February 2023 Reads
February. What a month.
It’s the shortest month of the year, but tends to feel like one of the longest because it’s smack dab in the middle of winter.
Personally, I enjoy February because it’s my birthday month. :) This year, I celebrated 29 by taking a trip out to Arizona and thoroughly enjoyed my time amongst the rocks. I highly recommend doing a Pink Jeep Tour if you’re ever in Sedona! Tucson just has the coolest vibes and I would definitely head back there during warmer months to experience it again.
On the reading front, I have to admit, I was a little slow again. Nothing was really holding my attention that well and I think it’s because I was choosing books I felt that I should be reading vs. books I actually really wanted to read. That said, the sci-fi audiobooks, Kindred and Binti, pulled me out of a listening slump and I finally started the Zodiac Academy series on Kindle Unlimited with which I have been on a binge-reading marathon lol.
So the latter half of the month was much better than the start.
All righty. Let’s get into everything I read in February!
*All summaries are taken or paraphrased from Goodreads.
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS by Justin A. Reynolds
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Summary: When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling - hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack. But then Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind. Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do to save the people he loves.
My Thoughts: Okay so I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood for this book or what, but I dragged ass through it. It’s basically a Groundhog’s Day type of scenario where Jack lives through a series of events and when they don’t go the way he intended, he ends up waking up right where they originally started. The biggest theme is how he balances the relationships with his friends, family, and a girl he’s falling in love with, Kate. Each do-over poses a new obstacle that he was trying to avoid by controlling everything, but realizes that’s what keeps going wrong. There’s also some educational content mixed in here about sickle cell disease which was incorporated really conversationally. However, after I got about 45% of the way through, I could not bring myself to keep picking this book up. I just didn’t really care what Jack was doing and ended up being more annoyed than anything else. A lot of people on Goodreads really loved it, so I ended up making a deal with myself that if I finished this book, I could read whatever trash I wanted. But yeah, that’s basically it for my thoughts on this one.
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND by Yuval Noah Harari
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: 100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens. How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books, and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables, and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come? In Sapiens, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical - and sometimes devastating - breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behavior from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come? Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power, and our future.
My Thoughts: I don’t know if my opinion on this book holds much water, y’all. I listened to it on audiobook and that thing was 15 hours… FIFTEEN. Since I borrowed it through Libby, I ended up having to listen to basically the last 6 hours of it at 1.5x speed lol because it was due in 2 days. Let me say, I know and can completely recognize that this was a really informative book. It’s not dry by any means, and I appreciated that the author had their own way of sneaking in some humor throughout it. HOWEVER, I literally could not tell you even a quarter of what I learned from this book. Here are the tidbits I remember: there is a species of monkeys out there in which the groups are basically run wholly by the females, but they allow the males to think they have all of the power. However, when a male steps out of line, all of the female monkeys basically gang up on him to remind him who really calls the shots lol. I also remember being really intrigued by the argument about religions vs. ideologies. Last thing I remember, and one of the biggest themes Harari touches on throughout this book, is that our culture and society is basically built upon imaginary rules, structures, etc., but because everyone believes them, they seem real. Honestly, I think this is a great book for anyone interested in the history of homo sapiens. Like I said, it’s not dry by any means and is extremely informative. However, I’ll probably never read it again and do not remember specifics from it lol.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
KINDRED by Octavia E. Butler
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given…
My Thoughts: This was my first Octavia Butler book and what a treat! It was the perfect mix of science fiction, historical fiction, and a touch of contemporary fiction intertwined. I listened to it on audiobook and absolutely loved the narrator. Paired with the vivid setting descriptors, she made the story such an immersive experience. I adored the writing of this book and the plot was incredibly well paced. It put me on the edge of my seat as Dana navigated the dangers of 1812 while trying to find a way back to her own time in 1976. The supporting characters in this story were so rich, and I loved that their character arcs were clearly developed with every trip Dana took to the past. This book really was captivating and if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend!
The Awakening by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
THE AWAKENING by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #1)
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary: You have been selected to attend Zodiac Academy, where your star sign defines your destiny. If you’re one of the Fae, the elemental magic is in your blood. And apparently it’s in ours. As twins born in the month of Gemini, we’re a rare breed even in this academy of supernatural a-holes. Changelings were outlawed hundreds of years ago but I guess our birth parents didn’t get the memo. Which means we’re totally unprepared for the ruthless world of Fae. Air. Fire. Water. Earth. No one has ever harnessed all four of them, until we arrived. And it hasn’t made us any friends so far. As the rarest Elementals ever known, we’re already a threat to the four celestial heirs; the popular, vindictive bullies who happen to be some of the hottest guys we’ve ever seen. It doesn’t help that they’re the most dangerous beasts in the Academy. And probably on earth too. Our fates are intertwined, but they want us gone. They’ve only got until the lunar eclipse to force us out and they’ll stop at nothing to succeed. We never knew we had a birthright to live up to but now that we do, we intend to claim our throne. We can’t expect any help from the faculty when it comes to defending ourselves. So if the dragon shifters want some target practice, the werewolves want someone to hunt or the vampires fancy a snack then we have to be ready. But we’ve been looking after each other for a long time and fighting back is in our blood. Today’s horoscope: totally screwed.
My Thoughts: I don’t know how this sounds, but I was in a reading rut because I had been forcing myself to read books of substance. However, what my heart really wanted was some Kindle Unlimited fantasy TRASH and this first book in the Zodiac Academy series was the perfect medicine. Tory and Darcy are 18-year-old twins living in Chicago, and they are scraping by for money. The current apartment they live in is barely up to code and they can’t even pay rent next month. That’s when a man shows up and tells them they’re from a different world, Solaria, and are eligible to attend the Zodiac Academy in order to claim their birthright to the throne. So of course they jump at the opportunity because they’re promised a hearty inheritance at the end of everything. Y’all, this book gets a little wild as Darcy and Tory start the semester because the Heirs - four incredibly good-looking guys who are technically next in line for the throne since the twins disappeared - are plotting their demise. I gotta say, there were some pretty juvenile parts that didn’t do it for me. HOWEVER, my ass was still hooked from the start and I know part of it is because I’m like a lowkey astrology lover lol, and this book leans into that narrative heavily. It’s clear from the essence of this book that the rest of the series is only going to get monumentally better. So yeah, if you’re looking for some dark academia/fantasy that you can get on Kindle Unlimited, I highly recommend this one. I’m definitely going to continue on with the series.
Ruthless Fae by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
RUTHLESS FAE by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #2)
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: The Celestial Heirs think the stars are on their side. But they don’t know what’s coming. Fighting them one on one isn’t an option, so we have to be stealthy. Remaining under the radar won’t be easy, but if we pull it off, they’ll never suspect our involvement when their lives start falling apart. Besides, they’ve already taken us to the brink of hell, what more can they really do?
My Thoughts: Okay we looooove that the Vega twins got some sweet revenge in this book! They’re still learning the new ways of being Fae and can’t combat all of the obstacles being thrown in their way quite yet, but they are determined to not be underestimated. Especially after they initially try to escape back home and Orion challenges Darcy to prove her place in Solaria. I also loved that we got to see the POVs of other characters like Caleb and Darius, which provided more background story to the Heirs and made everything much more interesting. The pacing of this book was pretty similar to the first book and there weren’t any hard-hitting plot points that occurred in here necessarily, but we do learn more about the Nymphs, power structures, and more. Overall, you should definitely continue onto the second book of Zodiac Academy if you started the series.
The Reckoning by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
THE RECKONING by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #3)
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: The week of The Reckoning has begun. And senior students have been tasked with making the freshmen’s lives pure hell as they prepare to take their fateful assessment. With the Lunar Eclipse on the horizon, Tory and Darcy have more to worry about than just passing their exams. A dark plot is unfolding and the shadows are drawing closer…
My Thoughts: Omg yaaaass!! It’s finally time for The Reckoning, which is basically the assessment for new students to prove they can hone their powers and deserve a spot at Zodiac academy. Not only are the pranks Tory and Darcy set up against the Heirs still barreling through the school, but they’ve become badasses with their powers and are ready to show they shouldn’t be underestimated. I’m obsessed with the relationships that have been developing between Darcy and Orion and Tory and Darius. The plot is forming quite well as we start to learn who the real enemy is - Lionel Acrux (Darius’s dad) - and the part he’s playing in the Nymph attacks and Dark magic. We also finally get a glimpse into what Order the twins belong to and let me just say, the reveal does NOT disappoint. I am utterly obsessed with this series and plan to continue binge reading it. :)
Shadow Princess by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
SHADOW PRINCESS by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #4)
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: After the events of the Lunar Eclipse, Tory and Darcy must learn to deal with the darkness which shadows their lives. With a secret binding them to Darius and Orion, they must find a way to all work together for the greater good. But some things are easier said than done…
My Thoughts: LISTEN. Things have gotten WILD. Especially since Lionel basically sacrificed the girls to the Darkness and they came out in their Order forms (which I will not reveal in case you’re actually going to read this lol.) Tory and Darcy are only getting stronger and have started working much more closely with Orion and Darius as they control the dark magic swirling inside of them. I am loving the romance storylines and am rooting for the unlikely pairs to work out. The one character I am a little tired of hearing about is Seth. He’s still just being the biggest dick to Darcy and I feel like we’re so far past that. I take great pleasure in Max pining after Geraldine in this book, though, after they had a moment during the Lunar Eclipse in the last book. There is a huge battle scene that occurs over Christmas during which the girls change into their Order forms in front of Lionel Acrux and the Council. Up until that point, they’ve been trying to hide that they’re not fire Harpy as everyone assumed, because if Lionel figured out what they actually are, they knew he’d be out for blood. The end scene of this book made me PHYSICALLY frustrated with Tory and I REALLY hope she redeems herself in the next book. Her stubbornness is her fatal flaw at this point and I’d love to see better character development. Either way, I’m still obsessed with this series lol.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
BINTI by Nnedi Okorafor
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oozma University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oozma University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within deadly reach. If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University itself - but first she has to make it there, alive.
Summary: I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it. It’s a quick sci-fi novella about Binti, who is the first of her people to be accepted to the esteemed intergalactic Oozma University. Although her family and community disagree with her attending the school, she follows her heart and leaves to receive an education. While she and other students are being shuttled to the university, the spaceship is attacked by the Meduse. Everyone is killed except for the captain of the ship and Binti, who was able to fend off the Meduse using a gadget she brought from home - although she’s unsure what it does. From there, she has to find a way to communicate with the Meduse to understand what they want while figuring out how to stay alive. I was hooked on this story from the start and loved the resilience in Binti’s character. Although there are two other books in this series, I felt like the end of this one didn’t leave me on much of a cliffhanger. So I’m unsure if I’m going to continue with it. However, if you’re looking for a quick sci-fi audiobook, I definitely recommend giving this one a try!
All righty! That’s everything I read in February. Prepare for more Zodiac Academy reviews in March, but I also promise to read more of a variety next month. If you’ve read Zodiac Academy though, please let me know so that we can talk about it!
2023 Book Count: 24
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YOUR TURN! What’s a book you’re looking forward to reading soon?