February reading recap

Let's talk books and the month of February.

It was cold - like the seventh coldest February since 1893 or something crazy like that - so I got a lot of pages read. I mean, when it's that freaking cold, I'd rather not venture outside. So I stayed inside and read. A lot.

I finished nine books in that 28-day month of February. Nine books and 3,057 pages. In other words, an average of 109 pages a day. I told you it was cold. That means I've read 17 books and 5,973 pages so far during the first two months of 2015. Something tells me I should really revamp that 50 book goal I set for myself.

What'd I read?

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in the Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Be Safe I Love You by Cara Hoffman
On the Rocks by Erin Duffy
Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

And now for the brief reviews, complete with number of stars given out on GoodReads. Follow me here if you’d like a more timely update on what I’m reading, what I think and what’s been added to my to-read list.

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum   ****
I picked this one up because the author was one of my journalism professors at the University of Wisconsin. She taught my creative non-fiction class and I learned a ton from her. I liked this. It was informative, but didn't read like a piece of straight non-fiction, science writing.

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White  *****
What's not to love about a story involving a pig and a spider? Loved it when I was a kid and I still love it as an adult.

Be Safe I Love You by Cara Hoffman  **
I just didn't like this. It was a hard story to get into and it never really grabbed my attention. Come to think of it, I don't think I liked the last book I read by this author.

On the Rocks by Erin Duffy  ***
A quick, easy, chick lit kind of read.

Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery  ***
Cute story. Fast read. Probably my new go to series when I'm looking for an enjoyable, but mindless read. Doesn't hurt that the male lead character was a former pro cyclist.

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion  **
Sigh. I wanted to like this. I really did. I loved The Rosie Project, so I was hoping the follow up would be just as good. It wasn't. I couldn't get into this. I didn't care about the characters (even though they were the same characters from The Rosie Project). The middle was an absolute drag. The end was decent, but by that point, I just wanted to finish the book.

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen  ***
Not a bad book, but a little slow to get into. Apparently this is a second book in a series, but could be read as a stand alone. Maybe if I had read the first one it would have grabbed my attention quicker.

Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery ****
Yup. I still like this series.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige  ***
I guess Dorothy Gale went back to Oz, got power hungry and now the people of Oz are revolting. And another girl from Kansas just happens to be brought to Oz via a tornado. She's supposed to help free Oz of Dorothy's wickedness. This was actually a pretty good read. I'm looking forward to the next book.