Where did February go? It flew by. So, I guess it’s time to do my February 2023 wrap up. February was a decent reading month. It wasn’t as good as January, but I did meet my reading goal. So, let’s get to it.
Edgedancer
Synopsis:
Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older–a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can’t help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.
My Rating: 3/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/08/edgedancer-review/
Episode Thirteen
Synopsis:
Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts. Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter’s holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It’s also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen–and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong.
My Rating: 3/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/21/episode-thirteen-review/
The Spite House
Synopsis:
Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he’s desperate for money–it’s not easy to find steady, safe work when you can’t provide references, you can’t stay in one place for long, and you’re paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you. When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity.
All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them. The job calls to Eric, not just because there’s a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it’ll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running.
My Rating: 3/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/24/the-spite-house/
Black Paradox
Synopsis:
Four people intent on killing themselves meet through the suicide website Black Paradox: Maruso, a nurse who despairs about the future; Taburo, a man who is tortured by his doppelganger; Pii-tan, an engineer with his own robot clone; and Baracchi, a woman who agonizes about the birthmark on her face. They wander together in search of the perfect death, fatefully opening a door that leads them to a rather bizarre destiny…
My Rating: 3/5
My Full Review: I liked Black Paradox, but I didn’t love it as much as I have Junji Ito’s other works. It was creepy. It gave me the chills, but I just couldn’t connect with this one.
The Witches: Salem, 1692
Synopsis:
It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister’s daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic. As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff’s account of this fantastical story — the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians.
My Rating: 4/5
My Full Review: This is probably one of the best books that I’ve ever read about the Salem Witch Trials. I thought I knew all there was to know, but boy was I wrong. This book goes into so much detail. My one complaint is that there were a few parts that seemed repetitive. But overall, this was so interesting.
The Stranger in the Woods
Synopsis:
In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries.
Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life–why did he leave? what did he learn?–as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: This book doesn’t get the attention it deserves. I enjoyed every minute of it. The writing was concise, but it still provoked a lot of emotion. This was such a unique story.
Kindred
Synopsis:
Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon realizes the purpose of her summons to the past: protect Rufus to ensure his assault of her Black ancestor so that she may one day be born. As she endures the traumas of slavery and the soul-crushing normalization of savagery, Dana fights to keep her autonomy and return to the present.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/27/kindred-review/
So that’s my February 2023 wrap up. What did you read this month?
Check out my rating chart here.
THAT. is a lot of books!!! ALSO YAY TO ENJOYING MOST OF THEM!!!!! the photos are gorgeous 😩😍
Thank you!!!!