February 2019

Well, it’s no surprise that the shortest month of the year seemed to fly by!

For me, February was a weird mix of things. I moved closer to work in January so I’ve been using every spare moment since then unpacking, painting and setting up my ideal living space. I try to read a chapter or two before bed but sleep wins out. I also lost about 4 good days of reading thanks to my Lasik surgery at the start of the month. Thank goodness I had audiobooks to listen to because there isn’t a whole lot you can do when your vision is all over the place. Things have become much more manageable in both regards now so I was able to play catch-up on those days I missed by the end of the month.

And catch-up was an important thing to do! I was able to get Kindle Unlimited for 3 months for $1 (!!!) back in December but I haven’t been the best about reading anything from it. (I read ZERO books from there in January!).  That all changed this past month! February was also the first of four months I plan to dedicate solely to series sequels in 2019. With the exception of a few ARCs, every title I read this past month has been a sequel for a series I’ve already started, which was GREAT! I should have done that years ago!

 

Total for February 2019: 14 Books Read + 2 Novellas Read

DNF’d: 0 Books

Last February: 21 Books Read + 7 Novellas Read + 3 DNFs

Standout Read (★★★★★)

I really loved the hazing aspect to the plot. It handles the topic so well and was so relevant. Plus, the romance was super cute!

Biggest Let Down (★★★)

While I still enjoyed this novel, I had different expectations for the type of story it would be. This just had too many pages in it and that led to some pacing issues.

 

For Black Friday this year, Kindle had a promotion for new Kindle Unlimited Subscribers where you got 3 months of reading for only $0.99!!! Usually, we don’t get these deals in Canada so I made sure I locked in ASAP. I started my subscription at the start of December and it will end the first week of March. I wanted to keep track of what books I read to see if what I read is worth the monthly fee just like I did when completing the free trial.

• Twice Burned $4.90
• Logan $6.33
• Acting Brave $4.99
• Be Mine $1.27
• Aced $3.91 — in progress

If you add that to my December total of $8.29 (I didn’t read any in January—oops!), I’ve read a total of $25.78 for the price of $1! Fantastic!

 

Most Viewed Post Discussion: 3 Year Reflection of Self Hosting	Most Viewed Review Series Review: His Fair Assassin
View this year’s archives for more posts and reviews!

 

Previously posted series reviews that got updates:

You can always get the full details on all my challenges on my dedicated page but here is a quick update:

5 Year 5 Book Challenge: 1 book added | 2 of 25 Titles Read – 2 books behind!
Goodreads Challenge: 13 books added | 25/200 Books – 6 books behind!
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 2 books added | 5/36 Books – On Track!

View my Challenge Progress Here!

 

Sequel Month!

In an effort to reduce the number of book series I have on the go (123 and counting!), I’ve decided to dedicate 4 months of 2019 to sequels. I usually do this with what I dub “Sequel September” but I wanted to spread out the love throughout the year. Februrary, given that it is the shortest month, was a good month to test this new project on. And I had some fabulous results! Approximately 78% of the books I read this month were sequels! You can see the breakdown of what I read below:

• # of Sequels Read: 11
  1. Chasing River (Burying Water Series #3)
  2. Twice Burned (Love is Messy Duet #2)
  3. Logan (Preston Brothers Series #2)
  4. Surviving Ice (Burying Water Series #4)
  5. Satisfaction (Travesty Series #5)
  6. Acting Brave (Fenbrook Academy #3)
  7. The Traitor Prince (Ravenspire Series #3)
  8. On Thin Ice (Juniper Falls Series #3)
  9. Losing My Balance (Fenbrook Academy #1.5)
  10. Be Mine (Jackson Brothers #2)
  11. The Heart of Betrayal (Remnant Chronicles #2)
• # of Series Finished: 6
  1. Burying Water
  2. Love is Messy Duet #1
  3. Travesty
  4. Fenbrook Academy
  5. Juniper Falls
  6. Jackson Brothers

 

I used to do a big Goodreads Purge twice a year but I liked the idea of doing a little bit at a time and had great success last year doing this on a monthly basis. The idea is to go through 5-10 books on your Goodreads TBR list chronologically and decide if they should stay or go. My 10 titles consist of 7 “new to me” titles and 3 “previously started series” titles.

This month:

Pass: 4 | Keep: 6

Grand Total YTD: Pass: 6 | Keep: 14

Did I give up on any too soon? Let me know in the comments below!

 

You can still join in on these discussions:

• SERIESous Discussion: A 3 Year Reflection on Self-Hosting my Blog
• Trope Thursdays: Forbidden Love

 

Here are some of my favourite posts that I’ve come across the past month:

• Lauren @ Bookmark Lit talks about Requesting Review Copies as Motivation
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books discusses the Truth About Book Blogging Stats
• Brittany @ The Book Addicts Guide shares the Importance of Re-Reading
• Tara @ The Librarian Who Doesn’t Say Shhh tells us why she Loves Reading Negative Reviews

 

Each month I have a list of 11 books I’ve selected to read for that particular month. These books include review copies and reading challenge picks. Here are some of the books I have ready to go for March:

    

What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month?
Leave a comment below!

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