Monthly Reading Wrap Up -- February 2017

February came and went a lot faster than I had anticipated, though to be fair, the majority of my February was spent battling bronchitis and fatigue, as I've stated in other posts. If it weren't for audio books, I may not have finished as many books as I did.

And also, I absolutely couldn't help but to read some new releases that I'd been waiting forever to come out--Laura Griffin and Pamela Clare, I'm looking at you! And, of course, I enjoyed myself.

As far as 2017 being the year of the Laid Back Reading Plans, I think I'm sticking to it pretty well. I haven't pulled the DNF trigger on any books I probably should have, but I'm also not forcing myself to rush through books just to meet my previously established normal average of 14 books per month. Unfortunately, at the rate that I'm going (10 books in January, 11 books in February), I won't be meeting my usual yearly reading goal of 150 books either, unless I break out some short stories and novellas... which I probably will end up doing. Or I could just try to increase my monthly number... or maybe take a week's vacation to do a personal readathon... or something like that.

2017 for my Reading Assignment Challenge has been a bit embarrassing; however, if I were honest with myself, I'm both glad I dropped to two books a month (rather than kept with the four books a month goal I've always signed up for), as well as glad that this is the year of the Laid Back Reading Plans. Because I've already botched the first two months for Reading Assignment, and frankly, I'm actually quite okay with that. Normally, I'd be quite upset with myself for not meeting all my goals in a timely manner.

I guess I'm slowly learning to lay off on the anal retentive need to finish every challenge with high scores... or whatever. Or I just quit caring because I've been so tired.

In other news, with Booklikes looking more promising (the page loads have been satisfyingly quick), I may begin to cross-post here once more. Look forward to a mass onslaught of book reviews to come...

Well... maybe, because I could end up getting lazy, y'know.

(FYI, all links in this post will link back to my main blog at Blogspot since I haven't posted reviews here at BL since the beginning of the year.)

February Reads

Books Dropped/Put On Hold

None this month! Yay!

Currently Reading

February Reading Stats

Total works read: 11

7 print/e-book novels
4 audio books

Average rating: 3.5 Stars

Highest Rated: 5 books // 4.0 Stars
- (1) The Moon-spinners by Mary Stewart
- (2) Tempted into Danger by Melissa Cutler
- (3) Sweet Bea by Sarah Hegger
- (4) At Close Range by Laura Griffin
- (5) Falling Hard by Pamela Clare
Lowest Rated: Highlander Claimed by Juliette Miller // 2.5 Stars

Series I started reading:

Clan McKenzie by Juliette Miller
ICE: Black Ops Defenders by Melissa Cutler
Sir Arthur's Legacy by Sarah Hegger
Heartbreaker Bay by Jill Shalvis
Fairy Tales by Eloisa James

Series I completed:

For Me by Cynthia Eden

Series I have made progress on:

Tracers by Laura Griffin
Colorado High Country by Pamela Clare

Favorite reads: It actually looks like I had a lot of high rated, 4-Star reads, so February wasn't a bust, really. My favorite reads for February, obviously, included Pamela Clare's newest release Falling Hard--I never get tired of Pamela and her lovely world of good people. I also enjoyed The Search by Nora Roberts. Even though other books were 4-Star reads, I don't know if I'd list them as personal favorites. 4.5-Star and higher is where I start my squealy, fangirl mode, honestly.

Disappointing reads: While Highlander Claimed was the lowest rated book for February, I suppose I wasn't too entirely disappointed with it since I hadn't really gone into it expecting much. Nonetheless, it wasn't what I was expecting. But my biggest disappointment would probably be The Switch by Lynsay Sands, if only because I'm a huge fan of the cross-dressing trope, and when the story itself wasn't what I'd been expecting, I might had deflated a bit.

Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written

Memes

None

Coming Up In March

Tentative TBR

Other Stuff

Once again, aside from 2017 being the year of the Laid Back Reading Plans, it is also the year that I try to clean up my messes, a.k.a., the year that I try my best to finish all those series I've started and left hanging. I know that it doesn't help that I managed to start about five more series in February, but I've got a plan, and I really hope my plan pans out for me. I figure if I hold myself accountable with a reading challenge, I can keep listing all the new series (and old) that need to be finished, and make myself keep up.

Otherwise, I really don't have any other plans for the next couple months, unless I stumble across another mini-challenge that looks tempting.

March will also mark the anniversary of Ani's Book Abyss at Blogspot! Yay! And no, I'm not planning anything special. Maybe just a short "Yay Me!" post to make myself happy.