After complaining about how January was dragging on, February flew by! It’s somehow already almost mid-March. I’m genuinely not sure how or when that happened.

Overall, this was a slower month of reading for me. I tend to listen to audiobooks when I run, but as I’m dealing with a running injury, I haven’t been reading/listening to as many books. That said I did still read 5 books and it was a rather eclectic mix:

• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
• Night by Elie Wiesel
• The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
• The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Let’s get into the reviews!

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

This was a very strange book. Yet, I couldn’t put it down.

A young girl and 39 other women are being held captive in a cage, presumably underground. How they got there is unclear and the older women only seem to remember small snippets about their life before. The male guards never speak to them and there are no answers about why they are being held there. One day, an alarm sounds changing their lives forever.

This book will leave you with a lot of questions and a lot of thoughts. I finished it over a month ago now and I still find myself thinking about it.

Rating: 8/10

Night by Elie Wiesel

Originally published in 1956, Elie Wiesel shares his horrific experience surviving concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. It starts with small changes in his hometown of Sighet, but once it becomes increasingly clear that something is truly wrong, it’s too late.

There’s not much I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said. This is obviously a very hard read, but also a very important one.

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

This is part of the Throne of Glass series, so there may be spoilers ahead. Read with caution!

I know there are a lot of opinions about when to read this collection of prequel novellas. I’ve seen people say to read it first to kick off the Throne of Glass series. Others say to read it third. I ended up reading it second, right after the original Throne of Glass novel (check out my review here.) I liked it as I had been introduced to all of the characters and had a general feeling about what was going on.

These novellas cover Celaena Sardothien’s life before she ended up in the prison camp. You get to see her in action as an assassin and the stories help provide some insight into her choices and actions in later books.

Rating: 8/10

The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

If you always feel like you cross things off your to-do list, but never feel any happier, this is worth a listen!

Dr. Benjamin Hardy dives into Dan Sullivan’s philosophy about the gap and the gain. In short, you need to be measuring your actions by how far you’ve come (AKA the gain), rather than how far you still need to go or how you’ve fallen short of a goal (AKA the gap). The two dive into the concept together and explain it better than I do.

While I enjoyed the big concepts in this book, I did find the chapters to be a bit repetitive at times. I think it could have been a bit shorter.

Rating: 7/10

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

This book #3 in The Empyrean series, so it likely contains spoilers for the first two books. Please read with caution. Check out my reviews of Fourth Wing here and Iron Flame here.

Like just about everyone else this month, I dove headfirst into Onyx Storm as soon as my pre-order arrived! It took me a while to get back into it as I didn’t re-read the previous two books (I wish I had), but the pace did pick up quickly.

Following the events of the previous book, Violet is determined to find a way to save Xaden while also keeping his change a secret. As if that weren’t stressful enough, Violet is also determined to find Andarna’s kind and is willing to travel just about everywhere in order to do so. All the while, the venin seem to have their eye on Violet and her lightning signet. It’s clear a big battle is brewing.

I’ll be honest, I’m reading these books for the dragons. I’m absolutely obsessed with Tairn and will be devastated if anything happens to him in the upcoming books.

Rating: 8/10

Want more book reviews? Check out what I read in January 2025!

As always, I want to know what YOU are reading. Leave a comment below with some of your recent favorites.