It’s time for the first wrap up of 2017!
I managed to read 10 books this month, I’ve been working 12.5 hour shifts these last three weeks so my reading has slowed down considerably, as you can imagine. I’m happy with 10 books, well technically 10.5 as I’m halfway through Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb and so far, it’s action-packed and I’m really enjoying the story.
I’m still playing catch up with my reviews; I finally got the reviews posted for the last few book I read at the end of last year, so 2016 is 100% wrapped up!
The Ballroom by Anna Hope
The Den of Iniquity by Anabelle Bryant
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto
Gilding the Lily by Justine John
As for this month, let’s take a look at what I’ve read…
The Good
The standout reads of the month were:
Pendulum by Adam Hamdy, fast-paced, action-packed, and very worthy of the big screen! You can read my review here.
The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn, if you enjoy horror books, or are looking for a change of genre, I highly recommend this creeptastic book – reviewed here.
Dare to Remember by Susanna Beard – A debut novel that tells the story of a woman who suffers a terrible trauma and her difficult path to recovery. My review for this title will be up early next month.
The other reviewed and recommended reads of the month were:
The Beautiful Dead by Belinder Bauer
The Owl Always Hunts at Night by Samuel Bjork
Next month, I’ll be sharing reviews for these recommended reads:
The Bad
I really need to rename this section of the wrap up as these are not bad books, rather books I wouldn’t recommend because they didn’t work for me or I’d recommendation with caution.
Tattletale by Sarah J Naughton just didn’t work for me at all and it’s not a book I would recommend. I gave Perfume by Patrick Suskind a rather generous 3 stars on Goodreads, this book won’t be for everyone, if I had to categorise it, it would be literary classic with a dash of nontraditional fantasy – I really liked the beginning and the end but felt the book was let down by its middle, which felt rather monotonous, making me reserved in recommending it.
The New
This section has moved to a post all on its own, and if you missed it yesterday, all the books added to my shelves this month can be found here.
And that’s it for my January bookish activity.
How’s your first month of the year been, very bookish, I hope?
What were your reading highlights of the month?
I honestly don’t know how you do it! Great list of books you’ve read in January and also promising what’s coming up! I really want to know what you thought of Dare to Remember. I’m going to read Final Girls too but you’ll probably beat me to it because I haven’t received the book yet ;-). Happy reading in February!
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Dare to Remember was not the story I thought it was but it keep my thoroughly engaged, and I was fully invested in the main character – there’s a mini review for you haha!
If I can read 10 book again this month I’ll be happy. Happy reading to you too 😊
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Nice haul. I’ll admit that I haven’t read any of these.
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Lol with so many books to choose from that’s totally believable, check out my reviews and try one, hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised 😊
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Yeah, I hope that means you enjoyed Final Girls! Nice wrap-up; I only read 14 books this month, and I hate it! 😝 Hoping February is better!
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I did enjoy Final Girls, I’ve been so busy, I haven’t gotten around to writing the review yet. You say ‘only 14’ 😂 that’s what I roughly aim for each month. On a good month, how many books do you read?
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Well, I’m trying to reach 200 by the end of the year, so I should be reading 17 books per month. My best month so far has been 25 or 26, I think? I can usually read about 15-16 books during school months, but over the summer, I read a TON. 😂
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I look forward to them summer months too, I can read a lot more then too 😂
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10 books and all of those hours working….wow! I’m super impressed. I haven’t read any of these books, but they do look interesting. I’m going to check them out. Have a great February! 🙂
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Thanks, I realised once I cut out TV (except the essential show), I have a lot more free time Haha! If you do read any, be sure to let me know your thoughts! A great [reading] month to you too! 😊
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I have Dare to remember, hopefully I will read it soon!
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Looking forward to seeing if our feelings are mutual or not haha!
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Well done on tidying up 2016, I wish I could say the same. I’m determined to take on less this year and work on the backlog as well as reading my own books. Happy Reading.
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Thanks, it’s a relief 2016 in books is done haha. I went from the odd review book to barely having time for my own books, but I try to read a few of my own books each month but that’s how the review copies build up, I’d like to clear my ebook review copies though, that’s the next goal! I definitely have to be more selective with review copies as I’ve so many of my own that I’ve been wanted to read for ages.
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I think we’re all in the same boat Janel 📚📚📚📚📚
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I can sympathize, work the same shifts myself & seriously cuts into my reading time 😉 Stand outs so far this year for me are “Perfect Remains” Helen Fields, “The Day the Never Comes” Caimh McDonnell & 2 books from Ragnar Jonasson’s Dark Iceland series.
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Ive got Perfect Remains on its way to me so I’m excited to read that one soon. I have to start the Ragnar Dark Iceland series, I’ve heard too many good things so I feel like I’m seriously missing out! Not heard of the other one but maybe I’ll have to take a close look at it.
These shifts are draining me, by the times it’s my days off, I’m trying to catch up on sleep, it’s a vicious cycle haha. I’ve only got the month of Feb left doing them, then hopefully normally reading will resume lol
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Glad you had such a good reading month! It’s SUPER weird that were already in February in this new year. Oh well, I guess time goes by while your having fun. I guess I’m having fun…. (Cries because I still have a paper to write for English and it’s due tomorrow). Good wrap up!
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Good luck with your paper, hope you get it finished and handed in in time, then you can treat yourself to a new book after all your hard work lol.
If I read the same amount of book this month, while working these long hours, I’ll be happy 😊
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Wow, ten books in a month when you’re doing so much work is amazing! I read seven or eight books this month alongside placement and I called that an achievement. I guess expectations are different for everyone!
Thanks for the recommendations; I’m definitely going to add some of these to my recommendation list!
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Hope you enjoy them 😊
As uni/placement intensifies, I doubt I’ll be able to keep it up but 7-8 is still a very good amount of books!
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Fair enough! Yeah, definitely; it’s probably the most I’ve read in a month before.
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