What I Read In January 2021

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All the books I read in January have been a mixture of genres. After all the holiday reading I did in December, I needed the variety haha. So there’s a mixture of historical fiction, mystery, royalty, and thriller. Spoiler, the thriller book was my favorite book to read in January. It was just the perfect book to keep me on my toes!

What I Read In January 2021

Troubles In Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

Just a reminder that this is book 3 of a series. Irene Steele is settled on St. John island, but now has to figure out where to live after the FBI confiscated her home (both in St. John and Iowa City).  She pretty much lost everything and has to pick up the pieces along with her sons, Baker and Cash. So much drama unfolds as they find out more about Russ’ work with Ascension and Todd Croft. There’s also a tinted window Jeep that has been stalking them around the island. As a Category 5 hurricane approaches the Virigin Islands, a lot of the secrets unfold and the truth transforms Irene, Baker, and Cash.

As I mentioned above, this is book 3 of the Winter in Paradise Series. I read the first book (Winter in Paradise) last year in January. Then read the second book (What Happens In Paradise) in February. Out of all the book series I’ve read, I think this is my favorite. It’s so captivating and the mystery behind Russ’ second life kept me on my toes. I also love that it incorporates how it affects the island. If you’re reading this section, you probably have read the other two books. And my least favorite character is Ayers. For a girl who is being portrayed as smart, she drives me crazy with her decisions. The decision she makes about her love life is so similar to someone who is in college and I can’t help being annoyed by her haha.

In my opinion, if you haven’t read this series yet then I highly recommend that you read all three consecutively. This will keep all the events fresh and trust me you’ll have the urge to want to know more after every book.

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer in the FBI. During the Cold War, the FBI is a boys club and she is constantly passed up on high-profile jobs. She is frustrated that her talent is not put to work. One day, she asked to do an undercover job. This is her first high profile assignment and is asked to try to take down a popular President in West Africa. There is fear that this President may turn into a Communist government. Marie knew she was only asked for this job because of her gender & ethnicity and not for her talent, but she accepts it anyway. While undercover, she realizes what this President stands for and it is actually aligned with her views. Now she is contemplating if she should proceed with her assignment or stick with her morals.

This book has been on my TBR list for awhile now and I was so intrigued that it was based on a true story. I also included it in my books by black authors list. I don’t know if I had high expectations for this book, but it wasn’t what I expected. At first, it felt like it dragged a bit but half-way through the book picked up. I was disappointed in the ending because I felt like I never got an answer. It’s still a well written book I’m just up in the air on how I rate this book.

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Claire appears to have the perfect life and is married to a political dynasty – Rory Cook. She lives a very elegant and public life, but nothing is quite what it seems. Rory is an abusive husband and very powerful. So many people fall for his charm and things always go his way. Claire feels trapped and is in constant fear for her life so she decides to vanish and get a new life. At the airport, Claire meets Eva and they both decide to trade plane tickets since they both want to disappear from their lives. However, Claire’s original flight (the one Eva is now on) has crashed and there are no known survivors. Now Claire takes Eva’s identity and along the way, she discovered secrets about Eva and how that will affect Claire’s life.

This is my first thriller book of the year and I LOVE it! I could not put this book down and I finished this book in 2 days. It was intense right from the beginning. It was exactly what I was looking for after reading all the feel good books from last month. And it was engaging and it constantly kept me on my toes. At the same time, it helps you appreciate the bravery women go through to speak up and stand up for themselves.

Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Dunmore

This is the first book of a three-book series. The series is called A League of Extraordinary Women. It takes place in 1879 in England and a group of women joined together to form the women’s suffrage.

Annabelle Archer is one of the women known to be brilliant and one of the first female students to go to Oxford University and achieved this through a scholarship. She is in charge of recruiting men to support the women’s suffrage movement and her biggest challenge is to get Duke of Montgomery, Sebastian Devereux, to join her cause. He is the biggest influence in British politics. Of course, it doesn’t come easy for Annabelle and her challenge is to not fall for the Duke’s charm and attraction. Sebastian finds the suffrage appalling but can’t keep his eyes off Annabelle’s green-eyed beauty. So now both Annabelle and Sebastian are figuring out what to do. Should they disregard what they stand for and be shamed by their peers?

I had high expectations for this book because I’m always down to read any book with royalty. To be honest, I picked up this book because I accidentally bought the second book of the series first haha. Overall, the book is lighthearted and I really like how it puts women’s rights front and center. I don’t know if my timing was off when I started reading this because I was not as interested. Probably because the book has some politics in it and right now the world is talking politics nonstop. I usually use books as my escape and I guess I didn’t have that with this book. However, it was still well written and I enjoyed some parts especially towards the end.

Did you have a favorite book this past month?

xo RD