February 2026 Reads

Happy February! My favorite month simply because it’s my birth month. My reading list was a lot lighter this month, as I got busier and hit a bit of a reading slump, but I still managed to get a few books in.

So, shall we dive in?

One Last Stop, Casey McQuiston

Goodreads Synopsis

“For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.”

Genre

Sapphic Contemporary Romance

My Rating

You have fallen into the homoerotic queer girl friendship. It’s all cute at first, and then you catch feelings, and it’s impossible to tell if the joke flirting is actual flirting and if the platonic cuddling is romantic cuddling, and next thing you know, three years have gone by, and you’re obsessed with her, and you haven’t done anything about it because you’re too terrified to fuck up the friendship by guessing it wrong, so instead you send each other horny plausible deniability love letters until you’re both dead.

Casey McQuiston

My Thoughts

A sapphic romance novel! It felt only right that I started February out with a romance novel. And because I really have nothing to gain from any straight literature (especially romance novels) I decided on this one.

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical at first. I wasn’t sure what the author was going to do, or if they even could do what they ended up doing with the story. But I was pleasantly surprised.

One thing in particular that I really liked about this book is the friendships within it. An apartment full of friends living together with a diverse cast of characters, everyone more or less getting along? That’s something I’ve wanted to experience. I got a partial look in college, but I was too young to really appreciate it then.

The romance was pretty good, I found myself getting frustrated at their lack of communication and the mixed signals, but that’s a good thing. It means I was invested. Overall it was a solid read, with an ending that actually made me feel things.

Would I recommend this book? For sure, it’s a great book that takes a look at queer history without making you feel like you’re reading a textbook. Not to mention, we’ve got romance.

Heroes, Stephen Fry

Goodreads Synopsis

“There are Heroes—and then there are Greek Heroes.

Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes.

In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells these dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales. Join Jason aboard the Argo as he quests for the Golden Fleece. See Atalanta—who was raised by bears—outrun any man before being tricked with golden apples. Witness wily Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx and discover how Bellerophon captures the winged horse Pegasus to help him slay the monster Chimera.

Filled with white-knuckle chases and battles, impossible puzzles and riddles, acts of base cowardice and real bravery, not to mention murders and selfless sacrifices, Heroes is the story of what we mortals are truly capable of—at our worst and our very best.”

Genre

Mythology, Historical Retelling

My Rating

It is the destiny of children of spirit to soar too close to the sun and fall no matter how many times they are warned of the danger. Some will make it, but many do not.

Stephen Fry

My Thoughts

Ah, we come to yet another Greek mythology retelling. Here, Fry takes us through all the myths we know, and all the myths we don’t, and retells it. Hence, a retelling of mythology.

This was an audiobook for me. I listened to the previous book by Fry, Mythos, and liked it a lot so I figured I’d get this one too. Besides, I love the stories about the heroes, so I thought this would be absolutely perfect.

And while I did like this, it was not exactly perfect. It was slow in some areas, and I figured out there were some myths I didn’t particularly care about. Also, when looking at the stories of the heroes, you really get a taste of how bad the gods truly were.

Regardless, it was a good thing to listen to. Mainly, I listened to it at night, especially on nights that I found it difficult to fall asleep.

Would I recommend this? Yes, if you have an interest in Greek mythology. If you do not, this would probably bore you like hell.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Terry Brooks

Goodreads Synopsis

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, an evil legacy long believed dead is stirring. Now the dark side of the Force threatens to overwhelm the light, and only an ancient Jedi prophecy stands between hope and doom for the entire galaxy.

On the green, unspoiled world of Naboo, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, arrive to protect the realm’s young queen as she seeks a diplomatic solution to end the siege of her planet by Trade Federation warships. At the same time, on desert-swept Tatooine, a slave boy named Anakin Skywalker, who possesses a strange ability for understanding the “rightness” of things, toils by day and dreams by night—of becoming a Jedi Knight and finding a way to win freedom for himself and his beloved mother. It will be the unexpected meeting of Jedi, Queen, and a gifted boy that will mark the start of a drama that will become legend.”

Genre

Science Fiction Fantasy

My Rating

You can’t stop change any more than you can stop the suns from setting.

Terry Brooks

My Thoughts

It’s a tall ask to try to write a book about a movie. The movie is well loved, everyone knows it front and back, and you’re supposed to write a book about it? That’s not an easy task.

I went into this audiobook having watched this movie countless times. To the author’s credit, it wasn’t bad at all. The one thing that lost points for me was the fact that the narrator for the audiobook kind of sucked. I didn’t really understand how he could mispronounce so many things, when there’s a movie that shows you how everything is pronounced?

This was something I just listened to as a comfort read. February was very busy for me and I needed something I didn’t have to pay full attention to. Given the fact that I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies countless times, this seemed like the perfect book.

Would I recommend this? Maybe. It’s just like the movies, so it doesn’t really matter if you read it.

A Thousand Ships, Natalie Haynes

Goodreads Synopsis

“This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.

A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.”

Genre

Mythology, Historical Retelling

My Rating

When a war was ended, the men lost their lives. But the women lost everything else.

Natalie Haynes

My Thoughts

This book made me sick in the most important ways. Women suffer greatly in war, even more so than men do. It’s hard to read about, and it’s hard to write about, but that’s why it is so important that it exists in media.

Here you have the Trojan Wars told from the perspectives of many women. Slaves, wives of soldiers and generals and kings. They all experienced this war in different ways, some more heavily than others.

War is never an easy thing to read about, especially with how close of a connection I have to it. But it is so important to read about. These thoughts of mine were hard to write, because I feel like I have so many more thoughts than I’m even able to get out.

Would I recommend this? Absolutely, 100%. Everyone should take the time to read this book, especially if you’re a fan of Greek mythology.