January Wrap Up and February TBR

1.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (4 stars)

2.  She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick (4 stars - review)

3.  Tiger's Promise by Colleen Houck (3.5 stars - review)

4.  A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (3.5 stars)

5.  The Bane Chronicles (5 stars)

6.  The Maze Runner by James Dashner (3.5 stars)

7.  Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (5 stars)

8.  The Inventors by Alexander Gordon Smith and Jamie Webb (4.5 stars)

This month was another of my productive reading months, which was such a relief after my December slump.  I finished seven books in January, and I finished another yesterday - to be honest, that's why this wrap up is a little late; I wanted the table of pictures to be even!

I'm hoping to have reviews up for The Book Thief and A Thousand Pieces of You very soon, so I won't say too much about those, only that I was happy enough with both.  Once I'm finished The Maze Runner trilogy, I may do a series review, so all I will say about that is that it was a little too frustrating for my liking, although I thought the concept was cool and it creeped me out a couple times.

After not loving the first couple stories in The Bane Chronicles, I was pleasantly surprised to find that by the middle I couldn't put it down!  As with most Cassandra Clare fans, Magnus is one of my favourite characters from her books, so it was awesome to have this whole bind up dedicated to him.

Attachments (my first adult book!) is a new favourite.  I was not expecting to laugh out loud as often as I did!  Despite the characters being about ten years older than me, and the story being set in 1999-2000, I found it relatable and could see me and my friends having similar conversations.  The story was also adorable, even if I did find a couple of the characters' actions a tad inappropriate.

The Inventors was another book that took my by surprise!  It was a recommendation from my brother (I made him read the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, so he thought it was time I read something that he had), so I was expecting it to be a little ridiculous, and it was, but not in an over the top way.  I have no idea if this book is more middle grade or YA, because sometimes it seemed as though it was catered to a younger audience, but towards the end the themes got very intense, and I don't think I would give that to a kid!  It was super fun and action-packed, which made for an enjoyable read.

I think it's interesting that four of the books I read this month were by male authors, considering that last year I only read seven books written by male authors.  I've never really paid attention to the diversity of the novels that I read, but I think this year I'm going to start paying a little more attention to it.

1.  Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold by Iain Reading

2.  Florence by Ciye Cho

3.  The Young Elites by Marie Lu

4.  Splintered by A. G. Howard

I've decided just to put these four on my TBR for this month because I know I am definitely going to be reading them.  I'm already currently reading Kitty Hawk (which I received from the publicity company in exchange for an honest review), it's just taking me a little while because I am awful at reading e-books, I admit it.  Otherwise, I'm actually really enjoying it so far - it's so exciting!  I receive Florence from the author in exchange for an honest review, so I am going to read and review that this month too.  It's been a while since I've read a mermaid book.  The Young Elites FINALLY arrived in the library after several months and I'm thrilled that I can FINALLY read it.  I've already started, and so far so good.  I've also got Splintered out from the library and I've heard nothing but good things.

I'm also going to read some books that I own that I haven't read yet.  I've started Heir of Fire but I've put it on hold for now because I wasn't really in the mood for it when I first picked it up so it's thrown me off a little.  I'm also currently reading The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories by William Trevor, a book that my grandma handed down to me the other week just 'coz.  I don't if she ever read it because I found a coupon to enter the draw to win a set of encyclopedias in 1994.  Anyway, I don't think I'm going to finish that this month because I'm making my way very slowly through the stories.

Other things that have been on my mind this Month

I got accepted into my first preference for uni courses and I enrolled last week, so I couldn't be much happier with that.  I went to an information session too, which made me feel a little better as it seems that everyone is happy to help out if I have any issues.  Okay, I'm still scared out of my wits, but I think once I get used to it, I'll be alright.  I still have a month 'til orientation, so I can prepare myself.

There's been this cute, tiny little mouse wandering around the outside of the house lately, and I know everyone hates mice but it's so adorable!  I regret telling my parents about my sightings because I fear they're going to poison it.  It hasn't done any harm yet...

I considered splitting this post in two because it's so long, but I'm already late with it!

How was January for you?  What are you planning for Feb?