What I read in January

January was a good reading month--Thanks for all the great recommendations--I read some good books this month!
1.  Fighting For Bread and Roses (Lynn A. Coleman)  This was free on Amazon a while back--It is $9.99 now!  It is a the story of a modern writer investigating a 1912 strike.  It was interesting, a fairly quick read.  Some mystery elements,  but nothing super scary or exciting.
2.  The Firebird (Susanna Kearsley).  So I totally was on a Susanna Kearsley kick this month.  I've read a couple of her books previously, several in a row that had time travel and became progressively weirder (I could look up which ones, but it doesn't really matter). I saw this book when I was walking through the library and picked it up.  The story line is about a woman who is psychic (not as crazy as it sounds) and can "see" the past when she touches items.  It actually ended up being a sequel to a book I read in February--I walked by the book in the library earlier this week to figure out what happened to one of the characters in the February book.  I enjoyed the book--didn't want to put it down and I kind of want to re-read it now that I've read the "prequel" and see more details on the characters.
3.  Every Secret Thing (Susanna Kearsley)--Kearsley originally wrote this under a different name because this is so different from her other books-it is a mystery, without the spooky stuff that some of her books have.  It is a modern day story, but flashes back to World War 2 for parts.  Another book I didn't want to put down.
4.  The Wednesday Sisters (Meg Waite Clayton)--This showed up as one of the top ten favorites of 2014 for a friend of mine and it lived up to its reputation.  The story follows a group of moms who meet at the playground once a week and have a writing club while their kids play.  It was very entertaining--I loved the characters and really looked forward to the sequel (see #8) to find out what happened "after".
5.  The Splendour Falls (Susanna Kearsley).  I picked this up because I hadn't read it, read about five pages, was convinced I'd read it before...decided I hadn't, but that one of Kearsley's other books uses the same characters in the flashbacks (she seems to do that) and really enjoyed the book once I figured that out.  This might be my favorite Kearsley book yet.
6.  Season of Storms (Susanna Kearsley) Another historical novel that flashes back and forth between present day and the past, this time the 1920's.  It does have a ghost, sort of, but still not spooky.
7.  Treasure Hunters:  Danger Down the Nile (James Patterson) Not as good as the first Treasure Hunter's book, but entertaining.  We listened to it in the car and the three of us were entertained, so I can't really complain.  Look up the Amazon summary if you're really interested...
8.  The Wednesday Daughters (Meg Waite Clayton)-This was a disappointing way to end the month.  I really wanted to like this book--advertised as a sequel to The Wednesday Sisters (#4).  The biggest problem was that the style of the book was so different and there were a lot of new, confusing storylines.  I really just wanted to know what happened to the original characters, and while it does mention all of them, it is a 40 year flash forward and focuses on characters that were toddlers in the last book.  It probably wouldn't have been disappointing if I read it independent of the first, but it was too confusing as a sequel.

Up next for February...some more Susanna Kearsley and then a return to Lois Lowry's The Giver series....then who knows what after that!