March Wrap-Up.

My wedding is getting closer and closer, and as a result I'm finding less time to read. That's a little sad of course, but I did still manage to get through four books this month!

1. 'The Mirror & The Maze' by Renée Ahdieh. A very short read that I didn't feel added a whole lot to the series as a whole, but it was nice to see Khalid again and briefly re-immerse myself in this world. It reminded me how much I needed to read the next book! 3/5 Stars.
2. 'Everless' by Sara Holland. This was a recommendation from a fellow book-lover and friend and I finally got round to reading it! I enjoyed it too, though I felt that the plot had far too much going on throughout most of the book. I liked the finale though and plan to keep going with this one! 3.5/5 Stars.
3. 'Rubyfruit Jungle' by Rita Mae Brown. This is often hailed as a coming-out classic and so, wanting to read more LGBTQ+ fiction, I gave it a go. I have to say that I was surprised by the super modern ideas and approved of most of them, especially considering when this book was written. The formula was a little repetitive though and there were a couple of bizarre plot elements and damaging stereotypes. 3.5/5 Stars.
4. 'Crooked Kingdom' by Leigh Bardugo. Yaaaaas! Finally I finished this series and it was everything. I loved being reunited with my favourite crooks and con-artists, and seeing them develop even more! I also really love Bardugo's world-building! 5/5 Stars.

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

- Thee Mirror & The Maze

- Everless

- Rubyfruit Jungle

- Crooked Kingdom

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

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

- Crooked Kingdom

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

- The Mirror & The Maze

- Rubyfruit Jungle *Mini Challenge: (#ownvoices OR gender: women in male-dominated genres/non-fiction)*

- Crooked Kingdom *Mini Challenge: (#ownvoices OR gender: women in male-dominated genres/non-fiction)*

Here is the update for Pretty Deadly Blog's Bookish Bingo card.

Planned Reads For March.

There are still a lot of reads from last month that I'm desperate to get to, so I'll be putting them on this month's list! I do also have a couple of other reads this month that I'm looking forward to getting into!

Sara Holland's 'Everless' has been on my TBR forever, and I know the friend that is desperate for me to read it is so disappointed in me for keep putting it off so enough is enough. I am not reading anything else until this book is read!

As soon as I'm done with 'Everless', I will be moving straight onto Leigh Bardugo's 'Crooked Kingdom' which I have been super excited about reading forever. I can't wait to finish this duology and hopefully love this book as much as the first one!

I received this next book as a gift for Christmas and am absolutely head-over-heels in love with the cover. A book about the undead and necromancy with a sugary sweet pink colour scheme is absolutely my aesthetic! 'Reign Of The Fallen' by Sarah Glenn Marsh looks amazing, and I'm particularly excited about this one.

This is also hopefully the month that I'll get to read two of my most anticipate 2019 reads - the first being 'Enchantée' by Gita Trelease! The french revolution, mixed with magic? Amazing! I'm all about the court intrigue and dash of romance that I'm sure to find in these pages!

The second hotly anticipated 2019 release is of course Samantha Shannon's 'The Priory Of The Orange Tree' because everything about this book looks breath-taking. Epic fantasies are my jam and this one is written by a woman so I'm excited to read this!

'Rubyfruit Jungle' by Rita Mae-Brown is deemed to be one of the coming out books, and it was suggested by a friend of mine, whom I record a podcast with. It's actually one of our chosen reads. I'm certainly intrigued, and definitely in the mood for something classic to bury my nose in.

I love Sara Barnard's books. We all know this. 'Fierce Fragile Hearts' is actually a sequel (of sorts) to 'Beautiful Broken Things', her debut! I really adored that first book and look forward to continuing Suzanne, Caddy and Rosie's stories!

I love a good mystery now and again and so Kimberly McCreight's book 'The Outliers' looks awesome! It involves telepathy, being on the run, cryptic clues and a missing friend, but other than that I don't know an awful lot about this book. I have to say though, it has some pretty mixed reviews so I'm hoping it's as good as it sounds!

I also thought I'd take the time to highlight Pretty Deadly Blog's new Bookish Bingo card! Running from March to May there are some awesome categories here! I look forward to joining in.

March Wrap-Up.

This has definitely been a month for straying off the path. I set myself a list of things I'd love to read (still do want to) but ended up delving into a few other titles instead. Only two of this month's four reads were from the reads I planned! That's how I like to do my reading though! I'll aim for better in April.

1. 'Spectacle' by Megan Rose Gedris. My first read of the month was not originally planned at all. I took a break about halfway through the 600 page long epic 'Children Of Blood & Bone' and wanted something easy and relatively short - a graphic novel being the perfect solution! I loved the characters, magic and inclusion of a circus in this one. Plus, the art style was gorgeous! 4/5 Stars.
2. 'Children Of Blood & Bone' by Tomi Adeyemi. This is probably my favourite read of the year so far. It was long but so worth it! Great characters, a wonderful setting and everything I could ever want in a fantasy! I'm all about diversity in books too, and this one basically had me weeping. 5/5 Stars.
3. 'bone' by Yrsa Daley-Ward. I don't read poetry a lot, but when I do, I want to be blown away! And I really liked this collection from Daley-Ward a lot. Captivatingly honest, vulnerable and filled with raw emotion, she proved that you only need twenty words to tell a story and make a person reflect. 4/5 Stars.
4. 'The Novice' by Taran Matharu. Not a great closing read for the month I'm afraid, it took me a long time to get through this book. The pop culture inspiration that it took was almost overbearingly similar, the world-building was a little vague, the middle section of the book really dipped and I felt that the writing wasn't all that impressive. I've heard book two picks up a lot so will give that a try. If not, I won't continue this series. 2.5/5 Stars.

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

- bone

- The Novice

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

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

- Spectacle

- Children Of Blood & Bone

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

- Spectacle

- Children Of Blood & Bone

- bone

- The Novice

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

Part Of A Series: The Novice; Taran Matharu

Spring Release: Children Of Blood & Bone; Tomi Adeyemi

Freebie: --

Intersectional Diversity: bone; Yrsa Daley-Ward

Family: Spectacle; Megan Rose Gedris

Planned Reads For March.

Right, so, by the end of this month we'll be a quarter of the way through the year? Crikey! I have got some great reads lined up to take my mind off the fact that 2018 is disappearing before my very eyes though!

I am starting my March off with my most anticipated read of the year! That's right, 'Children Of Blood & Bone' by Tomi Adeyemi is the book that has me most excited in 2018 and I'm finally able to pick up my gorgeous-looking ARC and read it! I'm loving it so far by the way, such an engaging Fantasy world.

Yes, yes. I know. 'The Novice' by Taran Matharu is going on hold again. But I have actually started it, and I promise that as soon as I've excitedly devoured 'Children Of Blood & Bone', I'll get straight to it!

I really do want to get to 'The Belles' by Dhonielle Clayton ASAP too. It looks so good! It was on my list for last month too, but we all know how poorly that went. I'm hoping I won't be hit by another reading slump to disrupt everything, but I have a really good feeling about this 2018 release!

This next book is a little older but while I don't normally go for thrillers, the cover and synopsis seem really exciting! 'The Outliers' by Kimberly McCreight has been on my radar for some time and I've had it on monthly TBRs a few times without ever getting to it.

'They Both Die At The End' will be my first ever Adam Silvera read which is quite exciting. I've only ever heard good things regarding his books! It certainly looks like a sweet story of love, friendship and comfort though the title is certainly making me feel that it's all going to end in tears for me!

I loved the Wonder Woman film when it came out last year! I much prefer the MCU to DC's stuff usually, but they really pulled out all the stops for this one. Am I going to read 'Wonder Woman: Warbringer' by Leigh Bardugo as a result? Absolutely! Bardugo is such a fantastic author too, I'm really excited!

Another book that was listed on my February TBR I know, but 'Warrior Witch' by Danielle L. Jensen is the last in the series and I'm determined not to put it off for years like I did book two, because it's such a good series! That cover is definitely my favourite of the three too, it's gorgeous!

This last book looks stunning. I've been wanting to read more fiction inspired by or set in Africa and Asia (hence my reading of 'Children Of Blood & Bone') and this one is set in Taiwan! 'The Astonishing Colour Of After' by Emily X.R. Pan has my hopes set high. I can't wait to immerse myself in a new culture!

March Wrap-Up.

I've had another tough month reading-wise and it was my final two reads that stopped it from being a complete disaster! A bit too much of a close call I think! However, I did manage six reads, five of them being from my original choices and one short extra!

1. 'Homecoming' by Claire Legrand. I read 'Winterspell' a long time ago and have been waiting with baited breath for the next book in the series that was promised. Sadly, this was never to come. Instead, Legrand did release a short 'epilogue' that tells the story of Clara's return to Kane and reunion with Nicholas. It was very sweet and just what I'd hoped though I was disappointed that it was so short. 3/5 Stars.
2. 'Ash' by Malinda Lo. I have to say, despite high reviews, I didn't actually go into this book with really high hopes, which is why I ended up being absolutely blown away. Fantastic world-building, great characters, an original take on the classic tale 'Cinderella' and best of all an LGBT relationship that feels real. The only thing that stopped a five star rating was the ending, where the choice that Ash ended up making had absolutely no consequences for her whatsoever. 4.5/5 Stars.
3. 'The Rest Of Us Just Live Here' by Patrick Ness. As I've come to expect from Ness now, the writing was just as good as his other books. I don't think it would be possible to read a disappointing read from this guy. There's some great diversity in this book (as is found in all Ness books) and I enjoyed the interesting perspective on mental health and being a teenager. Definitely an original take on a traditional 'teen supernatural romance' story. I didn't like the characters so much though, and actually there wasn't much of a plot. 4/5 Stars.
4. 'Radio Silence' by Alice Oseman. This was by far the best read of the month, if not 2017 so far for me! Why didn't I read it sooner? I've had a great run of contemporary YA reads so far this year and this was no exception. Great characters, amazing LGBT coverage, oodles of diversity, and best of all a good parent-child relationship. I adored this book! Anyone who is like me and still hasn't found time to read this book, then make time because it's so awesome! Also, bonus points for it's 'The Sims' mention and the fact that it's set in Kent!
5. 'Not If I See You First' by Eric Lindstrom. Another good contemporary read that I probably should have read sooner, but I'm glad to have got to this now. It started off as a less enjoyable read because frankly I didn't like the MC. Lindstrom did a great job at allowing me to read from the viewpoint of a blind girl, but did she have to be so bitter, obnoxious and rude? Seriously, Parker was the biggest bitch I've ever read. At first. This is actually a great story, about self-discovery, trust, friendship and accepting your limitations as well as finding your strengths. Also I thought it was going to be a sickening love story but that was not the focus and I'm so pleased. 3.5/5 Stars.
6. 'Blood For Blood' by Ryan Graudin. Finished on the same day, this read I enjoyed a little more. I loved the first book in the series, 'Wolf By Wolf' and had a good feeling about it's sequel! I'm glad I got into this book, it was a great read: thrilling, fantastic writing, memorable and unique characters and amazing world-building. It didn't have the spark of book one, nor the plot direction so I deducted some points there. In fact, I found that a little disappointing, as was the predictable 'big twist' at the end. Still a great read though! 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 ten. My reads were:

- Radio Silence

- Not If I See You First

- Blood For Blood

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 four books for the LGBTQIA Challenge, bringing my yearly total to four. My reads were:

- Homecoming

- Ash

- The Rest Of Us Just Live Here

- Radio Silence

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

- Homecoming

- Ash

- The Rest Of Us Just Live Here

- Radio Silence

- Not If I See You First [Optional Mini Challenge]

- Blood For Blood

Next up, here's how I'm getting on with the Bookish Bingo card and my finished Story Sprites board!

Paranormal: The Rest Of Us Just Live Here; Patrick Ness

Just Words On Cover: Not If I See You First; Eric Lindstrom

Series Finale: Homecoming; Claire Legrand

Thriller: Blood For Blood; Ryan Graudin

Freebie: --

PoC On Cover: Radio Silence; Alice Oseman

Retelling: Ash; Malinda Lo

Book With M/M Romance: Radio Silence; Alice Oseman

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

A Retelling: Homecoming; Claire Legrand

Diverse Author: Ash; Malinda Lo

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

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

Mostly Yellow Cover: The Rest Of Us Just Live Here; Patrick Ness

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

Strong, Independent Female Lead: Not If I See You First; Eric Lindstrom

Wolf/Lupine Element: Blood For Blood; Ryan Graudin
Book Addressing Socioeconomic Topics: Saint Death; Marcus Sedgwick

Planned Reads for March.

The third month of the year! Yikes! I've got some great reads lined up though, ones I've been wanting to get to for a while. Time to play catch-up with the rest of the world!

1. 'Ash' by Malinda Lo. A leftover read from January, I'm so glad I've finally started this book because it's going to mark my first LGBTQIA read of the year. Frankly, I'm appalled at that fact, but excited too! It's a retelling of the well-known Fairy Tale 'Cinderella' too which is even better, because it has been far too long since I read a retelling!
2. 'The Rest Of Us Just Live Here' by Patrick Ness. Wahoo! Another Patrick Ness book! I've really grown a fondness for this author, and having read the synopsis I'm very excited about the premise of this book. Another LGBTQIA read too, filled a mix of Contemporary, Fantasy, Science Fiction and no doubt a ton of other genres, as that seems to be Ness' speciality: mixing a ton of genres in unexpected ways!

1. 'Radio Silence' by Alice Oseman. I have been wanting to read this book for an age, and I have such good vibes about it! I think this is going to be yet another great Contemporary YA and I'm hitting one a month so far, which is awesome! I'm looking forward to absorbing everything that Oseman has to offer and finally reading one of her continually recommended books!
2. 'Not If I See You First' by Eric Lindstrom. I have literally never read a book with a blind MC. Isn't that frightening? Mental health awareness is important to me, but so is representation for the physically disabled. I'm looking forward to see what Lindstrom has to write, and I have a feeling I am not going to have read anything like this one before.
3. 'Blood For Blood' by Ryan Graudin. Oh my goodness, I have wanted to read this book since it's publication in November! I'm so glad to have received a copy via Illumicrate and look forward to the sequel of 'Wolf By Wolf' which blew me away in terms of the writing and thrills! I have so many unanswered questions, and book one ended on such a cliffhanger.
4. 'Fairy Tales For Modern Queers' by Emily Reed. It's been a while since I've tackled a book of short stories, and this seems like a good one to go for! Just reading the descriptions, I can see so much diversity which is always a good thing. On top of that, fairy tales will always be the love of my life! Really I don't see much going wrong here.
5. 'Red Witch' by Anna McKerrow. I had a few mixed thoughts on the first book of this series, but I'm sticking with it because there were some great moments and Lucy Powrie, one of my favourite Tweeters, sings it's praises like there's no tomorrow! I'm looking forward to a glimpse of the Redworld, as this series could definitely do with going outside the boundaries of the Greenworld!
6. 'Hidden Huntress' by Danielle L. Jensen. I'm almost ashamed to be writing this now, so long after reading 'Stolen Songbird', but better late than never right? I gave the first book a five star rating and ever since I've been desperately been trying to make time for book two but to no avail. I hope this is the month I get my act together!