January Book Roundup

Hey! I'm super excited that it's my first book roundup of 2023! 

January is the perfect time for some cozied up reading while it's cold outside. It's actually been very mild and warm lately in Virginia, but I do have to wear my winter coat every day still as opposed to wearing it one time all year in North Carolina! If it's still cold and snowy where you are, hopefully this will leave you with a suggestion of two of what books you can curl up inside with.

After some duds in November and December, this month was *mostly* made up of winners. There are two from this month that might just end up in my favorites for the entire year!

Here's the roundup...

None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive by Carolyn Prusa- ⭐⭐⭐

Ehh, unfortunately there wasn't really anything special about this one. All of the Prince references seemed a bit unnecessary and forced to me, but I did like the mom life details and the day to day social commentary. I liked the setting of Savannah and could relate to it taking place during a hurricane; however, it overall just seemed whiney and trying too hard to be funny. I'm not sure I would recommend this one to anyone, but it was this author's debut so hoping it goes up from here!

Spare by Prince William- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.75 stars, haha)

Okay, this book is anywhere and everywhere. I've seen tons of different commentaries from people who have read it and shared their thoughts on social media, so here's my brief opinion/recap:

I'm not a Royal Family diehard, but I do somewhat keep up with them. Shane and I are working our way through The Crown and it definitely gives us some context and makes me respect but also feel for them. I was aware of all the Harry and Meghan drama, and I always found myself on Will and Kate's side....at least, prior to reading this. Shane and I recently watched Harry and Meghan's documentary on Netflix (so interesting!) and it made both of us Harry/Meghan fans actually. I was surprised by that!

SO, going into this book...I was expecting to somewhat side with Harry/Meghan but still wasn't firmly in that stance. I will say that this book was gripping and definitely had me intrigued. I didn't want to put it down. However, In my opinion, there was lots of war/military talk and not as much royal information as I would have liked. There were a few interesting "spilling the tea moments", but he mostly kept those short and to the point without revealing too much. Unlike the majority, I do think he was mostly respectful and didn't divulge too much about his family. I would have loved if he had expanded on those tidbits because I was there for the drama! I also feel like he has had a very interesting life and could have shared a lot of interesting information about a variety of other topics, but he stayed very focused on a few key points that were obviously important to him.

Now, in agreement with most reviews that I'm seeing online, I do agree that he comes across as VERY bitter and that this book was lots of complaining, whining, and griping without seemingly reflecting on his own actions/taking responsibility for some of the things that have gone down. That being said, I can definitely see his perspective and I'm glad/proud he shared his experiences. I do very much feel for all he's had to endure with little to no familial support/love. He definitely is a hurting man and is very broken from his mom's death and the paparazzi, and he made that evident on almost every page. I hope writing this gave him some peace finally.

After reading this, I do think it made me like him and Meghan more, and it definitely made me like Will and Kate less (I couldn't believe it!) Of course, there's two sides to every story, and the Royals can't share their side, but Harry does seem very down to earth, genuine, and real.

Have you read this? Thoughts?

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ahh, if this isn't one of my favorite books of the entire year, I'll be absolutely shocked! I saw this book everywhere, and I had actually started a few pages of it back in the summer, but I put it down because I was kind of over thrillers for a bit. One of my coworkers/friends who reads more than me actually recommended this to me to break my book funk and... this time, I was ALL IN from the start.

This has such depth and complexity to it. The plot events are extremely twisted and manipulative (this book definitely is NOT for everyone), but they gradually build to where it's almost believable. This book was unlike anything I've ever read before. It was dark, spell-bound, chilling, and mindblowing that there are people in the world like this. It reminded me of some of those hard-to-believe cult documentaries that Shane and I have watched. I loved the flashbacks to the college memories, and I was so glad to read a recent book that actually didn't switch the narrators!

Bonus: this author lives in Houston! I can't wait for her next thriller. 

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins- ⭐⭐⭐

This author's books are usually decently enjoyable for me to read. They're not stellar but I do look forward to them coming out and I do have fun reading them usually. This one fell in that camp too.

It reminded me a little of Lisa Jewell's The Family Upstairs. I did like reading it, but I was also kind of annoyed at some choices the author made. I liked the emails and other text portions that were included, I of course loved the cover, and it did keep me intrigued with the writing style that was used. I really liked the modern present day storyline best.

On the flip side, there were way too many separate stories going on at once. There were too many book excerpts, too many characters referring to other characters, and it was overall lacking something. I didn't really care about many of the characters and what was happening to them. In other words, this was another one that was okay/borderline good but nothing great.

All the Dangerous Things by Stacey Willingham- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

WOW.  This was another standout read for me this month! I had been sleeping on this author, even though I had seen her first book A Flicker in the Dark everywhere. I tried a few pages of it last summer but once again, I didn't find myself in a thriller mood. I am SO GLAD I tried this one! I was super impressed by her writing, the plot, the characters, the setting...all of it! I don't want to say too much about this one, but I think all of my close friends would like this one. This book might just make me a lover of some thrillers again. There were some somewhat predictable aspects, but there were also some good surprises too. Very well done!

Shoutout to all my Blanchardette girls- this story takes place in Savannah and the author actually went to SCAD haha, the school that is everywhere there! Based on her Instagram, she looks younger than I am, which I was shocked about after seeing the quality of her writing. Super impressive!

Okay, so I hope this roundup was actually a little more positive than the ones from my previous few months, haha. It should only go up from here as all the big names start releasing their new books from now through October again! Do you have any suggestions of what I should try out in February? I'm already adding another Stacey Willingham one to my list, but I'm always open for recs!

It's not quite the weekend yet, but happy February reading to you!