Finally, January is over! I don’t know about you, but it felt it took forever to end. And the proof of that is the amount of book I managed to read. Last month, I read five books total and each one of them was amazing! I had a great start on my reading year, and I’m going to tell you all about it because it’s time to wrap-up January.

Wrap-Up

On my last wrap-up, I say that I had already read my first book of the year and that it was a favourite. Not only that, but it also motivated the only purchase I’ve done this month. I’m talking about Missing Pieces by Carly Anne West. This middle-grade book is the prequel to the famous game Hello Neighbor, being the first book in a series with the same name. And since I love games as much as I love books, I had to read it.

If you never heard of Hello Neighbor, do a quick search on YouTube starting with the Alpha 1 theories, and if that doesn’t spark any inner Sherlock Holmes, then this book might not be for you. I believe you can still enjoy it without any prior knowledge of the game, but having that background makes this prequel even more special. There are a lot of details that come from the game that never had a full explanation, and this book gives that, reason why this first book as landed a place on my favourite list and hopefully the rest of the series will follow the same path.

Keeping up with great books, I read You Beneath Your Skin by Damyanti Biswas for the blog tour. It was a jaw-dropping story about endurance, that delve into some hard topics, but spreads a beautiful message of hope. The book is set in India and has a lot of secrets, drama, crime, and character development. I’m so glad I jumped in the opportunity to review this book and help to spread the word on how great it is. I have some trigger warnings on my review so you definitely should read them before deciding if this book is for you or not.

Up next was two graphic novels/comic books Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson and Skyward Volume 2: Here There Be Dragonflies by Joe Henderson. Both were amazing! But let me start with my first TBR Jar pick for January: Nancy Drew. This graphic novel came to my hands at random, and I’m glad I finally read it. I never read or watched any adaptation of Nancy Drew, so my opinion is purely based on this graphic novel adaptation, and I hope it gets a second volume. The cast of characters was so diverse and up to date with modern youth that is a waste if this series dies with only one volume. I seriously hope Kelly Thompson can come back to work in more volumes.

Meanwhile, Skyward Volume 2 was the continuation of the mystery. I was expecting a deeper exploration of why there was a lack of gravity on Earth and instead was a different perspective on how gravity affected the world. It was also focused on Willa’s growth and relationship with Edison. The only volume left on this arc has to answer all my question, and I’m scared I’ll be disappointed. One volume is not enough to tell the story I want to read, but I’m still going to buy volume 3 to solve this mystery.

The last book I read was my second TBR Jar pick of the month: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. And… WHAT. THE. FUCK. This book brings a whole new meaning to the word psycho. Before getting a hold on what the story was like, I got a little scared. I wasn’t expecting a twisted mind like that, and it caught me completely off guard. Once I got to know the characters, I got used to all the madness pretty easily. I reached a point when I stop feeling shocked and grossed out, which was a shame. Another thing that disappointed me was how lucky everything felt in the end. This book was so amazing, and I’m sad it wasn’t a full five-stars read for me. If only it was more twisty, thought out, and planned, it would be my favourite book of all time. Still, it was an amazing book I’m glad I read.

Haul

From the moment I finished Missing Pieces, I had to buy the next book in the series Waking Nightmares. I was completely lost inside this version of Hello Neighbor, and I needed to know more. I needed to unlock the mystery behind it all, and after finishing Missing Pieces, with nothing to go on, I went down the rabbit hole again of YouTube theories videos. But it’s not the same. So I had to buy the next book to keep my sanity, and I can’t wait to pick it up.

Since I was already shopping, I thought to add Skyward Volume 2 into the shopping cart as well to continue the story while it was very fresh in my memory. Obviously, I already read it, and I’m kind of regretting not buying volume 3 at the same time. My wallet has to forgive me, but with series as great as these, I need to keep buying more books. It’s not my fault they are so good!

TBR

I’ve been avoiding doing TBR in the past few months because I mostly never stick to them. So this time I’m keeping it simple, only the books that I need to read ASAP. Waking Nightmares is the top of the list. After suffering weeks waiting for the book to arrive, I have to continue where I left it off.

I also need to do some ARC attack and Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker should be perfect for a short month. A graphic novel that I’m ashamed I haven’t read. Seriously. It probably takes about an hour to read, and I’ve been putting it off out of laziness. And I’m determined that February will be the month that I finally take that book from my TBR pile.

And finally, it’s time for my TBR Jar pick. It was nice to have the decision of what to read next done for me. Lady luck has chosen, and it seems February will continue to be an ARC attack month. Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman released last summer, and I’ve been trying to read it for the past I-don’t-know-how-many months. I’m the worst! If I have a deadline then everything is fine, otherwise, I will procrastinate indefinitely.

February is the smallest month of the year, and I’m determined to make it my biggest reading month. I’m in an amazing reading mood, and I need to take advantage of it while it lasts.