She blinked and somehow JanuaryFebruary was already over. I know February is a short month, but it felt like it was only two weeks long with how quickly it flew by? Looking back on the month, I’m not really sure what happened? We had some farewells at work with two colleagues leaving us, but other than that, it was just a whole bunch of work (🎶work, work, work, work🎶) and little else. One farewell involved karaoke and I hadn’t been to one (sober) in ages but it was actually a lot of fun. I still can’t sing to save my life, but I had a great time with my colleagues! We also had our office iftar (the evening meal to break the daily fast) on Friday hosted by our Head of Office. His wife arrived from Egypt with some amazing treats and she cooked up a delicious feast for us. It was fantastic! I drool still thinking about it. 🤤
Despite the shorter month, I still managed to finish 10 books. It was less of a successful reading month in terms of ratings though, with more of my reads falling in the 3-star range. I also didn’t have a 5-star read this month, but I did find a new favourite in ✨What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah.✨ This was a beautiful collection of short stories centering relationships and a wide spectrum of emotional experiences from a Nigerian lens. I’d highly recommend it!
My blogging still felt a bit of a mess this month. I missed several days of blogging because I wasn’t organized enough to schedule posts ahead of time, and I wound up having zero time or energy on the day to churn something out. Hopefully, I’ll be more sorted in March! 🤭
It was also another fun month co-hosting the Let’s Talk Bookish weekly meme. You can learn more about it, read all the discussions, and see the upcoming month’s topics HERE.
TEXTis linked to my review (if available)
4.5 pandas
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah, Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Book Review: What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
4 pandas
3.5 pandas
Iron & Embers by Helen Scheurrer, Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood
3 pandas
A Theory of Dreaming by Ava Reid, Always and Forever by Beverly Jenkins
less than 3 pandas
Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton
I’ve finally decided on my reading challenges this year and these are the ones I’ll mainly be focusing on: the Goodreads Reading Challenge, the 2026 Buzzword Reading Challenge, Beat the Backlist, and Year in Aeldia 2026! So far, I’m happy to report, that I’m on track with all of them! 🤩
✔ Goodreads Reading Challenge: 21/100
✔ Beat the Backlist 2026: 📚 9 backlist books // 📱 0 backlist ARCs ⇢ 3/25 Bingo Spaces
✔ 2026 Buzzword Reading Challenge: January (“keyboard keys”) ⇢ Graveyard Shift
✔ Year in Aeldia 2026: February (Top Right Shelf) ⇢ What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
And with that, we’re down one month in the year. How was your reading month? I hope everyone is doing as good as can be and taking good care. Hope March treats you well, friends! 🫂
dinipandareads 
Oh no, 3.5 for TWO CAN PLAY! 🫣 I checked this out from the library. Hopefully I still find it to be a fun time. I don’t usually expect to be wowed by a Hazelwood romance, but they are fun.
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