January Wrap Up/February Reading

In January I finished some books that were on my TBR for months, revisited a childhood comic I loved, ventured into the world of reading journals, and discovered new books.

I finished Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard which was my first finished book of the year. It UK YA fiction about a girl who moves in with her family of Greek gods and is navigating those awkward teen years. It's a fun book for young teen girls and I hope more readers discover this gem. I did a longer review of it on this blog. Fans of the Georgia Nicholson series will love this.

W.I.T.C.H. Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin are 5 young girls ages 13 and 14 chosen by the council of Kandrakar to protect their world and sometimes others from evil forces. It was originally an Italian comic that has since been translated into multiple languages. This series meant a lot to me when I was a kid because it really helped me get into fantasy. And this was one of the most diverse ensemble casts I came across back then. Even now I appreciate that there was a girl for every girl to admire. I thought it did a great job balancing the lives of these teen girls navigating crushes, school, and growing up alongside their new powers and fighting dark forces. I decided to revisit some of the comics in January by re-reading one of my favorite arcs. 

I also read a cozy mystery for the first time in months.  Egg Drop Dead is the 5th story in the Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chen. My taste in mystery kind of changes depending on my mood but I usually don't like anything too graphic and violent. But as much as I want a mystery story that's not too heavy a lot of cozies bore me with their very white towns, similar leads, and cutesey pets and jobs.  Sometimes I find cozy mysteries can overdue it when it comes to the balance between romance and mystery so I was very happy this story found the right balance. I also appreciated the diversity which is usually lacking from cozy mysteries which I why I read only certain ones.  Lana's mother is from Taiwan and her family owns a restaurant in a plaza called Asian Village in Cleveland, Ohio. Even though Lana owns a restaurant don't expect any recipes or heavy descriptions of food. Vivien Chen focuses a lot on building a good mystery while balancing Lana's every day. Thank You Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review. This story releases on February 25, 2020. 

I also read The Sound of Stars which I will be posting an individual review about this month in time for the release date. 

On to February 

I decided to only read books by black authors in February which to be honest isn't much different from other months for me but I'm finally getting around to reading some of the books I bought as deals that have been sitting on my Kindle.  For February one of the books I'm reading is a YA fantasy but I'm doing something a little different by reading along with the audiobook. I haven't been able to get into audiobooks yet though I always hear they're a great way to get a lot of reading done. Maybe I just need to find the right narration speed and narrator.

I'm also reading a YA contemporary with an afro-latina lead, an adult contemporary romance, and an anthology.