My reading goal for 2018 is 100 books. This month I managed to finish 8…Here’s my January Reading Roundup…
This Month I Read:
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak
Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines
Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand
The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand
The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand
Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda
Silent Child by Sarah A. Denzil
Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand
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ELIN HILDERBRAND
I’m continuing my quest to read all of Hilderbrands books. I think there’s 20 all together and after the four I read this month, that leaves me just two more! I didn’t set out to read them in any kind of order, but somehow ended up reading all of her newer books first. The older ones have not been my favorites. Her writing style between her first novel and the most recent one has really changed! I really only enjoyed one out of the four…Summer People. I just couldn’t connect with the characters in the other three and the story lines bored me. I’ve noticed in her more recent books that she typically writes each “chapter” from a different characters perspective, a method I love. I think it just adds so much more depth to each character.
This authors books are universally billed as “beach reads”. For the most part that is probably true. They are easy enough to read quickly while on vaction. Of course having (most) of the books set in the summer on an island helps set the “beach” theme as well. However, it’s been my experience that there is much more depth to these books. Honestly, if I were relying simply on the jacket descriptions or the covers…I would never have picked any of Hilderbrands books up. They just look and sound like fluff! My favorite remains Summerland, the storyline and characters in this one stuck with me long after I finished the last page.
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THRILLERS! (Of the psychological variety)
Two psychological thrillers made their way onto my “read” list this month. I would call 2017 the year of the psychological thriller…as I see (via Good Reads) that 39 of the 96 books I read last year, would fall into this category. The Silent Child was just eh…slow and I easily figured out “who did it” quite early on. Best Day Ever was far better. The main character is quite an unreliable narrator and that always puts an interesting twist on the storyline. Not sure I would truly recommend either of these two though. Just remember…
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NON-FICTION PICKS
As much as 2017 was my “thriller” year, 2016 was all about non-fiction, or historical fiction. I’ve slowed down when it comes to the non-fiction genre, but everyone in a while I find an interesting one. Here are a couple of my all time favorite Non-Fiction books…
This month I read Chip Gaines book, Capital Gaines-Smart Thing I learned Doing Stupid Stuff. I’m a huge Fixer Upper fan and Joanna Gaines book last year…it was very entertaining. So, when her hubby came out with his own book, I knew it would grace my book basket right away! While I enjoyed his perspective, there was quite a bit of repetition between the two books. But there were some sweet stories and good life lessons in Chip’s book, making it a worthwhile read. (Although I would say you need only chose one).
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MY PICK OF THE MONTH…
Finally, The Impossible Fortress is a book I would normally have never even looked at. It likely falls into the Young Adult genre, which I typically stay away from. BUT this one started out on the back cover with…”A love letter to the 80’s”. Um…yes please! I love all things 80’s. Even though the main characters are teenagers and there’s lots of techy talk (about early home computer and programming)…which would normally turn me off totally, somehow this story captured my attention. There were several moments in this book that had me super stressed out…waiting to see how things were going to play out. So much yummy 80’s nostalgia. Hands down this was my favorite book of January.
Read anything good this month?
Come back next month for another READING ROUNDUP!
I picked up The Impossible Fortress this weekend 😊
Oh! I wish I knew you wanted to read it….I would have given you my copy!