Books I Read in February 2023
Ahhhh…. February. It’s the month of love and this year in particular, it was the month of odd weather. Why am I seeing more insects outside my house and is that a wasp already? Geesh!
But something else I love about February, it’s cold enough to cozy up on your couch and read a good book. And this past month, I’ve read four (4!) Now people who know me, know that that’s a lot of books for me to finish in just one month. I’m a pretty slow reader. It takes me from 2-3 minutes to read 1 page. One. And it’ll take me even longer if the story is slow. But this month kinda by accident turned in Colleen Hoover month for me. And I’ll tell you why.
I’ve gotten back into reading because I miss it. I used to do it all the time before I had kids. I’d read on my lunch break, on the toilet (What? Like you don’t?) or anytime I had a free minute. But since starting my family in 2010, time has dwindled. But now my beautiful kids are 8 and 12 years old and they’re much more independent these days, which translates into my having a little more time to myself.
So I said to myself, ‘Lauren, you know what? I want to get back into reading again.’ And I did just that. I found my local library and started checking out books left and right. To decide what I read first, I checked out the best sellers list and I found this Colleen Hoover lady and also saw recommendations for her books on TikTok. So I thought, why not?
Here in Georgia, Colleen Hoover books apparently are all the rage at the library, so in order to read them, you’ve gotta put your name on the waitlist. And this month I read four of her books.
- “Never Never, Part 2”
- “Finding Cinderella”
- “Hopeless”
- “All Your Perfects”
Never Never, Part 2 – Now I read this book before Part 1, only because Part 2 was available first. My daughter, an avid speed reader, thought I was insane to jump in on book 2 in the series, but I didn’t mind it much. Though when I started it, I of course had no idea what was going on. The people in the book didn’t even know who they were or who anyone around them was. Silas, the main guy in the book, had to piece together his existence by reading handwritten notes to himself. So it was a bit confusing but also a bit of a mystery. It was short and sweet and definitely left me wanting to read the next one. Silas spent his time trying to find the woman in the book, Charlie. Charlie was locked up in what seemed like a mental institution, with no recollection of how she got there or why. We spend the entire book putting pieces of the puzzle together and by the end of it, we still have more questions than answers. I would recommend reading it.
Finding Cinderella – I also enjoyed this one. It’s a novella, short and sweet. This is the first book I read in the “Hopeless” series. Two teens, Daniel and Six, with instant chemistry, sleep together and then leave without exchanging names or phone numbers. But this leaves Daniel still thinking about this mysterious girl and wanting to one day find her again somehow. Later on, he meets a new girl at school I think, Six. They hit it off and start seeing each other. I could totally tell that this Six girl of course had to be the mystery girl from the beginning. Which would’ve been fine, if that was the only thing to be discovered in this story. And I enjoyed the banter between the two main characters. But the author gave us a little twist at the end, which was my favorite part. I recommend this one as well. Enjoyed it.
Hopeless – My FAVORITE book I read last month. The two main leads had so much chemistry. I loved their story. It was tragic and beautiful and poetic. It was so deep, like they were completely meant to be together. As Sky was piecing together her fuzzy history, Holder was there for her every step of the way. It wasn’t always easy between them. But even after they had a fight, they’d still make the effort to show up and just be there. Sometimes, there were missed signals and misunderstandings, but they came together. The heat between them in the beginning was hot too. I so enjoyed this read. Highly recommend. I’m thinking of actually purchasing this one just so I can read it again.
All Your Perfects – This one flip-flopped between the past and present. In the past, Quinn and Graham were hella happy. But in the present, they completely lost that loving feeling as a married couple. I knew they were going to find their happy again. I mean if they didn’t, readers would surely let the world know to skip this one. But their enduring love story was a good read. I got a little bit of whiplash with all the back and forth. It wasn’t my favorite. When it was time to read a chapter during their present unhappy time together, I sometimes wanted to skip ahead to the past happy times together. But I’m glad I finished it. Graham was such a good man to Quinn and a great example of what a husband should be.
