January 2020 TBR

Ok. New year. Fresh start. I need to get back on the bandwagon and read more award nominees. We are wrapping up this year and starting in on the next reading year soon. We didn't have our book club meeting in December, so we just pushed it to the January meeting. The good thing about that is I've already read the book. So that's one less thing to add to my TBR. Here's what's on the docket for January:

MI5 and Me: A Coronet Among the Spooks by Charlotte Bingham - In the 1950s, the author learned her aristocrtic father was a spy for MI5. She joined the organization as a teenager. This is the story of her time with the actors who were spies and the spies who were Russians. I'm intrigued. It's not a very long book, so I hope to finish quickly.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern - I really wanted to finish this before the New Year, but I'm only half way through and I'm not going to have any reading time tonight. I plan to read MI5 and Me first, then finish this one. I'm giving myself til January 5 to get it done. Then I need to get serious about award reading. I'm enjoying it. It's weird. Lots of doors that lead to this underground world. I'll see if I can explain it better when I finish.

American Royals by Katharine McGee - I've started this one and I'm about a quarter through it. We are looking at the Washington family, the reigning American royalty. Beatrice is the Princess Royal who is going to be queen some day. She is devoted to doing what is best for her country. Her parents have chosen some young men for her to consider dating with an eye to marriage. Only one of them catches her attention as a person she could stand to be around for any length of time. Unfortunately, he is the one guy her little sister Samantha spent the beginning of the ball making out with in the closet. Samantha's twin brother is unreliable, irresponsible, and a flirt. His ex-girlfriend wants him back, but he's interested in Samantha's best friend. But she's a commoner. Very trashy romance, I think, but I am enjoying it.

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White - White needs to slow the heck down. I can't keep up with all her books. She's had two this year! In this one Guinevere is a dupe. She's actually a fairy/witch sent in the place of the real (very dead) Guinevere, to marry Arthur and protect him. He's in on the deception, though, and he's cool with it. One problem. Magic has been outlawed in Camelot. This will make protecting him more difficult because the magic used by the witch that is coming for Arthur is very powerful.

The Bookwanderers by Anna James - Tilly lives in the apartment above her grandparents' bookshop. One day, characters from books start wandering into the shop. Tilly, Anne of Green Gables, and Alice in Wonderland get together to find out what happened to Tilly's mother who disappeared not long after she was born. I think the author is in her 20s so this could work for that PopSugar Challenge.

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay - This has gotten great reviews. I'm just stalling on it. This is the second time I've checked it out, but I just never got around to it. Jay finds out his cousin was murdered in the Philippines so goes to find out what happened. I guess he finds out more than he wanted to know. This could satisfy a couple of PopSugar Challenges: a book with a more than 4-star rating on Goodreads, a book you meant to read in 2019, and a book with 20 or more letters in the title (bonus challenge).

Frankly in Love by David Yoon - I hear this is cute. Frank's girlfriend is white, but his traditional Korean parents want him to date a Korean girl. Luckily he has a female friend in the same position. They agree to fake date. I love a fake dating trope. I've been waiting on this from the library for months. I'm finally number 3 on the list. Hopefully it will show up in time for me to read it in January.

Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer - The cover on this one is terrible, but apparently it's a pretty good thriller. Catnet is a social media site where people post pictures of cats. Steph moves around a lot, but her past catches up to her and she has too rely on friends for help. This one could work for 2 PopSugar challenges: a book about social media, and a book with an AI character.

The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett - Theodora is searching the Carpathian mountains for her father and Vlad the Impaler. I love me a good Dracula story. Several of my friends have loved this one. We shall see. I'm first on the waiting list from the library.

Sorry For Your Loss by Jessie Ann Foley - Pup (terrible name) is the youngest of eight and isn't taking the sudden death of his older brother very well. He ends up doing well on a photography assignment and then a friend helps him find a new interest? I really don't know that much about this book and the Goodreads summary is nearly useless. After I read it, maybe I'll have more to say. I hope so. This is a favorite among people in my reading group.

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg - This appears to be a gay romance YA novel. Two boys are total opposites, and they each have a secret. It sounds kind of dumb, but people in my reading group like it, so I need to give it a shot.

I also have a couple of manga series checked out of the library.

Horimiya by Hero - This is a cute little high school romance series. I'm enjoying it. Hori is a popular girl who never hangs out with friends after school. She goes home and takes care of her little brother and cleans house. Miyamura is a nerdy, quiet boy who secretly has piercings and tattoos and turns out to be kinda hot. He brings her brother home with a bloody nose one day and they start hanging out. She brings him into her social circle. It's very cute. I've read the first 3 volumes and I'm waiting for volume 4 to come in from the library.

My Love Story!! by Kazune Kawahara - The exclamation marks are important, I guess. I haven't started this series yet. I have the first 5 volumes. They only take about an hour to read, so I should be able to squeeze them in somewhere.

I also just got in the next two volumes of Giant Days by John Allison, which is a graphic novel series that I adore. It's about a group of kids in college in the UK. They get up to some kooky stuff. These are volumes 10 and 11, which are the last two my library has right now.

Uh, this is kind of a lot of books for one month. I take heart in the knowledge that some of them are quick, easy reads; and a bunch of them are YA books that read faster than adult books. Here's hoping!

What do you plan to read in January??