Reviews of the 9 Books I Read in February 2026

1. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue

Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever.

When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires.

So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife.

My Rating: ★★★

Nothing hits quite like discovering a new Irish writer. Set in Cork, this highly relatable story about university, friendships, relationships and moving out for the first time could be compared to Sally Rooney, Naoise Dolan and other Irish contemporary writers, but I ate up every bit of it and related to almost all of it. I can’t wait to read more by Caroline O’Donoghue and there’s definitely something in the water when it comes to Irish writers.

2. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors, until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late. 

My Rating: ★★★

This one had been on my shelf for a while, but something about the book cover (yes, I judged) and the blurb had me putting it off time and again, even with its raving reviews and upcoming movie adaptation. I will say it did take me around 150 pages to get into the book as it was a bit of a slog, but it’s every bit as heartwarming and uplifting as I imagine the movie will be.

3. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel… Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

My Rating: ★★★

My third Ashley Poston novel, so I know to expect a little ‘woo-woo’ with her stories. However, this one just didn’t hit for me at all. With her other books, at least some of it came off as semi-believable, but this was almost straight-up fantasy. I also find it hard to sympathise with people that begrudge their friends getting engaged and moving on because they feel left out/left behind. When the main character becomes unlikeable, the book for me becomes also unlikeable. There was a lot of eye-rolling involved when reading this.

4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany’s. In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape.

Her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.

My Rating: ★★★

I’m not sure what possessed me to pick this up in the library, but it’s a classic and I’d never read or even seen the movie, so thought why not? It’s tough to follow like a lot of old books that are so short. There’s never much character depth or explanation and scenes move and change so quickly that it’s hard to keep up. Holly Golightly herself is a hard person to keep up with, but I loved the New York charm that the book had and the flighty lifestyle she led. I need to watch the movie next to see this in action.

5. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his new wife, Hannah: protect her. Hannah knows exactly who Owen needs her to protect – his teenage daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. And who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As her desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, his boss is arrested for fraud and the police start questioning her, Hannah realises that her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey might hold the key to discovering Owen’s true identity, and why he disappeared. Together they set out to discover the truth.

My Rating: ★★★

The sequel to this book came out this month, so I wanted to pick up the first and finally read it. There are quite mixed reviews online so I didn’t go into it with high hopes, but I actually highly enjoyed it. It’s definitely a holiday-type read to get lost in on a sun lounger. It’s quick paced with a ‘whodunnit’ premise that keeps you guessing throughout the book. Ignoring the reviews, I’ll be picking up the sequel as soon as I can to continue the saga.

6. Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden

Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction. Or at least, she did.

These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person. It’s time to take her own advice.

My Rating: ★★★

Freida McFadden’s newest release and you know I can’t resist miss Freida McFadden. This is the 15th book of hers that I’ve read now and I highly enjoyed it. It was comical in parts and almost part satire, but I loved crazy Debbie and how she quietly destroyed everyone that underestimated her. I loved the twists that Freida McFadden is famous for and that I fall for every single time. Another great book by her, so bring on the next one.

7. Us Against You (2) by Fredrik Backman

A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.

My Rating: ★★★

This is the second in the Beartown series and while I love Fredrik Backman’s writing and rated the first in this series 5-stars, I found this one to be a lot slower. We have the same set of characters in book two, which continues on from the fallout in book one. The books in this series are around 400+ pages each, and while it’s full of beautiful paragraphs and statements, the plot itself felt very drawn out. I love the town, the people and the heartwarming feel of the series, so I’ll definitely by finishing the series out with The Winners soon.

8. Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy

Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting.

And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch.

She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.

My Rating: ★★★

Jennette McCurdy’s highly anticipated debut fiction novel. The world lost its mind at her memoir ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ and it was in the Bestsellers charts for endless weeks (and rightly so), so when she announced she was writing a fiction novel, my intrigue was peaked. It’s not a new story in the slightest – student falls in love with teacher – so it was going to be interesting to see her take on the Lolita tale. It was vulgar, dirty, and very real. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

9. No Hard Feelings by Genevieve Novak

Penny can’t help but compare herself to her friends. Annie is about to become a senior associate at her law firm, Bec has just got engaged, Leo is dating everyone this side of the Yarra, and Penny is just … waiting.

Waiting for Max, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, to allow her to spend the night, waiting for the promotion she was promised, waiting for her Valium to kick in. Waiting for her real life to start.

Out of excuses and sick of falling behind, Penny is determined to turn things around.

My Rating: ★★★

The description read ‘hungover, underpaid and overwhelmed’ and I picked it up straight away. Another novel about being in your 20s? Sign me up. However, this was very Melbourne-specific which thankfully having been to Melbourne, I knew what the author was talking about and had actually been to some of the restaurants and bars mentioned. I hate to say that I found the main character so infuriating. Going back to a guy who so clearly didn’t want her and then moaning to her friends about it every single time, hating her job but also not putting in any effort there, bitching about her friends to other friends and vice versa, and not being happy for her friends success and relationships.