Yesterday we talked about the books we collected in January and now it’s time to talk about what we read. How did our reading year start off? Did we read anything good? Work on any of our reading goals? Keep on reading our January wrap up to find out!

Candyce

At first January started off pretty slow when it came to reading. I was reading over 10 books at once and having trouble focusing at first. That’s when I let my mood take over and I ended up reading a total of 18 books (6 paperbacks, 5 audiobooks, 2 hardcovers, 2 graphic novels, 2 ARCs and 1 e-books) and a total of 6,523 pages. My average rating this month was a 4.0, so not too bad.

I started working on my goals of course. In January I didn’t re-read any books or finish a series, but reading backlist books started really well. I read a total of 10 backlist books! I’m really hoping I keep this up the rest of the year. But now it’s time to actually talk about the books I read. Let’s take a look!

Now Entering Addamsville – Francesca Zappia

I loved Eliza and Her Monsters and when I saw this cover and heard about the story I was sold. Now Entering Addamsville was a bit different than expected, but I loved how it was a little darker and creepy than I thought. I read this in just about one sitting and will definitely be anxiously awaiting for more books by this author.

The Burning Shadow & The Brightest Night – Jennifer L. Armentrout

Jennifer L. Armentrout is one of my favorite authors and she took us on a ride with this series so far. Like I said in my review, I was hesitant when the synopsis mentioned a flu-like outbreak, but it wasn’t anything like I thought. Once again, these books are filled with humor, amazing characters, romance and lots of twists and turns. I need the fourth and final book now, but there’s no information about it yet.

Letters to the Lost – Brigid Kemmerer

Letters to the Lost is a book that’s been on my shelf for way too long, but I finally decided to put it on my TBR this month. It didn’t hit me emotionally as hard as expected, but it was definitely a moving story. I did feel like one of the main characters was more of just a filler story for the other main character’s story to develop. My review will be on the blog soon.

A Pinch of Magic – Michelle Harrison

This middle grade series was all over the place online when the sequel was about to release. My boyfriend gave me the first two books for my birthday last year (the third book is releasing soon) and I finally read it this month with the Middle Grade Marvels. A Pinch of Magic is definitely darker than I expected, but I loved the characters and the adventure they went on.

Cinderella is Dead – Kalynn Bayron

I’ve seen this book talked about everywhere online since it released. This month I did a buddyread of Cinderella is Dead with Ellie from Read to Ramble. I loved this take on Cinderella and had a hard time putting it down when I finished the daily chapters. My review will be posted soon!

Only Mostly Devastated – Sophie Gonzales

A boy-meets-boy spin on Grease? Yes, please!! Only Mostly Devastated was an amazing book I just couldn’t put down. I loved all the subtle ways Grease was incorporated into this story. This book hit me in all the feels!!

Check Please!: Hockey & Check Please!: Sticks & Scones – Ngozi Ukazu

This is another case of I need to read it after seeing it everywhere. Both Check, Please! books were amazing. I read both of these in one weekend. The artwork, story lines and characters all fit together so well. I wish there was more!

The Binding – Bridget Collins

For me The Binding was definitely a cover buy and it had me intrigued by the mention of books. The concept of binding your memories to books to forget unwanted memories was very interesting. I also wasn’t expecting the romance in this book, but it worked so well. I’ll definitely be reading more by this author.

Write Before Christmas – Julie Hammerle

I finished this holiday story on New Year’s Day and it was a fun heartwarming read. Write Before Christmas is just like a Hallmark movie and it was an easy read. It wasn’t 5 stars, but this book was definitely entertaining.

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre – Robin Talley

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre was such a fun read. I never was into theater like these characters, but it is interesting to read about. The superstitions this group believed in were interesting. This was the fast and fun read I really needed.

The Duke and I – Julia Quinn

Of course after binge-watching Bridgerton I was really curious about the books. The Duke and I was a fun read, but if I’m honest I enjoyed the show more. Also, the problematic scene people talk about was a bit worse in the book in my opinion. It’s weird it was never really dealt with. I will continue with the books though, because it’s going to be a little while before the second season.

Please Send Help – Gaby Dunn & Allison Raskin

I read I Hate Everyone But You quite awhile ago and if I’m honest the book made me mad. That being said, I was still really curious about Please Send Help. It was better than the first book, but I just still didn’t connect with these characters.

Opposite of Always – Justin A. Reynolds

Opposite of Always was a book someone suggested for people who like the loops in books after we had a discussion of In a Holidaze. I was curious, so I decided to listen to the audiobook. I loved the idea of the main character going back to try and save the one he loved. Some things felt a bit weird to me at times, but I was hoping they would end up together until the end.

The Last Best Story – Maggie Lehrman

The Last Best Story was definitely not the best story in my eyes. When I read the synopsis I was expecting a fluffy contemporary with an interesting story added to the mix. What I wasn’t expecting was a school shooting and a main character that felt the need to post a story while all of this was happening. Also, it was hard picking up when flashbacks began (I don’t know if this was just because I had the audiobook), so it was hard to keep track of the story.

Glimpsed – G.F. Miller

A teenage fairy godmother definitely sounded like an interesting concept. Glimpsed is a fun take on that. In the end this book had a sweet romance and I enjoyed how it all turned out. Even if the main character did annoy me at times.

Only the Perfect – Elle Thorpe

Elle Thorpe is an author that a friend of mine talks about frequently. I was already curious because of that and then I saw the announcement for a new series coming later this year. Only the Perfect was a book recommended to me that was a pretty fast read. I’m so glad I picked this up. It was so good I read way past my bedtime and was done within the day (it’s only around 150 pages, but still). I will be reading more by this author.

Summary
Favorite Book: Only Mostly Devastated
Least Favorite: The Last Best Story
Most Surprising: The Binding

Isabelle

This was a really good start of the year reading wise! I’m super happy with the amount of books I read and I did start to work on some of my reading goals. This month I read 13 books (2 hardcovers, 3 audiobooks, 5 eARC’s, two webcomics and 1 graphic novel reread) with a total of 3530 pages. Compared to some of my reading months last year I think I did a great job!

The Duke and I – Julia Quinn

After bingewatching Bridgerton of course I also had to read the book. This was precisely what I thought it would be, pretty enjoyable but nothing spectacular. I do plan on reading the rest of the series since a lot of people seem to enjoy them more. And they’re all available through Scribd so that’s great!

Self-Care for Pisces – Constance Stellas

This was wonderful! I saw one book in this collection over at booktube on Books and Lala and immediately started looking for the pisces one. There was an audiobook and I flew through it. I got some great tips and recognised myself in so many things as well. Wonderful!

Deadly Education – Naomi Novik

Wow wow wow, I loved this so so much. I was really excited to read this fantasy set at a dark magic school and I was not disappointed! This was exactly what I want in a fantasy and I just couldn’t put it down. I reacted out loud to the book a lot haha. Hopefully I can get my hands on an eARC of the sequel because that ending had me gasping so hard!

A Curse of Gold – Annie Sullivan

I finally finished my eARC of this one. And I also finished a series by reading this. I was really happy with that haha. But the book wasn’t as exciting as the first one unfortunately. There was a lot of adventure and action but that took away from the characters so I just didn’t really care. We did get a great new character though and that was definitely my favorite person in the book!

Riverdale: The Ties That Bind – Micol Ostow

I’ve been really disappointed by a lot of Riverdale content lately but this was such a pleasant surprise! This graphic novel was one of the eARC’s I read this month and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Hopefully there will be a sequel though because nothing got really resolved.

Quincredible vol. 1 – Rodney Barnes

I got this eARC on a whim but it blew me away. This graphic novel is set in a town with super heroes but it is about so much more. I loved all the different black characters and think this one could really make an impact.

Perfect on Paper – Sophie Gonzales

I picked up this eARC that will be released in March and I loved it! It was exactly what I was hoping for and it was written so well. I couldn’t put the book down and I will definitely be reading more books by this author in the future.

Letters to the Lost – Brigid Kemmerer

I’ve had this one on my TBR for so long! Candyce convinced me to pick this one up and I’m glad it’s finally off my TBR haha. It wasn’t as good as advertised in my opinion, I really hated one of the main characters. But I loved the other main character and there was some great side characters as well.

Check Please!: Hockey & Check Please!: Sticks & Scones – Ngozi Ukazu

This was so cute! I read the webcomic over 1 weekend and really bingread it all. Candyce told me about the group read so I read book 1 on Saturday evening and book 2 on Sunday morning. Time well spend ;). This was adorable! I’m so sad there were only two books.

Across the Green Grass Fields – Seanan McGuire

I finished this audiobook on Sunday! Just before we ended the month ;). This was one of my most anticipated releases of the month and even the year but it didn’t completely live up to my expectations. I liked the world and there were some great messages in there but overall it fell a bit flat for me.

The Good Girls – Claire Eliza Bartlett

I finished this one on Sunday as well, it was a very fast and a pretty addictive read. While I predicted basically everything that happened in this book it was still very enjoyable. I really liked the writing style and thought the characters were well written.

Monstress vol. 3: Haven – Marjorie M. Lu & Sana Takeda

This was my only reread this month, and it was an unintentional one haha. I really thought I hadn’t read this one yet but when I finished the book I realised I actually did read all of that before. Luckily I now remember everything for when I finally get volume 4!

Summary
Favorite Book: A Deadly Education
Least Favorite: A Curse of Gold
Most Surprising: Quincredible vol. 1

So those are the books we read in January! If you’ve read any of these, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Also, what did you read in January? Anything we need to pick up? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!