February ‘26 Reading Roundup
In February of this year I read four romance books, so I was definitely feeling the love during the month of love! My favorite of the romances was Common Goal by Rachel Reid (the 4th in her Game Changers series), I found it compelling and thought the characters had real chemistry. Reid’s books tend to be quite sexually descriptive, but none of the tropes or more sex focused scenes felt overdone which was refreshing! Even though I love a good romance and I might have enjoyed Common Goal a little too much, my top three books from February were the non-romance ones: The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai; How to Solve your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin; and When The World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson. Now let’s get into why!
The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
This tragic yet hopeful novel follows a family through two generations of life in Vietnam. Told from the duel perspective of a young woman and her grandmother, we learn about the plights of a people constantly fighting for their freedom and independence and about a family who just wishes to live together in peace. I had trouble with this book towards the beginning due to the writing style, it seemed choppy and lacking subtext. However, it’s easy to forgive because one, this is the author’s first book written completely in english, and two, the heart of the novel is so pure and easy to connect to. It made me think and ponder and do research on things I was not educated on but should be. It is so important to read books about other countries and cultures and history.
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
I actually enjoyed this book much more than I was expecting to! I am often warry of murder mysteries or cozy mysteries because I am the type of person who desperately tries to solve the case before the book tells me, but who is also disappointed if I do guess the twist too early. However, this book was full of red herrings and confusing clues and shocking drama that kept me guessing the whole time. It’s a balancing act that Perrin handled well in my opinion. A woman who suspected her entire life that she would be murdered is found dead in her home, clutching a bouquet of roses. Now it’s up to her great niece to uncover the true story of her aunt’s life and the mystery of her death, before someone else does.
When The World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
I saved the best for last. I am such a fan of Jandy Nelson. Her writing style is unlike any I’ve ever read, it’s full of whimsy and magic and the words seem to dance off the page. Her more YA (young adult) novel, I’ll Give You The Sun is one of my favorite books and this book, probably more for the adult reader, is just as good. This book is about everything. It’s about family and fables and grief and longing. It’s about losing people you love and finding them again, about food and forgiveness and drugs and learning to trust even after you’ve been burned. It’s about a girl with rainbow hair who might be an angel and a mother and her three children who are all suffering in their sadness but don’t know how to tell each other. It’s about music and magic soufflés and ghosts who can’t speak and a dog who can and it’s so beautiful it will make you weepy just to remember it. If you crave whimsy and magic in the mundane, this one is for you.
