January Reading Wrapped (no spoilers)

 Hey guys! It's been a while since I updated this, and I want to take this blog seriously. I need to step it up, and I'm sorry to those who have been trying to read this. First, I wanted to do a reading wrap for this month and quickly review the books I read in January. I read seven books in total. 

This month I read a total of seven books: 

1. How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

2. Circe by Madeline Miller

3. Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter

4. Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

5. Babel by R.F. Kuang

6. Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage

7. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I read various novels, and I'm happy to say I enjoyed them all. Some of the books had some parts I didn't like, but overall, they were all quite good. 

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How To Solve Your Own Murder 

This was the first book I read this year, and I'm happy that it started out with a bang. This book was compelling, and I couldn't get away from my Kindle. This novel is about a lady named Frances who gets a fortune from a fortune teller, and she tells Frances that she is going to get murdered sometime in her life. Frances becomes overly paranoid that someone is going to kill her and, for the rest of her life, becomes known as the paranoid, crazy old lady. Eventually, when she is much older, someone does murder her, and her great niece Annie is the one to find her body. Eventually, this novel is about Annie, who solves the murder of her relative while also seeing Frances' background and seeing what she was doing when she got her fortune. I loved the back-and-forth stories between Annie and Frances. That made the story a lot more interesting than it would have been. I also like the character of Frances. I like how she was written to be sure that she would be murdered and her thought processes; she was a funny lady, and I loved her through and through.  The mystery itself was well thought out, and I like the concept of someone trying to solve her own murder and then people. 4/5 STARS 
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Circe by Madeline Miller 

This book, right here, is so freaking good. I LOVE IT. I loved going deeper into Circe's character and think it was well done. I felt Circe's every emotion in Madeline's writing deeply, too. Her writing is just so freaking good, and I was ultimately in her world while reading. The novel tells Circe's story from birth onwards, and every bit of the book feels well thought out and essential. Not a word went to waste. I loved the characters, how they were written, and their personalities; they were all three-dimensional and not like a piece of cardboard.  I can't say anything about it because it was just that good. 4.5/5

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Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter 

I LOVED the first book, Better than the Movies. That book was so cute and just a great rom-com overall. However, this second book was certainly something. I HATED the concept of this book. Spoilers (It's not that bad of a spoiler, but here it is anyway): the idea that Liz and Wes break is so dumb, and I think it was better not to write a second novel. I liked how the first one ended, and there wasn't a reason to write a second one. But this novel wasn't bad; it was cute and funny, as this author makes all her books. But also, Liz had such a personality change that was so annoying. I get how that, because of Wes, she changed. It felt so weird to see Liz different from how she usually is, and it felt like a different person. Wes himself was the same, and the banter as well, but honestly, this novel was not her best idea, and we could have been better off without it.  3/5
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Games Untold By Jennifer Lynn Barnes 

This book was like a bunch of novellas stacked in one, and I ate it up. My personal favorite was the Sarah and Toby one. SO CUTE SO GOOD. I loved their backstory; it shed more light on Toby and why he did what he did. But the Night in Prague was actually the one I had been waiting for. I won't spoil anything, but now that I've read it, everything makes sense, and at the same time, nothing makes sense. That's all I'm going to say. Other than that, I loved this little expansion. People thought this was a stupid addition, but I loved it, and it was just a fun little way to get back into the fantastic world the author has built. 3.95/5 

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Babel by R.F. Kuang 

This book was definitely something, as the reviews on Goodreads varied, but who trusts Goodreads reviews anyway. If you are reading this for the idea about how colonialism was a significant problem in the 1800s and how many people suffered from British rule and all that stuff. This is where your opinion is going to be wonky. You may either love or hate the book based on your past opinions, and that's completely okay. I didn't realize that was what the book would be about, so I never went into it with that thought process. While reading, I realized that British colonialism was a central idea that was talked about in the books, and the author writes about it with much thought, but some don't feel like that. I'm unsure how to explain without spoilers, but your past opinions are make-it-or-break-it for the novel. For context, this book is about a Chinese boy who is taken by a man who works for Oxford to learn many languages and attends Oxford to eventually work for Babel. I like a language place where they use match-pairs, which are direct translations of languages to make Britain better. It's like magic. I don't know, man. It was confusing. This boy, Robin, meets other people like him, foreigners brought here because they know more languages than the basic European ones, to study, and they realize the dark secrets of Babel and try to escape it/destroy it. I liked this book, but I felt it was so hard to follow, so it was hard to think deeply about it, which was me personally. When a character would suddenly talk about the origins of a word, I could get so confused about what was going on that I forgot what was happening in the first place. I think this book is suitable for people who are really interested in academia. I feel too dumb to read this book, but it has potential. But I also actually liked the characters. They all had personal problems that went so well with each other, and it was interesting to read. I saw many reviews stating that they didn't like the characters because they found them bland, but I think you have to look at them from a different perspective other than head-on. I don't know how to explain it other than that, but feel free to hate on those characters. They kind of deserved it at some points in the novel. Other than that, I would give it a solid 3.9/4

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Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage.

It's a cowboy romance. Is there anything left to say? It's cute, has spice, and is really basic. I liked the first one better, but I will still read the rest. I have nothing else. 3.5/5 MOVING ON. 

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The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah 

This is my last book of January, and I'm mildly pleased. This book had some plot holes but was pretty decent. I loved the ending; it was so sad but so cute. This novel follows two sisters during WW2 and their opposite experiences during it. I loved both of their stories and think they were well-written. Each had their flaws, but it honestly made them better characters. Were they both a bit annoying at times? Yes, most definitely. But it was fine. The plot was also boring in the middle, but I got better and liked it enough to cry at the end. I literally couldn't with the ending. It was too sad and felt like someone poured a whole tub of ice water on me. A decent end to the first month of 2025, and I can't wait to read more. 

I hope you enjoyed this massive post. I hope you come back for more! Happy reading.

Avi