The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: February 2022 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in March

Posted March 1, 2023 by Lisa Mandina in End of the month post, giveaway / 22 Comments

February, a shorter month, did go by very fast! It was an exciting month for my hometown team of the Kansas City Chiefs, winning their second Super Bowl in 4 years. We had a few snow days which was nice.

I didn’t have a ton of review books at the beginning of the month, but might have scheduled a few more than necessary towards the end. Because of the difference in my scheduling, I actually had quite a few days this month without a post at all. I’m still keeping up with my reviews too by having my L-L-L-Little Review and DNF posts ready to be filled in as I finish books. Shorter month means less time to read, so a lower amount than last month. Only 16 compared to the 17 from last month.

  • # of pages read: 4499
  • Amount of time spent listening to audiobooks – Some of the time on one of these was last month technically, but I don’t count them till I finish. So my time spent was 24 hours and 40 minutes for 2 audiobooks.

February Reviews

Challenge Wrap-Up

Still going strong as I am still working on books from my Reader Award committee. My goal for the year was 12, I got 4 last month, and I got 4 more this month! One of this month’s 4 was not for the reader award committee. The first 4 were reviewed in the January L-L-L post, and this month’s were reviewed in the February L-L-L post.

  1. The Hunger Between Us by Marina Scott
  2. Twisted Love by Ana Huang
  3. Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavy
  4. Always Jane by Jenn Bennett
  5. My Second Impression Of You by Michelle I. Mason
  6. Gold Mountain by Betty G. Yee
  7. Spicy Pickle by J.J. Knight
  8. My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth
  • Blogging:
  • Reading:
    • 1. As always is my Goodreads goal of 200 books. I am right on track, maybe one ahead, but I’m not worrying about it.
    • 2. My TBR Challenge above.
  • Writing – Still didn’t get anything done this month.
  • Book Buying Ban – So I decided to bump my goal up to $40 a month to cover my Audible and Book of the Month Subscriptions. Sadly I still went way over this month because of the Flirty in Kansas City Convention that I went to. And then on the last day of the month when I went to Etsy to buy some bookish stickers, I ended up buying a book because the author had sent a coupon to use. I spent almost $180 in February on books. Oops.

What to Expect in March

March is a long month, but it ends with my spring break, so I hope to get lots of writing done during that time! Not going to even take a trip to Branson over spring break because I need to save all my money for my Scotland trip. It’ll be harder to get all the reading I want done with dogs distracting me and housework to do of course, but it should save me money. So of course as I’m getting ready to go, I’ll continue to share tidbits in my weekly wrap-up posts of the places I’ll be going on my tour.

Here is my proposed TBR for March:
  1. Love You Now by Julia Kent – got the e-galley from the author and plan to read and post my review with a blitz on the 3rd
  2. Mr. & Mrs. Witch by Gwenda Bond – reading an e-galley that the publisher sent me for a review probably on the 5th or 6th
  3. Right Man, Right Time by Meghan Quinn – reading as part of the author’s review group for a review on the 7th
  4. The Love Wager by Lynn Painter – reading an e-galley for a review on the 11th
  5. Faking It With the Grump by Kate O’Keeffe – reading for a blog tour review on the 14th. I’ve wanted to read this author for a while!
  6. Three Drops of Blood by Gretchen McNeil – an e-galley from the publisher for a review on the 18th hopefully
  7. A Mountain Divides Us by Allie Winters – the author reached out and I will be reviewing this on the 21st
  8. Love Notes by Aimee Brown – reading for a blog tour review on the 23rd
  9. A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen – the publisher is hopefully sending me an ARC and I will try to read and review on the 25th
  10. Break the Ice by L.A. Cotton – may be reading this for a blog tour review on the 28th. Not sure if I will though, as the prequel/book before this I wasn’t thrilled with.
  11. Playing By the Rules by Monica Murphy – I’m on the author’s review team and should be posting a review on the 29th or 30th
  12. How to Win the Girl by Sara Ney – reading for an author review team review on the 30th
  13. Throwback by Maureen Goo – I have an ARC to read from the publisher and should be posting my review the beginning of April
  14. Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker – another ARC for a review at the beginning of April, and I want to get ahead because there will be a lot of books in April, especially now that I have seen some dates for the next SmartyPants Romance release!
  15. Any audiobooks I listen to, I’m listening to Forging Silver Into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer at the moment, which also counts for the Gateway list and the TBR challenge
  16. Any other books for the Gateway list that I get through
  17. And hopefully more for my TBR challenge!

Final Thoughts

So how was your February? If it is winter where you live, did you get much snow? How are you doing on your reading/blogging/personal goals for 2023 so far? What are you looking forward to in March? I’m ready for the end of the month and my spring break!

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 as I go through and clean out some more bookshelves of ARCs I know I might not ever get to! 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. My December Wrap-Up post got over 300 entries, so I picked three winners! This January one didn’t make it over 100 though, so only one winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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22 responses to “The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: February 2022 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in March

    • Lisa Mandina

      This is the first year I’m actually doing the check on my spending. We’ll see how long I keep it up, it is only March, lol.

  1. Marie-Claude Barnabe

    This comment is belated; catching up on blogs I follow. Happy about the Chief, but you should know that the Chiefs’ kingdom stretches all the way up to Canada; myself and my 24-year-old daughter are big fans and we are in Montréal! Not to mention that the Europeans are awaiting the Chiefs being one of the next teams to play on their home turf, just as the Patriots and other teams have done. 🙂

    Keep blogging and I will keep following.

    Cheers!

    Marie-Claude Barnabé
    Montréal, Québec, Canada

    • Lisa Mandina

      Well I’m glad you still came by! I like to visit when I can, and sometimes I’m behind as well. Yay for fellow Chiefs fans! I actually have a cousin who grew up in Germany that is a Chiefs fan as well! It will be exciting for him when the Chiefs come to Germany, I’m hoping he will be able to go. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. You had a great month with lots of books read. I am slightly envious of your TBR for March. I am a mood reader, so I don’t usually make TBRs, but sometimes I am not sure what I am in the mood for and having a TBR would be nice. I read lots of books in February too. It has been very snowy combined with rain (which is unusual for Wisconsin this time of year) which has resulted in lots of ice on the roads and sidewalks. I normally walk daily year-round, but have had to skip many days in February because it was too treacherous. I am definitely looking forward to warmer temperatures that will melt the ice! Happy March!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Well my TBR is based on the books I’ve signed up to review. I am a mood reader, or used to be! Although sometimes the mood thing will kick in and I will have to DNF a book. We’ve had a much warmer and less snowier winter than normal I think. Or maybe we’ve just had a couple years before now with more snow. We had warm last week and now it’s cooled off again this week. Thanks for visiting!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I’m hoping to get a lot more read in March since my spring break will be this month and I have nothing planned for that time. 🙂

  3. My February was good considering the short month. What a great month you had! I’m looking forward to reading The Love Wager too! Have a great March Lisa.

  4. danielle hammelef

    My February was pretty good as my band had its winter concert and my solos went very well. I was able to get lots of walking in because the weather was warmer than usual–this helps with my stress levels.

    • Lisa Mandina

      I think I’m going to try to start walking again once the weather gets warmer here again. I’ve got to do some kind of exercise!

  5. Piroska

    Our February was milder than usual. March started out mild, but now we’re getting mega snowstorms.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Crazy snow at the end of March I guess! Hope you start to get out of that weather pattern soon!

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