjoyed it. It was lacking in certain areas, but a fast and fun read. This one was the same, fast and fun, but missing the other character’s POV.

Wonderful Love – Maggie Marr

The first book I read this year and I can say the year started off in a good way! You will fall in love with character and hope he gets his happily ever after!

Bad For You – J. Daniels

This was another blog tour I participated in this month. I love J. Daniels, so not signing up wasn’t an option, haha. This book was so good. Shay and Stitch are two amazing characters. My heart broke for Stitch and I needed him to end up happy. I could’ve read this book in one sitting, but I needed to have it not be over so fast. I wouldn’t mind reading more about Shay and Stitch. He deserves another book.

Tuesdays at Six – K.J. Lewis

This was such a beautiful book. It shows us that love can come from places you least expect it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose your best friend and find out they left you custody of their kids without you knowing it. Reading this book makes you see a family form right in front of your eyes and it’s amazing. I think K.J. Lewis is going to be an author I will be keeping an eye on.

Mother of Shadows – Meg Anne

I love fantasy books and this one seemed really good. Imagine living your ordinary life to find out your a chosen one with some powerful abilities. This is what happens here. Helena’s life is turned upside down and even more so when she has to choose a Mate. This happens a lot easier than she thinks and Von isn’t the one her people were expecting. Some weird things start happening and this ended in a cliffhanger. Luckily I get to read the second book, so I hope to get to it in February.

The Art of Us – Hilaria Alexander

Romance, comics and a geeky main character. Need I say more? Lena has her own comic and is succesful, but not in love. She didn’t have an easy life, so love isn’t something she thinks she’s cut out for. Except Amos isn’t someone she can forget. When they start drawing together in her notebook, she never expects the offer they get. Her life will change a lot, but can she deal with going back to Japan?

Sugar Lump – Megan Gaudino

I did a lot better writing reviews this month, haha. There are a few I still need to write that I read this month, but my list isn’t as long as it was at the beginning of the month. I hope to keep this going!

Isabelle

I had a really good reading month to kick off the new year! If I keep this up I will easily meet my Goodreads goal and possibly also my other goals. I read 11 books this month, 5 of those were from my physical TBR from before 2018, 1 was a comic, 1 was from a subscription box and while I didn’t finish any series I did get caught up with 2 series!

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli

This one had been on my to read list forever and when I saw it on Storytel (the audiobook provider I recently started using) I knew it was the perfect time to finally tackle it. I wrote an article about discovering audiobooks, you can find that here. I really enjoyed Simon and I’m happy I read it before the movie comes out. It was a cute read but I do think I missed some bits because I listened to it and did get distracted at times.

Harry Potter #1-4 – J.K. Rowling

I got a bit addicted to the Harry Potter audiobooks narrated by Stephen Fry and listened to the first 4 this month! I’m currently listening to the Order of the Phoenix and I’m almost halfway. I absolutely love them and will probably listen to them many more times. Since I know them so well they’re the perfect books to listen to when I’m also doing other things.

Memento – Mathieu Reynes

I got this comic as an ebook from Netgalley, there will be a review soon. It was a pretty short comic and I flew through this one. I enjoyed the art style a lot and while the story might not be super unique I did like it. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger and left me with quite some questions so I’m excited for the second one.

The Heart of Betrayal – Mary E. Pearson

We did a buddyreview of this one last week, you can find it here. It took me forever to get through this one but once I was somewhere halfway through it, the story picked up and hooked me. I really enjoyed it after that and we’re planning on starting the last book in this series this week. While reading this one I realized I forgot so many -important- details from the first book that I don’t want to wait to long with the series ender.

Windwitch – Susan Dennard

After finally picking up Truthwitch – AND LOVING IT – I was happy I already owned the second book, Windwitch, and was able to continue the series right away. I was a bit confused at first, some time has gone by between the end of Truthwitch and the start of Windwitch and I wasn’t really sure what was going on at first. However, I really enjoyed this one and it had some amazing plot twists. I’m so sad we have to wait until next year for the third book. I’m happy about the novella though! I’m currently reading an preview excerpt from the novella and it’s definitely on my wishlist.

Gemina – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

I FINALLY picked up Illuminae in December and ordered Gemina right away. After reading and listening to all those fantasies I wanted to go back to the sci-fi world in these books. The third books comes out in March and I’m all ready for it! I actually read this one in a day haha. It’s 650+ pages but because of the format and the story I just flew through it. One lazy Sunday was all I needed!

My Lady Jane – Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

I was looking forward to reading this one since I got it in an Owlcrate last year and heard nothing but good things. Candyce and I decided to buddy read it a while ago and last week was finally the moment we decided to go for it! I’m so happy we did as I absolutely loved it <3 It was such a cute and funny read. I loved the historical fiction part of it and really liked the twist they gave it! I’m super excited for the second book from the Lady Janies.

Sailor Moon Vol. 1 – Naoko Takeuchi

I picked this one up at the end of December after seeing so many people fangirl over Sailor Moon haha. I needed to see what all the hype was about. While it was different than I had expected it to be I really enjoyed it. I can definitely see the appeal and will probably continue with the series. I also want to start the tv show, but I’ll put that off until I’ve finished the books.

This is what we read this month! How was your reading month? Read any books we really need to add to our TBR?