Reading wise, January was a very average month for me. I read some very good books, but nothing blew my mind like it has in the past, which is unfortunate because a lot of these books had such potential. Even though I said I wasn't going to, I did end up reading mostly review copies. This is good, because it means I'm getting through the giant stack, but I also want to try to balance my reading with my own books as well. Hopefully that will improve in February.
On the Blog
Tatum and I reviewed a bunch of books: No One Else Can Have You, Erased, Avalon, Taste of Darkness, Eleanor & Park, And We Stay, White Cat, Bitten, Fugitive X, and Cress.
January was also the month that I relaunched my Debut Showcase feature, which had been on hiatus for a while. Speaking of relaunching, I also posted my first book haul post in forever.
Judith and I hosted Epic Recs, which was once again open for the public. As far as we can tell, everyone has been having a great time, especially Gaby and Lisa, who are so enthusiastic about this project. Love it!
Me in January
Nothing much happened out in the real world. It's now only six weeks until I visit Dee in Virginia, which is so exciting that I can't handle it. I am currently on a random health kick, and am trying to eat healthily. Well, I'm trying not to snack so much. Healthy is subjective. I watched The Wolf of Wall Street, and it kicked off my intense adoration for Leo DiCaprio again. I kept up with my new year's resolution to comment on other blogs more often - I hope the people that I'm following are appreciating the new me!
Books Read
As you can see, I didn't reach double figures, and I'm definitely not going to since I won't be able to read two more books before midnight. This is a bit disappointing, but I'm determined to pull through in February!
You know I said that I was going to be doing things a bit differently this year? Well, one of the things I'll be doing differently is this Book of the Month section. Of course, I will still be telling you which book was my favourite out of the ones I read. But I will also be giving a copy of that book away! I figured you should all get to experience the epicness that I did.
Like I said, January was a pretty average month for me, with nothing I read being absolutely too epic to handle. However, I did very much enjoy quite a few books, which made picking Book of the Month difficult. In the end, I went with Crown of Midnight, due to the fact that it surprised me, I love Celaena, and I got some feels from the ending.
TBR
I'm hoping to hit the double digits in February, because I always like to read a nice round number. I'm going to be a bit busy, but I hope I can manage it. Here are some of the books that I'm hoping to read, although they're all subject to change if the mood takes me.
Look Forward To
Coming up in February are more Epic Recs, some interesting discussion posts that I hope you will enjoy, another Debut Showcase, my first Book Club discussion post, and, as always, more reviews!
my book of the mont was the first volume in the Locke&Key series!
ReplyDeleteI love Locke & Key!
DeleteI think the book to the month was Anna and the French Kiss, which I read for Epic Recs, and I extremely enjoyed that one!
ReplyDeleteGood decision! I looooove Anna and the French Kiss, and I definitely wasn't expecting to.
DeleteTHE BOOK THIEF AMBER FINALLY, AAAAAAAH
ReplyDeleteMy favourite book of the month was Shadow and Bone :)
Hahaha, I know, I know, I waited too long. The Book Thief has been on my shelf since 2010 x__x
DeleteI'm starting to become a fan of Leonardo. I wasn't really into him, but his roles lately blow me away! You'll be reading The book thief, how exiting :D Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteHow could you not be into Leo?! LOOK AT YOUR LIFE CHOICES. *cries* His roles are definitely mind blowing. Welcome to the Leo Fanclub :D
DeleteYes, you need to be a Leonardo DiCaprio fan, Mel!
DeleteHope you have a better month in February! My favourite book for January was a toss up between Ruby Red and Poison Study!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope so too. YES POISON STUDY IS EPIC.
DeleteMy book of the month was Making Faces by Amy Harmon. Absolutely amazing!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've heard of this before! I must look it up.
DeleteI don't know how you choose your favorite book, that's so hard. I just finished Red Rising yesterday, which was fantastic. And I also have Flame,Timestorm, and Split Second on my TBR list for this next month. I really enjoyed Fangirl, hope you do too! ~Pam
ReplyDeleteHaha it's always difficult! I have to take the Feels Factor into account a lot of the time. Oh, I'm so looking forward to reading Red Rising at some point! I need to get my hands on that book. AHHHHHH, I'm so excited for Split Second, I can't contain myself!
DeleteBest of luck for February :) I... actually... didn't read any YA/NA books this month. Huh... But I did really enjoy Tangled Web (Deizian Empire, #1) by Crista McHugh. It was a very good fantasy romance (but be warned there is a lot of smexy times!).
ReplyDeleteThank you! Ha, you don't only have to list YA/NA. All books are welcome! And smexy times are always good, unless they're in the Fifty Shades category ;D
DeleteMy books of the month were Cynthia Hand's Unearthly series, a very good read. Here's to another month of books!
ReplyDelete88dreamers @ Seriesly Reading
I still need to finish that series as I've only read the first two. I hope it ends well!
DeleteGreat month of reading! I really hope to get my hands on Uninvited and Panic soon, they both sound really good. I heard Fangirl this month and really enjoyed it, hope you do too!
ReplyDeleteErin @ Let's Evaluate
my wrap up and tbr
I really enjoyed both Panic and Uninvited, although not as much as I had hoped. I hope you love them! I'm so excited for Fangirl, since I loved Eleanor & Park, and I always love a good fangirl story.
DeleteYou've got some really great books on your list for February- so I think you'll do better in terms of epicness. I just read the Book Thief- Don't read that book in public! It'll rip your soul out! I am pretty excited for Split Second. I loved Pivot Point.
ReplyDeleteHappy Reading and good luck this month!
~Sara @ Just Another Story
Haha, I hope so! I need more epic reads. I'm so, SO nervous to read The Book Thief, I think I'm going to have to do it over a weekend so I have time to recover. Split Second had better be amazing, I've waited over a year for this!
DeleteThere were some awesome books I've read this month (Vitro by Jessica Khoury, Uninvited by Sophie Jordan, Avalon by Mindee Arnett, Red Rising by Pierce Brown), but my favorite read was definitely Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi. Amazing conclusion of a great trilogy. :) Thanks for a giveaway! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I was expecting you to say Red Rising! Glad you loved Into the Still Blue. I just love Roar and Aria :D
DeleteI read a fair few books this month but I think my favourite was The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5), closely followed by Secret (Elementals #5).
ReplyDeleteI still need to finish the Percy Jackson series! I'm two books behind, not to mention the spin-offs and companions, or whatever they are. Secret was AWESOME *sobs*
DeleteMy book of the month was These Broken Stars.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good one!
DeleteI also mostly read ARCs in January but none of them really blew me away which is a little disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI finished Avalon around 1:00 am and even though I wanted to finish it before, it wasn't gonna happen before midnight like you said. Ha ha.
I'm really looking forward to reading Split Second as soon as it comes out. I've high hopes.
I've been having that problem with ARCs too, unfortunately. Luckily I'm switching it up with older reads, so sometimes I come across epic books when the ARCs fail me :D
DeleteBahaha, I finished Monsters of Men at 1AM as well. I was hoping to finish it earlier but unfortunately not.
I NEED SPLIT SECOND RIGHT NOW.
BOOK
ReplyDeleteOF
THE
MONTH
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be cool, soda pop
DeleteI always say I'm trying to eat healthily even though I'm just cutting down on some junk food! Ooh, I think I'm definitely going to need to see The Wolf of Wall Street now! I've been considering it, but I think it's a definite now.
ReplyDeleteI'm super excited to see what you thought of The Naturals and Panic and OBVIOUSLY I'm looking forward to your review for Crown of Midnight! :D
I'm super excited that you're reading Fangirl & The Book Thief next month! Fangirl is just amazing, and The Book Thief is heartbreaking! <3 And YAY for Split Second! Fingers crossed it's good!
Happy reading, Amber! :D
Haha yeah, that's pretty much my plan of action. I want to take up running again, but I have the worst cold right now and can barely walk down the street without coughing up a lung. DO IT. It's a really long film, but I think it would have been hard to condense it.
DeleteI'm suuuuuper excited for Fangirl! I don't expect it to break me like Eleanor & Park did, but I still have high hopes of epicness. I'm going to regret doing Epic Recs with Judith, I just know it.
I was super pleased when I saw your comments on my blog recently ... definitely noticing the new you! I, too, can be a bit of a lurker. I see these posts, read 'em and then just forget to come back and comment. In my defense, I do most of my blog reading on my iPad and it's a pain in the @$$ to comment on that device. But when I'm on the computer ... I just forget. So, yeah, there's that.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really read all that much this month, and nothing really stood out like crazy for me, unfortunately. 2014 is off to a bit of a slow start. BUT I plan on reading Scarlet next month (I know, I know -- while you sit patiently in the corner), so I'm excited for that, and then Cress AND Ignite Me. February will hopefully be a better month!
Hee, I'm glad! I really wanted to show more people the love this year, and I think I'm doing quite well. Lurking is still a bit of a problem though. Sometimes I just don't know what to say!
Delete2014 will definitely pick up once you read Scarlet, I promise ;D
Sorry that you didnt really have any standout books this month. Fingers crossed you adore Fangirl! I've got high hopes for Something Real and Split Second too.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as I only one book this month, I guess I have to say The Selection wins book of the month. It was a cute girly read, but by no means the best.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Throne of Glass, my feelings were like yours, which I'm sad to say because everyone loves it so but I wasn't overly impress. However, I've been hearing Crown of Midnight tops the cake, so hopefully it will redeem itself for me.
I just read The Book Thief last month myself! Not my usual kind of read, but am I ever glad I read it. I hope you end up feeling the same! Worth it for the writing alone.
ReplyDeleteI just purchased Crown of Midnight and am now anxiously awaiting for it to arrive on my doorstep! I seem to recall you weren't too keen on Throne of Glass? So it's great that you ended up loving Crown of Midnight. I know a lot of people don't like Celaena, but I just think she's the cat's pyjamas. Have you read the Throne of Glass prequel novellas? YOU MUST.
I have to go with Losing Hope. I know I am behind on the CoHo-fan-club-train... BUT I really liked it so that was definitely my number one book out of eight reads :)
ReplyDeleteMy book of the month was The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. Finally got to read this series and I love it!
ReplyDelete