February Wrap-Up.

February, the shortest month of the year and boy did I feel it! Still, though my reading went a little off track, I managed four great reads!

1. 'Proud' cur. by Juno Dawson. I loved this collection! The cover is a perfect representation of how this book will hit you, and I honestly believe it should be in every school. This anthology of short stories, mixed with art and poetry from some well-known YA contributors has a dash of everything. 4/5 Stars.
2. 'Ash Princess' by Laura Sebastian. Why did I put this read off for so long? It was fantastic! A badass, strong heroine was my favourite aspect of the book, but I also appreciated the brutal, dark world-building and plot that kept me guessing. 4.5/5 Stars.
3. 'Pride' by Ibi Zoboi. I think that this is probably the best contemporary 'Pride & Prejudice' retelling I've ever read and it was full to the brim of what I wanted - culture and diversity. The dialogue was a little choppy, the timeline too condensed, and the MC had the worst personality ever. But I still liked a lot of elements of this story. 3.5/5 Stars.
4. '[Dis]connected' cur. by Michelle Halket. 'Tis the month for anthologies it seems! I knew I wasn't getting through any more big reads this month so wanted something shorter from my NetGalley pile. Amanda Lovelace's name caught my eye - I'd been meaning to read something of hers. I was not disappointed here, and there were some gems in these short stories. 4/5 Stars.

This month I read three books for the Beat The Backlist Challenge, making my yearly total six.

- Ash Princess

- Pride

- [Dis]connected

This month I read one book for the New Release Challenge, making my yearly total two.

- Proud

This month I read zero books for the Finishing The Series Challenge, making my yearly total zero.

As I move up the ranks I will change the badge accordingly, though I technically haven't earned this one yet...

This month I read four books for the Diversity Reading Challenge, making my yearly total six.

- Proud

- Ash Princess *Mini Challenge: (Black/African American)*

- Pride *Mini Challenge: (Black/African American)*

- [Dis]Connected

2018 Release I Missed: Ash Princess; Laura Sebastian

Features Tech: The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet; Becky Chambers

Pink Cover: Feminists Don't Wear Pink; Cur. by Scarlett Curtis

Romance: Glimpse; Kendra Leighton

Male Main Character: Starfighter (Ch. 2); Hamlet Machine

Set In Europe: The Last; Hanna Jameson

Co-Authored: [Dis]connected; Cur. by Michelle Halket

Freebie: --

White Cover: Proud; Cur. by Juno Dawson

Book Was A Gift: Useless Magic; Florence Welch

Spin Off: Stars Above; Marissa Meyer

Religious Minority MC: Sisters Of The Winter Wood; Rena Rossner

Author Of Colour: Pride; Ibi Zoboi

Planned Reads for February.

It's my favourite time of the month - picking new reads! February is of course the home to Valentines day, but also LGBT+ History month, and so I'm in the mood for some reads to honour those two events, as well as something to acknowledge Black History month in the USA.

Continuing on from last month, there were a couple of reads that I didn't get to finish. One of these was 'Ash Princess' by Laura Sebastian! It's been on my TBR for so long now, but has so much in the synopsis that I love, including Cinderella vibes. I'm really excited to get round to it!

Next is a read chosen by a close friend of mine, Kiara, who is a third of the Reading Between The Tealeaves podcast trio! 'Everless' by Sara Holland is the first in a series she's been banging on about for quite some time, and has been on my TBR for even longer. I want to get round to it at last!

I'm hoping that 'Crooked Kingdom' by Leigh Bardugo will make my first finished series of the year. Ever since I read 'Six Of Crows' last year, this duology has been playing on my mind and I'm desperate to find out what happens to the characters I care about so much!

I can't wait to read Gita Trelease's 'Enchantée'. In fact, it's my most anticipated read of the year. I was so excited when My Kinda Book sent me a copy, and I can't wait to get into it!

'Proud', a collection compiled by Juno Dawson, is an anthology of LGBT+ stories, art and poetry and I am here for it. I honestly can't wait to read this book and am so happy that I received a copy!

An LGBT+ Fantasy about necromancers, a bisexual MC, creepy monsters and all held within a candy floss pink cover? Count. Me. In. I am so here for 'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh and as I've decided not to hold myself to much to challenges and read what I want to read, this is top priority.

I want more diversity in my reads, but I love me a good retelling. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about how much I love Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice' and 'Pride' is a recent retelling set within the black community. I'm super excited to get into this story!

After reading 'The Last' by Hanna Jameson, it reminded me of how much I'd liked 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel all that time ago. Early last year, I bought another of her books, 'Last Night In Montreal'. It's a totally different genre but I'm excited to read some more literary fiction - it has been so long!

February Wrap-Up.

February certainly went a lot more quickly than January did! I certainly felt like my reading didn't go so well either, but I did manage a few good reads before the month was out! I got through four which was better than I thought I would do!

1. 'Gilted' by Jill C. Flanagan. Yeah. I really didn't enjoy this first book. It was short, with a gorgeous cover and I could clearly envision the book it should have been: an exciting urban fantasy thriller, with great characters and writing. It missed the mark on all those things and I hated it's attitude towards both rape and women. Ugh. 1.5/5 Stars.
2. 'Wintersong' by S. Jae-Jones. On the contrary, I adored this book! I'm so disappointed in myself for not reading it sooner! I'm a big fan of the film Labyrinth and this took the story-line and made some sexier, darker changes. Jae-Jones wrote very well and her world-building was fantastic. 5/5 Stars.
3. 'The Dark Days Pact' by Alison Goodman. This was the sequel to 'The Dark Days Club', a book I read and adored a couple of years ago! I really liked this second book in the series, though I fell into a very unfortunate reading slump while reading it. Great characters, a sizzling romance, fantastic plot progression but the pacing was pretty slow. 3.5/5 Stars.
4. 'Goodbye, Perfect' by Sara Barnard. Yet another wonderful read that really rounded off the month fantastically. I can always rely on Sara Barnard for wonderful Contemporary YA. There were fantastic characters, it covered a lot of great issues and I think that Barnard gave a sensitive subject the care and attention it deserved.

This month I read three books for the Beat The Backlist Challenge, making my yearly total so far seven.

- Gilted

- Wintersong

- The Dark Days Pact

This month I read zero books for the Finishing The Series Challenge, making my yearly total so far zero.

I read one book for the New Release Challenge, making my yearly total so far two.

- Goodbye, Perfect

I read two books for the Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge, making my yearly total so far five.

- Gilted

- Goodbye, Perfect

Here is the end result for Pretty Deadly Blog's Bookish Bingo Card.

Red Cover: The Dark Days Pact; Alison Goodman

2018 Debut: The Toymakers; Robert Dinsdale

Death: Matilda; Mary Shelley

Winter Release: Ghost Stories; Whit Taylor

Sci-Fi: Fairest; Marissa Meyer

Numbers In Title: Six Of Crows; Leigh Bardugo

2017 Release I Missed: Wintersong; S. Jae-Jones

Green Cover: Goodbye, Perfect; Sara Barnard

Freebie: --

Friend's Fave: The Happy Prince & Other Stories; Oscar Wilde

Fae, Fairies & Fair Folk: The Cruel Prince; Holly Black

Trees On Cover: The Gifts Of Reading; Robert MacFarlane

Wintry Title: In The Pines; Erik Kriek

Music Themes: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years Of Pilgrimage; Haruki Murakami

Cold Setting: Wolf Winter; Cecilia Ekbäck

Romance: Gilted; Jill C. Flanagan

Book That Was A Gift: The Worm & The Bird; Coralie Bickford-Smith

Holiday Theme: A Christmas Carol; Charles Dickens

Villainous: Renegades; Marissa Meyer

Planned Reads For February.

Finally, February is here! I have some extremely exciting reads lined up for this month as well. I'm going to be doing a lot of catching up on series I've yet to start/finish, and I'm going to be reading some exciting new releases too! Cover-wise, I have to say that February is looking a lot more colourful than January did.

I am currently reading 'Wintersong' by S. Jae-Jones right now and I am loving it. I think we've pretty much established from some of my recent reads that I've become enamoured with fantasy novels about the fae/faeries, and I've especially become a little obsessed with Goblins. This book is giving me fantastic Labyrinth vibes (which is one of my favourite films) but also seems a little darker and sexier, which I'm enjoying immensely.

I've also been looking forward to reading this second novel in the 'Lady Helen' series by Alison Goodman, 'The Dark Days Pact'. I read the ARC of book one a couple of years ago and was surprised by how much I loved shipping Lady Helen and Carlston, and how good a paranormal retelling it was of the classic love story 'Pride & Prejudice'.  I look forward to catching up with this series.

I am truly sorry for how long it has taken me to read this next choice. I think I've been vowing to read Taran Matharu's 'The Novice' for over a year now, and I just never quite get round to it. I shan't let it slip through my fingers this month though, I promise! I'm actually pretty excited to get into a proper fantasy series again!

I read 'The Bees' by Laline Paull so long ago, and I was hoping to get round to 'The Ice' last month but didn't quite make it. Not to worry though, as it's top of the priority list for February! The synopsis sounds really intriguing, and I think there needs to be more books focussing on friendship. 

This next read is a pretty hotly anticipated read for this year by most of the blogosphere. I'm set on reading more diverse books this year (I always aim to expand my reading) and that cover alone convinces me that 'The Belles' by Dhonielle Clayton is something to be exciting about. The fantasy world sounds interesting enough but I've been careful to avoid reading too much about this one. I want to go in with fresh eyes.

Being sent an ARC of 'Goodbye, Perfect' by Sara Barnard was very exciting for me. I have read both of her previous books and loved them, and reading the synopsis for this one makes me think she's going to go a little darker this time. I love contemporary reads that aren't afraid of their subject matter. Barnard has a track record for diversity and inclusion in her work, so I'm excited by that too!

I have been putting off finishing this series for too long now and it's driving me insane because I've enjoyed it so much! 'Warrior Witch' by Danielle L. Jensen is going to be the final chapter in Cécile and Tristan's story and I am sincerely hoping for a happy ending. They've had it pretty rough so far! Also, seeing as I'm a big fan of mystical creatures right now, I want to go back to the land of the trolls!

I'm really sad I haven't read any of Adam Silvera's books. Not one. But this Edelweiss read, is set to change all that and become my first proper LGBT+ read of the year! Yay! 'They Both Die At The End' is probably going to break me in a hundred million different ways, lets face it, especially if the title is anything to go by. But it has a very intriguing synopsis and I need to start reading more books that I'm scared will make me cry.

February Wrap-Up.

I thought I was going to do a little better than five this month because I got off to a great start! Sadly, my reading flow sagged a little in the middle of the month and I ended up with the same result instead. Five isn't bad though, but I'd really like to read more in March! Most of this month's reads have been a little too far on the just 'okay' side of things, but there were a couple of gems!

1. 'The Loneliness Of Distant Beings' by Kate Ling. This is the first science fiction read I've tackled in a long time and I was actually pretty excited about it! And elements that I like about the genre it displayed pretty well (world-building, technical talk, space,etc.). The insta-love and lack of likeable heroine let this book down a little but I have to say that the final scene really hooked me and restored my desire to want to continue with the series. 3.5/5 Stars.
2. 'Under Rose Tainted Skies' by Louise Gornall. Attending YALC 2016 really got me excited for this book (in fact, I purchased it there) and it was well worth the hype I've seen on it around the Blogosphere. The second YA Contemporary this year to make me re-evaluate my usual mixed feelings on the genre, this book handled some sensitive (even dark) topics brilliantly. I will always root for books that highlight mental health issues and Gornall's debut has a cute, shippable romance to boot. 4.5/5 Stars.
3. 'Stargirl' by Jerry Spinelli. With so many mixed reviews on this book, as well as controversy and bans surrounding it in schools, I was surprised to find that I only found it a mediocre read. Spinelli provides a great analysis of human behaviour and the 'hive mind' feeling that can be found in both the classroom and society as a whole. The story was well written too and never got boring. However, Leo was a boring narrator with no dimension to him, and some of Stargirl's behaviour was...creepy. This made it harder to sympathise with her poor treatment. 2.5/5 Stars.
4. 'Orangeboy' by Patrice Lawrence. There were some great things about this book, and it's one I've been looking forward to for quite some time purely because of the PoC representation. Firstly, it's East London setting was wonderful because that's where I'm currently living! So many recognisable settings really helped me to envision the action. I also loved the strong women in this story, particularly Marlon's mother, who deserves a book to herself and a medal. Marlon himself however was less impressive, and become one of the most frustrating narrator's I can remember reading for a long time. 3.5/5 Stars.
5. 'Ruin & Rising' by Leigh Bardugo. Finally! I finished this series! It took me far too long I'll be honest, especially as I've ended up rating all three books so highly! Bardugo does a great job at writing a fast-paced, action-packed story with easy, humorous dialogue between characters and a lot of depth for a Fantasy. I love the world of the Grisha and can't get enough of the Russian cultural references. This was the perfect finale, though I still couldn't get on board with Mal. It's a shame because other characters such as the Darkling or Nikolai are crafted so much better! 4.5/5 Stars.

Now it's time to see how I did with my challenges this month!

This month I have read three books for the Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge, bringing my yearly total so far to seven. My reads were:

- The Loneliness Of Distant Beings

- Stargirl

- Orangeboy

This month I have read zero books for the 2017 New Releases Challenge, bringing my yearly total so far to two.

This month I have read zero books for the LGBTQIA Challenge, bringing my yearly total to zero.

This month I have read three books for the Diverse Reads Challenge, bringing my yearly total to eight. My reads were:

- 'The Loneliness Of Distant Beings 

   [Optional Mini Challenge]

- 'Under Rose Tainted Skies'

- 'Orangeboy

   [Optional Mini Challenge]

Here is my finished Bookish Bingo card and continued Story Sprites board!

Alternative Format: Dragon Slayer Number Nine; Intisar Khanani

Set Abroad: Saint Death; Marcus Sedgwick

Sequel: Memories Of Ash; Intisar Khanani

Own Voices: Under Rose Tainted Skies; Louise Gornall

Banned Book: Stargirl; Jerry Spinelli

2017 Debut: A Girl Called Owl; Amy Wilson

Romance: Ruin & Rising; Leigh Bardugo

GR Choice Nominee: Heartless; Marissa Meyer

Pink Cover: A Quiet Kind Of Thunder; Sara Barnard

White Cover: Stealing Snow; Danielle Paige

Freebie: --

Science Fiction: The Loneliness Of Distant Beings; Kate Ling

Crime: Orangeboy; Patrice Lawrence

Survival: The Bone Sparrow; Zana Fraillon

Blue Cover: Rebel Of The Sands; Alwyn Hamilton

Nature On Cover: The Bear & The Nightingale; Katherine Arden

Book With Multiple POVs: The Bear & The Nightingale; Katherine Arden

Story Regarding Anxiety: A Quiet Kind Of Thunder; Sara Barnard

'Chosen One' Trope: Ruin & Rising; Leigh Bardugo 

A Science Fiction Novel: The Loneliness Of Distant Beings; Kate Ling

Story Centred Around Social Issues: The Bone Sparrow; Zana Fraillon

Male MC With Female BFF/Sidekick: Stargirl; Jerry Spinelli

Dark Contemporary: Under Rose Tainted Skies; Louise Gornall

Mostly Blue Cover: Rebel Of The Sands; Alwyn Hamilton

PoC MC: Orangeboy; Patrice Lawrence

Book Addressing Socioeconomic Topics: Saint Death; Marcus Sedgwick

Planned Reads For February.

Wow, are we already on month two of 2017? Crazy! I have a couple of leftover reads from January that I'm dying to get to, as well as six awesome new picks that I'm excited about.

1. 'The Loneliness Of Distant Beings' by Kate Ling. I've started this one already (I'm about a quarter of the way through) and I have to say I'm enjoying it so far though intrigued to see where Ling is actually going with this. It's been on my list for a long time, provided by Netgalley an age ago.
2. 'Under Rose Tainted Skies' by Louise Gornall. I've been looking forward to this book for some time, and it was one of my most anticipated reads from attending and buying it at YALC. It's focus on mental health, anxiety and in particular Agoraphobia will definitely make for an interesting read I'm sure!

1. 'Ruin & Rising' by Leigh Bardugo. Finally I am going to actually read this book and finish the series. I've had some ups and downs with it: I love the world-building, villain and plot but not so keen on the romance. I hope that this last book will convince me that this is a good series because I desperately wanted to finish it before starting 'Six Of Crows'!
2. 'Orangeboy' by Patrice Lawrence. In a bid for more diverse reads, this was next on the list. Reading the description made me think fondly of my love for Malorie Blackman's 'Noughts & Crosses' series, as this focuses on gangs, racism and family. I've heard great things from bloggers that I trust, so I look forward to it!
3. 'Stargirl' by Jerry Spinelli. This classic contemporary is another Netgalley approval that combats the idea of having to fit in and calls out bullies as wrong. I strongly believe that people should be allowed to express themselves in any way that they want without judgement and I look forward to reading a book that promotes this message.
4. 'The Rest Of Us Just Live Here' by Patrick Ness. It's time to read some more of the weird and wonderful by this guy! I love Ness' ability to cross genres so easily, and the way that he so flawlessly includes diverse characters within his stories. I love the premise of this story too, so it has a lot of promise to be a 5 star read I think!
5. 'Ash' by Malinda Lo. This LGBT retelling of Cinderella has been on my TBR for ages! In fact, I'm pretty sure I pledged to read it a ton of times in 2016 and then never got round to it, so I really want to not keep dragging that out in 2017 too. It's received some great reviews and I've seen Lo's name pop up a few times on the Blogosphere regarding her newer release 'Huntress' too.
6. 'Small Great Things' by Jodi Picoult. Another book that focuses on social issues that feel really relevant right now, but this time from another name that I hear frequently and have never read: Jodi Picoult. I often saw her books around but felt they just weren't something that would interest me. This is new territory for Picoult though, so perhaps a good place to start?