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January 2021 Monthly Wrap Up

  • Writer: Shantall Vera
    Shantall Vera
  • Feb 2, 2021
  • 8 min read

How is the first month of this year over with already?!? There were a lot of highs and plenty of lows this month, so lets focus on the things I watched and read!

WHAT I READ

I read a total of 13 books this month, mostly for PopCulture Readathon Round 2 but some on the side.





  1. The Falling in Love Montage ★★★★☆ I enjoyed it it was an emotional rollercoaster and I want to say why I loved the ending so much but I can’t do it without spoiling what happens so I might write up a full review on this one later one when I can properly write the words down. But my biggest gripe was the lack of communication, but when I put the book down and fully processed that they were teenagers and given what one of them was going through I had to stop and think about how I would have processed all that at their age so it was understandable. ( TW for depictions of dementia, chronic illness )

  2. Carmilla ★★★☆☆ It was a good story, it had its build up but I just had problems with the way the adults made up the excuses for the things happening like they were real freaking reasons, yeah, no. But happy that I finally got to cross this one of my forever TBR list. (TW for kidnapping, violence )

  3. Horrid ★★☆☆☆ This is one of those books that I had added to my TBR because of the hype it had received and after a poll on my IG story on which book to read, this one won, and you guys…….I am upset. It was just too predictable for me and it literally spelt everything out for you as you went along, the suspense just wasn’t there for me and the big reveal ( I use that word lightly ) just wasn’t there. I just was just let down by all the hype is all. I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy the atmosphere, I totally did, but the plot itself was just not my thing. ( TW for eating disorder, death of a child, bullying, emotional abuse )

  4. Hide & Seeker ★★★★★ My IG poll let me down with Horrid but redeemed itself with Hide & Seeker! Give me friends banding together to find out why children are disappearing from their neighborhood and an evil entity preying upon them and I am game. I love that all of the characters had their own struggles and strengths and the way that they worked together (and sometimes against each other) was just so good! I am at a loss of words for just how much I enjoyed this story. There were many emotionally charged moments with this book and times that it got real with how the world is when children of certain neighborhoods/skin color, go missing and I appreciated that even more. HOW WAS THIS A MIDDLE GRADE BOOK ?!?! It’s so good. ( TW panic attack, grief, cancer, kidnappings)

  5. Bridge to Terabithia ★★★★☆ Now dear reader of this blog post, I have a confession to make, I have never read this book or watched the movie that this book is based upon, ever in my life. So my best friend Lillian you can find her at this blog , took it upon herself to pass on her annotated copy for me to read and annotate myself and I AM NOT OKAY. This book just depicted how easy it was to be friends with someone as a child, how you can bond over a shared experience and that’s it, you can’t remember not ever being friends, how someone can make your semi okay existence into something better and having your own world to share. RIGHT BEFORE IT TOOK MY HEART OUR AND STOMPED ALL OVER IT! There was some things that the main characters participated in that I just did not sit right with me, but besides that I am still not okay. ( TW for death, grief, physical abuse, sexism, fatphobia, domestic abuse )

  6. Lock Every Door ★★★★☆ Yes! I enjoyed this one so much! I read Riley Sager’s Home Before Dark and actually enjoyed it so I decided to look into their other works and wow! In HBD I didn’t appreciate being yanked so many times with the “twists” at the end of that novel because I felt like I was getting whip lash but this novel, it had it all. The slow burn, the questioning of what was happening, the atmosphere, the shady ass old people. My only gripe is that the main character was presented as someone who wouldn’t make dumb decisions, she continuously tells those who care about her that she would never put herself in harms way or stay if things were dangerous but that’s exactly what she did every time. I understand that she was down on her luck and really needed the money but I know plenty of headstrong women who know it would be better to just crash with your friend for a while while you get your life together. But that’s just me! I still enjoyed the tension and suspense. ( TW for death, grief, physical abuse, torture, kidnapping, medical trauma, violence, murder, suicide )

  7. The Princess Trap ★★★★☆ I am a sucker for two people who are into each other but are convinced that the other doesn’t care!! Absolute sucker! I just didn’t buy how something got resolved in this book, and a bit of biphobia that I felt wasn’t necessary but that’s on me, besides that I absolutely loved this book. ( TW violence, child abuse, domestic abuse, grief, biphobia, death )

  8. Beneath The Citadel ★★★★☆ FOUND FAMILY IS MY SHIT! The dynamics, the love, the hate, the fate, the rebelling!! I just I can’t find the words to properly speak on how much I loved this book and these characters. Maybe when I can finally articulate well I’ll write a real review. ( TW abuse, death, addiction, violence, confinement, panic attacks )

  9. Final Girls ★★★☆☆ After reading two other of Riley Sager’s novels I wanted to see where it all began and I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t love it. It was an okay book. I liked the twist at the end but I hated who it was. ( TW drug use, murder, gore, violence, kidnapping )

  10. House of Salt And Sorrows ★★★★☆ I had to re read this one again to refresh my memory because I remember it being a wild ride and honestly, I was not disappointed. I remember now why I enjoyed this novel, the world it wonderful, I wanted to spend more time in the world that was created then I wanted to be following along with the main character because I loved it. The regions and their own beliefs and deities, it all reminded me of Elder Scrolls and the Daedric Prince Sheogorath, which I loved so much. I hope that the author writes more books set in this world with a bit better protagonist because as much as I loved this world, I did not love a sister who started a mission to find how her sister died only to forget it the moment she saw a cute boy. Still loved the wild ride this book took me on. ( TW miscarriage, death, blood, gore, suicide, abuse )

  11. Watch Over Me ★★★★☆ Nina Lacour just has a way of writing grief that resonates with me, if you’ve been around for a while than you know that she’s one of my favorite authors. Her book We Are Okay came into my life at a time where it was absolutely needed and I consumed all I could from her. Watch Over Me is no different. A story about healing from trauma and realizing that you can still be loved and love after, set in beautiful fog banked farm in Northern California where ghosts litter the pastures, was just magical to me. ( TW domestic abuse, gaslighting, violence, fire, toxic relationship, child abuse )

  12. Trail of Lightning ★★★★★ This was a re read of an amazing book. I finally have the next book in this series so I read it as a refresher to make sure that I remembered what had happened. ( TW violence, abuse, cannibalism, kidnapping )

  13. Polaris Rising ★★☆☆☆ I feel bad, I feel like this was on my TBR because of someone’s recommendation, and it was just an okay a story to me. I think I wasn’t expecting it to contain as much romance as it did. I enjoyed the world building and the world itself and the politics behind it but at the same time for someone who was trained so well, some decisions just didn’t seem rational to me. I might give the sisters stories a chance in the future but I just don’t know what it was about it that I just didn’t enjoy it. Might be that I had read so much that I just wasn’t in the mind set, I might give it another chance at a later date. ( TW torture, kidnapping, violence, abuse )

WHAT I WATCHED

  1. Nuestra Lucha Libre ★★★★★ I absolutely adored this series. It had me back in the Arena back home. I loved that this series didn’t focus on just what the sport has become in recent years but on how it evolved in both the female and male aspect of it and how hard it was. It’s a homage to a piece of our culture and it made my heart sing. ( TW blood, fighting, wrestling )

  2. Jimmy Eat World Chapter V Futures ★★★★☆ The Futures album is still one of my favorite albums so when I heard that Jimmy Eat World was going to do a virtual concert and perform the whole album, I knew I had to. Still love it.

  3. Sound of Metal ★★★★☆ Give Riz all the awards! Seriously! This movie was so good. ( TW mentions of addition, self injury, suicidal ideas, hearing loss )

  4. Don’t Fuck With Cats ★★★★☆ I put this one off long enough because I heard that they actually showed clips from the videos of the murdered doing his crimes and I had to be in the right head space for that. I enjoyed how well put together this was and how it keeps you on the edge trying to figure out what exactly was going on, I also liked that the group themselves had to question if they were the reason that perpetrator continued for as long as they did. ( TW animal harm/cruelty/murder, dead animals, murder, violence )

  5. Mind Hunter Season 2 ★★☆☆☆ I’m just disappointed all over the place with this season. I enjoyed the mothers in Atlanta calling Holden on his bullshit but I absolutely hated what they decided to do with Tench’s son and Wendy’s plot. ( TW abuse, kidnapping, death of children, death of an infant *vivid information given about every murder* )

  6. Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer ★★★★☆ Netflix coming at me again with a well put together documentary. This one focuses on the two detectives that teamed up to hunt down the serial killer along with all the ups and downs that came with it. It’ll make you angry, it’ll upset you but glad that he finally was stopped , but upset at all the times he managed to get away. ( TW death, murder, sexual assault, satanic worship, vivid information given about the murders and first hand accounts from those who survived )

That was my eventful January. What did you read or watch? Have you read or watched anything that I mentioned? Did you enjoy it?

 
 
 

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