January 2023 Reading Round-up!

I think January was a really good month for reading, in that I seem to have chosen quite a few books that I really enjoyed. I read quite a few different genres too so it is a good one to start back off with on the blog.

I have had such a long break from writing and I knew that I wanted my first blog back (non sponsored / brand based) to be a book-related one!

Here’s my January 2023 book round up…

If I had a list of books I wanted to re-read for the first time again, it would be this one. This one started really slowly for me and I wasn’t sure I would like it or what it was going to be about but wow I loved this. 

I loved that it wasn’t a soppy story where everything is perfect and happy. It showed true life, where people struggle from loss, mental health and family issues. I particularly loved that the characters turned to reading to help them through these difficult times and in turn, found support, community and friendship.

A truly beautiful book that shows how truly amazing reading can be for escapism and how friendships can happen in the most unexpected situations.

So, I will be honest and out myself here but I was in my hating men era (still am, not ashamed) and so obviously this book stood out when I was scrolling through Kindle books on Amazon. I didn’t really know what to expect - whether it was going to be a comedy, a thriller, a bit of both - but I was excited to read it for sure! 

At the beginning of the book I definitely leaned towards liking the main character, Kitty. Her values were simply- men need to treat women with a bit of respect (I feel you on that one). However I began to despair of her and her actions as her life spiralled wildly out of control and into a weird sort of half-accidental killing frenzy. 

The reason I have listed this one as “secretly liked but probably shouldn’t have” is because it was so brutal at some parts that I genuinely felt abit ill picturing it - maybe I just have a weak stomach and need to man up… but also, it was very very far fetched at times to the point I felt a bit like, oh come on *eye roll*.

However, overall this was actually a good read and I did enjoy it (not so secretly). I would rate this 3.5-4 / 5.

When I first read about this book, it was described as a Dystopian fiction and was compared to the likes of The Handmaid’s Tale. Inevitably I was really excited to read this and I had high hopes.

Sadly I think this comparison gave the book a bit too much hype and so I expected a lot from the plot. The actual concept of the book I really liked, it was interesting as a Criminology graduate as an alternative form of ‘punishment’. However that’s where it stopped for me. I found it quite slow paced and thought there would be much more of a complex storyline involved.

I’ve seen a few people really enjoy this so maybe it just wasn’t for me or I missed something but I just didn’t enjoy it how I expected to unfortunately!

I’ll be honest, when it comes to choosing a new book, 9 times out of 10 I will always pick a thriller. However sometimes when I read several books quite quickly in a row, I always feel like I want to read something very different to have a bit of a change. Cue The Four Winds.

Kristin Hannah is the author of one of my favourite ever historical fiction books, The Nightingale, so when I saw The Four Winds being hyped up by a few book bloggers I instantly added it to my TBR list!

I feel like it was a slow burner and took a little while for me to get into but once I did, I really liked it. It was a great book portraying strong women and their struggles between motherhood, marriage, their own wants/dreams and survival. Definitely a recommendation if you’re looking for something a little bit different.

It’s been a quite a while since I read a thriller that has kept me completely gripped throughout, whilst also struggling to work out the plot so this was a pleasant surprise. I downloaded this without much thought so I didn’t really have any expectations but I couldn’t put this down from pretty much the first chapter. I read this everywhere- on the tram, on my lunch break at work, in bed, in a taxi.. I genuinely couldn’t put it down.

I liked how complex the storyline was and how there was a mixed narration to keep things fast paced. I found Keely to be very believable, manipulative and intriguing as a character- she really drew me in and left me wanting to skip through the chapters to find out what had happened by dragging the story to the police out. 

This was very well written & gets 5 stars from me easily!

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I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you have any book recommendations, let me know!