Another month has come and gone and honestly, good riddance to February! 🙊
Hmm… I think it’s safe to say that February was kind of a shite month? Personally, things are much better now than they were mid-month. Globally, things definitely turned to shite towards the end of the month and my heart feels so heavy, especially with regards to what’s happening in Ukraine. Every day more and more people show their disrespecting asses with their whole gd chest on that freaking bird app and this month it has just been more tiring than usual. 😮💨
But on a more positive note… Here are a few good things that happened this month:
- I finally got my Owlcrate Special Editions for Vespertine and Our Violent Ends. I pre-ordered these books long before cancelling my sub with them last year and this is the longest its ever taken to receive my orders but I’m glad they finally arrived!
- I got lots of gorgeous book mail from Illumicrate and I couldn’t be happier to have switched my sub to them. It’s pricier for sure and I know I’m hella privileged to be able to order from them but it’s a treat so I have no regrets!
- Wonderful buddy reads with Jess and Leslie have got me through the month. Bookish friends like these two make me so thankful to be part of this bookish community! 🥰
Although it felt like I didn’t read much this month, I’m surprised to find that I actually read 28 books. I continued to read a number of novellas but I also enjoyed a few audiobooks. I had one re-read, no DNFs and a surprising number of 5-star reads?! That’s definitely what I call winning! 🥰
Are you on Storygraph? Let’s be friends!
That said, with everything that happened this month, it’s no surprise that my mood has been slightly wonky, which had me feeling a bit slumpy at times though I had a few buddy reads to help me power through those vibes. I’m a big fan of these buddy reads! I’m still trying to keep on top of reviewing every book I read but I’ve slacked a bit this month and I’m fine with it! 😂
Undoubtedly my favourite book this month was Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. This book unequivocally destroyed me and I’m so thankful I had buddy reads to keep me going afterwards cos otherwise I would’ve most likely stopped reading this month. Lee is ✨magic✨ and The Green Bone Saga is one of my favourite fantasy series ever.
“The clan is my blood, and the Pillar is its master. On my honor, my life, and my jade.”
Book covers are linked to Goodreads and the title text is linked to my review, if available!
5 pandas
(ARC) Legends & Lattes
(ARC) Chef’s Kiss
4.5 pandas
The Deep
(Tour) Beneath Cruel Fathoms
4 pandas
(Tour) Across A Field of Starlight
(ARC) From the Top
3.5 pandas
(ARC) What the Fang?
3 pandas
(Tour) The Witch, The Sword, and The Cursed Knights
2 pandas
2.5 pandas
As a romance reader, I thrived on reading all the romance-related posts this month. I can’t even tell you how many new books I added to my TBR. Here are a few of my favourite posts this month:
- For the month of love, my fave queen of romance, Nick @ The Infinite Limits of Love, made a series of Valentine’s Specials: Swipe Right, Gestures of Love & Love Languages in Romance!
- There was a whole mess on Twitter about adults reading YA and Brianna @ Pages Unbound Reviews wrote a great post about what those haters are getting wrong.
- Maddie @ Inking & Thinking read some popular books and determined if they were worth the hype!
- Looking for more LGBTQ+ books? Danika @ The Lesbrary shares a list of 48 Bi and Lesiban books that came out in February!
- Annemieke @ A Dance With Books had a great chat with author Jacque Aye about destigmatizing conversations about mental health!
- Have you ever wondered what kind of love interest you’d be? What about who your YA book boyfriend would be? Elli @ Ace Reader took some love quizzes and found out.
- The Green Bone Saga is one of my all time faves and Sophie @ Me and Ink shares a few reasons why you should read the series too!
- We’ve all seen the recommended by TikTok lists but are the books really that great? Maha @ Sunshine N’ Books read four of the most popular TikTok romances and shared her thoughts.
- Stephanie @ Adventures of A Bibliophile read Fergie’s historical romance so we wouldn’t have to and wrote this hilarious review that had me cackling!
- Are you hard on yourself as a book blogger? Nicole @ Thoughts Stained With Ink wrote this great post asking why aren’t we kinder to ourselves.
- I love bookish experiments and Katya @ Life and Other Disasters has a great one. This month she read Lupita Nyongo’s faves to see if they were compatible readers (and she has others too)!
- Do you ever wonder what happens after the HEA? Sam @ We Live and Breathe Books shared her thoughts on the topic plus a few recommendations!
- One of my most hated tropes is love triangles but love’em or hate’em, Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog wrote a great post with a few fun love triangles and some pretty terrible ones.
- Rachel @ A Bookworm’s Paradise gave me a good laugh with her post about why bookworms live really dangerous lives—I loved it!
- One of my blogger faves, Jess @ Jessticulates made an announcement about AroAce April!
- Love a good tense rivals to enemies romance and want recommendations for more? Sabrina and Vera @ Wordy and Whimsical have you covered.
- Are you feeling your ‘single-ness’ this loved up month? Florence @ OffBeatBooks‘s made this great list of 10 dark & twisted romances to make you glad you’re single! 😆
- Do you love the single parent trope? Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat compiled a great list of 20 single parent romances for you to read!
And that’s a wrap on February 2022! Phew, I’m more than ready to move on from this month! 😮💨 Did you enjoy your February reads? What was your favourite book? It might not look great right now but I hope March is full of good things for all of us! 💜
dinipandareads 
Great wrap up, you read so many amazing sounding reads! 😍 I hope march is full of more brilliant books for you 🥰
And hopefully March is a better month for the world too 💜
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Thanks, Kat! I hope March is better for all of us as well. Hope you have a great month of reading too 💜
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Buddy reads are fun, and great job on the books! The McFarlane book looks fun. And thanks for the links!
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Buddy reads are SO great and now I wonder why I didn’t do them sooner 😂 I’d definitely recommend the McFarlane book if you’re curious!
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You did pretty great for such a rocky month. Feb was just… I’m glad it’s over! The stuff going on in the world has really been heavy. It’s hard for it to not bleed into our reading, since we are mood readers. I need to do better wrap ups. I’ve been so unmotivated on my blog lately… but that could also be my mood. I blame the vitamin D. 😂 Yes, buddy reads have been the best!! ❤️
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Thanks, Leslie! I’m so glad for our buddy reads and our daily chats about books and life and everything! 💜 I think your wrap ups and posts are great! I was planning to include my Pondathon update on my monthly wrap up instead of making a separate post for it, like you’ve done so far, but then I forgot and now I’m feeling spectacularly lazy to make an extra post 😂 Haha, and I don’t even have Vit D to blame!! Hope we all have a great month in March!
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Hahaha!! Just start next month & add it in!! I need to update that today bc I haven’t updated books in a while. I need to spend some serious time blogging. Absolutely, our daily chats are so good! 💜💜 Here’s to an amazing March for both of us! 💕
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28 books is amazing! I need to step up my reading game this month as i feel like I am falling behind once again with arcs and even library holds, haha. I’m glad I don’t have the bird app because I feel like I would be more stressed about things. I also cancelled my Owlcrate as I haven’t got a book from them in so long. I do on occasion get one from Fairyloot or Illumicrate but honestly skip most months. It is definitely a privilege! I never thought that what has happened to Ukraine would ever happen in my lifetime. It’s just insane.
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You’ve been going through a lot though and if I were you I’d probably not be reading half as much either. But you’ve still been doing great! 😃 I do hope the reading mood comes back to you though! I was tempted to sub to Fairyloot but with the cost of shipping I just can’t do both IC and FL but so far I’ve been quite happy with IC so I’m gonna stick with them! I hope March is a better month for all of us 💜
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The stuff in Ukraine is so sad and hard to even believe. I’m glad we have some good reads to keep our spirits up.
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It really is… On top of all the other conflicts that are still happening, with Ukraine added to the mix, my TL is pretty devastating rn 😮💨 I’m so glad that we have books to escape into 💜
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Wow! You read a lot of things last month! Great wrap up.
And thanks for the shoutout! So glad you enjoyed that post, it was fun for me to write 😊
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I’m pretty chuffed with what I’ve read last month especially since I had quite a few five star reads and it’s been a while since that happened! And I absolutely LOVED your post—had me gasping when I needed it most! 😂
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That really makes me so happy! Reading that terrible book was 100% worth it then 😊😂
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Great wrap up, Dini! You had such a fantastic reading month. It’s so nice to get lost in a book, especially with everything going on.
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Definitely feeling grateful that I love books and that I can so easily get lost in them! Yay for books, the book community and bookish people 😍 I can’t wait to buddy read with you this month, Julie!
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Great reading month! Thank goodness for books right now. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for Ukrainians. I was invited to read Chef’s Kiss but it was a digital copy, and I struggle with digital copies of graphic novels. It’s a lot of zooming in. Ha!
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Indeed, thank goodness for books right now! Don’t know how my brain would cope without having this escape in my life! Oh, yeah, I’m not the biggest fan of digital copies but oof, it was too good to pass up! I would definitely recommend it if you’re still interested in checking it out, haha 😍 I hope you have a great March, Dedra!
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You read so many great books this month! Thank you for the mention :))
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I admit, it was a pretty great reading month 😊 Your post sent me diving into the wonderful world of bookish quizzes—didn’t realise there were so many! It was lots of fun!
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28 books is amazing! And you make me so glad I only spend focused and relatively brief time on that bird app – so I rarely catch stuff that will make me angry. None us need that extra stress. Hope March is wonderful for you on a personal level and I’m always hopeful the world will get to a better place 🤗.
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Oof, yeah, definitely cut my time on that bird app towards the end of the month. I think it makes me more tired of people 😂 Totally don’t need the extra stress! Hope March is wonderful for you as well, Tessa and let’s hope things shift for the better globally as well 🤗💜
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February has been a hard month and I seriously hope Month is a better month for all. My thoughts to everyone in need.
28 books is an impressive feat still. I’m so glad you loved Jade Legacy, what an epic story! I’m still not over it 😭😍🥰 I’m glad you enjoyed Chef’s Kiss too. I’ve been seeing a lot of good stuff about it. I would love to read The Deep as well, hopefully soon. And wow that edition of This Woven Kingdom is stunning!
Thank you so much for sharing my post 🥰💚 so glad you liked it! Wishing you all the best for March! 💞
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Great wrap, I’m sorry to hear February was difficult for you hope things look up a bit for you and the world this month 💜
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Thanks, Michaela! I hope they do for everyone as well 💜 Hope you have a fab month!
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You’re welcome and thanks 😊
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28 books – that’s awesome Dini. February was challenging, so far 2022 hasn’t been easy to navigate 😒. I hope March is better for you!
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Thanks, Yolanda! Feb was truly the worst and I hope March gets better for everyone lol I hope you’ve been doing okay! 💜
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Oh my goodness “that freaking bird app” is the perfect description, I’m going to call it that too LOL. Congrats on the massive reading accomplishments for Feb! Finding that many five star reads is a blessing. I almost impulse bought the first book in that Fonda Lee series and now I really want to try it even more. Glad to see These Violent Delights received a good score, I have the hardcover sitting somewhere and it looks so interesting. Wishing you the best in your reading goals for March.
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Haha, it really is that freaking bird app 😂 This many five stars is indeed a feat and I can’t even remember the last time I had a month with so many—it really has been ages! I would highly rec The Green Bone Saga and if you’re a fan of audiobooks I would 100% rec the audio because the narrator is fantastic! I’m quite picky with audios but I couldn’t imagine reading these books without it cos it made the reading experience even more amazing! I hope you enjoy TVD if ever you pick it up—I can see why people wouldn’t enjoy it but I’m glad that I did lol! Hope you’re doing okay and that you have a great March ahead! 💜
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I just find my life better with less social media. I worked really hard to mute all the right words on the Bird so I can get to the stuff I want to see. ((HUGS)) Is that Woven Kingdom picture in front of your shelf? It looks like a store.
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True thing. I mean, the only social I really use now is Twitter and it’s already MORE than enough. I can’t imagine still being on FB, IG and I’m not even going near TikTok 😂 And YES, that’s in front of my shelf hehe—Sam, you’re too sweet! 😍
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I’m so glad you enjoyed The Gilded Ones. I feel like that one has been sitting on my shelf forever. And yes, people on Twitter really can’t help themselves sometimes, can they? I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point. Hope you have a good March!
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Lol, I don’t even know why I’m surprised anymore tbh. It was definitely a good time to take a break from the bird app… I hope you enjoy The Gilded Ones whenever you get the chance to pick it up and I hope you have a great March as well! 😃💜
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[…] Talk Bookish: Maintaining Blog AestheticsBlog Tour Review: Anne of West Philly by Ivy Noelle WeirFebruary 2022 Monthly Wrap Up#WWWWednesday: 02 March 2022#TopTenTuesday: Books I’ve Enjoyed But Haven’t Mentioned On […]
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Thanks so much for giving AroAce April a shout out, Dini! ❤
Ugh I'm honestly still not over Jade Legacy and I can't believe that trilogy is over now – and that we only started it last year! I'm so glad we buddy read all three of them, though; I had so much fun reading that series with you. 😀
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Thank you for sharing the guest post Dini!
I hope that March will be much better and that globally things will start looking up (though there don’t seem to be much signs of that yet).
I also loved Jade Legacy. It was an epic conclusion.
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Ohmygosh, thank you so much for sharing my post!! You are so kind. And your excitement of Jade Legacy has me even more stoked to continue the series. I just read Jade City last year (and fucking loved it) and hope to continue with Jade War soon!!
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