February Photo-a-Day: my month in pictures

I'm late to the game again...it's been a crazy couple of weeks with two February birthdays and a March birthday - yes, all three kids within a month's time. My picture dates got messed up from the switch to a new phone, so I don't know what days they were from...so I just grabbed random pictures - they are definitely NOT in order. But they about sum up February for me :)

Mason can hold his bottle, but he doesn't like to // Blanket OCD // Sickie finally fell asleep // I don't need more coffee mugs, but "I can't even", "I donut care", and an owl! Yup! Gotta have them!

Books I Read in February

Strings by David Estes - 5 stars (finished 2/10)
See my review: here.

Are You Still There? by Sarah Lynn Scheerger - 3 stars (finished 2/18)
Gabi is a smart, perfectly behaved teenager - she stays in line and has her eyes on the college prize. She has a slightly neurotic mother, a younger sister, Chloe, who loves to be the rebel and drive their mom even more crazy, and a police officer for a father. The story begins with Gabi in the bathroom at her high school during a lockdown. It turns out that it is NOT a drill and there was an actual bomb in the school. The principal starts a crisis phone line and hand picks a variety of students to assist - including Gabi. Through the crisis phone line, Gabi makes new friends, starts seeing a boy, and ends up talking to the bomber.

Overall, the story was a very easy read. Gabi's voice is easy to connect with. However, I wasn't really sold on the story itself. The characters seemed pretty flat. You don't really get much but a scratch on the surface of what they are all like. I think some character development really would have made this book an excellent one. I did enjoy the manifesto of the bomber in between chapters of Gabi's POV. I found them to very interesting and they added some suspense to the overall plot.
*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

March TBR List + Upcoming Releases

I am now 3 books behind schedule according to my Goodreads challenge ticker. I am in the middle of actively reading two books right now and probably should pick The Hobbit back up too. I'm trying to play catch up from where I was sick with the flu for a week - not to mention, this is the busiest time of the year for us with all the kids' birthdays within a month of each other!!