The 2nd month of 2026 is slowly coming to an end, and so it is time to wrap up February and see what books kept me busy in the month of love.
Despite planning this month in advance to have it filled with lots of romance novels, it turned out to be a rather different month where I could pretty much read anything but love stories. That's why, except for the first volume that is dark romance, you will see that all the other books I've read in February are either mystery, thriller, crime or psychological ones, but even so, I am happy I managed to read at least 5 books also this month.
1. The Finisher (Dark Verse #4)
by Runyx
★★★☆☆
As some of you might expect, February started for me with reading the 4th volume from the Dark Verse series written by Runyx, which is The Finisher. I actually started reading this at the end of January hoping to finish it before the end of the month, but it turned out as a pretty difficult read, from getting to see lots of trigger warnings and ideas shared such as not being allowed to be read by people under 18.
Dark Romance in general are quite explicit and not for everyone, but I believe the rest of the books of the series did not have this thing of not being allowed to read if you are not 18 or over. Either way, I started reading it excited to see how the overall story continues, but I ended up spending a lot more time finishing it than planned, just because the story did not properly catch my attention as I thought.
It's not a secret anymore that Morana and Tristan will remain my favourite protagonists from this series of books, so any other protagonists that are brought into the spotlight make me compare them with the love between Tristan and Morana. I was happy, though, to get to know Alpha more closely than what was shared in the previous book, but to be honest, I don't think he deserved a whole book just for his story, especially since it was mainly focused on the love story between him and Zephyr, barely remembering Tristan and Morana or Dante and Amara. This led to the feeling of reading a random love story written by the same author rather than a continuation of the whole Dark Verse story, constantly giving the thoughts of a discontinued story that could have ended after The Emperor.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
2. Wrong Place Wrong Time
by Gillian McAllister
★★☆☆☆
The month continued with a whole different approach, feeling ready to discover a new author that I kept hearing about but never really read anything from her so far. The book I picked this time was Wrong Place Wrong Time.
Sadly, I didn't have such a read in a very long time, and it's not in a good way. It started quite interesting, being a fan of reading or watching movies based on travelling back in time, but it ended up extremely hard to follow, and quite boring most of the time. From plenty of details where, maybe, half of them were quite pointless, to more names given to the same protagonists, slowly outlined the overall story in a very chaotic way.
If I had decided to be honest with myself, I should have stopped reading after the first 50 pages, but I just refused to believe the book was going to continue on the same line. Actually, I hoped, until the last moment, that the ending would save the overall story and make the time spent reading it worth it. But it proved wrong. And I had high expectations for this one, since it won a Goodreads Choice Award in 2022.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
3. The Butcher and the Wren
by Alaina Urquhart
★★★★★
The single book that earned 5★ this month is called The Butcher and the Wren, which also comes from a new author I discovered recently. I had this one on my TBR for a while now, but I kept postponing it just because I was a bit scared by all the explicit content I could discover within the pages.
But now that I finally read it, I can say that it was fully worth it. This has been a very intense read. Actually, I think it's one of the most graphic books I've read of this kind, and I've read plenty of thriller/police/crime books before. With a little trigger warning that there are plenty of details given on each crime that takes place in this book, I believe it's definitely an interesting read for fans of these genres. There is no way to get bored along the way, but rather keep you on the edge of your seat to find out what happens next. I can't wait to have the 2nd book translated and released in Romania so I can see how the overall story ends.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
4. He Wins, She Wins: Learning the Art of Marital Negotiation
by Willard F. Harley Jr.
★★★★☆
The month continued still on a strange line, getting to read my first book about advice given for a married couple. I don't have lots of explanations to give for this one, as I am obviously not married, nor do I believe it will happen anytime soon, but sometimes I do enjoy getting out of my comfort zone and reading something randomly to disconnect from what I usually goes in my preferences.
That's how this turned out as an overall quick and chill read, where, I was happy to find quite a few aspects shared that fit for the overall well-being of a relationship one has. Of course, there are plenty of suggestions mainly based on the connection of a married couple, especially when it comes to a baby, but many aspects can be adapted to everyone's life, no matter whether she/he is married or not, or if they have a baby or not. There are even some questionnaires at the end of the book that might come quite handy. In conclusion, I really liked this one, and the author did a great job sharing plenty of priceless information in a quick and easy to understand way. Might as well give a chance to a few more books from Willard F. Harley Jr..
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
5. That Night
by Gillian McAllister
★★★☆☆
As a person who gets stubborn when it comes to authors from whom I read a book for the first time and I don't quite like it, I decided to give another try to one more book from Gillian McAllister, which I also heard lots of good things about before.
Hence, I'd like to say that this didn't feel as hard to keep up with as Wrong Place Wrong Time, but still, there were quite a few moments when it felt like reading like 50 pages in a row without essence, where obviously a bit of boredom could be felt again. I am not sure if there is a problem with the translation, as I've read them in Romanian and not in the native language they have been written in, but again, I did not feel that connection, which is a bit weird since I am enjoying a lot of crime/thriller books. Even so, I'll still read books from this author, but right now I will definitely take a break from it.
The book is mainly centered about a death scene where 3 siblings get their contribution in one way or another, but the real mystery is when things turn out not to be as they seem. It actually quite remembered me of Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose, which I absolutely loved and wrote a review about it in this post. So, perhaps, being a bit similar, it made me compare the two from time to time. The thing that I also figured out the plot twist quite early in the story, also contributed to making me rate it currently with 3 stars only.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Check out my previous monthly recaps:
- August Recap: 9 Books That Kept Me Hooked
- September Recap: What I've Read Last Month?
- October Recap: My Best Reading Month Yet
- November Recap: The Good, The Cozy, and The Unexpected
- December Recap: The Books That Closed My Year
- January Recap: New Year, New Books
- February Recap: Books That Stole My Attention, Not My Heart
Gabriela Travels is a Curator for Worldmappin and Hive Gaming communities, but also the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences.
At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe.
Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game and book reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts.
Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
~ @GabrielaTravels ~