Books Read in January 2021

 Last year I had decided to keep track of all of the books I read throughout the year because I was interested to know how much I'd read in a year. I wrote a blog post on all of the books I had read in 2020 but I thought that for this year I would do a monthly blog post on all of the books I read each month and on what I thought about them - something I didn't do for the 2020 book roundup as I felt that it would have made that blog post far too long😄.

These are the books I read in January:

 

Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard

"Two years after a downward spiral took her as low as you can possibly go, Suzanne is starting again. Again. She's back in Brighton, the only place she felt she belonged, back with her best friends Caddy and Rosie. But they're about to leave for university. When your friends have been your light in the darkness, what happens when you're the one left behind?"

This is a sequel to the book 'Beautiful Broken Things' which I hadn't even realised before purchasing the book. I got the book because of the author - I really enjoy all of Sara Barnard's books - and so when I heard about Fierce fragile Hearts, I knew I had to give it a read. The fact that or turned out to be a sequel to Beautiful Broken Things was an added extra. I loved Beautiful Broken Things and so getting to hear a continuation of the story from another characters point of view was brilliant. I loved this book just as much as the first.

The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan

"When Leigh's mother dies by suicide, she leaves only a scribbled note - I want you to remember. Guided by a mysterious red bird, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her grandparents for the first time. There, Leigh retreats into art and memories, where colours collide, the rules of reality are broken and the ghosts of the past refuse to rest ... But Leigh is determined to unlock her family's secrets."

I'm not too sure what I expected before reading this book, but the storyline didn't go in the way I had thought it might😄. I felt it was a beautifully written book which dealt with grief in such a delicate (I can't think of the word I'm actually meaning so I'll go with delicate) way and used such stunning imagery throughout. 

Misery by Stephen King

"Paul Sheldon. He's a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader - she is Paul's nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house."

Stephen King's writing always feels so realistic, and this book was no exception! There are so many disturbing parts in this book, and yet I still wanted to read on. I felt the story really picked up about halfway through and I felt like I could hardly put the book down because I really wanted to know how it was all going to end!

Letter to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

"Juliet Young always writes letters to her mother, a world-travelling photojournalist. Even after her mother's death, she leaves letters at her grave. 

Declan Murphy isn't the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he's trying to escape the demons of his past.

When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he's opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither Declan not Juliet knows that they're not actually strangers. When life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart."

I read this book for the first time a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it - so much so that I even wrote a book review for it here on my blog - so I decided to read it again (since I genuinely love re-reading books!) and I enjoyed it just as much this second time round. Brigid Kemmerer is definitely becoming one of my favourite Young Adult fiction writers.

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

"Rev works hard to keep the demons of the time before his adoption at bay ... until a letter from his father after his 18th birthday brings the trauma of his childhood hurtling back. Emma escapes real life by perfecting the online game she built from scratch. Coding is way easier than facing her parents' crumbling relationship or the growing distance with her best friend ... But when an online troll's harassment starts to escalate, she fears for her safety. When Rev and Emma meet, they're buckling under the weight of their secrets. Though both of them find it hard to put their problems into words, they connect instantly and deeply. Rev and Emma's problems might be worlds apart, but they promise to help each other no matter what. But promises are made to be tested and some things hurt more than we can tell.

From the same world as 'Letters to the Lost', 'More Than We Can Tell' is told from the dual perspectives of Declan's (Letters to the Lost) best friend Rev and a girl named Emma. I was so glad to get a book that is partly told from Rev's perspective as he was one of my favourite characters in Letter's the the Lost and he sounded like he would have an interesting story of his own. I read this book so quickly, I could hardly put it down!

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood

"As a boy, Charlie St Cloud narrowly survived a car crash that killed his little brother. Sam Years later, still unable to recover from his loss, Charlie has taken a job tending to the cemetery where Sam is buried. When he meets Tess Carroll, an adventurous woman training for a solo sailing trip around the world, they discover a beautiful and uncommon connection that, after a violent storm at sea, eventually forces them to choose between death and life, past and present, holding on and letting go."

 I had read this book years ago but couldn't remember it at all - which was actually pretty surprising because I really enjoyed this book and the twists of the story. It was quite a short, fast-paced book which was the perfect read for the end of the month.

What have you been reading this month?

Bye for now, xo