JANUARY READS

2023

January is one of my favorite months of the year. It gives me this feeling of a clean slate, fresh-start and the renewed belief that anything is possible in the upcoming months. I've had my heart set on starting a blog with reviews of the books I read for quite a long time and this year I decided to go for it.

For me, reading/listening to books is my way to calm down after a long day. Typically, I listen to books for pleasure and will buy the physical book when the topic is self-development.

While I find it hard to find too much time to sit and read #momlife, I will listen to a book while doing just about any task around the house (cooking, cleaning, laundry...) or while I am in the car. This is the ONLY way I am able to complete multiple books in a month. So if you're out there wondering where I find all the spare time to read, I dont. :)

January wasn't filled with any all-time favs for me. But still has some good recommendations for you.

-Enjoy!

I started the year by wrapping up the

Simple Wild series by K.A. Tucker.

I've been patiently waiting for book four to come out on Audible... While I LOVED the first 3 books in this series, I just did not love book four. Trust me, I wanted to love it. But it fell short for me.

The series is set in Alaska and is ultimately a series of Chick Lit, love stories. Tucker deviated from the original main characters and focused on one of the series' sub-characters. The original main characters, Calla and Jonah, still made appearances but their heated, rugged meets classy, romance is just hard to top! I'm still glad I checked this one off of my TBR list though.

If you're a fan of light and airy love stories, I HIGHLY reccommend the first three books of this series.

TAGS: Contemporary, Chick Lit, Love Story

This mystery kept me guessing! Four stars might seem harsh but I'm pretty picky with my five star ratings... Overall, I'd say it was a success for my first Harlan Coben read.

This story follows three very different families who's lives are intertwined through their high-schoolers (two sons and one daughter).

Without giving away everything, a child disappears which brings together some unlikely characters to help find them. I honestly felt like I was being brought into the second book of a series with all of the random back stories of these characters. I ultimately became pretty invested in "Wild's" back story and I was really disappointed that we didn't get closure on his family origins by the end.

The characters were entertaining though!! I really enjoyed Hester's quick wit. She's a firecracker attorney and she brought ALL the comic relief.

Overall it was an enjoyable read and I would encourage mystery fans to pick it up.

TAGS: Mystery, Crime, Domestic Thrillers, Private Investigators

This book fits the setting of some of my absolute favorite books! Historical Fiction Strong Female Character

Set during WWII .

I picked it up because it was listed in the top five of 2022 by one of my favorite fellow book reviewers. Ultimately, I really enjoyed it! I waffled between four and five stars on this one and if I could give half a star, it would be 4.5.

The main character is sassy and classy! She refuses to sit back and watch all of the men do the dirty work to fend off the Germans, during the war. The story bounces back and forth between current (post-war) and her time during the war to keep you in suspense of the fate of several of the characters.

Unfortunately, I just felt like the ending was a bit of a let-down for me. And at times it was hard to keep all of the characters straight with their code names.

I did love that there was a love story threaded through novel. Those were actually some of my favorite parts.

TAGS: Biographical Fiction, Women's Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II