**The winter chill settles deep in your bones as you walk a bit quicker to keep warm. My breath comes out as smoke before me and I can’t wait to huddle before a fire with a hot drink to warm me from the inside out. A coat is not nearly enough for weather like this, but hopefully the season will warm up soon.**

First wrap-up of the year! I ended up reading a total of five books in the month of January, which is a pretty good start to the year considering I’ve mostly been reading about three the past few months. I read a lot of different books as well and found some really goods ones, especially my first read which was a very pleasant surprise. I’m excited to discuss them all with you, so let’s get right into it.

• The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

I started this at the very end of December and finished it in January and absolutely loved it! It follows two rival authors that get an invitation from an anonymous sender who turns out to be a famous mystery writer. After they arrive, the author ends up going missing from a locked room and the two main characters have to figure out what happened. It was such a fun read and I had a great time with it. I do wish the mystery aspect was developed a bit more since it focused more on the romance, but I did like what mystery elements we had and I liked the banter between the two main characters.

• A Wrinkle Time by Madeleine L’Engle

After reading books like Narnia, Bridge to Terabithia, and The Babysitter’s Club over the past few years, I knew I wanted to try some more of those classic middle grade stories. I quite honestly don’t really know how to describe this. I don’t know if it was just me, but I found this one a bit confusing. There were times I didn’t really know what was going on, and I didn’t really understand the point. This was just not it for me. I just didn’t really like the story and couldn’t get into it.

• The Same Backward As Forward by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I ended up reading this one and Games Untold together, so I started with Games Untold then started The Same Backward As Forward once I got to that story in the other book. This one originally started as a novella from one perspective then was published with both characters perspectives in one novel. This takes place in the Inheritance Games universe so I’m not going to say anything about it to avoid spoilers. I did enjoy this one though and I think it was interesting to see some backstory to some of the characters.

• Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This one was a collection of short stories set in the world of The Inheritance Games. There were a few stories that added to the main continuity to reveal some more about what we learn in the main books, then others were related but were more so just fun stories following the characters we know and love. There were a few I really enjoyed reading. Anything with the brothers is my favorite, and I especially loved $3CR3T $@NT@ as well as a few others.

• Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

This was kind of a spur of the moment read for me. I had seen some good things about it and wanted to read some more classics and nonfiction this year so I thought it was a good option. This is a nonfiction book where the author reconnects with his old college professor who is dying. Each Tuesday, they discuss a new topic on life. I thought this one was okay. I think it has some good takeaways but I think the topics are very subjective. I think the idea of breaking the book up in sections based on different meetings and lessons was very creative and it was interesting to see these two people reconnect and learn more about each other.

I also started Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross which I am still working my way through, so I will hopefully finish that soon. I am looking forward to all my February reads, so stay tuned for that wrap-up and all the other fun February posts.

xoxo,

Just another reader