We may almost be through February but it's never too late to look back at last month. January was a good start of the year for me reading-wise as I read a lot of five-star reads. Was I too generous with my rating? Maybe, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Sometimes you just get lucky and find lots of books you enjoy. I was going to write lots of individual reviews but I fell behind and I figured it would be way easier to just combine them together, and more fun for me.

Winter’s Orbit (Winter's Orbit #1) - Everina Maxwell

Winter’s Orbit centres around an arranged marriage. Jainan and Kiem don’t know each other before they’re forced to marry to satisfy some kind of space covenant. Prince Kiem gets asked to marry the representative of another planet who is recently widowed and spends a lot of the book comparing himself to his cousin Taam who Jainan was married to before Taam died in an accident. It’s later discovered that it wasn’t as much of an accident as first expected and that becomes a whole mystery to explore. It was obvious from the start Jainan and Taam’s marriage hadn’t been all it appeared and although Kiem believes Jainan to be still grieving a lost love and being forced into marriage too soon a lot comes out as the book progresses.

If you’re looking to explore a lot of space this isn’t as space heavy as some sci-fi books but I really wanted to read for the romance so I wasn’t too disappointed by that. It was a great book, maybe a little slower than some books but I was hooked trying to figure out who killed Taam and why. I’ve not read the next book in this series yet but I think they’re all standalone anyway so that’s alright.

A Deadly Education (The Scholomance #1) - Naomi Novik

I picked this up for one of my challenges and I’d been putting off reading it for awhile. I can see why reviews were mixed for A Deadly Education, the writing style was different. It was very slow to develop when it came to plot and it was worldbuilding heavy so I imagine that put people off but that was what made me love it. The world of the Scholomance and the school itself was complex so it needed to spend time explaining things and the way it was written it never felt like an info dump. 

Galadriel was an outcast in her junior year with no allies in a school that had a thousand things trying to kill her until Orion Lake saved her (although she would debate if the rescue was required). That single incident led to the events of the book and it was brilliant. I didn’t want to put it down and was invested in the story. I didn’t even know what the story would be until the very end when El found herself working with Orion and others in the school to try and save everyone. It just worked, and there was enough of a cliffhanger at the end that I immediately started the second book.

The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2) - Naomi Novik

This book was less heavy with the world-building compared to the first. You were familiar with the Scholomance at this point it wasn’t necessary and so it was all about building to graduation except it didn’t go as expected. I was a little surprised at the turn this book took but it made sense. 

I liked seeing El battle a lot more and also building up a larger group of connections. She didn’t like people yet found herself forced to spend time with them and even help them at times. I like to view this as growth as she learnt she didn’t have to like everyone she helped, and even reluctantly liked some of them without realising she’d let it happen. We got to see El realise that she was strong and see others recognise that too. It was interesting to see how different people reacted. Some accepted her as she was and liked her. Some didn’t care either. And obviously, some wanted to use it to their advantage. 

I struggle to say too much about this book without spoiling things but it definitely took turns I wasn’t expecting and I will say if you enjoy this series then make sure you have the final book when you’re almost finished with this one as the cliffhanger is brutal.

Special Mention 4.5 rating

The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance #3) - Naomi Novik

After the brutal ending of the last book I immediately picked up the final book in the series the next morning. I slew through the book in a single day, an impressive feat for me considering I seem to have developed the attention span of a gnat. Social media has definitely destroyed my attention span.

The final book didn’t quite reach 5 stars for me. It was an excellent ending to a brilliant series. It was interesting to see El and her classmates outside of the Scholomance and see what magic was like out in the real world. Considering the events of the last book, a lot was going on and it was really quite emotional at times. I liked seeing how classmates behaved in the real world as they were no longer in the bubble the school created and they once more had the privileges they experienced in their normal lives. I found some of the alliances really interesting and it was nice to know El was as clueless outside of the school as in it. She seemed to have a brain for magic but then real people and real life were beyond her. 

I liked getting answers to some questions that had lingered since the first book and I was impressed that even in this book it managed to surprise me. I won’t spoil anything, there were some frustrations on how the story got wrapped up and I’m not sure I liked the answer to some of the questions. But whatever, it worked and it really explored morality and the extent people will go to for their own comfort.

Favourite

The Chemistry of Familiar Objects - Alexandra Vasti

Alexandra Vasti became a favourite author of mine from just her novellas so I instantly downloaded when she had a new one out and she really is an amazing historical romance writer. It helped that I’d just finished a book I’d thought I’d love and ended up hating because it was such a chore to read so I was happy to read this and realise I wasn’t in a reading slump that was just a bad book.

Emmeline and Robert were just brilliant. They were total opposites and the spark between them was obvious. I wasn’t certain how it was going to go given how dismissive and almost cruel Emmeline had been at the start telling Robert she was evicting him but as soon as you got to know her it was clear there was no malice (not truly) she simply enjoyed getting a reaction from him and didn’t understand him completely. She truly didn’t consider how a sudden eviction might be difficult and she did regret it. And then they had more important things to think about than a silly eviction as someone had broken in and stolen from her and there was a whole conspiracy cracking off to investigate.

I wish this had been longer yet I am also thrilled with how fully developed the plot and the characters were considering this was a novella. I didn’t want to stop reading and I am happy to say I am not in fact ina reading slump so I’m glad I downloaded this when I did.

Reread

Next Year in Havana (The Perez Family #1) - Chanel Cleeton

I went into this book loving it and I finished it loving it just as much the second time around. I’ve already spoken of my love for this one so not sure I should repeat myself. Please see my previous review for what made this book so amazing.

And that was my reading month of January. It was nice to read so many books that I loved. Sadly, there were some disappointments but I don't want to think of those. What were your favourite reads of January? And did you read any of the ones I loved last month?

I don't often write posts for Top Ten Tuesday but when I browsed the list of prompts at the start of the year this one caught my eye. I read quite a few shorter reads last year and I just knew I had some books I wanted to talk about. When I began browsing my read list by number of pages I realised I actually had a large collection of shorter books to recommend.

I was originally going to limit it to under 150 pages but I have read some spectacular novellas which are a bit longer than that. These are all books which can be read in a single sitting though and I really think that’s enough when it comes to choosing books for when time is short. The books are listed in page length when any series is grouped together.

Taste (82 pages) & Lick (58 pages) 

This weird little vampire romance duology wasn’t ever on my radar. I couldn’t find an interesting vampire romance to read for the Romanceopoly prompt last year and went down a google deep dive for something interesting and Taste popped up onto my radar. It was short, so I was guaranteed to be able to finish and complete that pesky reading prompt and it was on Kindle Unlimited so no need to buy anything new. It was perfect and now I’m annoyed practically no one has read this.

In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation (90 pages) (and the rest of the Halifax Hellions series)

This series was spectacular but this very first book in the little novella series was perfect. It was shorter than the next two but it wasn’t any less brilliant. I think I read all 3 books in a single weekend and this firmly placed Alexandra Vasti on my favourites author list. I still haven’t read a full length book from her.

The Wedding Bait (105 pages)

Not only was this a great romance novella but it features to older characters. Characters in romance novels are frequently mid twenties or early thirties like if you haven’t fallen in love with the one by thirty five you might as well give up hope. I seriously need to read more from Adele Buck but I simply forgot about her as an author.

Loving the Secret Billionaire (125 pages)

This might be the weakest read on this list but I decided to include because I did enjoy it. The two things which drew me to it were virgin hero and he was blind. I was intrigued by the concept and how it would be handled and it delivered a surprisingly sweet read. 

Let It Shine (134 Pages)

Another historical romance on the list (why are there so many historical romance novellas?). This time it’s an Alyssa Cole book and there are actually 2 novellas from the author I love and both are set during more recent history. I rated this one five stars and I remember it being a powerful read. It dealt with some difficult topics and considering the short length of the novella still managed to make you feel the force of the story and not feel like you hadn’t explored things well.

Desire and the Deep Blue Sea (142 pages)

Olivia Dade is another author I adore, I’ll read anything and everything she writes. This was one of the earlier books I read from her before she got big and got amazing new covers and got herself fancy Afterlight editions of some of her books. It was a wonderful read. A fake relationship and hate to love? Honestly, it was like it was made for me!

All Systems Red (144 pages)

I think everyone is familiar with The Murderbot series at this point but I was late to the game reading. I’m not featuring all the books from the series as they aren’t all short and really the first book will tell you if you’re interested in investing in it all. It’s a strange little series, a robot designed for combat expect it developed self awareness and decided it would hack itself and do it’s own thing. I need to reread this whole series, I’ve only ever listened to the audiobooks so think I need to invest an read them second time around and then catch up on reading the rest.

One Night With the Sexiest Man Alive (158 pages)

This is now approaching the longer end of the books but I wanted to feature an Ainslie Paton book because she’s brilliant. I put off reading this for ages and I honestly couldn’t tell you why. It had the usual writing style I’ve grown to love from the author and it had strong characters who had excellent banter and it just worked ok. I have yet to finish the series (oops) but I know I’ll get to it soon(ish).

Snowspelled (170 pages)

This book was mostly the reason I didn’t want to restrict myself to less than 150 pages because I immediately thought of this book for this week’s theme but it wasn’t short enough! I decided to say sod it and have it a little longer. This is a perfect historical fantasy romance (yes, 3 genres in one here folks). It has a good mystery and an interesting plot. You honestly care about the characters and the magic system was interesting. I loved everything about it and kick myself I’m yet to finish the series.

The Chemistry of Familiar Objects (172 pages)

It feels wrong to feature multiple books from the same author, especially when these are the only books she has out right now. This is a new novella released this year and I loved it, it was actually my favourite read of January so how could I not include it? It may not be long but it made quite an impact.

Honourable Mention: A Night at the Tropicana (41 pages)

This little novella gets an honourable mention. It may have had a place within my top ten but I only finished it last night and couldn’t bring myself to evict one of my picks so instead it gets a bonus position. This really is a short read and it may not be enough of a read for some but for a quick escape it really is perfect. If you like Chanel Cleeton’s Cuba series then this is definitely one for you if you have a bit of time to spare and can’t decide on your next book.

What shorter books have you enjoyed in the past? Have you read any on my list or will you know you’ve heard a little about them?

I suppose it makes sense that I should return to blogging and look back on the past year. I may not have blogged but I have actually been reading reasonably well. Sure, I went through slumps at various points through the year but with the pressure off of me to read because I was no longer blogging and it actually helped me rediscover my love of reading. I did worry at one point last year that I would have to stop thinking of myself as a bookworm as I was only readying 4 or 5 books in a month and I was really forcing myself to get there. Thankfully, the passion returned and I am reading a lot more. I figured it was best to look back at last year and tell you about the highs and lows. Storygraph makes this incredibly easy as it gives you a yearly wrap up and gives you loads of stats. I thought I was going to have to go through my book tracker spreadsheet to get all this info so this should be fun.

 I read 115 books.

Look at the pretty graph representation of the books I finished, this was fun to see when my reading slumps hit.

I DNFed 6 books. I admit, this figure was probably far higher but I didn't mark every book I started and read about a chapter of before abanding as DNF which I will change for 2024.

My most read author was Sarina Bowen as I read the whole of the True North series along with a few spin off books and developed a full obsession with Vermont. Also Bill Willingham as I began reading the Fables series of comics again but I don't know if I really count that as most read author.

My average star rating was 4.04 which isn't surprising considering I will probably DNF any book that I would rate under 3 stars but is interesting to see.

I read 26 5 star books. There were a few rereads in there but still a bit of a surprise to see.

I leant towards light-hearted reads with a slight dip at the end of the year when I raced through some books by Karen Rose, not sure what else caused the dip. 

I read mostly romance, this isn't really a surprise but I did dip into a few other genres as I forced myself to read books I owned and tried to cut down on my book spending.

Looking at my books read I forgot I even read some of these last year! They obviously made an impact on me. I wanted to highlight my favourites, this won't be all of my 5 star reads and I'm choosing to exclude rereads from my list because I've probably spoken about them before but below are the books which I enjoyed and am glad I read in 2023.