What I’ve been up to in January & February ❄ Snow, School Stress & Exams

Hello fellow bookworms ❄ The first two months of the year have already been weird, 2021 has not let me rest so far 😅 I went on a hiatus from February until the end of next week (when my exams will finally all be done) because the strain of studying for my exams was a lot and the workload more than I was used to. That’s why I combined my January and February wrapups, as I wasn’t able to write the former in time and doing them together was much easier 😊 I desperately need my semester break! I’m even more excited to finally be more active on the blog as I’ve really missed writing posts and interacting (plus, I was nervous that I’d be forgotten, which I think is a common worry) 🥺 I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing and/or what you’ve been reading ❤

Important Resources

• Carrds to check out if you want to educate yourself & help out
• https://globalissuesawareness.carrd.co/
• https://dotherightthing.carrd.co/
• BLM 2020 Resources Spreadsheet

🔄 = Reread 💌 = Library Books 🌈 = #QueerBookFun2021

 😊 = Readalong/Buddy Read 📚 = #TackleYourTBR2021 ⌛ = Digital Arc

I read 18 books in ❄ January ❄, which is a lot more than I expected 😂 13 of them were graphic novels which really boosted my reading this month! I participated in the GraphicsAthon, as it was a short event and I was in the mood for some graphic novels, so I joined and it was the best decision I could have made 🥰 I even discovered a surprise new favourite graphic novels series – Fence Vol 1-4. – which also became my first 5-star read of the year for me (the second one was of course Network Effect) ❤ Apart from that I took care to not stress myself with reading and instead paid attention to my moods, which made me look forward to reading every night. I’m happy that I was consistently reading before bed and using it to relax 😊

I read 8 books in 💕 February 💕 , which I’m happy with as I was very busy with studying. I mostly read in the evenings when I finally had some time and reading helped me unwind from a long day! It was such a nice experience to be buddy(re)reading the His Fair Assassin books with Veronika from wordyandwhimsical, it reminded me of how much I love these books 💗 Apart from one book, I had a great reading month with many books I ended up loving! Overall, I already found three new favorite books in the first two months of 2021, so I’m counting that as a win 💖

I read 4 books out of my comfort zone in ❄ January ❄ and was really happy with almost all of them! As expected, I adored Network Effect (adult sci-fi), as it’s part of one of my favorite new series – the Murderbot Diaries – and I was excited to read the first full-length novel in the novella series 🥰 I also loved El Deafo (YA memoir graphic novel) and Dead Voices (MG Mystery, Horror & Fantasy), but sadly wasn’t a big fan of Paper Girls Vol 1 (YA Sci-Fi graphic novel), so I won’t continue this series 😅

❄ Network Effect (Martha Wells) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 

❄ El Deafo (Cece Bell) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌

❄ Dead Voices (Katherine Arden) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚

❄ Paper Girls Vol 1. (Vaughan & Chiang)  ⭐⭐.5 💌

I read 3 books out of my comfort zone in 💕 February 💕 and was really satisfied with how my reading turned out. I had been wanting to read The Midnight Library (Adult Sci-Fi/Contemporary) and You Should Talk to Someone (Adult Memoir/Nonfiction) and luckily I enjoyed both of them a lot 🥰 Sadly, the other book that I read, Peace is Every Step (Adult Nonfiction) missed the mark for me completely 😔

💕 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (Lori Gottlieb) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 

💕 The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

💕 Peace is Every Step (Thich Nhat Hanh) ⭐⭐.5 💌

❄ 1.-4. Fence Vol 1-4 (C. S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌈💌 ➽ Review

❄ 5. El Deafo (Cece Bell) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌 ➽ Review

❄ 6. The Girl from the Other Side Vol 1. (Nagabe) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

❄ 7. The Backstagers Vol 1 (Tynion IV, Sygh & Baiamonte) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌 🌈 ➽ Review

❄ 8. The Backstagers Vol 2 (Tynion IV, Sygh & Baiamonte) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌 🌈 ➽ Review

❄ 9. Am I Overthinking This? (Michelle Rial) ⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

❄ 10. Paper Girls Vol 1. (Vaughan & Chiang)  ⭐⭐.5 💌 ➽ Review

❄ 11. Network Effect (Martha Wells) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

💕 12. Today Tonight Tomorrow (Rachel Lynn Solomon) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

❄ 13. Vampire Academy (Richelle Mead) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🔄 😊

💕 14. Grave Mercy (Robin LaFevers) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🔄 😊

💕 15. Dark Triumph (Robin LaFevers) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🔄 😊

💕 16. Mortal Heart (Robin LaFevers) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🔄 😊

 

❄ 17. Call It What You Want (Brigid Kemmerer) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌 ➽ Review

❄ 18. Words on Bathroom Walls (Julia Walton) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚 ➽ Review

❄ 19. Dead Voices (Katherine Arden) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚 ➽ Review

  

💕 20. Across the Green Grass Fields (Seanan McGuire) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌🌈 ➽ Review

💕 21. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (Lori Gottlieb) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

💕 22. The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

 

❄ 23. Heartstopper Vol 2. (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌🌈 ➽ Review

❄ 24. Heartstopper Vol 3. (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌🌈 ➽ Review

❄ 25. Heartstopper [6-4] (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌈 ➽ Review

💕 26. Peace is Every Step (Thich Nhat Hanh) ⭐⭐.5 💌 ➽ Review

Favorite Books 💕

What I’ve been up to in December 🎄 Stress, Christmas & the end of the year ~ Most Anticipated Releases of 2021 (January to June) 💕 

My 2021 Out of Your Comfort Zone Challenge TBR 💗 ~ 2021 Reading Challenges I’m joining 📚 #TackleMyTBR, #QueerBookFun, Goodreads & VA Readalong ~ Review: Fence Vol 1-4 ⚔ I’m getting invested in … sports?!

Arc Review: Secrets of Camp Whatever by Chris Grine 👻 A not so normal summer camp ~ Anti TBR Tag 📕 All about the books I don’t want to read ~ Books I Put on Hold & Want to pick up again ❤

For this section of my wrapup I’m linking my Favorite Blog Posts of the Month 💗 (January only though, I sadly didn’t have time to do much blog hopping in February and will only now be able to catch up!)

• My 21 Most Anticipated 2021 Releases (January to June) // aka Me Wishing I Had All of These Books Right Now!! (Ash @ starlightstrands)
• Reading for the Sake of Content // some honest thoughts from blogging over the years (Belle @ bellecanread)
• A Reflection on How Life, Reading, & Blogging Went in 2020 // Opening Up About My Feelings of Burn-Out & Tier Ranking All 100 of the Books I Read in 2020 // In Which I Struggle to Remember Anything About Them (Caitlin @ caitlinalthea)
• Graphicsathon Round 3 ⇀ My tbr 📚💕✨ (Ellyn @ allonsythornraxxbooks)
• Let’s Chat | Rating Books Subjectively vs Objectively (Emme @ aliterarylatte)
• Book to Screen Adaptations 2021 (Kat @ lifeandotherdisasters)
• Other five things i want to see more of in YA! & the julie and the phantoms book tag! (original) (Lais @ thebookishkies)
• Nonfiction Book Recs ft. nonfiction I read outside of school and actually enjoyed (Lou @ fluffybooks)
• 2020 in hindsight: more favorites + reading stats (Margaret @ weirdzeal)
• 10 YA books with the friends to lovers trope I enjoyed & 5 book blogging insecurities I have (and how i try to get over them) & 10 Backlist YA Books I Want to Read in 2021 (Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks)
• Goodbye 2020: My Favorite Books of 2020! The Best of the Best + Honorable Mentions (May @ foreverandeverly)
• Queer Book Fun 2021 Reading Challenge tbr & Movie recommendations for wintertime (Morgan @ morganisreadingagain)
• 2020 Reading Wrap-up: Reading Stats + How Did I Do With my 2020 Reading Challenges? (Pauliina @ thebookaholicdreamer)
• Webtoon 101: Recommendations, Ramblings & More (Rain @ bookdragonism)
• THE MORE THAN 21 TOP BOOKS ON MY 2021 TBR // a very long list of backlist, 2019 and 2020 titles I’ve neglected (pray for me!!) ft. worst books of 2020 (Ruby @ rubyreadreads)
• Read More Books – Free, Legal Alternatives to Pirated Books (Shealea @ ShutUpShelea)
• Top 5 | My Most expected Books of 2021 🌿 & Top 10 | 2021 Latinx Book Releases 🌾 & Top 10 | 5 Stars-Worthy Contemporary Books 🌺 (Sofii @ abookathought)
• My 2021 Resolutions (Sophie @ sophiexli)
• 30 Graphic Novels I Want To Read | a mega list & My 5-Star Predictions | five books on my 2021 tbr (Sophie @ meandink)
• 5 Ways I Have Been Coping With Lockdown & 2021 TBR: First Quarter Edition (Swetlana @ thecaffeinatedbookwormlife)
• Why You Should Read These 15 Books I Didn’t Love & 21 Books I Want To Read In 2021 & My Goals and Challenges for the New Year & I Read and Reviewed My Co-Blogger’s Favorite Books  & A Discussion About My Comfort Characters (Veronika & Sabrina @ wordyandwhimsical)

Bonus: The St. Vladimir’s Readalong Liveshows 💕

Studying for exams and university consumed my life 😴  Literally. I had the last few precious days of my winter break in January, but needed to use them to prepare for my classes. I really enjoyed spending time with my family, but went back to my flat to focus on the upcoming exams, seminars and presentations I had to do. February was especially heavy with studying, as I had 3 exams coming up, two of them very time-intensive, so I was spending most days revising and keeping up with the current lectures. One of my exams was for statistics, which was hard and the one I was most nervous for, so I spend much time studying it. Would not recommend having to study a lot of different topics and having to prepare for multiple exams are once 😅 I was definitely very tired and my mental health was … not good. For most of January I had such sleeping problems, it really weighed on me 😔 At least I could study with another classmate, it was nice to chat and prepare for the exams together 😊

Things that made me happy 😊

➽ Watching Shows ❤ I wasn’t able to watch as many shows in the past months but my friend Sandra and I watched two big series finales: CAOS Part 4 and The Rain S3! Plus, we also watched first season of Equinox, rewatched My Neighbor Totoro and started watching Cursed!! I also watched the first two seasons of Hilda on my own, which were so wholesome and cute, I highly recommend it 🥰

➽ SO MUCH SNOW ❄ Especially in January, we had another surge of snow, which surprised me, as back home it doesn’t snow as much. As a big Winter enthusiast, I was so happy and took lots of walks every day (which is also good for my mental health) to make the most of it 💕

➽ My guest post for the Bibliosmile Project going up ☀ I was so honored when Kat asked me to be part of this lovely post series all about our bookish stories that brought joy! It’s much needed, especially right now and I loved sharing my stories. Definitely make sure to check out the other posts as well 🥰

➽ Buying some books as a post-exam treat 📚 I actually got them before writing my exams, so they would arrive in time, especially given the current situation. I hadn’t bought physical books for myself in a while and I’m excited to make my way through this haul – there are so many great books ❤  In case you’re curious I got;

• Concrete Rose (Angie Thomas)
• A List of Cages (Robin Roe) ~ sadly still hasn’t arrived 🥺
• The Enigma Game (Elizabeth Wein)
• Nightblood (Elly Blake)

A picture from my daily walk in January 🥰

A little bit of freedom!!! 🎉 With exams finally over next week, I’ll have so much more time for reading, blogging and relaxing again! (Maybe even getting back to writing, I’m overdue for another writing update) Without the pressure of university for at least a couple of weeks, I can hopefully get some more inspiration again and reset my mind, as the next semester is already coming up in the Middle of April! But we won’t think about that and instead focus on doing some self care ❤ I’m especially excited to go back home and spend time with my family again 🥰 I’ll also be joining the Women’s History Challenge (I’ll be sharing my progress over on Twitter!) and I’m looking forward to participating in a longer Readathon again, especially as I join the challenge every year and it’s always a lot of fun ❤

Top 3 Priority Reads for March

• Frostblood (Richelle Mead) 🔄 (St. Vladimir’s Readalong) ~ I wasn’t able to read this in February, so I hope to catch up soon!
• Shadow Kiss (Richelle Mead) 🔄 (St. Vladimir’s Readalong)
• plus my #WHM Reads 💗

What were you up to in January and February? What was your favorite book(s)? I hope you had a good start into the new year! ❤