**My hands burn through my gloves, but I ignore the sting and continue to roll my ball of snow until it gets to the height I desire. I do this two more times and carefully stack each one on top of the other before looking for sticks and rocks to add to my lovely snowman. I add a top hat I find in my wardrobe and put it upon his head and wrap him up in a scarf. Once I finish, I sit in the snow next to my snowman and look out into the fields and think about my recent reads. I didn’t read any snowy reads, so I may have to find some before the weather gets warmer.**

In my January TBR post, I mentioned how I didn’t want to read any books I got for Christmas yet, and that I had to read three out of five books on my TBR before I could make a new one. As I said in my February TBR post, I am pleased to say that I actually did read three of the books on my TBR. Without further ado, let’s get into the books.

• Starfall by Melissa Landers
  • My first book of January was Starfall by Melissa Landers. This is the second book in a young adult sci-fi duology that I started back in 2020. The series starts with Starflight, which follows a girl trying to hitch a ride to space but, being a criminal, she can’t find anyone to take her. She eventually gets a ride and goes to space and meets the crew of the Banshee where she travels through space and goes on adventures. This sequel follows some of the side characters with their own story. I loved Starflight when I read it, but I really didn’t like this one. I almost DNFd it but ended up finishing it because I couldn’t get invested in anything else. I was bored when reading it and the plot was not interesting. I also didn’t like the characters and I felt like they had no connection whatsoever. Their relationship was built on needless arguing. It dragged on so long and I was not engaged in the story. I am glad that I finally read it to finish the duology, but, while I recommend the first book, I don’t recommend this one.
• Betting On You by Lynn Painter
  • I actually started this one when I thought I DNF’d Starfall, then eventually got back to it after. I liked this book much better. This book follows two teens who meet on a plane several years before the story then end up working together at a hotel. Bailey’s parents got divorced and she is working her way through this new normal and connects with Charlie whose parents are also divorced. The two of them get closer and start fake dating as Bailey learns to figure out her new life. I didn’t really love this book at first and thought it started a bit slow, but I did like it more as it went on. Charlie had some annoying moments, but there were also cute and funny moments throughout that had the typical Lynn Painter charm.
• Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo.
  • This is a graphic novel and the third in the Teen Titans series. I’ve been reading the series off and on and decided to read this one since I always have a goal to read some graphic novels each year. I really like the art style in this series, but I don’t really care for the story. I feel like nothing really happens and I’m not invested. I also think that the characters don’t really reflect their personalities. I’ll get into this more later.
• The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  • This is the first in the new series in the Inheritance Games Saga. It is set after the original series and follows a game that Avery sets up where people can play for the chance to win a cash prize. When I started this book, I didn’t think I was going to like it. The Brothers Hawthorne was my least favorite in the series so I thought I wouldn’t like this one. I also didn’t really like the beginning. I was bored and didn’t like any of the characters and knew I was going to miss the original characters. Once the games really started though, I really enjoyed it. The riddles were so fun and I loved watching the characters make their way through the game. While I do think the original trilogy is much better, I actually really liked this one and can’t wait for the next book.
• Teen Titans: Robin by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo
  • Going back to my previous thoughts, I didn’t love this volume. Again, I was bored and didn’t really care about the story. Like I said before, I also feel like their personalities are so different, especially Damian. I’ve seen some of the movies with Damian Wayne in them and in those, he is rude, brash, and snarky. In the graphic novel, he is nothing like this. I actually really like Damian Wayne as a character in the DC movies, so I was disappointed to see his personality change in this. Raven and Beast Boy are different as well which I didn’t really like.

I actually started The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon this month as well but ended up DNFing it. This is an adult fantasy with shadow and light magic and a decades long war. It seemed really good and reminded me of Shadow and Bone so I was really excited for this. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it. The story was interesting, but I was kind of bored and I didn’t connect with the writing. The writing made it hard to get into the story so I decided to put it down.

Those are all the books I read in January. I’m glad I finally got to some of these and can’t wait to see what I will read in February.

xoxo,

Just another reader