What I read in January…

Now January is normally the most gloomy month of all but in actual fact this year it’s seemed different. With work on the back burner at present our routines have been different. I don’t know about you but we’ve all had to make some adjustments to life as we know it. January was a mixed bag for me with a week I would rather forget but how was the reading.

My first read of the year was for a blog tour and it was by an author I hadn’t read before but I say this now it won’t be the last Helen Whitaker book I read.

Review

My second of the year was a Netgalley read for my favourites at Simon & Schuster and it was my first Fanny Blake novel and another that won’t be my last.

Review

It’s not often that I give up and don’t finish a read but I have done in January 😦 so I decided to pick this baby up and it was just the tonic I needed.

Review

Up next was another Simon & Schuster treat I absolutely adored Claire’s debut so was itching for an early copy of her second book. My review will be up on publication day later this week.

I loved listening to Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners so I was eager to read more. I enjoyed the audio of this so much that I stuck to audio from the library for this offering.

Review

Back in December I read and loved a Jack Reacher short. I’m hoping to get fully stuck into the actual novels but I wanted a shorter read so I embraced this one.

Review

I was chuffed to be a part of both cover reveals for C L Taylor’s The Island. I was honoured to be sent a finished copy I loved every second of this YA novel.

Review

I was intrigued by The Burning Girls and was over the moon to be part of the blog tour. I read this book in a mere few days it was totally chilling and I’ve thought about it a lot since. I look forward to reading more from C J Tudor.

Review

I’m a massive fan of Kathryn Freeman and it’s been a while since I’ve read a novel from her. I feel wholeheartedly in love with Luke and Mia.

Review

I really enjoyed Dash & Lily and following that I was intrigued to read more from Rachel Cohn & David Levithan.

I really loved this one too….my review will be up later in the week.

My final January book was actually a March read but I couldn’t resist this one.

I will be part of the blog tour so my review won’t be up for a bit. Flappy had me hooked from start to finish.

So that’s 11 books in January – I will be taking part in some buddy reading with Catriona during February. I’m hoping to get stuck into my audiobook that I had hoped to have already finished today if possible. February is my favourite month of the year as it’s full of such promise and is also my birth month. Let’s see what I can achieve this month.

Weekly Update #29

Here we are again…Saturday has rolled round. Although this week has felt longer than most. I’m not going into too much as I haven’t the information or the time to do so but I will admit it’s been a somewhat anxious and agonising week, with still no answers.

This means there are no sweaty selfies this week. My last run was exactly a week today. My only saving grace is the weather has been pretty pants. As a good friend told me this week muscle memory is paramount and she always feels good after a break. So I’m trying to embrace those good vibes whilst I’m not pounding the pavement.

This week I’ve read:

Reading two ebooks one for Netgalley and a library read. I did also email a publisher about a book that I could not finish reading. It’s not something I relish doing especially when it felt so me on paper but I’m glad I’ve done so and I will still be taking part in the tour just not via review.

What’s been on the blog?

On Sunday I took part in the second Six for Sunday of 2021 – this weeks prompt was Bookish Wins of 2020 and you can read my post here.

For some reason the past two Monday’s I’ve not been prepared and there hasn’t been a blog post. I’m taking some time over this weekend to read as well as prep post too. Shout if there are any specifics you would love to see here.

On Tuesday I made my for Monday’s lack of post by sharing a cover reveal and a blog tour review of my first gorgeous read of 2021. Cover Reveal The List and Book Review : I Give it a Year.

On Wednesday I shared a truly gorgeous book review of a subject matter I never expected to want to read. Book Review: Love in Lockdown

On Thursday I shared a post I had been toying with as I was in the middle of Buddy Reading my first book of 2021. You can read Buddy Reading here. I apologise for the link heavy post and for possibly adding to your ever growing TBR piles.

On Friday I posted another late in the day blog post following finishing listening to Twice in a Blue Moon as I hadn’t felt great so did no physical reading yesterday. You can read my thoughts here.

In terms of my GoodReads target for 2021 adding 3 more books has taken my total to 5. Having managed 107 plus 7 to what I was aiming for I decided to aim higher this year setting my target at 120. I figured as I am aiming to read more daily, listen to more audiobooks and get my Netgalley shelf down I thought it was worth a try and whilst we’re still living these strange times I thought it couldn’t hurt.

Having taken part in both cover reveals for this gorgeous book I was sent a copy or two. May have to do a giveaway…I had hoped to have got stuck in yday but my sleeping pattern is rotten so my head felt like mush. Hoping to get stuck in today.

I’m proper on one today ha. Remembering things to share and say. Who is loving The Mask Singer – this is the first series I’ve been able to properly get involved and I’ve called them correct the last two weeks.

Audio Review: Twice in a Blue Moon By Christina Lauren

Blurb: Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.

During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate – the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars – ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.

Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.

Review: This was my second Christina Lauren audiobook. It had a different feel to that of The UnHoneymooners but it still had some of the trademark Christina Lauren.

Twice in a Blue Moon focusses on an extremely intense first love, heartbreak and betrayal. Sam & Tate came together as the pair are both on mutual trips to London. It was only natural that the youngsters would pair up and before long their sharing a number of secrets long into the night under the stars. Tate isn’t your average teen and her story is worthy of front page spreads. This aspect of her story had me thinking of Paige Toon’s Johnny Jefferson and his relationship with his teenage daughter Jessie. In saying that Ian is a whole other type of celebrity – we don’t know much about him at the beginning but the later stages I must admit I found myself wanting to swear at him a lot.

The second half of the book is fourteen years later when everything is different for Sam & Tate. They are reunited by a film – that in hindsight Tate should have read more into. The underlying aspect of their issues is the lack of communication. I can see why Tate acted the way she did. She was hurt and betrayed and was not only wary but extremely cautious over who she trusted.

The closing stages of the book felt like a whirlwind on their own there was so much happening between Tate & Sam and Tate & Ian. This had me on the edge of my seat and I felt bad that another character almost took the blame for the betrayals nearer the end of the story.

Twice in a Blue Moon is a coming of age novel full of love, intensity and a serious amount of passion – there were a few steamy scenes nearer the beginning of the story and before it ends. There are also aspects of family and how secrets can change your world in a heartbeat. I must say the reveals were very well placed throughout this novel and there is almost always a reason for our actions.

Are you a Christina Lauren fan? What should I read next? I do have Roomies on hold with the library.