What I Read in February & March

Friday, April 2, 2021

I kept thinking I hadn't been reading enough to do a roundup, but... oops, I did it again. Yes, I'm still operating on a much slower pace than in years past, but I've definitely recovered quite a bit from my peak-COVID reading pause. 

This round of reads includes a little bit if everything: nonfiction history & science, a memoir about disability, a fictional royal love story, a short-story thriller, & a YA fantasy series. And everything was pretty darn good! Here goes:

It Ended Badly by Jennifer Wright

You think you've had some bad breakups? Try being the beheaded Anne Boleyn, or the imprisoned Oscar Wilde, or Lord Byron, whose scorned lover sent him a bloody lump of pubic hair. This book "is for anyone who's ever loved and lost and maybe sent one too many ill-considered late-night emails to their ex, reminding us that no matter how badly we've behaved, no one is as bad as Henry VIII." The book is surprisingly clever, & the audiobook is well-read.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

My cousin has long been recommending this series to me... or so I thought. She actually meant for me to read Maas's other series, but now that I've finished this book, I'm committed to the other seven. They're not necessary good, but they are additive!  Sardothien is a deadly teenage assassin pulled from a labor camp & made to compete for the position of king's assassin. When her fellow competitors are, one by one, found brutally murdered, it's up to her to figure out who's doing it – & to stay alive. ★★★☆☆

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

In this book, the series really started to pick up, feeling much more compelling. Weirdly I didn't like the first book that much, but I felt like I wanted to keep going; by this book, I finally enjoyed it. Celanea is (spoiler alert?) officially the king's hired assassin, but even with her deadly past, she's having trouble reconciling her new role with her developing values & her personal relationships with the crown prince, a foreign princess, & the head of the king's guard. ★★★☆☆

The Getaway by Sarah Hendricks and Greer Pekkanen

This is an audiobook short story about a beleaguered, overworked young woman who heads into the wilderness for a yoga retreat... only to find that she's not at a yoga retreat at all. What's going on here? Where are all the other participants? What's the deal with the charismatic leader who lured her here? And how the hell is she going to get away? ★★★☆☆

Get Well Soon by Jennifer Wright

After finishing the breakup book, I knew I needed more from Wright, who writes here about "history's worst plagues and the heroes who fought them." Yes, it was a weird choice for the middle of a pandemic... but at least we're not experiencing the still-unidentified disease that made people dance in the streets until they bled from the eyes, right? ★★★★★

Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse by Shane Burcaw

I follow Shane & his wife, Hannah, on Instagram & love their posts about life in an interabled relationship. Shane, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy & uses a wheelchair, developed a sense of humor to better manage the way society often treats him & his disability; Hannah is his caretaker but also, you know, his loving wife. Together, they run a nonprofit & share behind-the-scenes views of their relationship to raise awareness & foster better acceptance & understanding. ★★★★★

The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

This probably isn't a book I would've chosen on my own, as I don't typically think of myseld as a royals lover. But when I came down with COVID, a friend sent me the Kindle version to keep me occupied... & it had me rapt. The writing is so clever & witty & fast-paced! During her exchange year, American Bex falls in love with Britain's crown prince, Nicholas. How will she hold up against the responsibilities, the paparazzi, & his family? ★★★★★

Up next, I just borrowed The Heir Affair, the sequel to The Royal We, & I'm reading Heir of Fire, the third book in the Throne of Glass series. Weird to be reading two books with "heir" in the title, isn't it? 

So tell me: What have you been reading? What's on your TBR list?

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