Hi everybody, and welcome to my February wrap up!
Happy March!!! Just like January, I’m not usually a fan of February since it’s still cold and dark and that makes me feel blue, but on the bright side it’s a short month and spring is really close by now, so I have hope, haha 🙂 This February was okay, I feel like I got my reading groove back and we also had a few sunny days so it wasn’t too bad overall. Here’s what I’ve been up to this month:
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (Alex Stern #2)
This book. I’m just so, so happy I got to read this book. I re-read Ninth House before starting this sequel and I’m happy I did because it means I got to spend even more time in this world and with these characters. Hell Bent only made me fall in love with the world and these characters even more. #TeamHellHeistCrew And the plot… I mean, it’s a hell heist. There was not a dull moment in this entire read and I kind of want to start all over again.
Rating: 5 stars | Read my full review
Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison (Lovelight #3)
Mixed Signals is the third book in the Lovelight series and focused on Layla, Lovelight’s resident baker, and Caleb, town deputy-turned-Spanish teacher and complete cinnamon roll. Though this was not my favorite in the Lovelight series, it was still an adorably sweet read and I will enjoy revisiting it in the future!
Rating: 3,5 stars | Read my full review
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
This cozy fantasy novel, about an orc opening her own coffee place, has been on my TBR for ages and has been recommended by a ton of fellow bloggers. It’s also one of the recommendations on my 2023 12 Book Challenge. I really enjoyed this one, it was cute and cozy and just comforting to listen to. I loved the friendships a lot, as well as the slow-burn romance. Also, I kind of want to open a coffee shop now…
Rating: 4 stars
Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross (Stay a Spell #1)
This is the first book in a fantasy romance series featuring sister witches and their paranormal love interests. As you may have guessed from the title, this first installment is full of werewolf shenanigans. I highly enjoyed this one, it was a fun read, with a nice slow-burn romance, spicy scenes and a ton of secondary characters I look forward to getting to know better when they get the spotlight in the next installments.
Rating: 4 stars
Do I Know You by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Do I Know You focuses on a married couple who go on a holiday to celebrate their 5-year wedding anniversary. They’ve been feeling like strangers to each other lately so when a room mix-up at the hotel leads to them having separate rooms, they decide to go for it and play strangers to each other for the duration of their trip to rekindle their spark. This was a nice read – I loved the unique premise and the shenanigans the two characters get up to in trying to bring their romance back to life. The only reason this wasn’t rated higher is a me-thing and it’s why second-chance romances don’t always hit as hard for me: I miss it when I don’t get to experience the characters actually falling in love. Here especially, the love between the two characters is never in question, it’s their communication issues that need fixing and while a great and emotional journey to read about, I just didn’t feel it as much.
Rating: 3,5 stars
Radiant Sin by Katee Robert (Dark Olympus #4)
I read Radiant Sin in a day. That’s just how addictive this entire series has been so far and the latest installment, an Apollo and Cassandra retelling, is no different. The chemistry between Apollo and Cassandra is sizzling, I loved the fake dating aspect and I also loved that the plot for this was basically a locked-room-murder-mystery. While it’s not my favorite in the series (books 1 and 3 are tied for that spot), it was still a great read!
Rating: 3,75 stars
Top Ten Tuesday
2023 Debut Books I’m Excited About
10 Romance Books Releasing In 2023 (That I Haven’t Talked About Yet But Am Super Excited About)
My Favorite Heroines
10 Thrillers & Mysteries on my TBR
Can’t Wait Wednesday
Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco {Can’t Wait Wednesday}
WWW Wednesday
WWW Wednesday: 8 February 2023
WWW Wednesday: 22 February 2023
February was another great music month, full of amazing new releases and awesome comebacks. Looking at my playlist, I’ve been confused about what year we were so many times, but that also what I love so much about it. Here are a few of my faves:
Fall Out Boy – Heartbreak Feels So Good
I’m so happy this band is back and looking forward to their full album releasing soon.
Paramore – Running Out Of Time
Linkin Park – Lost
Dove Cameron & Khalid – We Go Down Together
I didn’t watch as much TV in February as I did in January, but still a nice amount:
The Peripheral (Season 1)
My husband and I watched The Peripheral on Prime, a sci-fi show featuring Chloë Grace Moretz, based on a novel by William Gibson. Stuck in a small Appalachian town, a young woman’s only escape from the daily grind is playing advanced video games. She is such a good player that a company sends her a new video game system to test…but it has a surprise in store. It unlocks all of her dreams of finding a purpose, romance, and glamour in what seems like a game…but it also puts her and her family in real danger. (IMDB) This show had a great premise and was quite addictive, but both my husband and I were quite confused about the plot. Not sure if we’ll watch season 2 when it comes out, we’ll see.
Lockwood & Co (Season 1)
Another TV adaptation, we watched Lockwood & Co on Netflix, a show about a world in which ghosts are rampant and highly dangerous and only kids can see and fight them. The focus is on a small agency with 3 ghost hunters and their adventures. This was a fun show and while I haven’t read the books yet, I definitely want to check them out now.
Alice in Borderland (Part of Season 2)
I started watching this Japanese sci-fi show last month and continued with season 2 this month. I love this show, but did spread my viewing a bit, because it is quite gory and I am a scaredy cat so I needed time to recover between episodes, haha. I am glad I watched it though, and I thought the ending was great and satisfying. I wanted answers and I got them, mostly 🙂
February was all about keeping busy to keep the winter blues at bay, and I think I mostly succeeded at that, so yay 🙂
Things that made me happy this month:
- Celebrating my dating-anniversary with my husband. We started dating 14 years ago<3
- We booked a holiday for this year! It’s been quite a few years since we took any kind of summer holiday, but this year we’re going to Mallorca in September, together with my brother, sister-in-law and godchild. I’m already looking forward to it, even if it’s still far away.
- I got a promotion at work. I’m now officially a Senior Digital Marketing Associate instead of a regular Digital Marketing Associate, woop.
- We made waffles a few times this month (what, waffles make me happy 🙂 )
- A few family gatherings
- After a slower January, I got my reading groove back in February.
- Good music!
THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:
- Bookish, I’m looking forward to A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon releasing on March 7th.
- Musically, I’m looking forward to new Fall Out Boy album coming March 24th and Jimin releasing solo music!
- TV-wise, I’m looking forward to a new season of Shadow and Bone and The Mandalorian and the release of Daisy Jones and the Six!
- I have a BFF-date planned and looking forward to that as well!
- Also (very important), the official start of spring is almost here!!!
How was your February? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in March?
I loved Hell Bent and Lost new version too!
Yay, those were definitely 2 highlights of the month for me too 🙂
Hooray for booking a vacation! It’s always nice to have something to look forward to!
It really is! Especially in the darker winter months, it’s nice to have something to look forward to indeed 🙂
I haven’t been listening to music much lately — I need to check out that Dove Cameron collab. I’m curious!
I’ve been really enjoying Dove Cameron’s music the past year or so – can’t wait for her first album 🙂
I hope March is the month that I can pick up Radiant Sin as I didn’t get around to it yet in February. I love that series so much!
I hope you’ll love Radiant Sin! The entire series has indeed been so much fun and I’m already looking forward to the next one haha 🙂
I’m so glad PAramore is still around. 🙂 And I’ve been wanting to try Alice in Borderland! You’ve talked me into it! I tried The Peripheral but got a little bored…
Indeed, I’m so glad they had a comeback 🙂 Oh, I hope you’ll enjoy Alice in Borderland! I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it. It wasn’t my usual genre but I really enjoyed it. The Peripheral did have some boring moments indeed – I don’t think we’ll go for season 2.
Congrats on your promotion! That’s so great. 🙂
Thanks so much!
Congrats on the promotion! Glad you had a great month. I’m looking forward to spring too 🙂
Thanks so much!
Congrats on the promotion. That’s wonderful.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Maisie Peters this past month. Just love her. But of course, always excited about new FOB and Paramore.
I’m reading Legends and Lattes now and really enjoying it.
Lauren @ http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Thanks so much! I have heard a lot about Maisie Peters but I don’t think I really know her songs so I’ll need to check her out as I think I could really like her music too!