Monthly Round-Up – February 2014

Monthly Round-Up – February 2014

February went pretty quickly which was both a good thing (as the nicer weather is hopefully drawing nearer) and also a bad thing as my mum has cancer and the doctors have advised she may not have much time left.

I have been pretty busy at work which has helped take my mind off things a little and blogging has also been a big help for that too. I feel like I have a lot of pent-up emotions that I cannot really release as I have to try and keep things together to make sure my mum is being well cared for and all business is also taken care of. I am fortunate to have such a supportive partner but some days really are a struggle.

Blogging has helped keep my mind focused elsewhere for a bit and as usual reading is a much-needed escape now and then. Still, I feel as though I have not had as much time for leisure activities recently.

I have still managed to get through a small amount of my ever-increasing TBR pile though. I have fallen a little further back on actual reviewing (been having a lot of fun completing memes and challenges!) but I hope to get caught up soon.

I managed to complete a few of my challenges for this month. As part of the Monthly Motif challenge, I had to read a book hat has won recognition or a literary award. For this February challenge I decided to finally buy and read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and I am so glad that I did as the book has become one of my favourites. If you haven’t already read it I urge you to do so – you will not regret it as it is a fantastic book!

I also took part in the Jumble Your Genres challenge. I read several contemporary books this month but the one I showcased for this challenge was The Red Sheet by Mia Kerick mainly because the book simply blew me away. I am unsure what I was expecting from this – don’t get me wrong I have read Mia Kerick’s other books and thoroughly enjoyed them but the premise of this book seemed a little silly. I was glad to be proven utterly wrong though. This book contained a very realistic depiction of bullying. I strongly recommend this book.

Yikes – that is a lot of books I have added to my already towering stack of books sitting unread and unloved (well maybe not unloved!). I really need to cut back on the book buying until I have caught up more. This is a goal for March – stop buying so many books and get reading the ones I have already got!

5 Star Reads:

4 Star Reads:

3 Star Reads:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz!!

This is a tough one but I am going to have to go with: Unhinged by A.G. Howard

It’s just so pretty and eye-catching! I hate to admit but I was seduced by the pretty covers for this series – luckily the books in this series get pretty rave reviews so I am hoping I will enjoy both Splintered and Unhinged.

I managed to keep up with posting this month and have met some amazing bloggers through taking part in weekly memes and challenges. Getting to know other bloggers has probably been the best part of this month for me.

This month my most popular topics have again been my ‘which character are you’ or ‘what type are you’ quizzes (gives me a great excuse to keep doing them – I am addicted!). The most popular has been What Kind of Reader Are You by a significantly large margin!

My meme posts such as Stacking the Shelves, WWW Wednesdays, and Top Ten Tuesday posts were also fairly well visited.

• [1 Feb] Stacking the Shelves #1
• [2 Feb] Monthly Round-Up – January 2014
• [3 Feb] Which Hunger Games character are you?
• [4 Feb] Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry
• [5 Feb] Waiting on Wednesday: Isla and the Happily…
• [6 Feb] Favourite Literary Characters: The Fool
• [7 Feb] The Friday 56: Bold Tricks
• [7 Feb] Listening to Today: Tegan and Sara
• [8 Feb] Stacking the Shelves #2
• [9 Feb] Which Walking Dead character are you?
• [11 Feb] Top Ten Books That Will Make You Swoon
• [11 Feb] Joy of Reading in the Winter
• [12 Feb] Waiting on Wednesday: Fiendish
• [12 Feb] WWW Wednesdays: Week 1
• [12 Feb] Which David Bowie are you?
• [14 Feb] The Friday 56: Lola and the Boy Next Door
• [14 Feb] Most Romantic Books You’ve Ever Read
• [15 Feb] Stacking the Shelves #3
• [15 Feb] My Mad Fat Diary: A Reflection on Series 1
• [16 Feb] Which Clueless character are you?
• [16 Feb] The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★★
• [17 Feb] What kind of reader are you?
• [17 Feb] What’s Your Personality Type?
• [18 Feb] Top Ten Reasons I Love Being A Blogger/Reader
• [18 Feb] I am an INFP – Humanmetrics Jung Typology
• [19 Feb] Waiting on Wednesday: Sacrifice
• [19 Feb] WWW Wednesdays: Week 2
• [19 Feb] Quotes I Like: Apple Inc.
• [19 Feb] 10 Things I Hate About Me
• [20 Feb] Which YA book genre are you?
• [20 Feb] Ten Must See Book-to-Movie Adaptations
• [20 Feb] Ten Interesting Facts About Books / Writers
• [21 Feb] The Friday 56: Another Little Piece
• [21 Feb] Stacking the Shelves #4
• [22 Feb] Which 90s TV Boyfriend is right for you?
• [23 Feb] My Very Own Bucket List
• [23 Feb] Which SVH character are you?
• [24 Feb] Quotes I Like: Robert Herrick
• [25 Feb] Top Ten Book to Movie Adaptations
• [25 Feb] Which Empire Records character are you?
• [26 Feb] Waiting on Wednesday: Silver Shadows
• [26 Feb] WWW Wednesdays: Week 3
• [26 Feb] Damn the Man – Save the Empire!
• [26 Feb] The Red Sheet by Mia Kerick ★★★★★
• [26 Feb] Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin A. Saenz ★★★★★
• [27 Feb] Which Joss Whedon heroine are you?
• [27 Feb] Which Baby-Sitter’s Club character are you?
• [28 Feb] The Friday 56: Aristotle and Dante…

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and/or commented. I really appreciate it!

Outside of book-reading and blogging, I have also spent quite some time catching up on watching movies and TV shows.

What movies I watched this month:

• Carrie (the remake – not as good as the original but still watchable)
• The Town
• Stir of Echoes (I had forgotten how good this film was – very underrated horror movie!)

What television shows I watched this month:

• I caught up on Once Upon a Time (I love Hook!)
• My Mad Fat Diary is back!! I love this show and so far series 2 has been just as good as series 1

What I have been listening to:

• Heartthrob by Tegan and Sara (amazing album!)
• Been on a bit of an old-skool kick listening to some of my favourite 80s/90s bands like The Stone Roses, Weezer, The Smiths etc
• The Frozen soundtrack

It was Valentine’s Day this month and on top of getting me some fab books, my wonderful fiancé also bought me this beautiful pendant (from Heathergems):

Well, that’s my wrap-up for February. What about you guys? What were your favorite books this month? Favourite posts? Favourite articles? Other fun stuff you have done? What did you get up to in the month of February?

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