Bookish Month of Love Reading Wrap Up

Another readathon come and gone! Thank you to everyone that joined in for the February Bookish Month of Love. I had a great start to the month and then a bit of a lull. And then back to a great ending. I managed to read 10 books! And I had so much fun seeing what everyone was reading through the month. We also had 6 buddy reads for books I read in February and had great discussions. So overall it was a fabulous reading month.

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas – I mostly enjoyed this one but there were a few things about it that annoyed me. Mostly the main female characters complete lack of confidence. There was way too much self deprecating inner monologue including body shaming and starving herself to fit into a dress. I’m not a fan of that. But I liked the main guy so that made up for it. It was a pretty good fake dating story.

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey – This was my first Tessa Bailey read and it won’t be my last. Based off Alexa from the show Schitt’s Creek, this book featured a sunshine character named Piper that falls in love with a grumpy small town fisherman named Brendan. I really liked this one, it was really funny and the main girl gets underestimated by everyone in her life only to prove them all wrong which I love. The sex scenes were awesome too, very open door.

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacey Schiff – This was my nonfiction read for the month and I listened on audio. Cleaopatra had a fascinating life. She was one of the most powerful women in Egypt and she showed the men of Rome that they should not underestimate a woman. Rome at the time saw women as nothing more than breeders and arm candy so they did not like Cleopatra or the power she wielded. I thought this was a really well done biography.

Bridgerton: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn – Turns out, regency romance is not for me. This book was full of women being treated as property, women so naive about how sex works that their husbands can manipulate them into thinking they can’t have kids, and a woman that forced her husband to finish inside her so she could get pregnant even though he didn’t want kids. 100% not a fan of that. Overall I basically hate read it and only finished because it was for a buddy read. Won’t be watching the show either.

Vengeful by VE Schwab – I loved this second instalment of the Vicious series, I buddy read this one with Jenna Stop Reading. We are having a lot of fun reading all of Schwab’s backlist. We both started with Addie LaRue and then we read the Viscious duology. In march we are going to read Schwab’s newest release Gallant and then starting in April we will read the Darker Shade of Magic trilogy. I really enjoyed Vengeful because I wanted to know what happened with Victor and Sydney. I liked the new characters that were introduced a lot too. Especially June.

Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas – This was also the second instalment in a series. Crescent City book 1 was my favourite read from 2021 so I was really excited for book 2 to come out in February. I was also stressed because Maas has no qualms about killing off favourite characters or introducing a new love interest. She is a master of crazy plot twists in all her books. But I thoroughly enjoyed this one and LOVED the ending. A lot of people didn’t like the ending but I’m really excited to see where Maas takes this.

The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez – I liked it but it was a bit too instant love for my taste. I’m not a huge fan of that. I did think the chemistry between Sloan and Jason was really good and I liked the amount of time we got to spend observing their relationship. I also liked the dynamic of Jason being famous and going on tour and Sloan having to navigate all that. Plus there is a dog character and I always love an animal companion.

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur – This was an LGBQTIAP+ love story between a lesbian women named Darcy and a bisexual woman named Elle. Darcy is the grump and Elle is the sunshine and after a not so great first date, they agree to a fake dating scheme to keep their nosy families off their backs. I really enjoyed this one. Both Darcy and Elle were strong and ambitious women and they proved that opposites can attract. This one also had great sex scenes.

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole – I really enjoyed this one! An African prince is looking for the girl he was betrothed to as a toddler, a tradition in his kingdom. But her family took her away to America when she was a baby. When he finds her, she is a grad student working in STEM and is a waitress on the side to make money. She doesn’t know who he is so he pretends to be a commoner. They get close and he needs to tell her who he really is before it’s too late. Kind of like a more romantic version of Coming to America with Eddie Murphy.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – This one followed Stella, an autistic woman that is trying to get better at sex so she can maybe survive in a relationship. She has issues with touching, so she hires an escort named Michael to teach her how to have sex. They have to take it slow for Stella and Michael is really sweet about it. There is a lot of sex happening in this book and it’s very open door so if you’re not a fan of that, I’d steer clear. But the plot somehow despite being about teaching someone to have sex, does not get drowned out by all the bedroom action. The story was interesting too and I really enjoyed it.

So those are all the books I read in February! I hope you enjoyed this mini review style monthly wrap up. You can find more detailed reviews for most of these books on the podcast too.

Happy reading!

Angie