Hey guys, this is Abi here,
I can't believe it's the end of January already! Although I haven't been as active as usual on here this month, I've read quite a bit.
9 books! A great start towards my reading goal!
Here's what I read this month.
Enjoy!
1. A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future, by David Attenborough
2. The Cousins, by Karen M. McManus
This had been sitting on my bookshelf for the whole of December while I re-read the Harry Potter series. Before I delved into the huge stack of books that was the Throne of Glass series, I wanted to tackle this one first. The Cousins follows Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story as they're invited to their grandmother's island to work for the summer (despite their parents being disowned when they were teenagers.) Coerced into making the journey, the Story cousins soon begin to realise that all is not what it seems.
Although this felt a little different in terms of pacing with her other books, it's one of my favourites. Second place out of everything she's written (I've read all four.)
3. Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1), by Sarah J Maas
I was extremely nervous going into this, because I'd read this once before, a few years back, and it didn't sit well. So this year was going to be the Throne of Glass redemption, where I read the entire series- or I give up on it completely. So, because you've likely seen what I've read this month through this post, or Goodreads, you'll know that I enjoyed it enough that I want to continue on with the series. I could see on this re-read why I'd had some problems the first time around, but there were other things that I didn't remember liking about Throne of Glass, that I did this time around.
4. Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2), by Sarah J Maas
If it's possible, I was maybe a little bit more nervous about Crown of Midnight than Throne of Glass because, I knew what the premise was for book 1, I knew what I was getting into. With book 2, I had no idea. But I had no reason to worry, because I loved Crown of Midnight more than Throne of Glass. I met new characters, the already existing characters became more than the roles they played at the start of the book, and the story went in a direction that I very much liked. A lot happened, all tightly wedged within the pages of a 418 page book, and I was looking forward to seeing what would happen next in this crazy, magical land.
5. The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5), by Sarah J Maas
I needed to get to this at some point, before I got too deep into the series, and I heard the best place to read this was before Heir of Fire, so I decided to pick up The Assassin's Blade, the short story compilation, which takes place before Throne of Glass. Honestly, it was the easiest book to read out of the three I'd picked up this month. Most of the short stories range from 75 to just over 100 pages (except for one which is like 40 I think), but if you asked me to pick a favourite, I wouldn't be able to tell you. This is because, no matter the length, they were all rich in content, I didn't feel like they were rushed, and it lent something to Celeana's story.
6. A Tragic Kind of Wonderful, by Eric Lindstrom
One of the main goals I wanted to try and prioritise this year was to dwindle some of the books on my "Want to read" shelf on Goodreads (at the start of the year I had 18 books, so I wanted to lessen that number as much as possible). A Tragic Kind of Wonderful has been on that shelf since 2018, so I figured it high time I give it a read. A Tragic Kind of Wonderful follows Mel, who has bipolar disorder. You watch her try to conceal her secret whilst trying to live a normal life. It doesn't sound like a huge amount as a premise, but I will tell you now that this book was a huge brain-buster. Meaning everything seems fine one minute, and then it all turns to shit when you're least expecting it. Pardon my french.
I had a couple of problems with the language, but given it's more of a book for an 13-14 year old, I'm not the main demographic by far, which is why I rated it 4 stars. This was still a wonderful book and even though it packs a punch emotionally, I urge you to pick it up. Eric Lindstrom's stories are amazing and I'm sad he doesn't have a larger following. His books rival Alice Oseman's in my eyes.
7. Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3), by Sarah J Maas
I'm not sure what to say about Heir of Fire. In some parts, it was my favourite of all the Throne of Glass series so far. In others, I was too drained from work to really concentrate on much of it at all. However, even though I was half asleep sometimes, there was so much that I loved about this book. I won't talk about it all here, but I'm so hyped to see what happens in the rest of the books! I fell in love with all of the characters, and I'm so conflicted as for whom Celeana is going to end up with. At this point, I have my theories, but I guess I'll have to read the rest of the series to find out!
8. You Should See Me in a Crown, by Leah Johnson
Another book that was on my "Want to read" shelf that caught my eye this month. There seems to be a theme forming- I seem to be going for the YA contemporaries when it comes to this shelf, but that might be because it's February tomorrow. I'm more in the mood to read these kinds of books, as opposed to the dark and bitter fantasies/ hard-hitting contemporaries. You Should See Me In A Crown follows Liz, a girl whose dreams are shattered when her dream college rejects her. She thinks that's it, until she decides to try and win the title of Prom Queen, to win a scholarship. Trying to win Prom Queen has never considered, and the last thing she wants is every eye on her as she gains the approval of the rest of the school. Can she win Queen to go to the school of her dreams?
Aside from that enticing premise, this has an adorable f/f romance, and deals with taking care of a sick relative. It's also great to see a black gay female as the protagonist. A fast and well-written read about being true to yourself and not letting anything stop you from achieving your dreams.
9. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab
Another book I was severely nervous to read, and you can probably tell why. The hype for this book is absolutely insane and although I can see why so many of you love this book so much, there were just parts when I was reading this book, that I had no interest in carrying on. I'd get distracted and want to go and do something else immediately after picking this book up. Nothing against the writing, the writing was angelic, as I knew it would be, coming from V.E. Schwab, but it was the characters (which I've seen, have fallen flat for a fair few people when they've been reading this.) It was fascinating to go through history, seeing where Addie was throughout the book, but honestly, I was expecting so much more.
Okay! Those are all the books I read this month!
As always, leave a comment down below and we can talk! (Whether it's about what I read, or what you read- whatever it is!)
I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon with my February TBR (2021)!
Byeeee!
-Abi xxxxx
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