Happy Friday, friends! Today starts a four-day staycation for me and my biggest plans for today are to get a haircut and get a photo taken for my passport renewal. Woo!
Today, I’m starting my new reading wrap-up series. I am super excited about this series and had so much fun putting it together. I’m breaking down this wrap-up into three sections: a list of the books I read this month (with ratings, sources, and a mini-review), my book stats for the month, and a fun little superlative section.
Books Read
- A Wicked Kind of Husband by Mia Vincy (★★★★★ – e-book, Amazon) – a surprisingly perfect enemies-to-lovers romance
- Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian (★★★★★ – #ownvoices, audiobook, Libby) – a ya love story that will stick with you
- Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope by Meghan Phelps-Roper (★★★★★ – print, library) – a difficult memoir from a courageous woman
- Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (★★★★★ – #ownvoices, print, Amazon) – a book I wanted to hug when I finished it
- Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian (★★★☆☆ – e-book, Libby) – a queer love story that had me doing a deep dive into consumption/tuberculosis
- Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell (★★★☆☆ – print, Amazon) – a good overview of how culture (and patriarchy) shapes language
- When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton (★★★★☆ – #ownvoices, audiobook, Libby) – an engaging novel that was part-spy novel and part-coming of age story
- The Bastard’s Betrayal by Katee Robert (★★★★☆ – e-book, Amazon) – a dark and gritty mafia romance that earned all of the chili peppers from me
- All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle (★★★★★ – #ownvoices, print, library) – an uplifting story with A Man Called Ove vibes
Book Stats
- # of books read: 9
- # of pages read: 2,891 pages
- Fastest read: Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (3 days)
- Slowest read: Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian (12 days)
- Star average: 4.3
- % of books by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community: 56%
- Abandoned books: 1 (Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit—I gave this book about 30 pages before abandoning it, but it just felt very academic and also a bit dated, in some ways)
- Goodreads goal check-in: I set a goal of 135 books this year and currently, I am 1 book behind schedule. Eeks!
Superlatives of the Month
- Favorite book of February: Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson
- Favorite romance of February: A Wicked Kind of Husband by Mia Vincy
- The book I thought I would love more than I did: Wordslut by Amanda Montell
- A book that was totally deserving of the hype: All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
- Favorite audiobook experience of the month: Like a Love Story (three different narrators reading each person’s part, and they each seemed to truly embody their characters)
What was the best book you read in February?
Wow! This was such a great month of books! So many four and five star ratings!
My favorite of February was The Night She Disappeared. (I posted the others on my book blog, if you are interested!) I continue to love all the stats you track.
Have a wonderful four day weekend!
It’s been a pretty great reading year so far for me! My star average is out of this world.
I’m adding The Night She Disappeared to my TBR – another friends also loved this book so I need to give it a try!
I did a reread of The Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers in February and it was wonderful. I highly recommend those books. I’m so jealous of how many books you read are ones you love – I definitely would like some tips about how you choose books for your TBR list to have such a high enjoyment rate!
That’s a great blog post idea! I need to brainstorm about this topic to figure out exactly my secret sauce.
Standard Deviation and The Choice were the two best books I read in February.
A haircut! I think we need a photo!
It was just a trim – a few inches off – nothing dramatic! I did take a post-haircut selfie but I’m not sure if the difference is all that noticeable to anyone but me, haha. I should have taken a before picture!
Oh, I almost got “Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope” out of the library today! I’ll have to go back for it.
I think you would find it really interesting!
I also read 9 books in February! I just posted my recap today. The best read was Honor by Thrity Umrigar. She is such a talented author and I loved hearing Sarah of Sarah’s Bookshelves Live interview her! I also loved Patchett’s new collection of essays. I would love to visit her bookstore some day.
Reading twins!
I’ve heard really great things about Honor, but I think it might be too much for me. But I’m glad to hear you liked it – maybe I will be in the right headspace for it soon!
I need to look back at your review of Piecing Me Together…sounds like it was really powerful for you!
And All the Lonely People is calling to me… you and others have just raved about it!
I hope your passport renewal is easy… mine seemed to take FOREVER, but hopefully they’ve moved beyond the super-slow pace they had in the fall!!!
Oh gosh, I hope the passport renewal doesn’t take too long! Thankfully I have just under 3 months until my trip so I *should* be fine. I’ll be nervous until it goes through, though!
You had a great reading month!