The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: February 2021 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in March

Posted March 1, 2021 by Lisa Mandina in End of the month post / 13 Comments

The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: February 2021 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in March

February is the shortest month, and so of course it flew by, but had so much crazy stuff going on! We had the crazy frozen weather with lots of snow in the middle of the month. Because of that we actually got to have real old fashioned snow days without remote learning. My school’s bowling season, of which I am assistant coach, wrapped up. I did some more Door Dashing work, having some crazy times and making a little bit of money. And we got closer to bringing students back to school, starting with some of the seniors and then also whole grade levels for ACT testing days. Being required to be back means no more of sleeping in and just going in later in the morning, so my lovely morning sleep is going bye-bye. I also got both of my COVID vaccination shots this month, so that is good!

My dog who had surgery last month is back to normal for the most part. Although getting neutered changed a lot of his behavior immediately, I was shocked that I no longer worry about him peeing in the house like I did before! Not that he’s been perfect, but it’s not like before. However I noticed my other dog has some weird stuff going on with her teeth, and now next month she’ll be getting a couple of teeth pulled. Poor girl won’t have too many left pretty soon!

My reading was about the same this past month, even though it felt like I was reading more. Maybe because I was busier with having to be back at school, so I had less time to read and I filled it with reading. I did get 16 books read for sure, maybe 17 if I finished another Sunday night after I posted this.

I finished binging Reign, and even though I know a lot of people didn’t like the last season that much, I thought it was good, even if rushed. I watched all three of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before movies, and I loved them all. The main boy, Peter, the actor’s voice and the way he talked reminded me a lot of a guy I went to college with and am still friends with. Sadness though last month, my Kansas City Chiefs are no longer the Superbowl champions. While there were definitely some bad calls, they just didn’t play that well. Even if my favorite quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, did have some really awesome throws. And I think the way he and the other players handled the loss said a lot about them and why I’m such a big fan of our team.

February reviews:

As usual a few of the reviews above are reads from past months, December and January. I only had one DNF in January, and none in February (yay for all good books last month), so I’ll save that for a post when I have more to share.

Challenges:

You can see my sign up post for this challenge HERE. And here is the image with all the books I thought would be read.

I only got one more from my choices above done, even though my goal is two a month. I read Pride by Ibi Zoboi, but now I need to do a review. I plan to do that on the first Saturday in March. Hopefully in March I can get back on track and get two read! Honestly, as long as I do 1 a month for the rest of the year I can meet the lower end of the number range for my goal. But I hope I can do better! This month just had the beginning of the SmartyPants Romance latest roll out and that meant lots to read! I may also adjust some of the books I chose above to maybe work on getting my Netgalley ratio higher as well.

I’m still keeping up as much as I can with commenting on other blogs. I’ve even done more throughout the week with it instead of just on Sundays. I’m continuing to work through deleting books from my Goodreads TBR as much as I can. Writing, still nothing. I reached out to Argyle’s breeder about maybe watching my two dogs during my spring break for a couple days so I could maybe have uninterrupted time for writing, but she already has a full house of watching other people’s dogs, plus will probably have two litters of puppies at that time. Maybe I’ll get to go play with puppies then, and hope that will make up for no writing time.

Oh yeah, I officially joined TikTok with all the authors and BookTok stuff going on. So far I’ve only uploaded videos of my dogs, and one of my self-published book.

What to expect in March:

I’m already back every day at school, although not all teachers will be back full time until March 22nd. And we only have about 20-30 students a day right now, again, until either the end of March or beginning of April. My co-librarian is back now though, so that means wearing a mask all the time pretty much.

Here is my proposed March TBR based on blog tours and ARCs that I have:

  1. Lovebug by Erin Mallon – the review should be up today, the 1st!
  2. Opposites Attract by Camilla Isley – reading for a blog tour review post tomorrow, the 2nd!
  3. Dewey Belong Together by Ann WhyNot – actually read in February, but the blog tour review post is this Wednesday, March 3rd.
  4. Eye Candy by Jiffy Kate – another actually read in February, but the blog tour review post is on Thursday, March 4th.
  5. Flying Duo by Zoe May – should be reading and posting a blog tour review on March 5th.
  6. The One That I Want by Piper Sheldon – a SmartyPants Romance book that I will be reviewing as part of a tour on the 9th.
  7. The Art of Falling for You by Maya Hughes – reading and posting a review on the 11th.
  8. Marriage and Murder by Penny Reid – reading for a blog tour on the 15th.
  9. Holding You Close by Kennedy Fox – reading for a blog tour on the 16th.
  10. Street Smart by Aly Stiles – another SmartyPants Romance book I will be reading for a blog tour on the 17th.
  11. Heart Smart by Emma Jayne Lee – another SPR book for a blog tour on the 19th.
  12. The Secret Recipe for Moving On by Karen Bischer – reading for a blog tour on the 22nd.
  13. Under Pressure by Allie Winters – another SPR book for a blog tour on the 23rd.
  14. The Dream Guy Next Door by Lauren Blakely – reading for a blog tour on the 25th.
  15. Weights of Wrath by M. E. Carter – another SPR book for a blog tour on the 26th
  16. Hard Luck by Sara Ney – I think there is a blog tour on the 26th.
  17. Off-Limits by L.A. Cotton – for a blog tour on the 30th.
  18. Hard to Lose by K. Bromberg – for a blog tour also on the 30th
  19. Love, Lacey Donovan by Jill Brashear – I’m listening to this audiobook for a blog tour at the beginning of April.

Reviews that are overdue and should be possibly posted in March:

  1. Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish – audio
  2. Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Bookstagram:

Maybe not “bookstagram” but one of my favorite Instagram pictures from this past month.
I got a comment from the author for this one!
And another one I got an author comment on!

I continued with the weekly wrap up posts this month as well:

How was February for you? Did you get any of the crazy cold or snow that we got this month?

Giveaway:

Below are ARCs I’ve finished and also a couple of finished copies, the winner will get to pick out 3 books from the list. There may even be a few more choices by the end of the month! I will make the giveaway international in that you can pick a book for under $10 if The Book Depository ships to you. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below the picture.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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13 responses to “The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: February 2021 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in March

    • Lisa Mandina

      As ready as I am to open and get kids back, it seems silly to make the kids come back for the last two months of school and expect them to be successful in a whole new environment. Not to mention how much extra work the teachers will be having to do to prepare for back in person versus online when they’ll still have a lot of online kids too. Oh well. It’s the world we live in now! Yeah, too many books scheduled this month! I think I have to read like one book a day this week to keep up! Thanks for stopping by!

  1. danielle hammelef

    I’m so happy for you getting fully vaccinated! I’m hoping J&J’s vaccine now speeds up getting the shot age group down to me soon–I’m not in a job where I qualify for it and am happy that those who are are getting protected first. Michigan is requiring schools to at least offer in person learning but many schools are surprised how many parents are keeping kids at home for the remaining few months. Hopefully next year will be so much safer.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, as of November, about 50% of parents still wanted to keep their students at home. We’ll see how that works when they refill out the survey this week. I hope you’re able to get the vaccination soon! Thanks for stopping by!

  2. Jen

    Yay for getting both of your COVID shots already, that’s so exciting! My teacher friends here have gotten them too, but none of my teacher friends back home in CA have access to them yet and they’re back in the classrooms part time. Oh my gosh you had an amazing reading month! And I didn’t realize that Rebecca Yarros & Jay Crownover, wrote a book, off to check that one out ♥!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I think it’s crazy that teachers who are in person don’t get to be towards the top of the list! I think they are essential workers, not as essential as our medical and health providers, but pretty close! You definitely should try that book, it was good! Thanks for visiting!

  3. Linda Herold

    Congratulations on getting vaccinated! My son and his wife are both junior high teachers. They recently got their first shot!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Good for them! I think teachers need to be towards the top of the list for getting shots so we can get kids back in school and get them some normalcy sooner rather than later. Thanks for visiting!

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