February is a short month. Yes, let's use that excuse

This month, I only got three books read.  For a total of 1,122 pages.  Ouch.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (394 pages).  I really loved the first book I read of hers.  This one, I'm not so sure.  The chapters bounced around between several (eventually overlapping) stories, all occurring in Australia.  Which had me way confused for a very long time.  The first storyline is in Melbourne with Cecilia, her husband John-Paul and their three daughters (Polly, Esther and Isabel).  She has a full and fulfilling life.  Until she finds a letter from her husband, to be opened at the event of his death (he's still alive, BTW).  The letter is so shocking, so life-changing, that Cecilia's world will never be the same.  The second storyline is in Sydney with Tess, her husband Will, their son Liam and her cousin Felicity.  Tess learns that her husband and cousin have fallen in love.  So she takes her son back to her hometown of Melbourne to be with her mother.  And begins to learn more about herself than she thought possible.  The third storyline is in Melbourne with Rachel, her son Rob, daughter-in-law Lauren and grandson Jacob.  Rachel is a widow who lost her daughter when Janie was just a teenager.  A murder that was never solved.  Her world stops when Rob and Lauren tell her that they are moving to NYC for two years and taking Jacob, the light of her life, with them.  Tess grew up with Cecilia and her husband.  Rachel is the secretary at the children's elementary school, where the principal is the ex-boyfriend of both Janie (in high school) and Tess (in her twenties).  The worlds begin to overlap and intertwine.  Eventually, secrets come out and lives are forever changed.  One of my favorite parts- the epilogue, where the author tells us all of the might-have-beens that the characters would've experienced if things had gone differently.  I liked the book okay (once I got into it).  It was definitely not as good as What Alice Forgot, the first book I read by the author.

Cress by Marissa Meyer (550 pages).  Third book in the Lunar Chronicles.  The books are strange retellings of fairy tales, set in a dystopian future.  In book one, we met Cinder, aka Cinderella (she happens to be a cyborg and a missing Lunar princess) and her compatriot, Captain Thorne.  In book two, we met Scarlet, aka Red Riding Hood, and her sidekick, a street fighter nicknamed Wolf.  In book three, we met Crescent Moon, aka Rapunzel.  Cress has been imprisoned in a satellite orbiting Earth, forced to do the Lunar Queen Levana's bidding (Cress is a techie genius).  Unfortunately for the Queen, Cress's sympathies lie with Cinder and her crew.  While Emperor Kai of New Beijing prepares for his wedding to Queen Levana (something he's willing to do to save Earth from Lunar soldiers), Cinder and her crew search for a way to save Earth themselves.  No way is Cinder going to let Kai, the man she loves, marry an evil dictator who will probably kill him when she, Cinder, is the lost Lunar princess who can save both Earth and Luna from Levana's reign.  A rescue attempt on Cress goes wrong and the crew ends up separated- Scarlet on Luna, Cress and Thorne in the Sahara and Cinder and Wolf in their spaceship.  Eventually they are all reunited and the revolution can begin- a revolution to take Luna back from Queen Levana's clutches.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (178 pages).  I have absolutely no idea what I just read.  Seriously- weirdest book ever.  The narrator returns to his hometown in Sussex for a funeral.  He drives back to the property where his childhood home used to be.  He then drives to the end of the lane near his house and sees Hempstock Farm.  Suddenly, he is taken back to events that occurred when he was seven.  A boarder who had been living with the boy's family commits suicide in the family's car.  At the end of the lane.  By Hempstock Farm.  There, the boy meets Lettie.  She's eleven.  And there is something most unusual about the Hempstock women.  Lettie and the boy inadvertently bring a demon-woman named Ursula Mockton into the boy's life.  The Hempstock women must fight to send her back to wherever it is she came from.  Lettie sacrifices herself for the boy.  Well, sort of.  Her mother and grandmother put her body back in their "ocean" so she can live.  The boy only seems to remember these events when he returns to Hempstock Farm.  And never remembers returning to Hempstock Farm.  I for real have no idea what I read.  Remind me that I don't really like Neil Gaiman, please!