Lin's Perspective

Honestly, I can’t believe that January has already gone, and I am reading again. A lot has happened, but we keep on moving forward. I suppose my love for reading has been rejuvenated, and I hope it won’t wither for this year, as I tend to burn myself out. Here are the books I read in January:

1. The Mothers by Sarah J. Naughton
2. Bride by Ali Hazelwood
3. The Switch by Beth O’Leary
4. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros
5. Death and the Gardener by Georgi Gospodinov
6. Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen
7. Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen
8. Great and Precious Things by Rebecca Yarros
9. The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
10. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
11. What George Thinks When He Sits Still by Caroline Bell

I have attached the links to my reviews for most of them. I think I have only 2 reviews that are coming up these days.

The app I am using to track my reads is Uncover, and I mainly track there and on Goodreads. StoryGraph still needs to be updated with all the books, so I can get the stats, and I will eventually get to it for this month. Using Uncover automatically enrols me in the ongoing challenges, and I don’t mind partaking in them at all, so here is my progress:

I will also list the challenges for people’s convenience below:

1. A to Z reading challenge: I have ticked B, D, G, L, M, S and W.
2. Valentine’s book boyfriend bingo: I don’t have anything ticked yet, but the prompts are: Firefighter, Shadow Daddy (whatever this one means lol), Prince, Cinnamon roll hero, Hockey player and Mountain man.
3. Romance challenge: The ones I have got are: Contemporary romance, Small town romance, Paranormal romance and Military romance. What is left is: Holiday romance, Sports, Second chance, Western, Fantasy, Romantic comedy, Workplace and Spicy romance.
4. Romance trope bingo: The ones I have got: Grumpy and sunshine, Friends to lovers and Slow burn. I need to get: Opposites attract, Fake relationship, Forced proximity, Enemies to lovers, Age gap, Forbidden love, One bed, He falls first and Road trip.
5. Thriller challenge: This is one of the two challenges that I doubt I will be able to complete, but I have got the Psychological thriller box ticked. What is left is: Domestic thriller, Serial killer, Winter thriller, Revenge, Cold case, Kidnapping, Isolated location, Small town, Legal thriller. Blackmail and FBI.
6. Mystery challenge: this is the second one I was talking about, not being sure if I’ll complete. I have ticked only Missing person. The ones I need still are: Detective, YA mystery, Amateur sleuthing, Cosy mystery, Murder, Heist, Secret society, Historical, Paranormal, Crime solving duo and Family secrets.
7. Last but not least is the Fantasy challenge: I have ticked only 2: Witches/Wizards and Mermaids. What I have left: Cosy fantasy, Found family, Magical school/academy, Magical realism, YA fantasy, Mythology, Chosen one, Elemental magic, Urban fantasy and Historical fantasy.

BOOKS I LOVED:

This month could have been better when it comes to reading. There were 3 books in total that I ended up loving out of the 11 I have read.

1. Death and the Gardener by Georgi Gospodinov: hands down the best book I read so far this year.
2. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame: This is a classic I should have read sooner! And I thoroughly enjoyed it. A review is coming soon, and I will be ticking another book from The Classics Club challenge.
3. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros: I am in my romance era, and yes, I did end up loving this one.

In my personal life, we have been stuck inside forever! The weather is awful, rainy, gloomy and cold and as of today, snowy. There is also a virus outbreak, and every school and kindergarten is closed, so no one goes outside unless you need to pop to get groceries or something else. Ever since our government fell apart and the Euro came here, people just shut themselves in and are getting angrier and more horrible by the day. The major problem is that they are getting people from Nepal, Uzbekistan and India to fill in the jobs that are less paid because people refuse to work for 600euros when the mortgage and rent are 800euros now… it is crazy, and I hope and pray that God is with us through it all.

On a positive note here are my plants. They need repotting, but it will be when spring comes.

Hope you are having a great day and I wish you all a very happy reading ❤