The Daughter's February Reads

The month of love! Lots of great reading to be had, and lots of bad reading as well! Read on below to find out how The Daughter's month of love has been!

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I was getting serious FOMO after seeing this book EVERYWHERE so I gave in and started this epic series! Not sure this even needs a synopsis...but here goes. Feyre's survival skills have allowed her and her family to survive in a world ruled by faeries, but after she kills what she believes to be a wolf, those survival skills land her in a world of trouble. For this murder, she is held in a fae castle with her captor, Tamlin, the High Lord of Spring Court. The premise slightly resembles the Beauty and the Beast storyline, but this book has much more violence, magic, and spicy scenes! Maas lived up to the hype for me in terms of constant story momentum, well developed characters, action and violence! I gave this book 5 stars! I am enjoyed dipping a toe back into the fantasy genre.

I always give the classic retellings a chance but I am SO disappointed in this Sense and Sensibility retelling. The Richardsons are thrust into upheaval and shame when their figurehead father dies in public scandal. Daisy, the eldest daughter, is left to hold the family together, keep her sister from falling in love with a playboy, and somehow save the family from financial ruin as well as being cancelled. Although the best friends to lovers trope is one of my faves, the Daisy/Atlas love story was not deep enough or nuanced for me! In comparison to Austen's original story, we get soooooooo much more undercurrent and emotional turmoil whereas Edmondson didn't pack a punch at the most opportune times. I gave this 3.5 stars out of 5!

Tana French is my literary crush - I'm obsessed with everything she writes! Cassie Madox, our cheeky and strong female protagonist from In the Woods, is the leading lady in this story. When her doppelganger is mysteriously murdered in a small town in Ireland, she is offered the opportunity to go undercover again as Lexie, the doppelganger. She will need to blend in seamlessly with Lexie's four housemates who are incredibly well read and intelligent students, and possible murderers...

French's linguistic brilliance and ability is unmatched in this thrilling, suspenseful, eerie novel. I loved every bit of it! 5 out of 5 stars!

Second book in the ACOTAR series! This book completely pivoted from the first in the series, but it worked for me! I don't want to give anything away in terms of plot development so I will just say that I loved Feyre's character arc in the book, but also would have liked some more depth with other characters like Cassian, Mor, and Azriel. This author expertly world builds while supporting each characters own storyline. Fair warning though...this book is SPICY SPICY...wow I mean nothing was left unsaid in terms of the love scenes. I gave this 4.5/5 stars!

Third book in the ACOTAR series! This book packed in the action and definitely flushed out all the characters! Wow does Maas know how to build up a storyline!

Sooooo much development in terms of characters, plot, new storylines and villains, and places/world building! Historical fiction is usually my go-to genre so the war storylines were enjoyable to me. Super happy with seeing more of the Archeron sisters (Nesta is my fave), but cannot wait to see where Elain's story goes as well! Maas was a tad heavy handed with the action and war conflict stuff in my opinion. I gave this one 4.5 out of 5 stars!

After The Likeness, I could not get Frank Mackey out of my brain so I am thrilled this book revolved around him. Frank hates his family, and after leaving in the middle of the night 22 years ago, he had no intentions of ever coming back to his home, Faithful Place. That is until a suitcase turns up with the clothes of his first true love, Rosie, who also went missing 22 years ago. There's nothing that will keep Frank away from learning more about where Rosie is today, including seeing his family again. French's sharp dialogue made me laugh out loud countless times! Her writing remains brilliant and lively and insightful. I gave this book 4/5 stars!

Fourth book in the ACOTAR series! This book is tiny compared to all the other books in this series. Rebuilding the Night Court, the gang of characters are preparing for Winter Solstice. Nesta? Wants no part of it. This book fills in the gaps of the effects of war and how it can change people. Maas explores her literary side with lots of flowery language and more emotional deep-diving with our characters in this book. There was lack of action in this one so I rated it lower than the rest of the series, but I enjoyed the different viewpoints.

Huge swing and miss with this one! I'm always ready to read a murder mystery but unfortunately this book was NOT IT.

Alan Conway is the highly acclaimed author of the Atticus Pund novel, and as his editor, Susan Ryeland, begins reading his most recent draft, she falls into the unexpected - Alan turns up dead without delivering his final character of the drafted book.

I lost interest very quickly due to lack of storyline and intrigue, too many characters, and disjointed timelines.

3/5 stars for me on this one!