When All Is Read And Done // February 2019 Wrap-Up

When you think about it, February is kind of a rip off. With a mere 28 days to its sorry name, this month feels as short as an Alaskan summer – there for a grand total of about three seconds, and gone again before you got the chance to fully enjoy it. Sure, if you look at it from a logistical standpoint, it’s only three days shorter than usual. But those three days might as well be three weeks for all the things we could have achieved in them. February just doesn’t peddle enough time for us to spend and it shows.

At least, it usually does.

This year was definitely the anomaly. Somehow, despite the there-and-gone-again nature of February, I was…actually…productive??? *Collective gasp from the Peanut Gallery* February is supposed to be the month that I lose all my New Year Resolution steam and fall short of my goals. BUT I DIDN’T!!!???? How is this even possible?

American Panda // Gloria Chao // ★★★★½☆ – Listening to this audiobook made me cry. Like, actual tears. I’m not even using a hyperbole here. And seeing as I have a soul made of stone and hardly never cry when reading books, I’m feeling shooketh.

Illuminae // Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff // ★★★★½☆ – If I had to pick a theme song for this book, it would be that old 60s rock n’ roll song by Chubby Checker because it HAS SO MANY TWISTS! Seriously, I didn’t see any of them coming. None of them. How does Kristoff always manage to do this to me?

Not If I Save You First // Ally Carter // ★★★☆☆ – Ally Carter was always an insta-read author for me as an early teen. I adored her Gallagher Girls series when I was thirteen, and I’m sure if I had read Not If I Save You First back then, I would have loved it too. It has all the things mini-me would have flipped out over: a dude in distress (no helpless damsels here) and the extremelyyyyy slow burn that is the best-friends-to-haters-to-friends-again-to-lovers trope (yeah, that’s a thing). Honestly, this book is the perfect lower YA read, which is something we need more of.

The Way You Make Me Feel // Maurene Goo // ★★★★★ – I loved everything about this book. The relationships felt real, the writing style was engaging and authentic, and the fluffy story made my insides turn to cotton candy. I will definitely be picking up more of Goo’s books in the future.

Legend // Marie Lu // ★★★☆☆ – I tried reading Legend back when it first came out (multiple times, actually), but could ever bring myself to finish it. That being said, after devouring The Young Elite series (which I loved A LOT, btw), I figured I might as well give this book another go. This time, I was able to finish it (yay me!), but I still can’t say that I was overly impressed by Legend and its insta-lovey (is that even a word??), near-forced romance.

My So-Called Bollywood Life // Nisha Sharma // ★★★☆☆ – Wow. To describe My So-Called Bollywood Life in one word: DRAMA. Every little thing was The End of the World™ (!!!), but I think that was kind of the point. I loved how brightly the Indian culture shined in this book and now, if you would excuse me, I’m going to go watch some Bollywood movies on Netflix. Preferably ones with Shah Rukh Khan and a large irrelevant-to-the-plot dance number in them.

The Wicked King // Holly Black // ★★★★★ – This book is like a huge slice of cake; it’s probably not the healthiest thing for you, but boy, do you love it anyways. It’s totally a guilty pleasure. I read it almost entirely in one sitting and I’ve just got to say, THE ENDING SLAYED ME. I AM DEAD. I REPEAT: I. AM. DEAD. And I will stay dead until the next book comes out.

P.S. I Still Love You // Jenny Han // ★★★★☆ – P.S. I Still Love You, along with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, were such relaxing books for me. Reading them was like taking a hot bubble bath or getting a deep-tissue massage; it completely rejuvenated me and allowed me to destress. Also, unpopular opinion alert: I loved John Ambrose McClaren. So much. If I was Lara Jean, I would have picked him.

Want // Cindy Pon // ★★★☆☆ – This book made me realize that I haven’t read very many YA novels written from a male first-person POV. I found it quite refreshing.

The Bourne Identity // The Bourne Supremacy // The Bourne Ultimatum // I remember that one of my friends tried to get me to watch these movies in high school, but we never made it through the first one because I got too bored with it. WHAT WAS I EVEN THINKING??? I’m seriously questioning my high-school-self’s taste in movies, because that first one was actually really good. Especially that ending.

 The Dragon Prince {Season 2} // Can I just say that I love what this show is doing for Disabled Rep in the Fantasy genre? In Season One, we were introduced to General Amaya, an amazing Deaf character who uses sign language. In Season Two, we meet Captain Villads, a blind sailor who captains a ship called, Ruthless. How amazing is that????

Ralph Breaks the Internet // This movie was wayyyyyy funnier than I was expecting it to be. Plus, the fact that all the Disney princesses made a cameo is EPIC.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl // I wrote my review for Daughter of the Siren Queen this month (be on the lookout for that post in the upcoming weeks!), and it got me in such a mood for pirates. If we’re talking about pirates, there really is only one movie that will do. And it’s this one. (Okay, I lied. It’s this one and the 2003 Peter Pan movie with Jeremy Sumpter in it).

A Series of Unfortunate Events {Season 3} // WE FINALLY FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HECK IS IN THAT DANG SUGAR BOWL. My life is now complete.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse // I love living overseas, but I also don’t. One of the reasons I don’t is that I have to wait FOREVER to see my most anticipated movie releases. But let me tell you, all the hype for this movie is deserved a hundred times over. Thank goodness it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Also, I think I might have possibly listened to Sunflower three hundred and forty-two times. Maybe I’m exaggerating. Maybe I’m not. Now we’ll never know.

• Tracy @ Truffles Literary Wonders and I hosted the Blogiful Blog Design Event, and it actually went really well??? Thanks again to everybody who supported us and tuned in for all the fun event festivities :)
• I officially opened my Blog Design Shop, called Waffley Cute Designs (because of course I had to include a waffle pun in there somewhere, right?). For those of you interested, I’m running a 10% off Grand Opening Sale for the month of March.
• I took part in the Dreamer Blog Tour, hosted by Shut Up, Shealea’s Caffeine Book Tours.
• I FINALLY reached 300 followers on Instagram! Gaining followers over there is like pulling teeth.

• Kenzie @ The Book Blogger started her own freelance editing service called, Editing by Kenzie.
• Camillea @ Camillea Reads talked about how she outlines her novel, and I NEEDED THIS SO MUCHHHH.
• Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall started the Teen Influencers Book Blog Directory, and I think this is such a worthy cause. You should all go check it out!
• CW @ The Quiet Pond shared an AMAZING list of South Asian Book Recommendations.
• Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books wrote about how to stay positive while book blogging, which is something that I’m struggling with right now, so it was a really timely read for me.
• Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads compiled the largest romance recommendation post I have ever seen.

Are you participating in any reading challenges? If so, how are you doing with those?

Was February way too short for you? Or were you surprisingly productive, like me? I’d love to hear all about your month in the comments!