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February Reads: Romance, Reality, Time Travel, and a DNF

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Images c/o Goodreads

My February was filled with an okay reading experience. My February reads included a few duds (one of those being a DNF), a couple of audiobooks, one physical tbr read and finally the start of two books. Did I enjoy my reading choices this month? Overall, yes. I would like to take the time here and say that I try my hardest not to give anything away in my reviews, but just in case this is your spoiler alert. Here is what I thought about them.

Finished Books

A book cover that has a teal background. There is a spartan helmet. Over the helmet, there is black writing that says, "The Song of Achilles." There is an orange circular emblem on the left side that says, 'Winner' on it.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles was a dud for me. I was just reading it to say that I have read it. There was no connection to the story or the characters on my part. I have adopted the three book rule, where you read three books from an author before deciding to stop reading anything from them. Unfortunately, or may be not, I will be implementing this with Madeline Miller at just two books read.

A book cover that is dark, teal green with yellow stripes in the corners. The writing is white and says 'Know My Name A memoir Chanel Miller'

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Know My Name was one of the audiobooks I listened to this month. Most times, I will listen to a memoir over reading it physically. With this one, I kind of wished I just read it physically because I found Chanel’s voice very monotone (she narrates her own story). However, I only have one sentence for this book…Everyone NEEDS to read this book! It’s an important story.

A book cover with Elvis Presley and Lisa Marie Presley as a child on it. The writing is white and says the title, 'From Here to the Great Unknown' and the authors' names, 'Lisa Marie Presely Riley Keough.' There is an emblem in the upper left corner for Oprah's bookclub.

From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough

From Here to the Great Unknown was the other audiobook I listened to this month. This one was interesting. It was heartbreaking. The things this family went through…tragic. From Here to the Great Unknown is for the fans of Elvis, Lisa Marie, and/or Riley Keough. I did enjoy the inclusion of recordings from Lisa herself as well as the narration from Julia Roberts (she reads the parts where there are no recordings). Riley is also a narrator and she sprinkles in her own stories from growing up.

Physical Books

A yellow orange book cover with pink and white writing. The white writing says 'Ali Hazelwood' and the pink writing says 'Love, Theoretically'. There are two people kissing on the cover, one short female with brown hair and a pink dress on & a tall male with short sandy blonde hair and a blue button up shirt on. There is also an emblem on the spine side of the cover that displays another one of Ali's books.

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Love, Theoretically was a really enjoyable read, but as always there were some elements I didn’t like. One of those things is the slow burn trope. There was bit of this between Elsie and Jack, but it didn’t last long which I appreciated. There always has to be some kind of villain, and very early on you think it’s going to be Jack. Turns out that it’s Dr. L. This man is the worst kind of human being! He not only gets off on controlling Elsie’s career, but other people too. But he gets his comeuppance in the end 🙂

Now for the things I did enjoy. I related to Elsie’s overthinking/people pleasing ways. I am a chronic over thinker and a recovering people pleaser, so to see this represented in a book was nice. There were so many things I loved about Jack and if I were to list them, this paragraph would be too long. Let’s just say that he may or may not be on my book boyfriends list now. Finally, the epilogue. I probably should have added this to the things I didn’t like but alas here we are. Some books need an epilogue. This one didn’t. I would have happily gone about my day theorizing about what happened to Elsie and Jack after the ending of the story. I didn’t need to know what happened 8 months later.

DNF

A book cover for Magnolia Parks. There is a tree with a skyline of London, a school seal, a British flag, a red flag, and some other symbols representing things in the book. The background is a beige/white. The writing is red.

Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

Alas! Magnolia Parks is the first DNF of the year. This was one of the series I wanted to start in 2025. It is now one that I most likely will never pick up again. Here’s what I didn’t like about this book: The fact that these characters are supposed to be adults, but they act like they are in jr. high/high school. Why was Magnolia obsessed with clothing? Her dialogue always started with her describing the labels she was wearing, BJ was wearing, or her friends. Not necessary in my opinion. I HATED that she called BJ, Beej. Gross! Gave me the ick. Finally, why were so many sentences written as questions but didn’t have to be? I didn’t read them as questions. As you can see, I was not a fan of the 20% of this book I did read.

Started Books

A book cover for Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhymes. The actors from the show are standing together. They are framed by flowers. There is a blue sky behind them. The writing is white and green.

Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn & Shonda Rhimes

My thoughts on Queen Charlotte will be in March’s wrap-up.

A book cover for Outlander. It is the tv-tie in version, so there is a scene with Claire and Jamie on it. Outlander is written in white. The author's name is at the top, also written in white, on a gold background. On the right side, there is a red emblem that says it is now a show on Starz.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

My thoughts on Outlander will be in March’s wrap-up.

 

My February reads were quite the rollercoaster ride. However, I did come out of it with a favorite…or one that stood out as my best read at least. That was Know My Name by Chanel Miller. I would love to know what your favorite read was of the month. Leave those in the comments 🙂

Check out my 2024 Reading recap

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