Posted in Monthly Wrap-Ups

February 2021 Wrap-Up 🧤

(the mittens emoji looks so dismal here…the apple version looks so much cuter…)

Hi again, bibliophiles!

Here’s another monthly wrap-up of an interesting reading month…

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

thor coffee gif - AllEars.Net
me drinking way too much hot chocolate over the long weekend

February was just…freezing here in Colorado. I suppose I should say “more freezing than usual” because it’s usually pretty chilly, but it rarely gets into the negatives in February, which it happened to do over the long President’s Day weekend. So, yes, lots of hot chocolate was consumed, a few episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender were watched (yes I finally started it), and many pairs of fuzzy socks were worn.

My workload’s been manageable and I’ve managed to keep my grades in a place where I like them, for the most part. I’ve been steadily working away at the outline for my sci-fi WIP, and I probably would have finished were it not for the writing contest that my mom found. So now I’m working away at my short story, and I’m so excited to be really writing again!

I haven’t listened to a whole lot of new stuff, but I’ve been dabbling a bit of instrumental scores, some new Danny Elfman, a bit of Spacemen 3, and of course more Julien Baker as of this Friday. I rewatched half of Fargo and I’m now caught up on WandaVision, and I can’t wait to see how the latter ends!

Also, I somehow managed to get a lot of new followers this month? I’m almost at 400 now, so thanks to all of you lovely people for sticking around 🥺

i *somehow* made this in under 10 minutes lol

READING AND BLOGGING:

I managed to read 22 books this February! That’s two more than January, and certainly a better batch too. (A lot less reads in the 2 star range and none in the 1 star range, I’m glad to say.) So here’s everything…

2 – 2.75 stars:

Amazon.com: The Kinder Poison eBook: Mae, Natalie: Kindle Store
The Kinder Poison

3 – 3.75 stars:

Hellboy: Odder Jobs by Christopher Golden
Hellboy: Odder Jobs

4 – 4.75 stars:

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin | Hachette Book Group
The City We Became

5 stars:

The Punch by Noah Hawley | Grand Central Publishing
The Punch

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Before the Fall5 stars

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

POSTS I ENJOYED FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE:

DID I ACTUALLY FOLLOW THROUGH ON MY FEBRUARY GOALS?

Awkward Uh Oh GIF by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Find & Share on  GIPHY

Let’s see…

  • Read more books by Black authors for Black History Month, and make a post about it: did that! I made an effort to read a lot of books from #OwnVoices Black authors, and I found so many great reads and new-to-me authors that I want to continue reading from. Of course, it’s crucial to read books from marginalized voices 24/7/365, but I figured that it was especially important for Black History Month.
  • Listen to & review Little Oblivions (Julien Baker) when it comes out: uh…
Well Yes, But Actually No | Know Your Meme

Listen to it? I’ve done that a lot. Reviewed it? Well, it came out two days ago, so…maybe next week. We’ll see.

  • Read at least 20 books: did that! 22 books in February 🙂
  • Finish my initial outline for my sci-fi WIP: nope. I might’ve been able to pull it off, but like I said, short story.

GOALS FOR MARCH:

We Got This GIFs | Tenor
  • Finish my short story for the writing contest (since the deadline is early April…)!
  • ACTUALLY review Little Oblivions
  • Read at least 20 books
  • Review all of the eARCs sitting on my Kindle

So that’s it for February, I guess. Here’s to a March that was…[ahem] less eventful than last March. You know what I mean.

Since I’ve already posted today, check out this week’s weekly update for today’s song.

That’s it for my February in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

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Posted in Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: February 22-28, 2021

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles!

The last week of February’s been a decent one, I’d say. The rest of my library haul was mostly 3-star reads, but there was still some good stuff in there. I had a lot more time to blog this week, and I had a lot of fun writing reviews and doing tags 🙂

Writing-wise, I finished up the outline for my short story, and I just started writing it last night! I’m at almost 800 words, and man, does it feel good to be actually writing again. Outline’s necessary and all, but nothing beats the real thing, does it?

Other than that, I’ve just been drawing a bit, messing around on Minecraft, watching more WandaVision (AAAAAH), starting to rewatch season 3 of Fargo, and obsessively listening to Julien Baker’s Little Oblivions since Friday morning. (I thought it came out sooner, and I usually like to sit with an album about a week before I review it, so expect…*something* next week…)

She's like a rainbow shared by ℋℰℒℰ𝒩❀ on We Heart It

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Mooncakes – Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: Mooncakes (9781549303043): Walker, Suzanne, Xu, Wendy: Books

Felix Ever After – Kacen Callender (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: Felix Ever After (9780062820259): Callender, Kacen: Books

Abandon – Blake Crouch (for book club) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: Abandon (9781503946194): Crouch, Blake: Books

Hellboy: Odd Jobs – Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Hellboy: Odd Jobs: Christopher Golden: 9781569714409: Amazon.com: Books

A Dark and Starless Forest – Sarah Hollowell (eARC) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)

A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

Hellboy: Odder Jobs – Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola et. al.

Hellboy: Odder Jobs by Christopher Golden

Sisters of the Wolf – Patricia Miller-Schroeder (eARC)

Amazon.com: Sisters of the Wolf (9781459747524): Miller-Schroeder, Patricia:  Books

Hellboy: Oddest Jobs – Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola et. al.

Hellboy: Oddest Jobs - Kindle edition by Mignola, Mike, Various,  Christopher Golden. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

The Life and Deaths of Frankie D. – Colleen Nelson (eARC)

Amazon.com: The Life and Deaths of Frankie D. eBook: Nelson, Colleen:  Kindle Store

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Books, Top 5 Saturday

Top 5 Saturday (7/11/20)–Hyped Books ✨

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

Anyway, it’s time for another Top 5 Saturday! This was originally started by Devouring Books, and it sounded like such a fun post to take part in. Today’s topic is hyped books. I thought I’d mix it up a bit this time, so I’ll pick books from my TBR.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR JULY: 

7/4/20 — Coming of Age

7/11/20 — Hyped Books

7/18/20 — Books You Own

7/25/20 —  #OwnVoices Books

Rules!

  • Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
  • Tag the original post (This one!)
  • Tag 5 people

Let’s begin, shall we?

TOP 5 SATURDAY (7/11/20)–HYPED BOOKS

Instant Karma, Marissa Meyer

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

I mean, it’s Marissa Meyer, of course everybody’s getting excited! I know I am…

Either way, I am so excited to read this superpowered rom-com!

Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender

ReadWithPride: Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender | The Nerd Daily

I was a bit hesitant to put this one on my TBR after how disappointing This is Kind of an Epic Love Story was, but after reading some reviews, I’m definitely willing to give this one a chance.

You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson

Amazon.com: You Should See Me in a Crown eBook: Johnson, Leah ...

This one came out a little over a month ago, and it sounds like an absolute delight!

Serpent and Dove, Shelby Mahurin

Amazon.com: Serpent & Dove eBook: Mahurin, Shelby: Kindle Store

This seemed to be one of the buzziest YA books of 2019, and it seems to be mostly deserving of it, from what I’ve heard. I had it on hold for a few weeks, and I finally have it on Kindle, so once I finish with my library books, I’ll have to see for myself…

Cinderella is Dead, Kaylynn Bayron

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Out of all the books on this Top 5 Saturday, this is probably the one that I’m most excited for. Even though we’ve seen a boatload of Cinderella retellings in the last decade or so, this one seems like a fresh and inventive take on it. It came out a few days ago, and I can’t wait to read it!

I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE!

Top 30 Thumbs Up GIFs | Find the best GIF on Gfycat

Today’s song:

(About halfway through listening to this album…)

That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Saturday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!