It’s been a while since February ended but here I am with a wrap up on what I’ve thought about the books I’ve read last month. I surprisingly read a lot more than I thought I would have been able to in February given that it’s the shortest month in the year and the fact that my professors bombarded me with all the projects, programs, and exams in the span of three weeks.
The books I’ve read this month are:
My favorite book from all that I’ve read in February is definitely, “A Very Large Expanse of Sea” by TM. I loved this book so much and it makes me so, so, so happy that it’s being adapted into a movie. This book has definitely joined my all time favorite reads and I can’t wait to reread it and cry all over again.
Sadly my least favorite book this month is “East” by JP. This was a reread for me. The firs time I read it was in middle school and I think I’ve just outgrown it. There was just too much exposition and not enough character interaction to keep me interested.
Keep reading to check out my thoughts on my reads last month. What was your favorite read of February?
This is my first Holly Black book and I liked it? I found the main character a bit hard to relate to and a little annoying in the beginning but slowly found myself getting attached to the flawed cast of characters in this story. Similarly, I didn’t really appreciate the high school setting but found myself really loving how Holly Black took this small town setting and intertwined it with the dark and twisted world of the faerie that’s right on the outskirts of the town and school. This was a very fast read for me and I can definitely tell why everyone calls Holly Black the Queen of the Faerie.
My favorite read this month is definitely “A Very Large Expanse of Sea”. This book is everything to me. I loved the writing, the plot, and the overall message. Going into this book, I was really nervous as this is the first main character in a contemporary novel I’ve encountered that I can closely relate to as a South Asian American. I was not disappointed. This book broke me in the most beautiful way and opened my eyes and heart to a whole new way of living. There’s so much I want to say and it’s really hard to not write an entire paper on how important this book is for everyone to read and especially for POC to pick up. I’m currently drafting up a review for this so keep an eye out for that because again, I just have to so much to say but for now, all I have to say is, please pick this book up and read it.
I picked up this book around Valentine’s day when I was needing a good pick me up to get me out of this weird book slump mood I get into now and then that lasts about a day or two, haha. This was the perfect pick me up read. It wasn’t a five star read but it was highly entertaining to see all the crazy ways our main character got herself caught into all kinds of drama with the Royals. I loved the sassy/sarcastic inner monologue of the main character but found her a tad bit annoying at times. This book’s plot mainly centers around the relationship between our main character and her older sister who’s engaged to a prince and sadly, I didn’t really like how the relationship was handled. I didn’t like how the book resolved the relationship between the two and also wasn’t a fan of how the story wrapped up with a typical Hallmark ending. I kind of wanted things to end a bit more realistically and for somethings to be addressed but besides that, this book did good in providing me the entertainment I was looking for.
There’s not much to say about this book other than the fact that it deals with so many important topics that leave you sobbing and wanting all the ice cream. This is a book that does a high school setting good and teaches readers really important and valuable lessons. This is a companion to Brigid Kemmerer’s previous novel, “Letters to the Dead” and it follows Rev and our new main character as they try to figure out life and push through tragedy, trauma, and inner battles. This book is just as heart breaking as the first book and really makes you think and feel all the feels (yes, I really did use that sentence, haha). Before going into this book, please make sure you check out the trigger warnings, because there are *many* triggers in this book. I think this is my favorite book of the two, but I’m still swinging on my ratings. Just like the first book though, I found the female main characters to be more annoying then the male main characters which for some reason, I’m finding to a frequent trend. I love how Kemmerer takes these flaws and really runs with them in the way she has her main characters open their eyes to their flaws.
This was probably my most disappointing read this month. This was a reread for me and I’m not going to lie, I skimmed some of the ending. I was enjoying it in the beginning but towards the end, I got tired of the exposition and writing and just wanted our two main characters to meet up and for things to just, happen. Most of the second half of the book was just traveling and I got so bored I was tempted to just put it down and move onto another book. I had checked out the second book that was recently released and sadly, I ended up returning it because after reading the plot, I don’t think I’m up for another book where there’s a lot of travel. I think I liked the first part of the book better than the second because there was some interaction, there was things happening and our main characters were interacting. And it doesn’t look like the second book has much interaction between our two main characters, again… so the second book is a no for me for now.
I read this book in a day and a half and finished it the day before the month ended. I’m not sure that you should go into it expecting a story fully on Vikings but rather a story about two rival clans battling out their differences. This book is so different from other YA books that I’ve read in that it explores some very important themes such as humanity, morality, and how people are the same even though they have different faiths or belief systems. I also loved the romance in this book and how realistic it was given the situation of their relationship and what’s expected of the pairing from this world they live in. This was a quick and easy read with short chapters. The writing wasn’t novel and I kind of found some descriptions a bit cringe and unnecessary but the second half definitely picked up more when it comes to the writing style. For a debut, I think this is a unique read. More on this soon in a review!