Book of the Month and Reading Wrap Up | January 2016

I've decided to start a new segment on my blog called 'Book of the Month', where I will list all the books I've read that month and select the one I enjoyed the most, and do a short review for it. I might also include a runner-up book if it's a lose call between two. I think this will help me remember what I loved most about the books I read each month and will make it a lot easier to choose my Top Books of 2016 at the end of the year. Let me know what you guys think!

I read some great books this month and I'm very happy with my reading of 2016 so far. I've read some fairly chunky books this month (three of them were over 600 pages), and I managed to read 11 books, so I'm still ahead of my Goodreads goal, which I'm happy about! Here are the books I read this month:

1. Before the Dawn by Lindsey Fairleigh and Lindsey Pogue ★★★.5

2. Soundless by Richelle Mead ★★★★.5

3. The Secret History by Donna Tartt ★★★★★
4. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski ★★★★.5
5. The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski ★★★★.5
6. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black ★★★★
7. Winter by Marissa Meyer ★★★★★
8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood ★★★★.75
9. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak ★★★★★
10. Duma Key by Stephen King ★★★★★

11. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin ★★★.5

Some of these books already have review written for them and to read those just click on the books above.

Winter by Marissa Meyer! (#4 Lunar Chronicles)★★★★★

**No Spoiler Review!** How could it not be Winter? This book was simply brilliant. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this book, Winter is the fourth and final book in the Lunar Chronicles series; the first in the series being Cinder. This set of books are re-tellings of different fairy tales with a sci-fi twist to them. 
I won't say much about the plot because I don't want to spoil anyone, but I will say that one of my favourite things about this book was definitely the characters development and interactions. In Cress I found Cress to be rather predictable and boring, but in this book she developed exponentially, and I loved her. Thorne also quickly became one of favourite characters and I couldn't have been rooting for these characters more. I enjoyed the previous books but this tied them all up so beautifully that it made me love them all so much more.
The entire series is spectacular and the fairytale elements were incredibly interwoven in with the story. The friendships between the male characters and female characters was just lovely; I love that there was no angst and that the female characters could actually be friends without all the jealousy and pettiness that is so often seen in YA literature. Not only this, but all eight main characters are so unbelievably unique. It's hard to write characters so that they don't blend into one another but Meyer does it seamlessly. The book also has a very realistic villain and the exploration Luna made the story so much better.

I could gush more about this book but I think that's probably enough for now! If you think you might be interested then definitely pick up Cinder and give it read; the series gets so much better as it goes on.

And this month I definitely have a runner up too, which is ... 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt ★★★★★

I'd heard a lot  about this book from different people, and especially my sister as it's one of her favourite books, so I thought it was about time I picked it up. I could not be happier that I finally got around to reading this. Donna Tartt's writing is both beautiful and detailed, and so realistic that I could image absolutely every scene and place she described. I don't really know how to describe what this book is about, as I think it's best to go into it without knowing too much about it. But I will say that it  focuses on a group of Classics students in a college in America, and their exploration into something much deeper and darker than they anticipated. The book had so much mystery throughout and it kept me hooked from very early on.  This book will linger in my memory for a long time and it's really stayed with me since I read it.  The characters were all so interesting and so human in their flaws that it made them relatable even if they weren't always likeable. I enjoyed everything about this book and I recommend this anyone, even if you've not enjoyed anything else by Donna Tartt. This book was just amazing.

That's all for my wrap-up this month! Let me know what you think of the books I've mentioned here and if you did (or didn't) enjoy them. If you did a wrap-up this month then let me know below and leave your link so I can check it out!