Sunday, March 31, 2013

March in review

March has been a funny month for me.  Whenever I begin to slide into a depressive episode, I find myself reading romance above all things. Something about the feelings that come with falling in love or being heart-broken helps to bring back actual feelings inside myself.  And the beginning of March did see me falling into this sort of episode.  Hence all of the NA/romance titles.  This period lasted for three weeks or so and I'm still trying to find my feet in terms of getting back into a reading schedule. 

Books Read in March 2013:

The Edge of Never by JA Redmerski
Bad Rep by A Meredith Walters
Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park
Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan
Rocked Under by Cora Hawkes
The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles
On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves
Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron
Between the Lines by Tammara Webber
Bared To You by Sylvia Day (re-read)
Reflected In You by Sylvia Day (re-read)
It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning
Burning Bright by Sophie McKenzie
By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt
Butter by Erin Lange
Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Wild Boy by Rob Lloyd Jones
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne
The Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J Bick
With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent 
Level 2 by Lenore Apelhans (DNF)

Total: 22

I think I'll be writing a post soon about a lot of these books.  While I did enjoy some of them, others I found myself cringing a great deal while reading.  And I really find that there are a few things in particular that I dislike about new adult books and I will be sharing those thoughts on the blog soon.

But whatever. Lots of other great books there too.  Loved Follow Me Down and The Drowning Instinct.  I finished two really good series this month, The Infernal Devices AND Soul Screamers and it was a bit hard to say goodbye to both.

I did read some pretty good books this month, but which was the best of the bunch...?


February Book of the Month:



Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess was an amazing book.  I cried almost non-stop while reading it because I loved the characters and their relationships with each other so much.  Whether they were friends, siblings, husband and wife, parabatai, whatever, I found my heart absolutely shredded by everything that occurs here.  I loved it wholly and entirely.  And while I really liked The Mortal Instruments I can say without a doubt that my love for the Infernal Devices trilogy eclipses my feelings for TMI by a million times. 


Books reviewed in February:

Killing Rachel by Anne Cassidy
Sister Assassin by Kiersten White
Skylark by Meagan Spooner 
The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks
The Holders by Julianna Scott
Just One Day by Gayle Forman
The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler 
Abyss by Tricia Rayburn 
Smuggler's Kiss by Marie-Louise Jensen
Butter by Erin Lange
Waiting For Gonzo by Dave Cousins
Wild Boy by Rob Lloyd Jones
Between the Lines by Tammara Webber
Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham

Guest review

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs


Non-review posts during February:

UKYA in 2013

UKYA in March

The Editing Process by Katy Moran (Hidden Among Us blog tour)
Chapter Extract from The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks 
Wild Boy's London by Rob Lloyd Jones (Wild Boy Blog Tour)


Jessica Brody's Dream Cast List (Unremembered Blog Tour)
A conversation with Parker (Butter by Erin Lange Blog Tour)


Celebrating British Bloggers

Aa'Ishah from Reading Under the Stars
Zoe from Bookhi 
Sam from Realm of Fiction 
Lesley from My Keeper Shelf
M from We Sat Down


Book of Questions

Have you ever considered suicide?
Whose death would you find most disturbing?


Waiting on Wednesday

By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt
ACID by Emma Pass 


Reading the Not-Quite Blockbuster books ... 4
WWYD? Music from 1996
Random House Blogger Brunch

Things I'd Like To Do...
Anxiety (Mental Health Awareness)
No Books Allowed (1)


British Books Challenge update in February

The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles
It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning
Burning Bright by Sophie McKenzie
By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt
Wild Boy by Rob Lloyd Jones
Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne


Total in March: 6
Total in 2013: 19

Again, with the disppointing reading month for this challenge!  I really want to read more books by British authors. One of my goals for this year was that I'd like 1 out of every 3 or 4 books I read to be by a British author and while I always think that I couldn't possibly be keeping up with this goal, actually, I'm not that far off.  I'm closer to 1 in 4 than 1 in 3, but there's still time to ramp things up and get in a load of books by British authors...


Personal challenge to read 10 non-review books a month:

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Greaves
It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning
Burning Bright by Sophie McKenzie
The Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J Bick
Level 2 by Lenore Apelhans (DNF)

Total in March: 5
Total in 2013: 22/120

While I did read a fair few of my own paid for e-books this month, I really didn't do much to clear out many of my actual physical books that are cluttering up my shelves. I do have to go easy on myself this month with my failing mental health though and just hope that things will be better in April so that I can make up the numbers next month!

What was your favourite book that you read in March

8 comments:

  1. What a great month for you in blogging, Clover! I really want to read The Kissing Booth, Between the Lines and Burning Bright. It is a shame that you didn't finish Level 2 but I'm so glad that you enjoyed Clockwork Princess. I love The Infernal Devices!
    I think the best book that I've read in March is between Geek Girl, The Quietness and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. I recommend them all! :)

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    1. Ooh, I really want to read The Quietness, despite the grim sounding storyline! I loved Geek Girl and I have Dash and Lily, I just haven't gotten to it yet..

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  2. I can definitely see why you chose Clockwork Princess as your favourite this month! I haven't written my monthly recap yet (I'm so behind on posts!) but I already know that Clockwork Princess will be my favourite.

    You've read so many books again this month! Is there hope for the rest of us..? ;)

    Wishing you an equally brilliant April. :D

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    1. Of course there's hope! I just don't have many distractions (like school, work, social life etc) that would keep me from reading :)

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  3. Sounds like a really busy month! There are some genres that always cheer me up even if they aren't the best written books. :-)

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    1. Yeah, and I'll overlook most things as long as I'm actually cheered up in the end :)

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  4. You read 22 books in March?? I think I've only read 22 this whole year so far! Ahh, Follow Me Down, can't wait for that! I read Butter and Drowning Instinct and really enjoyed them, and am currently trawling through Clockwork Princess. it's so BIG! Sad to hear Level 2 was a DNF, I've been looking forward to that one.

    So many reviews! I feel like such a bad blogger because I haven't had that many reviews on my blog since like, last year :/ Go you, though :)

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    1. I did read 22 books. But that's only because I don't have anything else to do between the hours of 9-3 everyday!

      It turns out that I review a lot more than the average book blogger, so you shouldn't feel bad at all. Recent poll on Twitter suggested most book bloggers only review 1-2 books a week.

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