February is short, but it's also jam-packed!!



And we're gonna have FUN, FUN, FUN till our Daddy takes our T'Bird away....

(And if the Beach Boys isn't stuck in your head now, I obviously haven't been doing my job right! ^.~)

I'm really excited that we're finally in February. There's so much great stuff going on!!!

Blogging wise, it's my blog's 6th Aanniversary in 2 days. SIX. Technically 5 if you count how long I've been an active blogger and not just how long since I opened this on a whim. Quite the achievement!!! I'm going to have a couple of really fun changes/additions to the blogs in 2016 that I can't wait to tell you about!!!

Book Wise, ALL THE SIGNINGS. If you live in/near/around the Philadelphia area (I know people from Maryland who come to events around here, at least!!), you're going to want to check out eight big signing events happening in the area! I rounded them up in a post this week. Tomorrow, I get to see Lunar Chronicles author Marissa Meyer, and next Saturday, there will be two big events, an Epic Reads Tour featuring Victoria Aveyard and Sophie Jordan, and a Galentine's Day Event featuring IRL best friends Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard. Eep! Time to paint my nails! ^.~

I'm also on a few amazing blog tours in February to support books and series I'm super passionate about, such as The Winner's Curse series by Marie Rutkoski, THE SHADOW QUEEN by C.J. Redwine, REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton, and INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor! I can't wait to share all of these books with you, and am so honored to be on the tour for all of them!!!!

Time: Where is it when you need it?

January surprisingly continued the trend of not having a lot of free time, and I think that will carry into February. To make a long story short, I've been working longer, later shifts lately, and I'm always so tired after work. I also haven't felt the greatest again (Gotta love those Winter Blahs). It's also harder to use the computer right now, which makes it hard to get some good quality time in on my blog. I'd like to say that February will be better, but I might not be back at capacity before March. ^^;;;

I also didn't do as many reviews as I wanted and as you're used to seeing from me, but I didn't read for most of the month again. In fact, I went a month from mid December to mid January with reading nothing!!! I've also been carting a book around for a week so I can read it before a signing and I haven't touched it--or anything else--this past week. *sigh* I need to READ so I can REVIEW....!

Snow Days!!!

 Snow Storm Jonas hit my area hard. I even got a snow day from work, whoot!

I spent it FINALLY binging this series:


 I've tried to get to it for at least two winters now, but I was always working or in the middle of a book or on deadline when it snowed, so it never happened!! I'm an atmospheric reader, and FROZEN by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston is about a frozen, snowy world. I was glad to finally get to the first two books and am glad the final book in the trilogy, GOLDEN, comes out soon in April!! I even got a chance to review the first book! (I'd have done STOLEN, too, but decided to spread the posts out a bit, so...soon!)

Where's Your Nail Art and Pictures of the Month!?

My phone is dead and I have to be at work in an hour and a half and I need as much of a charge as I can get. Sorry! Forgive me? ;_;

If you follow me on Twitter, I have a few of them there. I was going to share pictures from the snow storm and stuff, but yeah...

I meant to work on this post over the course of the week, but again, time + the blahs. I started the post, at least....

MUSIC 🎶

Right now, Grease is definitely the word. This week, I watched Grease: Live!  on Demand, which I'll talk about more below in movies. I also finally watched last week's two Galavant episodes and only have this past week's two finale episodes to catch up on now! I love that they're in 30 minute chunks because I can watch them after work when I'm too tired to type or read. I've also been listening to the same old playlists and spreading the Hamilton love. I'm REALLY excited to pick up the new recording of The Hunchback of Notre Dame that just came out. I've been waiting YEARS to hear a good English version of this musical over the German version I had access to!!

MOVIES!!! 

Istill don't have much time for movies or TV; at night, I've been so tired that I turn on the TV and whatever's on, I just leave on. It's usually a short sitcom re-run like Friends or something, but it's all I have the energy for. I did, however, watch Grease: Live! It took me 3 or 4 tries because I was always tired, but I buckled down on my day off, even though that made me lazy, lol! The acting was whatever, but the production was off the wall!! We have never experienced such an intensive live show before. Cameramen were hanging from the CEILING to film. There were golf carts to get around the set. And major kudos to the actress who was in turmoil because her dad had just passed away but performed anyway!!! This show is going to get some Emmys!!! PLUS, it was directed by Thomas Kail, who also directed this year's buzzy Hamilton the Musical A Tony AND an Emmy, please. PLUS a performance on the Grammys!? #win

Here's an amazing video that hints at the vast production that went into Grease: Live. I'm a little obsessed with it!!!


That was my January. 

How was yours???

Here's a look at everything that happened in January!
 

ONGOING GIVEAWAYS:

*THERE ONCE WERE STARS by Melanie McFarlane  (2/11)

Check out the January Blog Tour Schedule for more upcoming giveaways!
FEBRUARY BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
(Most blog tour stops feature giveaways as well!)


*THE SHADOW QUEEN by C.J. Redwine {2/11 review}
*THE WINNER'S KISS by Marie Rutkoski {2/13 feature}
*REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton {2/17 feature}

 
READING NOW:
{All links to Goodreads!}

*Trying to start first-reading REIGN OF SHADOWS by Sophie Jordan and re-reading THE RED QUEEN by Victoria Aveyard and THE WINNER'S CURSE by Marie Rutkoski, but reading just isn't happening atm!

PLANNING TO READ IN FEBRUARY:

*REIGH OF SHADOWS by Sophie Jordan {YA}
*THE RED QUEEN by Victoria Aveyard {YA} [re-read]
*THE GLASS SWORD by Victoria Aveyard {YA}
*THE WINNER'S CURSE by Marie Rutkoski {YA} [re-read]
*THE WINNER'S CRIME by Marie Rutkoski {YA}
*THE WINNER'S KISS by Marie Rutkoski {YA}
*INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor {YA}
*THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS by Anna-Marie McLemore {YA}
*BANISHED by Kimberley Griffiths-Little {YA}
*WHEN WE COLLIDED by Emory Lord {YA}
 
[link to my GoodReads account so you can see my blurb feed as I read]
READ IN JANUARY:
{All links to Goodreads!}

TOTAL: 4 Books, 1 picture book, and 1 novella ;_;

*FINDING WINNIE by Lindsay Mattick {Picture Book}
*THE BURNING HAND by Jodi Meadows {YA Novella}
*BOOKISHLY EVER AFTER by Isabel Bandeira {YA}
*FROZEN by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston {YA}
*STOLEN by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston {YA}
*THICKER THAN WATER by Brigid Kemmerer {YA}  

REVIEWED IN JANUARY:
{All links to my review!}

*THE GIRL WHO COULD NOT DREAM by Sarah Beth Durst {MG}
*Annie (2014 Edition) {Movie Review}
*FROZEN by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston {YA}

*Is that really IT!? I'm so sorry!!! I actually have in-progress drafts of three reviews that I thought were published until just now. SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!! We'll have a better February, okay!?

FEATURES IN JANUARY:

*New Year's Resolutions and Holiday Gifts and a Peek at the Year to Come!
*Happy Book Day to Two Amazing 2016 Titles that Kick 2016 Off with a BANG!
*Today is one of THE most important day in Children's Literature....it's Awards Day!!!!
*{{Blog Tour} When Book Covers Become....Video Game Weapons!?!?
*{A Twist in the Tail} New Sequel Series to The Lion King Begins TOMORROW!!!
*{Cover Reveal/Excerpt} FEAR MY MORTALITY by Everly Frost
*{Spotlight} SERPENTINE by Cindy Pon and NAMELESS by Jennifer Jenkins 
*True Story: I haven't read in...over a month!?!?
*Ten Books I Recently Added to My To-Be-Read List Are...
*{Spotlight} THE ARTISANS by Julie Reece and THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF THE NOT SO INNOCUOUS GIRL by Leigh Statham
*{Cover Reveal/Excerpt} GENESIS GIRL by Jennifer Bardsley
*How Do You Follow Your Favorite Blogs? What Works Best...and What Fails the Most?
*{Spotlight} NOBODY'S GODDESS by Amy McNulty and CROWN OF ICE by Vicki L. Weavil

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