Intro
I cannot believe that it is February as I type this! I have no idea what happened to January! (Actually, I do. I was busy posting about it on instagram. In fact, the tl;dr is that I had a whole host of medical issues & grad school started.) January was a really busy month because I was doing readings for two intensive grad school courses as well as dealing with all those medical issues, so I read twenty three books this past month. Which is rather low for me. So, how was my month overall?
What I Read This Month
Pretty good to be quite honest! I had four five star reads, The Queens Rising and The Queen’s Resistance by Rebecca Ross, Fire by Kristin Cashore and Namesake by Adrienne Young.
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/fire.jpg?resize=316%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/namesake.jpg?resize=400%2C613&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-queens-rising.jpg?resize=314%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-queens-resistance.jpg?resize=314%2C475&ssl=1)
I had a whole bunch of four star reads as well! My reread of A Court of Wings and Ruin was a four star. Other four star reads were: Sweet & Bitter Magic, The Once and Future Witches, A Sky Beyond the Storm, An Ember in the Ashes, The Lives of Saints, Master of One, and The Burning Shadow.
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/master-of-one.jpg?resize=300%2C453&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/lives-of-saints.jpg?resize=311%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/an-ember-in-the-ashes.jpg?resize=318%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/a-sky-beyond-the-storm.jpg?resize=315%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/sweet-and-bitter-magic.jpg?resize=310%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-burning-shadow.jpg?resize=314%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/once-and-future-witches.jpg?resize=308%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/a-court-of-wings-and-ruin.jpg?resize=309%2C475&ssl=1)
As far as three star reads I had a few of those as well! Bitterblue, A Reaper at the Gates, Divine Blood, The Chalk Man, The Hiding Place, The Swallows, The Book of Two Ways, A Deal with the Elf King, The Assassin’s Blade, and To Love and to Loathe were all my three star reads.
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/to-love-and-to-loathe.png?resize=305%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-assassins-blade.jpg?resize=317%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/a-deal-with-an-elf-king.jpg?resize=300%2C464&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-book-of-two-ways.jpg?resize=300%2C457&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-swallows.jpg?resize=313%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-chalk-man.jpg?resize=312%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/the-hiding-place.jpg?resize=315%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/divine-blood.jpg?resize=317%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/bitterblue.jpg?resize=316%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/reaper-at-the-gates.jpg?resize=317%2C475&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/a-torch-against-the-night.jpg?resize=312%2C475&ssl=1)
I only had one two star read: Truth, Lies and Second Dates.
![](https://i0.wp.com/loreofthebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/truth-lies-and-second-dates.jpg?resize=261%2C400&ssl=1)
And I had no one star reads! Which is really fun. Sometimes I get one or two a month, but I think I picked books I knew I would like this month, and I think I did pretty well with that.
My Thoughts
The most surprising thing this month for me was that Fire, was a five-star read. I liked Graceling and Bitterblue, but I adored Fire. And Namesake is now my highest rated Adrienne Young book! I started several series, and some I plan to continue (Master of One, Origins) and others I don’t plan on continuing (Divine Blood). I also finished a few series’ and they had an epic conclusion. There were a few standalones I enjoyed by CJ Tudor and surprisingly I did not cry at Jodi Piccoult’s book.
The most disappointing thing was that Deal with an Elf King I didn’t like as much. I really wanted to love the book, but I just thought it was okay. Kova has other works that are far superior to this one. I guess I was also disappointed in To Love and to Loathe because I didn’t enjoy it as much as the other book.
I realized that I read a few novellas this month. Both for very popular series. I didn’t like The Assassin’s Blade as much as I wanted to. But it was nice to get backstory. The Lives of Saints was ridiculously gorgeous. The illustrations were beautiful and I enjoyed learning about the saints that make up that world.
Looking to February…I don’t have a lot of books on my TBR. Mostly because my budget is shot due to medical issues. I don’t own a lot of TBR books at this point. (Only one; Wicked.) But I have a few books I own that I’m rereading that I didn’t like for some reason or another that are getting second chances before being sold or given away.
Wicked, The Family Upstairs, Red Rising, Crier’s War, and There Will Come a Darkness are books I aim to read this month.