February 2022 Book List

 2/2: How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman (library ebook, 2013) - Fascinating non-fiction book about day-to-day lives of Victorians. 4.5/5 stars

2/4: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (purchased, 2021) - Interesting book, really great book club discussion. 4/5 stars

2/5: Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1) by Tessa Bailey (library, 2019) -  Another bad romance novel with terrible characters. 1.5/5 stars

2/6: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (library, 2016) - Atmospheric historical fiction. 3.5/5 stars

2/8: Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren (library, 2019) - This book was pretty boring - it lacked chemistry between the leads and our main heroine just forgives the hero over and over again for egregious errors.  1.5/5 stars

2/10: Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane (library, 2018) - Not a great romance, but  otherwise solid storylines and side characters. 2.5/5 stars

2/12: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (library ebook, 2019) - Dragons! Not quite as good as The Nine Realms, but pretty good fantasy. 3.5/5

2/13: Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry (library, 2020) - This book sent me down a huge depressive hole that I'm still digging out of. Domestic violence is a theme. You have been warned. 3/5 stars (it's possible it's better than this, but I can't separate my personal response from the evaluation)

2/17: Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity #5) by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2021) - I'm no longer reading these books for the romance, which is absolutely fine but not earthshattering, but for the overarching fate of the Psy Net.  I will most certainly be reading more in the series. 3.5/5 stars

2/19: Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date #4) by Jasmine Guillory  (library, 2019) - Okayish romance about a mature couple. 3/5 stars

2/21: The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers (book I own, 2014 - this was a reread) - Superb science fiction with a positive outlook on humanity. 5/5

2/23: A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2) by Becky Chambers (book I own, 2016, this was a reread) - Such a good, good book.  If you haven't read Chambers, you really should try. 5/5

2/26: Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot #10) by Agatha Christie (library ebook, 1934) - It's interesting to go back and see where detective novel tropes came from, but (imagine I'm whispering here) Agatha Christie is not Arthur Conan Doyle. I do not enjoy this type of writing, but I do enjoy pretending to be a book historian.  3/5 stars

2/26: Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers (book I own, 2018, this was a reread) - Probably the weakest of the Wayfarers novels, but still quite a solid read. 4/5 stars

2/27: The Mister by EL James (library ebook, 2019) - Just an all-around bad book - bad hero, bad stereotyping, bad action sequences, don't get me started on the male gaze surrounding virginity. Just a bad book. 1.5/5 stars

Total: 15 books

Average star rating: 3.2/5 stars

Did Not Finish:

The End of Men by Christina Sweeny-Baird - Look, this book seemed just up my style until page 20. I am not up for a book about a mysterious new virus. I honestly don't know if I ever will be. I want to read this book and will possibly revisit it in...several years.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow - DNF at 25%. I was a little fragile after reading Tigers, Not Daughters and all the references to abuse/domestic violence were getting me down. 

King of Scars (King of Scars #1) by Leigh Bardugo - I did not read the original trilogy, Shadow and Bone, and I was completely lost in the world. I bet it's good, but I DNFed out of sheer confusion at about 21%.