Today’s post covers the second half of the books I read in February 2023. I shared what I read in the first half of the month here. I shared my five star reads here, though I do have two more five star reads to add today! The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Title: The Valentine’s Hate
Author: Sidney Halston
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Avon, 12/27/22
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This was a cute and short book about Lizzie, who flies to Cancun for her best friend’s wedding and runs into her childhood neighbor and nemesis, Brian.
“Cupid only strikes once. At least that’s what Lissette Alonso believes. Ever since the Most Disastrous Valentine’s Day of All Time™ she has hated all things V-day. But Lizzie’s best friend is having pre-nuptial festivities for a week leading up to her February 14th wedding and Lissette is taking her maid of honor duties seriously, maybe too seriously. Of course of course of course who is the first person she runs into on the way to the wedding? None other than her childhood nemesis, Brian Anderson, the reason for all of her Valentine’s Day hatred. Brian knows he messed up with Lizzie but give him a break, he was just a kid who was trying to look cool and Lizzie regularly pushed all of his buttons—both in school and out of it. He’s always been gruff and grumpy, but these days, Brian is much better off with his writing; fictional characters never talk back. Unlike Lizzie who always has something to say. Suddenly the two are back under the same roof and bickering like old times, except that Brian has bigger problems than dealing with Lizzie’s verbal sparring. Someone Brian is desperate to avoid shows up and somehow Lizzie gets roped into pretending to be dating him. And, suddenly, the simmering anger has blossomed into something extra spicy…”
Brian is a writer and the actress cast in the series based on his books wants to hook up with him. Lizzie agrees to pretend to be his girlfriend to discourage the actress from hitting on Brian, and to help him with stage fright. They soon develop feelings for one another! Lizzie is used to running when she feels hurt, so when she thinks Brian actually likes the actress, she runs. This conflict is based on miscommunication, which is as annoying as always, but overall I enjoyed this read.
Title: Finlay Donovan Jumps The Gun
Author: Elle Cosimano
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Macmillan Audio, 1/31/23
Source: Publisher Audio
Why I Read It: Previously enjoyed the series
My Rating: 3 Stars
I think I’m breaking up with this series. It made me laugh in the past but this time it had me rolling my eyes.
“Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she’s an author and single mom who’s a pro at getting out bloodstains for rather unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. After she and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they may have ‘borrowed’ in the process of saving the life of Finlay’s ex-husband, the Russian mob got her out of debt. But now Finlay owes them. Still running the show from behind bars, mob boss Feliks has a task for Finlay: find a contract killer before the cops do. Problem is, the killer might be an officer. Luckily, hot cop Nick has started up a citizen’s police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay’s looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with the tempting detective), Finlay and Vero have the perfect cover-up to sleuth out the real criminal and free themselves from the mob’s clutches―all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero’s past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.”
The reveal didn’t make much sense and I still don’t like how Finlay calls Vero her nanny as if she is just her employee and not her friend.
Title: Dating Makes Perfect
Author: Pintip Dunn
Genre: YA Rom Com
Publisher: Entangled Teen, 8/18/20
Source: Gift
Why I Read It: Was waiting on my shelf
My Rating: 4 Stars
Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn is a book I received as a gift back in 2020, so it’s another backlist checked off my list this month. This book is about Winnie, whose parents decide to allow her to “practice” dating by going on rom com inspired dates with her former friend and now enemy Mat.
“The Tech sisters don’t date in high school. Not because they’re not asked. Not because they’re not interested. Not even because no one can pronounce their long, Thai last name―hence the shortened, awkward moniker. But simply because they’re not allowed. Until now. In a move that other Asian American girls know all too well, six months after the older Tech twins got to college, their parents asked, ‘Why aren’t you engaged yet?’ The sisters retaliated by vowing that they won’t marry for ten (maybe even twenty!) years, not until they’ve had lots of the dating practice that they didn’t get in high school. In a shocking war on the status quo, her parents now insist that their youngest daughter, Orrawin (aka ‘Winnie’), must practice fake dating in high school. Under their watchful eyes, of course―and organized based on their favorite rom-coms. ’Cause that won’t end in disaster. The first candidate? The son of their longtime friends, Mat Songsomboon―arrogant, infuriating, and way too good-looking. Winnie’s known him since they were toddlers throwing sticky rice balls at each other. And her parents love him. If only he weren’t her sworn enemy.”
This was a sweet book that had some funny parts. I enjoyed learning about Thai culture through this book.
Title: Allegedly
Author: Tiffany D. Jackson
Genre: YA Thriller
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, 1/24/17
Source: Gift
Why I Read It: Was waiting on my shelf
My Rating: 3 Stars
I am so sad about this book. It was so good all the way until the very end. It is about Mary, who allegedly killed a baby when she was only 9 years old. She was sent to prison and then to a group home after not receiving a fair trial, and she tells the reader about the abusive home life she endured prior to killing the baby. Allegedly.
“Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?”
I can’t go into why the end made me so angry, but I thought a different ending would have benefited the story more than the one the author chose. It definitely makes you think and want to discuss it though!
Title: A Flicker In The Dark
Author: Stacy Willingham
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1/11/22
Source: Book of the Month
Why I Read It: Chose as my Book of the Year
My Rating: 5 Stars
I read Stacy Willingham’s newer book, All The Dangerous Things, last month and decided to read this one this month. I had heard many liked her second better, but I can’t decide which was my favorite – I loved them both! This one is about Chloe, who was a 12 year old when 6 teen girls from her hometown were killed. Her father was arrested for the murders. Now, there are more murders and Chloe thinks they may be connected.
“When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath. Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren’t actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?”
I had a prime suspect the whole way through and then my thoughts went back and forth between two other suspects. It was twisty and hard to figure out! I really enjoyed the ride with this one!
Title: Match
Author: Emma Grace
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publisher: Self Published, 2/1/23
Source: Author
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Before I was a mom, I worked with this author’s mom. The author was just a little girl back then! She contacted me and asked if I would read her book and I had to say yes. Match is the first in a trilogy about Katie and her friends, who have to go on the run when they resist the idea of their lives being determined for them.
“Katie Davis has had her whole life planned out for her since birth. She, along with every other citizen of Carcera, is predestined to marry her perfect Match. She knows that she will eventually have two children, and that none of the citizens will ever leave the Border, the wall of stone encircling the city. No one could have predicted, however, the harrowing night that forces Katie and her three best friends to flee for their lives only days after their Matching Ceremony. With nowhere to go, Katie and her friends must make impossible choices at every turn. They are faced with life-altering decisions, such as whether or not to join the Underground, a resistance army dedicated to overthrowing Borders. The smaller choices seem just as unfathomable as the larger ones-what to eat for dinner, what to do in their free time, and even what to wear. When their luck begins to run out, they are left with only two options: fight, or die.”
There were some parts of the book that I wondered about, like why there was an evacuation towards the beginning of the book; however I thought this book was well written and I was never bored while reading it. Katie and her friends had fun times as well as times where they had to battle with others. I am definitely curious what will happen to them in their future!
Title: Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim
Author: Patricia Park
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Crown Books For Young Readers, 2/21/23
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 5 Stars
This book is about being caught between multiple cultures. Alejandra is Korean, Argentine, and American. She attends a private school which is a different environment from where she lives. She is trying to write a college essay about what home means to her, and she keeps feeling like she just doesn’t know.
“Alejandra Kim doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere. At her wealthy Manhattan high school, her súper Spanish name and súper Korean face do not compute to her mostly white ‘woke’ classmates and teachers. In her Jackson Heights neighborhood, she’s not Latinx enough. Even at home, Ale feels unwelcome. And things at home have only gotten worse since Papi’s body was discovered on the subway tracks. Ale wants nothing more than to escape the city for the wide-open spaces of the prestigious Whyder University. But when a microaggression at school thrusts Ale into the spotlight—and into a discussion she didn’t ask for—Ale must discover what is means to carve out a space for yourself to belong.”
This book made me smile every time the fake wokeness of Ale’s school led to her referring to freshman year as “freshperson” year. I loved how the story looked at what it means to be a performative ally versus speaking up when you see someone dealing with actual racism.
Title: The Thousandth Floor
Author: Katharine McGee
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publisher: HarperCollins, 8/30/16
Source: Library Audio plus purchased print copy
Why I Read It: Was waiting on my shelf
My Rating: 4 Stars
This was one of the first books I purchased after joining Bookstagram and had it waiting for me ever since. This is from the author of the American Royals series and in a lot of ways it was similar, as it features a group of teens and the drama surrounding their lives. However, this one takes place in the future of NYC in a huge, 1000 story building in which all the teens live – the poorer ones on the lower floors and the well off ones on the top.
“A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something…and everyone has something to lose. Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched. Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart. Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will her new life cost Rylin her old one? Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy by an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies. And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.”
I really liked this cast of characters and following all of their drama – from their families to their relationships to finding out who dies as foreshadowed in the prorogue. I would have given this book 5 stars until I realized that some of the stereotyping and tropes in this book are not favorites of mine – it took until I read other reviews to realize this and I was annoyed I didn’t realize on my own!
There you have it, the rest of my February reading! This post included 8 of the books I read in February. Of these books, 6 were print and 2 were audio books. Genres included rom com, mystery, thriller, dystopian, and contemporary. 5 of these were YA!
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?
