My Reading - January 2020

New title for 2020 - my reading! Because I don't really review the books I read here, I just explain why I read them and whether I liked them a not. With the new year though brings a whole bunch of new goals, and this year I hope to become more diverse in the type of books I read, as well as devour a whole lot of romance.

I'm very, very pleased with how much I read in January. And in addition, I also read my own manuscript three times in a week, so there you go...can I add that as three more books to the list?

2020 Reading Goals Achieved in January

1. Tried four (FOUR!) new authors - Katharine McGee, Melissa Foster, Beth O'Leary, and Ally Blake.
2. Read a Facebook Friend for the first time - Ally Blake!

Books I Read in January

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
My new obsession - I'm loving this Throne of Glass series and this book was definitely much better than the first. I'm loving Celaena and her attitude and was so happy that she got together with Chaol...and disappointed when that didn't work out. This book had me hooked, and I'm definitely keen for the next one after the secrets that were revealed at the end. May have even inspired a story for me...but sadly, not fantasy. I'm sticking with my contemporary romance novels.

American Royals by Katharine McGee
All right, so I'm totally into books about royalty, especially when they get things right. And this one had everything going for it. I liked that it was a mix of young adult and new adult...but still very enjoyable as an adult reader. Katharine has done a fantastic job of highlighting the values and purpose of a royal family, and I loved the premise of this - the royal Washington family. I just hope that in the next book, we bring the family into the modern world and that Bee gets to marry a commoner because, let's face it, that's more realistic these days than marrying only from the aristocracy. But I guess we'll see. I'll definitely be buying that book when it comes out!

Taken by Love by Melissa Foster
I got this book free on my Kindle and read it as my killing time while out book...and it was an effort. I won't say I really enjoyed it, it just seemed like not much was going on although I loved the characters and the beautiful setting in small town Colorado.

Countering His Claim by Rachel Bailey
I started this with sneaking Kindle reading too and devoured this story. I generally love Rachel's work and really enjoyed this story. I loved the cruise ship setting and I enjoyed spending time with Della and Luke. Another wonderful story by Rachel.

The Maid, The Millionaire, and the Baby by Michelle Douglas
Aww, can never go wrong with a Michelle book and her latest was just as great as the backlist I'm ploughing my way through. I devoured this story and really enjoyed Imogen and Jasper. But the best character was of course the little baby George. I liked spending time on Jasper's private island and taking a little trip over to Brazil while I was there. 

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
I bought this finally because Target were throwing it out for $10. I had heard excellent things about it and, honestly, it was a pretty good book...although I don't know why it needed to be written so weirdly. But anyway. Unfortunately, a deadline approaching on my own work meant I had to stop this midway, but I eventually finished it. A good book!

Regret Me Not by Clare Connelly
Hmm...this is exactly why I detest the secret baby trope. I did not like Fiero or how he handled this situation with Elodie and Jack at all...but because it's a romance and it was going to have a satisfying ending, I stuck with it cos I wanted to see the mean sap change. I'm glad I did, but still...I stand firm. I hate (most) secret baby books.

Bachelor Dad on her Doorstep by Michelle Douglas
Fourth time lucky borrowing this from the library - I finally read it! A simpler story compared to others, but I really enjoyed this book. A nice, quick, warm read with a lot of friendly characters in the small Blue Mountains town.

Crazy About her Impossible Boss by Ally Blake
This was the story published with Michelle's The Maid, Millionaire, and Baby and is my first Ally Blake book - so that's one of my 'new authors to try' ticked off my list! This was a very enjoyable story and I really liked Ally's writing - I actually noticed she has a distinctive voice and she uses some bigger words than other writers do! A very fun read.