February Reading Wrap Up

2025 is really moving on! As they say, time flies when you’re having fun.

February was filled with so many things I love. There were bus adventures, I gave another school talk with the charity Just Like Us and told my story of growing up asexual, I have been working on a very exciting upcoming writing project which involves having great conversations with fellow aces, and, most importantly, I made time for my people.

It hasn’t always been easy for me to make friends. Many years of losing friendships and ultimately learning how to nurture and maintain these relationships has allowed me to build the strong connections I now have. Reflecting on the month just gone, I can see how much I have improved at being a friend and just how much joy these connections give me.

It was on a friend’s recommendation that I picked up my first non-fiction book of the year - The View from Down Here by Lucy Webster, a book breaking down misogynist ableism. I gave this book five stars but that doesn’t fully express how this book made me feel! I wrote so many ideas down about the link between ableism and sexism, as well as dating and disability. This book gave me a lot to reflect on and has ultimately changed how I view disability for others and myself.

This month’s book club book was also a non-fiction read. I can hardly believe that it has taken us so long to get around to reading Ace by Angela Chen at book club! I guess that goes to show how many books are coming out containing ace representation these days because we have been able to read a book a month for two and a half years and only now coming back to this ace classic.

I continue to be in the mood for sapphic romances and have read two more this month: Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur and Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun. I can’t see this romance mood ending any time soon, so I expect to read many more in the months to come.

I then finished the month with the graphic novel memoir Homebody by Theo Parish, which is a truly delightful (quick) read.

This year remains to be a great year of reading; I have enjoyed every book so far!

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The View From Down Here by Lucy Webster ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Some of the best non-fiction reading experiences are those where you feel seen, your own thoughts reflected on the page, AND the book still goes on to open your mind to more.
This book is a breakdown of misogynist ableism and what it means to be a disabled woman in our society.
I was eager to read Webster's account after hearing a fellow disabled friend talk so enthusiastically about it. (Thank you friend for also lending me your copy!)
The chapters on interdependence and motherhood particularly left me with a lot to think about - why are some forms of help socially acceptable while others are not? - and ultimately changed the way I see disability for others and myself.

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a fun read, I enjoyed it.
I think it has one of the most believable reasons for why anyone would enter a fake relationship out of the books I've read with this trope.
Elle and Darcy go on a blind date and there are sparks, so it's not hard for Darcy to then lie to her brother about the two of them hitting it off to avoid diving straight into more blind date hook-ups from her younger bro. And Elle, being the romantic (and wanting the business deal with Darcy's brother to work out), easily goes along with this ruse.
The conflicts between Elle and Darcy match their characters throughout. Again, it's believable. As a reader, I can get invested in their ups and downs.

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Society, Desire, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is one of the asexual classics. Chen was one of the first to release a non-fiction book specifically about asexuality.
I had previously read part one for book club back in 2022 and have now reread that section and the rest, again, for book club.
Three chapters in particular have left me thinking:
IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
"A disabled ace woman complicates both these political agendas" -pg. 85
THE GOOD-ENOUGH REASON
"Aces say, over and over, that it is not morally correct to automatically privilege the preferences of the person who wants to have sex" - pg. 141
PLAYING WITH OTHERS
"When it comes to sex, many people don't ask why enough" - pg. 160
I found some chapters didn't go into as much depth as I would have liked (although that makes sense in the context of it being one of the first ace books).
I really liked how Chen spoke to so many fellow aces and the book isn't just their experience. The author also points out that the book has limitations in terms of demographics and encourages other authors to fill in the gaps in future works.

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
During the week I read this book, I also watched the 90s romcom While You Were Sleeping and couldn't help but notice the similarities - from the fake engagement but then falls for the sibling plot down to the kiss under the mistletoe scene. I did a little Google search and was delighted to find that this film was, in fact, an inspiration for this delightful story.
Ellie is an animator who created a webcomic about her snow day with Jack, a magical day when she fell in love with this woman last Christmas. This Christmas, her dreams have been shattered and she desperately needs money, and so she gets fake-engaged to Andrew, the owner of the building where she works and who is looking for a marriage of convenience. Only having agreed to marry Andrew and spend Christmas with his family does Ellie realise that Jack, the woman she still loves, is Andrew's sister.
As well as being the queer version of While You Were Sleeping, it also has its own character. I loved how Ellie's webcomic script is interspersed throughout the story, slowly revealing what really happened last Christmas.
Yes, I read a Christmas book in February. But Ellie's story of falling in love with Jack and Andrew's family and healing through creating a community, that is exactly the sort of sapphic book I needed to read.

Homebody by Theo Parish ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a wonderful graphic novel memoir showing Theo's exploration of gender identity.
I really liked the art style and there are some great messages throughout that apply to identity (not just gender identity).
"It's no coincidence that the closer I got with myself - my true, authentic self - the closer I got to those around me"
"Words are important. They allow us to communicate how we think and feel. Words help us to understand and be understood"