February Book Round Up

A Round Up of What I read this month!

Wow, what a month. This has easily been my biggest reading month in over a year. January was slower than I’d hoped, so I made a conscious effort to be more intentional with my reading and actually pick up the books. I read a wide wide range of stories and enjoyed a majority of what I read this month!

If I’m honest, the TBR hadn’t quite delivered consistent successes. The books I picked up at the beginning of the month especially made me realise I needed to be far pickier about what I was giving my time to. That said, by the end of the month, I was pleasantly surprised — particularly by the titles from my February TBR update, which really turned things around.

I also began my 2026 Reading Challenge and read two books from the 2025 Booker Prize longlist. So far, they’ve only reinforced my initial thoughts about the list: beautifully written, undeniably strong premises, but ultimately a little dull in execution. Ironically, these were the two I was most curious about, which doesn’t bode brilliantly for the rest.

Still, I closed the month with two five-star reads, several solid four to four-and-a-half-star books, and an overall sense of satisfaction. I learnt more history, connected with stories that felt both familiar and entirely foreign, and wrestled with complex female protagonists I didn’t always warm to—a genuinely well-rounded reading month.

Completed Books (in chronological order, Notable in italics)

Finished

1. The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson
2. Surrender to Me by Thee Tasha Marie
3. Surrender Your Heart by Thee Tasha Marie
4. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
5. Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
6. Is This Love? By C.E. Riley
7. Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Mezie
8. The Parlour Wife by Foluso Agbaje 
9. Love Forms by Claire Adam
10. Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite 
11. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
12. Sinful King by Asia Monique
13. The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits
14. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
15. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt
16. Prime I by N’dia Rae
17. Prime II by N’dia Rae
18. Prime III by N’dia Rae
19. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
20. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue 
21. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Currently Reading

1. The Favourites by Layne Fargo

Highlights

As I’ve read quite a few books, I obviously can’t go into detail about them all, so this post will be split into the best books, the worst book, the one that made me scratch my head, and a brief overview of my TBR reads.

The best book I read was Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, an absolutely painful and devastating read. I’ve never actually finished the film adaptation, but I obviously know how it ends. There’s something especially unnerving about reading a book when you know the outcome, yet remain curious about how exactly it unfolds. I felt a similar way when I read One Day. As we edged closer to the end, my heart was in my throat — watching the feelings develop and strengthen, knowing she was about to experience a kind of grief that would alter everything.

I also appreciated the handling of the assisted dying debate, which I know not everyone agrees with. I don’t sit firmly on either side — I believe it should ultimately rest with the individual, but be approached with care and due diligence. I found it interesting how adamant he was about her living life to the fullest, knowing he had chosen to shorten his own. The way the novel presented multiple sides of the argument felt nuanced and thoughtfully done.

I read How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue on a whim because I could listen to the audiobook for free. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with it or feel so connected, but wow. The story is set in a fictional village in a fictional African country, yet it feels painfully familiar to the very real struggles of communities in the Niger Delta and the environmental exploitation they face from corrupt leaders and Western imperialism. Knowing the reality that underpins the story, I suspected a happy ending was unlikely, but I was still utterly heartbroken. The title How Beautiful We Were becomes even more powerful by the final pages. I highly recommend it.

The Parlour Wife, which had been sitting patiently on my TBR, turned out to be another pleasant surprise. As you know, I’ll always gravitate towards historical fiction, but what made this one stand out was its perspective. It explores a period we think we know well — the Second World War — yet does so through a lens that is far less frequently examined: the impact of the war on colonial countries, and particularly on the women living within them.

At a time when women had limited rights and even less autonomy, the novel examines how global conflict reshaped personal lives in ways history books rarely dwell on, and woven through it all was a beautifully handled romantic subplot — tender without overshadowing the broader historical narrative.

I also picked up Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt at the recommendation of a friend while we were discussing cosy, heart-warming reads. It was such a pleasant surprise — tender, quietly moving, and beautifully written despite the heavier themes woven throughout. A genuinely lovely read.

TBR Overview

Obviously, Me Before You, The Parlour Wife and How Beautiful We Were are my top reads.

Death of the Author was intriguing, frustrating, and undeniably fascinating — but far longer than it needed to be. 

Cleopatra and Frankenstein was nothing like I expected. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. It’s an intensely dramatic story with lots happening, yet it’s told in a surprisingly subdued, almost detached way, which made for an interesting reading experience.

Is This Love? truly threw me for a loop. I was angry for most of the time I was reading it and felt genuine relief when I finally got the resolution I’d been hoping for. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a more frustrating, unreliable narrator. The fact that there’s no indication whether the main character is male or female heightens the experience entirely, forcing you to confront how instinctively you judge and interpret the character’s actions.

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite was a favourite this month. I loved the premise, and it was an engaging story that never dragged, so much to unpack here. It’s likely my favourite of Braithwaite’s work so far.

Nightbloom was extremely, extremely frustrating. Another novel driven by an unreliable narrator, it leans heavily into the idea that there are always two sides to a story and that neither may be wholly true. My main issue was structural — we read one version of events in full and then the other. I think the reading experience would have been far more impactful had the narratives unfolded simultaneously, allowing the contrast between both retellings to land with greater force.

I’ve just started The Favourites, and I’m having a great time so far. It’s still early days, but I’m already so curious about the direction the story is going to take.

Reading Challenge Update

Love Forms started incredibly strongly — the story of a young girl giving birth out of wedlock in a nunnery far away from home, and being forced to place her child up for adoption at a time when tracing family was near impossible. It’s such a powerful premise, and I was completely drawn in at the beginning. However, somewhere around the middle, my interest began to wane, and the writing felt noticeably flatter. I also struggled with the decision to centre a white character within the cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago; it felt like a missed opportunity to explore that setting more meaningfully.

I loved the premise of The Rest of Our Lives. Although I was slightly bored at the start, once the road trip began and we explored the different people from various stages of the main character’s life, I became far more invested. That said, mediocre white men in literature do often seem to be written as the absolute worst versions of themselves. I did appreciate the ending, though, and overall I wouldn’t say it was a bad book to pick up.

The Mixed Bag

The worst book of the month for me was Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I picked it up after seeing it described as “gisty” on BookTok, a reimagining of the so-called mad wife in the attic from Jane Eyre. So I was expecting a drama filled plot driven read I couldn’t put down. What I found was an incoherent and incredibly difficult to follow book. I rarely knew what was happening, and by the halfway mark, I was barely absorbing the words on the page, I just wanted it to be over.

My mood reads this month were, as usual, Black romances — most of which I genuinely enjoyed and found comforting. I also delved into the Prime series, an extremely urban Black romance. When I started this book, I knew I wasn’t in love, but I realised that at my core, my issue is that I love drama. I love a full-on soap-opera ass storyline, and that’s exactly what this delivered: countless characters, crazy cliff-hangers and an alarming amount of bad behaviour.

Unfortunately, drama alone isn’t enough to sustain me when the plot spirals. Before I knew it, I was keeping track of ten other characters I didn’t particularly care about. As tends to happen by book three in these kinds of series, I found myself slowly checking out — and was ultimately just glad when it was over.

We all know how I felt about The People We Meet in Vacation. Read the full book vs screen review here.

The Scammer was an absolutely unhinged book club read. It’s one of those stories where I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was reading and found myself growing increasingly frustrated, almost as if I were losing the plot alongside the characters.

Despite the stress it put me through, I did actually enjoy it and was mostly satisfied with the ending, though I can’t say the chaos I endured felt entirely worth it. I’ll always find the execution of thrillers fascinating because, in the pursuit of delivering twists we “never saw coming”, stories so often sacrifice cohesion along the way.

And that’s it for my February round and my what a long round up it was. I hope you enjoyed reading! Do make sure to follow me on GoodReads to see what I’m reading in real time! Thank you as always for being here, and see you next week!