January Wrap Up

I had quite a fantastic reading month in terms of quantity with 11 books this month! To be honest though I feel as though I always start off a new year with a great reading month straight up and then things just go downhill from there (2021 lol). I have every intention of continuing on with this momentum but I’m not going to force myself to read if I’m not in the mood.

This Coven Won’t Break by Isabel Sterling⭐️2/5 stars

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune⭐️5/5 stars

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire⭐️4/5 stars

Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong⭐️2/5 stars

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski⭐️3/5 stars

The Monarchs by Cass Morgan & Danielle Paige ⭐️2/5 stars

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix⭐️4/5 stars

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller⭐️4/5 stars

Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller⭐️3/5 stars

Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin⭐️2/5 stars

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente⭐️3/5 stars

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The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires Review

*SPOILERY!*

Set in the ’90s about a women’s book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia was a great perspective throughout the course of the storyline. She undergoes such a transformation and even though some of her actions are questionable there is no doubt that she is highly entertaining. She’s a proud, dedicated, resolute woman and even though James did his best to undermine and gaslight Patricia at every turn but she stuck to her guns and did whatever she thought was necessary to protect her children.

James’ character was definitely intriguing! I liked how we get a bit of context about his character from Miss Anna and her explanation about what happened with her daddy and how James inevitable killed him. I would of appreciated if we were given a more comprehensive history of James and how he came to be. He boasted at the end how he was one of a kind and there was no one who could compare to him, but I want to know why. Why is he the only ‘vampire’ out there and who created him?

Right at the start meeting all the different ladies was a little confusing. I couldn’t really differentiate between them all, but as the story continued each of the women started evolving and we get more of each of their story. They all felt like real, relatable characters that you would find in that time period, not really taken seriously by their husbands who think they don’t do anything all day. It’s frustrating in that aspect that these women have to just simply drop everything and cater to their husbands whims, but again very much applicable to the time period. I love how the book highlighted that these woman are just supposed to be ‘housewives’ that aren’t capable of anything, but when their community/families are in danger the lengths to which they will go to in order to protect what is theirs.

There was the perfect amount of build-up of anticipation in my opinion. The twists were perfectly timed to ensure I was continually intrigued and wanting to know more! I knew this was a horror book and there were some scenes that had me on the edge of my seat for sure, but for some reason I was expecting a little more blood and gore. I was very much invested in the story and seeing how everything was going to play out and I wasn’t disappointed!

⭐️4/5 stars A thrilling, tense and entertaining read!

Series I need To Continue in 2022

Completing series is something I really want to focus on this year! I’ve started the first book in a few series now and I need to continue on and get a good chunk of them read this year hopefully.

The five series I want to continue or complete in 2022 are:

Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks

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Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Serpent and Dove series by Shelby Mahurin

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The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang

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Shadow Game Trilogy by Amanda Foody

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5 Books I Want to Read in 2022

Every year I pick 5 books that are high on my TBR that I try to prioritise and actually read! This year I decided to go with the books a mix of older and newer releases that I want to get to.

The 5 books I really want to read in 2022 are:

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

All’s Well by Mona Awad

Dune by Frank Herbert

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

New to Me Authors of 2021

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is new to you authors. I didn’t read as many books last year so there weren’t that many authors that I read for the first time that I would actively want to read more of in the future. However, I managed to find 5 authors I read for the first time last year that I will definitely pick up from again, whether it’s from their backlist or new releases!

N.K. Jemisin

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Matt Haig

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Stephen Graham Jones

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Ashley Winstead

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Andy Weir

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