January Wrap Up

I think I had a pretty good reading month to start out the year.  I got through 10 books and 7 audiobooks.  Of my books 6 of them were ARCs, and between the 17 books I finished I think atleast 12 of them can be used for reading prompts between the 2 challenges I'm working on.  Now if only I could find time to review everything I finished...I plan to do series reviews on many of these so look for those coming in the future.  

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• White Stag by Kara Barbieri
• Review
• This is the first book in a new YA Fantasy series.  This was pretty good.  It is dark and violent, so not for the weak of heart.  This follows a human who has been captured in the goblin realm for the last 100 years.  I found the plot a bit confusing at times, but overall it was pretty good.
• Freefall by Jessica Barry
• Review
• This is a mystery/thriller out on January 8th.  There's a plane crash, a daughter determined to survive, and a mother who is determined to find out what really happened.  I really enjoyed this debut.
• Firestarter by Tara Sim
• Review
• This is is a January 15th release and the 3rd book in the Timekeeper series.  I've really enjoyed the series and I'm happy with the ending for our Clock Spirit and Clock Mechanic.  I enjoyed the mythology and plot, but by the 3rd book there was a bit too much focus on the romance.  
• Moonlight Scandals by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Review
• I love this series about three intimidating brothers and their super creepy house in New Orleans.  You aren't sure if it is haunted or not but weird stuff happens there all the time.  This book follows Devlin the eldest brother and a sexy ghost hunter named Rosie.  I loved Rosie, she's a puts up with none of Devlin's BS kind of gal.  She's quirky, and I want to be friends with her.  This had some twists in it I was not expecting.  This came out on January 29th.
• Romeo and/or Juliet a Choosable Path Adventure by Ryan North
• The Popsugar challenge has an adult choose your own adventure prompt this year.  I checked this out from the library and it is so much fun.  I've read the original Shakespeare, so I can appreciate that this is a fun twist and not meant to be taken seriously.  It is hilarious and a ton of fun to play as Romeo and Juliet and pick what you want them to do.  
• The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
• This was the Tor ebook club pick of the month for January.  If you like sci-fi/fantasy I suggest signing up for their newsletter, they usually offer up a free book every month for subscribers.  This is an alternate history novella set around WWI.  Women used to paint dials of clocks with radium, here elephants are tasked with painting them.  It is beautifully written and very impactful in about 100 pages.  
• Erased, Volume 1, 2, & 3 by Kei Sanbe
• One of the Read Harder prompts was a to read a manga.  Barnes and Noble had a list of best Mangas from 2018 so checked out my library to see if they had any of the ones with plots that sounded interesting to me.  This is about a 29 year old pizza delivery guy/manga artist who can also travel back in time to save the day when things are going wrong.  He can't remember what went wrong in his own timeline because his memories have been erased, hence the title.  Reading manga was really challenging for me because the book is read back to front and right to left.  Once I got the hang of it, and figured out the plot I really enjoyed it, so much I got the rest of the books from the library and have proceeded to binge read the series.  I'm hoping to do a series review on it when I'm done with the 5th installment.
• Motion by Penny Reid
• I was so excited to get an ARC of this.  This is a serial series.  It follows a very intelligent, socially awkward Mona, who must impersonate her socialite sister Lisa.  Lisa is in trouble with the law and her famous parents.  Mona agrees to impersonate her twin until Lisa can return home and they can return to their normal operating schedules.  Mona finds an unexpected love interest in the person sent to watch over "Lisa" to make sure she stays put until adult supervision can arrive.  I'm sad I have to wait a few more weeks for the next one, but I know it will be worth the wait.   

Audiobooks

• Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier
• Review
• This is the 2nd book in the Precious Stone Trilogy.  I didn't like this one as much as Ruby Red.  The main character was too boy crazy and everyone kept telling her she was stupid all the time.  That got irritating after a while.  I did enjoy it, it just wasn't as entertaining as the first book.  I still like the time travel aspect, and did I mention the pet demon gargoyle.  He was my favorite.
• Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
• Review
• Pretty much the same review as book 2.  Main character continues to be dumb and boy crazy and everyone treats her like she's an idiot.  She acts idiotic at times sure, but this was pretty eye roll inducing.  The ending was convenient and you can tell this was written for 13 year old girls.  It's entertaining, but not thought provoking in anyway.
• Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
• Review
• I listened and read the e-book.  This was fairly short and both the book and audio were really good.  This book had an unreliable narrator and a mystery/thriller element that keeps you wondering what is going on.
• The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemison
• I love this series.  I love the plot, and the writing is fantastic.  This series deserves every award it has won and all the hype it has gotten.  If you like fantasy/sci-fi give this series a try.  This continues on the story from the first book but continues to explain what happened and what needs to happen in the future.  It is climate fiction and centers around a woman an her daughter who can potentially save the earth from utter destruction.  It is fairly violent and definitely not YA.
• Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
• I loved this series.  It was so engaging.  The audio books were fairly short but I couldn't wait to get back to them every time I had to turn them off.  In this final installment we find out more about the creators of Themis, Rose saves the day again, and Vincent and Eva have the most epic father-daughter stand-off.  If you like sci-fi I recommend this series.  The full cast is awesome.
• Armada by Ernest Cline
• I loved Ready Player One, and Wil Wheaton did an awesome job with the narration of RPO, so I took a chance on this one.  It isn't as good as Ready Player One, but it still has some nostalgic references to movies, music, and video games.  Wheaton does a great job with the voices again.  
• Wildcard by Marie Lu
• I didn't love this.  I wanted more of the Warcross game and less of the relationship baggage.  I just had a hard time connecting and caring about any of the characters, which led me to not care about the plot.  It wasn't bad by any means, I just didn't enjoy it and I had much higher expectations after reading Lu's other works.  This series just wasn't for me.