Eight books down in February! I’m really loving making time to read physical books on the weekends – I can tend to overstuff my days with waaay too much, so having time to just sit down and read is a dream. I also feel like I totally upped my reading game after seeing that I could get a Las Vegas Clark County library card online – life-changing! They have so many more book options than my local library does, and I now have 30 holds for audiobooks to binge!
As we head into March, my goals for reading are to read the books for my two book clubs (Carrie Soto is Back and The Do-Over), read the next book in the Baxters series (yay Karen Kingsbury), and tackle a few more physical books on my unread shelf! What are you reading lately?
It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover – 3 Stars
I know this book has lots of controversy surrounding it, but I just wanted to hear the ending to Lily’s story. We read It Ends With Us in my book club in 2021, so I was excited to wrap up this storyline. I can’t really recap this book without spoiling the first one, so start there first! I’ll just say that it was a good end to the plot, not surprising, and just fine.
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind by Dana K. White – 4 Stars
I don’t know what it is about a book that covers routines and rhythms and keeping a home, but they are so interesting to me. I especially loved reading about this topic from the viewpoint of a self-proclaimed slob, because I would say that I myself am a self-proclaimed slob as well. I love a clean, tidy, organized home, but I just don’t have great systems in place to keep mine that way. I really enjoyed hearing how she started small when it came to cleaning her home – it felt so simple that maybe even I could do it! I felt motivated to come home and get rid of a ton of stuff and sweep the floors after reading.
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins – 2 Stars
I really expected to love this book, and instead, it fell beyond flat for me. There were way too many characters to keep straight, and it jumped perspectives every couple of pages. I had trouble understanding who was who, and then she added in a couple of flashbacks to side storylines that added even more confusion. The plot of the book is that a single mom is found dead at the bottom of a river – a river with a history of mysterious deaths that she had been researching for a new book. But what really happened?
Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover – 3 Stars
I’m on a mission this year to read the backlist of the authors that I’m interested in. It’s a small-ish list – Karen Kingsbury, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Colleen Hoover, etc. I won’t say that her books just blow me away, but I enjoy the storylines! So I picked up Reminders of Him as my next Coho book. It’s the story of Kenna, a 26-year old woman just released from prison after serving five years for a tragic accident. She’s traveled back to the place where it all began to reconnect with her daughter that was born while she was in prison. When she
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson – 4 Stars
I have seen people raving about this book ever since it was released, and I found it at my used bookstore, so I figured it was fate! I went into it completely blind, and while it took me about 25% to really get into the story, by the end I was hooked. It’s the story of Byron and Benny Bennett reeling from the death of their mother and the news that she left behind for them. It’s the story of their mother growing up in another country by another name. And it’s the story of what it means to be family, and how we grow into ourselves. It was a really beautiful story, and it made me want to try black cake.
One Little Lie by Colleen Coble – 4 Stars
My friend Morgahn loves Colleen Coble, and she gifted me this book for my birthday! It combines my love of mystery/thrillers and cults, soooo I couldn’t say no! I loved this story of small town police chief Jane Hardy as she unravels the mystery of the crime in her town as well as the mysteries of her past.
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult – 4 Stars
Wow wow wow so many thoughts about this one. Olivia is a beekeeper and lives on a little farm with her teenage son Asher. He is her whole world. And one day he calls her from the police station, and their worlds come crashing down. This book gets into some seriously hard, heavy topics, so please check out the content warnings before jumping in.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry – 2 Stars
After hearing reviews and snippets everywhere, I wanted to listen to the book from Matthew Perry’s voice! I feel like this book needed some major editing. The timeline was so out of order and completely confusing – I didn’t know where we were in time throughout most of the book. It also felt like loots of repetition of the exact same stories over and over. Probably my biggest complaint was how he talked about women – to repeatedly sing the praises of the entire Friends cast and only ever comment on Jennifer Anniston’s physical appearance was just the tip of the iceberg. I wanted to like it, but I just am not a fan.
You can find all of the books I’ve read this year here:
What I Read in January
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