January Wrap-Up

Happy beginning to the month of looooove 😍

I’m so excited to be taking part in the F*cking February Smutathon with fellow Instagrammers, hosted by @bookishly_vintage. Hopefully this will inspire me to read some of the dark romances I’ve had on my shelves for a while 😂 Anyhoo, I was surprised by my reading this month. I thought I had only read around 10 books, but then I counted and I ended up reading way more than that—16 books and 3 audiobooks to be exact 😅 Here’s hoping that I can carry that reading volume into February!

My Library

A Heart of Bitter Poison by Brynne Weaver

Review:

Content Warning: This book has a lot of sex scenes that can get a bit bloody and dark (it is about a vampire after all lol), some graphic violence and torture scenes, and trauma from that. Definitely an 18+ book!

First of all, thank you Brynne for the eARC! THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. Such sass, such emotion, such love, such eggplant. Lu is a fucking queen as always and her commentary is gold. Absolutely lit 🔥 This book is FILLED with really awesome quotes, a lot of humorous ones as well as sweet loveable ones. When I get my physical copy after the release date, I will definitely be tabbing and highlighting my fav parts. I never annotate books, but I think I’m going to try it for this one 😍 Lu’s character development is so emotional as she deals with the trauma she faces in the beginning and rebuilding the trust between her and Ashen. Guys I was wrecked after the ending of the first book, so I was so happy with the turn Lu and Ashen’s relationship takes in this book. Shit gets real and hella intense. All the hurt Lu experiences in this book is just so heartbreaking 😭 This book takes you on one hell of an emotional rollercoaster 😅 I swear my face expressions while reading this were essentially just 🤣😍😏😱😭 Definitely cried a little at one part and any book that can make me tear up or cry a little is an instant bestseller for me 🤣 I am also absolutely in love with Brynne’s writing style! I have honestly never read a book with so much swearing and I love it 🤣 She’s also very descriptive and everything just sounds so epic. Overall, this book was such a joy to read and again, thank you so much to Brynne for the eARC 😍 I highly recommend this series and am super excited for the next book!

5/5⭐

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

Review:

Wow this story. It really just hits you at the ending. This story switches between present-day, the past, and the fairytales the main characters read to each other. They transition so well that sometimes I almost don’t realize the setting has changed. It can be a bit hard to follow if you’re not paying attention to details. Tien’s mom also looked a bit like his sister so I was confused about that in the beginning. I absolutely loved the artwork though! The dresses in the fairytales were so intricate! I also liked how the author used different speech bubbles or quotations to let the reader know who was speaking and if they weren’t speaking English. The authors note at the end of the book helped explain more about the meaning behind the story and it was really beautiful to read. Also that ending totally made me cry a little because of how sweet it was.

4.5/5⭐

Something’s Wrong! A Bear, a Hare, and Some Underwear by Jory John and Erin Kraan

Review:

Lol so I asked my boyfriend to read this story to me and he doesn’t usually read, so books don’t hold his attention for long at all. I don’t know how you’d get a kid to sit still long enough for this story because holy moly there are way too many words. My bf started speed reading and skipping words because there’s just way too much dialogue. There were parts where Jeff the Bear just word vomits because he’s trying to act normal like nothing’s wrong. This makes sense for the story but when you read it aloud it’s just a lot 😅 I really loved the art style though and thought the premise of the story was really fun. I also liked how the story ended. Aside from the words, I think kids would enjoy this book.

3/5⭐

Midnight Prince: A Romantic Comedy by Aisha Urooj

Review:

Gosh this was a weird story 😅 I felt like it was being told in the style of a play because the characters spoke like they were speaking to an audience at times. This story has a lot of telling instead of showing. It’s told in the POV of Prince Milo, Agnes the Witch, King Eldas, and Princess Kitty. The reason why Agnes turns Milo into a frog is quite random but I loved it. Overall, it’s a fun short story but the writing style takes some getting used to.

3/5⭐

Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd

Review:

Wow. This was an amazing story and I didn’t expect it to hit me as hard as it did. The characters were really well-written and I loved the family dynamic of Maggie’s family. Her parents were so caring and still tried to make sure she felt included and loved with the arrival of the new baby. Claire and Maggie’s friendship seemed very realistic with how they were BFFs and were still friends no matter what problems they had with each other. Omg though, Maggie’s allergies. I was devastated for her. I also love fluffy animals a ton, so if I was ever as allergic to them as Maggie was, I would also be so sad. It was hopeful to see her dealing with her allergies and learning to accept them and figure out who she is with them. I liked the ending and thought it was inspiring. Overall, a great book!

5/5⭐

Netgalley eARCs

Pemberley’s Christmas Governess by Regina Jeffers

Review:

TW: Death of a spouse and sexual assault.

This was a Christmas romance based off Pride and Prejudice. I’ve never read the book so I’m just going to compare it to the Pride and Prejudice movie that has Keira Knightley in it. I like how all the characters from the movie play a part in the book. I thought the misunderstanding Darcy and his aunt had about Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth’s arrangement was hilarious and drove the entire plot. I really liked Elizabeth’s character and thought she was pretty witty. I also thought the servants in Darcy’s household were so entertaining because they know everything happening in the household and aren’t shy to comment about it. One thing I sometimes had trouble with was understanding the conversations between characters. This book is written with similar language of the book Pride and Prejudice and I had a bit of trouble understanding it. I also thought the epilogue was unnecessary, but it was cool to see who ended up with who and how everyone’s lives turned out.

4/5⭐

Creepy Cat Vol. 1 by Cotton Valent

Review:

I requested this just because of the cat and the gothic art style. I was hooked in the first couple pages because the face expressions and the part where Flora discovers the cat is hilarious. This is kind of like a slice-of-life manga because it’s just a bunch of scenarios about Flora and her life with her cat. There is a linear timeline but each page is essentially a new “story”. Some parts were really entertaining or spooky, but I felt a bit bored while reading some of them. The plot gets really random at times. Overall, it is entertaining though, and if you like cats, then this manga is for you!

3.5/5⭐

Lovesick Ellie Vol. 1 by Fujimomo

Review:

This is a very interesting story and it definitely surprised me with the dirty jokes and some of the things Ellie did. Her Twitter is so entertaining and I loved reading those bits. I think her relationship with Omi-kun is very random though. He definitely has a lot of problems expressing his true feelings, and the way he acts towards Ellie is very mean at times. However, he kind of reminded me of my bf who enjoys messing with me endlessly 😅 I found Omi-kun’s behaviour a bit problematic at times because of how he acts when he doesn’t tell his true feelings, but overall you still kind of root for him to break down his walls. The plot of this story is also very random and feels like it’s all over the place, although it does follow a timeline. I guess it just feels very chaotic when you read it. Either way, I want to keep reading future volumes because it is a very entertaining manga.

3.5/5⭐

My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! Vol. 1 by Tetsu Tsutsui

Review:

I was a little bit shook at this manga. I am not the type of person to be a super fan of a celebrity or go to great lengths to get their merch or see their concerts or movies etc, so I couldn’t really relate to the characters of this manga. But holy moly these people are dedicated to their idol. Sakiko and Maaya, the two fans of the idol, portray their love and adoration for Chihiro in different ways and honestly, Maaya was quite terrifying. Maaya is obsessed beyond belief with Chihiro, but I have to commend her for how she just wants Chihiro to have a great school experience and be as successful as she can be as an idol. She’s terrifying though, and her methods are extremely inexcusable because she is basically a stalker and a bully. On a different note, I really enjoyed the photography aspect of this book and can’t wait to see what happens next with Sakiko as she learns more about photography. Sakiko was such a sweetheart and I want to continue reading this series just to see how everything turns out between the three of them.

3.5/5⭐

Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide Vol. 2 by Mone Sorai

Review:

So I remember I had some mixed feelings about this manga in Vol. 1, but I’m glad I kept reading this series because this volume was so much better. Characters were more established and Mitsuki and Asahi’s relationship was more solid and loveable. They still have their moments worrying about each other and trying to protect the other from their personal pain, but they are just so much more loveable in this volume. The adventures they go on were so fun to read about and there’s lots of places I want to visit now. All the food they eat in each country looks amazing so you won’t want to read this if you’re hungry. The pasta in Italy looked delicious 😍 I like how they all met people along the way who taught them new things or got them to realize certain things about their own relationship. I was getting teary-eyed at the end of this volume because it was so sweet. If you started this series and weren’t really feeling it, I highly recommend you stick with it because it gets so much better.

5/5⭐

A Garden of Creatures by Sheila Heti

Review:

I definitely should have read the synopsis before I requested this, but I was so intrigued by the cover so I requested it based off that. I was surprised when the bunny dies on the second page of the story and then I realized this was going to be a story about dealing with death. I thought the story handled the topic of death very well, especially if this is a book that’ll be read to children. This book says something like when someone dies, they don’t really leave because they leave traces of themselves on the Earth. So the world is just a garden full of creatures who came before you. I thought the art style of the book was quite beautiful and I loved all the sweeping lines and wispyness of it all. The cat’s design was a bit wonky with how fluffy it was especially around the eye area, but the white bunny was so adorable. Overall, I think this was a really nice story!

4.5/5⭐

Other (e)ARCs

From Edelweiss:

Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Review:

This was such a beautiful story based off the author’s grandparents’ experience. The authors note at the end is really touching as well. I think the authors note definitely added more emotion and meaning to the story. This book has many great quotes that I will be writing down. An example being, “To fall in love is already a gift. But to fall in love in a place like Minidoka, a place built to make people feel like they weren’t human—that was miraculous. That was humans doing what humans do best.”

5/5⭐

Persephone: Hades’ Torment by Allison Shaw

Review:

TW: Sexual harassment typical of Greek mythology

I really enjoyed this comic. It’s such a cute story and anything that’s about Hades and Persephone, I am totally here for. There’s some sexual harassment because that’s what the Greek gods do, so just be aware of that. There’s also quite a bit of sexual activity which I was very surprised about. Especially the part with Mynthe. I feel like some of the sexual activity was a bit overboard for this story especially all the boob grabbing 😅 There’s also a fair amount of top-half nudity. Mynthe was also less jealous and got over her jealousy way quicker than her character in other retellings. That was a nice twist. Also I liked how Shaw puts a new spin on how the pomegranate seeds play a role in the story. I liked the art style and thought the style fit the characters very well. Overall, I think this is an enjoyable retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth, but I think they need to rethink the age group for this. The back of the book says it’s recommended people 15+, but with all the sexual content I would probably say it’s like 18+.

4/5⭐

From Simon & Schuster Canada

The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad

Review:

TW: Sexual assault, child trafficking, rape, child abuse, violence, and suicide.

I was very intrigued by this book because of how it discusses issues surrounding women and also the gorgeous cover 😅 The writing style of this book feels like you’re in a dream sometimes. It’s quite lyrical and there’s also some poetry for the Book of Memory sections where you learn a little bit about each Wild One. I’m not much of a poetry reader so those parts confused me a little because sometimes I couldn’t understand what story the author was telling about the girl. There’s also a ton of strong messages about the struggles women have to face in the world. Definitely lots of great quotes in this book. This story deals with a lot of pain and trauma and how the girls deal with it and heal from it. There are lots of heavy topics, but I think it was well-written. Not much seems to happen in the story until the last 50 pages or so, so it’s quite slow-paced until then. I thought the big face-off between the Wild Ones and the villain of the story at the end was a bit of a letdown because there was so much build-up and it ended so easily and quickly. The relationship between the characters could have been a bit more fleshed-out as well because I didn’t feel much for Paheli and Taraana’s relationship and I didn’t know much about any of the Wild Ones aside from Paheli and Valentina. The other girls mostly just partake in the conversation but didn’t seem to have any character building traits that stuck out to me. It was still an interesting story and I thought the worldbuilding was fascinating. I liked the idea of being able to travel to all the cities like that and how they could turn the Between diamonds into local currency. Overall, this is a great story, but I feel like the characters could have been a bit better written so readers could relate to all of them more.

3.5/5⭐

From Algonquin Young Readers

The Counterclockwise Heart by Brian Farrey

Review:

Content Warning: Loss of a parent.

I absolutely loved this story! It kept me engaged and made me want to read past my bedtime 😂 Each chapter ends with a big reveal or cliffhanger so I just wanted to keep reading. I really liked how all the characters were somehow connected and I totally didn’t expect some of those connections at all. I like the messages near the end of the book about compassion and how Esme needed to learn who she was without magic. The concept of the infinitum box was pretty fascinating as well. I also really liked how the rulers of the country were female (the Empress and Imperatrix), and the leaders in their army were also female. Also the ending was so satisfying and sweet. I love the bit about the lanterns and thought that was really touching. Overall, this was a very imaginative story with a great cast of characters and I highly recommend it!

4.5/5⭐

From R&R Book Tours

The Adventures of Bobo, Coco, and Dogo by Bella Ivy

Review:

***Mild Spoiler Alert***

Thank you Shannon from R&R Book Tours for the eARC! Unfortunately this book was not the greatest in my opinion. Kids may be able to enjoy it, but there are too many inconsistencies in the story and any adult who reads this to their kids will probably catch these issues. Also this story might scare some children because of the artwork. There’s a lady with long black hair who literally looks like the creepy girl from “The Ring” or “The Grudge”. One reviewer also said that kids might be a little scared with all the pictures of destroyed toys, and I don’t have kids so I wouldn’t know for sure, but I agree that this could be a little upsetting. There are also many inconsistencies with the plot and the illustrations. In one part, the text says Dogo is wearing a Santa hat, but in the illustration she is wearing reindeer antlers. Later on, the wizard tells Dogo to place the key in the lion head to save her owners and escape, but in the illustrations Dogo goes to unlock the dungeon door with the key and just rips the lion to pieces. Also regarding story inconsistencies, the original problem of the story seems to be the Dogo is sad that her owners don’t play with her enough and wishes she could talk so she could tell them that. But, once the story ends, this problem is never addressed or solved. Overall, I feel like this story could be a great kid’s book, but it definitely needs to go through more editing first.

2.5/5⭐

Audiobooks

Serendipity: Ten Romantic Tropes Transformed by Marissa Meyer and Multiple Authors

Review:

So I really loved the first and second story. The first story about the fake relationship made me cry a little at the end because of how sweet it was. The second story had great character growth and I liked how the relationship of the two girls was mended. The story about the grand gesture had a really creepy guy involved and I don’t understand how he got redeemed. His actions were super creepy. The stories kind of made me lose interest at times and that may have been because I thought they were a bit juvenile. I think high-schoolers, who I believe this book is marketed toward in the first place, would really enjoy this book. I would definitely recommend it to readers in that age range, but probably nobody older than 20 lol.

3.5/5⭐

Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone

Review:

This was such a fun audiobook to listen to and the narrators were awesome! They sounded like regular people chatting on the phone and the story just felt more real. Vera’s noises were so weird though LOL 🤣 I thought she and Kal had such great chemistry and I love how she was always joking with him. There were many LOL moments in this story and it was very enjoyable to listen to. I thought the ending was so sweet and it was a very loveable romance. Also Vera’s business idea sounded super awesome and I really wanted to take her questionnaire cause I love all those kinds of surveys and quizzes 🤣

5/5⭐

Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone

Review:

Content Warning: Parent in a care home, a robbery, and a toxic sibling.

Once again, the narrators of this audiobook were spectacular and I love how natural their conversations sounded. I thought this book would take place after Vera and Kal’s story in the first book, but this actually takes place a little bit before Vera’s expo, the big reveal conversation Vera has with Eliot in the first book, and then a little bit after where we get a little more of Vera and Kal’s relationship. I thought this was pretty neat because you can get the gist of book 1 without having to read it (but still read it because it’s great). This story was so cute and I think Eliot is an absolute cinnamon roll puppy type character. He is such a sweetheart and the big romantic gesture he does near the end is so touching. I loved his chemistry with JD and thought they had fun banter, especially with the points system they had for learning her real name. I thought JD’s character goes through some tough internal battles, but I’m glad how everything worked out in the end. Overall, this is a short, sweet, and fun romance story that’ll be sure to make you laugh and smile at how cute it is.

5/5⭐

I still can’t believe I read that many books in January. Did you see any on my list that you’d like to read or have read? Let me know in the comments below! Also, what was your favorite read last month? Oh yea, and to those who celebrate, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR 🎉🎉🎉🐯🐯🐯

Happy reading 😊