Wow. I am honestly shook while sitting down to write this wrap-up. Halfway through March I had read all of three books--all of them for school--and I was feeling very disappointed with how my reading month was going. Somehow I turned it all around in the second half of the month. Once spring break was over it was like I was on reading overdrive. Overall, I managed to read 16 books this month.
Sixteen. Rarely do I ever get over 12 books a month and I'm so happy with this number. I'm hoping to carry over this momentum and at least match that number by the end of April. But, without further ado, here's my March Wrap-Up!
BOOKS READ
1.
Title: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Author: Harriet Jacobs
Rating: N/A--Read for class
2.
Title:
Sula
Author: Toni Morrison
Rating: n/a--read for class
3.
Title:
Macbeth
Author: William Shakespeare
Rating: N/A--Read for class
I mean, it was enjoyable I guess? I was critically reading and analyzing as I read, though, so it took me forever to read through it when I was doing the assigned scenes. Since I now have to go watch a movie adaption, I'm interested to see how it's portrayed on screen.
4.
Title:
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Author: Stuart Turton
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Review
5.
Title:
Wicked Saints
Author: Emily A. Duncan
Rating: 3 // 5 stars
Blog Tour Review + Excerpt
6.
Title:
Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows
Author: J.M. Bergen
Rating: 4.25 // 5 stars
Review
7.
Title:
Hunting Prince Dracula
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Review
8.
Title:
Saga, Volume 1
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Fiona Staples
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Well this was a delightful ride. I'm cursing myself for not bringing the second volume with me to work because now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. But anyway, this was a fun graphic novel. I enjoyed the artwork and the plot but I have to say the dialogue between the two main characters was pretty great. I'm super excited to see what happens next.
9.
Title:
Finding My Pack
Author: Lane Whitt
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Review
On my third time reading this, I definitely am still getting all the feels from it. It's still as addictive and fast-paced as the first time around. However, I also notice how cringe the beginning is a lot more now. Still, I love it.
10.
Title:
Daring Greatly
Author: Brené Brown
Rating: n/a--read for class
I think that this book was pretty powerful and inspiring. After I stopped thinking about it as "oh god I have to read this for school" and instead as "Maybe I can learn something," I ended up enjoying it. I still would have preferred reading a fantasy novel or watching Netflix, but I feel like I learned something from this read. This book is very relevant to my life. For almost everything she talked about, I could pull up something from my life that related to that concept. As I start drafting my paper on this book for a class, I have no doubt that I'm going to have a list of things I want to start using in my own life. I've already started thinking back to this book during certain behaviors and corrected them in the moment. I highly recommend this book.
11.
Title:
Saga, Vol 2
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Fiona Staples
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
12.
Title:
Keeping My Pack
Author: Lane Whitt
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
It was definitely fun reading this. I just really enjoy this world and these characters. They'll always hold a special place in my reading since this is one of the first series that introduced me to RH. I will say I am super excited to read the next book...finally! After waiting two and a half years for this final book, I can finally read it!
13.
Title:
Saga, Volume 3
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Fiona Staples
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
14.
Title:
Saga, Volume 4
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Fiona Staples
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
I just...these graphic novels make me laugh so hard. But after reading about these characters, I also am connecting to them a lot more and I'm honestly shook at the way this one ended. Guess I'll need to read the next one immediately.
15.
Title:
Saga, Volume 5
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Fiona Staples
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
16.
Title:
Saga, Volume 6
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Fiona Staples
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Damn this was good. Some hilarious laughable moments and some great feels moments. Definitely excited that I've made it this far and have the next ones already check out from the library. Overall, just reading this series has been super fun and enjoyable! I highly recommend this to older readers (as it's definitely got a lot of mature content).
BLOG POSTS
TV/MOVIES
On top of reading 16 books this month, I also watched quite a lot of TV shows and movies. Most of these were from the first half of the month, but I'm pretty happy with all that I watched this month.
First, I finished season 8 of
Hawaii Five-0. It feels like forever ago but man, I love this show. I cannot wait until the entirety of season 9 has come out so I can get a trial to CBS and watch it all! There's just something so addictive about this show and these characters.
Then I started rewatching
Arrow. I finished season 1 and got about halfway through season 2 before I kind of fell off of watching it again. I still plan on watching it here and there but right now I'm more focused on reading. Still, it's an enjoyable series if a bit boring at times.
Next I watched
Bohemian Rhapsody and holy shit you guys! This movie was great! I loved watching it and, while there were a few times I was a tad bored, the rest of the scenes totally made up for it. The casting was magnificent and the music was just...so good. I've been listening to the soundtrack on repeat for a few weeks and I'm sufficiently in love.
Then while I was at my dad's we watched a documentary called
The Dawn Wall. It was all about the two climbers who free climbed El Capitan for the first time. It was such an interesting documentary with breathtaking footage at times. The story was also so inspiring and I will admit I cried at least twice. Overall, I just found it really fascinating!
And then I saw
Captain Marvel with my dad and sister. And oh boy was it good. I didn't realize how chronologically it takes place so much earlier than most of the other movies and I found it to be so good and a great backstory to not only Captain Marvel but also to SHIELD and Nick Fury. The humor was on point and there was some thinly veiled social commentary that I was living for. I definitely cannot wait to see more of Carol in the next Avengers movie!
Next I watched the entirety of
Queer Eye season 3. You guys...I just love this show and these guys so much. I swear ever since I finished watching it I end up watching at least one video about the cast every day--whether it be an interview, a game they're playing, or something else. I just love how amazing they all are and this is such an inspiring, heartwarming show in such a tough world. I cannot wait for the next season but I'll make do by listening to the audiobook of their joint book!
Lastly, I rewatched the first season of
Supernatural. It was announced that the show would be ending after its 15th season and I kind of want to watch the last season live. But since I haven't seen past season 7 and I've forgotten a lot of what happened before that, I figured I would slowly start rewatching the series. I'm hoping to spread it out over many months so we'll see how long it actually takes me and if I have the self-control to not binge three seasons in a week.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren
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The first book I got this month was a preorder from February that arrived at the beginning of March: the UK hardcover of Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard. I don't know why I love this edition so much but it's absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to display all of my editions together in the future. This is by far my favorite Susan Dennard book and I can't wait to see how the next one in this series turns out. You can find my review here. 
The next two books I have to talk about are
Next, I got Renegades by Marissa Meyer. I've heard so many great things about these new books by Marissa from people that I trust. To be honest, the fact that it sounds like a glorious sci-fi adventure also is pulling me in. I read Marissa's other series and loved it, so I'm hoping that when I get to reading this one I'll love it too!
The first of these is Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I slowly want to collect a personalized edition of every one of her books so I'm super excited to have this one in my hands! Especially since this is the book that started the entire series. You can find my review here.
Next, I have a copy of Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. When it came down to choosing which SJM books to get, I decided to jump on this one as well. It's one of my favorites of the series and I really wanted to get a special copy since I didn't own any special or signed editions before this one. You can find my review here.
The third book I got was Kingdom of Ash, also by Sarah J. Maas. I was a tad bummed when I found out Good Choice Reading wasn't going to be doing a virtual signing for KoA because I really wanted a personalized copy of the final book. Then I heard about this virtual signing and was quick to jump on it. This book broke me in all the best ways and I cannot wait to do a reread. You can find my review here.
The next book I got from the signing was Torn by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This is the second in one of Jennifer's series that I haven't read yet, so I was like, "Why not get a signed edition if I'm going to need to buy a copy anyway?" I'm hoping to read this trilogy over the summer if I have time. If not, there's always winter break or next year!
The final book I got from Apollycon was Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This is one of her non-paranormal/fantasy standalones and I'm super excited to branch out into even more of her writing. I think that this definitely has the ability to be a powerful book and I'm just excited to have a personalized copy in my hands.
The next book I got was from a trade on Twitter and that was an ARC of The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson. S.A. Charkaborty was talking about how much she loved this book on Twitter so I looked it up and it sounded interesting enough to make me try to find a copy to read. I'm excited to read this one, though I don't know when I'll get to it!
The last book I got this month was also a trade from Twitter and that is an ARC of Naturally Tan by Tan France. Tan is one of the members of the show Queer Eye, which I absolutely adore. When I saw that he had a book coming out in May, I knew I wanted to read it. Luckily, I was able to trade someone for an ARC. I've already read a couple pages and loved it, so I have a feeling this will be a nice, heartwarming read.
