I’m sharing the books I read in February and if they’re worth adding to your collection.
Hi hi! how is the week I hope you have a good one. We’re back from the dance competition and hit the sprinting floor during the week. The next month is going to be busy, but I’m still trying to get in at least 30 minutes of reading every day. I hit 4 books last month (1 DNF…) and wanted to share the details with you! It’s a unique mix of options that are effective, inspiring, educational and with a little fluff thrown in for good measure.
Here are the books I read in February!
February book recap
The light we lost
This book examines the impact of our decisions and living with the “what-ifs” and consequences when we don’t follow our hearts. I read this quickly because I couldn’t wait to see what happened; It reminded me of a Colleen Hoover book with more engaging writing 😉 The ending was a little disappointing and while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t one of my favorites. I’d say it’s a 7/10.
From Amazon:
Lucy faces a life-changing choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the beginning.
Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University, which changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide their lives should mean something. When they meet again a year later, it seems fateful – perhaps they will find the meaning of life in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals and ultimately love. Did fate bring them together? A choice that kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.
This devastatingly romantic debut novel about the enduring power of first love with a shocking, unforgettable ending love story For the new generation.
Yellow wife
This book It is based on a true story and follows the life of Phoebe, who was born a slave in Virginia and is the daughter of a plantation medicine woman and plantation owner. Instead of getting the freedom she was promised when she turned 18, she is sold and forced to leave her home and those she loves. She is transferred to Devil’s Acres, an actual prison that housed and tortured hundreds of thousands of slaves, and becomes the mistress of its jailer. The book is obviously incredibly difficult to read. It is a tragic and dark time in our history and a devastating reminder of the atrocities committed in our society.
Although this is a difficult read, it is an important read. It is well researched and the author vividly describes the hardships faced by many, demonstrating what even women will endure to protect their children. 10/10
From Amazon:
Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Phebe Delores Brown led a relatively sheltered life. Protected by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the master’s sister, she is isolated from the rest of the plantation, belonging to neither world.
She is promised freedom on her eighteenth birthday, but instead of the beautiful life she envisions with her true love, Henry of Essex, Phoebe is forced to leave the only home she has ever known. She unexpectedly finds herself in the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half Acre, a prison in Richmond, Virginia, where slaves are broken, tortured and sold daily. There, Phoebe is exposed not only to her jailer’s cruelty but also to his contradictions. To survive, Phoebe must outwit him, and she soon faces the ultimate sacrifice.
$100M in Contributions
This book is written by a successful entrepreneur (making 10M+ per month… I know) and how to create an irresistible offer to your audience. They go into the psychology behind making a good offer, how to bundle your services, pricing, supply/demand, copy, etc. I learned a lot while reading this book and am going to use some of his advice with my current one. Product offerings. 9/10
About the author, from Amazon:
Alex Hormozy is an American entrepreneur. He started as a management consultant in the public sector before opening his first gym at age 23 and leaving to pursue a career in fitness. He grew his small gym chain from 0 to 6 locations in three years. Over the next two years, he and his wife began flying around the country rotating gyms.
However, their biggest success came from packaging and licensing their boutique gym model to 5000+ gyms worldwide. He later started a supplement and software company to support the gym’s roots. He sold a 66% stake in the company to American Pacific Group in 2021 for $46.2M. He later started Acquisition.com as a holding company for his private investments. The private equity firm focuses on making minority investments into cash flow positive growing founder-owned businesses. Then they scale those businesses. By 2023, his portfolio of 16 companies will generate $200,000,000 a year and growing.
The couple has now changed their mission to make real business education available to everyone. They accomplish this by making content across social media and publishing books and free courses for entrepreneurs.
Alex’s latest book, $100M Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Think They’re Fools, has sold over 300,000 copies through word of mouth alone. In their spare time, Alex and his wife still enjoy training at hardcore gyms and avoiding death one workout at a time.
Inside is good
I wish I had read this book when the girls were babies – it doesn’t exist yet – but the point is, it’s never too late to read this book. Her tips apply whether you’re a toddler, an older child, a tween, a teenager, or you’re a grandparent helping grandchildren. I am Dr. Strongly aligned with Becky’s parenting philosophy: treating children with firm boundaries, kindness, understanding and humanity. I learned so many great tips from this book and loved listening to the audio version. It also validates the importance of connection, especially when a child is going through a difficult time. As she says, “Your job is not to get them out of the hole. It’s about going into the hole with them, so they know they’re not alone. 10/10 – Definitely read this!
From Amazon:
Over the past several years, Dr. “Dr. Becky” to her followers – Becky Kennedy – has sparked a parenting revolution. Millions of parents, tired of following advice that doesn’t work or simply doesn’t feel good, have embraced Dr. Becky’s empowering and effective approach as a preferred model for connecting with our children.
Parents have long been sold a model of raising children that simply doesn’t work. From reward charts to time outs, many popular parenting methods are based on modeling behavior, not nurturing people. These strategies do not build children’s life skills, or take into account their complex emotional needs. Add to that parents’ complicated relationships with their own parenting, and it’s easy to see why many caregivers feel lost, burned out, and worried that they’re failing their children. In Good Inside, Dr. Becky shares her parenting philosophy, complete with actionable strategies that can help parents move from uncertainty and self-blame to confident and resilient leadership.
Offering perspective-shifting parenting principles and troubleshooting for specific situations—including sibling rivalry, separation anxiety, strategies, and more—Inside is good It is a comprehensive resource for a generation of parents looking for a new way to raise their children while setting them up for a lifetime of self-control, confidence and resilience.
Lessons in Chemistry– DNF
I started the audiobook of this and called it quits halfway through. I hated it and couldn’t help but wonder if I was listening to the wrong book! Many people highly recommend it and it’s a great reminder that we all have different tastes in books! I found it dragged, nothing exciting happened, and I was bummed about the whole plot. 0/10 lol
From Amazon:
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zot was the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and his all-male team at the Hastings Research Institute takes an unscientific view of equality. Except one: Calvin Evans; A loner, brilliant, Nobel-Prize nominated hate-monger, she falls in love with everything. Actual chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. That’s why a few years later Elizabeth Zot finds herself a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual method of cooking (“combine a tablespoon of acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) would prove revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Jott isn’t teaching women to cook. She dares to change the status quo.
Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, shrewd observations, and an astonishing cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry As original and vibrant as its hero.
So, tell me friends: What’s the best book you’ve read lately?
If you want to change up your reading queue, check out Book of the Month – you can choose a book each month from their selections or choose a recent member favourite. I have two coming this month and can’t wait 🙂
xo
Gina
