January's Top Five Reads
Cowboys, demons, zombies, vampires & porn stars. Oh my!
I spent the first two weeks of January in a completely stressed and panicked state over my drivers test.
I passed!
But those first weeks felt a bit like a fugue state, and as a result January has felt like the shortest month ever, since my brain thinks those first few weeks don’t count.
I keep congratulating myself on getting the year off on such a solid, productive vibe - those first 16 days where I lived as a complete gremlin have been completely erased from my mental catalogue.
So even though I can’t quite believe it’s already month two of the new year, I’m doing a January wrap up.
Here are reviews of the best books I read this month. What they were, and what I think they did right.
Passing Through Purgatory - Nik Knight
This book! This fucking book!
Look I know it’s early, but this in contention for best book of the year. Already.
I cannot stop gushing about it and just, like, making really high pitched sounds when I talk about it.
It follows Oliver who, as lack of job options in his field after graduation, takes a position at a cafe in Purgatory - the pass through point when traveling from our dimension to the seven hell dimensions.
This book captures the bubbly, confusing, baffled wonderment that happens when you start connecting with someone you really like like.
The meet cute between Oliver and demon Liel, is a thing of perfection.
You will viscerally feel the excited heart palpations as Oliver stumbles and flails his way through flirting all while Liel is thrilled that this flailing, stumbling idiot is (trying) to flirt with him.
No book I’ve read has captured those thrilling moments of an early relationship when everything means something, each communication is carefully crafted by a committee of besties, and everything and anything needs to be analyzed.
And speaking of besties! This is another thing the book does so SO well.
The found family vibes here are top notch, and frankly almost overtake the romance in terms of what I love about the book.
Olivers new coworkers are a quirky, romantically tangled bunch of characters who give each other a bunch of shit while never not having each other’s backs.
Passing Through Purgatory is hilarious, sweet, and spicy. Surprisingly heartfelt for a book with cock-pockets and trips through hell dimensions.
Exactly the kind of comfort read January needs.
Eight Seconds To Ride - Ashley James
This book drops one of the sexiest STFUATTDLAGBs I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
And frankly, that alone would probably be enough to have me recommending it to you. There are few things I love more than a dirty talking cowboy, and you should know that by now.
But this book delivers well beyond those all important 12 little words.
Shooter is a complicated man, and there is some seriously good and satisfying character work that he undergoes.
Dirty talking cowboys who go to therapy? Talk about dreams. Peak #menwrittenbywoman
Ultimately this is a low stress, spicy little book about rival cowboys. You don’t have to think too hard to enjoy it.
But it manages to balance all of its fun bits with Shooters journey from frankly unlikeable to self-aware really well. His issues are handled realistically without bogging down a romcom with unnecessary drama.
Also Sterling wears chaps AND a jockstrap, which is something I didn’t know I needed, but I 100% did.
Carmilla - Sheridan Le Fanu
It’s been a while since I dove into a piece of the Gothic Canon, and the journey was long overdue.
Carmilla predates Dracula and is the OG Sapphic vampire novel.
Written in 1872, the literary Gothic tradition was already well established, and this book absolutely wants you to know that it. is. a. part. of. it.
It hits every gothic trope and doesn’t do it quietly either. Reading today, it manages to be an authentic piece of Gothic Classic history, while also feeling 100% like a parody.
Like I keep saying over on Insta, this is a very silly little book.
You just kinda have to get on board with the silliness, and the overtop language, and the fact that not a single intelligent or reasonable decision is made over the course of this entire book.
This definitely made me happy to read. I got to apply the gothic literary theory that I love so much, but reading it didn’t feel like work.
This is a classic that invites you have fun with it, instead of being too serious. If you’ve been wanting to read classics, but feel like they are to difficult to get through, this is a perfect place to start. It’s practically a one sitting read, so you can knock out a classic (just to say you did) and get some strange vampire romance in, all in less than 200 pages.
Sinful Crimes For The Artistically Inclined - W. H. Lockwood
Alright, look, this book makes the list on vibes, and vibes alone.
And they are immaculate.
Admittedly, the rest of the book that happens around the vibes feels a bit messy.
Joe and Percy are delightful. Their straight man/trouble maker back and forth is fucking delightful!
There are hijinks!
There are shenanigans!
This is one of those action adventure romcoms that they just don’t make like they used to anymore. Think, The Mummy or Romancing The Stone or Indiana Jones.
I will admit that it could be cleaner. Parts feel repetitive, and a little more editing coulda elevated this into something truly miraculous.
As it is though, it is probably the most fun you can have with a priest breaking his vows and the conman who loves him.
Not all books can be perfect, and I enjoyed the parts that this one gets right enough that I am more than willing to absolve it of the rest of it’s sins.
Malibu - Emmy Sanders
Is it cheating to put a reread on a top of the month list?
Well it’s my list, and I say I can, so there.
This was my third reread of Malibu, and honestly I have LOVED it every single time.
Both our main characters, Mal and Henrik, deal with some pretty heavy stuff. But none of it comes out in the relationship. The angst is happening outside of what they have going on between them. Within it’s all about just supporting each other and learning how to actually accept the support offered.
I can never get enough this kind of sweet angst. Where the struggles allow the relationship to grow instead being the thing that throws up road blocks.
This book is good enough that I’ve read it three times and I still want to recommend it. It’s another low stress, feel good read that will soothe your soul.
Tarotscopes will resume in February. But If your looking for more tarot content, check out my insta dedicated to the cards, Tarot Outlaw!
Tarot Reading For Romance Readers is currently on pause, but will be relaunching bigger and better this spring - so stay tuned for that!
See Ya On The Other Side Of The Bed 💋