Happy New Years!

I hope you guys had a good holiday and a great start to the new year. It’s been pretty hectic over here lately but I think things are calming down for the next few days. I’ve been with my grandparents for the entire month since I got done with finals and it has been fun. We’ve been having parties with our neighbors and family, which being an introvert can be exhausting, but catching up with family has been good too. December was an interesting month for reading as I tried to focus on books that I had tried to pick up before but never got to. There were a couple of books that I got stuck on for a while, but overall, most of the books that I read were okay. I also saw The Rise of Skywalker on thursday and it was better than I thought it would be. Next week is my last week of vacation before school starts and I am going to try and catch up on as much reading as possible between now and the 12th of January.

For December I read 15 books. I struggled with a few of the books that I had picked up for some reason and I think it was just because I was so busy during the holidays. I also think I was in a small reading slump that I finally got out of. I only had a couple of 4.5-5 stars rating this month and most of the other books were around 3-3.5 stars. Overall, I did read a lot in December, but I didn’t quite enjoy some of the books that I picked up. i have some goals for this year that I will explain in the next couple of posts that I have coming up next week.

 

December Wrap-up: 

December stats

This month was an interesting month as most of the books were okay with only a couple that were rated 4-5 stars. The books that I picked up this month were books that I had on my Goodreads shelf for a few years and I was ready to finish them before the new year. I also picked up some to work for a few challenges that I am working on through Goodreads. One of my goals this year is to finish some of the longer challenges that I have been working on for the last couple of years or so.

December Wrap-up

  1. Sword of destiny (0.75) by Andrzej Sapkowski – This one was slightly different than The last wish by Andrzej Sapkowski but I still really enjoyed it. After reading the first novella in this series I did have some unanswered questions about how Geralt met a couple of the characters and Sword of destiny answered both questions and set up the plot for blood of elves all at the same time. I’ve started the book but haven’t been able to really get into it that much, so I am hoping to pick it up for January and continue the series (5 stars).
  2. The child finder (#1)by Rene Denfeld – This one was a bit of a surprise. I was intrigued by it when I first heard of the story and it definitely took me a while to get to, but I am glad that I did. I loved the atmospheric writing and how it was set around winter and December was the perfect time to read it. The story did take me a little while to get into but once I started it didn’t take long for me to finish (4 stars).
  3. The jewel (#1) by Amy Ewing – This was a trilogy that I have been wanting to finish for a long time and I was finally able to pick up all three books at once. I don’t normally do this but when I went to try and find a review that would catch me up on this novel I actually found the audio book on Youtube which was really nice. It wasn’t quite as good as it was when I read it way back in 2014, but I can see why I really enjoyed it back then (3.5 stars).
  4. The white rose (#2) by Amy Ewing – I read this one not long after it came out and loved it the first time. The second time reading it, I found that it was just alright. It did seem to drag a bit at the beginning of the story, but I did love a few of the characters (3.5 stars)
  5. The black key (#3) by Amy Ewing – This was the only one in the trilogy that I wasn’t able to pick up around the time that it came out and never thought about it for a couple of years at least. Ever since last year I’ve tried to get it, but I was finally able to pick it up this past month. It was pretty predictable and I think I liked Violet less in this one than the last two books. I was glad that I read it since it was a short read but I’m not sure if I will recommend it or not (3 stars).
  6. And the trees crept in by Dawn Kurtagich – This was one of those books that I got super excited about, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I’ve been wanting to read the dead house by Dawn Kurtagich, but haven’t been able to get a copy yet, so when I saw this one at my library I decided to go ahead and get it. It started off really quickly but unfortunately I think that might have caused it to drag a bit toward the middle of the book. It got pretty repetitive and by the time we find out what happened to the characters I wasn’t as interested in it (3 stars).
  7. Hunted by Meagan Spooner – This one also surprised me. I didn’t have high hopes for this one as I normally don’t have good luck with fairy tale retellings. I didn’t really have high hopes for this one but I found myself really enjoying it even though I did figure out who the beast was about halfway through the novel. I think having the Russian twist with the firebird tale helped me enjoy the story more. I have found that I love story that focus around ancient Russian history and was really interested in it. Overall, I would recommend this one (4 stars).
  8. White hot kiss (#1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout – This was another reread for me as I had originally planned to try and finish this trilogy in December, but wasn’t able to get to the other two. This was another book that I read way back in 2014 or 2015 (not sure) and loved it when I picked it up. This was originally picked up on a whim as I remember being in a reading slump and I think thats why I enjoyed it so much. When I picked it up a second time I did find that it wasn’t as good but still enjoyable in some ways (3 stars).
  9. After you (#2) by Jojo Moyes – I had a hard time with this one. I would definitely say that this was one that I DNF’d. I can understand why this one was written, but on the other hand, I’m not sure if it was really needed. Originally I wasn’t going to pick up Me Before You (#1) in 2018 because I don’t normally like Adult romance novels but I am glad that i did because I absolutely loved it. When I saw this one I was a bit skeptical but decided to go ahead and add it to my shelf anyways. I really didn’t like the main character in this one. I feel like it was a bit dramatized, but on the other hand, I can sort of see why the main character reacted the way she did. I’m probably not going to continue the series though (2.5 stars).
  10. Carry on (#1) by Rainbow Rowell – When this first came out I was excited about it because Fangirl was one of my favorite books of the year when I read it. I feel like if it had been a bit shorter I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I really liked the characters but felt that the story kind of got repetitive and it almost put me in a reading slump. I am glad that I read it though and would still recommend it if you loved Fangirl (3 stars).
  11. The Rosie Project (#1) by Graeme Simsion – This was another one of those that I was a bit skeptical about, but decided to go ahead and try anyways. I read this one on audio book and while it did make it easier to read I still had to DNF it. I probably wouldn’t recommend it (2.5 stars).
  12. Hikaru no go: Descent of the go master vol. 1 by Yumi Hotta – One of my unofficial goals of 2019 was to read more manga that was on my goodreads shelf. I would say that I accomplished this one but I really only read enough for a challenge that I had started last year.  I really enjoyed this one and look forward to continuing the series at some point (4 stars).
  13. A conspiracy of thieves (#4) by Megan Whalen Turner – I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as I did the other three books in this series but I am excited to read the last two to see where this series ends. I’ve been reading this series for the last year or two and it is really good. Gen is by far my favorite character throughout the entire series but I love most of the other characters too. This one was a bit different than the other three as it focuses on a different character, but it ties in really well to the series. I also love that it is so unpredictable as once you think you’ve figured out what is going on a different plot twist comes up. This is one that I would definitely recommend (4 stars).
  14. The walls around us by Nova Ren Suma – This is one of those books that I am not quite sure what to think of. At first I thought I would like it, but then it kind of felt like it was all over the place and I wasn’t so sure of it toward the end of the book. I did think the story was interesting and different as your not entirely sure of the time frame. The story seems to be set in the present day, but also have flashbacks of what the characters went through. I think it wrapped up well, I’m just not sure of it (3 stars).
  15. Biomega Vol. 1 by Tsutomu Nihei – This was another manga that I really enjoyed. It was darker than some of the others that I have read, but I think thats what made it interesting. It was definitely a weird one but one that I would also recommend (4 stars).

 

So this is my December Wrap-up. Overall it wasn’t a bad month for reading. Even though it’s a few days late my January TBR is up next. I’ve started a couple of books, but haven’t really made any progress yet though I am hoping to have a couple of reviews up once I do finish them.

Marybeth