Weekly Mews: Illness,Injuries, Good Books, & My March TBR List Poll (Please Vote!)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz where participants discuss what they are reading and other bookish topics. I am linking up to Nicole of Feed Your Addiction's Monthly Wrap-Up Post, where any book bloggers who write monthly wrap-up posts can link up and visit other bloggers to see what they have been reading.   I am linking to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently. 

Happy March everyone! I really do not want to talk about the American Primary Elections or COVID-19, both topics which seem to be all a lot of people want to talk about out there. It is not that they are not important. Only that I need to tune them (and other worldly concerns) out for a little while for my sanity's sake.  Instead, join me in my happy place--at least for a little while, will you?

New to the Shelves:

Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Murder at Half Moon Gate (A Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #2) by Andrea Penrose

Inherit the Stars (Inherit the Stars #1) by Tessa Elwood

Plotting for Murder (Cozy Mystery Bookshop #1) by Tamra Baumann

I am so excited about Downstairs Girl! I told myself I wouldn't buy a copy, but my will power failed me that day. Murder at Half Moon Gate and Plotting for Murder are books that have been on my wish list a while now--given that I have later books already on my TBR pile. I am back-filling my collection, you could say. And Inherit the Stars is another wish list book that's price was too good to pass up this time around. All four I used gift cards for (I have been hoarding quite a stash, actually), and so no money out of my pocket. Always a plus.

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? What books have you added to your shelves recently? 

What I Am Reading: I am nearing the end of The Five-Year Plan by Carla Burgess, a sweet British romance novel. I had actually meant to start In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, but accidentally grabbed the wrong title. It worked out well though. I am enjoying my time with Aiden and Orla. Perhaps I will follow up with In Five Years . . .

What I Am Watching: I have been watching The latest season of The Masked Singer with my family, and am watching the first season of The Runaways. It got off to a slow start, but so far I am enjoying it. I have made it to season 6 of The Vampire Diaries. Much of season 5 I had not seen before, although I had seen the previous seasons. I have mixed feelings about the show at this point, but I am enjoying it still, if not as much as the earlier seasons.

I really want to see the documentary series The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, which I know will have me in tears for all six episodes. It will be a difficult series to watch, and will hit closer to home than I will probably like, but I have heard it is a must see, especially for those of us on the front lines working with abused and neglected children.

Off the Blog: We have been sick. My husband and I both had colds and sinus trouble this past month. The entire family is still struggling with our allergies. Mouse was on antibiotics for a short while there due to an infection. My husband's knee is giving him trouble, and I hurt my hand/wrist. The pain comes and goes, depending on how much I baby it--unfortunately, it is my dominate hand and so it doesn't get as much rest as it probably needs. I can't put much weight on it, holding anything for long is next to impossible,  and sometimes the pain is quite intense.

Rehearsals are going well for Mouse. She gave a Hip Hop class a try this past month,  but ultimately we decided it was just too much to add on to our already packed schedule right now. The Girl Scout Cookie sale is going well. She will not make her goal--not even close--but honestly, I didn't expect her to given past years' sales. That isn't me being pessimistic. Just reality. The Cookie Season will be wrapping up mid-March as well as her school coding club coming to an end. Mouse has enjoyed learning how to code, and I think would be interested in doing more of it at some point in the future.

Mouse has a birthday coming up very soon. My baby is going to be nine! I look at her, and I just cannot believe how old she is now. It doesn't seem possible so much time has passed by already. She is really excited about her special day.

Here is what I finished reading in February:

• Stars Beyond (Stars Uncharted, #2) by S.K. Dunstall
• Mimi Lee Gets a Clue (A Sassy Cat Mystery, #1) by Jennifer J. Chow
• Doomed to Dance (Ivy + Bean, #6) by Annie Barrows & Sophie Blackall
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone
• What's the Big Idea? (Ivy + Bean, #7)
• Big News! (Emma is on the Air, #1) by Ida Siegal
• Amelia Bedelia Means Business (#1) by Herman Parish & Lynn Avril
• The Snatchabook by Helen Docherty & Thomas Docherty
• The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright & Jim Field
• The Deep by Alma Katsu

I enjoyed my February reading. I excitedly dived into Stars Beyond, the second in the Stars Uncharted series, and was not disappointed. I discovered a new cozy series featuring a precocious cat that I look forward to reading more of in the future (Mimi Lee Gets a Clue). Then there was Alma Katsu's The Deep, which had so many elements I love in a novel. But my favorite of all was my February TBR Poll winner, Dear Martin. I think my favorite of the books I read with Mouse was Big News! by Ida Siegal. I hope we are able to continue with the series.

I neglected my blog for much of the month, only posting here and there. I did not get around to visiting many of your blogs, for which I am sorry. Part of it was due to my busy schedule, and a bigger part due to my hand/wrist injury. I wish I could say March will be much better, but it will be an even busier month--and I really need to work at resting my wrist (wish me luck with that one).

This Past February In Reading Mews:

• Weekly Mewsings: Goodbye January (Finally!) & Hello February (Please Vote For My Next Read!)
• Can't Wait Wednesday: Burglars Can't Be Choosers/The Unspoken Name/The Grace Kelly Dress/Pies Before Guys
• Weekly Mewsings: Song of Achilles & The Secret Chapter/February's TBR List Poll Winner
• Where Is Your Bookmark? The Deep & My Favorite Genre(s)
• Can't Wait to Read Wednesday: The Ghost Map/In Five Years/Havenfall/The Forgotten Home Child
• Where Is Your Bookmark?
• Six Degrees of Separation: Fleishman is in Trouble to The Maltese Falcon
• Can't Wait to Read Wednesday: The Garden of Evening Mists/The Henna Artist/A Murderous Relation/Darling Rose Gold

Tell me what you have been up to! What are you reading, listening to and watching? How was your February? Do you have anything planned for this month?

Thank you for helping me decide what book from my TBR collection I should read next:

My TBR List is a meme hosted by the awesome Michelle at Because Reading. It’s a fun way to choose a book from your TBR pile to read. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and take a poll as to which you think I should read. I will read the winner that month, and my review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

Are you someone who likes to see the movie/television show before reading the book or do you prefer to read the book first? Or does it not matter? I am definitely a read the book before seeing the screen version kind of person. Most of the time (there are always exceptions).  There are quite a few movies and television shows I have not yet watched because I want to read the book first. Which means I have missed out on a lot of great movies---and shows.

My three options this month are all books that have been turned into television series. Please help me choose which one I should start with! Have you read any of these?

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons' friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia's.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak. [Goodreads Summary]

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

A thrilling and original coming-of-age novel for adults about a young man practicing magic in the real world.
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.
He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.
At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price. [Goodreads Summary]

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

A murder . . . a tragic accident . . . or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.

But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. [Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Reading!

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