I cannot believe February is already over. It is the shortest month, but this year it absolutely flew by. That didn’t stop me from finding time to read though, and I have so many good winter books to review today.
If anyone else is a local library member, you may relate to the predicament I was in this month. Somehow I get off the waitlist for all my library holds at once. I will be on the waitlist for these books for at least six months, and all at once I get six email notifications that the library is ready for me to pick up a book.
It’s a good problem to have. but that also means some of the books I paid for got pushed to the back-burner because of my library’s 21-day loan period. At the point I’m writing this, I’m strongly considering skipping March for Book of the Month. I love that you can easily sit out a month if there are just too many books on your TBR (to be read) pile. I like reading the BOTM books close to when everyone else does, mainly so I can join in the conversation. With how many library books I’ve had, that just hasn’t been possible this time!
Also, I can’t believe I managed to read NINE books this month. I have never in my life read so much, but I seriously think it’s from the perfect mix of these 8 reading tips I shared last week. Make sure to look at those if you’re wanting to uptick your reading amount! I set my 2021 reading goal for 30 books, and it’s crazy to think it’s only early March, and I have already read 16. Definitely going to blow my reading goal out of the water this year.
Let’s get into the books I read in February 2021!
The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt: 4 Stars
Description: Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by a longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into a wealthy and insular art community.
My thoughts: Just to clarify, I listened to this on audiobook which I feel is necessary to point out because it can definitely change the experience. I liked it, but there were also parts I could have done without. This is similar to The Dutch House by Ann Pattchet, in that you’re just following the life story of a child into adulthood, but this one actually does have a little bit more of a climax event. I really enjoyed the way it jumped in and out of Theo’s life, skipping over years entirely but coming back when things in his life were interesting. It all felt very realistic.
It was personally aggravating for me when Theo couldn’t figure out how to give the painting back without facing legal repercussions (it seemed so obvious to me), but it did probably make sense for the story because of his PTSD. Either way, the story line is incredibly unique, and I appreciate that it was unlike anything else I have really read.
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Pretty Little Wife, Darby Kane : 2 stars
Description: Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems.
A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth….
With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.
My thoughts: This was just, so so. I liked the dynamic between Lila and the lead investigator on her case, but other than that the characters just fell a little flat for me. The ending also just seemed completely out of nowhere. I love a good twist ending, but I think it needs to come from a realistic place. Half of this twist ending really fit with the rest of the book, but there was another direction it went in that really didn’t sit well with me.
I don’t regret reading it, but I just wouldn’t say it’s my favorite book ever. If someone lets you borrow it, I would definitely go for it!
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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton: 4 Stars
Description: Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.
For fans of Claire North, and Kate Atkinson, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.
My thoughts: Honestly, I didn’t even read the description of this before diving in, I feel like I had seen so many people share this book so I had high hopes. I was very confused in the beginning of this. I thought I had accidentally skipped two or three chapters somehow on my Kindle, because I contemplated not reading it very early on. I checked my Goodreads account to see if any of my friends had liked it, and luckily I saw one friend rated it very highly leading me to continue.
I am SO glad I stuck with this. I rated it four stars because the beginning was so confusing. I think if the author had shed even the tiniest amount of light on what was really going on in one of the earlier chapters, it would have saved me a lot of confusion. The rest of the book completely compensated for the beginning. The ending tied up really nicely, and while I didn’t expect the final twist AT ALL, the twist really made sense. The element of ~magic~ felt really authentic and well done. I highly recommend this one!
This book looks really inexpensive on Amazon!
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The Midnight Library, Matt Haig: 3.5 Stars
Description: Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
My thoughts: My main grievance with this book lies in the misleading nature of the description. This book is 100 percent centered around suicide and the motivation/thought process behind it. While that’s completely fine for me, I feel the description of this book should have made it more clear as to not catch someone struggling with suicidal thoughts off guard. Even if you’re not personally struggling with mental health or suicidal thoughts, I still think it would have been better to know before getting into it.
Once you know about the suicide theme, it’s easier to see that in the description. Without knowing though, it’s hard to read between the lines.
Without that, this book probably would have been a four for me. I thought the main character was likable and it had a great pace throughout. I thought there were just enough “lives” she tried out without over or under doing it. This one did much better than The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in that way for me- I remember thinking it was drawn out much too long. This is also an incredibly quick read, which is nice!
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Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier: 3 Stars
Description: The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives–presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.
My thoughts: I was first interested in watching this movie after really getting into Netflix’s movie adaptation. I thought the story line was so unique. I do have to say, this was one of the few times I thought the movie was better than the book. The main characters’ (we never learn her name in the book or movie btw) internal monologues go on forever. I usually love even those most drawn out British literature classics, but something about these just dragged on. I also thought the ending was slightly confusing, and if I hadn’t watched the movie already, I would have been very confused. The book also made it seem like the two main characters were less in love with each other than the movie conveyed, and I’m a sucker for a good romance element.
I still gave this three stars because it is a classic for a reason! It’s got a great mix of suspense and mystery, and I think it’s an overall easy read. The descriptions of the scenery, conversations and events was really well done.
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The Duke and I (Bridgerton), Julia Quinn: 2 Stars
Description: In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable…but not too amiable.
Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen.
Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar.
The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty: love ignores every rule…
My thoughts: Just in case you’re unsure, this is actually the first book that the popular Netflix Bridgerton series is based on! I had such high hopes for this, but ultimately I did not think it was as good as the show. Without the glitz and the glamour of the costumes, sets, soundtrack and characters, it was hard to get wrapped up in this book. I liked that it switched perspectives in the same chapter and even the same scene, but it did almost read more like a FanFiction than an actual novel.
I did like that this book focused more on Daphne than the rest of her siblings— sometimes the show veered too far away from Daphne and Simon for my liking. I liked getting to know more about the couple than what her brothers and sisters were doing and saying. I think you will be surprised by how different the book is from the first season of the show, I know I definitely was.
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The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins: 2 Stars
Description: Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.
But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.
Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her?
With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?
My thoughts: It’s definitely important to know this is a modern adaptation of Jane Eyre, if you go into it not knowing that, you will likely think this book is crazy. That said, this book still veers a lot from that original storyline, and I was still completely surprised by the ending. I loved how the ending was slightly open but you could also still feel pretty certain it was ending one certain way. I rated this 2 stars, (which is kind of low for me) because nothing really stood out too much for me on this book. It is a quick read, so if you’ve been curious about it, I definitely think it’s worth the time.
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Searching for Sylvie Lee, Jean Kwok: 3 Stars
Description: It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother—and then vanishes.
Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.
But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family—and herself—than she ever could have imagined.
A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love.
My thoughts: I listened to this on audiobook, which I think is always good to preface a review with. I didn’t have many expectations going into this book, but I was honestly really impressed with it. It told a really deep story while still being a light read— I’ve read other books trying to do the same thing and definitely coming up short. I also loved that this book explored Amsterdam, I don’t read very many books set there, so it was a really good change of pace. I do want to warn that this book contains themes of suicide, which I think needs to be in the book’s description. Somehow both this and the Midnight Library were both this way in the same month, I’m not sure how that happened.
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The Survivors, Jane Harper: 4 Stars
Description: Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.
The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.
Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.
When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…
My thoughts: This started extremely slow for me, and I honestly was worried I wasn’t going to like it so much. All of a sudden though, this book completely picks up speed, and you’re immediately hooked. My mother-in-law read this and felt the exact same way. It’s set in Tasmania, which I really enjoyed learning a little bit more about. So many books I read are set in England, Australia, the U.S., etc, but Tasmania was so unique. This book really keeps you guessing the entire time, I completely went back and forth between who I thought was the killer.
Shop the Books I Read: February 2021
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What I’m Reading Next
The Four Winds— I had this on my plan to read in February, but because of the library book issue I mentioned earlier, I did not get to this one. I also had a mentally difficult February, and everything I know about Kristin Hannah’s books told me I needed to put this one on pause until I get enough emotional capacity built up for her to wreck my soul.
The Dating Plan— This was my mom’s February Book of the Month pick, and she generously let me borrow it!
Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie— Finally got off the waitlist for this at the library.
Pretty as a Picture— We randomly picked this up in Barnes and Noble one day and thought it sounded so, so good. We have been desperately missing the movies lately, so it feels nice to read something associated with film.
Shop the Books I’m Reading in March 2021:
I loved the Midnight Library! I totally agree though it should have come with a TW and it didn’t. I think the publisher and author should have started the book off with one and even mentioned the hotline. Other than that though I thought the moral of the story was so good!
XO
https://www.moosmusing.com
Totally agree!! That would have made much more sense. Loved the unique plot and great takeaways, though!