January Reading Recap

OK. I'm going to revamp the monthly reading recaps a bit for 2013.

There will still be numbers: Books, pages, comparison to last year. And there will still be a list of all the titles I've read each month. But I'm going to start posting a brief review of everything I've read. A short run down of what I liked about the book or what I didn't like. Think of it as a Good Reads recommendation and my thoughts on whether or not I think it's worthwhile to pick up. Yes, they're mostly for you guys who are looking for new stuff to read, but it's also for me. Because honestly, sometimes at the end of the year I look back at my list of what I've read and I can't even remember what some of the books I read are about. Kind of sad. Also, for those who are on Good Reads, you can find me here.

So the reading recap. Here it is.

I started the year off by finishing four books in January for a total of 1,483 pages. Nice start to the year. Well, that's a nice start on my goal of 45 books by the end of the year. Only 41 more to go. For comparison's sake, I read three books and 904 pages in January 2012.

In January I read:

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshlyn Jackson
Reached by Ally Condie
Rapture by Lauren Kate
Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

And now for the new stuff. The short reviews. The number of stars is what I gave it on Good Reads.

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson  **
Every 15 years a family has one hell of a bad year. This book follows three generations (a grandma, mom and daughter) as trouble rears it's head. For the first time in forever, I seriously considered just quitting this book in the middle. For some reason, I just couldn't get into it. And then somewhere around page 180, it started to draw me in. And considering this is a 320 page book, that's WAY too long. The last chunk of the story was decent, but I just can't get past the memory that I struggled with this for so long. I really don't recommend it.

Reached by Ally Condie  *****
This was the final book in the Matched series. I thought it wrapped up the three-book series well. Hard to put this one down.

Rapture by Lauren Kate  ****
Another final book in a series. This was the fourth book in the Fallen series. As a whole, the series was kind of, meh. The first book was OK. The middle two were, oh my gosh, when is it going to get to a point? This last one was better. Kind of fast moving. Tied things up and made the story come full-circle. As a whole, do I recommend the series? I dunno.

Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate ***
I actually read this out of order. It was an add-on for the Fallen series and should have been read before the final book. It tells the story of Valentine's Day from the viewpoint of a bunch of different characters. Nothing special here and actually kind of blah. Don't bother.

So what'd you all read in January? I'm leaving the world of young adult literature behind for the month of February and hopefully going to start tackling my classic for the year. What is it? Well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out.