What I Read in February 2025
February’s books took me thru many different eras, continents, and experiences. From missing Egyptian artifacts at the Met Gala, to an isolated Scottish island with mysterious happenings, to a family saga covering four generations that takes place in Korea and Japan, I was fully immersed and captivated by this months books.
Read on to see the books I read this past month 📚✨
For more recommendations, don’t forget to check out my Bookshelf page!
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The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
This book combined two of my favorite things - Egyptian history and the Met Gala! It might seem like an unlikely pairing, but the dual timeline mystery had me hooked from the start.
The story alternates between Egypt in the 1930s and NYC in the 1970s. In the past we meet Charlotte, who is a budding archeologist on a dig in Egypt who makes a groundbreaking discovery - only for tragedy to strik soon after. Decades later, in 1978, Charlotte is the associate curator of Egyptian Art at Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the Met Gala is coinciding with the museums highly anticipated Egyptian exhibit. Meanwhile, Annie, a young intern working under the legendary Diana Vreeland is thrown into the whirlwind of gala prep.
Things take a turn when a priceless artifact - one Charlotte recognizes from her past—arrives at the museum under suspicious circumstances. On the night of the Gala, the artifact, along with a few other pieces, go missing. Suddenly Charlotte and Annie find themselves working together to recover the missing treasures.
I loved the blend of suspense, history, and glamour, along with the thrilling behind-the-scenes look at the Met Gala.
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
This book had me hooked until the very end and I didn’t see the ending coming - something that usually doesn’t happen! Grady Greene’s wife, Abby, disappears on the same evening his book makes the coveted NYT Bestseller list. She calls to tell him she is almost home when she sees a woman lying on the road, as she gets out to check on her Grady is yelling at her to stay in the car and call the police. Then the phone goes silent. Grady rushes to her location to find her car still there but she’s missing.
A year later, Grady is still torn up of the disappearance of his wife and his life is starting to fall apart. His editor, Abby’s aunt, suggests he retreat to a small Scottish island to write. When Grady arrives on the island, he thinks he sees his missing wife. What unfolds next kept me in suspense until the end. Loved it.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Keeping up with my commitment to read at least one book a month from the NYT 100 books of the 21st Century (so far!), Pachinko did not disappoint.
Following a Korean family through four generations as they build their life in Japan, this is an emotional saga with love, loss, loyalty, and ambition. Sunja, the daughter of an adored fisherman in their small village in Korea, falls for an older, wealthy man. When she discovers she is pregnant, and he’s married, her life takes a different course. She refuses to bring shame to her family by being a kept woman and agrees to marry a handsome, yet sickly minister passing through their village on his way to Japan. She uproots her life and moves with him to Japan, starting a new life. Life in Japan is not easy, Koreans are looked down upon and treated as second class citizens. But Sunja pushes forward and makes a life for her and her family. They persevere through the anti-Korean racism to build a legacy they can be proud of. Through loss and love, this epic tale captures life in Japan as an outsider. I highly recommend this book.
