February Book Blanket Update
- bramblesandhart
- Mar 10
- 4 min read
It's been another good month with two fantastic 5 star reads! Audiobooks have dominated again as I've been listening a lot whilst working and on my morning walks.
Books Read This Month
(Title, Author, Format, Rating)
The Conjurer's Wife: A Short Story by Sarah Penner. Audiobook. 3.75 stars
Summer Knight (The Dresden Files 4) by Jim Butcher. Audiobook. 3.25 stars
The Magpies by Mark Edwards. Audiobook. 1.5 stars
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. Kindle. 3 stars
The Watchers by A.M Shine. Audiobook. 4 stars
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Audiobook. 4 stars
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Audiobook. 5 stars
The Survivors by Caroline Mitchell. Audiobook. 3.75 stars
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw. Physical. 4.25 stars
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann. Kindle. 4.25 stars
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L Wang. Audiobook. 5 stars
Ward D by Frieda McFadden. Audiobook. 3.5 stars
All the Sinner Bleed by S.A Cosby. Physical/Audiobook. 4.5 stars
This makes a total of 34/75 books read this year so far!
You can follow my progress on Fable App!
I had two DNFs this month
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake - this was just word vomit, so many words to say so little. I could not get to grips with it.
Untamed by Glennon Doyle - I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book but it definitely didn't deliver. The writing style was easy reading but it was just a lot of 'my life was shit and now it's not'. Great for the author but no real takeaway for me that I could see.
Best Book of the Month:
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The audiobook for this is phenomenal so if you can listen to this I highly recommend it. Check trigger warnings as there is a lot of violence, murder and racism.
The best way I can describe this book is like Death Race the film with Jason Statham crossed with Gladiators TV show but make it real violence and ending only when one person is dead. It's brutal, the prisoners who are largely black, are essentially enslaved and their only way out is to win their freedom or to be low-freed (killed). It's an action packed story with great characters but also extremely hard hitting and thought provoking. It addresses issues with the American prison system, social injustice and inequality, racism and more. It's set in a world that is unfortunately all too believable.
A truly worthwhile read, it will stay with me for a very long time.
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L Wang
I can have two favourites right? This is another one that I think greatly benefits from being listened to.
This is another book that addresses issues of social injustice, inequality, racism and misogyny but in a fantasy setting. Sciona is the first female high mage and uncovers the secrets to the magic of her city whilst fighting against some of the most egotistical, arrogant and misogynist men I've ever encountered.
The magic system within this world is amazing and truly unique. It does take a little bit of getting used to and I do think that this is made a bit easier when listening to the audiobook.
I laughed and cried to this book.
Worst Book of the Month:
The Magpies by Mark Edwards
The audible narration wasn't great but I could have forgiven that if the plot was interesting but it just dragged on and on. The premise was good, reviews say an unputdownable psychological thriller but I was far from thrilled. I even skipped parts and it made no difference because still nothing had happened. The ending was okay but a bit of a let down and definitely did not make up for the rest of the book.
I believe that this is a trilogy - I will not be reading the others.
Also - huge gripe with this book was that it described the weather as being in the high 80s even though the characters are all British and it's set in London!
Blanket Progress
In January I was making the square for each book pretty much as soon as I'd finished it and adding it on to the blanket. Sadly, that did not happen again in February!
I actually made all of my squares this weekend (2nd weekend in March) and I'm still yet to join them to my blanket but I will! It's going to look so cute with this month's squares added, I'm really excited to see them altogether.
If you would like a tutorial for how I am joining my granny squares for my book blanket you can find that here.
Do you love reading too? I'm assuming that if you're reading about my book blanket plans then you do! If you want to join with me in making a book blanket then be sure to tag me in your content @brambles.and.hart and use #BookBlanket2025 and #Booksandcrochet. I'm hoping to find a whole community of people who love both books and crochet like me!
I will be sharing updates of my book blanket on my Instagram/TikTok and my monthly wrap ups here on the blog so do follow along.
I'll be back with another update on my book blanket at the end of March so be sure to keep an eye out for that. I'm hoping for another 5 star read or two next month - fingers crossed!
Happy reading and crocheting!
Shelley ♡
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