The Books I Read in February

 My only struggle this month was that I just could not decide, settle, and focus on reading a couple of books at a time.  At one point I had 6 books started-- 6!! And I really wanted to add in a few more.  I finally made myself set a few aside and just read 2 or 3 at a time and made my way through some really fabulous reads and I have a good handful already started for March as well.

1. Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano-- The second book in the series was just as cute and totally unbelievable as the first.  When Finlay finds out that someone has a bounty out on her ex-husband's head she's determined to get to the bottom of it; after all her kids are hardly safe with him when someone is out to kill.  As usual, her snooping leads her to danger, a dead body, and she nearly gets killed a few times herself. 

2. Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood-- At first I thought this book was going to be much too similar to Ali's other book The Love Hypothesis but soon I found myself enjoying the by-play between Bee and Levi.  Bee is a proud woman of STEM who holds Marie Curie as an ultimate role model (minus the dying of radiation poisoning part) so when she's offered a job to co-chair NASA's latest experiment she takes the job despite having to work alongside Levi, her grad school nemesis.  Things get off to a real rocky start but the two find common ground and even start to get along.  Just when Bee thinks that everything she's always wanted is right within reach her whole life seems to implode.  

3. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley-- Such a fun and twisty dark tale of murder and mystery.  When Jess shows up on her brother's doorstep one night she can't get him to answer; despite him having told her he'd be up when she arrived.  Jess gets a bad feeling as soon as she manages to enter her brother's apartment and starts snooping around asking all the other occupants of the building if they know what happened. I did guess at quite a few of the plot twists but there were more that surprised me.  I haven't read any of her other books but I'm pretty sure I will!!

4. Memories in the Drift by Melissa Payne-- Claire has no short -term memory ever since she lost her unborn child 10 years ago.  She has learned to adapt though and keeps meticulous notebooks, phone reminders, and visual prompts all around her to keep her living a life as close to normal as she can. Living in a small Alaskan community surrounded by family and friends, Claire is left reeling after some major changes that all take place in just a short time- like when both her mother and the boy who broke her heart returns to town.  I really enjoyed this sweet story so much and it was unlike any other I had read before. 

5. Breaking Silence by Linda Castilla (Book #3 in the Kate Burkholder series)-- I'm hoping to read one book a month from this series as long as they keep me interested.  In this 3rd book Kate and her crew are called to a farm where the parents have fallen into a manure pit and died.  Everyone thinks it's accidental until the coroner discovers blunt force trauma to the head.  Kate is determined to solve this case and give the kids some closure. There have been a string of increasingly violent Amish hate crimes in the area and everyone begins to wonder if these deaths are part of that. 

6. Never Meant to Meet You by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans-- I've had this book on my Kindle for what feels like forever;  I am SO bad at reading my Kindle first free books each month but I'm trying to do better!  This was such a cute story. Marjette has been determined NOT to get involved in her neighbor's life until Noa's husband passes away unexpectedly and Marjette finds out that Noa's daughter is going to be in her kindergarten class. The two become friends and Marjette gets quite friendly with Noa's brother Max too. They all quickly bond over food and family and it was just a sweet story to read.   

7. Beach Read by Emily Henry-- I finally downloaded the Libby app to my phone and have been listening to Audiobooks while working out, cleaning house, and driving around in my car.  My first book was Beach Read and I really enjoyed this story.  January's life blows up and she decides to move into the house her father left her.  She's unable to write and feeling angry and lost.  Then she discovers her next door neighbor, Gus, is the boy she had quite the writing rivalry with in college.  The two end up striking up a bargain-- they'll swap writing genres and the one that finishes the best book first will get their book talked up by the other.  

8. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart--  I had no idea what to expect of this second audiobook I downloaded this month but within just a few short chapters I was hooked. Cadence (AKA Cady)  has grown up in a wealthy family that summers on their own private island off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.  Cady and her cousins/ family friends Gat, Mirren, and Johnny spend several wonderful summers on the island until the year Cady is 15 and wakes up in the hospital-- no memories of what happened but horrible PTS headaches and head trauma.  The reader is left with a sense of wonder over what happened that fateful summer as the story unfolds from there. Why has no one-- not Gat, not Mirren, not Johnny nor her family been reaching out to her?  Why won't her mother answer her questions and why are her mother and father keeping her away from the island?  

9. Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano-- In this 3rd book of the series, Finlay must find out who is Easyclean and since all clues point to this hit person being a full fledged police officer Finlay and Vero sign up to join a citizen's police academy week.  Somehow these two bumble their way through and with may missteps and hilarious antics seem to suspect just about every one at some point. I'm hoping for a book 4 as the ending left a bit of an opening!

10. Encore in Death by JD Robb (book #56 in the series)-- Eve Dallas is called to the home of a glittering actor and actress' home when one of them ends up dead at a big bash the two stars are throwing.  With over 300 guests/staff/people to interview and so many of them being consummate liars for a living, Eve has her job cut out for her trying to figure out who is acting, who is being truthful, who wanted the victim dead, and what that motive might be. 

11. The Boy With the Bookstore by Sarah Echavarre Smith-- A cute little novel about Max and Joelle. He runs a bookstore, she runs the bakery next door. By the time they admit to one another that they've had a crush on one another since first meeting 18 months ago they find out that their shared building is going to be renovated and they'll have to share a tiny space together in the back.  With lots of ups and down and fighting and misunderstandings it was a cute if totally predictable little story.

I've been slowly working my way through a 52 book challenge and found this adorable graphic to help keep track! I'm going to include this in each month's wrap up. 

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