As of the first day of February, I finished The Moon-spinners for a total of eight books read for Romance Bingo.  Unfortunately, no BINGO so far.  I had been hoping to read one more Tessa Dare book to fill the Historical Romance square for a BINGO, but for lots of reasons, my reading started to lag behind nearing the end of the month.

I'm working on a series review for Cynthia Eden's For Me trilogy and will have it posted as soon as I finish listening to the last book, Scream for Me.  I'm considering counting this book for Key to My Heart based on our main couple's "I've never felt this way before" monologues along with the whole, "This is the first time I've ever told anyone about my dark, dark past" conversation that just took place mid-book... typical of a lot of Rom-Suspense.

Meanwhile, the review for The Moon-spinners is also forthcoming.  And I'm slowly tumbling through books and hoping that at least one of my Rom-Suspense reads will yield an Insta-love, because those are aplenty in that genre.  =D

(All links lead to my Blogspot reviews, since I haven't posted reviews on BL this year yet.)

Books:
Insta-love:
Too Stupid To Live:  Forgotten Sins by Rebecca Zanetti
"Headless" Woman:
Love is Murder:  Die for Me by Cynthia Eden
New Adult:  Overruled by Emma Chase

Young Adult:
Regency Romance:
Eyeshadow and Heaving Bosom:
Virgin & Best First Time:  A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare
Gothic Romance:  The Moon-spinners by Mary Stewart

Blown Away:
Man in a Kilt:
Love (Free Space):
Rogue:  A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare
Historical Romance:

Secret Billionaire:
Twins:
Fairy Tale Retelling:
Wedding Bells:
Second Chances:  Fear for Me by Cynthia Eden

Key to My Heart:
Pirates Argh:
Guy/Girl Next Door:
Interracial Couple:
Urban Fantasy Romance:  Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep


Currently Reading:
Scream for Me by Cynthia Eden || Key to My Heart
The Search by Nora Roberts || Love (Free Space)

Planned Next Reads:
A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare || Historical Romance
That's Amore! anthology || Wedding Bells
Sweet Bea by Sarah Hegger || "Headless" Woman
A Kiss At Midnight by Eloisa James || Eyeshadow and Heaving Bosom
Highlander Claimed by Juliette Miller || Man in Kilt
Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis || Guy/Girl Next Door
The Substitute Sister by Lisa Childs || Twins


Squares Still Undecided:

• Insta-love -- As I mentioned above, I'm hoping that one of the many Rom-Suspense books I read will have insta-love.
• Young Adult -- I'd like to read Kasie West's newest book, but I'm hesitant to purchase it.  Chances are, I will probably listen to the audio book version of The Distance Between Us, my first of Kasie West favorites.
• Regency Romance -- Many options, probably another Tessa Dare... or maybe something by Amanda Quick.
• Blown Away -- No idea what to read for this square.
• Secret Billionaire -- Probably going to just steal some ideas from someone else's square.
• Fairy Tale Retelling -- I was going to read Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.  But at the rate that I'm going, and with the length of this book, I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it and all the other books before the end of this month.  I may just chose another book, like maybe Cybele's Secret also by Juliet Marillier, and also part of my Reading Assignment Challenge this year.
• Pirates Argh -- Nothing chosen yet.  Will have to steal ideas.
• Interracial Couple -- I have a Rom-Suspense that has an interracial couple, but I don't know if I want to read that one.  Any ideas?

See Also:  My Romance Bingo 2017 Page

Oh, January!  You were full of so much promise.  So much promise with much activity and potential.  We started the year off with Romance Bingo 2017.  I had so many books lined up because I'm a sucker for romance.  And even so, we were doing so, so well.  There was even a readathon involved and I believe we made progress.

But then, after being sick a week into the new year, I had to remain sick.  And then that sick decided that, even a week later, as I started getting better, it would recycle itself and start from the beginning.  And be sick again.  Two weeks later, I think my body is trying to recycle the sick one more time.  I feel the sore throat coming on, once again, on the heels of my stuffy nose finally clearing up.

Because that was always how it starts: with a sore throat.  Then before you know it, I'm going through the stages of my typical cold: sneezing, runny nose, cough, stuffy nose, stuffy nose with cough, stuffy nose and inability to breathe... and the entire time I don't really sleep.

So for two weeks, I haven't really slept.  Sure, I might have gotten some shut eye here and there.  But I never actually slept for longer than an hour or two each day...  At least, it seems my body doesn't ever really want to sleep until it's time for me to wake up.  Because that's just life.

Anyway...

Back to the books, no?

Reading for this month could have been better.  I had my plans and I tried to stick to them.  But being sick made me want to do nothing but sleep, really... despite the fact that I didn't really get any sleep.  So instead, of reading when I couldn't sleep, I just stalked around the house feeling miserable.  Because apparently I feel the most miserable when I try to lay down and sleep.  And standing up and moving around actually clears my nasal passage enough for me to breathe.  So maybe I should just learn how to sleep on my feet?

I plan on posting a mid-Romance Bingo update, either today or tomorrow, though, unfortunately, no BINGO was had.  My plans got a little spoiled, but oh well.  Then, to top it off, I couldn't even get around to finishing the second of my Reading Assignment books for January.  THAT seemed to be my biggest blow this month since I'd been able to keep up with my Reading Assignment books since the first time I participated in this challenge two years ago--and at that time, I'd committed to reading four books from my pre-chosen list.  I purposefully lowered my reading level to two books a month from my pre-chosen list because I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to keep up with four.

And yet...

On a separate note, I've been absent from Booklikes this entire month, mainly because I've still been hesitant about posting.  Seems that things are going quite well now, so I may consider returning.  For now, I will only randomly cross post some non-review posts and try to start interacting more on BL once again.

January Reads

Books Dropped/Put On Hold

Currently Reading

January Reading Stats

Total works read: 10

• 5 full length print/digital
• 1 novella
• 4 audio books

Average rating: 3.35 Stars

• Highest Rated:  2 books by Tessa Dare // 4.5 Stars
  • (1) A Week to be Wicked
  • (2) A Night to Surrender
• Lowest Rated:  Forgotten Sins by Rebecca Zanetti // 2.0 Stars

Series I started reading:

• The Legal Briefs by Emma Chase
• Spindle Cove by Tessa Dare
• Sin Brothers by Rebecca Zanetti
• Elemental Assassin by Jennifer Estep

Series I completed:

• None Completed

Series I have made progress on:

• Lucky Harbor by Jill Shalvis
• Dead Wrong by Jami Alden
• For Me trilogy by Cynthia Eden

Favorite reads:  As it stands the best reads this month were Tessa Dare's Spindle Cove books, even the strange little novella.  A Week to be Wicked was extra wonderful and probably my most favorite read this month as it sits at the top of my book rankings so far this year.  Because I loved the couple so much and the witty writing!  And I can't wait to finish the rest of the series!

Truth be told, I haven't finished The Moon-spinners by Mary Stewart yet, but I am enjoying it a lot.  While the book DOES kind of meander into a lot of insignificant tangents, I can't help but love how well the writing presents itself, and how witty the dialogue between characters is.  I already knew that Mary Stewart was great at conveying atmosphere and imagery after reading one other book of hers, even if I hadn't enjoyed it.  So I foresee that I may end up picking up more books by Mary Stewart in the future.

Disappointing reads:  Probably Rebecca Zanetti's Forgotten Sins would take the spot here.  It's not like I had been expecting an ultra-fantastic book or anything, but with all the great reviews, and an interesting premise, I really hadn't expected to be so frustrated with said book as much as I ended up being.  And then, on top of that, to still be slightly interested in continuing the series for the ongoing mysteries in the background just makes me gnash my teeth, because I want to know... but I don't want to put myself through that kind of teeth grinding frustration again.

Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written

• At Last by Jill Shalvis
• Overruled by Emma Chase
• A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare
• Forgotten Sins by Rebecca Zanetti
• Run from Fear by Jami Alden
• A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare
• Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep

Memes

• No Memes this month

Other Posts

• 2016 Bookish Resolutions -- Final Progress Report
• 2016 Reading Assignment Challenge -- Fourth Quarterly (Last) Report Card
• Starting: Once Upon a Winter's Eve
• Collective Reading Updates for A Week to be Wicked
• Read-a-thon: 24 in 48! January 2017 | Ani's Plans!
• Ani's Personal Series Challenge Goals
• Collective Reading Updates for Spider's Bite
• Readathon: 24in48 January 2017 Starts Now!
• 24in48 Jan. 2017 Readathon: Hour Seventeen Update
• 24in48 Jan. 2017 Readathon: Hour Thirty Seven Update
• 24in48 Jan. 2017 Readathon: Wrap Up

Coming Up In February

Tentative TBR

Other Stuff

Okay.  So I listed a whole bunch of books above that I want to read in February.  I'm not sure if I will actually get to all of them... but I'm going to try.  The only thing missing is one more book for my Reading Assignment Challenge.  So throw one more book on the pile.  Hopefully, I'll be back in good health and in a better mood to both read and blog more often.

Because January just sucked (see opening paragraphs).

2017 Wrap-Ups 

Past Monthly Reading Wrap Ups
See Also: 2015 Reading Wrap-Up posts (scroll to bottom of page)

(updated as year progresses by month)
January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December