February 2019 Wrap-Up

I say this nearly every month, but this time I really want to emphasize this so excuse the screaming – HOW IS IT MARCH ALREADY? I had no concept of time in February! It was like *blink* its Feb 13 then *blink* hey its the last week! And then suddenly on March 1 I’m like – what happened to February, man?! I was a bit out of it even while reading – I started several books this month that I didn’t finish. I think for a bit of time I may have gone into a slump, and took to marathoning Veronica Mars, One Day at a Time and Umbrella Academy. Well, anyway I shook myself off, took up some manga to get back into the zone.

2019 Reading Challenge

2019 Reading Challenge
Ruthsic has read 55 books toward her goal of 300 books.
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This was a month of starting many books but not finishing all of them, so I ended up with 22 finished books – 12 of them being manga, and the rest being full-length novels. None got 5 stars from me this month, but there were still some that I loved:

Pretty good

Black Torch, Vol. 3 by Tsuyoshi Takaki The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey Just For Clicks by Kara McDowell The Tale of Genji Volume 1 by Waki Yamato Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge Shortcake Cake, Vol. 4 by Suu Morishita Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner The Magician King by Lev Grossman The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman Kakuriyo by Midori Yuma We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

 Try it out maybe?

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas Nancy Drew by Kelly Thompson Stranger Things by Jody Houser How to Experience Death for Beginners by Jessica Branton The Water Dragon's Bride, Vol. 9 by Rei Toma The Beauty of the Wolf by Wray Delaney Black Torch, Vol. 4 by Tsuyoshi Takaki

Nope

Record of Grancrest War, Vol. 2 by Ryo Mizuno Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 3 by Aki Irie


And now, onto the yearly challenges:

Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

Progress: 19/100 books

The Cheerleaders The Gilded King (Sovereign, #1) The Magician King (The Magicians, #2) The Magician's Land (The Magicians, #3)


Contemporary Romance reading challenge

Progress: 6/21+ books (Grand Slam)

Just For Clicks Shortcake Cake, Vol. 4 Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 8


2019 AtoZ Reading Challenge bannerAtoZ reading challenge

Progress: 16/26 books

Alice Isn't Dead The Beauty of the Wolf The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) The Daughters of Salem How we sent our children to their deaths: Part 1 E Firestarter (Timekeeper #3) Gotham Academy: Second Semester, Vol. 1: Welcome Back Haphaven I Just For Clicks K Love by the Morning Star Man-Eaters Volume 1 Nancy Drew: The Case of the Cold Case Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls, #4) P Q Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee Stranger Things: The Other Side (Graphic Novel Volume 1) T United We Spy (Gallagher Girls, #6) V Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 (Wires and Nerve, #1) X Y Z


Cloak and Dagger challenge

Progress: 8/35 books

The Cheerleaders Nancy Drew: The Case of the Cold Case

Both books are murder mysteries.


2019 New Release Challenge logo - (un)Conventional BookwormsNew Release challenge

Progress: 33/200 books

Black Torch, Vol. 3 Record of Grancrest War, Vol. 2 Nancy Drew: The Case of the Cold Case Stranger Things: The Other Side (Graphic Novel Volume 1) How to Experience Death for Beginners The Water Dragon's Bride, Vol. 9 Just For Clicks The Tale of Genji Volume 1: Dreams at Dawn Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 6 Shortcake Cake, Vol. 4 The Beauty of the Wolf The Stone's Heart (The Queen's Wing #2) Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 8 Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 3 We Set the Dark on Fire Kakuriyo: Bed Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 3 Black Torch, Vol. 4


Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading challenge

Progress: 38/100 galleys

Black Torch, Vol. 3 Record of Grancrest War, Vol. 2 Nancy Drew: The Case of the Cold Case Stranger Things: The Other Side (Graphic Novel Volume 1) How to Experience Death for Beginners The Water Dragon's Bride, Vol. 9 Just For Clicks The Tale of Genji Volume 1: Dreams at Dawn Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 6 Shortcake Cake, Vol. 4 The Beauty of the Wolf The Stone's Heart (The Queen's Wing #2) Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 8 Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 3 We Set the Dark on Fire Kakuriyo: Bed Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 3 Black Torch, Vol. 4

17 books! Making it mostly galleys read this month…


2019 Debut author challenge

Progress: 5/24 debuts

How to Experience Death for Beginners Just For Clicks We Set the Dark on Fire


2019 Audiobook ChallengeAudiobook challenge

Progress: 5/50 audiobooks

I didn’t finish either of the two audiobooks I started in February *sobs*


Monthly Keyword Challenge

Progress: 1/12 keywords

February’s keywords: Love Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 8 Heart The Stone's Heart (The Queen's Wing #2)


Dystopia Reading Challenge

Progress: 4/16 books

The Gilded King (Sovereign, #1) The Stone's Heart (The Queen's Wing #2) We Set the Dark on Fire

The Gilded King is a post-apocalyptic vampire novel, The Stone’s Heart is a fantasy set in a futuristic space colony, and We Set the Dark on Fire is a dystopia set with modern themes.


Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Progress: 8/25 books (Ancient History)

The Tale of Genji Volume 1: Dreams at Dawn Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 6 The Beauty of the Wolf

The Tale of Genji manga is an adaptation of the 11th century literary novel, set in Heian era of Japan;
Demon Slayer is set in the Taisho era of Japan;
The Beauty of the Wolf is set in Elizabeth I’s reign.


Retellings Reading Challenge

Progress: 4/25 retellings (Fairest of them All)
The Beauty of the Wolf – Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

spacetime readsSpace Time Reading Challenge

Progress: 2/20 books
The Stone's Heart (The Queen's Wing #2)
The Stone’s Heart is a fantasy set in a futuristic space colony

Series to Finish Challenge

Progress: 4/24 series (1/12 new + 3/12 old)

The Magicians by Lev Grossman (old) – The Magician King (The Magicians, #2) The Magician's Land (The Magicians, #3)

Finally finished the series. I must say – I love the show better.


yarc headerYear of the Asian Reading Challenge

Progress: 5/51 books

The Tale of Genji Volume 1: Dreams at Dawn


Besides these year-long challenges, I also had  one reading challenge.

FebruaryFantastic February (Feb 1-28)

I had aimed to read at least 10 books with fantasy elements in February, and I ended up reading 14!

Black Torch, Vol. 3 Record of Grancrest War, Vol. 2 The Gilded King (Sovereign, #1) Stranger Things: The Other Side (Graphic Novel Volume 1) How to Experience Death for Beginners The Water Dragon's Bride, Vol. 9 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 6 The Beauty of the Wolf The Stone's Heart (The Queen's Wing #2) The Magician King (The Magicians, #2) The Magician's Land (The Magicians, #3)Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 3 Kakuriyo: Bed Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 3 Black Torch, Vol. 4


ICYMI

Top Ten Tuesday bannerTTT: Upcoming Releases I’m on the Fence About
TTT: Beautiful Ships I Recently Shipped
TTT: Books I loved with fewer than 2000 ratings on GoodReads
TTT: Places mentioned in books that I’d Like to Visit


Diversity Spotlight Thursday #35: Queer fantasy
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #36: Queer Sci-Fi
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #37: Gay romance
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #38: Jewish MC


Book Blogger Hop: Feb 1-7
Book Blogger Hop: Feb 8-14
Book Blogger Hop: Feb 15-21
Book Blogger Hop: Feb 22-28


Stacking the Shelves #47
Stacking the Shelves #48
Stacking the Shelves #49
Stacking the Shelves #50


Podcasts for Readers #10: Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services


Shouting from the Shelftops #4
Shouting from the Shelftop #5


Other news

  • I have taken part in two big bangs this month (in case you don’t know, its when writers and/or artists get together in pairs to write fic/make fanart for a particular fandom and then release it all together) – one for a Wolfstar (Harry Potter fandom) reverse bang and the other for The Raven Cycle. I have made 3 pieces of artwork for the former, each being assigned to a different writer to write a 10k fic based on the artwork as inspiration. The writers have already told me what they plan to do with their topics, and I can’t wait until the first week of May when we can share all of that with the world! As for The Raven Cycle, the claims just went live on the first of March, so let’s see what fic I get to make fanart from! Those will be released on April 24 (St. Mark’s eve)
  • Besides that, I have also being (again) getting into my artwork. You can find the newer pieces on my Instagram (check the sidebar)!
  • I am also opening commissions this month – yep, you can commission me to do artwork for you! I’ll post the details in a couple of days, as I still have to work out some details, but suffice to say it will be within this week!

Did you enjoy your February?

One thought on “February 2019 Wrap-Up

  1. Pingback: Updates: Art commissions are officially open! | YA on my Mind

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