February 2013 Rundown and What’s Coming Up

February was my first full month back here, and while I didn’t get as much accomplished as I had hoped to (thanks muchly to research papers) I’m still going to be getting back into the monthly rundown saddle.

So… What happened in February? I read 13 books! It’s been so long since I’ve been reading like that – I’m ecstatic!

In the review catch-up category I read and reviewed A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan. Overall I liked it, but I struggled a little at the start. Also in this category I re-read A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger. I haven’t written my review yet, but I can say it is an AMAZING book.

Other books I read include:
– Containment by Christian Cantrell
– Fatal Affair (Fatal #1) by Marie Force
– The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia #1) by C.S. Lewis
– Glory in Death (In Death #2) by J.D. Robb

I was also sidetracked by a couple (or seven) suggested reads from a Goodreads group. Among those are:
– Gabriel’s Inferno (Gabriel’s Inferno #1) by Sylvain Reynard
– The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton
– Cherise Sinclair’s Masters of the Shadowland’s series, I only have book 3 (of all 6) left to read since there’s a formatting issue with the copy I have.

I also have a couple of books to finish reading from Feb. since I got totally sidetracked.
– Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran
– Escape Artist by Ed Ifkovic
– One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick (When I wrote up my lists the other night I hadn’t finished this yet, but I finished it last night… sooo, this is finished.)

That’s all of my reads from last month. As for whats coming up in March… I still have six books/ebooks from my last library stop to finish. A few of them are part of my review catch up books:
– Phantom Evil by Heather Graham
– Creed’s Honor by Linda Lael Miller
– Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman
The other books I have from the library are:
– Homeland by Cory Doctorow – I may wait to read this since I found out after I took it home that its actually a sequel to another book.
– Leviathan by Scott Westerfield – I’ve heard lots of good stuff about Westerfield so I’m looking forward to reading something by him.
– The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny – this was a total impulse pick up, but I’m seriously looking forward to it.

Other books I’m planning to read in March are:
– Rush (Breathless Trilogy #1) by Maya Banks – I actually started this one already and am loving it, but then… I’m a Maya Banks fangirl – I’ve yet to dislike one of her books.
– Immortal in Death (In Death #3) by J.D. Robb – If I can read at least one book a month from this series, I should be caught up in about… 3 years, lol.
– Gabriel’s Rapture (Gabriel’s Inferno #2) by Sylvain Reynard – I really liked the first book and can’t wait to see what happens next!
– The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – I’ve gotta stop getting too sidetracked from the Narnia series before my friend takes my head of. She’s impatient for me to read these.

Okay, so that’s a lot. Just one more thing to mention… additions to my own library! Best part, right?

I only bought three new books this month. First is Rush by Maya Banks. Then I went to Barnes and Noble on a whim the other night and got Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, I’ve been hearing great things about this book so I grabbed it right up when I saw it. The last book I got was the first book of the Strain trilogy, which I’m hyped about. I totally had no idea until I read someone’s BTT post this week that Guillermo del Toro was a published author so I was all ZOMG about it. Then I’m at B&N and what do I see? The first book of the trilogy for 5 bucks… can you say bookish fate?

Also… I totally accepted some review books. Now, I told myself not to for a while, to control myself, but then those golden nuggets of awesome bookishness were dangled in front of me and I could. not. resist. So, for review I got:

White Shanghai: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties in China by Elvira Baryakina – I absolutely LOVE the cover and cannot wait to read this!

Harlequin’s Costume by Leonid Yuzefovich – this is the first book in a trilogy that’s actually based on a real person, Ivan Putilin, who was Chief of Police in St. Petersburg from 1866-92.

I received both of these books from the publisher, Glagoslav Publications.

The next book I received for review is Laura Meets Jeffrey: Both Sides of An Erotic Memoir by Jeffrey Michelson and Laura Bradley. I found out about Laura Meets Jeffrey when I was browsing Goodreads and I marked it as “Want to Read.” A few days later I get an offer of an e-copy for review from the author and I was totally psyched! Of course, I accepted!

The last book I received is Things Are Going to Slide by Rangeley Wallace. I’m really looking forward to reading this one just because the leading female seems to be one of those strong, head on straight kind of characters that I like. I’m actually going to be participating in the book tour for this one in April, so it’ll be a while before I review it, but you can always keep an eye out if you’re interested.

So, that’s what was and what’s coming up for me. Have you read anything good recently? Something you’re looking forward to starting? New additions to the home library that you’re psyched for? Do tell.