January Reading Wrap Up

As a new book blogger, I figured one really fun thing to do at the end of each month is put together a blog post about all the books I read during the month. So welcome to my January 2023 reading wrap up!

In January, I read five books. Two were nonfiction, one was a romance, two were mystery/thriller, and I loved ALL of them.

Without giving away too much, I’m going to talk about what I thought about each of the books and what I rated them out of 5.

I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jennette McCurdy

I grew up in the iCarly era. iCarly was everywhere, which meant so was Jennette McCurdy. Like just about everyone else, I loved the show, but had no idea what Jennette was going through behind the scenes.

Jennette talks about how she got into acting at the age of 6 because it was always her mother’s dream to be an actress. She would have done anything to make her mom happy, so acting it was.

Reading her story, I really got a grasp of just how hard it is to be a child actor on mental and physical health. She gave a great insight not only the industry, but the pressure put on children by their parents, Jennette especially by her mom.

It was heartbreaking reading what Jennette went through in her older years as she processed the trauma and abuse she experienced as a kid. But it was also inspiring to read how she overcame her struggles.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Jennette’s story and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading memoirs. Five stars, for sure.

Family of Liars – E. Lockhart

Next up on my January reading wrap up is Family of Liars by E. Lockhart. While this is a prequel to We Were Liars, I highly recommend you read this after as it does contain spoilers.

Family of Liars follows a story about the mothers of the kids from We Were Liars when they were around the same age. The story mainly follows Carrie, the oldest, during the summer she was 17, the year following the death of their youngest sister.

A surprising set of guests come to the family island with Carrie’s cousins – teenage boys. There is some love, some fun, and a dark secret shared between sisters.

I will admit, I definitely did not expect the twist that was coming. I knew there was going to be some twist, but I couldn’t have guessed what happened.

4 stars out of 5 for this book because I enjoyed reading it, but it did have a hard time holding my attention in some places. Overall, I do recommend this book!

Book Lovers – Emily Henry

This was the first Emily Henry book I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. It was a quick read, with a really well thought out plot. The story is told from Nora’s point of view, a book agent in NYC, as she goes on a trip with her sister.

One of Nora’s authors based a novel on a small town called Sunshine Falls, which is where Nora’s sister, Libby decides she wants to go on their trip. While there, Nora runs into Charlie, a book editor she doesn’t really get on well with.

I wasn’t very surprised when Charlie and Nora started getting closer and eventually caught feelings for each other, but I was pretty surprised when Charlie said the relationship will never be able to go anywhere.

To learn more about what books I read and how I rated them, read the full post over at http://readwithv.com/reading-wrap-up-january/