Weekly Mews: Wrapping Up February & Looking Forward to March (Please Vote in my TBR Poll! Help Me Decide What to Read Next.)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  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 It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

As part of my monthly wrap up, I am linking up to Nicole of Feed Your Addiction's Monthly Wrap-Up Post and 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! This week was a typical week in my life for the most part. My husband and I had work. Mouse had school and dance/musical theater. The cats slept a lot. The Girl Scout Cookie sale is winding down. Just one week left. The winds have not been too bad this week, which was nice, and the weather perfect for open window days. It did rain for several hours one day. I love a good rainy day. 

What I Am Reading: I read and loved The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna earlier this week. Mouse and I recently finished the 6th of the Dork Diaries books, Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker by Rachel Renée Russell. My daughter insisted we immediately start on the 7th in the series, Tales of a Not-So-Glam TV Star, and so we did. 

I am close to finishing M. Ravenel's upcoming release The Arrangement, a mystery set in 1975 New York. It is the first in a new series featuring P.I. Tootsie Carter. I am enjoying it quite a bit so far. 

What I Am Watching: My family and I watched the final episode of WandaVision last night. We thought the show was wrapped up very well, although we hated to see it end.  I can't wait to watch it again and catch what I might have missed.  We also recently watched the 2017 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle movie, which was fun. I remember seeing the Robin Williams 1995 version years ago. We also watched the movie Flora and Ulyssess, which Mouse loved. 

New to the Shelves February Books:

Mouse's new books: 

Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker (Dork Diaries #6) by Rachel Renée Russell

Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star (Dork Diaries #7) by Rachel Renée Russell 

Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After! (Dork Diaries #8) by Rachel Renée Russell

Sheets by Brenna Thummler

E-Book deals I couldn't pass up (and it helped I had a gift card needing spending): 

Tails, You Lose (Witch City Mystery #2) by Carol J. Perry

Look Both Ways (Witch City Mystery #3) by Carol J. Perry

Murder Go Around (Witch City Mystery #4) by Carol J. Perry

There's a New Witch in Town (Holiday Hills Witch #1) by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

Witch this Way (Holiday Hills Witch #2) by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

Daring (Pax Arcana #2) by Elliott James

Fearless (Pax Arcana #3) by Elliott James

In Shining Armor (Pax Arcana #4) by Elliott James

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Brainwaite

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry

A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons (Dragoncat #1) by Chris Behrsin

The Ninja Daughter (Lily Wong #1) by Tori Eldridge

Vows, Vendettas and a Little Black Dress (Sophie Katz Murder Mystery #5) by Kyra Davis

My Challenge Progress: 

• Historical Fiction Reading Challenge ~ 2/5
• Nonfiction Reader Challenge ~ 1/6
• Poetry Challenge ~ 1/3
• COYER Winter Challenge ~ 7/4 Completed - Success!
• Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge ~ 6/6

The Winter COYER Challenge hosted by Michelle and Berls of Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life lasted through January & February and I committed to reading four (4) books. I ended up reading seven (7). 

1. One by One by Ruth Ware

2. Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder (#1) by T.A. Willberg

3. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

4. A Glimmer of Death (#1) by Valerie Wilson Wesley

5. The Russian Cage (Gunnie Rose #3) by Charlaine Harris

6 The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date #1) by Jasmine Guillory

7. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins (review pending) 

March 1st kicked off the beginning of the Spring COYER Challenge, which I am also taking part in because why stop now? I am looking forward to seeing where I go on my reading adventures this season. The rules are similar to the Winter COYER rules only now, not only do e-books and audiobooks count, but also physical books. Books still have to be free or nearly free, however with the added bonus that now library and borrowed books qualify. Spring COYER lasts from March through June. More months, more reading! My goal is to read eight (8) books for Spring COYER. Care to join me? 

Here is what I finished reading in February:

• A Glimmer of Death (#1) by Valerie Wilson Wesley 
• If the Shoe Fits (Whatever After #2) by Sarah Mlynowski
• The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date #1) by Jasmine Guillory
• The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
• Sink or Swim (Whatever After #3) by Sarah Mlynowski
• Becoming by Michelle Obama

January was a fluke given how much I read. February was much more in line with my usual average. It was still a great reading month. I have yet to meet a book I have not enjoyed this year. If I had to pick a favorite read of the month, I would say Michelle Obama's Becoming. It was just as good as everyone told me it would be. I hope to post my review later this month.

Blogging wise, I managed to keep up the pace I started in January. I will be taking a much needed break toward the end of March. 

This Past February In Reading Mews:

• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Love At First / Sparks Like Stars / Plum Island
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (What I Am Reading Now / Connect 5: Memoirs / BBHOP)
• Weekly Mews: January Wrap Up & February's TBR List Poll
• Bookish Mewsings: The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Down Comes the Night / The Lost Apothecary / The Book of Unholy Mischief
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (Romance Is in the Air)
• Weekly Mews: Annie News, Cat Tree & Valentine's Surprise
• Bookish Mewsings: Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder & Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Sing Me Forgotten / The Rose Code / Old Man's War
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (Bookish Mewsings: A Glimmer of Death by Valerie Wilson Wesley / Connect 5: TBR Mysteries/Crime Fiction by Black Authors / BBHOP: Squeezing in the Reading)
• Weekly Mews: Poetry Corner Edition (#2)
• Bookish Mewsings: Russian Cage & The Wedding Date
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Surviving Savannah / An Unexpected Peril / The Rest of Us Just Live Here
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (Female Warriors / Ghostly Mystery / Connect Five: TBR Must Reads / BBHOP)
• Weekly Mews: Mouse's Corner Edition (Whatever After) & What I Have Been Up To

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 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. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

This month my choices have a historical focus with women at the heart of each story. It is Women's History Month after all. I am really excited about all three titles and cannot wait to see which one I will be reading this month. Thank you for voting! 

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore

Based on true events, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown in a powerful story about a largely unknown chapter in history and the women who emerged as heroes.

In the late nineteenth century, San Francisco is a booming city with a dark side, one in which a powerful underground organization—the criminal tong—buys and sells young Chinese women into prostitution and slavery. These “paper daughters,” so called because fake documents gain them entry to America but leave them without legal identity, generally have no recourse. But the Occidental Mission Home for Girls is one bright spot of hope and help.

Told in alternating chapters, this rich narrative follows the stories of young Donaldina Cameron who works in the mission home, and Mei Lien, a “paper daughter” who thinks she is coming to America for an arranged marriage but instead is sold into a life of shame and despair.

Donaldina, a real-life pioneering advocate for social justice, bravely stands up to corrupt officials and violent gangs, helping to win freedom for thousands of Chinese women. Mei Lien endures heartbreak and betrayal in her search for hope, belonging, and love. Their stories merge in this gripping account of the courage and determination that helped shape a new course of women’s history in America. [Goodreads Summary]

Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine by Olivia Campbell

For fans of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls comes the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, revolutionizing the way women receive health care.

In the early 1800s, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness—a diagnosis could greatly limit their ability to find husbands, jobs or be received in polite society.

Motivated by personal loss and frustration over inadequate medical care, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake fought for a woman’s place in the male-dominated medical field. For the first time ever, Women in White Coats tells the complete history of these three pioneering women who, despite countless obstacles, earned medical degrees and paved the way for other women to do the same. Though very different in personality and circumstance, together these women built women-run hospitals and teaching colleges—creating for the first time medical care for women by women.

With gripping storytelling based on extensive research and access to archival documents, Women in White Coats tells the courageous history these women made by becoming doctors, detailing the boundaries they broke of gender and science to reshape how we receive medical care today.  [Goodreads Summary]

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

In this addictive and spectacularly imagined debut, a female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.

Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating exploration of women rebelling against a man’s world, the destructive force of revenge and the remarkable ways that women can save each other despite the barrier of time.

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

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