Happy March all my bookish friends :)
I'm happy that we're hopefully well on our way out of the freezing cold temps that seemed to plague my province for most of last month.
And since it is already March, it's time to share my wrap up with you all of the books I finished during the month of February.
I finished eighteen books during the month of February. Of the eighteen, most of the books I did end up enjoying, although I did still end up having a couple of two star reads unfortunately.
As always, my wrap up will be in the order I finished the books, and not in either a best to worst or worst to best order.
When You Wish by Kristin Harmel:
My first read of February 2019 was this cute Young Adult contemporary novel. I'd really enjoyed the couple of adult fiction titles I'd read by Kristin Harmel, and so when I heard she had a ya novel about a famous teenager falling in love with a regular teenager (which is one of my favorite tropes ever) I knew I needed to give it a try. I'll be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, so for this wrap up I'll just say that it was cute, quirky and adorkable and I appreciated that it was primarily clean. I gave it four out of five stars.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia:
I've rarely ever read a book that's affected me as much as this one did. And honestly, it was really hard to try and figure out exactly what to rate it. On one hand, the representation of social anxiety was so spot on that it could have easily been a five star read for me. Eliza is written in such a way that all of her fears and insecurities truly feel like the reader is experiencing them right along with her, and rarely have I seen an author do such an outstanding job of representing the struggles that those of us with anxiety live with on a daily basis. Not only is this represented within the character of Eliza herself, but also that of her boyfriend Wallace. This story deeply affected and resonated within me, and I'm very thankful that I took the time to read it. However, I'm only giving it four out of five stars instead of the five stars it would have maybe been because I had issues with some of the content. I didn't think the foul language was necessary, and it certainly wasn't appreciated by me. Also, Eliza's parents reaction to sex is downright horrifying, and I found this off putting to say the least. Still a great read overall, I just wish certain parts of the content had been left out.
Nisekoi False Love Volume One by Naoshi Komi:
Since my blog's beginning back in September of 2015, this is the very first time I'm talking about a manga book on it. When I was younger, like around 18 or so, my boyfriend at the time was super into manga, and I'd ended up reading a few of his. I really enjoyed one series I remember that I think was called Petshop of Horrors, but other than that I ended up being really turned off the genre as most of what he read were the 18 plus explicit ones, and I was highly disgusted that him and his 12 year old sister were reading them in the first place. However, many, many years later, my hubby's gotten into manga, and he had recommended I give it another try, especially since he only reads the cleaner kind. This was my first new experience with a manga, and I actually enjoyed it. Of course the plot is slightly ridiculous, but I enjoyed the characters, and thought the artwork was really well done. I ended up rating it three out of five stars.
Captive Hearts Volume One by Matsuri Hino:
My best friend had decided to give manga books a chance around the same time I did, and so we decided to visit the public library and both try and find one that interested us. This was my pick, and I thoroughly did not enjoy it. The plot is beyond ridiculous to begin with, but I could have gotten over that at least slightly. However, only about half the book is the actual Captive Hearts story, and the rest is weird short stories, one of which focuses on a teacher having inappropriate feelings for one of his students. This book was a major turnoff for me, and I only gave it two out of five stars.
Where Two Hearts Meet by Liz Johnson:
I'll be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, so I'm not going to go into too much depth about it. However, I will say it was without a doubt one of my favorite reads of the month, and it's utter perfection wound up in a beautiful, heart warming story with three dimensional characters and an idyllic setting. Caden and Adam are adorable, and I loved reading about the various struggles they're both trying to overcome. I gave this one five out of five stars and I can't recommend it enough.
Nisekoi False Love Volume 2 by Naoshi Komi:
I had a decently positive experience with the first book in this manga series, but unfortunately it didn't continue with the second installment. In this one I found the plot to be ridiculous, and not in a humorous way like I experienced with the first book. I didn't enjoy the new characters that were introduced in this story, and I found myself really having to drag through it to finish it. I've decided not to continue on with this series, as I only rated this installment two out of five stars, but I'm not backing away from manga, and I look forward to trying out more titles in the future.
To Best the Boys by Mary Weber:
I shared a very detailed review of this one on my blog earlier this month, which you can find here, so I'm not going to say too much about in this wrap up. I will say that I enjoyed the world building and the emphasis on girls can too, but I didn't approve of a lot of the content that was included, and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I ended up giving it a rating of three out of five stars.
You Don't Know My Name by Kristen Orlando:
The Black Angel Chronicles is a series that I've had on my TBR list since the first book released, and that's mainly because it kept getting so many comparisons to Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls, which is one of my favorite series of all time. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to my expectations as I really didn't care too much for the main character, or the fact that this book was a lot darker than I'd been led to believe. I gave it a rating of two out of five stars.
Emma by Jane Austen:
February 2019 was the month I finally read this beloved classic. While I won't say that it replaces either Pride and Prejudice or Northanger Abbey as my favorite Austen novel, it was still a lovely story, and it gets five out of five stars from me.
If Not For You by Debbie Macomber:
Very rarely am I ever disappointed when I pick up a Debbie Macomber novel, and If Not For You was no exception. I really enjoyed both Beth and Sam as main characters, and also loved that characters from the previous book make a few appearances. I gave it five out of five stars, and thought it was a really good story overall.
Destined for Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon:
I really expected to love this one, and while I did still enjoy it overall, it took me quite awhile to get into, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first book. For me I think that was mainly because I preferred Veronica's character to Kenna's, although I continue to adore Duncan. I gave this one three out of five stars, and I will be really looking forward to seeing where the authors choose to take the series in the next two books.
Ciao Bella by Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk:
I will be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, so I'm not going to say too much about it here. However, I will say that I found this one extremely slow moving and hard to get into, and that there were way too many characters to try and keep track of. I ended up rating it two out of five stars, and it definitely wasn't the story I was expecting from looking at the beautiful cover.
Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans:
Without a doubt, this was one of my least favorite reads from the month. I'm not going to lie, my main interest in this book was the fact that it's about a young woman who works in the publishing industry. Basically if you give a book a bookish setting I'm automatically intrigued. However, I couldn't stand the main character, or her obnoxious love interest for the first half of the book. I also didn't like the way the timeline works throughout the story, and the content was way more than I needed to be comfortable with. I only rated it two out of five stars, and it came dangerously close to being a one star read for me.
Falling for the Lawman by Ruth Logan Herne:
I always enjoy diving into Love Inspired novels, and this was one that I'd had sitting on my shelf for quite some time. I really enjoyed it, especially the adorable twin girls that play a prominent role, and the emphasis on truly trusting God to provide a way, even when it seems there's no possible way out of the mess you've gotten yourself into. I gave it four out of five stars.
You Won't Know I'm Gone by Kristen Orlando:
Similarly to how I felt about the first book in the Black Angel Chronicles, this one also failed to wow me. I'll be sharing a full review of it with you all shortly, but I found the main character's selfishness to be super annoying in this one, I didn't like the focus on the drug cartel, and I found the content much darker than I was comfortable with. I only ended up rating it two out of five stars, and I'm on the fence at this point as to whether or not I'll be reading the last book in the trilogy or not.
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay:
I just reviewed this one on my blog last week, which you can find here, and I can happily say that it's another choice from my most anticipated 2019 releases that definitely lived up to the hype. I gave it five out of five stars, and I can't wait for everyone to get the chance to read this one when it releases in May!
Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber:
I read a second lovely Debbie Macomber story last month, and really enjoyed it as well. I'll be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, but I will say I highly enjoyed it, especially the emphasis on church's needing to be open and accepting, and not so quick to judge someone by their past actions. I gave this one four out of five stars.
And that's all the books I read in February 2019! Thanks so much for reading guys! I'll see you all again on Wednesday where I'll be sharing my March 2019 TBR List!
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photos do not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
I'm happy that we're hopefully well on our way out of the freezing cold temps that seemed to plague my province for most of last month.
And since it is already March, it's time to share my wrap up with you all of the books I finished during the month of February.
I finished eighteen books during the month of February. Of the eighteen, most of the books I did end up enjoying, although I did still end up having a couple of two star reads unfortunately.
As always, my wrap up will be in the order I finished the books, and not in either a best to worst or worst to best order.
When You Wish by Kristin Harmel:
My first read of February 2019 was this cute Young Adult contemporary novel. I'd really enjoyed the couple of adult fiction titles I'd read by Kristin Harmel, and so when I heard she had a ya novel about a famous teenager falling in love with a regular teenager (which is one of my favorite tropes ever) I knew I needed to give it a try. I'll be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, so for this wrap up I'll just say that it was cute, quirky and adorkable and I appreciated that it was primarily clean. I gave it four out of five stars.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia:
I've rarely ever read a book that's affected me as much as this one did. And honestly, it was really hard to try and figure out exactly what to rate it. On one hand, the representation of social anxiety was so spot on that it could have easily been a five star read for me. Eliza is written in such a way that all of her fears and insecurities truly feel like the reader is experiencing them right along with her, and rarely have I seen an author do such an outstanding job of representing the struggles that those of us with anxiety live with on a daily basis. Not only is this represented within the character of Eliza herself, but also that of her boyfriend Wallace. This story deeply affected and resonated within me, and I'm very thankful that I took the time to read it. However, I'm only giving it four out of five stars instead of the five stars it would have maybe been because I had issues with some of the content. I didn't think the foul language was necessary, and it certainly wasn't appreciated by me. Also, Eliza's parents reaction to sex is downright horrifying, and I found this off putting to say the least. Still a great read overall, I just wish certain parts of the content had been left out.
Nisekoi False Love Volume One by Naoshi Komi:
Since my blog's beginning back in September of 2015, this is the very first time I'm talking about a manga book on it. When I was younger, like around 18 or so, my boyfriend at the time was super into manga, and I'd ended up reading a few of his. I really enjoyed one series I remember that I think was called Petshop of Horrors, but other than that I ended up being really turned off the genre as most of what he read were the 18 plus explicit ones, and I was highly disgusted that him and his 12 year old sister were reading them in the first place. However, many, many years later, my hubby's gotten into manga, and he had recommended I give it another try, especially since he only reads the cleaner kind. This was my first new experience with a manga, and I actually enjoyed it. Of course the plot is slightly ridiculous, but I enjoyed the characters, and thought the artwork was really well done. I ended up rating it three out of five stars.
Captive Hearts Volume One by Matsuri Hino:
My best friend had decided to give manga books a chance around the same time I did, and so we decided to visit the public library and both try and find one that interested us. This was my pick, and I thoroughly did not enjoy it. The plot is beyond ridiculous to begin with, but I could have gotten over that at least slightly. However, only about half the book is the actual Captive Hearts story, and the rest is weird short stories, one of which focuses on a teacher having inappropriate feelings for one of his students. This book was a major turnoff for me, and I only gave it two out of five stars.
Where Two Hearts Meet by Liz Johnson:
I'll be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, so I'm not going to go into too much depth about it. However, I will say it was without a doubt one of my favorite reads of the month, and it's utter perfection wound up in a beautiful, heart warming story with three dimensional characters and an idyllic setting. Caden and Adam are adorable, and I loved reading about the various struggles they're both trying to overcome. I gave this one five out of five stars and I can't recommend it enough.
Nisekoi False Love Volume 2 by Naoshi Komi:
I had a decently positive experience with the first book in this manga series, but unfortunately it didn't continue with the second installment. In this one I found the plot to be ridiculous, and not in a humorous way like I experienced with the first book. I didn't enjoy the new characters that were introduced in this story, and I found myself really having to drag through it to finish it. I've decided not to continue on with this series, as I only rated this installment two out of five stars, but I'm not backing away from manga, and I look forward to trying out more titles in the future.
To Best the Boys by Mary Weber:
I shared a very detailed review of this one on my blog earlier this month, which you can find here, so I'm not going to say too much about in this wrap up. I will say that I enjoyed the world building and the emphasis on girls can too, but I didn't approve of a lot of the content that was included, and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I ended up giving it a rating of three out of five stars.
You Don't Know My Name by Kristen Orlando:
The Black Angel Chronicles is a series that I've had on my TBR list since the first book released, and that's mainly because it kept getting so many comparisons to Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls, which is one of my favorite series of all time. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to my expectations as I really didn't care too much for the main character, or the fact that this book was a lot darker than I'd been led to believe. I gave it a rating of two out of five stars.
Emma by Jane Austen:
February 2019 was the month I finally read this beloved classic. While I won't say that it replaces either Pride and Prejudice or Northanger Abbey as my favorite Austen novel, it was still a lovely story, and it gets five out of five stars from me.
If Not For You by Debbie Macomber:
Very rarely am I ever disappointed when I pick up a Debbie Macomber novel, and If Not For You was no exception. I really enjoyed both Beth and Sam as main characters, and also loved that characters from the previous book make a few appearances. I gave it five out of five stars, and thought it was a really good story overall.
Destined for Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon:
I really expected to love this one, and while I did still enjoy it overall, it took me quite awhile to get into, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first book. For me I think that was mainly because I preferred Veronica's character to Kenna's, although I continue to adore Duncan. I gave this one three out of five stars, and I will be really looking forward to seeing where the authors choose to take the series in the next two books.
Ciao Bella by Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk:
I will be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, so I'm not going to say too much about it here. However, I will say that I found this one extremely slow moving and hard to get into, and that there were way too many characters to try and keep track of. I ended up rating it two out of five stars, and it definitely wasn't the story I was expecting from looking at the beautiful cover.
Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans:
Without a doubt, this was one of my least favorite reads from the month. I'm not going to lie, my main interest in this book was the fact that it's about a young woman who works in the publishing industry. Basically if you give a book a bookish setting I'm automatically intrigued. However, I couldn't stand the main character, or her obnoxious love interest for the first half of the book. I also didn't like the way the timeline works throughout the story, and the content was way more than I needed to be comfortable with. I only rated it two out of five stars, and it came dangerously close to being a one star read for me.
Falling for the Lawman by Ruth Logan Herne:
I always enjoy diving into Love Inspired novels, and this was one that I'd had sitting on my shelf for quite some time. I really enjoyed it, especially the adorable twin girls that play a prominent role, and the emphasis on truly trusting God to provide a way, even when it seems there's no possible way out of the mess you've gotten yourself into. I gave it four out of five stars.
You Won't Know I'm Gone by Kristen Orlando:
Similarly to how I felt about the first book in the Black Angel Chronicles, this one also failed to wow me. I'll be sharing a full review of it with you all shortly, but I found the main character's selfishness to be super annoying in this one, I didn't like the focus on the drug cartel, and I found the content much darker than I was comfortable with. I only ended up rating it two out of five stars, and I'm on the fence at this point as to whether or not I'll be reading the last book in the trilogy or not.
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay:
I just reviewed this one on my blog last week, which you can find here, and I can happily say that it's another choice from my most anticipated 2019 releases that definitely lived up to the hype. I gave it five out of five stars, and I can't wait for everyone to get the chance to read this one when it releases in May!
Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber:
I read a second lovely Debbie Macomber story last month, and really enjoyed it as well. I'll be sharing a full review of this one with you all shortly, but I will say I highly enjoyed it, especially the emphasis on church's needing to be open and accepting, and not so quick to judge someone by their past actions. I gave this one four out of five stars.
And that's all the books I read in February 2019! Thanks so much for reading guys! I'll see you all again on Wednesday where I'll be sharing my March 2019 TBR List!
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photos do not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
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