February Reading wrap up!

 Well. February is a short month, but I still managed to finish a whopping 21 books.  I'm not really "trying" to be a power reader, but I admit, the library only having a 14 day loan on a lot of audiobooks has put a bit of a fire under me. 

Credit: https://lccn.loc.gov/98508191

Of course, reading a lot of books at a rapid pace really can ruin the enjoyment and not leave a lot of time for thought.  Lucky for me, some of my choices were purely enjoyment novels and didn't tax my noggin. Others though... Well... lets see what happened! 

Some Statistics!

Books in translation:  2/21  A low number indeed, but that brings my total for 2025 to 5 books in translation, so I've got room for more! 

Books by Diverse Authors: 57% of my reading was a book with an identified diverse author.  I had a bit of help from Black Booksky  over on bluesky for finding books by black authors that I really wanted to read (you can check out Black Booksky too!)  

What was my TOP read? 

Well... after some thought (like about 8 minutes of thought...)

 It's a TIE! (I make all the blog rules so why not!)

I could not decide between Cordova's The inheritance of Orquidea Divina or  Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen. 

Both books feature a unique narrative featuring magical realism and some introduction into cultures that are not the normative culture that I live within. I have not stopped thinking about either one, and when pressed to really decide, I just couldn't. So there they are.

Non-Fiction- not my favorite genre, but I did read one non-fiction book. 

Black water by David Robertson. This is an interesting memoir of a Creen man growing up unaware of his indigenous heritage. While an important piece of writing, I think I highly preferred Tomson Highway's work of fiction, which just flowed better for me and was much more engaging. 

I started few other non-fiction water books but never quite got into them and they all remain unfinished. 

Speaking of my Water theme! 

Books read for the great 2025 Water theme! 

To be honest,  none of these topped my list for really awesome reads.  I will put of a review for McKinney's Noir book set in a future world where instead of building to the sky, we build down in to the ocean, in just a bit.  This month's Watery reads really had me questioning my choice of themes, but I've since gotten some recommendations, so hopefully my enjoyment level will rise in March! Water City is really worth a read, if you like Noir detective type novels, and it is a series, it was fun, but somehow didn't grab me like I had hoped. 

Advanced Reader Copies :

I was able to read one Advanced reader copy- 

This is the United Planetary Systems Book one To Avenge a Fallen Star.  It goes out on sale on March 25th and I wish Qillana Quinn all the best with the release of her novel. 

This lead me to requesting... errrr... several more books on NetGalley, breaking my Audio only rule and I am sure in March I will regret it. 

Book Club Books: 

 I read one in a series of Sci -Fi that I won't mention on the blog. I enjoyed the book, but the author is problematic  and thus... no discussion of that. 

Within the Stabby and Smoochy Book club, we have been CONSUMED  by The Broken Bonds series by J. Bree 

This isn't great literature, but the pacing is pretty good, and the story is so engaging. I have yet to figure out why we have the insects on every cover, so if someone knows, please let me know! 

We will be finishing off Book six soon and starting a new series or book. So far, a member has suggested  A Broken Blade - the Halfling series and I'm definitely ready for that. As always we love readers at Stabby and Smoochy so, feel free to hop in. Fable is free to join and it's a really responsive reading site with great visuals! 

BUDDY READS:

We loved reading the conclusion to the Ruinous Love Trilogy, it was everything and more.    This was definitely a good time featuring all sorts of things, cocktail olive picks, clowns, fortune tellers, crochet, and LOVE, of course. 

We have started to buddy read an ARC entitled Well, Actually  which we have dubbed "the hot dog book". So far, I think it's super polished and very funny, not sure how/what my reading buddy thinks/feels yet. 

 A book that sort of fell out of all of my "categories"  but deserves a mention is the heist novel Hammajang Luck. 

This book was so excellent on audio, the pacing was great, and it just moved along through a heist, which involved so much trauma, love, found family and trust, that I really found a lot to love about it, I just... didn't love it quite as much as my two tied favorites. 

The only other HUGE accomplishment for me was finishing off Bester's The Demolished Man.  That book has dogged me for months! We have moved on to 1953's Hugo award winner, which is a huge one, and I'll be sure to put up a review when I finish that - let's just say there are Firemen involved. 

The rest are all a blur of romance, space based romance,  and honestly some books that, I dont think I liked enough to want to re-mention them! 

What did you enjoy most in February?  What are you looking forward to in March! let me know in the comments!