Books I Read in January 2023

Welcome to my new format for "reviewing" books! I'm just going to do the monthly wrap up and report on my books read then, all in one post with mini reviews. Okay? Okay!

Here's what I read in January:

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle: I really loved this one about a girl with massive ADHD and a boy on the autistic spectrum. They get together in a pretty funny and then connect through their mutual love for a book called The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise. And they use those quotes in their texts to each other and it's adorable. They both have lots of issues to deal with and it seems like there's no way they can figure out how to be together.  It's a really cute and fun story with not your typical characters. 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman: This one we read for book club in January. This author is quickly becoming a book club favorite and ends up on our lists quite often these days! It's a fun story narrated by a nearly 8 year old girl as she watches all the crazy things going on in her apartment building. She is also dealing with the death of her grandma... her crazy grandma who has sent in on a sort of treasure hunt after she's gone. And our girl ends up realizing that all the people in the apartment building have a connection. It's awesome just as all his books are, with amazing character development. He can capture people like no else!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is the book I read from my own stacks this month. A book that has been waiting for me since 2016... because I remember buying it at Powell's bookstore when we were on a trip that year! Anyway, I loved it and it gets to be my first 5 star read of the year! What a story that totally sucks you and keeps you on the edge the whole time! Our girl ends up posing as a sly and spying on the household of the commander of the school that trains soldiers to fight and suppress her people. She needs to get information so she can save her brother from horrendous jail and torture. Our guy is one of these highly trained soldiers and he has just graduated from this school. And he wants to escape. But if he's caught they will kill him. And of course their two desires somehow come together in all the crazy unexpected ways! AHH! It's all so intense!  I immediately got book 2 from the library and I hope to fit it in during February. 

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson: This was a sort of Booktube read along, though I haven't really succeeded in connecting with anyone reading it yet! LOL! It's a great historical fantasy (is that what you call it... magic in the 1800's but not with steampunk sort of devices). Our girl has been raised in a great library with intentions of running that library someday, but an incident happens that sends her off to be questioned by the sorcerers and magic is so very much frowned upon by the librarians. Bad bad stuff. But when she meets a certain sorcerer, she begins to wonder if everything she has been taught is right. Because he... and the demon that gives him his magic... are pretty cool after all. And then after they become friends they have to save the world! Fun stuff, and so beautifully written. 

February Plans:

• Read The Last Anniversary for bookclub
• Read the 2nd Ember in the Ashes book!
• Read Siddhartha, or that Leo Tolstoy short story thing for a challenge
• Read a king/queen book for the British Forced Phase
• That's all I'm thinking of at this point!