January 2022 Book Reviews
In 2021, I finished out the year having read 16 books total. I thought I’d set a goal for this year and went with what for me is an ambitious amount: 52. But I think I can do it.
I put a huge dent in my goal throughout January and ended the month with 11 reads total. February isn’t looking so hot, but that’s okay! January put me off to a great start. And besides, it’s about enjoying the books anyway, not hitting goals. I just like to set and hit goals… who doesn’t?
My January books were all over the place in terms of genres, and I went the whole month without picking up a self-development or business book. After reading after work each day, I wanted to relax rather than stuffing my brain with more work-related things. So 11/11 were fiction novels.
There were a lot of 5/5s, a couple 4/5s, couple eh 3/5s, and a 1/5. And I finally started the Harry Potter series. I know, I know. I’m pretty much the last person on planet earth to give these a read. I loved reading the Twilight & Hunger Games series way back when, so it’s no surprise that I’m really enjoying this series too.
But enough HP talk - here are my reads for January and my candid reviews about what I liked, didn’t like, and more.
Order listed below is the order in which I read them. Note: I don’t summarize the books (more so give my takes), as the summaries can be easily found online!
2022 Goal progress: 11/52
January 2022 reads at a glance
We Can Only Save Ourselves
4/5
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone
5/5
Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
5/5
The Dark Beneath the Ice
1/5
In 5 Years
5/5
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azakaban
5/5
Run
3/5
The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls
3/5
The Lost Apothecary
5/5
It Ends With Us
5/5
Where the Crawdads Sing
3/5
Overall favorite of the month:
The Lost Apothecary
Book #1: We Can Only Save Ourselves
Author: Alison Wisdom
Rating: 4/5
When I started this, I had no clue what it was about. I quickly realized a cult vibe was shaping up, and the story kept me hooked. I couldn’t put it down. I looked forward to reading it and finished the last 1/3 in one go. I was frustrated with the main character, Alice, but at the same time was so curious about what would happen next. It was an interesting read unlike anything I’ve read before that kept me craving a lot of answers at the end (wah), like Alice’s new name!
Book #2: Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone
Author: JK Rowling
Rating: 5/5
I feel like I don’t even need to summarize or write reviews on any of the Harry Potter books because everyone has read them. But just in case it’s useful, I’ll give it a quick go!
This story is first in the series of 7. I quickly learned what all of the hype is about. Throughout the story, I was of course rooting for Harry and wanted him and his friends to succeed in outsmarting the dark wizards and mean kids around campus. It’s a sweet story and it’s fun picturing everything and learning about the wizarding world. My favorite part was when Harry entered Diagon Alley for the first time with Hagrid — the way everything was described was so cool.
Book #3: Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets
Author: JK Rowling
Rating: 5/5
The second story in the series, this one was just as entertaining as the first! I like how throughout the story, JK Rowling refreshes your memory a bit by providing quick sentences when something from Year 1 is mentioned. It’s like she knows you’ll think “wait, what was xyz again?” I read this one in about 3 days and it left me really excited to watch the movie and see how my ideas for scenes matched up with the movie versions!
Book #4: The Dark Beneath the Ice
Author: Amelinda Bérubé
Rating: 1/5
I disliked this book and found it quite exhausting to read. There was an overwhelming amount of description and a lot of it felt like filler that could’ve been condensed. Because of what the main character, Marianne, was dealing with, there were a lot of descriptors to describe hallucinations and vivid delusions. It was very tiring and there wasn’t a great deal of dialogue.
However, if you’re into thrillers and paranormal reads, you may like it!
Book #5: In 5 Years
Author: Rebecca Serle
Rating: 5/5
I loved this book and couldn’t put it down! I read it in just over 24 hours. Main character Dannie is very career-focused and has been putting off her engagement for 4 and a half years. She has a premonition and the story follows her life as her vision begins to unfold, albeit she tries to prevent it! It takes place in New York City and the descriptors and social scenes made me want to live in the city too.
Book #6: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
Author: JK Rowling
Rating: 5/5
This book follows Harry & friends through their third year at Hogwarts. It’s my favorite of the series thus far thanks to the many twists and turns that the story takes. There are a lot of layers to this one and you wind up having your mind blown more than once — more so than in books 1 & 2. Because the foundation is already set, this book becomes more intense story-wise. Of course, it also layers in many new aspects and you go deeper into the wizarding world. Hermoine’s secret and how she does it was one of my favorite parts and remains an aspect of the story that’s difficult for me to wrap my head around. I love it!
Book #7: Run
Author: Kody Keplinger
Rating: 3/5
Though I didn’t love this book, the storyline kept me entertained enough to where I easily finished it. It was neat how it was written with alternative perspectives that met at the present moment at the end of the book. I didn’t love the story line though. it just seemed pointless and juvenile… like what did the girls think they would be able to do after leaving home?
Book #8: The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Rating: 3/5
This book was just okay. It follows the story of 4 sisters, and though I didn’t love it, the plots were enough to keep me reading. Bea’s storyline was my favorite, and Dess’s my least favorite. It had small town vibes and took place in a town on a marina. I pictured Annapolis, Maryland as I read it, which seemed like what the setting was based on (it was a fictional town in Maryland).
Book #9: The Lost Apothecary
Author: Sarah Penner
Rating: 5/5
Overall Favorite of the Month
Holy moly, I loved this book. It's about a woman in late 18th century London who owns an apothecary shop that sells concoctions both for good and to help women kill their husbands. It flip-flops between that and a present-day timeline of a woman visiting London who finds an artifact and tries to track down the history of it. I love the peek into the late 1700s and how the whole story tied together at the end! I also loved the way the 1700s storyline ended… It was a sweet and unexpected conclusion! The present-day storyline was fun to read, but I kept counting down the pages until I’d return to the 1700s storyline! Overall, a really great read and one that I would recommend to anyone who loves fiction and history.
Book #10: It Ends With Us
Author: Colleen Hoover
Rating: 5/5
After seeing so much hype about Colleen Hoover, I chose this as my first jump into her writing! I read it in about 4 hours total over the course of 1 day. It was so dang good. I laughed and SOBBED. Like, literally ugly cried. You really don’t know how it’ll end, and I wound up being SO happy with how it did. It’s a story about how the most important decisions are equally the hardest!
Book #11: Where the Crawdads Sing
Author: Delia Owens
Rating: 3/5
This book was unlike what I usually read - very nature-centric. The nature writing was very detailed and painted clear pictures. The story takes place in coastal North Carolina (think 1940-60s Outer Banks). I somewhat enjoyed the storyline, but at the same time I found myself not looking forward to reading it. The ending was shocking and had a nice twist.
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