Monthly Reviews- February 2024

💌  February Reviews 💝

February 1st-29th

Book 17: Poetry Comics

By Grant Snider

Read February 5th

Release Year: 2024

Pages: 96

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I love how Grant combined poetry with comics throughout the book. This collection is an excellent way to introduce poetry to younger readers. The poems are perfectly complimented by the stunning illustrations. They add so much to each poem. I always love Grant’s books and comics, but this one tops them all. 

I highly recommend the collection for both younger and older readers alike. It is an absolute delight. 

*I received an ARC for review purposes. All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. 

Book 18: Don’t Call Us Dead

By Danez Smith

Read February 5th

Release Year: 2017

Pages: 96

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An absolutely wonderful poetry collection. 

Book 19: The Lost Story

By Meg Shaffer

Read February 13th- 21st

Release Year: 2024

Pages: 336

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I have been wanting a Narnia-like adult book for so many years and could not believe when I heard about this beauty. Portal fantasy stories are some of my absolute favorites. I was ecstatic when I was given an ARC of The Lost Story. This was an absolute delight of a read! It felt like a fairy-tale for adults especially with the writing style. Meg Shaffer has created a world I wish I could travel to and I hope she will return to it eventually. This is a wonderful fantasy story with a focus on friendship, love, and the act of storytelling. 

I loved the framing device for this book and how the narrator kept giving commentary. It’s enjoyable having a narrator who is a character in the story being told and finding out who they are eventually during the plot. Also, I enjoyed the LGBT representation. 

I highly recommend this beauty to fans of portal fantasy or fantasy books in general. It is definitely a favorite of the year for me. 

*I received an ARC for review purposes. All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. 

Book 20: A Tale Dark and Grimm

By Adam Gidwitz

Read February 22nd-23rd

Release Year: 2010

Pages: 256

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Reread February 22nd-23rd, 2024:

I decided to reread this book so I can continue on with the companion novels and finish the series. It was just as enjoyable as the first time I read it. Adam Gidwitz style is great and I love the narration throughout. 

Read January 10th-12th, 2018:

Hansel and Gretel are a prince and princess, from a kingdom, that realize their parents are not the best of people. They decide to walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm Brother-inspired tales. Through each tale, they try to find the best new home and learn to take a charge of their own destinies.

This was so much more than I expected it to be. I really loved how Adam Gidwitz used his own style of writing and also mixed it with the Grimm Brother's style. There were times that each was so distinct but then as the story continued on they meddled together so well. Also, I really enjoyed that he used mostly fairy tales that are not well known. For instance, "Faithful Johannes", "Brother and Sister", "A Smile as Red as Blood", and so many others. There were even a few that I had never even heard of before which was quite refreshing. He not only made these tales entertaining to read but also made them his own while doing it. This is, at least I believe, a perfect way to get children to want to read these original tales and see what happened in them. 

The fairy tales in this novel were weaved so well together. I really loved how each one felt like a piece of the whole, but also their own separate entity. This was a great take on these tales that I feel that should be read by all. The narration was very entertaining. I really enjoyed the warnings throughout and also how dark this got at times. It was dark but never too much. There was a great balance between the dark and grim and also the humor. I cannot wait to pick up the companion novels to this.

Book 21: Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: A Comical Guide to Ancient Greece and Rome, Series 1-4

By Natalie Haynes

Read February 24th-27th

Release Year: 2019

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Standup comedy and Greek/Roman Mythology are two of my favorite things. I have fallen in love with Natalie’s works over the last couple of years and was looking forward to listening to these series. This was highly entertaining and had me laughing out loud a lot. 

Many of these classical figures I did not know much about or had never heard of them before, so I was learning quite a lot throughout. There are many works that I know I will be picking up after she talked about them, especially Aristophanes’s comedies. The Frogs sounds great. Also, I want to pick up Ovid’s Heroides. 

The only aspect of this that I didn’t love was when some of the conversations were interspersed throughout. These were interesting but sometimes they interrupted Natalie’s jokes and I wish they would have waited until she was done with the joke. Overall, the conversations with the classists were very informative and added even more to this experience. I highly recommend this to Greek/Roman classics fans.