February Wrap-Up

Okay, this wrap up is actually going up on time. (ish. It was supposed to be up a couple days ago, but seeing as I’ve had basically NO time to work on it, I’m counting today as ‘on time’) I am determined of it. Not on the… 21st like last month’s was.

February was… Short. I did some stuff. I think it was a fairly good month… But it just sort of flew by. Good books. Good life stuff.* And for the first time in like, four months, I wasn’t sick once all month. So that was REALLY nice.

*Wow Iris, “Good life stuff.” I’m so good with words 😂

I read sixteen books this month, which is definitely impressive, but I set ridiculously high standards for myself (And I just plain want to read more!), so I… um… wish I had read more… Yes, I know I’m being unreasonable, but I want to read MORE. Also because I know I could have read more if I hadn’t procrastinated on Goodreads so much.

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare – Um okay, but there were some pretty AMAZING books this month! I am so completely in love with this series… I think it’s been the best yet! And I didn’t really think anything could top the amazingness that was TID, so that’s pretty impressive! – 5 stars!!!!!

King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard – This series is okay. I sort of want to know what happens, and I sort of like some of the characters, but I also don’t really care. – 3 stars.

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare – I read this book almost a month ago, and I still can’t think of it without almost breaking down into tears! I can’t quite decide whether that’s a good thing or not, but OH MY GOODNESS I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! I just literally cannot handle thinking about that ending. – 5 stars!!

Among the Imposters by Margaret Peterson Haddix – Um… these books are short, and slightly addictive. I really want to know what happens, but they’re so-so. – 3 stars

Among the Betrayed by Margaret Peterson Haddix – This one was sort of interesting, because it was from the perspective of a different character. I liked her more than Luke, but she was also a bit of an idiot. – 3 stars.

Among the Barons by Margaret Peterson Haddix – Ummm… I really don’t have much to say about this series. It’s interesting. I want to know what happens. Whatever. – 3 stars.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare – I didn’t mean to reread these exactly, it was just that I ended up having an impromptu sleepover at my friend’s house, and needed reading material, and I’d been meaning to reread them eventually, so… I’m now rereading this series! – 5 stars!

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare – Continuing my reread of this series. Still love it! – 5 stars!

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce – AHHHHHH!!! I’ve only had this book preordered since JULY!!!! And I finally got it, and IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!! Sosososososososososo good! – 5 stars!!

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo – I quite enjoyed this book. I’m looking forward to the next book, but I seriously hope that SoC is better than this series, because otherwise I will be very disappointed. – 4 stars.

P. S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han – I’m enjoying this series quite a lot. They’re so much fun, and I like the characters. Nothing special though. – 4 stars.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – Um… February seems to have had a lot of rereads that I didn’t mean to reread… I just did. Whatever, I still absolutely LOVE this book, so it was worth it. – 5 stars!

Geekerella by Ashley Poston – This! Was! So! Cute! A geeky Cinderella retelling? I knew I was going to love this! It was a bit too light and fluffy for my taste, but still SO cute, and wonderful! -5 stars.*

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde – Yet another super cute, light fluffy contemporary. What is happening to me?!?! But, this was SO good. It was adorably geeky PLUS super diverse! – 5 stars!

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes – Wow. This book was super powerful. I admit I only read it because I wanted something dark to make up for all the fluff I’d been reading, and while it was refreshingly dark,** it was so much more than I’d been expecting. – 4 stars.

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman – OH WOW! I still don’t have the words to describe this beautiful book! Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW! It wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was SO MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!!!! This book was so amazing, and it dealt with a lot of important issues, and WOW! This is definitely going to be one of my favourites this year, I can already tell! – 5 stars!!!!!! All the stars!!!!

*Just for pure cuteness and geekiness!

**Yes, I did just call something “refreshingly dark”. So what?

I got a nice haul this month! Nice, shiny, new books! And, guess who got a SIGNED COPY of Tess of the Road?!!!!!! This gorgeous, beautiful book, with it’s gorgeous, beautiful cover, and I HAVE A SIGNED COPY!! I’m sort of super thrilled by this!!

Aren’t they all so pretty?!

Wow. My blogging in February was… and epic fail. I blogged consistently for the last week of February, but literally didn’t post for the first three weeks. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Lets do better next month, shall we?

Lifewise, February was pretty great.

• Musical theatre. We had a bunch of extra rehearsals, and then our first performance.
• Technically we were supposed to have three preferences in Feb, but it snowed, so two of them got cancelled.
• Dress rehearsal was a mess.
• Quite literally. We ended up with a huge pile of popcorn in the middle of the stage.
• Yes, popcorn.
• For one scene we have these sacks, and our teacher wanted to have stuff in them, so she filled one of them with popcorn.
• She did not, however, tell anybody about the popcorn. So whoever got that bag didn’t notice, and dumped it all over the stage.
• We had to pause the rehearsal to clean up.
• Now I’m craving popcorn.
• I also could smell the popcorn the whole time, but since it was my first time wearing makeup, I though my makeup smelled like popcorn.
• Speaking of makeup, I hate makeup.
• Or more precisely, I hate wearing makeup. I have nothing against other people wearing it, but putting it on stresses me out, and taking it off is impossible.
• I put on my makeup on Saturday. It is now Thursday. I still have a little bit of eyeliner on. After LOTS of scrubbing. Ugh.
• Can you tell I hate wearing makeup?
• Stuff happened.
• More stuff happened.
• It was my birthday. I did basically nothing to celebrate.
• But I got a computer! It’s been super nice to have my own, because sharing with my family is a pain, because they’re always on them when I want a turn. Plus having a little bit more privacy is always nice.
• And then, most excitingly, I WENT TO THE TESS OF THE ROAD BOOK LAUNCH!!
• It was super cool! Rachel Hartman did a reading, and she was a really good speaker, and super funny, and then I got my book signed, and talked to her for a minute (In which I said exactly nothing interesting, just ‘hi’ and ‘I loved Seraphina’, but whatever, its as awesome!), and it was super cool, and AHHHHHHHHHHH!!
• Can you tell I really like this author?!?!?!??!??!??!?!?!?!?! Her books are SO good, and if you haven’t read them, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Go read them!

Yeah, so basically my life was musical theatre and books. Pretty normal for me.

So, last month I set myself some goals. I think I epically failed at them, but lets see! And set some more goals, that I maybe won’t epically fail this time? Maybe? Hopefully?

Last Month’s Goals

• Post twice a week. ❌❌❌ Um… no. Did not happen.
• Catch up on my, uh… fifteen RTC’s, and keep on top of my reviewing.❌❌❌ I caught up on some of those RTC’s, but I also added a bunch more…
• Wake up earlier.✔ Sort of… I’ll count it… I got up earlier than I had been, but still not early enough.
• Get out of the house more.✔Once again, more but still not enough.
• Stop procrastinating and practise for musical theatre.❌❌❌ Nope, nope, nopity nope nope. I… sang through one song… once… But I haven’t epically messed up yet, so I really don’t care.
• Start that journal I mentioned last month?✔ Start it? Yes. Keep up with it…? Sort of…

Next Month’s Goals*

• Post twice a week. Maybe I’ll actually do it this month?
• CATCH UP ON RTC’S!!! Seriously, I am SO behind! They don’t need to be full reviews, but SOMETHING!
• Wake up earlier. Again.
• Get out of the house more. Again.
• Don’t fail completely at musical theatre? I’ve given up on actually practising, and it’ll be over so soon anyways, so… Just don’t make a fool of myself…?
• Practise for drama. Unlike musical theatre, I think I’ll actually practise for this. I care about it a lot more. So here’s hoping!
• Keep up with my journal-ish thing… It’s maybe technically not really a journal, because I’m doing it on the computer, but it’s a lot more fun for me that way. So journal-ish thing it shall be.
• Read at least five of the books I borrowed from my cousin, so that I can return them to her eventually.

*And yes, most of these are going to be the same as last month…

How was your February? Any goals for March? Have you read any books you can already tell are going to be favourites? Have you read anything by Rachel Hartman? Do you like wearing makeup?