Hello, everyone!

Somehow, I feel like I was just finishing up my January wrap-up, and now here I am again working on my February post. My, how time flies! But, thankfully, I am getting to this one a little earlier. It’s March, yes, but we’re still in the first week, so I’m taking that as a win.

I’m still slowly crawling out from the hole I have previously fallen into, as far as TBR and review requests go. I’m managing to keep up on the last few of the ‘newer’ ones, the books that just released. I have a few from last month that I didn’t get to yet, but I did read a few so eh… Yeah. I also haven’t been requesting more for the most part, which helps! I hadn’t meant to get so behind in the first place, but the last few years have been extremely difficult, and last year was just too much, and I ended up having to take a major step back from a lot of things. I’m working on reorganizing and finding ways to balance health and reading in this new season, and I appreciate your patience and encouragement along the way.

God has been with me every step of the way, and He knows the details. He’s seen me through some difficult trials and seasons, and He continues to walk with me, and He goes before me even now. I want to focus on the future He has for me. He is my everything, and I want to live a life that better reflects that. This includes the books I read, what I post, and even more so the things I focus on and what I spend my time doing, reading, thinking of, and talking about. In this season of changes and growth, I expect my reads will likely reflect this change. I’ve noticed in the past that He uses the books I’m reading and the people I’m around to shape me and to speak to different areas in my life in a way that parallels the lessons He is teaching me in His Word. I love this, and look forward to the lessons He has planned as this new year begins. February is just the beginning.

May the LORD go before me, and direct my path!

What I Read in February:

February Reads:

I only finished three books in February, and half of a beta read. I’m reading three others, and had to rearrange some reads to meet deadlines. I’m actually a little surprised that I managed even that many, since this month went by so fast, and had a lot of hurry-up-and-wait moments, and sudden unexpected changes. (Not great conditions for my brain if I’m trying to be productive, haha. My brain likes slower days and steady schedules if I’m trying to unwind enough to actually get much reading done. Oops!)

According to my reading tracker, despite only finishing three books, I also read 1550 pages (what?!). So, somehow I read over 1k more pages in February than I did in January, although I finished a couple more books the previous month. (My mind’s actually a little blown after seeing those numbers!) God is so good, and has been helping me to return to sharing the stories I love, and even more so, He has helped me to offer prayers, encouragement, and advice at times to His people, serving as the hands and feet. To be able to serve His purposes and to be useful to Him, that is my greatest pleasure, and I have been abundantly blessed in this lately.

An Appearance of Impropriety by Jayna Breigh –

I’ve been excited to read this one for a few months now! I was such a delightful read, although… I’m not sure it quite beats The Hunted Heir, her debut from last year. It was a good read, and I loved the Junior Jurors program though!

Texas Redeemed by Sherry Shindelar –

I had planned to read this one, but ended up jumping on the launch team at the last minute as well. I already had a copy, so I decided I might as well read it ASAP, and wow! The themes in this one really caught my attention, and I loved the characters in the story!

Severed Ties by Taylor S Newport –

This is another one I was on the launch team for, but I also had to read this one because…I was supposed to beta-read the sequel. (I actually just finished the beta read, and can only say that this series keeps me guessing and keeps getting better!)

This is a Christian Spy Thriller/Romantic Suspense (Slow-burn) series, and if you enjoy action movies or spy/thrillers, you might enjoy this one. I also love that this one has missions that are wrapped up (for the most part) in each installment, while the more personal and backstory arcs unfold more slowly throughout the series, offering a little more with each new book. I’ve seen this in fantasy, but not so much in contemporary or romantic suspense stories, and I’m so excited to have finally found a series that does this! I’ve been looking for a while, wondering why contemporaries never seem to use this style, but apparently I’m just not looking in the right places, haha. This one also has a powerful healing arc and a faith arc that grows with each new book.

(Each title listed is directly linked to the corresponding review post for that book)

  • An Appearance of Impropriety by Jayna Breigh
    • 4/5
  • Texas Reclaimed by Sherry Shindelar
    • 4/5
  • Severed Ties by Taylor S Newport
    • 4/5

I was part of the launch team for each of these, so all three were eARCs, although I also received print copies of the first two. I was also part of the blog tour for the first two, as well. Severed Ties was the one deadline I mentioned not meeting last month, so now that I’ve finished that one and the beta read, I’m caught up there. I had three books in February that I still need to read, but I did get my blog posts done so…small steps.

February Alpha/Beta Reads:

  • Overdrive by Taylor S Newport (I didn’t plan on having beta reads this year -at least not so soon!- but now that they’re done, I’m glad I got to be on both teams!)

February Book Mail:

January Book Mail:

Heehee, I ended up getting a couple of Amazon giftcards in January, and well… I bought a few of the books I’ve had on my list for a while, and well…a few others that were on sale. XD Since I didn’t really buy any books last year, I decided it was finally time to read them, which meant I had to buy them first, so I stuck with books that aren’t listed on KU for the most part, since I hope to get KU again at some point, as I have several on my TBR right now that are available there.

I also have two others coming, but since they still aren’t here yet, I’ll try to remember to add them to next month’s post, if possible.

Audiobooks:

  • None

I was offered an audiobook, so I might have one to list here soon, but for now, I didn’t receive (or listen) to any in February.

Have you read any of the books listed this month?
Are any of them on your TBR?
Or, tell me what your favorite book in February?

Feel free to comment about them below!

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