February 2021 Wrap-Up

Hi, friends! Is this really a February wrap-up and not a March one? Yes, because time is unreal.

Again, I am very behind on everything, but I think, at this point, we are all very burned out and it is enough that I am trying. I do blog hop from time to time, and since WordPress Reader doesn’t work amazingly for me (because my blog is self-hosted), I catch up with one blog at a time instead of one week at a time. Say hi to me in the comments and I will attempt to read everything you’ve written in March and/or since whenever I last read your posts.

Love you all and I hope everyone is okay.

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What’s Going on in My Life?

• I got my first dose of Moderna vaccine in February, and, as of the time of writing this post, fully vaccinated with a second dose! I am incredibly thankful for having access to the vaccines, and for those of you who are still waiting, I hope you get them very soon. Also, expect some side effects after the second dose because I definitely had a fever for about 16 hours half a day after my second shot. It felt like having a hangover and I had trouble sleeping. Push through and it’ll be okay.
• It is the year of Ox! This is the second Lunar New Year that I have “celebrated” without my family. I didn’t really do anything but vid chat with my parents back home, and it was nice. I also did an Under the Tree tag and made it LNY-themed!
• Now that the semester is halfway through, I think everything is falling into place at last and I am finally making a bit of progress in my research! I switched subfields last fall and have been struggling to understand what I am doing over the past few months. It was… bad because I think my advisor is very concerned about my lack of progress on top of me moving to a new country during the pandemic and the deprivation of in-person socializing with colleagues. Mentally, I think I am doing as well as I could be but finally starting a research project has made me feel even more relieved.

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Books I Read

In January, I read a few nonfiction and a ton of adult sapphic romance. This month (February), however, I didn’t read any nonfiction and only two adult sapphic romance. I hit a romance reading slump sometime in January so I took this opportunity to dabble in many other genres. I read a total of 9 books, which is less than what I did in January or the same time last year (I averaged one book per day in February 2020), but still a pretty decent amount. It would still be a good month even if I didn’t read anything.

Adult Sapphic Romance

Both adult sapphic romance I read were review copies. I am a fan of Nicole Pyland’s stories because of all the feels I would get. What Happened After…: Celebrities Series Finale is like an epilogue for the series. I love seeing couples facing new challenges in different stages of their lives after their happy endings in previous novels, and this finale was very satisfying (my short review on Goodreads). Compared to the main series though, this What Happened After… has a lot more intimate scenes so it might not be for everyone.

Melissa Brayden is one of the biggest names in the lesfic/WLW fiction genre, and What a Tangled Web, book three and the final installment for the series A Tangle Valley Romance, was an enjoyable read and good ending to the series (my review on Goodreads). I buddy read this one with my friend Gabriella (her review on Goodreads). While I have loved the previous two books (my review of book two Two to Tangle & book one Entangled), I didn’t love this one but liked it nonetheless.

Magical Realism

I don’t read enough magical realism. Bestiary by K-Ming Chang, which I read in January, is the only one that comes to mind. I’m sure there were others before I knew about genre though. This month, I read the beautiful YA sapphic romance The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus for February’s Sapphic Stories Bookclub (hosted by @gillesbianreads on Instagram). I always adore authors bringing different languages, slangs, accents, etc. into a story, and Petrus did it wonderfully (my review on Goodreads).

You might have already noticed, but Carolina De Robertis wrote my favorite book ever (Cantoras). I also love their The Gods of Tango (my review on Goodreads). When I got a review copy of The President and the Frog, I was ecstatic. Though I didn’t adore it as I did her other two books, I love the writing and learned a thing or two about Latin American history (my review on Goodreads).

I buddy read both books with Gabriella.

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Last November, Ylva Publishing offered Lee Winter’s Shattered for free and I’ve only gotten to it now (my short review on Goodreads). This is also a buddy read with Gabriella. Shattered is not your usual Winter book as it’s about superheroes instead of ice queens. It is also not a romance.

Becky Chambers’ A Closed and Common Orbit is one of my favorite reads in 2020, and A Psalm for the Wild-Built has a similar theme of humanity, but the similarities end there. This novella made me incredibly happy because it is so wholesome, and I stayed up to finish the book even though I thought I’d only read one chapter or two when I picked it up that night (my review on Goodreads).

Gabriella and I read Kalynn Bayron’s Cinderella is Dead for Sapphic Stories Bookclub (we buddy read 5 books this month). The concept of the book was great, but it wasn’t an impressive read for me in the end. You can read about my reasons here on Goodreads.

Horror

Horror is not a genre I used to read. But lately, I’ve been loving creepy books and I think stepping out of my reading comfort zone does good for me. Honestly though, when I picked up a review copy of Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland, I didn’t know it was horror-esque, but I am so glad I read it because it is now one of my favorite books. I read it with E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook, and without her insights, I might not have appreciated the story as much. Solomon’s ability of crafting a story with references to history, the Bible, and ultimately about oppression and breaking free while carrying the sorrow and pain is breathtaking. Now, I cannot wait to finish faer The Unkindness of Ghosts.

I started listening to the audiobook of emily m. danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines narrated by Xe Sands in January for Sapphic Stories Bookclub but didn’t finish it until February. While I’ve heard a lot of people being unsatisfied with the ending, I thought it was beautifully done and Sands’ narration made the atmosphere of the book all the more creepy. You can read my full thoughts here.

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My Friends’ Posts

This is not a conclusive list of all the wonderful reviews and posts I have read in February (those I read in March will be in the next wrap-up), but I thought I would highlight a few.

• Jana @ Honeycomb Library loved Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Her review made me extremely excited to read the book (and I loved it!).
• Laura (bookstagram: @lezreadalot) wrote a stunning review of Junauda Petrus’ The Stars and the Blackness Between Them.
• Rach @ Anxious Nachos’ review of S.T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood convinced me to read this vampire horror story.

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March TBR

I posted my March TBR in my Instagram story, and here is the text version:

• Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (narrated by Moira Quirk) [reread] @85%
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi @52%
• Invisible, As Music by Caren J. Werlinger @31%
• Catch Lili Too by Sophie Whittemore @24%
• The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu @22%
• The Wife in the Attic by Rose Lerner (narrated by Elsa Lepecki Bean) @16%
• Not Broken by Lyn Hemphill
• Fleur d’Lies by MJ Williamz
• Love Forged by Nicole Pyland
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (narrated by Emily Woo Zeller)
• Spellbound by Ophelia Silk
• Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake [reread]
• Don’t Let Go by Cynthia Dane & Hildred Billings
• A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

The actual reading of the books on this TBR is going pretty well, so I just might compile a list of TBR every month. I usually read whatever new books I have access to, so a lot of the books I also want to read stay forgotten for a long time. Pre-planning instantly ups the chance of said books being read and also allows me to have an overview of the following month before every other hectic thing happens. I’d love to hear if you do monthly TBRs in the comments, and if so, what are the benefits of it for you!

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That’s a wrap! Hopefully my March wrap-up will be posted earlier and not at the end of April, but I often overestimate my execution efficiency of things. How do you stay energized to draft posts, or if you don’t blog, in life in general?

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