Book I Want to Read in February 2023

Happy February! 💕

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I decided not to put any pressure on myself this year when it came to the things I love like reading and blogging OR if it’s the fact that it has been blistering cold that all I want to do is be cozy inside with a book… OR even if it’s the fact that there are just too many good reads out these days, but whatever the reason, I have been reading every single day without fail and I am loving it!

While January was looong and fairly bleak, the whole month felt anything but because of the reading sprint I have fallen into. It had reminded me again and again what magic books hold. It’s also reminded me how much I am an aspiring author. As someone who loves being creative, especially in writing, it’s always good to dive back into the things that make you believe in that creativity more and more.

So if you haven’t picked up a book in a while because of a slump, or life, or whatever… find one book, just one. A book that maybe you’ve been wanting to read for a while and haven’t had the mindset to get into it and try to read it. I promise one will turn into two, will turn into 10!

That being said, my February TBR is a bit ambitious, but I am so obsessed with the escape, magic, and inspiration I am finding through reading that I don’t want it to end!

The Shatter Me Series by Tahareh Mafi

Yes, you read right, SERIES. All 6 books and the 2 novellas.

I loved the Shatter Me series when I was first introduced to them back in high school, but I actually never finished them. I think I got to around book 2 or 3 and then life happened or something that took me away from them. But, I am so ready to reread it and continue on from where I left off.

Tahereh Mafi will always have such a special place in my heart. Her books always bring me out of a book slump, but more so, when I first saw her picture on the back of Shatter Me at 16, it felt so surreal. I believed for the first time ever that I could be an author too because someone who looked just like me was one. It’s so sad to think about it now, but the representation for Hijabi women writing YA fantasy was not a common thing back then.

The Synopsis:

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I’m more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war—and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

I have had this book for a while, and not sure if I had it as a TBR book before…

I never managed to pick it up but I am so ready to dive into it this month. I had to include a couple of romance YA books because of the nature of the month of February and all the lovee that comes with it.

I am truly a sucker for love stories in general, and I adore a themed TBR/any reason to celebrate love and growth!

I have heard great things about this book, plus it has enemies to lovers, which you know is my fav thing ever!

The Synopsis:

If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal.

If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.

But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.

Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Another cutesy romance book to read this month.

Not going to lie, this was partly also because I am hoping the summery vibes will put me in a good mood since it is snowing and so so cold here!

Another book that has been on my TBR shelf for a while. I also read somewhere that this will be turned into a Netflix movie… I cannot wait to read it and get excited for the summer months to come.

The Synopsis:

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires her, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

The Serpent’s Curse (Book 3 of The Last Magician Series) by Lisa Maxwell

In January, I reread The Last Magician and realized how I had completely forgotten what a good book that was. So I went ahead, and ordered the second, third, and fourth books in the series. I managed to complete the second one – today actually! wohoo – and will be starting on book 3 right after!

If you have not read this series, you need to!

I won’t put the synopsis for this book below, because it might give away some spoilers… so I will just say, read the first book and then you’ll know exactly what I mean!

Realm Breaker + Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard

I have been dragging my feet for so long to start Realm Breaker.

I don’t know why I am not fully diving into reading it.. I think it just sounds like an epic story and I am afraid to be disappointed… I am pushing all that aside and not only am I going to read Realm Breaker, I am also going to read the sequel, Blade Breaker.

If you’ve read them, let me know your thoughts in the comments!! There have been mixed reviews and I really want to like it!

The Synopsis:

A strange darkness is growing in the Ward. Even Corayne an-Amarat can feel it, tucked away in her small town at the edge of the sea.

Fate knocks on her door, in the form of a mythical immortal and a lethal assassin, who tell Corayne that she is the last of an ancient lineage—with the power to save the world from destruction.

Because a man who would burn kingdoms to the ground is raising an army unlike any seen before, bent on uprooting the foundations of the world. With poison in his heart and a stolen sword in his hand, he’ll break the realm itself to claim it. And only Corayne can stop him.

Alongside an unlikely group of reluctant allies, Corayne finds herself on a desperate journey to complete an impossible task, with untold magic singing in her blood and the fate of the world on her shoulders.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

OMG… I am so flippin’ glad this book is out already!

I have been waiting for it on the edge of my seat since I finished Ninth House. I decided to get the audiobook version, because that’s how I read Ninth House and I loved it.

If you know, you know.. so I won’t say much but this is book 2, therefore I won’t put the synopsis as to not spoil anything from book 1 because really you need to read it and feel all the emotions!

Leigh Bardugo is incredible and I am so glad to live in a time where I can read her stories!

That’s my crazy ambitious list of books I want to tackle this month – it’s also a short month so wish me luck!!

Have you read any of the books above? What books are you reading this month?

Also – are you a sappy romance reader during this month like me or are you normal?

x

Happy Reading

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