We’re almost halfway through March already, but what with all of the corona consternation (and me begin hooked on The Sims 2 again) I just hadn’t gotten around to writing my monthly mini reviews yet. Speaking of the coronavirus: I hope everyone’s doing alright! Please take the necessary precautions and stay at home as much as possible!
Anyway, back to the books. That’s what we’re all here for, after all. I’ve been having such a good reading year so far! Out of the twelve books I’ve read this year, I’ve given nine books a rating of 4 stars or higher! These are the four books I read in February…
Fables, Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham et al ★★★☆☆
I read the first volume of Fables a little over a year ago and was surprised by how much I liked it. This series revolves around a group of fairy tale characters who’ve had to flee their own land and now all live in our real world. The first volume was set in New York, where many of the characters live, and it was all about a murder case that needed to be solved. This second volume was (obviously) based on Animal Farm, and it was set at ‘the Farm’, which is where all of the characters who cannot blend in in the real world (like talking pigs, for example) live. While I enjoyed this volume, I didn’t like it as much as the first one. It felt as if there was just too much stuff that needed to happen in a small number of pages and that made it difficult to fully get into the story. I definitely want to continue reading this series, though, because I love the concept.
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer ★★★★☆
I actually wrote a full review of this book (which you can read here), so I’ll keep this one short and snappy. Everything Is Illuminated was the very first book I added to my Goodreads TBR when I first joined the website about seven years ago. Since then, I’d eyed the copy sitting on my bookshelves quite a few times, but somehow I never picked it up, partly because the writing style, which I knew was a little different, intimidated me. I’m so glad I’ve now finally read it, though, because it’s very, very good. It took me a relatively long time to really get into the book, but once I got into it, I was truly invested.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer ★★★☆☆
This is another book that had been on my TBR for a long time, ever since it came out in 2016. Heartless is actually part of my list of ten books I really want to read this year. I was excited about reading it when I bought it, but for some reason, that excitement waned as time went on. Recently, though, I’d seen quite a few people talking about how much they loved it, so that made me want to pick it up again. I truly enjoyed Heartless and I had a great time reading it; I loved the whimsical nature (that comes with being a story based in the world of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and all of the baking that happens in this book made me very happy. This is basically the origin story for the Queen of Hearts, so at the start of the story, I knew things weren’t going to end well, which made for an interesting reading experience. However, I do think the story dragged in the middle, and the characters were a bit underdeveloped. Plus, I predicted quite a few of the twists and turns, and I didn’t fully buy the ending, which was a pity. Nevertheless, this was a very fun read.
Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman ★★★★★
My only 5-star read of the month! This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it was so incredibly wonderful and cute. Heartstopper is a graphic novel series that centers around Charlie and Nick, who fall in love with each other and have to navigate coming out, being gay in high school and all sorts of other stuff. I’ve said it before, but I absolutely love the art style in these books, partly because of how expressive the characters’ faces always look. Reading this book was the epitome of self-care and I felt warm and happy throughout. And these books are not just cute – they also dive into mental health and how you can care for people around you who might be struggling. That made this volume also feel very safe and comforting to me. I just love these books and I can’t wait for Volume Four!
And that’s it for my mini reviews of the books I read in February! Now I’m going to go back to playing the Sims and drinking tea and staying away from people as much as possible (which I probably would’ve done regardless of the virus). Please tell me about the books you’ve read recently! I’d love to chat about them in the comments!
Books Baking and Blogging 