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January 2019 Wrap Up

Hello Everyone :)


It always seems that at the end of a year I tend to get off track with doing my monthly wrap ups. In fact, I don't think I've ever posted a December monthly wrap up, as things get so busy around Christmas, and I'm more concerned with getting my yearly wrap ups finished and posted.


However, I really want to get back in to doing monthly wrap ups, and so today I'm here today with my first monthly wrap up of 2019!

I had a decent reading month. I read 14 books, and most of them were pretty enjoyable. However, I'm sad to say that I've already had my first one star read of the year, and it's only the first month! So that was a tad disappointing to put it mildly.

In January I spent a couple of weeks on vacation at Disney World, so I maybe didn't read as much I might in a normal month, but I still think I did pretty good.


As always, my wrap ups will be in the order I finished books, and not in the order of best to worst or worst to best. 


The Rancher's Unexpected Baby by Jill Lynn:



I was lucky to get to be a part of the street team for this one, and I loved every single page of it. One of my favorite Love Inspired novels to date, and I gave it five out of five stars. You can check out my full review here.


Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott:



This was one of the few books I read this month that I really didn't enjoy. I'd been really looking forward to reading this duology, and unfortunately it just didn't live up to my expectations. I particularly did not enjoy the romance element, and I thought some of the plot twists were really weird, and didn't keep me engaged in the story. I'll be sharing a full review of it with you all shortly, but for now I'll simply say that it wasn't for me, and I gave it two out of five stars.


When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel:



If any of you happened to read my "Best Books I Read in 2018" post, then you'd know that I picked Kristin Harmel's The Life Intended as my favorite book of the year. As such, I really wanted to give more of her books a try, and this time slip novel is one that I took with me on vacation. I really enjoyed it, and thought that Kristin Harmel mastered the time slip story line really well. I also found both timelines equally compelling, and was never confused when it skipped back and forth. It maybe would have been a five star read for me, but I was a little bothered by the concept of what I'm going to call emotional cheating, but that's all I'm going to say so as not to spoil anything for anyone else. All in all, it was still a great read though, and I gave it four out of five stars.


Rise of the Isle of the Lost by Melissa De La Cruz:



You can check out my full review of this one here, but I will say that I really adored it, and it was the perfect read to take with me to Disney World. I loved the Mal and Ben scene's and enjoyed getting more of the backstory behind Uma and Mal's troubled relationship. I gave it four out of five stars.


Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon:



Doon was definitely everything I was hoping for and more. I loved the setting, the world building, both Veronica and Mackenna as main characters, and both love interests. The twist at the end was pretty surprising, and I gave this one four out of five stars. I'm really looking forward to continuing on with this series shortly.


The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson:



I'd had this one sitting on my kindle for quite awhile, and I'm so glad I finally took the time to read it. It was definitely one of my favorite books of the month as it was such a charming story about healing, friendship, finding love, and truly learning the meaning of God's never ending grace. I can't recommend this one enough, and I gave it five out of five stars. 


Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor:



January was the month that I finally got around to reading the sequel to The Union Street Bakery. It definitely had its ups and downs, but I found myself enjoying Daisy's character more in this one, and I did like the mystery that she's working to uncover. However, Rachel was one of my favorite characters in the first book, and I really couldn't stand where the author decided to take her character in this one. Overall I gave it three out of five stars, an enjoyable read but not as good as it maybe could have been.


The Secrets of Paper and Ink by Lindsay Harrel:



Lindsay Harrel has an amazing gift for storytelling, and this beautiful novel was one of my favorites I read in the entire month of January. I loved the way that the stories all intertwined to the reader, and the focus on friendship, finding where you need to be, and healing through God's loving arms. I gave this five out of five stars, and you can read my full review here.


Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger:



I was in the mood for a YA thriller, so I chose to go with this one. I definitely enjoyed some elements of it like the plot twists, the main character, and the light it sheds on the darker side of social media. However, there were a few things that made it a little hard to get into for me, and I ended up rating it three out of five stars. I'll be sharing a full review of it with all you guys shortly.


Finding Me by Kathryn Cushman:



This one was a book that I was highly anticipating getting to read. I'd never heard of either the book or the author the day that I picked it up from Coles, but the synopsis just drew me in, and I knew I needed it. However, it wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be, and I found the mystery element to be a tad on the weak side. I really enjoyed some of the characters, and how strong the Christian element is in parts of it, but I only ended up rating it three out of five stars, instead of the five stars I was expecting it to be. I'll be sharing a full review of it with you guys shortly. 

One Thing I Know by Kara Isaac:



In January I had the opportunity to advance read Kara Isaac's upcoming February release, and it was my first time reading a book from this author who's been on my tbr list for quite some time. I honestly really enjoyed this one, and I found myself quite invested in the story, and the developing romance between the main characters. I also appreciated that it was told from both of their viewpoints, as usually I find that adds another depth or dimension to a romance novel. However, there were a couple of points content wise that kind of bothered me, which I'll talk about in my full review shortly, and as such, I gave this one four out of five stars instead of the five star read it might have been otherwise.


One More Song To Sing  by Lindsay Harrel:




As someone who grew up loving country music, and as someone who loved Lindsay Harrel's other two novels, I was very much anticipating finally reading her debut novel that focuses heavily around the Nashville country music scene. While I did still enjoy this one overall, I found it a tad underwhelming, especially when compared to her other two amazing novels. I gave this one three out of five stars, and while I'm glad I took the time to read it, I don't feel it'll personally be a reread for me.


Tell Me No Lies by A.V. Geiger:




I had read and for the most part enjoyed the first book in this duology, Follow Me Back, so I was interested in reading the second book as well. However, I don't really feel this book needed to exist in the first place. This story easily could have been wrapped up in the first book, and now instead, we get a lackluster sequel that doesn't remotely stand up to its predecessor, and wasn't a postitive experience for me in the slightest. I found both main characters to be super whiny and obnoxious throughout the course of this entire story. I found it slightly misleading that the mystery hinted at in the huge cliffhanger at the end of the first book is resolved fairly early on in this one, and what follows is a story that really never captured my attention in the slightest. I didn't care for the romance, I found the plot to be so implausible it was almost laughable in certain places, and the writing was fairly bad throughout this one as well. Taking all that into consideration already had me highly disliking this book, but the content also goes way too far, and I didn't appreciate the many scenes I had to wade through objectionable content that I had no interest in reading about in the first place. All in all, this book gets a rare one star rating from me, and I don't personally recommend it. I'm sure there's lots of readers out there that will love this, but I personally did not, and it's my least favorite read of the year so far.

That Night by Amy Giles:



My last book of the month was this one that I'd been wanting to pick up since its release back in October. I had heard it was a pretty realistic look into grief and surviving tragedy, and that it focused around a town shooting tragedy. I did enjoy those parts of the book for the main part, but for some reason I didn't care for the romance in this one at all. I think it was mainly because it felt to me like the characters were only drawn together because of their common situation, and it just never felt like they had a real relationship. However, I know I'm definitely in the minority on this one, as most people loved that part of the book. I will say also though that once again their was quite a bit of content in that I didn't feel was necessary including sexual innuendos, teen drinking, drug content, and quit a bit of language. All of that definitely hindered my enjoyment of it, and I gave it a three out of five star rating.


So all in all, January was a decent reading month for me, although I wish the books at the end of the month hadn't gone downhill so fast, and I'm not happy that I've already had my first one star read of the year.

How was January as a reading month for you guys? Were you able to finish all the books you'd been wanting to?





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