I started off the year pretty well, I was right in thinking I'd get my reading mojo back! I managed 8 books this month with the majority of them being solid four stars. I'm definitely trying to mood read a little bit more which is helping with my general reading mood. I also finished 1 series which I'm very happy about and started another!
Stats
I'm a sucker for time-travel/parallel universes in media and when I read this synopsis, I was like 'yes, I have to read this'. This book follows Tressa, a hairdresser who finds herself communication with a woman after an accidental text message but she discovers that Meryl has gone missing and their whole exchange actually happened in the past. She now has to find a way to reunite their two worlds all while falling in love.
I loved the premise but to be honest I think this just got too bogged down with the technical/scientific mumbo jumbo and it was very info-dumpy. Most of it went completely over my head. I also hated that the character's names were said CONSTANTLY. Like every other sentence had a character name in it. It was just so unnecessary.
The good points were the romance between Tressa and Meryl. It was very adorable! I also loved the cast of wholesome queer supporting characters and that we get little glimpses into their love stories as well.
Welcome to the The O.C.: The Oral History by Alan Sepinwall
I love The O.C.! It's such a good summery. teen show that I adored as a teenager living in rainy England so when I spotted it on Libby I had to borrow it. I've been eager to read more oral history's after the 9/11 one I read last year, it's a format that I really like and it works perfectly for a recap of a tv series.
I loved that they got all the people involved in this show to speak about the experience and we get to know the show from it's very beginning. Learning about the cast and all the behind the scenes drama was super fun and discovering why the show does seem to take a more downward turn after season 2. I will say though that a lot of Adam Brody's comments were strange to me, he came across so detached from the whole thing which made me a little sad. It's definitely time for a rewatch though.
A Matter of Murder (A Lizzie & Darcy Mystery #2) by Tirzah Price
Whilst I enjoyed the first book in this little spin-off series, this one was definitely my favourite. I loved that the whole thing mainly takes place at Netherfield Park and revolved around a curse on the house with a body literally coming out of the fireplace!
These characters are so much fun and the mystery in this one was much more fun and a lot tighter as well. I'll definitely miss these character but I do still have Sense & Second-Degree Murder and Manslaughter Park to get to.
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan
I've been eager to start this series for a while so when I did my little TBR cards at the start of the month and got adaptation, this had to be my choice. I had a lot of fun with it, the pacing is really fast and I enjoyed going on the journey with these characters and all the challenges they faced. The Greek mythology elements were really interesting and I'm intrigued to see how this expands in the sequels.
Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell
My next kindle read was this fun, queer story set in the 80's about a summer spent on Fire Island that explores grief and romance with some interesting fantasy elements thrown in as well.
If you want a quirky, spicy gay romance that leans on the more literary side then this is the book for you. It had a lot of depth and emotional scenes as it deals with a lot of heavy topics such as AIDS but also focuses a lot on finding yourself and the found family that forms throughout the book. It has a lot of content warnings so please have a look at those before picking up.
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
I adore Jandy Nelson as she wrote one of my all time favourite books The Sky is Everywhere which I first read when I was 14 and has stayed with me ever since. I can't believe it actually took me this long to pick her newest release up cause it's been a long time coming, I remember when it was first announced years ago!
I just love Nelson's writing style, it's so cinematic and quirky in the absolute best way. She really engages the reader in her stories and her characters, and I love that she always include some sort of mixed media element as well. This time we get snippets from diaries, unsent emails and retold tales. I loved the Fall family, they were all so intriguing and wonderful. All of Nelson's books are magic and this is no exception.
I did think this was going to be a five star up until about halfway thought but there is a bit of a weird not really incest thing going on that I just found strange and I would've liked a more extended ending.
The Bleeding by Johana Gustawsson
My least favourite of the month which was a shame cause I was really enjoying it at first. A body is discovered and his wife is arrested for the crime but in their house seven severed hands are found hidden pointing to more murders. It's split into three timelines across France and Quebec and because of the short chapters, was very fast paced.
I think the 1899 sections were really pointless though, I don't feel like it added too much to the overall story. The chapters often ended really abruptly which I found kind of jarring and the ending was just kind of stupid in my opinion. None of the characters turned out to be very likeable in the end.
Unexpectedly, this ended up being my favourite read of the month. Strange for me cause romance is not really my go to genre but I was intrigued by a book billed as When Harry Met Sally meets One Day meets Normal People. And that's a pretty accurate description as we follow two people who meet on a road trip after college to their new lives in New York who find they can't stop thinking about the other over the course of their lives.
I really loved the relationship between Marin and Teddy, it felt really realistic and tragic akin to Marianne and Connell. Marin is struggling a lot with letting other people close to her and Teddy just loves her so openly. Marin's character does make some insufferable choices a bit towards the last third that I hated but still a really good romantic novella perfect for this time of year.
Reading Challenge Update
Cause it's January I can obviously fit a lot of the books into prompts already although I think I might actually struggle this year especially with PopSugar, a lot of the prompts are very specific! I definitely need to make more progress with Reads the World and 26 in 26 though!
Beat the Backlist - 2025 Debut (Exit Lane)
BFFs - (Percy Jackson )
Classics Past or Present (A Matter of Murder)
Genre Blender (Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon)
It's Getting Hot in Here (Disco Witches of Fire Island)
Lights, Camera, Action! (Welcome to the O.C.)
Reading in Parallel (The Bleeding)
Sibling Squabbles (When the World Tips Over)
PopSugar - A Book That Features a Platonic Friendship Between a Man and Woman (Percy Jackson)
A Book You Meant to Read in 2025 (Disco Witches of Fire Island)
A Book Featuring a Character with a Hidden Past (The Bleeding)
A Love Story that Defies Social Boundaries (A Matter of Murder)
A Book with a Character That Does Pilates (Exit Lane)
A Book You Were Hoping to Fit Into a Prompt but Couldn't (Welcome to the O.C.)
A Book with a Character with Curly Hair (When the World Tips Over)
A Book Outside Your Comfort Zone (Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon)
What did you read in January? Have you read any of these? Leave a comment below. Happy Reading!
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