February Reading Challenges Wrap-up

Another month is gone and I don’t even know where my time went. I had a great reading month overall, so I can’t complain there, however, I didn’t write any book reviews and that makes me very sad :( I need to do better in the upcoming months!

Goodreads Challenge:

Like I mentioned in my January wrap-up post, I finally committed to reading 100 books in 2016 and so far I am doing pretty well. Since I am writing this post before the month is over, there will always be some books listed that I actually finished in the previous month but after the monthly wrap-up blog post, but as long as I keep a good record I should be good to go. On my Goodreads challenge I read a total of 19 books so far and I am 5 books ahead of schedule. YAY!!! So here are my February reads:

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

A Dawn Most Wicked (A Something Strange and Deadly Novella) by Susan Dennard

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

Hemlock and Thornhill by Kathleen Peacock

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer

Rock My TBR challenge:

For February, the books I am counting towards this challenge are all the books listed above with the exception of You Were Here by Cori McCarthy because that was an ARC that was provided by NetGalley and it is not yet published (it was an amazing read so you should definitely pick it up March 1, 2016). So I have ten books counting towards this challenge this month, bringing up my total for the year to seventeen.

Series Ender Challenge:

For this challenge I set a Level 4 goal of reading more than 15 series ender books in 2016 and during the month of February I didn’t finish reading any series enders. I am currently reading Willowgrove by Kathleen Peacock and Time’s Divide by Rysa Walker, so I would think that in my March wrap-up I will have at least three books counting towards this challenge. With no books counting towards this challenge this month, I am still at 2 books overall.

Even though I didn’t have anything counting towards my Series Ender Challenge this month, I am still very happy with how things are moving along in all of my challenges. I hope you all had a very successful month! Let me know in the comments below how you are doing with your challenges. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s pre-publication “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Burning Glass

by Kathryn Purdie

 

Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books

Release date: March 1, 2016

From Goodreads:

Sonya was born with the rare gift to feel what those around her feel—both physically and emotionally—a gift she’s kept hidden from the empire for seventeen long years. After a reckless mistake wipes out all the other girls with similar abilities, Sonya is hauled off to the palace and forced to serve the emperor as his sovereign Auraseer.

Tasked with sensing the intentions of would-be assassins, Sonya is under constant pressure to protect the emperor. One mistake, one small failure, will cost her own life and the lives of the few people left in the world who still trust her.

But Sonya’s power is untamed and reckless, her feelings easily usurped, and she sometimes can’t decipher when other people’s impulses end and her own begin. In a palace full of warring emotions and looming darkness, Sonya fears that the biggest danger to the empire may be herself.

As she struggles to wrangle her abilities, Sonya seeks refuge in her tenuous alliances with the volatile Emperor Valko and his idealistic younger brother, Anton, the crown prince. But when threats of revolution pit the two brothers against each other, Sonya must choose which brother to trust—and which to betray.

BURNING GLASS is debut author Kathryn Purdie’s stunning tale of dangerous magic, heart-rending romance, and the hard-won courage it takes to let go.

My Thoughts:

The pitch for this book is Red Queen meets Shadow and Bone and that alone is enough to grab my attention. Burning Glass promises to be an epic fantasy debut and an intriguing start to a trilogy. Based on early reviews it would appear that this book has it all: mystery, betrayal, magic, romance, and action.

The premise of this book sounds incredibly interesting; Sonya has a rare gift of sensing other people’s feeling and I am very curious to see how that affects how she feels. The story seems to have a lot of Russian influences and that is a high selling point for me as well.

The cover for Burning Glass is also visually striking and captured my attention. All in all, I am super excited to read Kathryn Purdie’s debut, and I have a feeling I won’t be disappointed. 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s pre-publication “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

The Shadow Queem

by C.J. Redwine

Publisher:  Balzer + Bray

Release date: February 16, 2016

From Goodreads:

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

My Thoughts:

I cannot wait for this book! I adore fairytale retellings and I am a huge fan of C.J. Redwine’s work. The Shadow Queen is an epic fantasy retelling of Snow White. The novel promises an action packed story filled with romance and horror. I’ve had my eyes out for this book for a while and so far all the early reviews seem to be great. I’ve read the Defiance trilogy recently and was blown away writing style and wolrd building as well as by the perfect balance that Redwine found between action and romance.

And then there’s the cover. It’s absolutely stunning! This is by far one of the most amazing covers ever. It’s so dark and intriguing; I think that even if I wasn’t familiar with C.J. Redwine’s work and what this novel was about, I would have picked up the book based on the cover alone.

In the comments below, please let me know if The Shadow Queen is on your TBR or if you’ve been lucky enough to score an ARC and reviewed it. What book are you waiting on this week?