February book report

Six engrossing reads from a quick month

The rare non-Friday email — but I’m trying something new this year! Every first of the month (ish), I’m going to try and send out a book report of what I read the month prior.

February was a short, cold, chaotic month with lots of illness (mine, along with the rest of my family), childcare gaps from aforementioned illnesses, snow, and the insane “mid-winter break” NYC has, and a bit of stress.

I started and didn’t finish another half dozen books that just couldn’t hook me right now, but there are six I could get through and really enjoyed.

(And ICYMI: Here’s last month’s report out, which also includes at least one other book from the first week of February.)

Six easy books

And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison [ Amazon / Bookshop ]

Delilah is a TV meteorologist with manic pixie dreamgirl vibes (and also some complexity), Jackson is a radio meteorologist who gets great comfort from routine and structure. They’re partnered against their will to report on a blizzard from lodge in the mountains and whoops turns out they’re meant to be. I enjoyed this immensely. It’s a sequel to First Time Caller but you don’t need to have read that to get this.

This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman [Amazon / Bookshop ]

A kaleidoscopic (in a good way!) novel about a family that loses their way and refinds each other after one of the elderly three sisters/matriarchs dies and the other two become estranged. Funny, sweet, and supremely well written.

Clutch by Emily Nemens [ Amazon / Bookshop ]

Five friends meet in college (Gregg, Reba, Hillary, Bella, and Carson) meet in college and two decades later, are trying their best to sustain their connection. They spend a weekend in Palm Springs together when the book is beginning — then over the next year, things go wildly awry for each of them in new (and surprising) ways that really speak to the ways friendship diverge and reconnect in your 30s. This book was extremely loud for me (in a good way!). My only flag is all their husbands suck.

One & Only by Maurene Goo [ Amazon / Bookshop ]

Cass is a matchmaker by both family tradition and trade — she has the magical ability to see people’s past lives and find their fated love in this one; it has a 100% success rate. Except she’s still single and has yet to meet the Daniel Nam who is her supposed match. So on her 40th birthday, she has a hot one night stand with 28 year old Ellis, who, hmm, turns out, works for a Daniel Nam. A love triangle ensues, with some hijinks, obvs.

Little One by Olivia Muenter [ Amazon / Bookshop ]

Catharine grew up in a cult on a farm in Florida that was led by her dad. She managed to escape and reinvent herself — a decade later, a journalist finds her and tries to get her to tell her story by luring her in with the temptation of possibly having found the sister she left behind. One part murder mystery, one part cult story, one part deep look at wellness culture. This was extremely well-done and I didn’t see the end coming.

You & Me and You & Me and You & Me by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees [ Amazon / Bookshop]

Adam and Jules have been married 25 years and are stuck in a rut. When Adam finds a box of mixtapes they used to make for one another and sticks one in the stereo, he travels back in time to the exact hour around when that tape was exchanged. The same is true for Jules! But the things that happen in that hour during time travel have consequences for the present day, and maybe changing/fixing the past isn’t such a good idea. A nice twist on the time travel genre.

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