This past month I participated in booksfoodsandotherthings New Year, New Reads Readathon for the month of January. My goal was to read about three to six new books, genres, or authors to me. Did I succeed? I forgot to do monthly updates, but believe me I did manage to read some.

I did not reach my stretch goal of six books and/or authors; I did, however, accomplish to read four books by three new authors to me, and one new genre. The first book I read was Eloise by Judy Finnigan, a British mystery I would highly recommend to fans of Gone Girl and mystery, thrillers in general. It wasn’t one of those books that truly kept me on my toes; but there were enough shocks and surprises to satisfy me, even though I’m not a diehard mystery fan. There was a major paranormal feature, as well, which only added, not took away from the book. You can find my review here.

The next book I read was Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger. I was torn whether or not to count her since I read The Time Traveler’s Wife when it first came out; so, she is not a new author, however I have never read a fairy tale like the one she wrote, especially as a graphic-esque novel with only around 80 pages including illustrations she did herself. It was a quick, quirky engrossing read. Nothing typical about it at all. Of course it had all the typical tropes, but not in the traditional sense which I loved. You can find my review here.

 

After that, I took a dip into the young adult pool and read a book about a sixteen year old struggling with the somewhat recent death of her alcoholic brother; and, her budding friendship with an older, homeless drunk that is both a good and bad thing. Stones by Polly Johnson was a great book I would recommend to any teenager, or parent of a teenager. Or, to anyone, maybe. You see all sides of the spectrum in terms of how alcohol use and abuse affects the people around the drinker and the drinker him or herself. You can read my full review here.

For my last book of the month, I read Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott, another new to me author. I have become a fan of hers for sure. Emma is dealing with the reality of her braindead mother being kept on life support to save her unborn child that she tried to conceive for two years;and, was nervous throughout the pregnancy. As Emma starts to withdraw, she falls for a boy. A good, bad boy that will make a girl swoon. I enjoyed this book immensely; reading it in one sitting. You can read my full review here.

I am currently in the process of reading I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira. I wanted this book to count towards my reading goal; unfortunately, it has started slow and I have not been able to get into it as much as I wanted to, causing me to fall behind with my reading. I am barely over 100 pages in out of 300+ pages.

In total, I read six books, which included Just One Year by Gayle Forman and Paper Towns by John Green.

I hope you had a great January.

Happy reading!