February Wrap-Up

Posted February 28, 2017 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in Best of the Bunch, Monthly Recap / 44 Comments

 

My Goings On in February:

  • I celebrated my 43rd birthday and my 4th blogoversary!
  • I binge-watched The Fosters (total guilty-pleasure TV) and some of Season 3 of The 100.
  • The kids finished up their swim team season, and we have a bit of a break (about six weeks). Nice to have some breathing room.
  • This month was tough emotionally (Actually, the past two months have been). We had two family deaths recently, one that was a shock and under rather unpleasant circumstances. Then a friend from church passed away (after a long battle from cancer) and one of my best friends is moving across the country this week. Oh, and I spend 99% of my time fighting with my 14-year-old over schoolwork and his declining grades. (Okay, not actually, but some days it feels that way—he can’t just have a conversation about any of it. It always devolves into multiple-hour conflicts filled with yelling and tears and him insisting that I hate him or he hates us or … it’s just miserable.) It’s been emotionally draining and exhausting, and the stress is starting to get to me since there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.

On Instragram:

I literally posted no pictures on Instagram this month. I was tempted to try and rush and post something just so I’d have something to put in this section, but I decided that was silly. And I was lazy. Hmmm … guess Bookstagram is not my thing. I’ll try harder.

Most Popular Posts:

Other Features & Discussions:

January Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway – This is your last chance to enter this one!
Power to the Writer: Inkitt’s Mission to Change the Face of Publishing
Review of the eStories Platform (along with a review of books 1&2 of the Kingfountain Series)
Am I the Only One Without an OTP? Let’s Discuss!
Top Ten Books I Loved More (or Less) Than I Expected
A Book Blogger’s Guide to Acronyms, Terms and Slang

My 2017 Reading Progress:

2017 has been a good year for reading so far! I’m 9 books ahead of my Goodreads goal.

February 2017 Reviews

  • Caraval by Stephanie Garber | Review | Rating: 5/5
  • A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • By Your Side by Kasie West | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Jonah by Nikki Kelly | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
  • The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler | Review | Rating: 4/5

  • The Thief’s Daughter by Jeff Wheeler | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Batgirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • Revenge of the Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • Liberation by Kate L. Mary | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
  • The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett | Review | Rating: 4/5

  • Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead | Review | Rating: 5/5

February Best of the Bunch:

(Best of the Bunch is hosted over at Cocoon of Books. We link up our favorite reads of the month!)

Even though I really loved Caraval, this month I just had to go with the final book in the Bloodlines Series. This series is easily an all-time favorite for me, and I can only hope that Mead revisits this world soon.


2017 Reading Challenges Progress:

Status: 5/41 Discussions Posted

Two more discussions posted this month (I’m not counting the Inkitt Guest Post here, which was sort of a discussion)

A Book Blogger’s Guide to Acronyms, Terms and Slang
Am I the Only One Without an OTP? 
Why Does Technology Scare Me So?

Special Niche Genres
Seeing the Book Blogging World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight


Status: 14/50 Books Read
I reviewed eight fantasies this month, though some of these are more paranormal … I’m never sure where the draw the line here.

As of yet, I haven’t read any of Alexa and Rachel’s favorites that I’ve planned to read:  Throne of Glass, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Six of Crows, The Winner’s Curse, Graceling. I’m keeping their pictures here, so I don’t forget about them!

 

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Hello, Chelly & Alexa Loves Books


ShelfLove-Challenge-2016

Status: 5/21-30 Books
Woo hoo! I’m actually making progress on this challenge! Here are the books I read from off my shelf:

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Chapter Break & Second Run Reviews


Status: 3/5-10 Books 

I finished three series!! (Just squeaked the reviews in at the end of the month for two of them.) One of these (Ruby Circle) was off of my official list of series I really wanted to finish, too!

The Styclar Saga by Nikki Kelly
The Bloodlines Series by Richelle Mead
MILA 2.o Series by Debra Driza

Here are some of the other series I’m hoping to finish this year (as a reminder to myself):

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Somewhere Only We Know & Words Fueled by Love


Status: 16/61-100 books read

Here are the ones I read this month:

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – (un)Conventional Book Views &  Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! 


Status: 4/15-20 Books Listened To

Here are the ones I listened to this month:

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Hot Listens & Caffeinated Book Reviewer


Status: 23/76 Possible Gameboard Spaces

Since keeping track of this challenge is kind of complicated, I decided to create a separate page for it. If you’re interested in which books I read for each category or in seeing a bigger version of the updated gameboard, then go to my 2017 Bookopoly Progress page. The image above has been updated to reflect my newest reads, though! (I managed to use 11 of the books I read for the challenge this month.)

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Broc’s Bookcase


Wrap-Up Round-Up!

Don’t forget to link your February wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up! And check out the giveaway, which will be posted here on Feed Your Fiction Addiction sometime later this week!

2016-Monthly-Wrap-Up-Round-Up320

 

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44 responses to “February Wrap-Up

  1. danielle hammelef

    So many posts and books and discussions. This is why I love your blog. I am hoping to read Caraval in March.

  2. I’d like to tell you it gets easier, but having a 23 yr old son, I can tell you that being a parent is sometimes a thankless job. You will get a payout in the end, when you look at your adult child and realize how decent they turned out to be. 🙂
    Hang in there!
    Happy March!

    Freda recently posted: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (5)
  3. sam

    You are killing your challenges. I was looking at the Flights of Fantasy one. I loved fantasy, but tend towards contemporary. I will say, I read 4/5 of Alexa’s and Rachel’s favorites, and they are all fantastic.

  4. Oh, I like the gameboard challenge! I’ll have to look into that! I’m sorry about your son. When I lived with my aunt and uncle the last bit of college, every night was a screaming match until bedtime over homework. EVERYTHING. Math, spelling, reading, didn’t matter. She was six. My first year teaching I had (who became my) friend’s student, and she gives her 24 hours to fix a grade before she contacts the teacher, and it works for them. I hope you can find a solution for how to bridge those conversations. I’m sure you’ve come at it from the “I’m involved because I love you and want to help you” angle. I can tell you over 90% of my parents this year are uninvolved in their students’ academics, and it shows in their behavior and their skill sets. It’s a problem I am starting to think might be the deal breaker for me in this field.

  5. Is it strange to say I’m happy to see that we’re (relatively) close in age? 🙂 At 48, I often feel like the “elder” in the book blogosphere so it’s nice to see I’m not the only 40+ out there. I’m sorry to hear about the struggles at home. That’s so hard. Those are rocky years (13+). Emotions are always running high. And often it seems like *everything* is an argument. Sorry it’s been so draining – I hope it improves soon, Nicole.
    I’m trucking along on the ShelfLove challenge, too. It just makes me ridiculously happy to read books from my own shelves. Ones that I’ve been excited about but have put off for one reason or another. It’s a good feeling. 🙂

    Tanya @ Girl Plus Books recently posted: Review: Off the Ice by Julie Cross
  6. Wow, you are doing a WHOLE BUNCH of challenges. 🙂 And I’m sorry to hear about troubles with your son. God, the teenage years are so tough! I’m not looking forward to them at all. I just got my older kid back (after years of work on her attitude) and I don’t want her to change again. We get along so much better now. Sigh. I hope things perk up for you guys soon!

    S. J. Pajonas recently posted: Teaser Thursday – Typhoon Amanda
  7. I’m so sorry to hear about your losses, and the fights. I’m not sure if this will help or not, but when I was around his age I kind of started acting out a bit towards my parents as well. What helped my parents get my grades back on track was them offering to give me money for every good grade I got (that sounds a bit spoiled, but it worked.) When I was around that age I started going out to the mall and movies with my friends so the extra money was nice. I hope his phase doesn’t last too long, and you guys get back to a loving relationship.
    I’m so glad to hear that you loved the Bloodlines series. It is one of my favourites and I absolutely ship Sydney and Adrian <3 I loved them so much more than Rose and Dimitri. Great job with challenges this month.
    I hope March is much kinder to you 🙂

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