The Books I Read - February 2025

Here are the 16 books I read in February. I had a few great ones and a few not so great ones this month.
Check out my various pages for ⭐️ ratings of these books:
I hope you find something that looks interesting to you. Below are a few notes on the books this month.
Total books for the year: 31
- 📖👩👧👦 How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me From Robots, Traitors, and Missy The Cruel by Jennifer Brown - I read this with my 10 year old and he liked it. I enjoyed it a lot because it was about a middle school robotics team and since we started one, it was really fun for me to read. I thought the story was well done and the characters and relationships were really good and well written for kids. It sparked some conversation and I really liked this one.
- 🎧📱 It’s Not You by Ramona Durvasula, PhD - A friend recommended this to me. I was really excited to read it, but then when I started, I just wasn’t sure it was relatable to me. But I stuck it out because there still were a few snippets that hit home for me. I enjoyed the ending a bit more. I think this was very well done with lots of great information and research written by a very knowledgable author. She did a wonderful job and I definitely had some wonderful quotes saved from the book, but I would say I only related to a small percentage of the book.
- 📱 All Fours by Mirando July - This was one absolutely fucked up book. The author had to have been on drugs during some or all of it. This was recommended to me from someone at a bookstore. It was not what I expected at all. I also quit this one last year, but I was determined to finish it. What a rollercoaster of a book.
- 🎧 One Hundred Years Of Lenni & Margot by Marianne Cronin - I started this last summer. I even remember when I quit it. But a friend said I should finish it. So I did. And I will say I suffered through because I was still not into it. I wanted to enjoy the idea of the book, but I just couldn’t get into it. I knew what was going to happen from the beginning and I just couldn’t connect with the characters at all.
- 🎧 Wish I Were Here by Melissa Wiesner - This was a cute and slightly magical book. There was great banter and silly situations and an overall really fun read.
- 🎧 Northwoods by Amy Pease - I was excited about this, but while I was really into it at the beginning, it kind of lost steam as the book went on. The action picked up toward the ending, but wasn’t one of my favorites.
- 🎧📱 North Woods by *Daniel Mason * - This was a very unique book. It took place in one house over many years and lives and told by various people and creatures. I really enjoyed many of the stories, but others weren’t as good. The audiobook had many narrators and was fun to listen to. What a fascinating idea to stay in one place and watch the lives of those who pass through.
- 🎧 Okay, Cupid by Mason Deaver - This was cute, but not earth-shattering. I had it on my hold list for a long time, but held onto it so I could read it in February. It was a fun twist on a love story and was a little cheesy (to be expected for a YA romance). I thought they did a great job with the characters and the LGBTQIA+ representation.
- 🎧 The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams - This was just silly. A funny story and a silly twist on a romance because a guy is trying to learn to be a better, more romantic husband and learns some tips from old books. Worth it if you don’t take it to seriously and need a few giggles.
- 🎧 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins - Oh man. I wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t. I highlighted parts. There were some good ideas, but I struggled with some of the ideas overall. I felt like there was researched, but also not if that makes sense. I think I would have liked it more if it was more technical maybe. Or just less “here is what I learned and here are my experiences and I am going to find a doctor to validate these things.” The Let Them Theory wasn’t her idea, just ways she had used it. And while I liked the Let Them idea, I didn’t love all of the implementation. So take that as you will.
- 🎧📱📖 Coyote Lost & Found by Dan Gemeinhart - I absolutely loved this one. I enjoyed the first book and I needed to go back and read a summary before starting this one since it had been a long time ago since I read book 1. It took place during COVID (which you know I love) and was just a wonderful way to bring everything together from the first book, some hard, yet realistic topics (death, grief, moving, friendships, parents dating) and add a handful of funny moments, too. Just a wonderful story all around!
- 🎧 A Dark And Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney - I think what I love about witchy books are that there are so many consistent similarities, but each book is different. I liked that the FMC didn’t really know everything about her powers and learned more about them. There was some dark magic and a love interest from her past. I think this would have been way more enjoyable during October. It wasn’t my favorite witchy book, but I still enjoyed it.
- 🎧 Tired Ladies Take A Stand by Gretchen Anthony - I was super excited about this one. I loved the other book by Gretchen Anthony that I read. This had some really great parts, but had many spots that I kind of lost interest or was distracted. I was hoping for the major turn to happen earlier in the book and then for the characters to spend more time on that aspect.
- 📖👩👧👦 How To Win A Slime War by Mae Respicio - This was a really good kids book. My 10 year old and I read this for his school book club. He loved all the slime concoctions and I loved the topics that were gently sneaked into the book to cause discussions (bullying, standing up and speaking up for yourself, moving, making friends, owning a business, families struggling with money). It was a fun and fast-paced book. It’s also on the 2025 Maud Hart Lovelace award nominee list.
- 🎧 If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin - I bought one of the most stunning hardcover copies of this book and had to read it. It was a bit slow at the beginning. But was a lovely book overall. The ending wasn’t a surprise since it was talked about at the beginning, but you still had all the feels. It wasn’t my favorite, but a good YA book that teens would eat right up.
- 🎧 Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney - This was weird. I liked a handful of aspects, but didn’t love how many of them were executed. There was an island filled with angry women (awesome, but ended up being kind of boring), a death that seemed added for a shock factor and unplanned. Then the ending was supposed to be a wild twist and by then I wanted more of an explanation or an epilogue. It just ended so abruptly and resulted in me feeling very meh about the book.
– Book Key –
🎧 - Audiobook
📖 - paperback/hardcover
📱 - ebook
👩👧👦 - read with kids
Book Randomness
- Bookstagram - @minihaysreads
- Goodreads Reading Challege :: The StoryGraph :: Fable
- 2025 DNF Book Count: 6
- Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
- How’s your reading challenge going for the year?