For the Love of Books: January 2021

One of my big goals in 2021 is to read through my bookshelf. To read some of the 50+ books I have in my apartment that have been collecting dust. While I’ll still run out to grab some of the new release (looking at you, Faithless in Death), I want most of this year to be spent shopping what I already have.

For January, I was about 50/50 on that. I read four books, two that had been on my shelf for at least a few months (one a couple of years), while two were new pick-ups for me. Only one book was brand new for publication, so I’d say I did pretty okay with this goal.

#1 Pretty Guilty Women by Gina Lamanna

The first read was one I technically started in December 2020, but I started it on New Year’s Eve and read about ten pages. Pretty Guilty Women, by Gina Lamanna, was my first read from her that wasn’t part of her Lucy Luzzi Series (I read that back in 2016, I believe). It was a fast read that had your set up of different women and everyone has a secret. I will say, the biggest secret was one I didn’t anticipate. I’d give this about a 3.5/5. You can check it out here.

#2 The End of Her by Shari Lapenna

Book number two was one I was ready for because I love everything Shari Lapenna writes and The end of her was no different. LaPenna has a great way of building characters that you root for while knowing they could easily commit a crime. But will they?

LaPenna’s books tend to have quite a cast of characters, but this one felt smaller in the amount of important characters. There was one set that I feel like the book could have done without, but it was still a solid story. This was a 4/5 for me. You can pick the book up here.

#3: Outlawed by Anna North

Y’all, I’m not sure whatever possessed me to pick this up, maybe the cowgirls? The setup to the story felt slow but then I felt like it ended quickly. The story was original and fun but this wasn’t my typical genre. I’m not even sure what genre to actually call this? I’m giving this a 3/5 because it was a good read but I can’t promise I’ll remember anything about it in two months. Learn more about the book here.

#4 The Winter Sister by Megan Collins

This was a book on my shelf for a while but I read about 80% of this book on Sunday. It was a fast read and the story around this deceased sister was fascinating, with some weird turns. There were two plot points I felt like I saw coming about 30 pages beforehand, but the biggest one about the sister’s dad, I didn’t predict. 4/5 Pick it up here.

Books I’m looking forward to in February:

Girls Like Us (started yesterday)
The Wife Upstairs
Faithless in Death
The Dating Plan

What books are you wanting to read this month?