Bite Sized: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Regretting You, & Lucky in Love

Welcome to my first round of Bite Sized mini reviews! This is a collective of small reviews of books that I've read since I revamped my blog on March 23rd. 😜 

I so badly wanted to call this "Friday Night Bites" since it's Friday, but decided against it. 😂

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

This book felt a little reminiscent of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and I actually DNF'd that one last year – might try it again in the future? I also tried it via audiobook, but there was something about the narrators' voices that just didn't work well for me. However, The Ten Thousand Doors of January had a pleasant narrator, who is also conveniently named January. 🤨 I feel like maybe this was done on purpose to fuel the aesthetic of the story and the way it was written. That's what I'm going to tell myself. 

        I rented this audiobook through my library, but didn't get through it in the 21 days I was allotted, so I ended up having to rent the ebook for the last 40% or so. That's why it took me longer than necessary to read, because I had to switch formats halfway through. 

        The feel and rhythm of the story felt good, but something about the story just didn't enthrall me the way I wanted it to. I enjoyed January as a MC, and also had a soft spot for her dog, Sinbad (whom she fondly referred to as 'Bad'). I thought Samuel maybe deserved better though, and if you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. The story is kind of slow, a little fanciful, about a girl who doesn't fit in but finds her power in a world where she is powerless.  

"She accumulated the dust of other worlds on her skin like ten thousand perfumes, and left constellations of wistful men and impossible tales in her wake."

Reading Time: Feb 19 - Mar 26, 2021

Published September 10th, 2019 by Hachette Audio
12 hours ⌁ Read via library/Libby
Add on Goodreads ⌁ Trigger Warnings

Regretting You

CoHo did it. Again. She gave us not one, but two sides of an amazing story, one from a mother's perspective, and the other of her daughter's perspective. 

        Miller and Clara's love was one I was rooting for from the very first time they spoke to each other, and Morgan's story felt more secondary to me, but it was still amazing and gut-wrenching at the same time. Morgan and Chris's love was one that wasn't meant to last, but when Morgan ends up pregnant at 17, all of her dreams are put on hold and suddenly she feels stuck to live out the rest of her days with her high school boyfriend. But from the ashes of the death of Morgan's dreams, comes Clara – seventeen, sassy, a bit dramatic (because let's face it, all girls are dramatic at that age), and she wants to be absolutely nothing like her mother. Her mom is predictable, albeit dependable, but Clara would rather be like her aunt Jenny, who seems to have life more figured out, and who gives excellent advice, especially when it comes to boys, and being a teenager. But when tragedy – and a heart-wrenching realization – is wrought upon their family, Clara suddenly finds that the only person she has to lean on is her mother, and she's having a hard time coping with that. She starts rebelling in little ways that actually seem pretty big to her mom – it's a lot of miscommunication, a little drama, and a lot of grief piled on top of angst. Morgan and Clara rely on their own support systems while trying to navigate their relationship with each other, and I'll tell you what: I CRIED. And I laughed over Miller and Clara's mutual disgust for the color orange, and I sighed happily over their blossoming friendship/relationship, and I adored the Miller/gramps banter, and I scowled over Clara's selfishness and ignorance, and I hurt over Morgan's anguish... 

        Sometimes the author's sentences were cringe, and there are some things that I wishhh would've happened (*cough*the letters*cough*) but all in all, I'm still a Colleen Hoover fan 4 lyfe! 

"I've believed in you since the moment I met you. I believe in myself now that I've finally left you."

Reading Time: Mar 25 - Mar 29, 2021

Published December 10th, 2019 by Brilliance Audio
11 hours, 17 minutes ⌁ Read via Scribd
Add on Goodreads ⌁ Trigger Warnings

Lucky in Love

I've read exactly two other Kasie West novels, both of which were 3- and 4-star books, so imagine my disgruntlement when it came to Lucky in Love... I know this is a work of fiction, and that the MC is a high schooler, but come on. She low-key drove me nuts with her naiveté, and the way she let others walk all over her. I wanted her to GROW A BACKBONE, and stay focused on her studies, and do things she wanted to do, not what her friends or peers wanted her to do. The yacht party, bailing her brother out, and the car and expensive clothes? UGH, I wanted to reach into the pages and shake the ever-loving daylight out of her. I was getting secondhand anxiety with the way she was spending that money, dude. 🤦🏻‍♀️ 

        I like that she worked at the zoo, and that she had a work-friend-slash-crush, but I definitely didn't feel the sparks fly like I wanted to. I felt underwhelmed with this one, but I won't break up with Kasie West just yet. 

"We make our own luck. I believed that, too. We chose our own fate. We controlled our own future. I knew what I wanted. I needed to go get it."

Reading Time: Mar 29 - Apr 1, 2021

Published July 25th, 2017 by Dreamscape Media
8 hours ⌁ Read via Scribd
Add on Goodreads