February Wrap-Up | Mysteries, Confusing Weather, and a Lack of Free Time

I considered talking about how fast time has gone by, like I usually do, but for now, I’m not going to. Instead, we’ll focus on something else. This month was full of mysteries! I read mystery novels and watched a mystery TV show; there’s just a whole lot of mystery.

BOOKS READ

The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang|📖|★★★★.5
Wow, what a way to end a series. I can not believe how good this whole trilogy was. The Burning God was a thrilling and heartbreaking conclusion. The relationships were everything in this story. Rin and Kitay have my heart, the love they have for each other strengthening their bond even more; Rin and Nezha, now fighting on opposite sides of the war; and Rin and the Trifecta, three all-powerful shamans, who teach her a bit on how to handle all the power she wields. I have no words for this series.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1) by Holly Jackson|📖|★★★★.5
Yes, this book! It was amazing. Everything about the mystery was so detailed and complex; I had a lot of fun following the leads and trying to figure out who the actual murderer was. Pip was a great protagonist; I especially loved reading the log entries. Also, the romance between Pip and Ravi was one of my favorite parts!

Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #2) by Holly Jackson|📱|★★★★★
It only got better. Good Girl, Bad Blood dove even deeper into the secrets of Fairview and I was all for it. One of the reasons I like mystery novels is that it’s almost like a game, where you have to figure out who did it. That’s what I did with this one. Pip and Ravi’s relationship was explored more and I loved their moments together.

Our Violent Ends (These Violent Delights #2) by Chloe Gong|📖|[not rated yet]
I technically haven’t finished this book yet, I’m still currently reading it, but I am so close to finishing, so I’m going to add it to this anyways. I’ll most likely finish it today. I am in love with this duology. With Chloe Gong’s vivid writing, I was transported back to 1920s Shanghai. I loved the characters, as always, and the relationship between Juliette and Roma just pulled at my heartstrings.

TBR FOR MARCH

My hold for As Good As Dead on Libby is currently around three weeks waiting time, so I have a feeling I’ll be getting to the other books on this list first. I’ve heard amazing things about Counting Down with You and it will be my first contemporary of the year. I was meaning to read The Ones We’re Meant to Find last month, but my order my Our Violent Ends came and I had to read that first. The Kingdom of Back has been at the top of my TBR for quite some time now, but I keep ignoring it. Maybe I’ll actually get to it this month.

MY POSTS

Ignoring the week that I disappeared, I had a pretty good blogging month. My schedule got really busy in February, but once I got used to the extra activities, I was able to start balancing it out. Here are my posts for the month.

• January Wrap-Up|We’re Already a Month into 2022?
• Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang|A Brilliant, Asian-Inspired Fantasy, Full of Warfare and Fire
• The Chapters and Melodies Tag
• 13 Books by Black Authors|Honoring Black History Month
• Flowers of Spring|it’s way too early for them to be blooming
• Let’s Talk Bookish: The Difference Between Book Addicts and Book Lovers

AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

• Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm wrote a discussion, answering the question, “are Marvel movies real cinema?”
• Line @ First Line Reader wrote a discussion on the “(medieval) Europe as a fantasy setting” trope, which I learned a lot from.
• Veronika and Sabrina @ Wordy and Whimsical shared a list of summer and winter book recommendations.
• Gauri @ A Book and Chai shared her interview with Lillie Lainoff, author of One For All.
• Birdie @ Bride’s booktopia wrote a review for The Grimrose Girls, causing me to immediately add it to my TBR.
• Isha @ Paperbacktomes shared a list of 15 things only bibliophiles can relate to, and it’s all so true.
• Maggie @ Maggie’s Doodles shared tips for posting regularly while working full-time.

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo YWP’s “Now What?” Contest this year and I just submitted my excerpt last night, a few hours before the deadline. We had to pick and revise an excerpt from our WIP, up to 400 words long. I had a lot of fun doing it, I basically just rewrote a scene all together. Though after I wrote it, I seriously had to cut it down because I went way over the word limit. Every year, they have a different guest author judge to read and say their thoughts on the winners’ excerpts. What’s really exciting is that this year, the author is Tashie Bhuiyan. Usually I don’t who the author is, but I do this year. That’s one of the reasons I’m so excited to read her book this month. Here’s the excerpt I wrote for it, I hope you enjoy it:

To continue my telling of the mystery month, along with reading two mystery novels, I finished watching a mystery TV show: Only Murders in the Building. It is fantastic; if you’re into murder mysteries and like humor, go watch it. It stars Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez; Short and Martin are actually friends in real life, which makes their interactions in the show even better. And I’m also really excited because season 1 ended on a cliffhanger and it’s been renewed for another season.

The weather in February was all over the place. One week, it was sunny and warm, in the 70s, and then the next week, it dropped and was windy and cold, in the 50s. A few mornings, there was frost on the ground. I don’t understand the weather.

My schedule is packed. I have something happening every day after school which makes for a busy week. The reading mentor program I started takes Monday and Wednesdays, but it’s been so fun. I have an adorable first grade buddy, who I have a great time interacting with and helping read. She’s pretty energetic most of the time and seems to look forward to reading, which is very helpful.

February Goals:

• Read 5 books ❌
• Post 7 times ❌
• Work on WIP ✅
• Write 2 reviews ❌

Wow, I did pretty bad last month.

March Goals:

• Read 4 books
• Post 7 times (2 of them reviews)
• Work on WIP
• Practice violin at least 4 times a week

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How was your February? Did you read any good books?
Do you have any fun plans for March?