A heartwarming story of friendship, loss, and finding your way home from debut author/illustrator Mai K. Nguyen!

Willow loves the woods near her house. They’re calm and quiet, so different from her own turbulent emotions, which she keeps locked away. When her emotions get the better of her one day, she decides to run away into the woods.

There, she meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who can’t find her way back home—which turns out to be the magnolia grove Willow’s mom used to take her to. Willow offers to help Pilu, and the two quickly become friends.

But the journey is long, and Pilu isn’t sure she’s ready to return home yet—which infuriates Willow, who’s determined to make up for her own mistakes by getting Pilu back safely. As a storm rages and Willow’s emotions bubble to the surface, they suddenly take on a physical form, putting both girls in danger… and forcing Willow to confront her inner feelings once and for all.

I received a free copy of the ebook from the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

There’s nothing I don’t love about Pilu of the Woods. First, Mai K Nguyen’s art is completely adorable and a joy to look at. I took my time reading this book because I wanted to appreciate the artistry that went into it and if you consider yourself a lover of visual arts, this one’s for you.

Willow, our main character, often keeps her emotions bottled up. When she gets into an argument with her sister one day, Willow runs away from home and into the forest where she meets Pilu, a young, distraught tree spirit. Willow and the tree spirit have quite a few things in common: they both ran away from home after fighting with their family. Hearing Pilu’s story helps Willow reflect on her personal situation. As she comforts Pilu, Willow simultaneously sees her own struggles and actions in a new light.

“…but are you gonna just hide here until the bad things go away… all alone?”

Watching Willow and Pilu’s friendship develop in a short amount of time was so precious to me. I love how they connected with each other, and encouraged one another, all while having fun as kids exploring the forest.

I recommend Pilu of the Woods to readers of all ages. It’s a great reminder that it’s okay not to be okay, that just because we can’t see something, it doesn’t mean it’s not important. Willow struggled with what she called ‘angry little monsters’ in her head, and how she sometimes lets them take over and cause her to lash out at those she loves.

“They keep growing and growing while you’re not looking… they can make your mind all hot and foggy. And then… before you know it… the little monsters aren’t so little anymore.”

This wonderful story reminded me that everything leaves a mark: our words, our actions, our memories, and how we have to be careful not to let them hurt those around us. With Pilu’s help, Willow starts to realize that ignoring those ‘monsters’ isn’t the best way to deal with them and she has to face them head on… and listen.

We all need friends who help us be a bit braver and who’ll tell us it’s okay to cry sometimes, while holding our hand as we find our way back home. Pilu of the Woods is one of the most heartfelt and vulnerable stories I’ve ever read, and one I’m bound to read over and over again.

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?

Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for running Top Ten Tuesday! So the official topic for this week is “Books I Loved with <2000 Ratings on Goodreads” but uhhh I guess I read popular books haha. I couldn’t find 10 with less than 2000 ratings, so I upped the limit to 5000. Which in my book is still underrated.

I’m going to start with books with the lowest number of ratings and go up! So here’s my ten for the week.

I’m gonna be real here for a second: I HATE Valentine’s Day. I think it’s a stupid capitalist holiday created to make people spend money. I hate seeing all the red and pink everywhere. And I know that makes me a bit of a grinch but hey, I’m not against romance! I just think you should be telling the person/people you love that you love them every day, not just on this one day.

So I didn’t want to write an entire post on love and relationships in books. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I am a grinch I do like a good romance when it’s done well. But there are amazing books out there without romance! And sometimes I just don’t want to read about romance, I just want some good action and fighting and politics and friendships, y’know?

I wanted to share both sides: some of my favorite books without any romance (for those of us feeling non-romantic) and some books with my favorites couples (for those us feeling like reading about some romance).