January 2023 Books
I started 2023 off with a bang!
I read a total of four books this month to kick off the new year, and couldn’t have been more satisfied (except maybe if Riley Sager had released a new book this month).
My January reads in the order I read them are:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
this is where it ends by Marieke Nijkamp
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
I don’t use the typical star ranking system that most other readers use. The reason being is that I don’t think that I can fairly compare books of various genres to each other using the same system, and I don’t like reducing the value of a book to a number out of 5. I believe that there are good aspects and not-so-good aspects of all books, and I personally like to focus on the good things. Especially being an author myself, I never want to publicly bash another writer’s work (unless it’s a work of hate, prejudice against groups of people, etc., then I will hate on that book all day long).
That being said, let’s talk about the good stuff with all of these books!
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
This was by far my most fun read for January! I listened to the audiobook (totally still counts as reading), and sped through it in just a few days. It was hard to stop listening once I got into it.
The story revolves around the East House Seven, a group of seven college freshmen who meet and quickly become a group of best friends. They all come from different backgrounds and have varying interests, but their bond is stronger than any of their differences.
This book reminded me of the game Clue. It’s a who-done-it kind of book. We find out in the very beginning that one of the seven was murdered during their senior year of college. One of the seven was suspected to be the murderer, but the police couldn’t get all of the evidence to line up enough for prosecution. But, everyone in the university still blamed him for it and ran him out of town. Ten years later, the remaining five friends, and one other close friend, all return to the school for their ten year reunion. They dig up the past, and secrets come out into the light one by one. It turns out that everyone had at least one secret that they’d been hiding for all of those years.
The story bounces back and forth between the past and present. It’s a very twisty read, and the audiobook narrator did a fantastic job of conveying the voices and emotions of each character. I don’t typically like books with so many core characters because it can take a while to get them all down, but this one didn’t take me very long to do so since they’re all very distinct. I also love a good unreliable narrator (the main character, Jessica).
I highly recommend reading this book, and would encourage trying the audiobook.
this is where it ends by Marieke Nijkamp
I had no idea what to expect going into this book, but it rocked my core.
I’m not a Young Adult reader. I might pick up YA once or twice a year, and I’m usually dissatisfied with it because it’s not my thing, and that’s okay. But, with all of the awards that this book has won, and because I happened to come across it while it was 50% off at Barnes and Noble, I picked it up. I’m glad that I did. It was a very quick read that I finished in a matter of days.
This is a story of a school shooting that takes place over fifty-four minutes. The story is told from the perspectives of four students, three of which are inside of the school, and one being on the outside worrying about her brother. These characters each have their own dreams and their own fears that are conveyed throughout the book. There are a lot of trigger warnings with this book, so please do your research on it before picking it up if there are tough topics that you prefer to avoid.
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
This is another audiobook that I listened to, and it definitely kept my interest! The narration was fantastic. Narrators for audiobooks really do make or break the book in my opinion.
The story flips back and forth between the present day perspective of Tricia and past perspective of Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist, who went missing four years prior. Tricia and Ethan go to view her large home that is now on the market, and they get trapped due to a blizzard. The story has creepy mansion vibes while they are stuck there.Tricia dives into the tape recordings that Dr. Adrienne made of her sessions with her patients to see if she can find any information that would clue her in about Adrienne’s disappearance, perhaps things that the police missed. In turn, it makes her question her new husband. Her husband that she really doesn’t know all that well.
It started out as a very slow burn, but overall this book had its fair share of twists! There were some that I somewhat saw coming, and many that I did not! Freida McFadden is known for her twists, and often those being wildly unrealistic. But, I don’t mind that. I don’t care if there’s a big twist that I never could have seen coming. The main point of fiction books is to be entertained, and this book did that for me. I would recommend it.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
This was technically the first book that I started reading this year, but the fourth that I finished. I just have a much bigger preference for fiction than nonfiction/self-help books. I bought a hardcover copy of this book so that I could annotate it and keep it for future reference.
The main purpose of this book is to learn about creating systems to achieve what you need instead of focusing on individual habits. It totally makes sense.
The book provides lots of examples, and is pretty repetitive so you’re not going to forget its contents. I really enjoyed the first half of it, feeling like I was learning some good tips, but it ultimately got harder and harder to pick up as I kept leaning more towards fictional worlds. This just didn’t keep my attention, and I had to force myself to finish it by the end of the month. Overall though, I’m glad that I read it. I think that I could definitely utilize some tips from this book to improve my productivity and quality of life.
THAT’S IT! January 2023 is a wrap. I had a blast this month diving into new worlds and learning some skills. Hopefully February doesn’t disappoint.
If you have any book recommendations, if you’ve read any of these books and want to share your thoughts, or if you just want to say “hi”, please find me on my socials! I’m always happy to talk to other bookish people!
