February Reading Wrap-Up

                              

14 books read, 2 DNFs

1. Bitter Passage by Colin Mills. 

Loved this! Another book about the Franklin expedition to navigate the NorthWest Passage, or rather, the recovery service which sets out to find Erebus and Terror, 4 years after they left. There was no supernatural element to this book, instead it focused on Lieutenant Robinson and Assistant Surgeon Adams, and their very different motives for trying to find Franklin and his men. This was an Amazon First Reads that I've had on my Kindle since 2024, I don't know why it's taken me so long to read it.

2. When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Was very excited to read this. Thought it was going to be a straightforward werewolf type of story - wasn't. At all. Gripping and fast-paced with some pretty horrific outcomes for several characters.

3. Bloom by Delilah S Dawson

A sapphic romance which takes a very dark turn! 

4. The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Very creepy story about a wormhole opening up between worlds, good characters, lots of humour too.

5. The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean

Not quite the ghost story I was expecting

6. The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Fictionalised retelling of The Donner Party's failed attempt to cross an inhospitable mountain range, with a bit of a supernatural twist.

7. Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Hunger! So much hunger!

8. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Grimdark fantasy, but actually really good fun! Looking forwards to reading the rest of the trilogy, but just feel like I need breaks in between.

9. Night Watching by Tracy Sierra

This was a DNF.

10. The Storytellers by Sue Heath

Another DNF

11. The Other People by C. B. Everett

'Locked room'(/house) mystery with a twist that I didn't particularly enjoy

12. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Elk revenge.

13. What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

Botanical horror!

14. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A descent into madness

15. Ledge by Stacey McEwan

Icy fantasy with a cliffhanger ending!

16. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

Random childhood memories recalled in later life, which, with hindsight, lead to a terrifying conclusion.

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

Started: 27.2.26

Finished: 28.2.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Free pick from bookshelves

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time as I've heard such good things about it. It was meant to be one of my March reads, but I started it yesterday and finished it today, oops!

The narrator is an un-named person, recounting a series of random occurrences from his childhood; at the start of the novel he talks about memories and how they become distorted over time. The chapters do flit forwards and backwards in a non-linear way, which makes it a bit hard to follow. As he reconstructs his past, he realises with hindsight that all the odd things that happened to him were linked, and that they all culminated in a horrific event. 

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I don't think it lived up to the hype for me. One of the things I struggled with is that a lot of the actions and dialogue felt too mature for the age that he claimed to be in that particular memory - running around in the woods with his friend when they were five and six years old, for example. And although the ending, and the way he finds out about everything that happened, was certainly horrific, I would put this book in the thriller genre rather than horror. 

TBR Picks For March

I've just used a random number generator to pick out 10 TBR prompts from my list, to choose my March reads. Below are the books I've chosen, in the order that the prompts came out:

1. Pink Book - Weyward by Emilia Hart (KU) 

2. First In A Series - Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (KU)

3. Short stories - A Taste Of Darkness by Amy McCaw / Various (paperback)

4. Free pick from my shelves - Penpal by Dathan Auerbach (paperback)

5. Five word title - A Short Stay In Hell by Steven L. Peck (paperback)

6. Four word title - Blood On Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen (paperback)

7. Red book - Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (paperback)

8. Continue a series - Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman (KU)

9. Non-fiction - The Frozen Silence by Dr James Pennington (KU)

10. Yellow book - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (paperback)

I did manage to read the 14 books I chose for February (well, 12 with 2 DNFs, and then I snuck an extra one in), but this time I decided to just choose ten. This leaves a bit of wiggle room should I want to read anything else, and in March I'm also planning to read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine as part of a Facebook book group.

Ledge by Stacey McEwan

Started: 20.2.26

Finished: 27.2.26

Kindle

Chosen by RNG

Strong, stubborn, feisty FMC, dark and mysterious MMC with wings, if that floats your boat. This was a tense enemies to lovers, found family fantasy; at times the pacing was a little slow, but it ramped up towards the end and talk about finishing on a cliffhanger... or should that be a chasm-hanger?

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

 

Started: 23.2.26

Finished: 25.2.26

Kindle Unlimited

TBR Prompt: A Yellow Book

I couldn't resist choosing another book to read before the end of the month, and I'm quite glad I chose this one as it was only 25 pages long! I think I was aware that it was a short story, but I hadn't realised how short.

It centres around a woman whose husband, a doctor, has prescribed a kind of bed rest for her; she is allowed a bit of movement around the house and garden, but mostly she's encouraged to sleep, and not to do anything intellectually stimulating. I believe this is following the birth of her child, although little is said about that really, just that someone else is caring for the baby. The story is told in the first person, as she writes a journal (secretly), and we witness a subtle but steady descent into obsession, focused on the yellow wallpaper of the room. This short story packs a powerful punch of psychological dread.

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

Started: 20.2.26

Finished: 22.2.26

Kindle Unlimited

Chosen by RNG

Botanical horror! An intelligent fungus growing in a tarn, which can infect and then control the movements of a body, even a dead one. Creepily atmospheric, with a small cast of likeable characters. Set in a fictional European country, the language of which includes seven personal pronouns. 

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Started: 19.2.26

Finished: 21.2.26

Kindle Unlimited

Chosen by RNG

A really unique and unusual horror story of revenge, with themes of indigenous life and culture, violence and addiction, and attitudes towards women. Basketball features heavily, which I understand has a lot of significance among Native Americans, but I found myself skimming over the long descriptions of play and technique. Very gory horror, and a lot of animal death. A satisfying ending.

The Other People by C.B. Everett

Started: 18.2.26

Finished: 20.2.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: House on the cover

Ten people awaken in a locked house, unaware of how they arrived there. A woman named Amanda tells them that they have 12 hours to solve the disappearance of a young woman. As they begin to come to terms with this unusual situation, they very quickly realise that a killer is stalking them and picking them off one by one. But who? And why? And who is the Beast In The Cellar? 

I wasn't too sure if I was going to like this book when I started it, but I persevered and it did hook me in eventually (although I found the beast chapters really annoying). I didn't guess the twist at the end at all, and to be honest, I didn't really like it, it just felt a bit 'bolted on' somehow.

The Story Tellers by Sue Heath

Started: 17.2.26

DNF: 19.2.26

Kindle

Chosen by RNG

This was an Amazon First Reads that has been on my Kindle since July 2025. I read the first few chapters, and whilst I'm sure it's a perfectly lovely story of found friendships and moving onwards and upwards in life, it just wasn't holding my attention. While I'm reading this I've got FOMO about all the other books I could be reading instead! So I've decided not to finish it.

Night Watching by Tracy Sierra

Started: 15.2.26

DNF: 18.2.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Pink book

I read the first two or three chapters but then ended up just flicking through the rest, trying to get the gist of what happened. Sometimes I can't read books where children are involved and in danger, and this was one of them.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (First Law Trilogy)

Started: 6.2.26

Finished: 17.2.26

Kindle Unlimited

This was my first foray into 'grimdark fantasy' and I really enjoyed it! There was a great cast of characters, all linked to each other in some way, though it wasn't always immediately obvious how. Each chapter flitted between the storyline of one or more of these characters, and although that can sometimes be a bit confusing and disjointed, the writing was so good that it just flowed really well. The vivid descriptions of people and places made me feel really immersed in the story; everyone is a bit 'morally grey' to some degree, but even some of the really unlikeable characters are actually, kind of, likeable! (Looking at you, Glokta!) There is, of course, a plot to this book, so it's not as if nothing happens, but it does feel like it's all building up to The Plot in books 2 and 3; one of my favourite BookTubers, Paperback Journeys, describes Book 1 as being like a "book-sized prologue", and I would agree. It's an introduction to characters and their backgrounds, it sets up the 'world-building', you learn about the history and politics of the place etc, and then it draws to a close with the main group of protagonists coming together to begin the journey into... book 2!

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Started: 14.2.26

Finished: 15.2.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Vampires

I really enjoyed this and 'devoured' it in less than 24 hours. It's a reworking of Carmilla, the book that inspired Dracula, and is drenched in themes of appetite and hunger. A story of women's repression and desire for autonomy amid the societal constraints of the time, with a hefty dose of female rage and revenge! 

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Started: 9.2.26

Finished: 13.2.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Over 400 pages

Historical fiction based on the real life doomed attempt of the Donner Party to cross the mountains into the west, heading for a new life in California. As if the very real human horrors and the harsh terrain and brutal elements weren't enough, Katsu also weaves in a supernatural twist.

The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean

Started: 6.2.26

Finished: 9.2.26

Paperback

This has been on my want to read list for a while, being described as a "gothic ghost story". It started off really well; I don't always like child characters, but I did enjoy reading about Tim and Abi, perhaps because I was also interested in ghosts and the macabre when I was young, though not to the extent that they were. I liked the concept of them faking a ghost photograph, only to be told that the ghost was real and that they'd invited it in, and I think I'd have preferred if the story had continued this angle. For me, it felt like the middle part of the book lost its way, but that might just be because I'm not really a fan of seances, and it was hard to know which of the other people in the group could be trusted. Plus the whole experiment and reason for them being there was quite ambiguous too. I did find the parts at Yarlings interesting, but only because I was waiting for something to happen, to link back to the events from a few years earlier. In the end things did kind of come full circle, just not in a way I expected. I know 'ghost' and 'ghost story' can have many different meanings; I definitely enjoyed this, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

TBR Picks

Thought I'd try my own version of letting TBR prompts choose my next few books. I've got a list of about 45 prompts on my spreadsheet, so then I used a random number generator to choose 4. I read 15 books in January, so I rounded February down to 14, and then thought I'll read 7 physical books, and seven Kindle ones. I've already read two of each so far this month, and I'm currently on the third (of each) which is why I've only chosen another 4 physical books. 

For my Kindle choices, I've just used a Random Number Generator to choose the actual titles, but I may use my TBR prompts to select Kindle books in future months. 

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

Started: 3.2.26    

Finished: 6.2.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Black book

This is a sapphic tale of romance and obsession that takes a dark turn! 200 pages of sensuous dread!

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Started: 1.2.26

Finished: 6.2.26

Kindle Unlimited

TBR Prompt: Three words in the title

Really enjoyed this, I liked the characters of Carrot and Simon, and Beau, and I loved the idea of the museum, I could really picture the clutter and mish-mash of exhibits. I didn't really understand what was happening when they went through the hole, it was all just a bit too weird for me to get my head around, but I was curious to see what it was all about and how it was going to end. This was my first T. Kingfisher book and I'm looking forward to reading some more.

When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Started: 31.1.26    

Finished: 3.2.26

Paperback

The short review is: whatever you think this book is about, it's not.

I've been wanting to read this for a long time, the hype around it seemed very promising. It's the story of Jess, who arrives home after a distressing shift at the diner, to find a young boy hiding in her garden. It transpires that he's trying to hide from his father, and when she finally comes face to face with the dad, she can understand why! She escapes with the boy, and they find themselves on a terrifying road trip being pursued by someone or something. 

Really good book, lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

Bitter Passage by Colin Mills

Started: 30.1.26

Finished: 1.2.26

Kindle

Though written by a different author, this could almost be a sequel to The Terror, which was my favourite book of 2025. This book relates the unsuccessful recovery mission by HMS Enterprise and HMS Investigator, who spent the winter of 1848-49 at Port Leopold, dispatching several sledge teams to search for Captain Sir John Franklin, Captain Crozier and the men of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. There is no supernatural element in Bitter Passage, but once again there is a mixture of fact and fiction. It focuses mainly on Lieutenant Frederick Robinson, the leader of one sledge team, and Assistant Surgeon Edward Adams, who accompanies him. Both men are driven to find Franklin, but for very different reasons, and face a struggle against the claustrophobic isolation of the Arctic, as well as their own ambition and beliefs. I really loved this book!