It’s a new month so we’re back with a list of our Monthly Reads to share with each of you. This is where you’ll see what each of us has read and what our favorite books and our least favorite books of the month are. Check it out.
Casee
I am really happy with my reading in January. I read/listened to a total of 11 books. That’s huge for me. I really hope my reading this year continues how it started. Fingers crossed.
Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5) by Kristen Ashley | 4 out of 5
The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn | 3.75 out of 5
Blood Heir (Aurelia Ryder #1) by Ilona Andrews | 4.25 out of 5
Wraith (Masters of Mayhem #1) by Renee Rocco | 4 out of 5
Sapphire Flames (Hidden Legacy #4) by Ilona Andrews (audio) | 4 out of 5
Roommate by Sarina Bowen | 4 out of 5
Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss #1) by Nalini Singh (reread) | 5 out of 5
The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn | 4.5 out of 5
Archangel’s Blade (Guild Hunter #4) by Nalini Singh (audio)(reread) | 4.5 out of 5
Monster (Savages #1) by Jessica Gadziala | 4 out of 5
Lick (Stage Dive #1) by Kylie Scott (audio) | 3.5 out of 5
My favorite book of the month was The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn. I can’t believe it’s taken me all these years to read this series. My least favorite was Lick by Kylie Scott. I couldn’t stand the heroine although the hero was yummy.
Holly
January was an okay reading month for me. I wanted to read more, but things are crazy at work right now and I just didn’t have time. I finished 18 books and DNF’d 2.
Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) by K.M. Shea | 3.25 out of 5
Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) by K.M. Shea | 4 out of 5
The Queen’s Crown (Court of Midnight and Deception #3) by K.M. Shea | 3.75 out of 5
The Prince and the Troll (Faraway #1) by Rainbow Rowell (audio) | 3 out of 5
Repeat by Kylie Scott (reread) | 5 out of 5
Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop (audio) (reread) | 4.25 out of 5
Murder of Crows (The Others #2) by Anne Bishop (audio) (reread) | 4.25 out of 5
Vision in Silver (The Others #3) by Anne Bishop (audio) (reread) | 4.25 out of 5
Marked in Flesh (The Others #4) by Anne Bishop (audio) (reread) | 4.25 out of 5
Etched in Bone (The Others #5) by Anne Bishop (audio) (reread) | 4.25 out of 5
Complicated by Kristen Ashley (reread) | 4 out o 5
Make Mine Magic by Shanna Swendson (audio) | 4 out of 5
One Fine Fae (Mystic Bayou #4.5) by Molly Harper (novella) (audio) | 4 out of 5
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia | 3.75 out of 5
The Wages of Sin (Sarah Gilchrist #1) by Kaite Welsh (audio) | 3.5 out of 5
Ten Things I Hate About the Duke (Difficult Dukes #2) by Loretta Chase | 3.5 out of 5
The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1) by Kristen Ashley (reread) | 4 out of 5
Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2) by Kristen Ashley | 4.5 out of 5
Werewolf’s Mark by Darcia Cobbler | DNF
Kiss of Fire by Rebecca Ethington | DNF
My favorite new read this month was Crown of Moonlight by K.M. Shea. The series started off kind of slow, but I ended up really enjoying it, though book 2 was my favorite. My least favorite was The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell. The writing was stellar and I enjoyed the witty banter, but frankly there was no purpose to it and I felt like I wasted my time by listening to it.
Rowena
January was a solid reading month for the reader that I am these days. I’m glad to not be pressuring myself to read more so that I can keep up with the book blog. I’m reading much more for pleasure and that’s reflected in the quality of the books that I’m reading. I should have been more picky about what I chose to read before now. So while I didn’t read a lot, here’s what I did read in the month of January.
The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen | 4.5 out of 5
The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen | 4.5 out of 5
Training Camp: Rain by Wesley King and Kobe Bryant | 4.25 out of 5
The Roommate by Rosie Danan | 4 out of 5
The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan | 4 out of 5
My favorite reads of the month are The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen and The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen. This series is super good so far and I’m really looking forward to seeing where Jensen takes the rest of the series. I’m curious about the sisters, the people, and seeing where Aren and Lara go from here.
I don’t really have a least favorite read of the month since I enjoyed all of the books that I read so I’m not going to choose one. 🙂
Giveaway Alert
Three lucky winners will choose their prize (one book) from any of the books we logged this month. If you want to be entered to win, leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite – and least favorite – reads of the month were.
I read 12 books in January. My favorite was completely unexpected: Misha Horne’s m/m historical western, LOOKING FOR TROUBLE. It was a freebie download and I wasn’t expected much beyond a quick read, instead I got a wonderful slow-burn romance between an older farmer and his new farm-hand. There was spanking & daddy-kink, but it developed organically from the personalities of the two men and didn’t feel in any way forced onto the story. I also thought Horne did a great job of differentiating the voices of the two heroes and of showing how they had no frame of reference for their feelings for each other—which seems to me historically accurate for 1880s Nevada.
I didn’t hate anything I read, but I must admit being baffled by a scene late in Sarina Bowen’s ROOMMATE where one of the heroes (a gay man who has been rejected by his homophobic parents) agrees to assist the priest of his parents’ church in serving Christmas dinner to 200 people—even after the priest has just explained why the hero could never get married in his church. That scene was a complete WTF?? for me and knocked the book down from a possible favorite of the year to more on the meh side.
I didn’t have much time to read in January, so no favorites to cite.
I quite enjoyed the Touchstone series by Andrea K Höst which I read in its entirety and then promptly reread! (FYI: Stray, the first book in the series, is free to Kindle readers.) I also enjoyed In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren which made me laugh.
I’ve no least favorite to mention; I tend to abandon books I don’t care for.
I read Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater, and while the book was cute, the editing was horrible. Head hopping, and other problems. It was like reading an unedited galley. And they adapted it into a Hallmark movie.
I read another book which was promoted as a romance, but it was in single POV. Are romance books going back to that?
The book that wins for driving me crazy is Regency in Color simply because the first story ended on a cliffy. I enjoyed most of the books I read. The best of them were: The Segonian (Dianne Duvall); Truly Beloved (Grace Burrowes); How to Catch a Queen (Alyssa Cole); Splendid (Julia Quinn); When a Rogue Meets His Match (Elizabeth Hoyt); A Duke in Shining Armor & Ten Things I Hate About the Duke (Loretta Chase); and Indecent Invitation (Laura Trentham)
Caught up on Avery Flynn and Camilla Isley books.
worst book: Thane’s Redemption by Nina Crespo
Betrayal at Ravenswick by Kelly Oliver was interesting