All The Right Reads

Hi, friends. 

Tabatha, one of our founders and our most prolific review poster, regularly updates her reading stats over on her personal blog. Or, at least, she has in previous years. This year we thought it might be fun to move her content HERE so you can all see her reading stats. 

What do you need to know?

1. She reads A LOT. She typically takes on 2-3 reviews or ARCS for us each month but that’s only a fraction of what she reads. 
2. She reads EVERYTHING. Seriously. There are genres she’ll flock to more easily when left to her own devices (thrillers) but she’ll read anything! 
3. She reviews everything she reads. You may have noticed that. 
4. She doesn’t think reading is a competition, she just likes statistics and likes looking at what she’s read. This isn’t intended to make you feel bad, it’s just for your information!
5. If you see something you’re curious about, ASK. Someone will dig into the stats and see if we can find you an answer. 

So, with that all out of the way, let’s dig into January. 

Here are the books Tab read during the month of January.

• 14 total books
• 5,137 total pages
• 14% independently published

She knows this is what she read because she tracks each one in a little journal. We’ll throw those pages at the end of this post, just for fun!

What genres are those?

Half of them were mystery/thrillers. According to Tab, this is because she was “set loose in the library” to pick whatever she wanted and that’s where she goes first! It’s not always this lopsided.

What age categories?

Mostly adult. According to Tab, that’s typical. 

Where does she get all her books?

Most of them this month came from the library, as mentioned. 

The Advanced Reader Copy was from a publisher this month, the review copies were from the authors, she purchased the 1 directly from Ingram (it was actually a preorder), and the 1 gift came from a fellow reader. 

What format does she read?

Everything. This is actually the category Tab thinks will change the most over the months. Some months she claims to read mostly ebooks. This month is was heavily hardcover. 

STAR RATINGS:

• 0 1-star books. That makes sense because this is RARE for us. At alltherightreads we say a book has to be one we cannot recommend to get this rating. 
• 0 2-star books. These are books that were problematic, for some reason. The full reviews would lay out why. We usually say something about these had to rub us the wrong way. 
• 7 3-star books. This is probably our most common rating. For us, these books are GOOD but they’re NICHE for some reason. Before we could recommend them to you, we’d have to find out if you’re in that niche. Sometimes it’s because of content warnings, sometimes it’s because they’re just for a really specific reader. If you happen to be in this niche, however, these could be your absolute favorite books!
• 6 4-star books. These are books that we’d recommend just based on the fact that you say you read this genre. They’re just GREAT examples of their genre. For Tab this month those were:
  • Kill for Me, Kill for You: This is a mystery/thriller that delivers on excitement, mystery, and danger! 
  • Tender is the Flesh: A science-fiction (dystopian) that takes place in a future where humans have had to start consuming … humans. If you’re a dystopian fan, this one belongs among the classics in the genre. 
  • Triptych: A detective thriller that satisfies and breaks a few rules, which is always fun in the genre. 
  • Zero Days: A tech thriller with a great main character, a dangerous situation, and a page-turning pace.
  • Ain’t Burned All the Bright: A beautiful poetry book that also captures street art in a way that will please poetry readers.
  • Everyone on This Train is a Suspect: A cozy mystery sequel that manages to capture the vibe of the first one and still satisfy with the solution. 
• 1 5-star book. These books are ones that CROSS GENRES. We’d recommend them to almost any reader but definitely to readers of at least 2 genres. Crossing genres can be difficult for any author because you have to do both well. For Tab in January that one was:
  • The Place Where They Buried Your Heart: This contemporary horror novel manages to tell a haunted house story amidst a story about a family experiencing the worst kind of grief. The best part is, both parts are done exceedingly well. If you’re a fan of hard-hitting contemporary family dramas OR paranormal haunted house stories this one delivers. It’s the best of both worlds and HIGHLY recommended. 

As promised, here are her crazy journal pages. 

TLDR: Tab read 14 books for a total of 5137 pages in January.

So, that’s Tab’s January Reads wrap!

What kind of stuff would you like to see next month? Let us know in the comments.