Books read in January

     I started the year with Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. Having finished Broken Monsters I had a WTF moment when I put it down. It had been a struggle while reading it, but then with the last couple of chapters I was sucked in and more confused than ever. Have read a novel by Lauren for the first time, I was unsure of what I was getting myself into. Now though I feel I can read her other books with less confusion. I would give it 3 out of five stars
     For this month my TBR jar challenge was to read a book with 500+ pages. I picked Styxx by Sherrilyn Kenyon to fulfill this challenge since it is 800+ pages. Now I have read Kenyon before, it had taken me a whole summer to read her Dark Hunter series. So I was prepared and intrigued by Styxx as a character. In the beginning it was a little rough, but then within a few chapters I was dragged in and couldn't put it down. I did start out reading the hardcopy version, but quickly switched to the ebook version, since realistically who would want to carry a 800+ page book. Besides the size, I enjoyed it so much. I grew to understand and love Styxx, maybe even more than his twin brother Acheron. When comparing Acheron and Styxx in the action and romance I would pick Styxx over Acheron. I remember Acheron being lack lustered when it came to the romance. I felt that Kenyon had stepped up her game with Styxx and made you really care for him. I gave Styxx 5 out of 5 stars.
     Next I read, The Darkest Touch by Gena Showalter. This is her most recent installment in her Lord of the Underworld series. Now I have been waiting for Torin's story, he is the keeper of Disease. Now as the reader I could only imagine what it would be like to not be able to touch anybody or risk spreading world wide disease. Torin has always intrigued me, since he was the most isolated of the Lords. He's also their tech genius. I was pleased with the type of heroine Showalter developed for him. The Red Queen I would say was an excellent pick for him. She was the only one the I felt push him to do all the things that really wanted. For example, fight, for someone that barely got into the field to fight he was kickass. With his moody self and her self confidence it was a good match. I also enjoyed that she was funny and entertaining. It was rough in the beginning at first, but that could just be that I haven't read about the Lords in a while. Once I got into it though that was it, I was hooked. In the end I give it 5 stars.
     The last book I read Was Divergent by Veronica Roth. Now this was the first time I read a book after having already watched the movie. In most cases I wouldn't care, and I would try to keep both separate. The movie had helped set up the settings, but the characters description I could tell had been altered. Now if I was informed correctly Roth had written this when she was in her early years of college. So right away I took that into account when the wording is a bit much and there was unnecessary dialogue. There was also parts that I felt should have been left in that the movie had taken out. There were parts that I felt had been extreme and could understand why it was left out of the movie. I do think that the movie had better organized the story and reworked certain scenes to be better and to hold more power. For a first installment it wasn't horrible, I do plan on reading the rest of the trilogy just to see where the story continues to go and where it ends. For the first installment I give it 4 stars of of five

To Be Read Jar Challenge

For the start of the new year I decided to partake in the To Be Read Jar Challenge. I first heard about it from watching Katytastic's video, in the jar there are 12 different challenges, each month I'll pick one at random. I'll be doing this while working on my goal of 75 books for the year.

Challenges:

1. read a book with 500+pages
2. reread favorite book
3. read a 2015 debut book
4. read a book that someone else picks
5. listen to an audiobook
6. read a book that you DNF'd / gave up on
7. read a new-to-you author
8. read a book that is not a novel
9. read / watch a book and its adaptation
10. read an award winning novel
11. read a classic novel
12. read a series finale

I've already picked the first challenge and it is to read a book with 500+ pages, the book I've picked is Styxx(836pg) by Sherrilyn Kenyon