January Wrap Up

Hi, hey, hello and welcome to my blog 🙂

January is finally over. I’m not trying to wish my life away or anything but January has just felt like the longest month ever.

This month has included: my mum talking about divorce causing my anxiety to flare worse then it has in months (thank fuck that’s all ok now), my bio dad just seemed to forget I existed and someone really close to me and my family is in hospital. And if that wasn’t enough there was also talks of World War III, a whole country on fire, and now a virus spreading across the globe. And through it all I’ve just been like:

 

We’re really living in apocalyptic times my dudes.

Thankfully the one thing that went well this month though is my reading! And really thats all that matters.

I managed to read 5 books this month and pretty decent, hefty books too. I set myself a TBR this month and I’m thrilled to say I managed to tick some of those off so without further ado …

The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The first book I finished in 2020 was The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and it was so good.  I did start this in December so it was carried over but it was definitely a good way to start off a new year/decade.

This book was dark and brutal but so enjoyable. It was uncomfortable to read at times and yet I couldn’t put it down. It definitely deserves the hype and I’m dying to get my hands on the sequel. Full Review HERE.

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Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Three years. That’s how long this book has sat on my shelf looking all pretty with it’s beautiful cover. That’s how long I’ve been terrified of reading this book but finally I did it!!!

It was hard to get into at first. It took me a while to get used to the world, the writing and all that but, eventually, I came to love this book way more then I ever expected to. I find it absolutely crazy that 1) this is the same (co-)author as Illuminae, a book I hated, and 2) one man thought up this entire world down to even the smallest of details.

In my eyes this book definitely deserves the hype and the praise and I’m hoping this can be a stepping stone of sorts for me to step out of my comfort zone more and read bigger, more intricate fantasy books. Full Review HERE.

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Wanderlost by Jenn Malone

⭐⭐⭐

In the first week of March I am going on a week long school trip to Italy. I paid the last payment last week and it’s actually starting to feel real that I’m going to be away from home for five days with people I can barely stand for six hours. I’m starting to freak out.

But in preparation for that trip I’ve got a bunch of YA travel books I want to get to and Wanderlost is my first crossed off that list.

This book was good but nothing overly amazing. I enjoyed the main characters growth throughout the story and the romance in this was sweet but nothing truly blew me away or made me excited. I am planning a combined review for all my travel novels.

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The Black Veins by Ashia Monet

⭐⭐⭐

While all the other books so far were on my TBR this is a book that I bought in the spare of the moment e-book binge which I will live to regret.

It follows a seventeen year old girl called Blythe who gets caught between two waring magical governments, The Black Veins and The Trident Republic when her whole family is kidnapped forcing her to team up with fellow young Magicians in order to save them.

The plot of this book is all over the place. It felt so jumpy and borderline confusing that I found it hard to follow and enjoy. The characters on the other hand I liked. The author clearly understands Gen-Z because there was so much banter and things that made my teenage heart sore.

Also … REPERESENTATION! The main character is bisexual and of colour. There is a nonbinary character with purple hair and two mums called Jamie (really wish we saw more of them but I digress). There’s also multiple other characters of colour and sexualities including a transgender ghost!!! Wow.

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The Burning by Laura Bates

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’m seeing conflicting publication dates for this. Some say February. Some say April. I think this might be a re-release as it says it was first published in 2019. All I know is that I got an ARC of this book which I finished last night (as of writing) and was left crying at 2am.

This book was uncomfortable to read at times due to the subject matter. Trigger warnings for: slut-shaming, revenge porn, sexual assault, graphic online bullying. But I think this is a really important read done really well.

It contrasts and highlights similarities between a girl called Maggie who was accused of being a witch in the 1600’s after being assaulted and having a child and Anna herself being persecuted and named and shamed publicly in horrible ways, called a “slut” and a “whore” over leaked photos she was manipulated into sending.

These two storys being interweaved really made me think, and it made me realise who little we have evolved. Woman may not be burned at the stake as witches anymore but they’re still put down in other, more modern ways.

Like I said I really enjoyed reading this book. Something that did annoy me was that the character is English, the books set in Scotland, and yet there were so many American words like “candy” and I know its a small thing but for the first 20% of the book it really took me out of the story so I’m hoping that’s fixed by publication.

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Bonus Book: I’ve also, throughout the month, been reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens for school. I’m 250 or so pages in. It’s so long. I just want to watch the movie, sing the songs and be done with it.

So there we go, that’s my January 2020 wrap up. I’m so happy with everything I’ve read this month. It was a strong start to the year.

I’d love to know what you’ve been reading this month. Thanks for reading 🙂

Elli xx