Monthly Round-Up – March 2014

Monthly Round-Up – March 2014

April is (almost) here, and that means that it is time for my March monthly round/wrap up! The year is really hurtling by – I cannot believe that we are now technically into Spring (see ya Winter – won’t miss ya!). March was a very busy month for me and I had lots of personal stuff to deal with. I am actually really glad it is nearly over as March has never really been the best month for me and this year was no exception.

I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump the past few months. I am finally starting to get myself out of this but I made the decision to reduce my Goodreads Challenge this year. I had previously thought that 150 seemed a reasonable amount for me to get through but I have been struggling to maintain this level so I have now dropped to 100 books to read this year. It seems strange but it is really a load off my mind and it means I can get stuck back in without feeling any guilt over how far behind I have gotten with my reading.

Books I read this month:

Social Skills by Sara Alva (4/5 stars)

Trouble & the Wallflower by Kade Boehme (4/5 stars)

Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens (5/5 stars)

The Blue-Haired Boy by Courtney C. Stevens (5/5 stars)

Sia by Josh Grayson (3/5 stars)

Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin (4/5 stars)

Spencer by J. P. Barnaby (5/5 stars)

Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith Walters (4/5 stars)

Not Just Friends by Jay Northcote (4/5 stars)

Painting Fire on the Air by J. P. Barnaby (4/5 stars)

1/27: An ICoS Anthology by Santino Hassell & Ais Nym (5/5 stars)

Books I reviewed this month:

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Yikes – only one review this month. I really need to get my finger out in April!

Top Books of the Month:

I just couldn’t pick a favourite between these 3 books – they were all amazing in different ways!

Top Cover of the Month:

It is just so atmospheric and dreamy – I love it!

Personal News:

I finally caved and bought myself a Kindle Fire – I am so excited about it! I also bought a new laptop which I am ridiculously happy about. I have been pretty skint the last couple of months so it was great to finally have a little spare cash to upgrade my equipment. I also went on a bit of a book-buying spree as well!!

Blog News:

I was nominated for 3 Liebster Blog Awards this month! Big thanks to the bloggers who nominated me – Tiffany @ Beneath the Jacket Reviews, Jordan @ YA Book Madness, and Faith @ Faith’s Book Nook – you guys rock! I was really chuffed to be nominated. See my posts here and here for more details.

I didn’t get a chance to post about Faith’s nomination yet (been super-swamped). I will not take part again because I have already nominated some of my favourite blogs this month but I did want to take the time to answer Faith’s questions so I am going to do this here (if that is OK):

1. How many books do you own?

I loosely keep track of all my books on Goodreads (though I have not yet catalogued all of them) and I have approximately 2000 books currently (that is a scary number!). I have only read about half of them!

2. What made you start blogging?

I really enjoyed reviewing books on Goodreads (and latterly Booklikes) but I thought it was quite limiting too. I wanted to be able to have a space where I could share all my bookish (and some non-bookish) thoughts. I decided spur of the moment to set up a blog – decided on WordPress as the host site and just went for it! I really didn’t get fully into it until a few months later though.

3. What’s the first book you can remember reading on your own?

The Sly Fox and the Little Red Hen by Vera Southgate. I used to beg my mum to read this to me over and over again. I finally knew the story word for word and started reading along to it. That’s how I learned to read!

4. What’s your favourite fictional couple?

That’s a tough one! I have so many that I really like but i think I will have to go with Adrian Ivashkov and Sydney Sage from Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines series. I love both of them (especially Adrian) and I think the complement each other so well.

5. What is the book you’re most looking forward to this year?

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb for sure! Can’t wait to catch up with my beloved Fool and Fitz again!

6. What’s your all-time favourite book?

Still gotta be The Lord of the Rings. It has been my favourite book since I was 9 years old.

7. Who’s your favourite author?

Robin Hobb, closely followed by Juliet Marillier. I cannot get enough of their books and have re-read each of their books more than a few times.

8. What’s your favourite food?

Pizza! I love cheese! It sadly doesn’t love me (I have a slight dairy intolerance) but that doesn’t stop me from scarfing down pizza whenever I can…

9. What’s your favourite color?

Purple and Turquoise (not together – that would not work at all). I also really like teal, blue, and pink.

10. If you could choose one fictional character to bring into the real world and make them a real person, who would it be?

The Fool without a doubt! Runner-up would be Mildmay from Sarah Monette’s Doctrine of Labyrinths series.

I also wrote a small piece on World Book Day (celebrated on March 6 2014 in the UK). This incidentally was my 200th post on this blog!!

I reached 100 followers on my blog (it shows higher on my homepage as it includes Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr followers). Thanks so much to everyone for following me. I was overwhelmed when I saw that my little blog had attracted 100 followers!

 Discussion Posts:

Guilty Pleasures – We All ‘Ave Em

Bookish Pet Peeves

Challenge Updates:

Eh…moving on… I don’t know why I bother with challenges – I am so bad at keeping up with them!

Books I cannot wait for:

I am excited for all of these books but Fool’s Assassin tops the list. I can’t wait for more Fitz and the Fool!

On the Blog:

• [1 Mar] Stacking the Shelves #5
• [1 Mar] Monthly Round-Up – February 2014
• [2 Mar] Random Reads – March
• [2 Mar] Karina Halle Character Soul Mate?
• [3 Mar] Which fandom do you actually belong in?
• [4 Mar] Top Ten Popular Authors I’ve Never Read
• [5 Mar] Waiting on Wednesday: Fool’s Assassin
• [5 Mar] WWW Wednesdays: Week 4
• [5 Mar] Which Firefly character are you?
• [6 Mar] World Book Day – UK
• [7 Mar] The Liebster Blog Award
• [7 Mar] The Friday 56: Plainsong for Caitlin
• [8 Mar] Which Veronica Mars character are you?
• [8 Mar] Stacking the Shelves #6
• [10 Mar] All Time Favourite Books in The Fantasy Genre
• [12 Mar] Waiting on Wednesday: To All the Boys…
• [12 Mar] WWW Wednesdays: Week 5
• [13 Mar] My Guilty Pleasures
• [14 Mar] Bookish Pet Peeves
• [14 Mar] The Friday 56: Burn for Burn
• [15 Mar] Stacking the Shelves #7
• [15 Mar] Another Liebster Award!
• [16 Mar] Which Sherlock character are you?
• [17 Mar] Veronica Mars Movie – A Review
• [18 Mar] Top Ten Books On My Spring 2014 TBR List
• [19 Mar] Waiting on Wednesday: Love, In English
• [19 Mar] WWW Wednesdays: Week 6
• [20 Mar] Are you right or left brained?
• [21 Mar] The Friday 56: Faking Normal
• [22 Mar] Stacking the Shelves #8
• [25 Mar] Top Ten Things On My Bookish Bucket List
• [26 Mar] Waiting on Wednesday: Ashes to Ashes
• [26 Mar] WWW Wednesdays: Week 7
• [26 Mar] The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★★
• [27 Mar] Love Triangles: Right v Wrong
• [28 Mar] The Friday 56: Reclaiming the Sand
• [29 Mar] Stacking the Shelves #9
• [31 Mar] Monthly Round-Up – March 2014
• [31 Mar] LGBT Month: April

Movies I watched this month:

Thor: The Dark World

Veronica Mars

Almost Famous

Pitch Perfect

Television shows I watched this month:

My Mad Fat Diary

The Walking Dead

Once Upon a Time

Music I have been listening to:

Pitch Perfect soundtrack

The Cure

Well, that’s my wrap-up for March. 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 March?

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