January was awesome! I blame the Vampire Academy series for reading much more than usually – I was glued to the pages and literally couldn’t put the books down. I was also able to finish four other books that had been on my currently reading shelf for up to 10 months – and sneak in two short horsey novels to pump up my TBR pile statistics.

1. Timeless (Parasol Protectorate, #5) by Gail Carriger
   [dt. Sengendes Zwielicht (Lady Alexia, #5)]

   I can’t believe I finished this series! I know it took me way too long but that’s probably been my subconscious’s way of prolonging the joy of spending time in this world. I already miss the characters. Fortunately, I don’t have to say goodbye to all of them and for now, I have a couple more books set in this world to look forward to. If you’re looking for an entertaining up to downright hilarious steampunk paranormal read with lots of sexy times and diverse characters that will steal your heart, I can’t recommend this series highly enough. Trust me, you won’t regret it. 4/5

2. Sekret (Sekret, #1) by Lindsay Smith

   Well, it took me some time to get my mind to pronouncing the title in English and not in German. ‘Sekret’ is the German word for secretion and that’s not really a nice title. Unfortunately, the book itself wasn’t much nicer. It’s by far not as exciting as it sounds. Most of the time I was just bored and so not interested in the characters’ fates. Probably because I already knew the plot twist 200 pages before it happened. →review 2/5

3. The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, #3) by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien

   This one was much harder to read than the first two novels, probably because the first 1 1/2 films as well as the audio book which I watched and listened to countless times are much closer to the novels than the other 1 1/2. There are so many things happening in the third film I keep forgetting didn’t happen in or were drastically changed from the novels. That makes it much harder to spot all the little fun facts. Speaking about fun facts, I’m planning on doing a sequel post since the first one’s been so popular. I just want to wait till I’ll read and finish the 4th book as well. That’s only a very small section of about 150 pages in the next instalment in The History of Middle-earth and wouldn’t make a whole post on its own. 3/5

4. Mein Pony bleibt bei mir by Sabine Jörg
   [LT: My Pony Stays with Me]

   A very sweet little novel that takes a couple of horse novel tropes and weaves them into a cute entertaining story: the favourite pony, a rival also caring for that pony, the stables in imminent danger of being closed down, the bonding over this catastrophe, the planning of a campaign to save the stables, and the big party at the end. The only thing that was over the top and cost the novel a star was the usage of another trope I’m so not into: said favourite pony is also an unridable problem pony – but the protagonist still manges to ride it without any problems whatsoever. 3/5

5. Das Haus der Stimmen by Ursula Isbel
   [LT: The House of Voices]

   I really enjoyed the beginning: a Danish island, a neglected mansion, a quirky aunt, a sweet romance and mysterious voices that haunt the inhabitants. Unfortunately, the reason for the haunting and especially the very abrupt ending was rather disappointing. 3/5

6. Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2) by Richelle Mead
   [dt. Blaues Blut (Vampire Academy, #2)]

7. Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3) by Richelle Mead
   [dt. Schattenträume (Vampire Academy, #3)]

8. Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, #4) byRichelle Mead
   [dt. Blutschwur (Vampire Academy, #4)]

8. Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5) by Richelle Mead
   [dt. Seelenruf (Vampire Academy, #5)]

9. Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6) by Richelle Mead
   [dt. Schicksalsbande (Vampire Academy, #6)]

10. The Meeting (Vampire Academy, #1.1.) by Richelle Mead

11. Homecoming (Vampire Academy, #6.5) by Richelle Mead

    Reading this series was one of the weirdest experiences ever! I’d read the first one last summer, which was ok but not great, and also started Frostbite but put it aside after about 30 pages. When I came back to it in January, I just couldn’t. Stop. Reading. Seriously, I read all of Frostbite and Shadow Kiss (about 700 pages) in 24 hours. No sleep. No anything else. I can’t even remember when I did something equally crazy readingwise (must have been the last Harry Potter in 2007). I was glued to the pages although I didn’t even love the books. I liked them a lot, mostly because I adore this world and really like the characters,  but there were also rather annoyingly slow parts. I read the other three also a day each; started when I woke up and finished before I allowed myself to sleep again. However, I had to take a couple of days off in between each. Otherwise I wouldn’t have survived this marathon. The last two novels were really awesome, btw. 4-4-4-5-5/5

12. The World of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Elio M. García Jr. & Linda Antonsson
    [dt. Westeros: Die Welt von Eis und Feuer]

    This is the nerd bible of Westeros and I only recommend it to people who are really interested in the world and the Targaryens in particular. It really is like a history book and it reads like one. Most of what I read I immediately forgot – and the interesting parts about the Targaryen history I couldn’t keep because that family is one hell of a chaos and it’s impossible to keep them apart if they always reuse the freaking names. It’s also stunningly illustrated and a feast for the eyes. 3/5

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