Jen's January 2016 Book Haul

I started the year off by buying a lot of books...again. 

The False Prince, The Runaway King, The Shadow Throne (The Ascendance trilogy) by Jennifer A. Nielsen
This is a middle grade/young adult high fantasy trilogy that I have been hearing a lot of good things about recently and it sounded like something that I would really enjoy! 

The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves & Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater 
These are the first three books in the Raven Cycle series, with the fourth book coming out later this year. I read the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by this author and it wasn't great. However I have heard numerous people rave about the Raven Cycle series who also didn't like the Wolves of Mercy Falls series so I decided to take a chance and I bought the books. 

The White Queen, The Red Queen & The White Princess by Philippa Gregory 
These books are part of the Cousin's War series and I am slowly collecting all the books in this series in my attempts to read more historical fiction. 

Prisoner of Night and Fog & Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman 
This is a historical fiction duology that sounded very interesting to me and I have also heard lots of great things about it. I also have to say that I love these UK covers! 

The Girl in 6E & Do Not Disturb by A.R. Torre 
These are the first two books in the Deanna Madden adult thriller series. I saw these in Big W one day and I love a good thriller so I decided to get them!

Maybe Someday & Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover 
I read Maybe Someday over a year ago and it was the first Colleen Hoover book I ever read. When I read the companion novella Maybe Not I loved it even more so when it was finally released in paperback I got both of these books to add to my Colleen Hoover collection. 

Becoming Rain by K.A. Tucker
This is the second book in the Burying Water series. After reading the Ten Tiny Breaths series by this author, I immediately wanted to read her new series.

Room by Emma Donoghue 
This was first published a few years ago but I had not heard anything about it until I found out about the movie release. The premise sounded very intriguing to me so I decided to buy the book and I'm so glad I did because I've already read it and ended up loving it!

The Siren by Kiera Cass 
This is a standalone fantasy romance novel that I have been wanting to read for quite a while and I'm excited to finally have it! 

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken 
This was the book that was included in the January YA Chronicles box. It's the first book in yet another fantasy series that I want to read! 

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater 
This is a standalone fantasy that I have heard some good things about and the synopsis sounded interesting enough to me. Since I was apparently on a Maggie Stiefvater buying spree I went ahead and got this one too. 

 

Game of Thrones: The Noble Houses of Westeros: Seasons 1-5

This is yet another companion book to the series but I came across this in Big W one day and I just couldn't resist!      

January 2016 Wrap Up

Jen

I’m pretty happy with how my reading went in January. Despite all the distractions that I had going on, I still managed to read all the books on my TBR and fit in a few other quick reads as well. There were some fantastic reads that are new favourites of mine (as well as some old favourites!) but also some that didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum → 5/5

The Marvellous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum → 3/5

Soundless by Richelle Mead → 5/5

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling → 5/5

Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling → 5/5

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn → 3.5/5

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon → 5/5

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery → 4.5/5

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr → 3.5/5

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (audiobook) → 4/5

Mind Games by Kiersten White → 4/5

Perfect Lies by Kiersten White → 4/5

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly → 4.5/5

Room by Emma Donoghue → 5/5 

Mel
I started out the month quite well, but petered out a bit because I was trying to read The Raven Boys and it wasn't going well. Sadly, I am marking it as DNF. The first DNF for me for years. I am disappointed too, since I've seen so many people rave about the series. I don't know if it's the slow pace or the writing style, but it is a hideously slow book to start and I was more than 150 pages in before I gave it up. I hate marking books as DNF and I try to give it a fair chance if I can, but being a third into a book and still not enjoying it... well, that speaks for itself. Instead, I turned to a favourite comic/graphic novel series that I haven't read for years and I have picked myself right out of my slump. I've already finished two books for February!!

Trick by Natalia Jaster → 5/5
Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman → 5/5
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by Gerard Way:
#1 Whatever Gets You Through The Night → 5/5
#2 Ghost Stations → 5/5
#3 Blind → 5/5
#4 Run! → 5/5
#5 Waking The Destroya → 5/5
#6 BOOM! → 5/5