February was an amazing month for reading! In honour of Valentine’s Day, I read as many romance books as I could squeeze in and made it through eight books in total!
THE GIVER OF STARS – Jojo Moyes (4/5 Stars)
What an incredible read! The writing in this book flows so beautifully and the plot moves at a great pace – I couldn’t put it down! This is my first Jojo Moyes read and I am beyond impressed! I will definitely be adding her to my favourite authors list!
This book is based on the 1930s Horseback Librarians program in Kentucky and follows the lives of the five women running the program in Baileyville, a small town near the mountains. Though the library is praised by some, there are many in town who don’t like the idea of mixing with the mountain people and who are even less pleased with these women working outside of the home. The librarians must overcome many obstacles in order to deliver the gift of reading to the rely areas of Kentucky.
HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING – Denise Williams (5/5 Stars, 4/5 Tamales)
This book was the perfect romance read for February 😍 I read most of this book in one sitting – loved the main character and her story! If you loved this read, she has bonus content on her site which I desperately needed.
CW: Domestic Abuse
Three years after leaving an abusive relationship, Naya is ready to break her dry spell and makes a to-do list with her friends to force herself to get back out there. On her first night out she meets Jake, who helps her rebuild her lost confidence. When their relationship puts Naya’s career on the line, she must decide between returning to her old life, or pursuing a new one with the person who makes her the happiest.
GIRL WITH NO JOB: The Crazy Beautiful Life of an Instagram Thirst Monster – Claudia Oshry (5/5 Stars)
Head’s up: I’m a huge fan of Claudia and The Morning Toast so this is super biased 😂 This quick and easy read was equal parts hilarious, deep, and surprisingly insightful. This book is perfect for anyone who is a fan of Claudia or interested in the rollercoaster that is online fame.
AUTOBOYOGRAPHY – Christina Lauren (4/5 Stars)
This book was a little more YA than what I typically read, but it was such a sweet love story, I was hooked from beginning to end! I went through so many emotions reading this and I loved that the ending wasn’t easily predictable. Christina Lauren can do no wrong in my eyes and this booking is joining my ever-growing list of their books that I absolutely adore.
Tanner is a bisexual high school student who has to hide his sexual orientation when his family moves to a predominantly LDS town in Utah from San Diego. In his senior year, he takes a novel-writing class where the TA is Sebastian Brother, the local Bishop’s son. When Tanner begins to develop feelings for Sebastian, all he can think (and write) about is him and he is torn between jeopardizing his grade in the class and outing himself and Sebastian to the teacher.
PLAYING WITH FIRE – L.J. Shen (4/5 Stars, 4/5 Tamales)
This book was incredible! It had all of the steam of a romance novel but the plot didn’t feel forced at all. I could read about West and Gracie Mae forever.
Grace Shaw was the pretty, popular cheerleader her whole life until a devastating fire left her scarred, destroying her confidence. When she is forced to work with West St. Claire, the mysterious student on campus known for his underground fights, the unlikely pair starts to fall in love with each other. When West’s latest opponent threatens to harm both of them, he puts as much distance between himself and Grace as possible, causing the secrets of his past to be revealed.
TALKING TO STRANGERS – Malcolm Gladwell (5/5 Stars)
I haven’t read a book that made me think as much as this one did in a very long time (maybe not ever?)! I really enjoyed seeing recent news stories used to support Gladwell’s theories, it was thought provoking to view them through his lens. This book really turned everything I thought I knew on its head. If you think you’re good at “reading people”, this one is for you!
In this book, Gladwell dives into three problems: the ‘default to truth’ problem, the ‘transparency’ problem, and the ‘mismatch’ problem before talking about the ‘coupling’ phenomenon. Using recent news scandals, Gladwell explains how these problems cause us to think we know strangers much better than we actually do.
The Trouble with Hating you – Sajni Patel (3.5/5 Stars)
Full review coming soon!
Finding Freedom – Omid Scobie & Carolyn Durand (2/5 Stars)
Full review coming soon!
If you’ve read any of these books, let me know how you felt about them!