Beauty is not my only love, reading is also something I absolutely love to do in my spare time, and have created a challenge for myself to read 52 books this year (1 book a week). To start the challenge off, the books pictured I have read during the month of January.
Bare Bones: I’m Not Lonely If You’re Reading This Book, by Bobby Bones is a memoir/biography. I loved this book, it was so honest and relatable, which who doesn’t love being able to relate to an author?? The book is written by radio dj Bobby Bones, and covers his life and the experiences he has had so far. I love reading biographies, there is just something about reading about someones life and learning things you didn’t know about them… it’s one of my favorite types of books to read. This one did not disappoint. Bobby (after reading this book I definitely feel like we’re on a first name basis) discusses his childhood, college, his first job, love, and everything in between. I don’t want to give too much away, so I won’t go into detail, but I hands down recommend this book and give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ .
Matched by Ally Condie is a young adult-dystopian style book. The idea is that Cassia lives in a perfect society where everything is chosen for you, from occupation to life expectancy, to love. At 16 everyone is put into a Matched Ceremony where they are shown who their perfect match is. For Cassia she is Matched with a good friend of hers, Xander, but then she sees another face flash on the screen, Ky’s. The book goes through her emotions of trying to fall in love with Xander knowing the practicality of the match, but wanting to explore her own feelings on love with Ky and life as someone who gets to choose her own destiny instead of one being chosen for her. I thought it was a good book, but I found myself disengaged from the concept and storyline. I liked it, but I definitely won’t finish out the trilogy by reading the other books. If you like the dystopian style books I would recommend it, but I only gave it ⭐⭐⭐.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith is a historical-horror/fiction book. The book follows Abraham Lincoln and his encounters throughout history, including how it impacted his grandfather, mother, and former girlfriend. As a young man he embarks on a journey to rid the world of vampires and after paring with Henry, a vampire himself, he does just that. The book follows Lincoln’s political life, inserting vampire excursions throughout, up until his death. This was honestly a book I would normally not choose and I’m not sure why I picked it up to begin with, but I loved it! It was so entertaining and kept me pulled into the story throughout, it was a good surprise. The only thing I did not like was that the story jumps from Lincoln’s personal journal to the authors interpretation, it made it hard to read for myself personally. However, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical-ficton type stories, I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐.
The Time-Traveling Fashionista On Board the Titanic by Bianca Turetsky is a youth fiction. The book centers around Louisa, a young fashionista, as she traverses through time thanks to a vintage dress. She finds herself on board the Titanic in the body of one of more glamorous first class passengers. Upon learning that she is onboard the Titanic she attempts to divert the tragedy, so the majority of the story follows her attempts to thwart the sinking. I’m not even going to lie, this book I picked solely because of the cover, it’s beautiful and sparkly. That said, while this was a cute story, it was way too young for me, and I found myself bored. I am definitely passing this on to my young nieces, who are more age appropriate for this story. I gave this story a ⭐⭐⭐.
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco is a historical teen fiction book. It follows Audrey Rose, a Lord’s daughter, who is fascinated with forensic medicine, and despite a disapproving father joins her uncle in the morbid hobby. The story quickly picks up on similarities in a few murdered women that have come into her uncles lab. While trying to figure out the motives behind these disturbing murders, Audrey Rose and her love-interest Thomas decide to follow suspects and women to see if they can solve the murders. All-the-while, Audrey Roses’ family members are falling victim, while not in life-ending terms, to the Jack the Ripper character. In attempt to fix her family and solve this murder Audrey Rose makes it her mission to figure out how her family and these cases are connected. I honestly LOVED this story! It was so captivating and enchanting. I don’t normally like historical/time-period type stories (despite having read two this month), but this book was amazing. It was a pick from Paige from Creating & Co (the etsy shop) for her book club/monthly reading, which is why I read it. It did not disappoint and I highly highly recommend it! I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.
Those were my reads for the month of January. Feel free to follow me in this challenge through Goodreads (Ashley Torres).
Happy Reading!
Ashley
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