WHAT I READ – JANUARY 2021
January was a really good book month for me. I kicked off my 2021 Reading Challenge (going for 50 books read in 2021). And man, did I knock out the reading agenda. I managed to read 10 books last month. I was on fire with reading. This month is proving to be a much slower book month, but that’s how life works for me. Ebbs and flows.
Something new to my book reading world is another internal book challenge for myself. Back story…I’ve had a Goodreads account since Goodreads became Goodreads (that’s 2011 if you weren’t aware). And I’ve been adding books to my TBR list since way back then. So, I decided this was the year that I was going to go back to the beginning of that TBR pile and start knocking some of them out. Turns out that’s easier said than done. ha!
And it’s resulted in me getting a non-resident library card up in Fort Worth to help me track down some of these older books. Never did I think it would be hard to find e-books. But it has been because e-books weren’t really a thing yet back in 2011. I was actively swapping books back then through a website called Booksfreeswap. So, a lot of the books on my list were physical books (that I’ve since donated). Anyways, I did manage to get a few read in January and for that I’m proud.
Without further adeau, here are the books I read last month. I would love to know what you read last month that was totally worth the read! Pop them in the comments and tell me your thoughts! P.S. My star ratings listed below for each book I read!
NEW TO ME AUTHORS THIS MONTH
AUTHORS I RETURNED TO THIS MONTHโ
BOOKS I READ
The Newcomer
by Mary Kay Andrews
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
I received an Advanced Reader copy from the publisher to review. All opinions are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
In trouble and on the run…
After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did it: Tanyaโs ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sisterโs warnings: โIf anything bad happens to meโitโs Evan. Promise me youโll take Maya and run. Promise me.โ So Letty grabs her sisterโs Mercedes and hits the road . . .
With a trunkful of emotional baggage…
and her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where? Tanya, a woman with a past shrouded in secrets, left behind a โgo-bagโ of cash and a big honking diamond ringโbut only one clue: a faded magazine story about a sleepy mom-and-pop motel in a Florida beach town with the improbable name of Treasure Island. She sheds her old life and checks into an uncertain future at The Murmuring Surf Motel.
The No Vacancy sign is flashing & the sharks are circling…
And thatโs the good news. Because The Surf, as the regulars call it, is the winter home of a close-knit flock of retirees and snowbirds who regard this odd-duck newcomer with suspicion and down-right hostility. As Letty settles into the motelโs former storage room, she tries to heal Mayaโs heartache and unravel the key to her sisterโs shady past, all while dodging the attention of the ownerโs dangerously attractive son Joe, who just happens to be a local police detective. Can Letty find romance as well as a room at the innโor will Joe betray her secrets and put her behind bars? With danger closing in, itโs a race to find the truth and right the wrongs of the past.
My Big, Fat, Fake Engagement
by Lauren Landish
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Boss babe. Ice Queen.
Thatโs what they call me at the office.
But thereโs one man who has secretly melted me for years.
Kaede McWarren.
The only problem? Heโs my big brotherโs best friend.
But when he asks me to play his fiancรฉe to seal a business deal?
Oh, Iโm taking this gift horse and riding it while I can.
Heโs got the whole tall, handsome, and intense thing down patโฆ with a side of quiet mystery and sexy brains to boot.
Heโs everything I want. Everything I need.
It should be easyโa business arrangement between two Type-A workaholics. A few dinner dates here, a few kisses there, and none will be the wiser.
But if his business partner finds out itโs fake, heโs screwed. And if my brother finds out itโs real, he might be dead.
There are a hundred ways to lose, but when Iโm in his arms, I feel like Iโve already won.
My Big Fat Fake Engagement is a full-length romance with a happily ever after and no cliffhanger.
Indemnity Only
by Sara Paretsky
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Meeting an anonymous client late on a sizzling summer night is asking for trouble. But trouble is Chicago private eye V. I. Warshawskiโs specialty. Her client says heโs the prominent banker John Thayer. Turns out heโs not. He says his sonโs girlfriend, Anita Hill, is missing. Turns out thatโs not her real name.
V. I.โs search turns up someone soon enoughโthe real John Thayerโs son, and heโs dead. Whoโs V. I.โs client? Why has she been set up and sent out on a wild-goose chase? By the time sheโs got it figured, things are hotterโand deadlierโthan Chicago in July. V. I.โs in a desperate race against time. At stake: a young womanโs life.
My Not So Perfect Life
by Sophie Kinsella
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katieโs life, meanwhile, is a daily struggleโfrom her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics sheโs trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she’s desperate to make her dad proud.
Then, just as sheโs finding her feetโnot to mention a possible new romanceโthe worst happens. Demeter fires Katie. Shattered but determined to stay positive, Katie retreats to her familyโs farm in Somerset to help them set up a vacation business. London has never seemed so far awayโuntil Demeter unexpectedly turns up as a guest. Secrets are spilled and relationships rejiggered, and as the stakes for Katieโs future get higher, she must question her own assumptions about what makes for a truly meaningful life.
Sophie Kinsella is celebrated for her vibrant, relatable characters and her great storytelling gifts. Now she returns with all of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her bestsellers to spin this fresh, modern story about presenting the perfect life when the reality is far from the truth.
Deadlock
by Sara Paretsky
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
When Chicago Black Hawks hockey legend Boom Boom Warshawski slips off a wharf and drowns in Lake Michigan, his private-eye cousin questions the accidental death report and rumors of suicide. Armed with a bottle of Black Label and a Smith & Weson, V.I. follows a trail of violence and corruption to the center of the Windy City’s powerful shipping industry. Dodging elaborate attempts on her life with characteristic grit and humor, the one-of-a-kind detective wends her way through a maze of grain elevators and thousand-ton freighters, ruthless businessmen and gorgeous ballerinas, to ferret out Boom Boom’s killers before they phase her out of the pictureโpermanently.
Simply Irresistible
by Rachel Gibson
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Georgeanne Howard, charm school graduate and Southern belle extraordinaire, leaves her fiancรฉ at the altar when she realizes she just canโt marry a man old enough to be her grandfather, no matter how rich he is. John Kowalsky unknowingly helps her escape, and only when itโs too late does he realize that heโs absconded with his bossโs bride. At the height of his hockey career, this bad boy isnโt looking to be anybodyโs savior but his own, no matter how beautiful this angel may be. But a long night stretches ahead of themโa night too sultry to resist temptation.
When Georgeanne and John meet again, she is on her way to becoming Seattleโs domestic darling and he is past his hellraising ways. But he is shocked to learn that their single unforgettable night in paradise produced a daughter, and he is determined to be a part of her life. Georgeanne has loved John since the moment she jumped into his little red Corvette seven years ago, but she doesnโt want to risk her heart again. Is he really a changed man? And will he risk the wrath of his boss, and one final chance at glory, to prove that this time his love will be everlasting?
See Jane Score
by Rachel Gibson
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
This is Jane. A little subdued. A little stubborn. A little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day, sheโs a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey teamโespecially their notorious goalie Luc Martineau. By night, sheโs a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of โHoney Pieโ, the magazine series that has all the men talking.
Luc has made his feelings about parasite reportersโand Janeโperfectly clear. But if he thinks heโs going to make her life miserable, heโd better think again. For as long as he can remember, Luc has been single-minded about his career. The last thing he needs is a smart-mouthed, pain-in-the-backside reporter digging into his past and getting in his way. But once the little reporter sheds her black and gray clothes in favor of a sexy red dress, Luc sees that there is more to Jane than originally meets the eye.
Maybe itโs time to take a risk. Maybe itโs time to live out fantasies. Maybe itโs time to…See Jane Score.
Crazy on You
by Rachel Gibson
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Return to Lovett, Texas, the setting of Daisy’s Back in Town, in this smart and sexy new story from Rachel Gibson, the New York Times bestselling author of Rescue Me and the Seattle Chinooks books.
Lily Darlington’s been called crazy in her dayโand, yeah, driving her car into her ex-husband’s living room probably wasn’t the smartest move ever madeโbut the louse deserved it. Now Lily is happily single, and she’s turned it all around. She knows she’s a good mom, a homeowner, and a businesswoman, all wrapped up in one good-looking package.
A package that police officer Tucker Matthews is dying to unwrap. This ex-military man sure doesn’t need another woman in his life. His last girlfriend left him with nothing but memories and a cat named Pinky! But living next door to Lily has been driving him nuts. He dreams about her long blonde hair and even longer legs. And maybe it’s time to go a little crazy . . . and fall in love.
Rescue Me
by Rachel Gibson
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Rachel Gibson has already won two Romance Writers of Americaโs RITAยฎ Awardsโthe most prestigious honor the romance community bestowsโfor her โedgy, sexy, fast-paced romanceโ (Jayne Ann Krentz), and Rescue Me is yet another high point in her acclaimed career. The New York Times bestselling author of the popular Seattle Chinooks stories, Gibson kicks off a timely and wonderful new contemporary series about the romantic entanglements of military men back from active duty. Rescue Me is the story of the reluctant Texas homecoming of a former small-town beauty pageant participant and the sexy ex-Navy SEAL whoโs on hand to complicate her life. Itโs salvation from the bland and ordinary and Rachel Gibson at her bestโa perfect escape for dedicated readers of Jennifer Crusie, Nora Roberts, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
Killing Orders
by Sara Paretsky
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 5/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
V.I.’s battleaxe Aunt Rosa is under investigation by the FBI and SEC after counterfeit stock certificates were found at St. Albert’s Priory, where she serves as treasurer. As malicious as her aunt is, V.I. knows she’s not dishonest, so V.I. vows to protect her from taking the fall. But V.I. starts questioning the strength of her family ties when a menacing voice on the phone threatens to throw acid into her eyes if she doesn’t butt out. The stakes are high as she begins to sniff out a connection between Chicago’s most powerful institutions: the Church and the Mob.
Mini Shopaholic
by Sophie Kinsella
๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ๎คณ 4/5
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Becky Brandon thinks that having a daughter is a dream come true: a shopping friend for life! But two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping. The toddler creates havoc everywhere she goes, from Harrods to her own christening. On top of everything else, Becky and Luke are still living with her parents (the deal on house #4 has fallen through), when suddenly thereโs a huge nationwide financial crisis.
With people having to cut back, Becky decides to throw a surprise party for Luke to cheer everyone up. But when costs start to spiral out of control, she must decide whether to accept help from an unexpected sourceโand therefore run the risk of hurting the person she loves. Will Becky be able to pull off the celebration of the year? Will she and Luke ever find a home of their own? Will Minnie ever learn to behave? And . . . most important . . . will Beckyโs secret wishes ever come true?
