January Wrap-up & February TBR

Well, January started off rocky, got better, then went back on the rocks. Like, actual rocks, since I stumbled over much greatly. Ugh, me. You can’t appreciate the fine things. I managed to read 13 books for the month. Shall we see what this girl managed to read?

Books Read

✔️ Courting Darkness by Robin Lafevers – 4 👑

✔️ A Million Junes by Emily Henry – 4 👑

✔️ Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – 5 👑

✔️ Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – 5 👑

✔️ Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan – 3 👑

✔️ Super Chill: A Year of Living Anxiously by Adam Ellis – 4 👑

✔️ Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – 4 👑

✔️ Clue (Issue #1) – 1 👑

✔️ The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta – 3 👑

✔️ Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta & Cori McCarthy – 2 👑

✔️ Broken Things by Lauren Oliver – 1 👑

✔️ The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Bérubé – 2 👑

✔️ Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds – 5 👑

Summary

It had ups. It had downs. Mostly downs?? But THERE WERE SOME HIGHS, THOUGH. So basically like every single month for Mandy because she totally fails. Best book of the month: Long Way Down. Worst book of the month: Broken Things.

The Highs

 

The Illuminae Files reread was absolutely brilliant. Gemina was as amazing as I remember, and Obsidio absolutely wrecked me. I just want to bask in its presence and want moreeeeeeeeeeee of my space babies. Long Way Down was so hyped, and I was ready to try something new, and the book completely shocked and awed me. I didn’t trust myself to enjoy spoken word prose, but Reynolds created just an absolutely stunning book. Super Chill was a super good read as well. Courting and A Million Junes presented some issues for me, but they were still good enough reads.

The Lows

Broken Things was by far the worst read of the month. I had so many issues with it. There was weird writing, awkwardly done rep, and more. I think I spent 3/4 of the book screenshotting pictures to send to Sha, which was far more entertaining than the book. I was super excited for Clue the comic, but it was just super lackluster. Once & Future provided to be a disappointing read along with Dark Beneath the Ice, which were two books I had been SO SO excited for.

Other BPR Activities

Mandy and Sha participated in our own little blogging monthly theme. This month was JanuARCary which we celebrated a bunch of amazing releases that happened to all come out around the same time. We had fun features (like how will these gals survive in the Upside Down) and a ton of reviews!

Sha has finally convinced me to try The Good Place, and OMFG, IT IS BRILLIANT. It’s hilarious and amazing and THEM PLOT TWISTS. I don’t know what is coming, but I can’t waitttttttttttttt. All of the characters are amazing and the ships are there and LIKE EVERYONE NEED TO WATCH IT. I’m currently in season 2 of my binge, and like, I have forgotten how to binge after my epic X-Files spiral.

Sha and I found out BPR will be on the Affair of Poisons’s blog tour, and we are SUPER pumped! Sha has been so so eager for this book to come out, and we are readyyyy to dive in deep. Check out her post on March 10th!

And Mandy has been doing some reevaluating and I think you’ll be seeing a series coming back. That’s right – Mandy is bringing back a series??? Perhaps something to do with reading…fairytales? (Side note: if you don’t remember what it is – it’s because it only happened one time and then vanished into the void that Janet from The Good Place and all other blogging series Mandy creates go).

Book Haul

Sha and Mandy were a bit on the quieter on the book hauling this month. I was book blessed by a few publishers and here are a few books that I can remember picking up:

📚 Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby

📚 The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

📚 Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis
📚 Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black by Julian Sedgwick, Alexis Deacon (Illustrations), and Marcus Sedgwick 

February TBR

Sha and I will be participating in VaLITine’s bingo, and I’m super pumped for this. I’MMA WIN, SHA. Here are a few of the books that I plan on reading.

• Like Never and Always by Ann Aguirre
• The Walled City by Ryan Graudlin
• Wild Beauty
• The Diabolic
• Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand
• Summer of Supernovas by Darcy Woods
• Monstress Graphic Novels
•  Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby
• Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis
• Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black by Julian Sedgwick, Alexis Deacon (Illustrations), and Marcus Sedgwick
• Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods
• Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer
• Heavy Vinyl Graphic Novel
• LifeLike by Jay Kristoff
• Opposite of Always by Justin Reynolds

Obviously this is a lottttttttttttt of books, and I doubt that I will get to all of them (although this number has been reached by Mandy before and when I get into competition mode with Sha, all is lost.) Is there any that I should start first??

What do you think? What books did you read last month? Did we share any of the same? What do you plan for Feb? Let’s discuss in the comments below!