February Reads

Second month of 2022 and I was able to get through four books – all entertaining, and all recommended.

The Ghosts by Antonia Barber

I love vintage books and am so glad I grabbed this in a thrift store even without knowing what it’s about.
It’s a very good story even though there were parts where i find my mind wandering off – maybe it was too much things being described rather than conversation?

Despite that, it’s a good, enjoyable story that I recommend for an atmospheric reading.

Rated 3 stars on Goodreads

Whisper of Death by Christopher Pike

For a YA novel, this is pretty heavy on the plot – but then, there are the VC Andrews’ novels…

Anyway, the story’s events and how everything came to be should have earned the book a parental guidance sticker. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy this book. It’s like watching a Netflix movie, complete with eye rolling moments and some chuckles (intentional or not).

The only 2 negative things I can think of are:

1. The title: I don’t get why the title is what it is… it only happened once and it was towards the end. The book could have been called “Stories from the Unborn” or something like that.
2. The book cover: It’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong. My complaint is that aside from the hitch hiking thing, I feel it doesn’t have anything to do with the story (the hitch hiking part of the story wasn’t even needed IMO). The antagonist wasn’t described like that at all, in fact it was the opposite. Ah well, still a wonderful illustration.

Either way, the book is still an entertaining read and am so glad to add this to my collection.

Rated 4 stars on Goodreads

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

Period pieces like these (argh, the 70’s is now a “period piece”) are so interesting for me, having lived through this decade, so there’s some sense of familiarity, even though this is a work of fiction.

The first few pages got me hooked and I actually thought it was a memoir, that is until I Googled and realized its not. It didn’t take away the interest, though, and before I knew it, I was immersed in Opal, Nev, and SarahLena’s world.

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev will probably on my list of recommended reading for a long time and I am looking forward to Dawnie Walton’s next work.

Rated 5 stars on Goodreads

Anxious People by Frederik Backman

For some reason, this book reminds me of the 1994 Nora Ephron film Mixed Nuts. Most likely because it comes across as an ensemble comedy filled with quirky characters, written in a way that the story toggles back and forth different timelines, funneling everyone to eventually connect with each other.

While very entertaining to read, I didn’t give it a 5 star because of the multiple tangents within the story that distracted and sometimes confused me. Some of them pulling me back right away and some going deeper before returning to the point.

Rated 4 (actual 4.5) stars on Goodreads