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Wrap Up: February 2025

Wow, February has come and gone and what a month it has been. It’s been a bit of a wild ride and honestly, the beginning of the month feels like it was eons ago! What a wild ride, let’s just get into it! Get comfy and cozy, grab your favorite snack or beverage and let’s chat about February!

February was a pretty strong reading month. I started off the month with reading the February pick for the book club I’m part of which was Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. I thought I was going to read a few chapters to just get started and dip my toe into it since it’s a little out of my comfort zone. Well, I started it and then like 2 hours later I had finished the whole thing; I absolutely loved it! I listened to the audiobook and read it physically and I just loved everything about the story. It turned out to be one of my most successful reads of the month with a 4.5 star rating, and now I’ve bought that book and all of Emily St. John Mandel’s books and am planning to read her other books this year.

I also found my second 5 star read of the year with Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao. Wow, this book was absolutely stunning and really transported me to another world. It was utterly magical! I wrote a full review (linked below), so check that out to read my full thoughts. 

This month I also finally read the Rebel Blue Ranch series and yes, I’m absolutely obsessed. I reviewed Done and Dusted this month (linked below) and after reading it immediately bought Swift and Saddled and Lost and Lassoed and pre-ordered Wild and Wrangled. I totally get the hype with this series. Another very fun and successful book for me was A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christna Dodd, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

I did a 16 book unhaul this month and made some more room on my shelves which I’m really happy about. It’s getting harder and harder to unhaul though, so this time I decided to get rid of some books that I really liked/loved, but don’t think I’ll read again. So, it was a little difficult to say goodbye to them, but needs must!

Books read this month:

  1. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (4.5 stars)
  2. Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage (4 stars)
  3. Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours (ARC, 3.5 stars)
  4. A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall (3.5 stars)
  5. Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown (3 stars)
  6. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd (4 stars)
  7. The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez (3 stars)
  8. Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis (4 stars)
  9. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (5 stars)
  10. The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (4.5 stars)
  11. Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage (4 stars)
  12. Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage (4.5 stars)
  13. The Lovers by Rebekah Faubion (2.5 stars)
  14. Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (3 stars)
  15. A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd (4 stars)

I think 15 is a great number for the month, and that means so far I’ve read a total of 31 books in 2025. A few books from February will be carried over into March, one of them may end up being a DNF, but we’ll see! 

Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:

  • I love a fun historical romance, and honestly they’re better when they’re sapphic, y’all know it’s true. I loved Robin’s review of Ladies in Hating and this book sounds SO fun! I actually got an ARC of it recently, and I can’t wait to read it. I also loved Robin’s Romances to Read and Preorder This Winter post. There are a few books on here that are on my radar and some that I’m now going to add to my TBR!
  • https://lastpagess.wordpress.com/2025/02/09/lets-talk-romances-to-read-and-preorder-this-winter/
  • While I love a good reading challenge (as we know since I tend to do quite a few throughout the year), I totally understand why they’re not for everyone and why they can feel super daunting at times and slow your reading progress. I really enjoyed reading Lila’s post Woes of an ADHD Reader (Or, Why Reading Challenges Aren’t For Me) because I found it super relatable even if our experiences with reading challenges differ. I especially loved when she talked about “loosely” participating in reading challenges, and I think it’s such a great way to go about participating without feeling pressured to read even when you’re not in the mood for it.
  • We all know that I trust Helena’ recommendations above anyone else’s, and she’s been telling me to read Timothy Janovsky for so long now, I definitely need to get on that this year! I loved her review of Once Upon a You and Me, and it looks like I am once again adding a Timothy Janovsky book to my TBR!

My posts this month:

Well, it’s been quite the month. I had an entire week of working from home which truly was amazing. I really needed that! I won’t lie though, this month has been a little rough on me, and as I sit here after a really hard week, it’s a bit tough to find the positives, but there were some really good things that happened this month.

I started my first Woobles kit this month! Granted, I haven’t had time to touch it since I started it, but I started it and that’s something. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to work on more of it next month, but I’m not trying to force myself to finish it by a certain time, I just want to pick up a new skill. One of my creative hobbies that I did more of this month was theatre journaling. Last year I decided I wanted to make a theatre journal for all the shows I see and I’m slowly working my way through journaling my shows of 2024. I did 3 spreads this month, one for when I saw The Notebook on Broadway in February, & Juliet on Broadway in August (I still have 5 other & Juliet spreads to do lol), and the tour of Frozen in August. I’m really happy with how these spreads turned out, and I absolutely love working in my theatre journal. 

I did pretty well on my goal to not order out this month. I did break that goal a few times (including last night), but overall, I did a really good job of eating/cooking at home. Some of the recipe highlights of this month were

  • a barbeque chicken pizza, I made a corn, black bean salsa to go on top and the jalapeno lime cream sauce as a dipping sauce to make a dupe for my favorite pizza from California Pizza Kitchen
  • the spicy chicken nuggets from Trader Joe’s are really yummy, and one night I made those with some garlic parmesan fries that I’ll definitely be making again (and maybe next time in addition to ranch I’ll make some kind of aioli to dip them in)
  • my absolute favorite recipe that I made this month was the spicy chicken creamy pasta with sun-dried tomatoes. this was SO incredibly delicious and I’m planning on having it as my birthday meal next month and will probably make this a million more times this year 

February was apparently the month where I watched a lot of new tv! I finally started Yellowjackets — yes, I am absolutely obsessed. Of other things that have just been released I’m continuing with the second season of School Spirits and still loving it. Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias was great (need season 5 for real), I really liked Apple Cider Vinegar and I loved Nobody Wants This. 

This was also the month of documentaries for me — I ended up watching 6 new documentaries this month, and 1 that I had already seen but I actually didn’t realize that I’d already seen it until about halfway through because I hadn’t watched it since it came out in 2020. What can I say? I was really into documentaries this month!

I didn’t listen to as much music this month as I usually do, but of course, I’m totally obsessed with the deluxe edition of Short n’ Sweet. As of right now 15 Minutes and Busy Woman are my favorite deluxe tracks, but it’s all great. As always, you can see my monthly playlist here.

February may be the shortest month of the year but this month felt LONG and truthfully, I’m pretty happy to see the other side of it.

I hope that you had a good February! Let me know what you were up to in the comments.

Until next time 💜

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