February was a really good reading month for me in terms of balancing my favorite genres: I read a little romance, a few thrillers, and some fantasy, and all of them were really enjoyable. I’m on quite a streak in 2020 so far — no abandoned books and none that I finished out of a sense of obligation, so fingers crossed I keep this streak going!

Not the Girl you Marry: Andie J Christopher

Do you remember the movie How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days? This is the book version of that crossed a little bit with The Bold Type. Jack is a journalist writing click-baity articles for a Buzzfeed-like publication when what he really wants to do is cover politics. His boss wants him to write one last “fluff” piece on how to lose a girl.

Hannah is an up and coming event planner, who wants to make the leap into planning high ticket weddings but her boss thinks she doesn’t believe in love, so how could she possibly plan a romantic wedding.

Jack and Hannah meet at a bar… and well, you can predict this book.

Overall grade: B+ - predictable but thoroughly enjoyable

Good Girls Lie: J.T. Ellison

If you enjoyed the movie Skulls (with Joshua Jackson and Paul Walker) you will enjoy this book.

The book kicks off with a murder at an all-girls high school. The Goode school is a prestigious prep school and feeder for the Ivys. Its students are the daughters of rich and highly influential people, and even though secret societies aren’t supposed to exist, of course they do.

And then someone is found dead. Who did it, and why?

This book is completely off-the-rails, and SO MUCH FUN. Fair warning that really none of the characters in this book are ones you really want to root for, but that doesn’t take anything away from the fun of this book

Overall grade: A

A Curse So Dark and Lonely & A Heart so Fierce & Broken: Brigid Kemmerer

These are two different books in the same series, and I didn’t read them back to back, but you do need to read them in order. There is a book 3, but it doesn’t come out until January 2021, so if you’re someone who likes to binge a whole series in a row, you may want to wait a little bit.

Prince Rhen is the cursed heir to Emberfall. He must find a woman to fall in love with him to break the curse. Harper is a teenager with cerebral palsy in D.C. One night, she is accidentally sucked into the alternate universe of Emberfell by Rhen’s Guard Commander, Grey.

Book 1 in the series is a modern re-telling of Beauty and the Beast (with a twist), and Book 2 is completely unrelated to any fairytale but is so so good that I couldn’t stop reading.

Overall grade on the series so far: A

An Anonymous Girl: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

A young woman signs up for a paid psychological study on morality and ethics. The study starts off online and then quickly moves to in-person meetings with the mysterious Dr. Shields. Our protagonist Jess reveals her deepest secrets and is soon over her head.

I listened to this one as an audiobook, and the narration was excellent! If you enjoy psychological thrillers where you’re not sure who is good and who is evil, then you will enjoy this book.

Overall grade: A

Throne of Glass: Sarah J. Maas

What can I say? I’m a Sarah J. Maas fan girl. I loved her A Court of Thorns and Roses series and I quickly got sucked into this one too, although I’m putting myself on a diet and only allowing myself one book in this series each month.

Enough about me. Let’s get to this book. Celaena Sardothien is one of the best assassins of her time, but she made a mistake and got caught, and now serves time in the deadliest prison. One day she’s visited by Captain Westfall who makes her a deal: if she represents the Prince in a to-the-death battle of Champions, she will either die, or be freed if she’s the last Champion standing.

This is quite campy but very fun, and I REALLY want to read Book 2.

Overall grade: A

One of Us is Next: Karen M. McManus

This is a sequel to a book I read last year: One of Us is Lying. Set a couple of years after the first murder at Bayview High, we pick up with a new generation of high schoolers, and there’s a new version of bullying with an app called Truth or Dare. And you always want to choose the Dare, or do you?

You can possibly get away without reading Book 1 (I say this because I can’t remember very much at all about it), and even though I was a little bit lost at some of the references, it wasn’t too bad where it ruined the story.

Overall grade: B+

That’s it for now! I’ve already started on some new books in March, so stay tuned!!!

What are you reading right now?