February! The shortest month of the year. A busy month this year with no days off of school, little daylight, and a husband who is working until 7 PM each night.
That last part is probably why I managed to read so much this month.
Guys. I read 10 books. TEN! Not as many as January, but we also had no days off of school, which would be my normal binge-days. But still way more than I read in February of last year (7 in 2018)!
I am a bit disappointed in myself, because I really wanted to focus on POC books for Black History Month, and I kind of failed at that with only one African American author this month… other books just kept popping up in my way (and I had to wait FOR-EV-ER for my Book of the Month box this month). But it was a really amazing month, full of unreliable narrators, YA fiction, and 4 and 5 star reads.
Monthly Stats:
- Total Books Read: 10 Books
- Total Authors Read: 9 Authors
- Total Pages Read: 3,713 Pages
- Total Books Quit: 0 (yay!)
- Average Days Per Book: 2.8 Days
- Average Pages Per Day: 132.6 Pages
Long Story Short…
- If you love YA narrators who are a bit suspicious, check out One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
- If you love well-written memoirs, check out Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
- If you love rap music, check out On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
- If you love a bit of magic in the everyday life, check out The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
Books are listed in the order they were read. For more mini-reviews, check out my What I Read tag.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Premise: Harry “Monty” Montague is having a rough go of it in 1700s England. He and his best friend Percy are about to part ways, with Percy going to university to study law and Monty taking over the family business. Before they split, though, Monty’s father agrees to allow them to go on a tour of Europe together — under very close supervision. Plans go awry, hilarity ensues, and Monty ends up discovering more about himself than he planned.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: In the ATY challenge, week 5’s prompt is a book by or inspired by Shakespeare. And since we all knew I wasn’t going to be picking up Hamlet anytime soon, I had to do some digging to find a book that was inspired by Shakespeare without being too… Shakespeare. And this novel delivered. Aside from having the name Montague in the book, this novel had everything a fun Shakespeare comedy would have — mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers, pirates and thieves, and a happy ending.
That’s where the similarities stop, however. There’s an LGBT love story (Monty is bisexual — you see that on page one) and in love with his best friend. Felicity, Monty’s sister, is feminist before feminism was a thing, and Percy is dark-skinned enough to be confused for Monty’s manservant nearly everywhere they go. This story is fantastical and fun and I actually laughed out loud (or groaned out loud) at a few parts. The love story is adorable, and the connection between the characters is hilarious and makes me think of my friends, the way they pick on each other and are sarcastic and silly. It was just such a good, light-hearted book.
Who Should Read It: Anyone looking for a light read. Anyone who likes relatable, hilarious characters. Anyone looking for an adventure book.
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Premise: Felicity Montague is going to become a doctor. No matter that she lives in the 1700s, or that she’s not married, or that no one in their right mind would allow a woman into medical school when their health and stamina is just so delicate…
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I typically write a full series review in one, but these two books were so different from each other that I felt a separate review was in order. Felicity is Monty’s (from Vice and Virtue) sister, and Monty and Percy make a few appearances throughout the novel. However, this story is front and center Felicity. I loved her character in Vice and Virtue, and I loved it even more in this novel. She is such a badass feminist character, determined to chart her own way in the world, no matter what everyone else thinks about women’s places in society. She develops a few mantras throughout the novel, my favorite being, “You are Felicity Montague. You deserve to be here.” and that just speaks to my soul.
I knocked off a star because, while the character was fantastic, the story was just lacking a bit. I thought some of the scenes were too drawn out, while others were rushed through too quickly. But I loved Felicity’s tenacity, Johanna’s girliness and love of animals, and Sim’s roguish ways. The females in this story were front and center, and I was cheering for them all day long (because that’s how long it took me to read. Just one day.)
Also, if you like audiobooks, the narrator in this one is excellent.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes adventure books. Anyone looking for a kickass female character. Anyone who likes their historical fiction with a bit of fantasy and whimsy.
The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton
Premise: When archivist Elodie discovers a mysterious photograph and sketchbook hidden in a box at work, she immediately feels a connection to the house displayed in the book. 200 years before, Birdie visited that house and tragically died. The connection between these two women takes us through 200 years of Birchwood Manor and the mysterious light in the attic.
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Thoughts: I really wanted to like this book. Realllllly. I picked it up from Book of the Month club back in October and I was so excited to get to it this month. But! But… it really was a jumbled mess. We got 5 or 6 or 7 different points of view throughout the novel, which would be fine if there were any order or indication of them, but there wasn’t. We would be reading from Birdie’s point of view, then it would jump to 1940, then back to Birdie, then to 1928, then back to Birdie, then to Elodie, then back to 1940… There were so many characters and timelines that I actually had to draw out a map for myself so that I could keep track… and I never have to do that!
It does say something about this novel that I really wanted to understand it and grasp all of it, because I would typically just plow through the book and hope I figure out who everyone is later. The characters in this novel really drew me in; the author managed to make such well-rounded, dynamic characters, even though she had a million of them to work with. I think this book could have been a solid 4 star read, despite all the timeline confusion, but the ending just fell flat.. the author gave us some ending information that wasn’t necessary, but left the biggest threads undone for us to guess (hope?) at what happens. All in all, while the characters were intriguing, the book needed another round or two of editing.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes historical fiction. Anyone who likes sweeping generational sagas.
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
Premise: Ava Lavender was born with wings. Not metaphorical wings, but actual wings with brown feathers. Not surprising, really, when you consider where she came from. Her great aunt decided to turn into a canary. Her mother can smell people’s moods. Her grandmother sees ghosts. But Ava just wants to live a normal life.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I’ll be honest — I loveeee magical realism. I know it’s not everyone’s favorite, but the idea that some people just have a touch of magic about them in the real world just makes my heart sing… maybe it’s because I’m of the Harry Potter generation and I’ve always hoped to get my Hogwarts letter. This book embodied magical realism, but it was done in a way that was mystical and effervescent and intense. The characters had some magic in their lives, but they also suffered very real problems, like lost loves and isolation and heartbreak.
This novel is a generational book, with Ava narrating. She tells the story of her great-grandparents, her grandparents, her parents, and, finally, her story. The book was never slow, but it did casually meander for a while without too much suspense, until we get to Ava’s story. Then it picks up and slams us with action all of a sudden (which I really enjoyed). There are a few trigger warnings here, and I’m not quite sure why it is categorized as YA, other than the narrator being a teenager — there’s a fair amount of sex and violence throughout the entire novel. I didn’t mind it, though, and I thought it was beautifully written and carried out.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who loves magical realism. Anyone who is looking for unique, but relatable characters. Anyone who enjoys beautifully written books.
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
Premise: Susannah is a normal woman in her early 20s. She has an apartment in NYC, a new but promising relationship, and a job as a reporter at the New York Post. One day, she wakes up with a bug bite that she is convinced comes from an infestation of bed bugs. She then becomes convinced her boyfriend is cheating on her. Over the course of the next few weeks, her delusions and paranoia rapidly increase, and lead her to NYU’s hospital and a mysterious illness that goes largely undiagnosed.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thoughts: YALL. This book. Susannah Cahalan is a reporter, and this book read like one really long investigative piece (in a good way!). I think seeing her descent into madness from a first person point of view is really what sucked me in, even though I knew she would be ok in the end (because she’s writing this book, after all). It was harrowing and intriguing and a unique perspective on what it means to have a terrible uncharted disease.
The book was well written (although I listened to the audiobook, and it was very conversational), and I appreciated the bits of medical information given throughout. It was informative without being too jargon-ey or over my head. I learned a lot about how the brain works, and, while that may have just made me more terrified about contracting a mystery illness, I think a lot of Cahalan’s commentary gives insight into how little is actually known about the brain and how susceptible it is to malfunction or persuasion.
Who Should Read It: Anyone looking for a wonderful memoir. Anyone interested in medical mysteries.
An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Premise: Jess is a struggling makeup artist in New York City, so when she finds out about a study that will pay $200, she jumps on the chance. She doesn’t realize that she is about to get entangled in a complex web of secrets and lies.
Rating: 3 Stars
Thoughts: I’m learning a lot about myself through my frenzied reading so far this year. I do like murder mysteries. I like when there’s a bad guy to be discovered. I don’t mind when my heart rate gets up a bit, but I don’t like when the entire book is like the climax of a movie. And I don’t think I really like psychological thrillers.
This book turned me off immediately when I saw that the chapters from Dr. Shields point of view was in second person — as in “you walked into my apartment” and “you flirted with that guy”. No, ma’am, I did not. I get why it was written that way, especially as the book goes on and we get to see more of who Dr. Shields is (she also speaks entirely in passive voices — as in, “he was told” rather than “I told him”). So… from an English teacher point of view, while I appreciate the deliberate use of writing techniques to convey a point, I did not personally enjoy the story being told that way. It was a creepy, mind-bending, suspenseful story, but I’m discovering that these types of books (especially psychological thrillers about marriage drama and love triangles) are just not for me.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who loves domestic thrillers. Anyone who enjoyed The Last Mrs. Parrish. Anyone who loves twisty dramas.
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Premise: Alice is a psychology professor at Harvard, focusing on linguistics and the impact that language has on the brain. When she starts losing things in her home (and forgetting her way home), she decides to see a neurologist.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: This (fictional) novel chronicles, in first person point of view, a woman’s descent into Alzheimers and it. is. terrifying. Alice is an intelligent Harvard professor and researcher, and watching her intellect and memory diminish is heartbreaking. This story was particularly impactful after reading Brain on Fire… having two books nearly back to back about surprising and mysterious diagnoses made me just a little paranoid.
I particularly enjoyed that this one was written from first person POV, and from someone who understands the intricacies of the disease (the author is a neuroscientist by trade). In the first few chapters, particularly when Alice was describing the Christmas party in December 2004, I found myself as confused as Alice was when she would forget or misplace things. Throughout the book, watching Alice’s shifting relationships with her husband and her children was both heartbreaking and surprising. I don’t cry often with books, but this one made me tear up at unexpected points.
Who Should Read It: Anyone with a loved one who has Alzheimer’s. Anyone interested in medical mysteries. Anyone looking for a poignant read.
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
Premise: Amber is a coma. She realizes that she is there, but she does not remember the moments leading up to that coma. Through multiple timelines, the story of Amber gets revealed… but it’s not all what it seems.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Thoughts: I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like unreliable narrators, and everything about Amber screamed UNRELIABLE. Aside from the fact that she’s in a coma under suspicious circumstances, she’s also super shady… and she hides a lot of things from the reader. Why are you being so sneaky, Amber? Just tell us what we need to know! Except she takes FOREVER to reveal anything to us, and it’s in snippets here and there. I don’t like feeling like a character (not the author, for plot purposes, but for a character themselves) is hiding something from the audience on purpose, and I spent the entire book second guessing everything Amber was telling us.
I will say that this book is unique. There are so many twists and complications and confusions and backtracking and lying… I really felt like I was on a rollercoaster in the dark, not really sure where the next chapter would take me. Which some people may really enjoy in their book reading, but I did not… it gave me so much anxiety! I thought there were some unnecessary subplots (and graphic scenes that didn’t really need to be there), but I also thought it accomplished what it set out to do — make us completely mistrust everyone in the book.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes psychological thrillers. Anyone who enjoys twists and turns in books. Anyone who likes unreliable narrators.
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Premise: Bri Jackson wants to be a rapper, and she will do just about anything to achieve that goal. But when she finds herself pushed to the ground by her school’s security guards, something breaks, and the rap she writes afterwards goes viral.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I’ll be the first to admit that I went into this one with really high expectations. The Hate U Give was my favorite book of last year, and so I had high hopes for Angie Thomas’s new release. It’s hard not to make comparisons, especially when the books are set in the same town, with the same environment. Thomas takes us back to Garden Heights, and Bri mentions the shooting of Khalil pretty regularly because of the impact it had on her.
This is a different book, though. This book is less social justice and more character development. Bri struggles with the impact of poverty and racism, both of which color all of her goals and her relationships with her family and with her friends. And she’s angry. Bri is not the type of girl to sit and take everything… instead, she fights. She yells. She pushes back. She stands up for herself. She plays into the “angry black woman” stereotype and she doesn’t look back, despite her friends and family telling her she needs to sit down and shut up. It was a hard read, and it’s even harder to like her as a character because we are conditioned to call women hysterical or aggressive (especially black women) when they are speaking out. I think her character was necessary and important, especially for teenage girls who feel like they have no voice or control over their own identity.
I will say that I thought that the plot was not strong enough to bring the character development and growth around as much as I would have liked. As much as I felt Bri’s anger, it felt more that she just woke up one day and decided who she was, rather than witnessing her development first-hand (like we had with Starr). There was some internal dialogue that was lacking here, and I think the plot could have benefitted from it. It was a solid read, though, and I am not surprised to see that it is already in the works to become a movie.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who is looking for a different perspective. Anyone who loved The Hate U Give. Anyone who enjoys hip-hop culture. Anyone who feels lost.
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Premise: Think Breakfast Club turned murder mystery. Five very different students end up in detention under suspicious circumstances, but only four of them make it out of the room alive. Who was the killer? And what secrets were they hiding?
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I’ve been reading a lot of YA books this year, and some of them have felt more… deep thinking… than others. This one was not one of those books. But! It was entertaining. It had intriguing characters who seemed stereotypical, but managed to break out of those stereotypes pretty quickly. It had a good bit of action and a couple surprises, and I read it in one day.
The characters in this book are what kept me reading. I connected on a Hermione-deep level with Bronwyn and her perfectionism. I loved seeing Addy’s transformation. I called Cooper’s secret, but I loved the reveal anyway. And Nate, well… I see a bit of my husband in him. All of these characters undergo transformations throughout the novel, and I’m such a sucker for some character growth. The mystery may have been a bit flat for me (I guessed the answer pretty quickly), but the characters kept me reading and wanting more.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes a murder mystery. Anyone who loved The Breakfast Club. Anyone who enjoys YA.
What do you think? Any that spark your interest? Any that you think I got wrong? Let me know in the comments!
