February 2025 Reading Wrap

February was a pretty decent reading month for me. I’ve been really focusing on reading this year and I’m really pleased with, not just that I’m reading more, but how I feel. I think the more that I focus on the things that I enjoy and bring me joy, the better and more rounded I feel. Alert the presses! Local woman realises that doing things she enjoys makes her feel good! But really, its been helpful for me to approach my time more consciously and recognise the difference in how I feel after reading for an hour than, say, scrolling for the same time.

Anyway, with all of that said, here are the 8 books I read in February 2025:

FICTION

TEMERAIRE (OR, HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON) - NAOMI NOVIK

Temeraire #1, eBook

4/5 stars

I really enjoyed this one. I know its well known in the fantasy space but I’m definitely very late to it. I’m very glad to have gotten to it eventually anyway, because this is so fun. Imagine its the Napoleonic Wars and everything is pretty much the same, except there’s dragons. That’s pretty much the premise here.

Laurence is a captain in the British Navy but when his ship captures a French ship with a nearly hatched dragon egg, his world turns on its head. Naturally, he bonds with the baby dragon and must give up his Navy career to join the aerial core (essentially the air force, if it were dragons instead of planes). His bond with his dragon, Temeraire, grows stronger every day as they navigate what it means to fulfil your duty to nation and friends.

Novik does such a good job blending historical fiction and fantasy. The way in which she introduces dragons into this history is seamless and I can’t wait to explore more of the world that she has created further in the series. I also really like that the dragons in her world are fully realised characters, with their own personalities, questions and faults. Highly recommend if you’re into fantasy and historical fiction!

THE GARGOYLE’S CAPTIVE - KATEE ROBERT

A Deal with a Demon #3, eBook

2.5/5 stars

Look, its a monster romance okay, lets just get that out of the way. We listen and we don’t judge.

This series is a bit of fun, its silly and sexy and has a nice edge of fantasy to it. However, by this third book I was just the teeniest bit tired of the premise. And that’s on me, because that’s what this is, its very clear from the first book that this series will be the same premise (a series of women make deals with a bargainer demon for their own various purposes, and become partners for a series of leaders of different races and kingdoms in this fantasy realm), with each different set of characters.

Each book can be read independent from the others which I appreciate but having read The Court of the Vampire Queen last Halloween really helped me with this one because the main character in this is a side character from that book. But I have to say The Gargoyle’s Captive felt like it had the same problem as that book but in the opposite direction. Where the Vampire Queen was so chock full of open door spice that there was barely any room for the incoherent plot, this book feels very preoccupied with its overly dramatic plot.

This is perhaps not a fair criticism as even a book that is kind of just a vehicle for some unhinged spice should still have a plot to hang itself on, but I just felt that the plot of this one was a bit too silly and a bit too melodramatic to be compelling. It was predictable and the big reveal that caused the third act tension between the characters that had been teased the whole way through the book, was resolved so quickly that it didn’t seem worth all the effort that had gone into setting it up.

Wouldn’t recommend unless you’re specifically looking for silly monster romances. In that case, this series is exactly what it says on the tin.

OLIVE KITTERIDGE - ELIZABETH STROUT

Olive Kitteridge #1, Physical copy

5/5 stars

I adore Strout’s Lucy Barton series but that was the only works of hers I had read. Before getting stuck into the latest book in that series, Tell Me Everything, which features Strout’s iconic character, Olive Kitteridge, I thought I should finally branch out and read this too. I’m not surprised in the least to say that having read it, I feel more assured that I just plain adore Strout’s writing.

Like the second Lucy Barton book Anything is Possible, this book focuses less on Olive Kitteridge (like you’d be forgiven for thinking it might based on the title), but rather, presents a picture of a small town, and the intertwined lives of its inhabitants, with Olive functioning more as connective tissue. Don’t get me wrong, Olive is the focus of a number of the stories, and we get a really fascinating and nuanced picture of a complicated and aging woman. But Strout also gives us relatable and human stories of marriages, teenagers, widows and spinsters, people coming back home and reflecting on their childhoods and more.

I am always in awe of the way that she captures everyday life: its mundanity, but also the small moments and events that feel huge and monumental at the time, and the ways that life can sometimes completely blindside us. At the same time, no one captures human characters like Strout. People make ridiculous but completely understandable choices, they make messes of themselves and their relationships, they try their best, they have a completely different view of themselves compared to how everyone else sees them. In short, Stout writes completely human characters. Highly, highly recommend her work, always.

TRUST - HERNAN DIAZ

eBook

4/5 stars

I don’t quite know where to start with this one. Its hard to describe and I’ve never read anything like it before.

Essentially this book presents the story of a wall street mogul and his wife, from the 1920s through to their deaths. However, their story is first presented in a fictionalised novel (within the novel), then an autobiography, then a memoir from someone who knew him, and finally the diaries of the wife. Diaz presents these accounts one after another, inviting us to piece together what is real and what isn’t.

In bringing these accounts in conversation with each other, Diaz also examines questions of truth, self presentation, ego, celebrity, and how the stories of women are often subsumed by the men around them. Its a frustrating read at times but also incredibly intriguing and compelling to see the ways in which these people are characterised and presented depending on who is telling the story. A very inventive and different kind of book - would definitely recommend.

NON FICTION

COME AS YOU ARE - EMILY NAGOSKI

Physical

4/5 stars

This was a much more captivating read than I anticipated. Its quite science heavy but Nagoski does well to make it all digestible and easy to comprehend. Her main focus in this book is to demystify female sexuality, first and foremost for women. Her goal I think is to make women (and she does acknowledge that she is almost exclusively focusing on cisgender women here) feel more comfortable and confident in their sexuality, especially when most of our understanding of sex and pleasure is coming from the perspective of, and research done on, cisgender men.

There are several concepts and ideas that I didn’t know in this book that I am glad to have learned. She discusses a number of things that come together to make women often feel as though they are not normal and not okay. These range from external factors that might be more familiar to us, like cultural messaging around women’s sexuality and morality and the way in which several industries thrive off of telling women they’re ugly and not good enough. Other factors were deeper and more personal, like the way that libido and pleasure can both be dependent on contexts, how much stress and responsibility we are carrying and the concept of arousal nonconcordance, where despite physical signs of arousal, we are mentally not there (something that is exceedingly common in women according to various studies).

Nagoski relies heavily on anecdotes and metaphors to help her communicate some of the more dense science in the book and for the most part that is really helpful. There were times though that I found the repetition of these a little bit irritating (though this could also be because I read it rather quickly in some cases). I also found her reliance on mindfulness a bit frustrating. While this is certainly incredibly helpful to many people, she treats it as a kind of magical treatment that will work for everyone.

Nonetheless, Nagoski’s focus on giving women tools not only to maximise their pleasure but to feel more comfortable and confident in their sexuality was really impressive and I’m very glad that this exists. If I had read this when I was younger I think it would have saved me a lot of time.

CRYING IN H MART - MICHELLE ZAUNER

Audio

4/5 stars

Let me start by saying that this is as good as everyone says it is. Its been one of those books that everyone has said to read and I’ve been like ‘yeah I will, I will’ and man I should have done it ages ago. Its so beautiful and moving and human.

In this memoir, Zauner reflects on her relationship with her mother after she is diagnosed with cancer. Zauner took on the responsibility of taking care of her mother as she battled illness and eventually passed away. Zauner is Korean-American, and in exploring her relationship with her Korean mother, she also explores her own relationship with her culture and identity.

Its so delicate and so raw. Zauner is incredibly open and vulnerable, recounting the ways in which her own insecurities as a mixed race kid in a small town often led her to act out against her mother, but at the same time cherished the trips to Korea with her. She writes about the desperate need to reconnect with her culture and Korean identity as a way to be closer to her mother and take care of her in her illness, and the power of that connection once her mother had passed away.

Its a raw story of grief and pain but also a hopeful and honest tale of identity. Also the way that she writes about food is mouthwatering. Would highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by Zauner herself.

COMICS/MANGA

THE MIGHTY THOR VOL 1: THUNDER IN HER VEINS - JASON AARON & RUSSEL DAUTERMAN

4/5 stars

This was pretty fun! The runs that focus on the Guardians and the Asgardians are usually a blast, in part just because of weird space shit. This definitely didn’t disappoint in that vein.

I liked the politics that were underpinning this volume: the rejection of Mighty Thor, Odin’s corruption, Malekith’s machinations etc. I found this all really interesting, if a little bit too busy. At times there was perhaps a bit much going on at once, but by the end of the volume I felt that it had come together pretty well. I’ll also be interested to see where it goes from here.

The art was really nice as well! The colours were especially nice and vivid and I liked the way that Malekith was drawn. I did think that Loki was drawn a bit to look like Tom Hiddleston which does annoy me a little but its not the worst thing I guess.

I’ll definitely be reading the next volume.

THE SUMMER HIKARU DIED VOL 1 - MOKUMOKUREN

3/5 stars

This is a really interesting little opener to a manga series. The relationship between best friends Yoshiki and Hikaru is slightly strained when it becomes apparent to Yoshiki that the Hikaru he knew didn’t actually come back from being missing in the forest on the edge of their small town. In his place is an unknown creature that looks like Hikaru, and sounds like Hikaru, but isn’t him. Not really knowing what to do with this information and not wanting to confront the likely death of his best friend, Yoshiki decides to continue to hang out with this creature nonetheless.

The way this story unfolds in this opening volume is really interesting. Its eerie and weird and compelling all at once. The art works with this completely hand in hand. Its weird and dark but also somewhat full of teenage whimsy at the same time.

I’m excited to see where it goes and to find out more about what is really happening. Its interesting and engaging and I’m so curious as to what is going on and what will happen with these two boys.