Today’s post covers the second half of the books I read in February 2025. I shared what I read in the first half of the month here. I shared my five star reads here. 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: Good Dirt
Author: Charmaine Wilkerson
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Ballantine, 1/28/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson was high on my list of anticipated reads because I loved her book Black Cake. This one is similar in style as it bounces around in time and perspective, although it is mainly in the viewpoint of Ebby. When Ebby was 10, her older brother was shot and a stoneware jar with an important history was ruined. This jar was brought north by an enslaved ancestor and is the subject of many stories that the family treasures. When Ebby is stood up at her wedding, she travels to France and begins writing the jar stories.
“When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well. The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get. So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.”
I enjoyed reading this a lot although I’d say less than Black Cake. I think if you appreciate one you will appreciate the other! I wrote down this quote from the book: “Maybe all you can do is give yourself permission to embrace the rest of your life. To play, to love, to risk. To take the beauty that someone brought into your life and share it.”
Title: Purple Hibiscus
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Recorded Books, 10/30/03
Source: Print from Publisher, Audio from Library
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 4 Stars
Purple Hibiscus is about Kambili, who is 15, and growing up in Nigeria. Her father is a strict person who uses religion as an excuse to abuse his family. Kambili and her brother visit their aunt and cousins and she realizes that not everyone practices religion the way her father does and that families can be happy.
“Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They’re completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.”
While this was an interesting look at culture, colonialism, patriarchy, and religion, there were parts I was uncomfortable with, especially how Kambili falls in love with a priest. The priest is “young,” but he is certainly an adult and in a position of authority. His treatment of Kambili isn’t fully appropriate. Also, Kambili demonstrates forgiveness towards her father, which was hard to accept. This is Adiche’s first book and certainly worth the read.
Title: The Meadowbrook Murders
Author: Jessica Goodman
Genre: YA Thriller
Publisher: GP Putnam’s Sons Books For Young Readers, 2/4/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I really enjoy Jessica Goodman’s young adult thrillers. The Meadowbrook Murders is about Amy, who wakes up in her dorm room to find her roommate and her roommate’s boyfriend murdered. Having been in the next room over makes Amy a prime suspect. Meanwhile, Liz, a student journalist begins investigating the murders. When Amy is moved in as Liz’s new roommate, the two pair up to determine the actual murderer.
“It’s the first week of senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall. Then tragedy strikes: Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah’s only roommate, the only other person there when she died—or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend’s suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things. Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes – and with a killer still on campus, she can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
This was a light and quick read and I did suspect the culprit! I enjoyed reading this one and finding out more about each of the characters.
Title: Away
Author: Megan E. Freeman
Genre: Middle Grade Dystopian
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2/11/25
Source: Audio Publisher
Why I Read It: Loved the book Alone
My Rating: 4 Stars
I loved the book Alone so much and I was thrilled there was a sequel. This one was rather different from Alone though, as it focuses on 4 kids who are evacuated to a camp together. One of them is one of Maddie’s friends, but Maddie is not present in this one.
“After an imminent yet unnamed danger forces people across Colorado to leave their homes, a group of kids including an aspiring filmmaker and a budding journalist find themselves in the same evacuation camp. As they cope with the aftermath of having their world upended, they grow curious about the mysterious threat. And as they begin to investigate, they start to discover that there’s less truth and more cover-up to what they’re being told. Can they get to the root of the conspiracy, expose the bad actors, and bring an end to the upheaval before it’s too late?”
Away follows Ashantae, Teddy, Grandin, and Harmony as they work to uncover what exactly caused their evacuation and resettlement in a camp. The story is told in verse, a movie script, production notes, letters, and news articles. It was a unique way of telling a story. The audio has a full cast and is quite short. As an explanation to what happened in Alone, this did a good job.
Title: The Three Lives of Cate Kay
Author: Kate Fagan
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Atria, 1/7/25
Source: Book of the Month
Why I Read It: BOTM pick
My Rating: 4 Stars
In The Three Lives of Cate Kay, a famous author is hiding behind a pseudonym after running from her childhood town. I thought this could have been called the three LOVES rather than the three lives, as it focuses on three parts of the author’s life which each feature someone she loved – her childhood best friend, her first agent, and the actor in the movie based on her books.
“Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.”
The book is told as a memoir but with other people chiming in, so it’s like a documentary. I wondered how no one realized who Cate Kay was sooner. I liked this book and I liked getting to know the real Cate Kay.
Title: Never Planned On You
Author: Lindsay Hameroff
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2/18/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Never Planned On You was such a sweet read that was a nice break from some of the heavier ones I read this month. This one is about Ali, who spent a night with Graham back in college. That night included them getting matching tattoos. They never expected to see each other again, but they are reunited in Baltimore, where it turns out that Graham is the groom in the wedding that Ali is currently planning. The wedding may not be for a perfect couple, but a lot depends on it – the future of Ali’s job and the success of Graham’s family run hotel included. So Ali and Graham have to deny their connection and definitely can’t fall for each other.
“Ali Rubin has a reputation for spontaneity. Like that time she made a drunken bet in London that led to matching tattoos with a stranger. Her joie de vivre is one of her best qualities; she lives every day to the fullest and follows her dreams wherever they take her. And now, they’re taking her from her career as a chef in New York City back home to Baltimore, where she’s interning as a wedding planner. Despite the occasional fantasy about her British tattoo twin, Ali never expected to see Graham again. So no one is more surprised than she is when he turns up in Baltimore, ordering a latte at her favorite cafe. When they reconnect during an enchanting evening together, Ali can’t help but wonder if Graham might be someone special.”
I enjoyed a lot of this book including the way Ali feels like a mess and her relationship with her sister and other family members. I thought some of the communication issues between characters went on a bit too long. It did keep me entertained though, and I loved the Jewish rep!
Title: The Mothers
Author: Brit Bennett
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Penguin Audio, 10/11/16
Source: Print – Little Free Library, Audio – Library
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 4 Stars
The next book I checked off of my 25 in ’25 list was The Mothers by Brit Bennett. I had grabbed this one out of a Little Free Library, and while I read The Vanishing Half by this author, I hadn’t yet gotten to this one. I listened to the audio, narrated by Adenrele Ojo, and thought she did a good job of differentiating between the characters. This book is about Nadia, who as a teenager is involved with Luke, the pastor’s son. When Nadia gets pregnant, the choices made cause reverberations that last as Nadia and Luke become adults and a third person joins their triangle – Nadia’s best friend Aubrey. All three characters have difficult histories that interact with their present and this story involves abortion, abuse, infidelity, infertility, and more. The mothers referenced in the title are the church elders who watch as all the drama takes place.
“It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.”
I liked this book but I would have liked Nadia to have more support from the other characters, as most of them seemed to disagree with her past choices. Well written and well narrated, this one was a good backlist pick!
Title: We Could Be Rats
Author: Emily Austin
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Atria, 1/28/25
Source: Book of the Month
Why I Read It: Loved her previous
My Rating: 4 Stars
We Could Be Rats was a strange read about a pair of sisters. Sigrid and her sister Margit grew up with toxic parents. Sigrid coped with this by hiding in an imaginary world with her toys. She is now struggling with her best friend having a drug addiction and the politics in her small town.
“Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society. But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the floorboards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta’s friendship to the opioid epidemic ravaging their town. As Margit sets out to understand Sigrid and the secrets she has hidden, both sisters, in their own time and way, discover that reigniting their shared childhood imagination is the only way forward.”
I liked this one but a lot less than Interesting Facts About Space. The content of this one is focused around a suicide attempt and it includes a past sexual assault. A quote I liked from the book: “If I could pick how the world worked…Everyone would understand everyone, and we would all sincerely care about each other. No one would ever think about hurting people or killing themselves. The clouds would all turn pink.”
Title: Mazeltov
Author: Eli Zuzovsky
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, 2/11/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This short novel is told as a collection of stories from people in Adam’s life at the time of his bar mitzvah. This is an LGBTQ coming of age story that reminded me of some of the Israeli authors I read back in college.
“At a banquet hall, at the onset of war, Adam Weizmann’s bar mitzvah party turns into a glorious catastrophe. On the cusp of manhood―and the verge of a nervous breakdown―Adam has been bracing for his special day, mired in family neuroses and national dysfunction. In a chorus of voices, a fractious cast of well-wishers narrates Adam’s coming-of-age in Israel: his newly devout father and the mystic rituals he practiced on his young son; his best friend, Abbie, who points the way to joyful transgression; Khalil, a Palestinian poet, who offers a glimpse of a different way to be; and Adam himself, filled with shame and desire as he faces the brokenness of his world.”
I was impressed that each chapter, representing different characters, had its own unique voice. The stories are from the viewpoints of Adam’s parents, his grandma, his cousin, a waiter and the DJ at his bar mitzvah, etc. It is told as Israel is on the brink of war and shows that Adam’s family is quite a mess, as is the country they live in.
Title: In Gad We Trust
Author: Josh Gad
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Gallery Books, 1/14/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars, Rounded up to 4
Josh Gad’s memoir In Gad We Trust contained the most name drops I’ve ever read in a book. In his memoir, he describes the many times in his life he never thought something would happen, and yet it did, from his successes in forensics to his Broadway shows.
“For the first and possibly last time, Josh Gad dives into a wide array of personal topics: the lasting impact of his parents’ divorce; how he struggled with weight and self-image; his first big break; how everyone was sure his most successful ventures (both on the big screen and the stage) would fail; his take on fatherhood, and so much more. This trip down the rabbit hole of overly personal stories will distract readers from climate change, the downward descent of democracy in Western civilization, and the existential threat that AI poses to Drake’s music—with never-before-seen photos and few-to-no spelling errors.”
While I like Josh Gad, I thought his memoir came across quite braggy and with very few challenges. He discusses his bout with anxiety very briefly. I did appreciate his addressing of being Jewish and how October 7 directly effected a show he was working on at the time. I also enjoyed the parts about playing Olaf and I learned that he isn’t gay – not sure why I thought he was previously!
Title: Dead Dead Girls
Author: Nekesa Afia
Genre: Mystery – Historical
Publisher: Books On Tape, 6/1/21
Source: Print – Publisher, Audio – library
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 4 Stars
Dead Dead Girls was another book off of my 25 in ’25 list. This book takes place in Harlem in the 1920s and is a mystery about Black girls going missing. Louise, a former kidnapping victim, now spends her time working at a cafe and dancing at night with her girlfriend. She is recruited by the police to help them solve the case.
“Harlem, 1926. Young Black women like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead. Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She’s succeeding, too. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Harlem’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends, especially her girlfriend, Rosa Maria Moreno, might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her, but don’t tell her that. When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she’s been trying to ignore—two other local Black girls have been murdered in the past few weeks. After an altercation with a police officer gets her arrested, Louise is given an ultimatum: She can either help solve the case or wind up in a jail cell. Louise has no choice but to investigate and soon finds herself toe-to-toe with a murderous mastermind hell-bent on taking more lives, maybe even her own….”
This was an interesting listen but I found the ending to be a bit abrupt. I know this was the start of a series so maybe that was done purposely. I enjoyed the setting and Louise was a unique character!
Title: A World Worth Saving
Author: Kyle Lukoff
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publisher: Dial Books, 2/4/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff is about A, a trans boy, who along with other trans kids, is brought to an extreme group wanting the kids to remain their genders assigned at birth. The group leader sends kids away for conversion therapy when they don’t conform. A meets a golem who helps him realize that demons who live on pain have taken over for a lot of the adults in his life. He goes on to unite with other trans kids to try to save the kids who have been sent away.
“Covid lockdown is over, but A’s world feels smaller than ever. Coming out as trans didn’t exactly go well, and most days, he barely leaves his bedroom, let alone the house. But the low point of A’s life isn’t online school, missing his bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks—it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents all but drag him to. At SOSAD, A and his friends Sal and Yarrow sit by while their parents deadname them and wring their hands over a nonexistent ‘transgender craze.’ After all, sitting in suffocating silence has to be better than getting sent away for ‘advanced treatment,’ never to be heard from again. When Yarrow vanishes after a particularly confrontational meeting, A discovers that SOSAD doesn’t just feel soul-sucking…it’s run by an actual demon who feeds off the pain and misery of kids like him. And it’s not just SOSAD—the entire world is beset by demons dining on what seems like an endless buffet of pain and bigotry. But how is one trans kid who hasn’t even chosen a name supposed to save his friend, let alone the world? And is a world that seems hellbent on rejecting him even worth saving at all?”
I liked the Jewish mysticism woven into this book and the things the golem taught A, including that doing things as a group was better than being alone, and about the holiness in transitions. This book contains a lot of tough topics including kids being kicked out of their homes, misgendering, suicide, and transphobia. I think young readers will appreciate this book!
There you have it, the rest of my February reading! This post included 12 of the books I read in February. 8 of these books were in print and 4 were audio. Genres included literary, thriller, contemporary, mystery, memoir, dystopian, fantasy, and rom com. Nine were adult reads, 1 was YA, and 2 were middle grade.
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?
