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Ashley’s January 2025 Book Haul and Reading Wrap Up

04.01.2025 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

I love a fresh start to a reading year.  It’s fun to look at the potential and see what books it might bring.  Outside of all that potential, January was pretty stressful and busy as I was wrapping up a semester.  However, I did successfully make it through.

Books I hauled in January:

  • Where the Library Hides
  • Beautiful Ugly
  • The Iliad
  • The Odyssey
  • A Sea of Unspoken Things
  • Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear
  • Falling Back in Love With Being Human
  • Then Came You
  • Dreaming of You
  • The Love of My Afterlife
  • A Killing Cold
  • The Thirteenth Child
  • Onyx Storm
  • Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Books I read in January:

1. Vengeance of the Pirate Queen by Trisha Levenseller

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: This was an interesting continuation of the Pirate Queen/King universe.  I liked the main character.  It was nice to have a different perspective on the world.  It as a good way to start the year, especially because it meant ticking something off my physical TBR.

2. Triple Duty Bodyguards by Lily Gold

Rating: 5 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was such a delight!  I loved the characters and the storyline, so I’m really glad this was our book club book.  I did not expect to cry so much over this, but I did.  It was very well-written.  I liked getting the perspective of all the main characters, and it was neat to include the perspective of the stalker.  I just had so much fun reading this.

3. Big Bad by Chandler Baker

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: I really enjoyed the development and pacing of this story.  It is always fun to read about werewolves, so I really enjoyed this aspect of the story.  It was great.

4. It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malerman

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was a good little spooky reads.  I had fun reading this.  The woods are a classic creepy setting, so that was really good.

5. Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Rating: 5 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: This was a really good mystery story.  It felt sophisticated in a lot of ways.  There were lots of elements contributing to it.  I found myself on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen next, and what had happened to the main character’s roommate.  The characters were so compelling.

6. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: This was a fun story, though not my favourite YA romance that I’ve read.  The characters were interesting and I enjoyed seeing their personal growth over the course of the book.  They had fun adventures.  I appreciated the end as well.

7. In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

Rating: 5 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was a very compelling mystery.  I liked the main character a lot.  She isn’t a very likeable character, but that really worked in the story.  It definitely kept me guessing.  There were lots of interesting twists and turns.

8. Three Swedish Mountain Men by Lily Gold

Rating: 5 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: I found this book well-written and engaging.  The characters all had an interesting vibe.  I really liked Daisy as a main character.  I really felt for her.  She had a rough go of it.  The love interests were also interesting.  I liked the setting and that the weather brought conflict to the plot.

9. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

Rating: 5 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: I love the way Seanan McGuire constructs her characters and worlds.  This was no different.  I really like the world Nadya fell into in this one.  It made it really sad when she was eventually forced out.  The characters were interesting, and I loved the talking turtles.

10. Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was such a cute little romance.  I really enjoyed Ali Hazelwood’s first YA romance.  I admit that I knew very little about chess, and I didn’t realize what a big deal it was.  It wasn’t too hard to get around.  I really liked Mallory as a character.  She had a lot of depth to her, and her personal journey was really good.

11. Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: I really enjoyed reading from the perspective of the more grown up Percy Jackson.  The humor was still there, and it was still a fun-filled romp.  I liked the new gods and mythological figures that we met along the way.  Percy never gets cut a break.

12. The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: This was such an interesting book.  I have never read Carrie, so I don’t know how it holds up to the original, but I really enjoyed how the author adapted the story and integrated elements of systemic racism into the story.  I felt that all the different characters brought a really interesting perspective to the story.  It was very well-crafted.

13. The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was an awesome book.  The art was amazing, and the way it was done really added so much to the story.  I found the story and premise to be really compelling.  The main character was interesting.  I liked the fantastical elements and the metaphor that was carried throughout.

14. In Bloom by Paul Tremblay

Rating: 3 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: This took me a long time to read for such a short book.  The premise was interesting, but the story just didn’t fully click with me.

15. Best of Luck by Jason Mott

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was a really interesting story.  The tension was high throughout, which is always a fun read.  I liked the premise and how the story was executed.  Definitely worth reading.

16. Ducks by Kate Beaton

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was a hard read, but it was an important read.  It deals with some very difficult subject matter.  The art was very well done, and I really appreciated the legends of who the people were that were sprinkled throughout.  She did an excellent job with the art.

17. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was an interesting story.  It was very much structured in a way that you had no idea who you could trust.  I really enjoy a good unreliable narrator.  I also liked that it was somewhat unclear how certain things were, like who the other main point of view was.  It kept me guessing.

18. Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was a really interesting romance.  This is my first Lisa Kleypas book, and it was a very different experience for me.  Lily was a really interesting character, and not who I expected as the FMC from a regency romance.  The story felt a little long, but at the same time I don’t think I would take anything out.

19. The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was an interesting book.  The story was unique and definitely a little creepy.  I liked the infusion of Indigenous stories and cultural beliefs.  The main character was well-done.  I’m interested to see what the sequel will be about.

20. A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: I enjoyed this book a decent amount.  I liked some elements of it more than others.  The setting was very well-done.  It was also pretty well-written.  I didn’t love the main character.  However, it was well done on the whole.  The fae elements were interesting.

21. Sweet Nightmare by Tracy Wolff

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: This was an intriguing expansion of the world.  I liked seeing the other side of the world.  It had some good twists and turns.  I liked that it was pretty fast paced on the whole.  The characters were interesting.

22. A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Rating: 5 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was such a compelling mystery for me.  I love Kate Alice Marshall.  I found the family dynamics fascinating.  I also really enjoyed the main character.  I liked how fast paced the story was, and the way she slowly revealed details to us.

23. Fangirl, Volume 4 by Rainbow Rowell

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was a lovely adaptation.  The characters were interesting.  I love Cath and Levi together.  The art is great.  I had fun on the whole.

24. Falling Back in Love With Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: I enjoyed this collection.  It was unique and not my usual type of read.  However, I would recommend it.

25. Woe by Lucy Knisley

Rating: 4 Stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was so cute and relatable for any cat owner.  It was definitely a bit sad and bittersweet.  It was lovely.

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Filed Under: Ashley, Book Hauls, Wrap Ups Tagged: book, book review, books, fiction, haul, opinion, rating, reading, reading wrap up, review, Reviews

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Ashley’s Goodreads

The Complete Works
The Complete Works
by William Shakespeare
The First Part of the Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, &c., 1594
The First Part of the Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, &c., 1594
by William Shakespeare
All the Stars and Teeth
All the Stars and Teeth
by Adalyn Grace
I Am Still Alive
I Am Still Alive
by Kate Alice Marshall
Blood of Elves
Blood of Elves
by Andrzej Sapkowski

goodreads.com

Kari’s Goodreads

The Name of the Wind
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Contagion
Contagion
by Erin Bowman
Crown of Midnight
Crown of Midnight
by Sarah J. Maas
Queen of Shadows
Queen of Shadows
by Sarah J. Maas
Ruthless Gods
Ruthless Gods
by Emily A. Duncan

goodreads.com

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