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!!

Book Review & Blog Tour: Strings by David Estes

“A wonderful retelling of the Pinocchio story… I simply couldn’t put this book down.” Rysa Walker, bestselling author of TIMEBOUND 

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Purchase: eBook | Paperback | Audio Book

Sometimes the strings that tie us down are the same strings that set us free.

Sixteen-year-old Pia has always lived in a mysterious facility where mechanical strings control her existence. She plays apprentice to her father, Gio, in performing nanotech designs for the Company, and she soon suspects there are diabolical human forces behind the manufactured reality of her world.

Though her childhood memories and the origins of the strings remain strangely elusive, she begins to find solace with the introduction of two unlikely friends: daring, irrational Sofia, and calm, tender Marco.

As the truths of the past and present unravel together, Pia must find a way to free herself from her strings and escape the facility before facing the wrath of the unstable head of security, Mr. Davis. But to gain her freedom, she must navigate the dangers posed by Davis and by her suspicious new friends to find the real identity of the puppeteer.

If Pia can succeed in revealing the secrets of the Company, she may very well find the independence she so desperately seeks. But in her controlled world nothing is as it seems, and the closer she gets to the truth, the graver the consequences.

Love for Books Readathon [Progress]

Check out this post for my goals and book list [here].

So excited to join in for a new readathon. I'm going to do what I did with the last Bout of Books readathon and just do ONE section of keeping up with my progress, instead of a daily one.

Currently reading:

Total pages read: 195 pg
Books finished: 1
Thoughts:  
MON // I started out at 46% on Strings today. // TUES // Reached 84% last night before bed - for a total of 110 pg read on Monday. :) This book is SO good! // WEDS // Finished Strings...onto a Netgalley read. Got to 10% before going to sleep for the night.

Books read: