Hello friends,
Well, 2018 is starting off with a bang and we already have a month down. This month I had an online class and needed to play some major catch up with my thesis so I could still graduate on time. I also spent several days in bed (some ill some healthy) enjoying several great books. Somehow, I managed to read 18 books this month, which is a great start to achieving my 100 book goal.
If you’d rather watch my video wrap-ups you can watch them below.
January Wrap-Up:
Stats:
ReadAThons:
Winter Biannual Bibliothon – Completed
Winter Bibib Wrap-up:
Ratings:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 1
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 12
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 4
⭐️⭐️✨ – 1
Pages read: 6,358
The books:
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: Sick of hearing about this book yet? I’m just kidding. I thought this book was a lot of fun. I haven’t read as many fae books as other YA readers, but I enjoyed this one. I like that the Fae were so dark. I thought Jude was an interesting MC and having the book from her POV was an interesting insight into this world, thought a book from Carlin’s POV would be amazing. I also love how this book ended and cannot wait to read the sequels.
Just a heads up though, if you are sick of Fae books, I don’t know if this is the book that will change your mind. Just an FYI.
Peter and the Crown (The Phantom of New York, Vol. 1) by A. L. Janney
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: Full review available here.
Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: I am so happy I finally got to this book! 2017 was definitely the year of circus books, though none of them completely blew me away. Caraval was such a fun read, but the ending left me a bit unsatisfied and the Night Circus just didn’t resonate with me as much as other readers. Daughter of the Burning City was supposed to be this big reprieve and yeah it did deliver. I really enjoyed the mystery and whimsy of this world. There were two reveals in this book, one I kind of saw coming and the other one I really didn’t. Overall, I thought this was a super interesting mystery and the world in this book was clever and fun. If you like circus books, I think you’re going to enjoy it!
Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 5/5
Review: This book was one of my most anticipated releases and omg did it deliver. I’ve recently become obsessed with the Wayward Children’s series. These books are everything I’ve ever wanted in YA fiction and I could read 100 books set in this world. Beneath the Sugar Sky is the 3rd book in the series but is the direct sequel to Every Heart a Doorway. I like that we got some new characters, got to visit some old favorites, and actually got do some more exploring.
One thing I do want to address is what most of the mixed reviews mentions, the plus-sized rep. This book introduces a plus-sized MC (which was awesome) but she does mention her weight and the perception of her weight several times throughout the book and compared to the other identities mentioned in this book (and series as a whole), it definitely got the most attention. Because these books are so short, I can see how that would be grating and took the place of other discussions of other character’s identities. As someone on the plus-er side and has been self-conscious about my weight for most of my life, I personally resonated with the character and the thoughts she had. I did like the rep, but definitely see where the critics were coming from.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: Full review available here.
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: Full review available here.
Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 3.5/5
Review: Full review available here.
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: As this is the second book in the series, I’m not going to speak about it too much. I think this might be my favorite book in the series. I enjoyed how Morpheus invaded Alyssa’s mortal life and how this book expanded the series as a whole.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read a sequel challenge**
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 3.75/5
Review: Of all the books in the series, this one was my least favorite. Unhinged ended on such a high point, but how this book chooses to wrap up the story was meh. I didn’t hate it, but I kind of wanted more. The climax with Queen Red was over a bit too quickly and the epilogue was a bit too neat. The novella bind up really helped to add more to the narrative and strengthen some of what was missing from Ensnared. This book didn’t ruin the series for me, but it wasn’t the hit I was hoping for.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read a sequel challenge**
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: I am so happy I finally read this book! It’s been sitting on my shelves for far too long. Ah, this book was so good. Set in the late 1890s, this book follows Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, an Alienist (a person who treats those with mental illness, previously referred to as “aliens”) as he helps the police solve a string of serial murders after the police become stumped, with the aid of a John Moore, the narrator of the book and a journalist and Sara Howard, the first women working on the police force.
This book is great for people addicted to crime dramas or love historical fiction. As a forensic psychology student, I really enjoyed seeing how this book used psychological techniques to aid in the solving of the crime and to see what techniques are still used (or thought to be used) today. I did knock off a star because this book is dense. Holy crap, if I did not listen to the audiobook, it definitely would have taken me longer to get through. This is an adult historical fiction from 1994, so the density was to be expected, but just something that I’m not used to in the books I usually read.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read a backlist book challenge**
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: I have loved Shakespeare since I was little and it was so fun to reread this play. This one has been one of my favorites for a while and it’s been a while since I’ve read it. I decided to listen to an audiobook of this one because these are plays so the audio helps bring it to life. What draws me to this one is the focus on prophecy and revenge and how far people go to succeed.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read a book mentioned in another media challenge**
Otherworlds by Jason Siegel and Kristen Miller
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 3.5/5
Review: Compared to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Otherworlds follows a (kind of) similar idea. The world is going to hell so people lose themselves in an alternate reality VR game. Honestly, that’s where the similarities ended, at least for me.
I read this book because it was the group book, but I was a bit disappointed with it. I thought our main character wasn’t as likable as he was supposed to be and his actual motives seemed really off to me. Like, he’s trying to find the body of a girl he likes in Otherworld because he doesn’t know where her physical body is, but she’s referred to as both his friend and his girlfriend, even though they shared little time on the pages together (at least in the present, there were some flashbacks). The romance felt very one-sided and almost obsessive because we spent so little time with Kat. I honestly don’t know her relationship to Simon other than they were childhood friends and kissed once. There is a sequel coming out, so if it does, it may address this more. Also, I thought some aspects of the world were more interesting than the rescue the girl plot, so spending so much time in the real world was a disappointment for me.
Overall, the book was just kind of lackluster and a bit forgettable. This concept was interesting and could be translated to the big (or small) screen quite well and may even exceed the book.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read the group book challenge **
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: I really enjoyed the stories that were included in this bind up.
Story 1: While my least favorite story was the one that focused on Alyssa’s parents, it was interesting seeing Wonderland from their points of view and how the story could have been drastically different with certain decisions that were made.
Story 2: The story with Morpheus looking at Jeb’s memories was interesting in learning more about Morpheus understanding humanity.
Story 3: My favorite one though was the last story where Alyssa talked more about her life with both Jeb and Morpheus. I liked that we got an explanation for how everyone got back to our world…but it was a bit of a convoluted plan. I didn’t hate it, but I did roll my eyes a bit and got a chuckle out of it. The story with Alyssa’s wedding to Jeb was my second favorite, omg so so cute. I thought the chapter with Alyssa and Morpheus’ kid was SO cute, it was probably my favorite yet.
Just one weird thing in this series as a whole was the weird focus on virginity. Like holy hell, it came up like 6 or 7 times throughout the four books. I’m happy this book at least brought up sex and virginity and such since YA doesn’t like to mention it and people get all weird with sex and such but wow…I just wish the dialogue went deeper into decision making and lessened the importance of Alyssa being or not being a virgin. Just a thing that I noticed, but other people may or may not care as much and totally respect that.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read a sequel challenge**
Cauldron’s Bubbly by Amber Elby
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 3.75/5
Review: Full review available here.
**Read during the winter bibib – completed read a book you’ve never heard of before and read a book under 200 pages challenges**
Winner Take All by Laurie Devore
Rating: ⭐️⭐️✨ – 2.5/5
Review: Full review available here.
**Read (mostly) during the winter bibib – completed read a book about mental illness challenge**
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: My sister has been pushing me to read this series for YEARS and I’m so happy I finally picked it up. This book was so much fun! It was like Supernatural meets a Nurior Mystery and it was a blast. There were some parts of this book that were slow, especially towards the middle, but overall the story was interesting. I will definitely be continuing on with the series! (Unrelated side note, I like how the titles play into the big mystery like og mystery books/films)
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: Full review available here.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5
Review: I read this one because I was approved for an ARC of the sequel and wanted to play catch up before that book arrived. I was not expecting to enjoy the story as much as I did. I recommend going into this book fairly blind as it added to the reading experience (at least for me). What I think you should know (just to draw you in) is that every couple years on her birthday, a mysterious man kills Min. Not tries to kill, but actually kills Min. She wakes up unharmed and is able to proceed with her day. Not surprising, no one believes her and she has been treated with delusional disorder since the age of 8.
Despite being told it’s all in her head, Min is convinced this is real and tries to find answers. As this is going on, the world is currently facing the threat of ending due to anomalies in space.
Nemesis is the action, dystopian, futuristic, sci-fi book I didn’t know I needed but I’m so happy I read. I listened to the audiobook and kept increasing the speed, listening to most of the book on 2.5x or 3x speed because I was so hooks and curious to find out what was going to happen next.
How many books did you manage to read in January?
Be sure to let me know below!
Coffee Cocktails & Books 📖 
Wow! So many books read in January! And so many of them that I’ve been dying to get my hands on! I was only able to read just a couple books last month, but hopefully can make up for it this month😂
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Thank you! I still don’t know how it happened. 🙈
Hope your reading goes well this month!
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