My reading year started off with a bang!
I seriously did not read a bad book all month. And not only that, most of the books I read were 5 stars.
The books I read crossed several genres, including
- Romance
- Historical Fiction
- Literary Fiction
- Thriller
I should mention that there are other books I started that I plan to return to in February that I am also excited about.
These are the titles I finished in January 2024.
The Christmas Star by Kate Forster
I started the month by finishing my last Christmas book of the season. I picked this one up on whim a when I saw it for free in the Audible Plus catalog. (Not really free for everyone, but free for those who have an Audible subscription.) This was a thoroughly enjoyable listen. I never knew I loved the fake-romance trope, but now I know I do. And this one was especially fun because one of the characters doesn’t actually know the true identity of the other, who happens to be a famous movie star. Not only was it a fun and heartfelt story, I also thought that it was very well-written. Add this one to your Christmas TBR for next year! (Unless you’re one of those people, like me!, who like to read Christmas books all year round!)
If I Were You by Lynn Austin
As soon as I learned that the The Wish Book Christmas was part of a series (albeit a very short series), I knew I wanted to read more. That’s why one of my first reads of the year was If I Were You.
If I Were You is an epic novel that tells the story of life in England during World War II through the lens of two women who are the same age, but polar opposites in every other way. The book starts in the present, in 1950 in the United States, when widowed war bride Audrey Clarkson and her young son show up at the home of the parents of her deceased husband in Connecticut to find her old longtime friend Eve Dawson pretending to be her. The book then goes back and tells how they got to where they are and why.
I loved this book! It is beautifully written and has such well-developed characters. If you like historical fiction, especially World War 2 historical fiction, definitely check this one out!
The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
One of the reasons I love historical fiction is learning about moments in history that I previously knew nothing about. I am so thankful for authors like Vanessa Miller who do such an amazing job of bringing these historical events and people to light.
The American Queen tells the story about a group of formerly enslaved Americans who were forced out of their homes in Mississippi. They travel northward in search of their own land where they could settle and establish their own community, and they do just that under the leadership of their sweet queen and king in a series of providential events. This is a beautiful and true story about loyalty, survival, trust, power, love, and forgiveness.
I loved this audio version. My favorite part was when the narrator would sing. She really brought Louella to life. I love how this book shows how God works in ways we can’t even imagine. This definitely came through in the ending of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Thomas Nelson Fiction for sharing this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.
Dark Corners by Megan Goldin
Thrillers are not my go-to genre, but this is my fourth Megan Goldin novel, and I have enjoyed every one. I especially like the Rachel Krall series. The Rachel Krall character has a way of bringing a human touch to stories that would feel pretty hopeless without her point of view. Rachel is a popular true-crime podcaster whom we first met in The Night Swim, which came out in 2020. In Dark Corners, Rachel is called to help out the FBI by meeting with an inmate they believe is somehow involved in the recent disappearance of a popular influencer. The book ends up being a deep dive into the underbelly of the influencer world. There’s also a lesson that sometimes there are other explanations for what may seem obvious at first glance. As one of the main characters says, “The scariest monster is the one that hides in plain sight.” This book had me hooked from the beginning to the end.
I really hope there are more books in the Rachel Krall series, especially now that she’s dating an FBI agent.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.
Greek Lessons by Han Kang
Within the first chapter of this book, I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it. But because I have a rule that I always give books at least four chapters before I DNF, I decided to stick it out. AND I am so glad I did!
This is what I would call quiet literary fiction. It was the perfect read right after finishing a fast-paced thriller. This book explores so many interesting topics such as religion, existentialism, childhood trauma, language, cultural differences, and more. But when I think about it, I think the most important theme is how we cope with challenges in life caused by situations that are out of our control, and how those challenges have a tendency to alienate people from others — often through no fault of their own. It made me realize how often people are walking around bearing something really hard and doing so quietly.
While this isn’t a book you’re going to see on BookTok, I predict that this is a book people will still be reading 50 years from now. I think this is the kind of book that could be assigned reading in a college-level course because of the wide breadth of philosophical topics it explores.
And, yes, given the title, part of the book does take place in a Greek course. I took three years of Ancient Greek in college, so I loved the parts where they discussed the intricacies of the Greek language, and what it’s like learning a dead language.
Expect this one to be a slow burn at the start, but given that it’s less than 200 pages, it’s over rather quickly.
My first thought after finishing this one is that I want to read it again! I rarely feel that way about a book.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Call of the Wild was my pick for the Reading Through the Decades Reading Challenge for books that were published between 1900 and 1909. I remember reading this book in school in third grade, but I remembered so little about it. I really enjoyed this book, and also found it relatively easy to read. I say relatively because there isn’t a lot of dialogue in this book, and I often find that dialogue can help move a story line along. It follows the life of a dog named Buck, who is a domesticated dog in Northern California. He is stolen from his owner and sold to join a team of dogs that serve those involved in the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory in Canada, just East of the Alaska border. The new world he is brought into is completely new to him, and he has to quickly learn how to navigate this world in order to survive. Buck undergoes a complete transformation from domesticated dog to a dog that not only serves humans, but also learns how to survive in the wild. I thought it served as an interesting commentary on human nature as he has to learn how work with different types of people — some good and some very bad.
At just over 100 pages this is a pretty quick read. I chose this edition to share because it includes the original illustrations, which also show up in the Kindle version as well.
What did you read this month?? I would love to hear about it!
