Monthly Wrap Up: February 2021

Hello everyone!

I'm here with another monthly wrap up! Time is flying so fast this year already - I can't believe it has been a month since I posted my January wrap up! 

Although I read more books in January than I did this month, I still managed to get through 5 books on my TBR which I'm quite pleased with considering I had much more uni work to do in February. 

I also spent the last week of the month feeling pretty unwell after testing positive for coronavirus (I'm okay now!) but I'm glad I managed to carry on reading. 

So without further ado...Here are the books I read in February 2021!

Leap - Geva Mentor 

Leap is an autobiography by a netballer, Geva Mentor. I got this book for Christmas from my boyfriend's family and had no idea so it was a lovely surprise! 

I had been looking at getting this book for about a year so it was amazing to finally get my hands on it. 

I really enjoyed reading about Geva's journey to the top of the netball world. She's a great player and I found it really interesting to find out more about her personal and professional life. 

It was written in a really nice and almost chatty kind of way, making it feel like I was having a big catch up with an old friend - I love that cosy feel. 

I'm working on a university project at the moment and I've decided to focus the whole thing on netball because I love it so much. I never really tab my books but I thought it would be a good idea to tab this book so I can refer back to it when I begin writing so excuse the colourful post-it notes poking out of it! 

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in netball as it gives a good insight into the life of a netball player. 

I didn't rate this book as it's an autobiography. I've recently decided to not rate books which are about someone's real life because that's pretty difficult to do! I have seen more people talking about this over on bookstagram recently too and it makes sense to me so I thought I'd follow that thought process too :) 

The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley 

I read a mix of physical books and digital books in Feb and I quite enjoyed the different formats. I think it helps to switch it up sometimes so I don't get bored of either option. 

The Authenticity Project is a book I read on the Kindle app on my iPad and I read it alongside Emily, a friend I've met on Instagram. 

I found this one quite hard to get into at the start and it wasn't really a book I was excited to pick up. Being busy probably didn't help this but I do think it was just one of those books that I didn't love unfortunately!

It's about a man who writes his story in a notepad and leaves it on a table in a local café. Eventually the notepad is passed around and a few more people begin writing their story too, bringing them all together. It's a book based on telling the truth instead of hiding behind a facade, no one is perfect after all! 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Wow! What a book this is! 

If you can't tell already, I love TJR books! Thanks to recommendations of books on Instagram, I have found an author whose work I love. I've read 3 of Reid's books now and I really think she is one of those authors that puts her own stamp on the way she writes stories, making them so unique.  

Daisy Jones & The Six is a book about a rock and roll band and their rise to fame. The band splits up one day but nobody knows why until now. 

I loved this book because it was so unique and different to anything I have ever read. The whole book is written in an interview style which I think worked really well. Even though the book is based on interviews with a lot of characters who were all part of the band's journey, it didn't ever get repetitive, instead it just added to the excitement.  

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Escape - Emma Eggleston

Emma reached out to me on Instagram and asked if I would like to receive a free digital copy of her book 'Escape' in exchange for an honest review! (The review was posted on my Instagram stories.)

Although I knew it wasn't a genre I am familiar with (YA magical realism), I wanted to give it a go and so that's exactly what I did. 

This short story is about Laila and Matty, two young people, who meet up and become friends. Matty shares a secret with Laila - he is part of a clinical study for a medication called effugium which can transport Matty to other locations and other times. The question is, will Laila trust Matty enough to join him in taking the effugium? 

For me this was a bit of an unrealistic story and I found it difficult to read at times. The start of the book was interesting but when I got to the middle, it just wasn't making me turn the pages so it did take me a while to get through the book as a whole. 

I'm glad I tried a new genre of book as it gave me something new to explore and I liked that Emma included a small section about the importance of speaking up about your problems and asking for help when you need it. I think this could be really encouraging for readers. 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The Hand on the Wall - Maureen Johnson 

This book is the third in the Truly Devious series and wow it did not disappoint! 

I'm going to try to keep this little review short and sweet as I don't want to spoil the series for anyone who is interested in reading it. Check out my other post 'Monthly Wrap Up: January 2021' if you want to know a bit more about the plot :)

I really enjoyed this book and it was just as exciting as the others even though it's the book that wraps everything up. 

I'm super excited to read 'The Box in the Woods' which is another book by Maureen Johnson coming out soon. It's the return of the same characters, only this time I think there's a whole new case to be solved! 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

That's it from me! 

I hope you enjoyed my February wrap up, let me know if you see any of your favourites here :) 

Thanks for reading!

 

Take care, 

Kate x

Where to find me: 

Instagram - @katereadsx