What did you read in February?

[litskispeciality]

I know we have a thread going on Married Life, but I always need recs lol. What did you read, DNF, etc. in February? Ratings, recommendations?

[litskispeciality]

I finished:

Malibu Rising 3.5*s - I liked the parents story better
The Girl Before 3.5*'s - good, but holy TW @@@, domestic and animal abuse

DNF:
One of Us is Lying. After all the wait I think I got through 10 pages.

Haven't finished yet:
Local Woman Missing
The Turnout

So far an awesome reading year 5 books finished. THinking about upping my goal from 24 to 30, just have to see how March goes.

[mie]

The Guncle by Steven Rowley 4*
Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley 3*
Friends with Benefits by Lisa Swift 3*
When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting 3*
Life After You by Sian O'Gorman 3*
Marriage for One by Ella Maise 3*
Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morgenthaler 3*
Knox by Prescott Lane 3*
No Ex Before Marriage by Portia MacIntosh 3*
The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise Williams 3*
Honeymoon for One by Portia MacIntosh 3*
The Rebound by Catherine Walsh 3*
We Met in December by Rosie Curtis 2*
No We Can't Be Friends by Sophie Ranald 2*

The best out of the bunch was the Guncle.

[Vespasia]

I read a lot on vacation so my list is longer than usual! 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - 4.5*

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams - 4*

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala - 3.5*

Amazon Prime Blacks Stars collection: 3-4* 
2043...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) by Nisi Shawl
The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor
The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
These Alien Skies by C.T. Rwizi
Clap Back by Nalo Hopkinson
We Travel the Spaceways by Victor LaValle

The Evening and The Morning by Ken Follett - 4*

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark - 4*

Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis - 4*

The Quarter Storm by Veronica Henry - 3*

[CrazyLucky]

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacey Willingham - 4*
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - 5* I loved this book. Loved it.

[charlatti]

The Verifiers by Jane Pek 4.5* (really fun and well crafted)
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin 4* (I guess? I rated it 4.5 on my first read, but this one was more like 3.5)
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty 2* (ugh. I usually enjoy her books but not this one)
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson 4.5* (go read this!)
World Made by Hand by James Kunstler 3* 
The Condition by Jennifer Haigh 2*
Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson 5* (I’m not over the moon for this series, but I really liked this one)

[tacokick]

Mar 1, 2022 14:00:39 GMT -5 charlatti said:

The Verifiers by Jane Pek 4.5* (really fun and well crafted)
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin 4* (I guess? I rated it 4.5 on my first read, but this one was more like 3.5)
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty 2* (ugh. I usually enjoy her books but not this one)
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson 4.5* (go read this!)
World Made by Hand by James Kunstler 3* 
The Condition by Jennifer Haigh 2*
Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson 5* (I’m not over the moon for this series, but I really liked this one)

I liked the Verifiers a lot but the Inspector Yuan references were too frequent. They really took me out of the book and seemed like a device you’d see in an elementary or middle school level book.

[rootbeerfloat]

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Wilson - 4*
Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers - 3^

[tacokick]

February was marked by a return of some insomnia so I think I read 20 books!

The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton by Eleanor Ray (blah)

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris (anti climatic and the timeline seemed really off to me)

Just Like the Other Girls by Claire Douglas (on the other hand this book also had a bonkers plot but a tight timeline and conclusion)

The White Lady (La Dame Blanche) Quentin Zuttion

Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James (good first half, blah second half)

Catch Her When She Falls by Allison Buccola
(Flat)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (but don't have sex or take the car) by Dick Moore (and contributions from many other child stars) (gossipy and interesting)


The Couple at Number 9 by Claire Douglas (I feel like I shouldn’t enjoy her books as much as I do, they are all sort of wacky but she really is good with details, locations and timelines in a way a lot of these domestic mystery/low key thriller books aren’t )

Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow (great premise but kind of a mess)

The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub (not horrible but very abrupt ending that left loose ends)

From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy by Scott Meslow (okay but he made some odd choices in structure)


Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler (ok)

Will by Will Smith & Mark Manson (I could talk about this all night so much WTF)

Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala
(Eh)

She Memes Well: Essays by Quinta Brunson (good! I always appreciate some info about money and work when someone is up and coming)

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory (ok)

Gentrifier: A Memoir by Anne Elizabeth Moore (OMG I have no good feelings about this book)

Rock the Boat by Beck Dorey-Stein (bad but I liked the location so I finished it)

Wish You Were Gone by Kieran Scott (eh, messy)

Wildcat by Amelia Morris (eh)

The Verifiers by Jane Pek (loved the concept and characters, hated the Inspector Yuan references, felt like the end was really rushed)

[meowmaps]

American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser 4*

Billy Summers by Stephen King 4*

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke 5*

The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall 4*

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez 4.5*

[travella]

4*

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

3*

Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park (3.5*)

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win by Maria Konnikova (3.5*)

2*

The Reading List by Sara Adams

DNF:

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

The Swimmers was my favorite this month.  It is a short book; I read it in one night.  The writing style is different and it bugged me at first, but I found it to be very interesting and emotional in the end. 

[charlatti]

Mar 1, 2022 14:19:21 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Mar 1, 2022 14:00:39 GMT -5 charlatti said:

I liked the Verifiers a lot but the Inspector Yuan references were too frequent. They really took me out of the book and seemed like a device you’d see in an elementary or middle school level book.

Interesting— I thought that was clever. I liked how self-aware she was of following mystery tropes.

[tacokick]

Mar 1, 2022 15:46:51 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Mar 1, 2022 14:19:21 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I liked the Verifiers a lot but the Inspector Yuan references were too frequent. They really took me out of the book and seemed like a device you’d see in an elementary or middle school level book.

Interesting— I thought that was clever. I liked how self-aware she was of following mystery tropes.

I think it would have been fine a few times but I lost track after 2 dozen mentions. Especially in the beginning they were on nearly every other page.

I think the author should have either leaned into it and had an Inspector Yuan quote each chapter and/or a full on parallel mystery featuring the Inspector or toned the mentions way down. Since it isn’t a real or known fictional character the references required too much reflection IMO and took away from the actual plot.

There was so much else going on between the interpersonal drama, the tech stuff, ethics, workplace issues, relationships, even biking issues that I don’t think we needed it. She was already a detective/investigator at a detective agency (even if they didn’t call it that) when when the book started and a grown woman. Did she need to think about what a fictional character would do so much? That seems more like a child or amateur detective trope to me.

I think it will be a cute series but I almost put it down several times because there was so much of it in the beginning.

[dearprudence]

Jane in Love - 5*
Pride and Premeditation - 5*
Incense and Sensibility - 4*
North and South - 4*
My Fine Fellow - 4*
Recipe for Persuasion - 3*
The Bennet Women - 3*

[brewco]

The Office Of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans 3*
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica 4*
A Flicker In The Dark by Stacy Willingham 4*
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry 4*
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty 3*
The Guncle by Steven Rowley 5*

Currently reading Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

[mrspez07]

Read:
Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon 3*
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert 4*

Audio:
The Book of Forgotten Names by Kristin Harmel 4*

I DNF the Soulmate Equation, I thought I would like having an easy read on a trip but couldn’t get into it.
I also let The Reading List expire on audio but will try it again.

[sju]

In order of preference:

The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas -excellent: Book comes with a TW.  I struggled with it at first but then I could see why it was written that way.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly - very good: I wish the author spent more time tying certain loose ends but it was great. 

The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway - good: I’m catching up on classics I have never read. Not in my HS curriculum growing up.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson: very quick read. Didn’t learn anything new. Lol

Started Violeta by Isabel Allende. So far so good.

[sju]

CrazyLucky, I also loved All the Light We Cannot See.