book blogger – Mind Beauty Simplicity

February was quite the month for love with both Valentines Day & my husband & I’s one year anniversary. If you are new to the blog, we got married at the court house in February & had a larger wedding celebrating with family & friends in May. For more wedding content, be sure to catch up on the wedding series. It has been another cozy month of reading ( although we’ve had a few oddly 75 degree days). It did finally manage to flurry once on our anniversary. I read 10 books this month which is crazy! But I have found audiobooks to be the best way to get a lot of reading in throughout my busy day. Let’s get into the wrap up…

Wheel of Time Series ( Books 1-4) by Robert Jordan

I’m grouping these books together because I’d like to rave about this entire fantasy series as a whole. My husband recommended I start this series since my love for fantasy books have grown since last year. And so far, I am loving them! i have been listening to the audiobook along side the hardback & it’s been such a comfort series. Robert Jordan is one of the classic fantasy writers & I feel proud to say I am reading such a series. The characters banter, the plot & all the little details that will connect in some way later makes the reading experience a wild ride. My goal is to finish the entire series by the end of the year. If you’d like to see a breakdown of my ratings for each book so far, be sure to follow me on Goodreads. But overall, I have a strong feeling this will be a 5 star series. Tropes / themes: found family, slow burn romance, multiple romances, strong lead character, good vs. evil & cozy atmosphere. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Do Over by Lynn Painter

I wanted to include a Valentines Day themed read for this month & The Do Over quickly came to mind. This is the first Lynn Painter book I’ve read & it’s a YA romance with a “ground hogs day / repeating the same day trope. I found this to be pretty enjoyable but I think I personally find this type of trope to be rather redundant. And I honestly found the ending to be kind of lame & predicable. I did enjoy some of the nostalgic references & I feel like I would have enjoyed this as a teenager instead of a 31 year old woman. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Chase by Elle Kennedy

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, of the Off campus series – The Deal, so I thought I would feel the same about this spin off book. But I found this to be a complete disappointment. I found the characters annoying & the overall romance to not be very convincing. I found it mediocre at best. But it was a very quick read & still recommend the Off campus series if you enjoy hockey romances. Rating: ⭐️⭐️

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

I love Alice Feeney’s writing & consider her one of the best within the thriller genre. This is a detective mystery where a reporter & detective both become connected to a murder mystery within their small town. We continue to get the POV’s of both Amy & Jack as well as the past & present timelines of the characters. I was on the edge of my seat & wa caught off guard once again by the twist. I still enjoyed Rock Paper Scissors far more than this one but only because the ending twist was slightly disappointing in my opinion. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Horrid by Katrina Leno

Let me just say, this read would be perfect for the fall season / Halloween simply for the east coast fall setting & holiday being referenced. This was a horror novel that was quite unique. Not as unique as Bunny by Mona Awad, but up there. This novel is far more than a horror story. It discusses a far range of topics & themes which made it a book I still think about. From mental health, grief, strained mother – daughter relationships, mental disorders ( PICA being a major theme), suicidal contingencies – there was so much to compact in a little over 300 pages. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I decided to re-read Daisy Jones & The Six in preparation for the tv adaptation dropping March 3rd on Prime. Last year, this was one of my 5 star reads & that remains the same a year later. I absolutely loved this fictional story about a band’s rise & fall of fame in the 60’s / 70’s. It felt like I was reading about a real band. This time around, I had fun annotating & resonating with so many of the beautiful quotes throughout this story. I laughed, I got angry & I cried. I’m so excited for the show & really hope it lives up to this masterpiece. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Talk about a sad read. I listened to this on audiobook & quite frankly the narrator saved this experience. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if I just read the book on my own. The themes were so sad & I recommend you check the trigger warnings before reading this missing person / kidnapping thriller. I will say, I read this in one sitting as I was running errands & doing chores & the epilogue broke me into a million pieces. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

let me know in the comments what you read this month 😊📖 I’m always taking recommendations for my endless TBR

-B

books, Collaberations

The Winter Wonderland Book Tag

February 13, 2023February 13, 2023 mindbeautysimplicity

It hasn’t snowed yet where I live which is quite odd. So, my hope is this winter wonderland book tag will entice Mother Nature to bless me with at least one proper snow day before spring approaches. Thank you Her Digital Coffee for the tag & be sure to check out her post as well as her blog! She is one of my favorites.

A Book With a Snow Cover

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney comes to mind which was a 5 star thriller read last year. I love Alice Feeney as a writer & love her writing style, twists & plot. This particular book tells the story about a married couple who is on the brink of divorce & decide to take a surprise secluded anniversary weekend at a deserted chapel in the forest during a snow storm. I feel like this is the perfect suspenseful read for this season & I personally didn’t see the twist coming.

A Cozy Read by the Fireplace

I highly recommend starting a fantasy series this time of year. Not on,h does it have the best form of escapism, but I feel like the winter time allows us to stay indoors more often ( especially during a snow storm) & cozying up by the fire ( in my case – it’s the fireplace screensaver). Here are a few fantasy series I highly recommend for the winter season ( & all year round):

Crescent City | The Wheel of Time | Harry Potter | Throne of Glass

A Book with a Winter Sport

I personally love hockey romances. I read the first book of the off campus series last year, the Deal & found it to be the most entertaining. easily read romance book I’ve ever read. But there are so many hockey romance novels that are on my TBR.

A Book on your 2023 TBR

I recently started The Wheel of Time series ( currently on book 3 of 14) & have a goal to finish the entire series by the end of the year. It’s such a classic fantasy series & I’m so happy I finally decided to give it a go. Check out the rest of my highly anticipated reads for 2023 in this blog post here.

A Book That Was a Big Disappointment

I was hoping Before the Coffee gets Cold was going to be such a cozy little fable to read during this season but I found it to be rather disappointing. Not only was the writing style not my cup of tea, but the stories were rather depressing. I’m def a mood reader so perhaps it wasn’t the right moment to read this book but for now it’s on my list of low rated reads this year. Check out my full rating in my January reading wrap up

My Go To Comfort Book

I’m going to have to shout out A Court of Thorns & Roses series for the thousandth time. I have been itching to re-read this series this year especially after finishing Crescent City. IYKYK. I love the plot, characters, plot, romance & mental health awareness that is discussed throughout the series.

A Book I Want To Read before Springtime

A Flicker in the Dark has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while now & the cover gives off dark winter vibes to me, so I want to be sure to get to it very soon. I’ve heard great things about this debut mystery & I have high hopes this will be a 5 star read.

I’m going to make this easy. If you are a lover of books & want to answer these questions, consider yourself tagged! 😊🫶🏻

– B

Uncategorized

My First Monthly Reading Wrap Up Went Like… | January 2023

February 1, 2023February 1, 2023 mindbeautysimplicity

We are starting the new year off with a bang! I swear this has been such a great reading month! I read six books this month with two being over 800 pages. I’d say it was a good range of amazing reads that will for sure be some of my favorites of the entire year; while others were – MID. But regardless if a book met my expectations or left me disappointed, I rarely regret reading it because at least I’m “in the know”. And I’m slowly but surely knocking off more & more from my physical TBR. That way, I feel less guilty when I finally break my book buying ban. Which feels a lot sooner than later. *jumps for joy*. My hope for this year is to read a wide range of genres & get out of my comfort zone & read more longer series [ possibly – Wheel of Time?]. And I think this month, we are definitely headed in the right direction.

Bunny by Mona Awad

Talk about the weirdest book I’ve ever read. Bunny is definitely not for the faint of heart. And I personally, went in rather blind. So, when I realized this was considered in the horror genre – I was quite surprised. Especially when the book cover is rather vibrant. I would describe the plot as Mean Girls, if they created a darker version with murderous cults & animal cruelty. And I seriously thought I was going to absolutely despise this book. But as I kept reading & ignored the gruesome scenes, I started to question different parts & it became more of a psychological unraveling – which I personally love. If you’ve seen the movie, Shutter Island, I think you could appreciate the concepts of this story. What really sold me was the final sentence. It literally caused me to go down the Reddit rabbit hole [ pun intended] & look up all the theories. And for that reason alone, I give this book a solid 3.5 stars [ almost 4].

Crescent City: House of Earth & Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Starting this series is one of my highly anticipated reads of the year & I knew I wanted to start it right away after receiving them for Christmas. But if you’ve seen the thickness of the books, you know what a commitment it is. This is a urban fantasy written by the queen, SJM. So, basically it’s your typical fantasy story with Fae & other mythical creatures – but they have cellphones, watch sports, play beer pong & go to clubs. I read someone describe it as a fantasy frat house & honestly – that’s rather spot on. But of course like any fantasy, the plot slowly thickens. I would say, this first book was a rather slow burn & getting through the initial world building took some time. But again, SJM can do no wrong in my eyes & the character development, slow burn forced proximity romance, countless subplots & redemption story really made it a wild ride. Especially the final 200 characters that immediately made me want to go to the next one. And for my readers who love a good murder mystery & want to dip their toes into the fantasy genre, I highly recommend this series. A solid 5 stars for me.

Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

This is where things went slightly down hill. And I kind of regret taking a slight break from such an amazing fantasy series to this mediocre novella, but you win some & you lose some. I mainly read this one because it was free on the Apple Books app & although I was going to swear off CoHo books this year, my curiosity got me once again. Now, I’m not saying Colleen Hoover is a horrible author. I will always have a place in my heart for Verity & will always recommend it. But lately I find her to be someone who is letting the fame get to your head & a lot of her books are almost too “realistic” & borderline “the glorification of trauma”. Basically, I don’t get the wanted escapism from her books & like this one – some feel rather mid tier fan fiction for my adult taste. This particular novella is a part of the Hopeless series [ which received 2 stars after I read it last year ]. Check out my mini review on Hopeless in my October reading wrap up. This tells the story of Sky’s bestfriend named Six [ what kind of name is that? btw] & her teenage sexual escapades. She has never been in love before until she meets this mystery man in a dark high school’s janitor closet. His identity is kept mysterious. A year later, Six meets a boy named Daniel & attraction instantly forms. You can kind of see where is this going… I personally give this book 2 stars for it’s immature plot & predictability. I feel like if I was a teenager, I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. But as an adult, I just cringe.

Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

This book is the perfect example of reading something out of your comfort zone & not fully grasping the writing style & even concept of what the author was trying to persuade. Or it was simply the overall mood of the book just didn’t gel with me. Who knows. But I found this writing style rather difficult to read because I felt like it was a translated version so the English was rather broken. Not only this, but it felt like I was reading a play or musical of sorts which really made me uninterested. The concept of the book which are an array of short stories all taking place in a coffee shop that allows people to return to the past to replay but [ plot twist ] CAN’T change the future. I feel like it’s a story of acceptance & that even if we can’t change the past, we have to sometimes simply live with it & move forward. But the stories were rather sad & depressing & I just couldn’t appreciate it like some others seem to do. Rating: 2.5 stars

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

When I say I devoured this book – I literally couldn’t put it down. If you are looking for a fast paced thriller with short chapters, this book is for you. It gave me Verity vibes from the first chapter. This tells the story of a woman who gets hired to be a housemaid for a wealthy family. I will say, I really enjoyed the beginning of this book a lot more & the twist although surprised me at first – was a rather predicable one that is seen in many thrillers. I also was a little bothered by some of the character’s actions. I understand it’s a thriller so psychopaths is a common trope, but some of the scenes left me thinking WTF?! And once I discovered the main twist, the ending kind of fell flat for me. And I was just rushing to get it done. I still enjoyed it because the beginning really made me hate the wife alongside the housemaid & all the miscommunication etc. Overall, I give this a solid 3.5 stars & could have gotten 4 stars if the ending had not been so predicable.

Crescent City: House of Sky & Breath by Sarah J. Maas

We are finally redeeming ourselves with this final read of the month. I finally decided to continue the Crescent City series. Again, this book was quite the read to get through & once again the beginning really seemed to drag on & to grasp the new characters & plot that is introduced. I’ll be completely honest, I feel like there are parts of this book that really drag on & there were times where I just wanted to get to the meat & potatoes. I also felt like it was rather hard to picture some of these scenes. I’ve read my fair share of fantasy & so this was the first time where I was reading scenes & asking myself “what is happening right now?” But although the plot seemed to thicken continuously with countless subplots, I was hear for it. And once I got to the middle of Part 2, things really started to flow. For me, I can appreciate a complex fantasy series because it really reels me in & provides that proper escapism. There got to a point where I was finally just breezing through the characters & wanting to see what happens next. So much emotion & beautiful moments. And of course, I’m not going to give away any spoilers, but that ending was MINDBLOWING!!! IYKYK. I completely understand why so many people are anxiously waiting for Crescent City 3 to release. I’m eagerly waiting & will be down the SJM theories rabbit hole for the time being. Rating: 5 stars [ a million stars if i could ].

Wow, I’m so happy I decided to read the Crescent City series this month. But now that I’ve read all of SJM’s series – I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. Do I re-read ACOTAR this year? Please let me know book series I should add to my TBR. I do hope to possibly start the famous Wheel of Time Series soon [ but that is a 14 book series…so yea ].

Tag: book blogger

A Month of Love & Lots of Reading | What I Read in February 2023