February Reading Recap

2024 | Book 4 | House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah. J. Maas

My first read of the month was House of Flame and Shadow, the third book in the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas. This was an action-packed, beast of a read and I had so many thoughts and feelings about it. To start, this felt like the most action-packed of the three books and given the complexity of the world, magic systems, and characters, I routinely had to stop after 20-30 pages to digest what just happened and remember how it connected to the larger plot lines and character development. The characters themselves are a huge win for me, I was really rooting for their relationships and success throughout. Beyond that, it was very cool to participate in the hype around the release. The Maas fanbase is epic and extra and it was just a fun time to be online (and when’s the last time I said that!?). On to the not so great stuff…I’ll start by saying that I might have actually liked this book a little more if I had not just read first two in the series right before. I loved those books so much. House of Sky and Breath was a five-star read for me and because of that Flame and Shadow fell flat in some key areas. In general, I think that if you’ve made a highly-engaged fanbase wait multiple years for this, you’ve got to make it worth the wait and the 800+ pages. There were so many seemingly important details that were never explained and sub-plots that were inconsequential and sometimes disruptive to the story. Given the massive cliffhanger at the end of the second book, I was itching for that plot line to dominate and it absolutely did not. With all of this being said, Sarah J. Maas plays a long game and we know there will be at least one more book in this series with lots of opportunity to tidy up all these loose ends.

2024 | Book 5 | The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Upon finishing House of Flame and Shadow, I needed something a little lighter. So why not a story about the end of the world? Our February Book Club selection was The Age of Miracles and it was such an interesting mash-up of things. This book combines the teenage tragedy of The Fault in Our Stars with the dystopian element of Station Eleven flavored with the coming-of-age love story captured in Normal People. The result is a character-forward novel about an 11-year-old girl moving through adolescence as the earth’s rotation begins to slow, disrupting the 24-hour clock. For Julia, every milestone feels urgent and life-altering — losing a friend, sharing a first kiss — and against the backdrop of an apocalypse, that urgency is made real.

2024 | Book 6 | The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong

This story takes place in the early 1900s and follows disgraced socialite Ruby Vaughn as she confronts her past in the English countryside and subsequently gets caught up in a murder investigation. We’re also introduced to other interesting characters — namely a reclusive and handsome local healer who is both revered and feared by his village and an eccentric proprietor with many more mysteries for us to unravel. It’s the first of a yet-to-be-published series and I am eager to learn more about Ruby’s past (which may be linked to her destiny?) as well as the magic and myth surrounding this healer and his lineage. This author teased details at right pacing, resulting in both a satisfying ending and interest in learning more. Consider me a fan!

2024 | Book 7 | Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

I listened to the audiobook version of this narrated by Meryl Streep because I would listen to Meryl Streep read the back of my shampoo bottle. The story follows a Michigan family tending to their cherry farm in the middle of the pandemic. Three adult daughters, staying at the farm during the quarantine, are desperate to pass the time in the orchard by having their mother tell them the story of the summer she dated a young actor who went on to become a movie star. We get to experience a woman revisit and make peace with her life — all of the choices, dreams, and seemingly small moments that create a chain of events leading to the present day. This is my first Ann Patchett read, though it will certainly not be the last.

2024 | Books 8 & 9 | The Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo

This series was such a breath of fresh air. I sort of felt it was Gangs of New York meets (weirdly) Pirates of the Caribbean but a solidly better and more palatable blend of those things. Set in the city of Ketterdam, which for all intents and purposes is essentially just Amsterdam, we follow a cast of misfits and outcasts who have found ways to survive in the Barrel — the pleasure district/slums of the city. Each character has a unique background and skills perfect for completing an impossible heist and claiming the reward. As Kaz Brekker gets himself and the rest of his crew into trouble you think they can’t possibly get out of, all I could do was hang on for dear life. The author has teased the possibility of third book and I. Am. Here. For. It.

2024 | Book 10 | A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

I read this in a single sitting and was enrapt from the very first page. This story blends the angst and isolation immortality (which we get so masterfully from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) with a spooky and sexy adaptation of The Brides of Dracula. The story itself is told from the perspective of young girl who is pulled from back the brink of death and begins an epic and everlasting journey through Europe with the vampire who sired her. The book is an unsent letter to her beloved and, even though we know pretty quickly how it’s all going to end, the way each character gets swept into the story and, in doing so, moves the plot forward made this an absolute page-turner. Also, anything with polyamorous vampires gets automatic bonus points.