April is here, and March seems like a distant memory to me! Honestly I am not even going to get into how much of a time warp March was for me, because what I am glad for is that I got through it …somehow… March was a month that was terrible on different counts for me: on a personal level, there were things that upset me, on a professional level, there was something I was hoping for to work out but didn’t so I proceeded to spend something close to 3 weeks just moping around.
That moping (which is an understatement for the number of nights I spent crying) bleeded over to my number #1 Technique for Distraction: Reading. Like, I have always been able to count on books to keep me out of my head, but March was just terrible for reading too. I couldn’t finish books – I was of gave up and just turned to TV to fill that space (I spent like a total of ~128 hours over the month yowza!). Finally as I dragged myself into April, clarity came for some things so I am hoping this month will be better.
As I said before, this month was a personal low for me, so I read only 6 full-length books and 7 graphic novels/manga for a total of 13 books.
Ah-mazing!
Pretty good
Try it out maybe?
Nope
Reread
And now, onto the yearly challenges:
Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge
Progress: 22/100 books
Contemporary Romance reading challenge
Progress: 8/21+ books (Grand Slam)
AtoZ reading challenge
Progress: 19/26 books
I 
Q 
T 
V 
X Y Z
Cloak and Dagger challenge
Progress: 8/35 books
Nothing this month!
New Release challenge
Progress: 41/200 books
Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading challenge
Progress: 48/100 galleys
10 galleys read this month, which is a big part of my book count this month.
2019 Debut author challenge
Progress: 5/24 debuts
No debuts this month! 😦
Audiobook challenge
Progress: 8/50 audiobooks
Monthly Keyword Challenge
Progress: 1/12 keywords
No keywords this month 😦
Dystopia Reading Challenge
Progress: 4/16 books
Nothing this month
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Progress: 8/25 books (Ancient History)
Nothing this month 😦
Retellings Reading Challenge
Progress: 5/25 retellings (Fairest of them All)
– A Snow White retelling
Space Time Reading Challenge
Progress: 3/20 books
Series to Finish Challenge
Progress: 6/24 series (2/12 new + 4/12 old)
The Bone Witch trilogy by Rin Chupeco (old) –
Rise of the Empress duology by Julie C Dao (new) 
On track so far!
Year of the Asian Reading Challenge
Progress: 7/51 books
Besides these year-long challenges, I also had one reading challenge.
Monstrous March (March 1-31)
I had aimed to read at least 7 books with suspense/horror/thriller elements in March, but I ended up reading only 2.
ICYMI
TTT: Characters I’d Like to Switch Places With
TTT: Standalone Books That Need a Sequel
TTT: Books on my Spring TBR
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #39: Sapphic rep
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #40: Bisexual rep in urban fantasy
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #41: OwnVoices East Asian books
Diversity Spotlight Thursday #42: Sapphic rep
Book Blogger Hop: Mar 1-7
Book Blogger Hop: Mar 8-14
Book Blogger Hop: Mar 15-21
Book Blogger Hop: Mar 22-28
Book Blogger Hop: Mar 29- April 4
Stacking the Shelves #51
Stacking the Shelves #52
Stacking the Shelves #53
Stacking the Shelves #54
Other news
- As promised, commission info is now available at the page Art Commissions! You can find pricing info, general conditions etc over there, and if you want to check out the art it is in the sidebar. It would be quite helpful if you could also spread the word!
- This is not news exactly, but – please help support my blog and my art with contributions through Ko-Fi (every small donation helps!), and by buying my designs on Society6 or TeePublic. You could also help out for free, too – by using my affiliate links (see sidebar) when you are about to purcahse a book, or by using my Scribd share code to get a free 60-day trial of the service (come on guys, free books for 2 months is a no-brainer!)
How did your March go? What are you looking forward to this spring/autumn?
YA on my Mind 