February was a bit of a chaotic reading month for me. I went into it with a bold goal: read 20 books. Ambitious? Yes. Achievable? Maybe. Reality, however, had other plans.

Even though I didn’t quite reach that goal, I still managed to read 14 books this month, which honestly is still a solid reading month. Between work, life, and everything else competing for my attention, I’m pretty happy with that number.

Some months you absolutely crush your TBR. Other months you simply survive it.

And February? February was definitely a “we survived the TBR” kind of month.

Still, I read across a variety of genres this month—fantasy, romance, and a little sci-fi sprinkled in—and discovered some great stories along the way.

Fledging

Okay, so this book has been sitting on my shelf for ages. It was a proof sent to me by the publisher, so I was determined to make the time to read it. Finally did, and I was…underwhelmed.

My biggest hindrance with the novel was the characters and their dynamics. I feel like the novel went back and forth with the characters too often to really establish them, and I forgot who some people were at times, which was unfortunate. The societal climate reminded me of the setting of the Total Recall remake, so I liked that part of the novel. But the backstory of some of the characters was a little confusing, and it left me wanting more.

The Rules of Magic

I think this is probably my favorite book in the series. I loved learning about Jet, Franny, and Victor in this novel, and their past, and how they ended up raising Gillian and Sally. It was such a great book. I loved the pacing, I love the way the characters grew and learned to love. It was such a fun and moving novel.

Practical Magic

A classic, but I wanted more. I think what I wanted was more on the relationship between Sally and Gillian, and magic, and it fell short of that. We get to see that with Jet and Franny, but not so much with these girls embracing their roots. Not fully anyway. It was a short and sweet story, though.

The Book of Magic

I have to say, I was ultimately disappointed by this novel. One, it was inconsistent. It did not follow some of the established lore that was presented in the previous novels, and that was really disappointing. Two, it just didn’t seem like the direction that followed the girls was the one that fit them. I will say that the ending was the ending we’ve all been expecting from these women, but the story itself fell flat for me.

The Cydonian Pyramid

Wow. This book was such a great follow-up to the previous book. Questions were answered, and I’m glad that we got to see more of Lah Lia’s story here. We got to see everything she went through after following Tucker into the diskos. She grew a lot here, and it was really such an intense and unputdownable novel. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next because while many questions were answered, more were raised, and I’m excited to see where this goes.

Blood of Elves

I absolutely loved The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny. Those were 5-star reads for me. This one, however, the entire time I was reading it, I felt like I was missing something. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is the start to a series and not an anthology like the previous novels; however, it really feels very different than those in terms of tone. And it really felt like the story was missing something, and while I love Ciri learning to use her powers, I wanted a little more to happen.

Divided by Fire

This is probably the novel I feel most bad about because the author reached out to me and sent me a copy of this book on their own time. And I really thought I was going to like it. Unfortunately, this was a struggle. I found it boring. I wanted more dragons; the plot twist came too late. It needed tension to it because there was a lot of dialogue, but nothing worthwhile to really strengthen those character dynamics.

The pacing was just too slow and didn’t hold my attention. The main character was completely forgettable. I remember everyone else from the book – Greame, Vassia, Thornhill, Ryker – but not her.

We Who Will Die

I think the problem with this novel is an oversaturation of the marketplace. This novel just feels like other books that already exist, books that, in my opinion, were written better. Now, that’s not to say this was a bad book; it absolutely was not a bad book. It was well written, I liked the pacing and the character development, but it just felt too much like other books out there in regards to tone and atmosphere. I think the tension is there. I liked the ending and the dynamic she had with some of the characters. I just wish there was more to set it apart.

Alchemy of Secrets

Okay, I don’t even know where to begin here. I loved Once Upon a Broken Heart. This one here? I’m not really sure I liked it. I couldn’t connect to Holland, who seemed much, much younger than her years. She really had no self preservations instincts whatsoever. The pacing, I loved, but a whole lot happened, and there were no resolutions to any of them. It felt like a whole lot of nothing happened here.

The Will of the Many

This book was amazing. I think what I really liked about this book was how it perfectly blended science fiction and fantasy. I loved the hierarchy and the way the novel was set up. I do think that the first 100 or so pages were a little slow, but I was still intrigued enough to see where this novel was going. Ultimately, I loved this book; I loved the way the school functions and the way Vis learns to play the system. It reminded me a lot of Red Rising, just in terms of vibes and atmosphere, but it still retained its originality. Honestly, it was such a good book, and that ending was jaw-dropping.

The Rise of Neptune

This was such an amazing follow-up to Last Dragon on Mars. I like the fact that we get to see more dragons out there and learn more about them. And I like how Dread has grown as a dragon as well as his relationship with Lunar. Triton, being the enemy here, was just a good aspect to the story and really raised the stakes here. But that ending with Proteus, oh, that was so good. I think I was more hooked than my son. And it was nice to see a second POV from Proctor, who has really proven herself as a dragon rider and leader alongside Lunar.

I already preordered book 3, The Void Dragon.

Game Changer

Not my normal book. I don’t really pick up sports romances, that’s not me. But it’s my friend’s book club pick, so I was willing to read this one to support the launch of his new book club. So, last-minute add one. I did the audiobook. I do agree that voice acting needs a ton of work, but it didn’t turn me off from the book. I quite liked it, more than I thought I did. It had a really moving story that I think needed representation. There were moments in the book that held a lot of emotion, and I liked that because it made it real and it made it worthwhile to read.

Call of the Dragon

This book was so good. I loved the African lore that went into building the magic system here and how it tied back to the dragons. They almost function as Gaia and Uranus. But I think I liked the character growth most of all. Moremi goes from being insecure and thinking she’s not good enough to finding herself and rising to the occasion. She becomes a force to be reckoned with, and it’s amazing to see. I loved seeing her embrace her power and bring down those who would have destroyed the world for power. Absolutely loved it.

Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition Vol. 5

What can I say that I haven’t said before? I love Cardcaptor Sakura and the way she won by love and extending friendship to Yue instead of battling. It’s just a wonderful story.

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