January 2019 Wrap Up

Hi everyone! I hope those of you who are unfortunate, like myself, to be caught in this polar vortex weather in the US right now are safe and warm. Down to -30 degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill here in Rochester NY and wind gusts of up to 40 mph, this is insane.

Do you know what else is insane? The fact that Tomorrow is the LAST day of January!!!! How did that happen?? Seriously, how the heck is this even possible? Then I start thinking what did I accomplish this month? Was it a successful month at work? Yes! Tough and emotional, but yes successful! Did I read enough? NEVERRR!!! 😂 Ok I did a lot of reading though. So far I’ve completed 8 books, and have 3 currently in progress (on track to finish one tonight)! I’m 4 books behind schedule for my 2019 Goodreads reading challenge. I can do it!!!!

But what did you read, you ask? Here is a list of what I read this month in order of first to most recently read.

• City of Bones (Mortal Instruments Book One) by Cassandra Clare
• A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay
• Rising by Michael W. Huard **met a criteria for Read Harder BookRiot 2019 challenge, self-published
• Northwood: A Novella by Maryse Meijer
• City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments Book Two) by Cassandra Clare
• City of Glass (Mortal Instruments Book Three) by Cassandra Clare
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Currently Reading

• Marked by P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast (will be finishing final 98pgs tonight) **reread
• Eternal Youth by Alexander Williams (About 35% of the way through, could finish by tomorrow night)
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

I’ve decided to pick two favorites this month, 1) my favorite standalone book and 2) my favorite series. So first up is the standalone book. This one was hard because each standalone book I read this month was a different genre (Historical fiction, YA LGBT Humor, Thriller, Horror/Poetry) and they were all excellent. Except for Rising, I really disliked that book and mainly for the poor writing. Great concept, absolutely atrocious writing skills. Anyways, I chose A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay as my favorite Standalone read for January 2019!! I gave it 5 stars because this book kept me on edge, I never figured out the whodunnit and it now has me terrified of typewriters. 😂 Amazingly well written, and I recommend to all!

My favorite series, or the only series, I read in Jan 2018 would be the Mortal Instruments books! I had been curious to start reading the books that make up the Shadowhunters Universe, especially because I have been watching the freeform show, but also because I am a huge fan of YA fantasy and this author has gotten so much hype over the years. Just recently her books have just exploded in popularity. Totally was not disappointed! Amazing fantasy world with characters that you love and hate, are jealous of and might even wish were real because you find them attractive. 😂 Yes that’s right, Cassandra Clare has written into creation one of my top all time fictional crushes. *sigh* I cannot wait to continue this Universe with the first book in the Infernal Device series, next month.

I can’t wait to see what I read in February 2019. Stay tuned for my February 2019 TBR list, posting tomorrow!!! Please leave me a comment and share with me your favorite read for January 2019. I’d love to hear from you! 😊

Off to finish my current book. Happy Reading! 🤓