What I Read: February

I had a little bit of a slump in February. I was really busy with Girl Scout cookie sales. I took Elise door to door Saturday and Sunday every weekend and we had 2-4 booths a weekend once booth sales started. Plus we were making deliveries for people who ordered online. That cut into my reading because all I had time for outside of cookie stuff was running! Then I hit a book that I just didn't enjoy and it took me 2 weeks to finally get through it! So this month was definitely lower, although it doesn't seem as low as it was because I had a novella and a couple shorter books. I was very audiobook heavy this month with my long runs and lack of time for reading.

Books:

• Relate, Then Educate: The Untold Stories of Teachers, By Teachers by Andrea Avey and Rick Holmes- The authors of this book did an event at Magic City Books that I wanted to go to but it was the same night as our Meet the Teacher so I couldn't go. When I was in store, I picked up the book. It wasn't what I was expecting and I was a bit disappointed. It was okay, but not inspiring like I expected.

• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters- I loved the way this book was set up with different narrators. There were so many sad parts and the progression of the book made me desperate to get to the end of the book when I'd reach the resolution!

• After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez- This was the book that made me stall out with reading. I really wanted to like it. The book was set in Freedom, KS which I quickly figured out was Independence, KS which was exciting for me! The writing just wasn't very good. I lost interest pretty quickly, but wanted to know what happened so I finished it out.

eBooks:

• Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree- This was the sequel to Legends & Lattes. I don't know if I was just more in the mood for this book than I was for the first book, but I liked it so much more than the first one!

• The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose- This was another sequel that I liked more than the first book. I liked the first book, but I loved this one! I really liked how the story flashed back to Molly's childhood. It gave some really interesting glimpses into why Molly turned out the way she did.

• The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt- Ann Patchett recommended this novella when I was at her author event. I didn't read what it was about at all, so I was shocked by what happened in the story and just loved it.

Audiobooks:

• The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang- This was the 3rd Kiss Quotient book. I enjoyed all of them. This one seemed very similar to the first book in quite a few ways, but it had been so long since I'd read the first book, I didn't mind.

• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn- A friend recommended this to me and even loaned me the book so I would read it. It was really thick and I hate reading super thick books as regular books because they are a pain to hold when lying on my side reading in bed before I go to sleep. For that reason, I decided to listen to this as an audiobook. There was a lot about the book I really liked, but it didn't hold my attention when I listened to it while running. It was one of those Young Adult books that felt like a Young Adult book to me.

• The Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh- I found this book in a Little Free Library and grabbed it because it had elephant in the title. I read the back of the book and it sounded really interesting. It wasn't what I was expecting at all and was a bit depressing. I wouldn't recommend this one. When they were ordered to start killing animals at the zoo, I should have quite the book, but I powered through and it was rough.

• The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane- I really liked Ask Again, Yes by this author so when a friend gave me a stack of books and I saw this one, I was excited! I really liked it, but I didn't love it.

• Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan- The cover to this book was so gorgeous, I had to read it. I loved the storyline and I absolutely loved the happy ending!