February was a hot and steamy romance book month and then weird thrillers and some life books?! A lot of books I had holds on became available at the library and in Libby (free library app for your phone – audio books and ebooks, cannot recommend enough) and hey, it was valentines so the more romance the merrier, right? Love was in the air! But also in the mix were some good life-advice type books with an honorable mention to a book I re-read and a few thrillers and novels – ok this reading month was all over the place, variety, it’s the best, isn’t it? I just love getting lost in books. Here’s everything I read in February 2023.
The Paper Palace– 5 stars
- This is one of those books that will stay with you forever. It was a page-turner to say the least. I stayed up after the kids went to bed 2 nights in a row past midnight to read this. The heartbreaking story! The ending! Can you tell me if you’ve read this? Asking for a friend.
Fix Her Up– 4.75 stars
- It was cheesy but in a really good way. So cute and witty banter between the main characters and very well written chemistry. It’s really hot and steamy, at like 1/2-3/4 way through and then till the end it’s very steamy and if you’re listing to this one as an audiobook, it’s a ‘do not listen with kids in the car’ type book lol. Did not realize it was the author of It Happened One Summer (which I read last year)
Tools of Engagement – 4 stars
- My hold became available on Libby and it just so happened to be the next book in the series after ‘Fix Her Up’ so it was cute getting to have a glimpse (v. small) of the characters from the previous book. This one was good too, a quick cute romance – the characters had good chemistry.
The Love Hypothesis – 3.25 stars
- This was a fake dating falling in love troupe. It was cute and rom-comy and set in a science/academia setting which was different. There were definitely some very hot build up romance scenes very well worded and there was 1 actual steamy sexy scene…but then the main character kept repeating herself and her insecurities and it seemed unrealistic at a certain point. The next book in the series became available from library holds so I read it, it didn’t have any ties to this one – except the theme of women in STEM, it was lightly better but still not amazing.
Love On The Brain – 3.25 stars
- The lead up was a little long, the whole book felt too long. The characters didn’t have as much chemistry as the first book (see above). It was an ok book but nothing I’d recommend or want to pick up again.
The Grownup – 5 stars
- This was by Gilian Flynn – author of Gone Girl (which I’d like to say I read before it was super popular lol). Heard about this little story from Kendra Adachi – who wrote one of my all time faves The Lazy Genius Method which I keep on my nightstand and read and re-read sections of all the time. Anyway, this is a short story, a thriller, an adult spooky thriller. So good and weird and odd. I did want more of the ‘what’s next’ story though.
Super Attractor -5 stars
- This book was casually mentioned in a long blog post about if moving was the right decision on Styled By Emily Henderson – whose blog I found because she linked to one of my recipes once…I’ve been following her ever since. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. I have what I like to call a ‘little woo’ side and this shared some wonderful things I’m putting into practice.
Comfort Me With Apples– 2 stars
- A short thriller story. It was good at first and then at the end I was literally like wtf is this!? But it was well written? Short? But really, what was this? Here’s the description “Comfort Me With Apples is a terrifying new thriller from bestseller Catherynne M. Valente, for fans of Gone Girl and Spinning Silver”
The Fine Print– DNF (did not finish)
- This book read more like a soft core porn than a romance novel if that makes sense, but I didn’t read it long enough for any of the actual intimate scenes because it was so bad. It was on several lists of hot romance books, but I just really lost interest. It did have sexy names like Rowan and Declan. Maybe because I had read some other cute romances (see Fix Her Up)? This was actually my first DNF, I heard about the concept from one of my favorite authors who lists them, so I’m going to start sharing on that too.
If you’re looking for a fun list, here’s the top 100 romances of the past three years by goodreads
Jana says
I don’t very often run across people who have read The Grownup. I’m glad you did and glad you liked it! It’ll stick with you. I think it’s been at least 3 years since I read it and I still remember it vividly because I found it both fascinating and spooky.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such an awesome comment. Wasn’t that book fascinating and spooky? I didn’t want it to end, I really wanted to know ‘what happened next’ you know? Do you have any other books that stuck with you that you love? I always love finding out about new books!!