wrap up

February 2021 Wrap Up

kerrimcbooknerd

Hello, reader!

Look at me getting to my monthly wrap up before the middle of the month 😂 One day, I’ll be a blogger that is actually on the ball. One day…

Anyways! As you can tell by the header, today I’ll be going over my reading from the month of February. Though it is the shortest month of the year, I somehow managed to read the most books I have in a long time. I got through nine books and, though that probably doesn’t seem like much, it’s a ton for me! I also rather enjoyed my reading, which is always a great thing. This is also turning into the year of the buddy read and I ain’t mad about it. But more on that later! For now, let’s get to the wrap up.

Books Read

Click on the covers to be taken to the book’s Goodreads page

Book: Bad Habits by Flynn Meany

Rating: ★★★★

Thoughts: I read this book for a The Write Reads blog tour. This was a fun and interesting look at feminism at a Catholic boarding school. It made me legit laugh out loud, though I do wish more time had been spent showing the main character’s growth. Still, I had a good time with this one! You can read my full review here.

Book: The Darkwater Bride by Marty Ross

Rating: ★★★

Thoughts: This was an Audible Original that I picked up awhile ago. The cover looked creepy and it has a full cast, so I was in! This ended up being… fine? Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible. It was overall pretty meh, if I’m being honest, but the full cast made it much better than it would have been if I had read this physically!

Book: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Rating: ★★★

Thoughts: After reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd with some of the Write Reads gang last month, I jumped at the chance to join their Hercule Poirot buddy read! The book for February was The Murder on the Links but, to catch up, I had to read this one first. I enjoyed it, though it’s not my favorite Christie. It was fun seeing Poirot in his first book appearance, though.

Book: Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke

Rating: ★★★★

Thoughts: I read this book for a blog tour put on by TBR & Beyond Tours. I’m going to be honest right now… I’ve wanted to read this book ever since I saw the cover back in 2020. Look at it! It’s gorgeous 😍 However, I hadn’t a single clue what the book was about until I picked it up for this tour, lol. Thankfully, I found myself really enjoying this fast-paced, young adult fantasy! And, though I could have used a bit more time in this world, I kind of like that this is a standalone. You can read my full review here.

Book: Wings of Ebony by J. Elle

Rating: ★★★★

Thoughts: This was yet another tour read, this time for a tour hosted by Caffeine Book Tours! I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful young adult fantasy. It was literal Black Girl Magic and I found myself completely wrapped up in the story. Rue is an incredible main character and it was a pleasure watching her growth. Also, the cover game is strong with this one, omg. You can read my full review here.

Book: Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key by Estelle Grace Tudor

Rating: ★★★

Thoughts: I read this book with the Middle Grade Marvels group, which is always a blast 💖 I ended up enjoying this book. The world is so interesting, the characters are lovely, and I love all the descriptions of the faerie world! However, I feel like a lot was crammed into a rather short book. I really wanted more detail and more from the big moments.

Book: Midnight Riot (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: ★★★★

Thoughts: Ahhh, this book was so much fun! I’m reading this with, again, some of the Write Reads gang and I instantly fell in love with the world that Aaronovitch has created. I love all the details that he stuffed into this book and I love the main character, Peter. We’re reading all the Rivers of London books together and I cannot wait to continue!

Book: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Rating: ★★★★

Thoughts: I finally read a book off of my physical TBR bookshelf! And, my goodness, was this a great choice! This was another buddy read, which made the experience that much more enjoyable. I really loved this book, though. The culture! The dark, creepy tone! The ✨romance✨! It all turned into a very good time.

Book: The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

Rating: ★★★

Thoughts: We have another Agatha Christie mystery! This was probably my least favorite, so far, though I still had fun with it. Hastings was just especially silly in this one and it made me want to shake him, lol. Still, I love Poirot and his idiosyncrasies. And this one had a lot of interesting twists!

Book of the Month

Though I didn’t have any five star reads in February, I did have one book that came very close. This book had me grinning from ear to ear and it made me tear up. Any book that can evoke an emotionally response from me deserves the top spot! The Book of the Month for February is…

This book was just so good! Though it had a bit of a slow start, once we get into the meat of the story, I was completely hooked! I love learning about Yadriel’s culture. I loved exploring the cemetery with him. And I especially loved him and Julian! Ugh… my heart 💖 This was such a beautiful story and the way Aiden Thomas describes his scenes made me feel like I was actually there. Which was a bit frightening in some of the more terrifying scenes! I’ll be doing a full review on this soon, so I don’t want to say too much here, but I’m so glad I finally read this one. I can’t wait to read whatever Aiden Thomas writes next!

Reflections

This month has established that 2021 is going to be the year of the buddy read! I’ve joined into a Hercule Poirot buddy read, a Rivers of London buddy read, a Lord of the Rings buddy read, and a book club that’s not a book club (😉). And you know what I’ve found? Not only has it upped my reading, but I’m enjoying books that I wouldn’t have heard of or even hated previously. Looking at you, Lord of the Rings… Buddy reading has brought a whole new level of enjoyment to books and I’m so glad that I’ve found a great group of people to read books together! Highly recommend, 10/10.

February also taught me that I should never have blog tour posts that are due back to back. The stress levels, y’all. I only had four blog tours in February, but two of them were one right after another and trying to read over 400 page books at once was… fun? Thankfully, the books were both enjoyable, but yeah. I’m not doing that one again 😂 I’m trying to have a better balance with my reading in 2021 so both reading and blogging don’t start to feel like chores! I’ll get there… but there are so many good books and tours and I have a hard time saying no, heh. I think I just need to figure out my limits and stick to them.

Overall, this was a prolific and fairly enjoyable reading month. Now to look forward to March!

How was your reading in February? Did you find a new favorite? Make any progress on some challenges? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!

Published by kerrimcbooknerd

10 thoughts on “February 2021 Wrap Up”

  3. So glad February was a great month for you. Of Silver and Shadow is one that I would really love to read too. I also quite fancy Wings of Ebony and Cemetery Boys!

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