Monday, February 1, 2021

January Reading List

 Did anyone else breathe a sigh of relief when they unlocked their phone this morning and saw that it was first of February? Can we just group January in with the rest of 2020 and say that February is the official start of 2021? 

Even though January felt like the longest month that has ever existed, it was a really good month just to stay inside, sit by a fire, and read at night. I didn’t make it through as many books as I have the past few months, but I did read five really good ones!

Sleigh Belles, by Beth Albright

I listened to all three books on Audible one after the other. Fair warning, if you are not a fan of an over the top Southern accent, I would suggest actually reading this book versus listening to the audio version. 

 

Right after Christmas I started listening to the The Sassy Belles book series, and I was so quickly sucked into the lives of Blake, Vivi, Dallas, and their friends and family in Tuscaloosa, AL. Sleigh Belles centers around Dallas Dubois, her career, love life, family life, and the spirit of Christmas. 

 

Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah

I know I have said this before, but after reading The Nightingale I have become such a big of Hannah. Her writing style is just so beautiful and I love the way she is able to weave together a story. 

 

Winter Garden is a story of love, loss, and redemption, with an overarching theme that it is never too late to love, build relationships, and to never give up hope. This book alternates between World War II Russia and modern day America. I cannot recommend this big enough, it literally has something for everyone. 

 

The Red Thread, by Ann Hood

The main character of this book, Maya open an adoption agency, The Red Thread, which specializes in placing babies from China with American families. Maya finds comfort in bringing new families together as a way of paying atoning for her own past, which eventually leads her to her own happy ending. 

 

I always admiring when authors are able to tell multiple stories within the pages of a single book and find a way to eventually tie everything together. However, it did feel a little disjointed, but overall a very lovely story 

 

Fractured, by Shay Siegel

This is honestly one of the best Young Adult books I have read in a very long. The storyline centers around a teenage couple, sounds cliché, but it actually dives really deep into different issues that are actually relevant for today’s time. Mason Vance, the star high school quarterback, injures himself during a game, which puts his career on hold for a little bit. Between his new girlfriend and a new lifestyle, he starts to view things through a different lens. To read a more in-depth review of this book click here!

 

The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

This book was such an amazing book. It is the story of two identical twin sisters who grew up in a black community in Louisiana until the age of 16, when they decided to runaway from home. While the twins are living in New Orleans one twin chooses t take on a different racial identity while the other chooses to remain true to her self.

 

Fast-forward, down the road, years later, both twins now have daughters of their own. One twin finds herself living back at home with her mother and her own daughter, while the other twin is living with her husband {who knows nothing of her past} and her own daughter in a LA neighborhood. Eventually the twins’ daughters’ lives intersect. 

 

From the Deep South in the 1950s all the way to California in the 1990s Bennett weaves together a brilliant story! Highly recommend 

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