Monday, February 5, 2018

Monthly Reading Wrap Up -- January 2018

The beginning of the year and the end of the year are usually the slowest reading times for me.  I don't know if it's because of the holidays or what, but it happens.  So, to be honest, finishing seven full length novels, one novella, and two short stories was not bad for January.  Having to put one book on hold was not cool, but I just wasn't getting anywhere, and if it's one thing that I know a lot of other readers can empathize with, it's the fact that you tend to drag on starting a new book when you've still got one going, no matter how bad said book is dragging.

Obviously, I'm hoping that my reading mood will pick up, and I'll learn to pull that DNF trigger sooner rather than later.

January Reads



Also Read:
-- Madame Esmeralda Makes a Prediction, short story by Courtney Milan
-- Dark Horizon, short story by Courtney Milan


Books Dropped/Put On Hold



I am just not feeling this book and am finding it boring.  I'd love to just put it on hold, but I have a distinct feeling that I may not come back to it.  Although with my obsession with reading books in certain particular orders, I may give this another try in the future and maybe it'll appeal to me a bit more.


Currently Reading




January Reading Stats

Total works read: 10
  • 7 print/e-book novels
  • 1 novella
  • 2 short stories

Average rating:  3.15 Stars
  • Highest Rated:  4 books // 4.0 Stars
    • (1) Deception Cove by Jayne Castle
    • (2) Entrapment by Kylie Brant
    • (3) The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle
    • (4) Siren's Call by Jayne Castle
  • Lowest Rated:  Snowbound with the Notorious Rake by Sarah Mallory // 2.0 Stars

Series I started reading:
  • Tremaine Traditions by Kylie Brant
Series I completed:
  • None
Series I have made progress on:
  • Tracers by Laura Griffin
  • Harmony by Jayne Castle

Favorite reads:  I started in on my Jayne Castle/Jayne Ann Krentz marathon, apparently.  A couple months ago, I decided to join Because Reading's Author Love Challenge and chose to read books written by Jayne Ann Krentz, because, let's face it, I love her!  And so with four Harmony books left to catch up with (with the hopes that this series is continuing), I decided just to dive right into the challenge with a strong start.  So I knocked out three, and will finish the fourth, of the books I have left to read in the series, and loved them all!  Going strong with this one.

Meanwhile, there was also Kylie Brant, always a delight, and I plan to finish the rest of the Tremaine Traditions as soon as I finish the books I'm currently reading.

On an aside, I didn't finish reading Deanna Raybourn's A Treacherous Curse in January, but I'm sure that if I had done so, said book would definitely have been on my list of January favorites.

Disappointing reads:  I had been resigned to think that January was going to be a bad reading month until Jayne Castle happened and I decided to just dive into books I one hundred percent felt like reading.  None of that planning B.S. for me.  However, the month had started off a bit rocky with some less than delightful short stories, and a worse novella, by an author I love.  Yikes!

Then came Snowbound with the Notorious Rake and things weren't looking so great.  It also didn't help that I was started to become very bored with Grace Burrowes's The Heir.  This was a very disappointing development, as there are a lot of other Grace Burrowes books I am interested in reading--some of her more recent works.  And with my penchant for wanting to read things in publication order... well...  I'm hoping I'll come back to The Heir at a later time and maybe enjoy it better.


Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written


Memes


Other Posts



Coming Up In February

Tentative TBR


Other Stuff

My tentative reading list for February is skimpier than I normally plan for each month, but that isn't because there are no books I'm looking forward to reading.  As a matter of fact, there are just way too many books I'm wanting to read!  And as I'm trying really hard NOT to make solid reading itineraries, I'm only mentioning the books I'm ready to jump into next, as well as my February Reading Assignment selection.

That's Amore is an anthology I've had sitting on my TBR and my digital shelf for a couple years now, and so it was put on my Reading Assignment list as a last resort to get it read.  It is the second book in the Santori Stories anthology series, and I have been looking for a chance to get it read.  What better time than February, the month of Valentines and romance?  Or something like that.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to finishing the last two books in the Tremaine Traditions, as I'd previously planned to read them during my failed 24in48 Readathon attempt.

My other plans for this year include the Author Love challenge, and my goal is to try to read at least one book by Jayne Ann Krentz every month.  Of course, that was when I thought I'd only read one book a month instead of, say, three in January.  And one almost finished for February.  Nonetheless, I'm kind of feeling the need to insert the next JAK books I'd like to jump into, whether or not I read them in February: the Whispering Springs duology that my BFF read and didn't really care for.  Let's see how I like them!


2018 Wrap-Ups 

Past Monthly Reading Wrap Ups (2016 / 2017)
See Also: 2015 Reading Wrap-Up posts (scroll to bottom of page)

(updated as year progresses by month)
January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December



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