January Reads (sorry it’s late)

 Hi Guys!

I am going to try to do a monthly breakdown of my reads this year (but as you can see I am behind already!) I will use the Calendar feature in Bookmory to show an overview each month and then go into more detail about each book.

January was wet, windy, icy, cold and miserable. Perfect for reading! I spent most of the month under the duvet or on my sofa with my new fleece blanket hoodie on (truly the best buy ever!). I drank lots of tea and consumed a lot of chocolate hobnobs, the perfect accompaniment to tea and a book. When I did go out, it wasn’t far, just to pick up my prescription in Brightlingsea, which meant I had purchased several books from the charity shop too to feed my addiction! I have a book journal to write down my thoughts as I finish the books so hopefully I will be able to give a more detailed review of each. 

So here is a breakdown of what I have read throughout January 2024:

1. The Book of Life (All Souls #3) By Deborah Harkness, Narrated by Jenifer Ikeda - Read between 21/12/2023 and 03/01/2024. I am listening to all of the All Souls books again as the 5th book is released later this year. I placed my pre-order for this in January and I was praised by the bookshop for being so organised. The All Souls books are one of my favourites and I’ve read them many times in all formats. This was my first listen to The Book of Life in a while. I had forgotten how much plot is crammed into the third book. It feels a bit chaotic at times and jumps from place to place. I also love that we get introduced to some great new characters in this book such as Janet Gowdie. I hope we see more of her in the 5th book. Even though this book is a bit chaotic in places it really does make a great ending to the original trilogy. I always thought Time’s Convert was meant to be a stand alone book but it seems that this has been included in the series as The Black Bird Oracle is being advertised as book five of the All Souls Series. 

2. Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgerton #4) by Julia Quinn, Narrated by Rosalyn Lander - Read between 03/01/2024 and 06/01/2024. I have listened to the previous books in this series on BorrowBox but I could not get an audio version of this so I tried the paperback. I soon realised that I prefer the audio version, I think this may have been because I saw the Netflix series first and I love the way Rosalyn Lander narrates the characters. I decided to renew my Audible subscription to finish the series. This story follows Colin and Penelope’s story. We learn a lot more about the mysterious Lady Whistledown in this book. I enjoyed Colin’s character in the previous book and the depiction in the Netflix series but in this book he comes across as possessive and controlling. However, I fell more in love with Penelope’s character as she is always happy with her place in life but she wishes for more. We get a sneak peek into the next story around Elouise at the end of this book. I am not sure I will enjoy it as much as the previous books.

3. Times Convert (All Souls #4) By Deborah Harkness, Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld - Read between 07/01/2024 and 16/01/2024. This was my first experience of this book via audiobook. I enjoyed the dramatisation but I prefered the Jenifer Ikeda as the narrator. In the original Trilogy, Marcus pops in and out but we don’t really know much about his past. This book is centred around his story as he narrates his past as he is spending time away from his mate whilst she undergoes her transformation from human to vampire. His past is very troubled, he is drawn to the American Revolution and the French Revolution. We learn about the mistakes he has made in creating his vampire family in New Orleans and how Matthew destroyed it. In telling his tale he becomes more comfortable in his own skin. The book is mainly told at the household of Matthew and Diana, and we watch as their new born twins grow and develop their witch and vampire traits. It will be interesting to see what The Black Bird Oracle has in store for them!

4. Botanincal Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland by Lisa Schneidau, Narrated by Joan Walker - Read between 18/01/2024 and 27/01/2024. Lisa Schneidau has a background in Environmental Sciences, throughout this book she makes reference to modern agricultural practices and environmental issues. It is a perfect example of how folktales can be interpreted differently over time. This is a collection of folktales that explores the complex relationship between people and plants. Some stories have been given a modern twist such as Jack and the Beanstalk where Jack is a lazy teen wanting to play computer games all day rather than helping his mum with things around the house. My favourite tale was the story of Mossycoat, it was a beautiful Cinderella type story. This book is part of a series set in different aspects of nature, I will definitely seek out the other books. 

5. The Walk by Emma Marns - a digital book read on my Kindle between 08/01/2024 and 28/01/2024. This book was advertised on the small ads network at my work. Emma Marns works at the same University as me. She sent the Amazon listing out to everyone when it was on a 99p offer. I really loved this book. It follows two best friends from a small village in Ireland who both get pregnant out of wedlock around the same time. They both have very different experiences of pregnancy in 1980s Ireland, where religious shaming is prominent. One girl is taken to a Mother and Baby home run by nuns and we see how the Scandals happened, working mothers like slaves until birth then making them stay after giving birth to work off their debts. The second girl falls pregnant by a doctor and is taken in by his extended family. Both stories focuses on how religion and piety influenced the Irish people at this time. 

I hope to post my February reviews later this week. I hope you enjoyed my reviews. I am new at this, I hope to get more confident and write longer reviews as my experience grows. Please comment if you want to know more about anything.

Have a lovely weekend,

Sammie 😊