Always With a Book

Month in Review: February 2023

Well, the shortest month has come and gone and yet I somehow managed to read more books that I did in January! Not sure how that happened, but it did – probably because I really am leaning into audiobooks right now. That is what I do when I’m crocheting.

And speaking of crocheting…I am almost caught up with my book blanket. I got January done – all 24 rows and am about halfway through February. I should be done by the end of the week. I ended up switching around my color scheme so that put me a bit behind because I had to start over, but I am loving the way it is turning out so far. For those that didn’t see my post last month – the book blanket is similar to a temperature blanket in that I am tracking my reading by genre. Every row crocheted indicates a book read, each color corresponds to a different genre – I went with 11 of the genres I tend to read most, a mixed genre because sometimes books fall into more than one genre, and then added an “other” category in case I read something I don’t normally read, and I am separating each month with a light gray.

 

READING STATS:

  • Read this month: 25
  • Year to date: 49

 

  1. Age of Vice — Deepti Kapoor (audio book)
  2. The Fires — Sigridur Hadalin Bjornsdottir
  3. The House Guest — Hank Phillippi Ryan (audio book)
  4. The House of Eve — Sadequa Johnson (audio book)
  5. A Place Called Home — David Ambroz (audio book)
  6. Night Flight to Paris — Cara Black (audio book)
  7. The Paris Secret — Natasha Lester (audio book)
  8. The Last Grudge — Max Seeck
  9. Someone Else’s Life — Lyn Liao Butler
  10. Three Widows — Patricia Gibney (audio book)
  11. On the Savage Side — Tiffany McDaniel
  12. The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams — M.J. Rose (audio book)
  13. Local Gone Missing — Fiona Barton (e-book)
  14. The Writing Retreat — Julia Bartz (audio book)
  15. I Have Some Questions For You — Rebecca Makkai (audio book)
  16. Hostage — Clare Mackintosh
  17. Sea Castle — Andrew Mayne
  18. Someone Else’s Shoes — Jojo Moyes (audio book)
  19. Maame — Jessica George (audio book)
  20. None of This is True — Lisa Jewell
  21. Murder Your Employer — Rupert Holmes
  22. Partners in Crime — Agatha Christie
  23. Finding Me — Viola Davis
  24. A Likely Story — Leigh Ambramson (audio book)
  25. Ready or Not — Alex Lake

 

MY TOP 5 OF FEBRUARY: 

***I saw this on a friend’s blog and really liked it, so I’m adding it to my monthly wrap-ups.

  1. Favorite book(s) of February – these books are the ones I absolutely loved and will be recommending to everyone. They will be staying on my shelf and might even be rereads at some point in the future.
    • The House of Eve 
    • On the Savage Side
    • I Have Some Questions for You
    • None of This is True
  2. Biggest Surprise of February: None of This True by Lisa Jewell. I received this very early ARC (advanced reading copy) of Lisa’s upcoming book – it’s not out until August and I literally dropped everything to read it…I never do that. But there’s a chance I’m going to see here next month and I just couldn’t resist reading this one…and I absolutely loved it!!! I already posted my review and if you are a fan of her books, I highly recommend adding this one to your list…I think it’s her best book yet!
  3. Biggest Disappointment of February: For the most part I enjoyed every book I read this month. I did think I would like Murder Your Employer a bit more than I did. The premise was very unique, but I just didn’t love it as much as I was hoping to.
  4. Favorite Part of Month – I moderated an event for Mary Calvi’s new book, If a Poem Could Live and Breathe and it was amazing. This was one of my favorite books from January and I was thrilled to be able to speak with Mary about her book, her research and her writing process. The event was held at LIU. Mary’s book will be our March bookclub pick at the bookstore and Mary is going to try to join us if her schedule allows!
  5. 5 Books I’m most looking forward to reading next month:
    • Goodnight From Paris by Jane Healey– I have loved her previous two books, The Secret Stealers and The Beantown Girls. This is also going to be our April #GetRedPRBookclub pick and I’m so excited that Jane will be chatting with us! Out 3/7
    • The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson – The Kind Worth Killing is one of my favorite books and I’m so excited to see what the author has in store for the character in this next book! Out 3/7
    • Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Juarado – The first book in a new trilogy, introduces us to Antonia Scott – the most compelling and original detective since Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). Out 3/14
    • Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai– A suspenseful and moving saga about family secrets, hidden trauma, and the overriding power of forgiveness, set during the war and in present-day Việt Nam. Out 3/14
    • How I’ll Kill You by Ren DeStefano – A stay-up-all-night thriller, about identical triplets who have a nasty habit of killing their boyfriends, and what happens when the youngest commits their worst crime yet: falling in love with her mark. Out 3/21

 

So tell me, what was your favorite read of the month? What are you looking forward to reading in March?

 

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