January 2021
I’ve been reading so much, but I don’t always feel like writing a full review for everything. I was inspired by Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Quick Lit posts, as well as Hannah at So Obsessed With‘s monthly Quick Lit posts, and decided to do something similar as a way to briefly discuss the books I read in a month but don’t write full reviews for.
My excellent reading streak from 2020 carried over into the first month of 2021. In January, I read 27 books. I’ve already reviewed a few of them here on the blog:
The Cousins, Karen M. McManus;
Admission, Julie Buxbaum;
The Project, Courtney Summers;
The Push, Audrey Audrain;
The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins;
Kind of a Big Deal, Shannon Hale;
Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Stories of Horror, Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto (Eds.);
Those Who Prey, Jennifer Moffett; and
Anxious People, Fredrik Backman.
Here are my thoughts on the rest of my January reads:
If We Were Villains, M.L. Rio (owned) – 3.5⭐
This was interesting, and I enjoyed the first half of it, but the second half felt slow and dragged on for me. But recommended if you are a fan of boarding school and mysterious death stories like The Secret History.
A Certain Hunger, Chelsea G. Summers (Scribd audio) – 3⭐
This was an uneven read for me. At times I quite liked the writing, but at other times it was too grotesque for me. I might have liked this better in a different mood but at the time that I read it, I couldn’t get into it.
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, Jia Tolentino (owned) – 4⭐
This was a collection of dense, thought-provoking essays that challenged me. I had to take my time reading this book to really focus on what the author was saying, and I quite enjoyed this collection.
The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcolm (Scribd audio) – 3⭐
This was just fine.
Home Body, Rupi Kaur (library) – 2⭐
I tried Rupi Kaur again but her poetry is just not for me. I would like to read some poetry this year and will try other writers, but her style just didn’t connect with me.
You Have a Match, Emma Lord (e-ARC) – 3⭐
This was very cute and fun, but felt like there was A LOT going on. Overall I loved the focus on the sister relationship, even if the resolution between Abby and Savvy’s parents felt rushed.
Stillhouse Lake, Rachel Caine (Scribd audio) – 3.5⭐
This was a really fun read on audio because the pace was fast enough that my attention didn’t wander off. This was a tense, exciting read and the narrator was really good. It was a little predictable but I will be checking out book two in this series!
Lumberjanes #41 and #42, Shannon Watters et al (Scribd) – 4⭐ and 3.5⭐
Thanks to Scribd I can get back into this series! These were fun and I am really looking forward to reading the next few issues!
The Ravens, Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige (library) – 4⭐
This was so fun! I really enjoyed this YA story about a sorority of witches. The dual narration was effective and I was pleased with myself for solving the mystery! I am looking forward to the sequel!
The Cold is In Her Bones, Peternelle van Arsdale (Scribd audio) – 2⭐
I couldn’t get into this at all and I really did not like the narration.
Light For the World To See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope, Kwame Alexander (library) – 5⭐
This was a brisk, moving read and the visual aspect of each poem bolstered the emotions I felt while reading.
Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman, Lindy West (library) – 3⭐
I liked this, but definitely not as much as I enjoyed The Witches Are Coming. Compared to that, I feel like Shrill was not as sharp or incisive.
Maybe This Time, Kasie West (Scribd audio) – 3⭐
This was a fun, easy breezy read, which is sort of what I’ve come to expect from Kasie West contemporary stories, and was what I was in the mood for at the time.
Convince Me, Nina Sadowsky (library) – 3⭐
This was a page-turner, but I found it kind of predictable and unsatisfying in the end.
Plain Bad Heroines, Emily M. Danforth (owned) – 3⭐
I had super high hopes for this book, so perhaps it was a case of misplaced expectations, but I thought it was just okay. It definitely wasn’t as creepy as I hoped it would be, and while I really liked the historical fiction aspect of the story, the present day story was much less interesting. There was so much going on, and maybe I would have enjoyed this one more had the focus been on just one story or the other, but I struggled to finish this one. That said, I thought that the writing itself was lovely, and it gets a ton of 5-star ratings, so I think I am in the minority on this one.
Teen Killers Club, Lily Sparks (library) – 2⭐
I had high hopes for this and really wanted to like it, but it was just too silly for me.
What have you been reading lately?
