Holy Smokes, January is actually already over! That was fast! Well, I didn’t go too crazy in terms of purchasing books this month as it was a part of my bookish new years resolutions to take it easy on book buying this year. However, I did manage to pick up a few essentials! Take a look below to see all of the books I picked up this month!

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Physical

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) (pre-order)

Author: Pierce Brown

Publisher: Del Rey  

Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia

Release Date: 
February 9th 2016

Format: 
Hardcover

Page Count: 
400

ISBN: 9780345539847

Goodreads synopsis: Born a lowly Red in the mines of Mars, Darrow lost his beloved wife to the treacherous Gold overlords. Vowing to fight for the future that his wife believed in, Darrow joins a secret revolutionary group and is remade into a Gold so that he can infiltrate the ruling class and bring them down from the inside. Now, after years of hiding amongst the Golds, Darrow is finally ready to declare open revolution and throw off the chains of oppression. Nothing in Darrow’s world has been easily won, and this final fight will be the most harrowing of all.

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We Are The Ants (finished copy)

Author: Shaun David Hutchinson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQIA+

Release Date: 
January 19th 2015

Format: 
Hardcover

Page Count: 
464

ISBN: 9781481449632

Goodreads synopsis: There are a few things Henry Denton knows, and a few things he doesn’t. Henry knows that his mom is struggling to keep the family together, and coping by chain-smoking cigarettes. He knows that his older brother is a college dropout with a pregnant girlfriend. He knows that he is slowly losing his grandmother to Alzheimer’s. And he knows that his boyfriend committed suicide last year. What Henry doesn’t know is why the aliens chose to abduct him when he was thirteen, and he doesn’t know why they continue to steal him from his bed and take him aboard their ship. He doesn’t know why the world is going to end or why the aliens have offered him the opportunity to avert the impending disaster by pressing a big red button. But they have. And they’ve only given him 144 days to make up his mind. The question is whether Henry thinks the world is worth saving. That is, until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past who forces Henry to question his beliefs, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters. But before Henry can save the world, he’s got to figure out how to save himself, and the aliens haven’t given him a button for that.

My Review

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 Audible

A Single Man

Author: Christopher Isherwood

Publisher: HighBridge Company

Genre: Fiction, LGBTQIA+, Modern Classic

Release Date: 
December 22nd 2009

Format: 
Audible Audiobook

Length: 4 hours 39 minutes

ISBN: 9781615730599

Goodreads synopsis: When A Single Man was originally published, it shocked many by its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife. George, the protagonist, is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily life; the course of A Single Man spans twenty-four hours in an ordinary day. An Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he is an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite everyday injustices and loneliness. Wry, suddenly manic, constantly funny, surprisingly sad, this novel catches the texture of life itself.

Audible Link

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 Thrifted

The Axeman’s Jazz

Author: Ray Celestin

Publisher: Mantle

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Release Date: May 8th 2014

Format: 
Paperback

Page Count: 412

ISBN: 9781447258865

Goodreads synopsis: New Orleans, 1919. As a dark serial killer – The Axeman – stalks the city, three individuals set out to unmask him…Though every citizen of the ‘Big Easy’ thinks they know who could be behind the terrifying murders, Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot, heading up the official investigation, is struggling to find leads. But Michael has a grave secret – and if he doesn’t find himself on the right track fast – it could be exposed…Former detective Luca d’Andrea has spent the last six years in Angola state penitentiary, after Michael, his protégée, blew the whistle on his corrupt behaviour. Now a newly freed man, Luca finds himself working with the mafia, whose need to solve the mystery of the Axeman is every bit as urgent as the authorities’. Meanwhile, Ida is a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency.Obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and dreaming of a better life, Ida stumbles across a clue which lures her and her trumpet-playing friend, Lewis ‘Louis’ Armstrong, to the case and into terrible danger…As Michael, Luca and Ida each draw closer to discovering the killer’s identity, the Axeman himself will issue a challenge to the people of New Orleans: play jazz or risk becoming the next victim. And as the case builds to its crescendo, the sky will darken and a great storm will loom over the city…

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Me Before You

Author: JoJo Moyes

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books/Viking

Genre: Fiction, Romance

Release Date: December 31st 2012

Format: 
Paperback

Page Count: 369

ISBN: 9780670026609

Goodreads synopsis: Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.