This month I managed to read 12 books!! 4867 pages!! I have no idea how that happened. Probably me trying to procrastinate on work or something haha. Did you know that Goodreads has a stats tracking feature where you can see how many books you read over time? It turns out April of last year was also a huge month for me! Maybe there’s just something about April that makes me read more – not sure what that would be though. Let me know if you have theories haha.

I remember a few years ago, everyone was into the whole Six Degrees of Separation thing. It’s basically the idea that everyone is connected to any other person by six connections or fewer. I haven’t heard people talk about it in a while but I recently found the book version of it! Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith created #6DEGREES, where book bloggers share links between books in six moves. Here are the rules if you want to join in! Basically they choose a starting book and then you make your own chain however you want.

Today’s starting point is……How to be both by Ali Smith! (You’ll have to read all the way to the end to see where I end up 😉)

Furious and fun, the first book in this bold, new science fiction adventure series follows a ragtag group of adventurers as they try to find a legendary ship that just might be the key to clearing their name and saving the universe.
Boots Elsworth was a famous treasure hunter in another life, but now she's washed up. She makes her meager living faking salvage legends and selling them to the highest bidder, but this time she got something real--the story of the Harrow, a famous warship, capable of untold destruction. Nilah Brio is the top driver in the Pan Galactic Racing Federation and the darling of the racing world--until she witnesses Mother murder a fellow racer. Framed for the murder and on the hunt to clear her name, Nilah has only one lead: the killer also hunts Boots.On the wrong side of the law, the two women board a smuggler's ship that will take them on a quest for fame, for riches, and for justice.

I read this as a buddy read and I sat down on Sunday meaning to just read the next chunk and not finish the book but uhhhhh I GOT HOOKED AND THEN PROCEEDED TO FINISH THE REST OF THE BOOK. Oops. But listen. If you’re looking for great scifi, this is IT. There is MAGIC. There are SPACESHIPS. There are creepy terrifying villains. There’s a great ragtag crew of people. There is DIVERSITY. And let me just make this point again – there’s MAGIC in SPACE. It’s like my two favorite things basically.

This book starts off as a “simple” treasure hunt – searching for a long lost ship of legend, the Harrow. Which like, who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? But the story unfolds and gets a bit more complex, and then everything comes together and I was like WHOA.

The best part for me was the scifi aspects and the magic. So the world building. At the beginning it’s a bit confusing how everything works, but as you read more it becomes clearer. I love reading about the space battles (and one-on-one battles/fights on the ground), the different kinds of ships, the technology, and the types of magic that people can have. ALSO!! There’s a part where they talk about tidal locking of a planet and can I just say!!! As an astrophysicist it was SO COOL to read about something that is actually REAL and I am so impressed that Alex White incorporated this in the story, and did it correctly! I live for these things.

The cast of characters was amazing!! I’m not like, head over heels but I do love all of them equally. We got to see the most of Nilah and Boots, and they’re both amazing. Nilah is very young and I love the contrast between her and Boots, who is in her 40s and is much more experienced. Nilah definitely grows a lot during the book, and at the beginning I found her a little annoying (which I think is natural since she’s supposed to be a bit arrogant and spoiled) but man she really grew on me! I’m hoping we get to know Cordell and Aisha and Malik etc etc etc in the later books, because they’re all very interesting. I also love their interactions, because you get to see what they’re like with a newcomer (Nilah) and someone who served on the ship previously, so knows some of them (Boots).

Yeah so all in all a NEW FAV and you all gotta read it and I need to get the sequel like right now.

Sometimes I feel like I’m going to be CRUSHED by the sheer number of books I have on my TBR. I don’t know if you remember but one of my goals for the year was to read all the books I own that I haven’t read yet, and I’ve been slowly working on that. So these Spring 2019 TBR books are all ones that I already own that I want to get to soon!

And thank you to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting/organizing Top Ten Tuesday!

Shockingly we have come to the end of another month, and so it’s once again time for Shari and I to share our wrap-up for the month! I know February is only 3 days shorter than January but it still feels like February went by 10x as fast as January did. I’m an astrophysicist so theoretically I should know how time works but lemme tell you, I can’t explain this haha.

Mackenzie’s reads:

I didn’t read as much as in January, but I still managed to read 6 books! I also started reading a few bigger novels, so though I didn’t finish those I’ve been slowly working my way through them.

Finished reads:

• Lab Girl by Hope Jahren || 4/5 ⭐️ || Review
• For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones || 4/5 ⭐️ || Review
• Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab || 5/5 ⭐️ || Review
• Isola, Vol. 1 by Brenden Fletcher || 4/5 ⭐️ || Review
• Dark Run by Mike Brooks || 4/5 ⭐️ || Review
• Circe by Madeline Miller || 4/5 ⭐️ || Review

As you can see I had a pretty good month! All 4 star ratings with the exception of one 5 star read. No surprise that it was a Schwab book that was my 5 star read – I love her!! I had a decent spread of genres – non-fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and graphic novel. I also read both YA and adult novels. I like changing it up and reading across different genres and age ranges.

Current reads:

• The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I’ve been meaning to read LOTR for….well years really but it was one of my 2018 goals that I didn’t end up getting to. So I made it one of my 2019 goals! I’ve been making a great start so far, and hopefully I can finish Fellowship soon as my friend really wants to read The Two Towers together very soon (hi u know who u are – I’m working on it ok).

Both LOTR and Pride and Prejudice are books with movie adaptations where I’ve actually seen the movie before reading the books – shocking I know. So I’m finally reading Pride and Prejudice as well! I’ve been listening to the audiobook, and it’s working out pretty well. I think it actually helps that I saw the movie first, because I can picture the different scenes in my mind when listening to the book.

Wuthering Heights was supposed to be a buddy read with my friend Cat and my mom, but they finished it and I’m way behind oops. So far I don’t like any of the characters haha but somehow, I’m still enjoying reading it. It’s also my friend’s favorite book, so I had to read it at some point (hi u).

All three are going a bit slower for me than normal, since the latter two are much older classics and I’m not used that writing style (I barely ever read classics, though I’m trying to read a bit more). Tolkien’s writing is also quite different than my usual fast paced SFF reads. He has a lot more detail, and the story is more drawn out. Overall though, I’m enjoying all three a lot!

Shari’s reads:

February has been one heck of a month for me so it comes to no surprise that I didn’t read as much as I usually do. I read some fantastic books though, which is the most important thing!

• The Test by Sylvain Neuvel 5/5 ⭐️ | Review
• Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee 3/5 ⭐️ | Review
• My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 4.5/5 ⭐️ | Review
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas 5/5 ⭐️ | RTC
• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman 3.5/5 ⭐️ | Review

With 3 favourite books in February, I’d say it’s been a very good reading month. I absolutely loved The Test, My Sister, and On the Come Up and I highly recommend them to everyone! These books were so good! I still haven’t written a review for OTCU because I do this thing where the more I love a book, the less I’m able to say about it. Helpful, right? 😂 I’m still planning to review it though (I wrote notes!) so look out for that in the coming weeks.

Let’s chat!

• Have you read any of the books we read this month? If not, do you think you’ll read any of them?
• How did February go for you? Did you discover any favourite reads?