March 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to April

Posted March 31, 2019 by Lisa Mandina in End of the month post / 20 Comments

So, I was on top of things, almost way ahead, then, beginning of this month, I got sick.  And that cough/upper respiratory infection/asthma flareup issues lasted for almost all month.  It was just this past week that I was finally able to sleep normally, without having to be sitting up to keep myself from coughing all night.  Now, I’m still pretty close to being on track, but not ahead, at all.  I took a trip during my spring break, and it was a weekend away from my dogs, everyone, it was supposed to be for writing.  But I was sick.  So I just kind of relaxed and kept up with blogging that needed to be kept up with, but didn’t get anywhere near ahead.

However, I am still happy that I’m up to date enough to be still on top of an end of the month post.

Let’s start with the reading stats again this month.

Once, again, according to Goodreads, I’ve read 59 of the 215 books I’ve set as my goal for the year, March  made up 20 of those.  I am 7 books ahead of schedule, but till debating whether to up my goal or not.

Here is a list of books I’ve read this month, and I’ll link to my review if I’ve finished it:

  1. The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton
  2. Hold On by Samantha Young
  3. Space by Penny Reid
  4. The Last 8 by Laura Pohl
  5. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
  6. Riot by Jamie Shaw
  7. Soaring With Fallon by Kristen Proby
  8. Pucked (re-read/listen) by Helena Hunting
  9. The Hashtag Hunt by Kristina Seek
  10. Girls With Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
  11. Misadventures of a City Girl by Meredith Wild and Chelle Bliss
  12. Just Swipe Right by Allie York
  13. Play (re-read) by Kylie Scott
  14. Drunk Dial by Penelope Ward
  15. Hissy Fit by Lani Lynn Vale
  16. Eyes on Me by Rachel Harris
  17. Forever Mine by Kennedy Fox
  18. Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell
  19. The Roommate Agreement by Emma Hart
  20. Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

Any that aren’t reviewed are either part of upcoming blog tours, or I just haven’t had time yet to review.

Books that I read in February but didn’t get reviewed until March are:

  1. Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill
  2.  Off Limits by Vivian Ward
  3. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  4. The Sweetest Match by Abby Tyler
  5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood:  The Poetry of Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers
  6. One in a Million by Jill Shalvis
  7. Moonlight Sins by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  8. Diary of a Bad  Boy by Meghan Quinn

So, while I will have 50 posts for March after this one goes up, since it is a longer month than February, I’ll say that I stayed about the same for not really getting better about less posts.  Still working on that!  I had 18 of those 50 that were review posts, and one of those had 4 reviews in it.  I’ve been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too!  My rating was the same as February, 4.4 stars for the books I read.

Okay, on with my challenges.

1.  As I mentioned above, still working on my Looking Forward To posts once a week, have moved them to Wednesdays to coincide with everyone else’s Waiting on  Wednesday or Can’t Wait Wednesday posts.
March 13th
March 20th
March 27th

Had a bad time with commenting on other blogs with being sick myself, as well as it seemed I had internet issues sometimes with just responding to comments on my own blog!

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway, as well as even my physical TBR a little.  I still only have one person joining in, but feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:
March 2nd
March 9th
March 16th
March 23rd
March 30th – And this giveaway is still up for the next week!

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, but haven’t read any of my other specific books that friends suggested yet.  Unless I count finishing The Kiss Quotient.

3.  Writing goals went kind of phooey this past month. The best thing though is that I found a critique partner who gave me some great feedback.  Now I just need time and the health to go back and write and fix those things!

Not so great with this one.  Didn’t add a single one from my list this month.

I actually joined in this month!  I posted a discussion about when you start not enjoying your former favorite authors:  I Will Always Love You or Do You Ever Begin to Get Over Favorite Authors.
I even have an idea for a discussion post I hope to do in April, if I get time!

Also, still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, but since I didn’t do any of the ones on my list, no biggie.

Now, yesterday was the coolest day all of the month of March because Planet Comicon is taking place in my hometown this weekend.  So I got to meet some of my idols!  First was the one I spent big money on and am so glad I got to meet!

So cool, but so quick when you do the professional photos, so didn’t do much other than pose and move on.  But still, I TOUCHED the Weasley twins!!!!!!

Had a little extra time before my photo op for the Weasley twins took place, so I decided to stop by and see Mark Pellegrino, or who I know as Lucifer from Supernatural.

My sister went with me, and she was there to meet her big idols, Superman and Lex Luthor, but from Smallville.  As we were leaving, she decided to go ahead and stop to see Dean Cain.  He was so nice, complimented her eyes a lot.  As I was standing to the side holding all her stuff so she didn’t have to hold it in the picture, he asked who I was and said we should all get a picture, so that was a bonus shot!

Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley was there, but I was broke, and also William Shatner and Henry Winkler, but they weren’t ones I HAD to see, so I was okay with what I saw and did.  I did see Wallace Shawn walking over to do his photo op, and he smiled at me, so that was kinda cool.

Looking forward to in April:
Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month:

  1. Stormy Kind of Love by Tia Lee – reading this one now, supposed to review this coming Friday, but not enjoying it, so it may be a DNF. 
  2. Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton – Reading the ARC of this one right now, and part of a blog tour scheduled for the 10th.
  3. The Stars in Her Eyes by C.M. Albert – review on the 11th
  4. Two for Holding by Kay Gordon – review on the 12th
  5. The Hummingbird Dagger by Cindy Anstey – review on the 15th
  6. All We Could Have Been by T.E. Carter – signed up for a tour, don’t know yet if I got it, but could be reviewing on either the 16th or 19th
  7. Give Me Fever by Jasmine and Arielle Lockhart – signed up for a review, I think on the 18th
  8. The Perfect Dress by Carolyn Brown – review on the 21st
  9. Baby Mine by Kennedy Fox – review on the 23rd
  10. Lord Have Mercy by Lani Lynn Vale – review on the 24th
  11. We Were Beautiful by Heather Hepler – review on the 26th
  12. Imperfect Match by Corinne Michaels and Melanie Harlow – review on the 29th
  13. Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills
  14. Romanov by Nadine Brandes
  15. #Poser by Cambria Hebert – currently listening to
  16. Tinfoil Heart by Daisy Prescott – currently reading
  17. First Down by Michelle Sodaro – currently reading
  18. Time by Penny Reid – review will be shortly after pub date, they’re not sending e-galleys early!
  19. Things We Never Said by Samantha Young

There will probably be another audiobook somewhere in there, just not sure what I’ll listen to next.  Because things have been so crazy this month, I’m going to skip the Best of the Bunch challenge today and just go ahead and wrap this post up.    One last reminder, don’t forget to enter the giveaway on my last Cleaning Up My TBR Post which I linked to up above, the prize is going to be 3 books this week instead of just 2!

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20 responses to “March 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to April

  1. Yikes, I'm glad you're starting to get back to normal (mostly!). Upper respiratory infections are no joke when you have asthma. My son got sick this week and since he has asthma, that put me on edge; his cough was pretty nasty. We got lucky this time, fortunately, and he's on the mend, but that cough is still hanging on. Fingers crossed that you continue to improve!

    And holy cow, I love the pictures of you with Mark Pellegrino! His character is so love-to-hate and he's just so good at it. What a fun time you must've had!

    Great month! 🙂

    • I'm still waiting on the cough to completely go away. But I feel a lot better and can actually sleep like a normal human being, so that's something. It was a blast! Thanks for stopping by!

  2. I'm sorry you had such a sickly month, and that your spring break didn't go quite as planned, but that's great you're still on top of the blog and reading. You read SO much last month. That's awesome. Yay for meeting the Weasley twins. That would have been awesome! And Dean Cain is too sweet.

    -Lauren
    http://www.shootingstarsmag.net

    • March was a good month for reading, even if I felt like there were times when I didn't feel like reading. Dean Cain was so nice! It was cool. Thanks for stopping by!

  3. You had an awesome book month! I can't wait to read a Sky Without Stars and Girls with Sharp Sticks. I'm really enjoying your active blog and appreciate your interaction with your readers.

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