What We Read in January 2026

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Are you a reading challenge kind of person? Or maybe you just have a certain number goal you try to hit?

For years, I went for certain numbers. But in recent years, I’ve given myself a free pass in terms of the number of books read in the year. Life gets busy! And I naturally go through ebbs and flows in my reading life. Instead of letting “oh no I’m not reading!” be yet another thing in life that has the power to stress me out, I do my best to just give myself some grace and read when I feel like it.

What are you planning on for your reading life in 2026? Let me know in the comments!

Cathy

I had a bit of a throwback month after visiting my mum over Christmas and grabbing some of my favourite books off my bedroom shelf.

Me and Mr Darcy by Alexandra Potter

If anyone has seen the film Austenland, then this book has a similar vibe (and if you haven’t seen it, I’d really recommend as it’s hilarious). Bookshop manager Emily from New York books a Jane Austen group inspired trip around the English countryside. She shows up expecting a group of literary lovers but ends up with some outrageous pensioners and a grumpy journalist – Spike. The story then follows Emily on her trip around famous Jane Austen sights where she meets a mysterious stranger who appears to be the Mr Darcy.

This one’s defo a throwback, especially the mention of the flip phone and computers when they crop up, but it’s great. I like Alexandra Potter’s writing style and I find the idea of meeting Mr Darcy in real life quite amusing. It’s 4 stars.

Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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Finding Sky (and the Savant Series) by Joss Stirling

Another throwback read from my childhood bookshelf. This series introduces “savants” (people with extraordinary skills like telepathy) who are born at the same time as their counterpart is and if they find each other, their powers become even better. Each of the books in the series focuses on a different couple and the tricky roads they go on to find each other – including some pretty creepy bad guys.

I binged these so read all six books in January and absolutely love them. I like the author’s writing style – I find it super easy to picture the story in my head, so there must be something in the writing that my imagination likes. This is 5 stars for the whole series.

Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole

This is a new read for me and I vaguely remember it going viral a few years ago. Diana is a dark creature and is sent on a mission to retrieve the Book of Azrael. She’s caught by her enemies and makes a bargain with their leader, Samkiel (or Liam as he likes to be known), to help retrieve the book together. As they spend time together on the hunt, they slowly fall in love. There’s some drama at the end and the book ends on a cliff hanger.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this book, the first half was a bit boring and dragged out too much. The love story was the thing I liked most but there was lots of silent pining on both sides – Diana and Liam. The ending was good and set things up for the next book which I also have started. However, the second book is 800+ pages and I saw online that the whole series is meant to be 7 books long. I enjoyed the first book but am probably going to bow out of the second one. I don’t know if books need to be 800 pages long and I’m not ready to commit to a 7 book series (only 4 of which are currently published). So The Book of Azrael gets 3.5 stars.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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Joli

Are You There, Spirit? It’s Me, Travis by Travis Holp (Audiobook)

This was a random audiobook discovery on my Spotify. I needed a new audiobook, saw this one, and thought huh, sure, I’ll give it a go.

There’s a lot to love about Travis, and he has some lovely things to say in this book. It has memoir-like essays, but it reads like self-help, too. No matter where you stand on the spirit world and whether you believe it can be communicated with or not, Travis’s messages are comforting and uplifting.

Also, the author reads the audiobook himself, so it sounds authentic. Overall I enjoyed this listen and found some lovely bits about life to ponder.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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Finding Flora by Elinor Florence

This was our book club pick for January and it was pretty universally liked. Flora is a very strong female lead character who escapes a troubling marriage by tumbling out of a moving train. Then, finding herself out in the Canadian wilderness, she ends up homesteading on her own.

A story of self-reliance, survival, female friendship, and courage, Finding Flora took some turns I wasn’t expecting that kept it interesting and engaging for me.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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Molly

The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

This was a read I put off for a while. Just like The Parable of the Sower, it’s a heavy read, especially given current political events.

Butler’s ability to foresee the dangers of late stage capitalism and Christian fundamentalism in the US is uncanny. Both of these books are absolutely haunting, and I think they’re very important books right now.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight

I listened to this as an audiobook, and it absolutely sucked me in. Lush language, a deeply character-driven narrative, imperfect but endearing protagonists, and an omniscient third-person point of view that did not give too much away or feel scattered all made this a delightful listen.

Penelope “Pen” Winters follows in her father’s footsteps and leaves Canada to attend university at Edinburgh. Her best friend, Alice, has decided on Scotland for her undergraduate studies as well, in the hopes of eventually have a stage acting career in London after keeping modeling and commercial jobs throughout her childhood.

The friends agree to give each other some space in their new environment so they can explore who they’re becoming as young adults. While Alice begins an enticing but dangerous relationship with her philosophy tutor, Pen connects with her father’s former school friend and famous author, Elliot Lenox, in hopes of learning more about her parents and why their marriage ended. Instead, she finds herself falling for Lenox’s son Sasha, and indeed, for the whole Lenox family.

This includes Christina Lennox, Elliot’s wife, who gave a promising career in government to maintain the Lennox family estate. Christina’s chosen role requires Pen to ask herself what she wants to become, and to consider the nature of self-sacrifice.

It seems this book has a lot of negative reviews, but I absolutely loved it.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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Renee

Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre

A difficult but important book that details the author’s abuse and experienced being trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein. It’s a lot to take in and there are breaks built into it, but it’s still a good idea to take it slow on this one.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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Miss Winter in the Library With a Knife by Martin Edwards

A cozy British murder mystery within a murder mystery. 6 participants are spending the Christmas holidays in the remote village of Midwinter to play a murder mystery game for an important prize: cash and a seat on the board of Midwinter. A blizzard prevents them from returning to civilization. And then, naturally, people start dying for real.

The reader gets puzzles to solve along with the characters in the book, so it’s very interactive and fun.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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A Most Puzzling Murder by Bianca Marais

Destiny Whip has lost just about everyone in her life that matters. She’s a child prodigy, so smart, and an “enigmatologist.” She’s good at solving puzzles.

She gets a mysterious letter inviting her to come to the remote Eerie Island to interview for a position she didn’t even apply for: that of the Scruffmore family’s historian.

The Scruffmores aren’t just any family. Mordecai Scruffmore is a powerful wizard, and Destiny believes he might be her biological father. With nothing to lose, she sets out to interview, hoping to get to know the man she believes to be her father.

There are elements of mystery, magic, and fantasy that make this book a real genre-bender. I didn’t even know where to find it when I went looking for it in the bookstore because it could have been shelved in a few different sections.

What I really loved is how interactive the book is. Beyond the puzzles, there are “Choose Your Own Conundrum” chapters where you get to briefly live as one of the characters and make a decision about what you’d do in that scenario. Your choice will give you certain information that helps you put your clues in order or learn more about someone’s motives.

Every time you get to a puzzle, you can also email Destiny for clues. This is helpful if it’s a kind of puzzle you’ve never done before or you just need a hint to get started. There’s a gmail account set up and it tells you what subject line to use for each clue. The account is set to auto-respond to each subject line with the clue that tells you how to approach that specific puzzle.

Sometimes there are opportunities to email Destiny for additional information. Scenes that didn’t make the book. That helps you gather more information as you work to try to solve the crime in time. I’ve never read a book like that where you can interact in such a way with the characters. It was a unique experience and a good break from reality for a little bit.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk

I love Eva Jurczyk’s books. In 6:40 to Montreal, author Agatha St. John’s husband gifts her a kind of writing retreat for Christmas so she can work on her next novel. It’s a one-day, roundtrip ticket from their home in Toronto to Montreal.

First, they’re traveling in a blizzard and the train comes to a grinding halt, all the power goes out, and they have no cell phone service. Their attendant, a woman named Dorcas, assures them that everything is fine and help is on the way.

A passenger dies, and when the small group sitting in business class discovers how, Agatha wonders if someone was trying to kill her instead. She had, after all, switched seats with that man.

Hours go by and it doesn’t seem like anyone is coming to help. They can’t leave their car because the power outage has triggered the doors between cars to lock. They’re stuck there with a dead body and a 19 year old boy who is having a diabetic emergency while his mother tries to do everything she can to help.

By the time the train finally starts moving again, it’s unclear whether anyone will make it out alive.

The book is a closed-door mystery that keeps you guessing about what’s going on and who is responsible. I loved the tension, I loved the pace, and I loved the mystery.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—And Why It Failed by Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch

Before there was Dallas 1963, there was Palm Beach 1960, when a plan was thwarted to kill then-President-Elect John F. Kennedy. The JFK Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch is about that plot, which was only thwarted because Jackie and Caroline came outside to say goodbye to JFK as he left for church, which stopped Richard Pavlick from detonating his dynamite.

I’ve read a lot about JFK so a lot of this (aside from the Palm Beach plot) I already knew. But that’s okay.

There is also quite a bit about Jackie in her own right, as well as the events of 11/22/63. Much of that information had come directly from Clint Hill.

It’s well-researched, and I did enjoy reading more about JFK in WWII and the PT-109 story. I’d read about it, but never in a very narrative way, if that makes sense. The book uses that story of Kennedy surviving and saving his men against all odds to set the stage for who he was as a leader.

The book also is realistic about his shortcomings, noting that he was a womanizer and philanderer, and alluding to the fact that while he holds the highest approval rating of any president, historically, he never completed a whole term so he didn’t accomplish a lot of what he wanted to do. Because of that, it’s easy to romanticize the administration. And indeed, that’s what Camelot did.

Interesting, compelling, and maybe just a bit fluffy for me, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | Storygraph

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That’s it! That’s what we’ve been reading. What did you read in January?