What I Read In January 2022

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I started reading fast through the first half of January. Then the second half, I started slowing down. Three of the books I read in January were all read within the first 10 days of January. So I thought for sure I would end up reading 6 or more books. But that’s okay. I was feeling so tired every night that I just wanted to sleep haha.

What I Read In January 2022

A Magical New York Christmas

Sabrina is a struggling writer and barely can make ends meet. She has an opportunity to be a ghostwriter of a famous art dealer and stay at the Plaza. She feels like Eloise from her favorite childhood books and ran into a British visitor, Ian. It turns out he is a Lord. Ian assumes Sabrina is a wealthy guest of The Plaza and doesn’t correct her that he is not from British aristocracy. He’s actually a personal secretary of a Lord. As the week continues, will Sabrina and Ian learn the truth about each other?

I started reading this book right at the end of December, but unfortunately, I had to take a couple days break from reading. But that’s okay because even though it is categorized as a holiday book, this book made me feel good about starting the new year while everyone was hunkering down from COVID. Add this book as one of my favorite holiday books. It is focused on romance, but not in your typical, predictable way. FIrst of all, I loved that it has some royals to it. I’m a sucker for fiction books with royal families haha. It also has a mystery to solve. While I’m following along with the romance, at the same time, I’m following along a memoir of someone considered wise and how this person’s life shapes out to be and the famous author of the Eloise series, Kay Thompson.

The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked in Truviv for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO meant Ames (their boss) will take over. Each woman has a different relationship with Ames and things can change for them if he becomes CEO. There are whispers about how he treats women. The whispers have been ignored. But the world has changed and each woman is watching Ames’ promotion differently. When they found out Ames made an inappropriate move on one of the new employees, they decided enough is enough.

This book might be triggering. It talks about sexual harassment at work and postpartum depression. In the beginning, it felt like it was dragging. I think it dragged because already at the beginning you know why these 4 co-workers were brought together. So I felt like when the story was going back in time, they could have shortened some details. The book finally picked up when it got to when the incident happened. Then it felt like a mystery and a ‘whodunit’ that I couldn’t put it down until I knew the real story and the truth about what actually happened.

But I did like how the book talks about realities of a corporate woman, a working mom, and adult friendships. It’s realistic but that’s why I think this book is triggering and may not be for everyone. Overall, I rate this book as okay. Some people I know loved it, but I didn’t like how it dragged in the beginning.

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Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu

Willa is biracial – half Asian and half Caucasian. She’s always felt like she never fit in. She’s either too Asian in her predominately White school or too White around Asian kids. Her parents divorced at an early age and she never fit in with either of her parents’ new families. For years, Willa felt lonely since she’s always felt like an outsider. Then things changed for Willa when she became a live-in Nanny for a wealthy family in NYC. As she gets closer to the family, she is forced to confront all the things she never had to in the past. Willa finds herself questioning who she is and revisits a childhood home.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall, it is well written but it wasn’t exactly what I expected. I was intrigued by this book because when I read the synopsis I was able to relate to the main character about being Asian but not fitting in. Growing up I was too Asian to fit in with my mainly White school but then I’m too White among the Asian crowd. Maybe it was just me, but I was hoping for more of that and how Willa navigated through that. It could be just me, but I wanted to not feel alone in this situation. While Willa received closure at the end of the book, I didn’t. I didn’t quite understand what this meant for her going forward. Maybe that’s why I had mixed feelings about the book. I got an ending hangover haha.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

During Christmas break, a group of 30-something old friends decided to spend New Year’s together. This was a tradition started back when they were all in Oxford. This time, they decided to have it in the Scottish Highlands. It appears to be the perfect getaway – secluded with a beautiful landscape. The trip started out with all of them reminiscing.

It’s been awhile since I picked up a thriller book and figured a book by Lucy Foley is what I need. I loved her other book, The Guest List (read it in September 2020) so I thought this book would be just as good. I’d say this book is okay compared to The Guest List. There’s a lot of character development which helps you understand why every character is in this mess, but it was too much character development for me. I kept waiting and waiting for it to pick up and find out who did it. It did eventually pick up half way through and after that I couldn’t put the book down. So I probably had higher expectations. But my thoughts are similar to The Whisper Network, and I just wanted to get straight to the action.

What did you read?

xo RD