Happy New Year! It's the first Love Your Library of 2026!

It's January, and since the previous Love Your Library post, I have finished five library titles, four of them were audiobooks, and the remaining one was an eBook. I always try to finish several books early in the year to get a jump on my Goodreads goal. This year I set a goal of 70 books. So far, I have finished six. I'm about 8.5% of the way to my goal. I need to read about 5.8 books each month this year to make my goal. Looks like I am off to a good start. Because it's a new year, I've been wanting to start fresh on my reading, but I haven't given up on finishing the books I started last year. Since January 1st, I have started five titles, and I have already finished three of them. Let's jump into January 2026's library reads.

READ

Last Christmas in Paris: a Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, narrated by various readers - I am not much of a historical fiction reader. Usually I get bored, but this a novel was written primarily in letters and telegrams. As in audiobook, it had different narrators read the different characters' correspondence. The main voices were pleasant and easy to listen to. Although the title mentions Christmas, the story takes place over the years of World War I. I laughed and cried throughout this story. I most enjoyed how the authors masterfully crafted the events and emotions in the letters and telegrams in a way that is fast paced and easy to understand. ★★★★★ Listened to on Hoopla Read for 12 Recs from 12 Friends 2025 CONTENT WARNINGS: Language, depression, violence and death
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center, narrated by Thérèse Plummer - For my first book of 12 Recs from 12 Friends 2026, I listened to this my first ever Katherine Center book. It will not be my last. This is not quite a rom-com. It's more serious and realistic, but it had humor and heart. It covered the difficult topic of the life changing impact of a spinal cord injury. Margaret sustained a spinal cord injury in a plane crash, and as she is working on her recovery and rehabilitation, she is paired with the sullen, silent physical therapist, Ian. Early in the story, I had some reservations about the romance, a physical therapist should have a professional relationship with their patients, but Ian was so respectful of Margaret. By the end, I was rooting for them. ★★★★★ Listened to on Hoopla IG Post CONTENT WARNINGS: Language, depression (including mentions of S*icide), a plane crash, mentions of violence, cancer, and death.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - To finish off 2025, my sister suggested this middle grade science fiction. Miranda tells her story in a non-linear fashion. Readers muddle through a wild combination of seemingly unrelated events. Everything from her childhood best friend shutting her out to her mom practicing for being a contestant on a game show. What starts as a simple coming of age tale turns into a sci-fi-thriller as Miranda begins receiving notes from someone coming from the future to save her friend's life. This was slow burn, but when the action begun this book was exciting. I also enjoyed it that the main character's favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, the parallels and references were perfect. ★★★★★ Read on Libby Read for Reb's Recs 2025 CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild language, car accident, and death.
The Tower Treasure: The Hardy Boys book 1 by Franklin W. Dixon, narrated by Caleb Summers - This book is a piece of American history. I listened to an audiobook reading of the original 1927 text. The original Hardy Boys story entered the public domain in 2023, and this audiobook was one of many to be produced from the original text. I would highly recommend it, but I would also remind more sensitive readers to be aware that certain language terms and character descriptions are a product of its time and may offend modern audience members. This is a dramatic mystery and exciting adventure as the Hardys tackle a car theft and stolen treasure to solve their first case and recover the Tower Treasure. ★★★★☆ Listened to on Hoopla CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, death, offensive terms
The Amazing Spider-Man: Mayhem in Manhattan by Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and more, narrated by Tristan Wright - This was actually a relisten, but I didn't realize it was a relisten until I was halfway through it. I found this Spider-Man audiobook on Hoopla through my library. The story was fast paced, but it spent so long with characters that seemingly had very little to do with the plot. Once the relationship was revealed, it still felt disjointed. I only keep listening to these because, I can basically let my brain be on autopilot and only pay attention when the story is interesting. In Mayhem in Manhattan, Spider-Man is framed for murder and if he wants to clear his name he'll have to find out what really happened. ★★★☆☆ Listened to on Hoopla CONTENT WARNINGS: Language, violence, and death

Currently Reading

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Climbing Rejection Mountain: An Actor's Path to Success, Stability, and Self-Esteem by Nick Wyman, Michael X. Martin
A Knight Before Christmas by Cara Stout
Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, Vol. 1: The Strangest Superheroes of All by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby
A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell
My Hero Academia, Vol. 1 by Kohei Horikoshi, translated by Caleb D. Cook

Checked Out, To Be Read

The Jump by Brittney Morris
Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment by Avachat Arushi
Up in Flames by Hailey Alcaraz IG Post
Make Time for Creativity: Finding Space for Your Most Meaningful Work by Brandon Stosuy
Portrait of a Thief: A Novel by Grace D. Li
Psychology for Screenwriters: Building Conflict in Your Script by William Indick
Happy Bento! Lunches on the Go by Anna Adden
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Emotional Confidence: 3 Simple Steps to Manage Emotions with Science and Scripture by Alicia Michelle

In The Reservation Queue

Famous Anonymous 1 by Morgan Baden
Star Splitter by Matthew J. Kirby
Some Like It Scot: a novel by Pepper Basham
Paw and Order 1 The Grilled Cheese Caper by Jason Platt IG Post
A Heart for Christmas by Sophie Jomain
A Knight Before Christmas by Cara Stout

On Hold, To Be Picked Up

How to a Survive a Horror Movie by Scarlett Dunmore

Returned Unread

Epic Baby Name's for Girls: Fierce and Feisty Heroines, from Ancient Myths to Future Legends by Melanie Mannarino - This is one I checked out and browsed but didn't really read. I enjoy baby name books for when I'm creating characters. I would not recommend this book for that. It's full of the names that are already familiar characters from fiction, history and mythology.
Sunrise on the Reeping by Suzanne Collins - I just can't bring myself to finish this one. I think I'm afraid of the heartbreak of a Hunger Games where I know there will only be one victor. I also checked it back out as soon as it was available again.
Slow Burn Summer: a novel by Josie Silver - After the summer was over, I didn't really feel in the mood for this one, but I held on to it until I had to return it just in-case I felt like reading it.
Emotional Confidence: 3 Simple Steps to Manage Emotions with Science and Scripture by Alicia Michelle - I encountered this book when I was thinking I should improve my emotion response to stressful situations. It sat forgotten in a stack of books until I had to return it. Then I remembered it and read the forward. I checked this right back out because I think it will have good advice. IG Post
Codependent No More by Melodie Beatie - I'll shout out Kate at Once Upon an Ordinary for recommending this one. I read her take on this title and thought that I should give it a try. If only I could remember that I checked these books out before I have to return them.

This challenge takes place on the final Monday of the month. Even when I start my post on Sunday, I have a very hard time getting it finished by Monday. I've accepted that, not decided that I don't need to let that deter me. I love talking about books and sharing my thoughts. I'm looking forward to what new reading from my library (and other places) I will do this year. If you saw the book, Paw and Order in my holds list, I actually got to read a digital ARC of it from Netgalley last year and recommended my library purchase it. I love that they allow customers to suggest titles. My full review for Paw and Order will be on Instagram later this year. I decided to take a few weeks of hiatus from social media, but I will be back and I hope to have many reviews ready to go when I return.

As always, thank you for reading my bookish ramblings. I hope that this helps you find some good books. I have a currently reading post for The Hardy Boy: The Tower Treasure over on Instagram, I thought it was a review but apparently, it's not a review, so I may have to write one. Give me a follow if you would like to stay updated on that. My last post was about my Current Reads Beast book stack. I intend to make that a monthly feature over on IG, as it's become the most exhaustive way to share my current reads. It also motivates me to keep reading, especially the titles I have otherwise forgotten that I was reading. Back in September, I did a weeklong blogging challenge about my favorite books, the first post is Day 1 | Five Fall Favorites 2025: Recommended. On February 13-15, Valentine's Day weekend, I will be doing another blog challenge hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary this one is entirely focused on writing about my TBR reads. I'm still figuring out what books I will discuss that weekend, so stay tuned.

I would love for you all to join us in February for a To Be Read Love blog party!

#LoveYourLibrary

Thank you, Rebecca for coming up with this blog challenge that encourages me to read and write every month. Check out her blog, Bookish Beck

I love making Bookish Friends! Follow me on Instagram Skai_BooksAndBracelets

Stay up to date on all reading and reviews by following on Goodreads.

Inspirational Skai

Wednesday, January 28, 2026