January 2017 Reading Wrap-up

I had a good reading month.  I read six books which is really good for me!  I was trying to meet my goodreads goal for 2016 but didn't quite make it so I finished a couple of books at the beginning of the month.

I want to say a little about my rating process.  I give most of the books that I read 4 or 5 out of 5 starts.  If I really loved it and thought it was amazing then I will give it 5 starts.  If I really liked it but not quite as much as books that I have given 5 stars then I will give it 4 starts.  If I liked it and it was pretty good I will give it 3 stars.  I have never given a book a 1 or 2 start rating.  Basically if I don't like a book I am just going to stop reading it, there are too many other books that I want to read to waste my time on a book I really don't like.  I don't think it is fair to rate a book that I have not finish thus no book that I have finished has ever gotten below a 3 star rating.  Someday I may change this but for now that is how I rate books.

I am going to list the books in the order that I read them I will try to stay away from spoilers, if I ever do a review on any of them then that will have spoilers:

• Gemina (The Illuminae File, #2) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 5 Stars - I love this Syfy series I love the format that it is told in, it is something different and creative and really work.  I loved booth books so far, the first one a little bit more than the second one.  This book I both read and listened to the audio book at the same time.  The audio book was amazing with different narrators for each character.  
• A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall 5 Stars -  Last year I read a lot of fantasy books which I love but they are usually soooooooooooooo long so I decided to try a contemporary book since they are usually shorter.  This was a great choice for me to delve into contemporary books.  This was such a cute story.  It is a love story told by many different points of view but never by the two main characters.  It is told through family, roommates, friends, teachers, a waitress at a dinner and ever by a bench and a squirrel.  The squirrel was one of my favorite points of view it was just so cute.  This was a cute and refreshing story and I really loved it.
• Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu  4 Stars -  a good graphic novel, the art work is beautiful, the story was very good.  I am looking forward to continuing with the series.
• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon  5 Stars  -   I love Nicola Yoon. I have read both of her novels and I have loved both of them.  This books has so much in it.  It has romance, immigrants, deportation, cultural differences of difference races and what that can mean for an interracial marriage.  This was a fun story to read yet it held a big punch for some of the not so good things happening in America today.
• Journey of the Sentinels (Protectors Book 1) by Jan Perry  4 Stars  -  I received an advanced review copy of this book. I loved this story! The author is a wonderful story teller. I loved the characters and the setting and the magical aspects. The writing was engaging and makes you want to read more. I like hearing from the different perspectives of all the characters but would have preferred one perspective per chapter. It gets a little confusing sometimes with many points of views being given. Overall I loved this book and the writing and I cant wait to continue the story.
• Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks  5 Stars  -  I loved this graphic novel!  It was a fun fast read and one of my all time favorite graphic novels.  It made me realized that I like graphic novels with ghosts in them.  Two of  my favorite graphic novels have ghosts in them. It is about a girl who has been home schooled by her mom and now she is enter a public high school as a freshman.  It is about her trying to find her way in a new environment, make friends and of course a ghost story.  I loved it!

So that is it for the books that I read this month.  I will be back at least at the end of February for an other wrap up post or possibly sooner if I want to do a book review.  If I can I am going to sign up for the Love-a-thon that is on February 18 - 19.  I thought that might be something fun to do.

Thanks for reading my blog, see you soon!  Brooke

Hello!

My name is Brooke and I am starting this blog to share my thoughts and feelings about the books that I have read.  I prefer to read young adult books so most of the books will be young adult.

The first post I want to make will be my Top 10 books of 2016, I am not ranking them however the number one book was my favorite of the year.

1.  The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

I loved this book! I read it at the beginning of the year and it stuck with me the whole year.  At first it was kinda hard to get into because all the names were not familiar but once I figured it out I love it.  I loved the story and I loved her writing.

2.  Maus I & Maus II by Art Spiegelman

These two books were great historical graphic novels.  They are about a man, the father of the author, who survived the holocaust.  Very difficult to read at times because what he had to endure was so awful but definitely a great read. 

3.  Sirens by Kiera Cass

I love Kiera Cass.  Her writing is just so fun to read and I love her stories.  I will read anything that she writes. 

4.  The Crown by Kiera Cass

As I said I love Kiera Cass and will read anything that she writes.  This is the last book in the Selection Series which is one of my favorite series of all time.

5.  Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

I have read the first 4 books in this series and this is by far my favorite.  I love how badass Celaena and I love the aspect of magic and fire added in this book.  I loved the friendship between Celaena and Rowan (that is why I liked this book more than Queen of Shadows).  As I am reading these books I walk around the house either mimicking Celaena with her swords or fire because I love how bagass she is.

6.  Soundless by Richelle Mead

I have not seen this book on many favorite lists but I really liked this book.  When I heard that all the people were deaf and that one day the main character wakes up and she can hear I was expecting it to be all butterflies and flowers and she would right away understand what people said to her and be able to talk but it was so I was pleasantly surprised!  The author did a wonderful job of portraying what it would be like to one day wake up and be able to hear for the first time in your life.  I also liked the Chinese mythology that was in it.

7.  Passenger by Alexander Braken

Loved this book!  I for one like time travel stories and I loved traveling to different countries in different times.  It make me want to read more historical fiction books.

8.  This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

I loved this book.  I love dystopian books so this was right up my alley.  The idea that monsters are created by evil acts is very interesting.  I loved the character August and how he struggle with being good or evil.  Cant wait for the next book.

9.  Everland by Wendy Spinale

This is a steampunk, dystopian retelling of Peter Pan.  Such and awesome concept and I loved the book.  I was a very interesting retelling and I loved the steampunk aspects.

10.  What Light by Jay Asher

This was a very cute contemporary Christmas novel and I loved it!  I loved reading a Christmas book and it was a very cute story.  It has made me want to read more contemporary.

So that is my top 10 of 2016.  I am going ot put the link down below to my goodreads page of all the books I read in 2016.  I hope that it works.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2016/36802839?utm_content=yyib_button&utm_medium=email&utm_source=yyib_2016_12

That's all for now.  Thanks for checking out my blog!