12 Books 12 Friends Reading Challenge 2024 - January & February Update

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I just realized I haven't mentioned this around here, but over on Twitter I took recommendations at the end of last year for the 12 Books 12 Friends Challenge 2024.  Since the beginning of the year, I've completed 5 of the 12 books so far and I thought I would share my thoughts on the books I've read all based on recommendations.  Some of these weren't on my radar at all if not for the recommendations, so thanks very much for everyone who made recs to me!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the 5 books I've read for this challenge so far:

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I really liked how For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing started out and it's a solid read throughout but I think I would have preferred it if Teddy were the only perspective character in the long run.  I think I was expecting something a little different going in to it in terms of style.  Despite all this, I think I will still need to try more of this author in the future.

My review is also on Goodreads.

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Roxy by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman wasn't quite for me, but it's still worth reading.  The authors are very talented and it was just difficult to rate this one honestly.

My review is also on Goodreads.

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The short stories of Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women by Sharon Blackie were really cool. I'm glad this was recommended to me for the 12 Books 12 Friends challenge  because otherwise I might have completely missed it.  If you're looking for mythology and fairytale retellings, you'll have to try this anthology. 

My review is also on Goodreads.

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An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong is pretty fascinating! Of course, there were certain sections I was interested in more than others so I did jump around a bit to those parts.  This reminded me quite a bit of the theme an afterschool program I used to host last year.

My review is also on Goodreads.

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The Last One by Will Dean is a fun mystery thriller even if it is overlong. It's best to go into this one almost blind so I won't say much about the plot except to say that it reminds me quite a bit of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, especially when it comes to that ending! Wow - I'm glad this was recommended to me for the 12 Books 12 Friends challenge! I'm going to have to try more from this author asap.

My review is also on Goodreads.

Are you taking part in this challenge?  Have you read any of these books?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!