February 2020 Wrap Up!

This was the month that had it all – a DNF, a non fiction, a new all time favourite, the longest book on my TBR, a book published before I was born, a romance with pirates, a reread, and a thriller…….. February was one hell of a month now that I’m looking at it!! I had originally hoped to read 10+ books just for the bragging rights of double digits. I didn’t hit that goal BUT my page count for the month is still pretty impressive. Including my current read, I am now over 3,500 pages for the month! Not too shabby! There’s a lot to cover so let’s dive in!

THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E Harrow – DNF

THE DNF – I wanted to love this. I actually predicted that this would be 5 stars! It basically had everything that I was looking for in a book…. or so I thought. I just couldn’t do it! The writing style was just off, and I can’t even tell you exactly what it was that I didn’t mesh with. I didn’t care about the plot, the characters… anything. Shit happens I guess.

MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL by Adam Higgenbotham <—– click for full review – 5 stars

THE NON FICTION – Wow! This was pretty damn good! I’ve been obsessed with the Chernobyl disaster for months now. I’ve spent countless hours watching everything I can about it. If there’s a YouTube video or documentary – i’ve seen it. But still, this book found a way to teach me things I didn’t know. It didn’t read like your typical non fiction either. I normally find them to be so dry, factual, and disinteresting. But this held my attention the whole time while also informing and teaching. If you’re interested in Chernobyl at all and want to read more about it, this is the one you want!

FOUNDRY SIDE by Robert Jackson Bennett <—– click for full review – 5,000,000 stars!

THE NEW ALL TIME FAVOURITE – This book. This fucking book. It was brilliant. Perfection. I can’t even! The characters were amazing, the magic system was genius, the pacing was relentless…… just read it already! I think I may even like this more than Nevernight…… if you’ve been around this blog for any length of time then you know that’s saying something! My review is a little more coherent so check that out if you’re interested lol.

WANDERERS by Chuck Wendig <—– click for full review – 4 stars

THE LONGEST BOOK ON MY TBR – That might be a lie, actually. I think there’s a few others that are longer than this one but still, coming in at a whopping 782 pages, this is quite the commitment! Damn worth it though! I flew through this book in just a few days because I couldn’t put it down! The realities of this book was fucking terrifying though! A deadly virus that takes over the entire planet (cough, coronavirus, cough) and a group of sleepwalkers that can’t be explained. I can read all the gory stab stab murder books and laugh. Something like this though, that could actually happen in real life, is some scary shit!

THE SHINING by Stephen King <—– click for full review – 4 stars

THE BOOK PUBLISHED BEFORE I WAS BORN – This book was long overdue! The Shining is one of my favourite horror movies ever. It’s a great mix of scary, paranormal, and psychological. And that ending was just poetic justice! I was told by so many people that the book was scarier than the movie so, naturally, I was like “Shit, yes please!” I was a bit let down though. I didn’t get the paranormal elements that I was hoping for and I didn’t like the different ending. It was, in some ways at least, better than the movie. I explain more in my full review (and repeat the phrase “paranormal elements” far more often than I wanted to…)

WELL MET by Jen DeLuca <—– click for full review – 5 stars

THE ROMANCE WITH PIRATES – One word for this book – adorable!! This book was everything I was hoping it would be. Sweet, fun, adorable, emotional, great relationships – but not enough smut lol! I can’t believe that this was a debut! Honestly, this book was really well done. It was just what I needed while having a difficult week and I can’t wait for the next book to come out!

READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline – 5 stars

THE REREAD – This book is soul food for my 80’s childhood!! Any book that mentions my favourite Atari game (yes, i’m old enough to have a favourite Atari game) within the first chapter gets a gold star! My son went through a few months where he watched this movie on repeat. I hated the movie at first. I knew that it was nothing like the book and missed so many of the pop culture references, but I grew to love it and appreciate it for what it was. But, now that I’ve reread the book and was reminded of just how much I love it, and how many of the “retro references” that were left out – the movie is once again sub par lol!

THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides – review to come soon – 5 stars

THE THRILLER – aka the book I’ve been apprehensive about for months on end. I want to love all the thrillers. In theory, this is the genre that seems like I should love more than any other. Instead, this is the genre that disappoints me more than any other – not with this one! This book was a total mind fuck! The ending, and the truth behind her silence, caught me 100% off guard! I’m in the middle of trying to write the review for this and that should be live soon!

That was my February! A month with so many different books, genres, ratings, and emotions. Even though I didn’t reach my double digit goal, this month couldn’t have gone any better 🙂 Obviously, my favourite for the month was Foundryside. What was your favourite read for February?

Until next time, happy reading!