Weekly Mews: February & March Craziness, Good Books & My March TBR Poll (Please Vote!)

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. 

I knew going into February and March that they would be busy months all around--on the personal and work fronts. Sure enough, that is proving to be true. I am taking a moment to check in with you, take a few deep breaths, let them out slowly, and hope I am able to put together enough of a post for you this weekend and hit publish. 

Girl Scout cookie season is winding down with about two weeks still to go. Mouse will be manning another one of her troop's booths this weekend at a local store. She's also been busy with dance, rehearsals and school. A coworker of mine passed away recently, which was quite a shock to us all. She had been with the agency for longer than I have and was well liked and respected by many. Another coworker became a grandmother for the first time after her daughter's difficult pregnancy--we all are celebrating with her. We are extremely short staffed and busy at work, not to mention undergoing changes, which, however small they may actually be, only add to everyone's stress levels. I have been putting in my share of overtime when I am able to help ease some of the burden. Mixed in there, we have also had a couple of get togethers with friends, and the weather was perfect for a visit to the park last weekend.  Today it is overcast and chilly. 

I imagine the first two or three weeks of March will be much like these last two weeks. I will probably not be around the blogosphere much. I hope you have a wonderful week and month of March!

Last Read

I most recently read the 8th book in the Hollows series by Kim Harrsion called Black Magic Sanction. I continue to love the series more and more with every book I read: seeing how the characters and their relationships evolve and what trouble Rachel will find herself in next. 

Reading Now

I was not quite ready to leave Rachel Morgan's side (there were a few loose threads I did not want to put off following) and so am now reading Pale Demon (Hollows #9) by Kim Harrison. This installment of the series takes the characters on a road trip from Ohio to the West Coast. 

I am continuing my way through The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and enjoying it.  I can see why it's such a popular classic!

Up Next

Please help me choose which of these three books I will read next! I am eager to read all three. You are welcome to still vote even if you have not read them--perhaps a cover or title catches your eye over the others or the synopsis intrigues you. Or maybe it's on your TBR pile too! 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s.

"That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other." And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father--despite his hard-won citizenship--Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day. [Goodreads Summary]

Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse

The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain. [Goodreads Summary]

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister’s death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.

Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.

Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.

Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime fiction plot with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history. [Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting! What will you be reading 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 let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

New to the Shelves

My latest additions:

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Moon Witch, Spider King (The Dark Star Trilogy #2) by Marlon James

Mouse's latest additions:

Best Friends for Never (Katie the Catsitter #2) by Colleen A.F. Venable and illustrated by Stephanie Yue

Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner

Have you read any of these books? What new books did you add to your TBR pile recently?

February Monthly Wrap Up

Here is what I finished reading in February:

• Hooky by Míriam Bonastre Tur
• Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead (#2) by Elle Cosimano
• Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose (#2) by T.A. Willberg
• The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
• Dial A for Aunties (#1) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (February's TBR Poll Winner)
• The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow (#2) by Emma Steinkellner
• Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 5 by Kamome Shirahama, translated by Stephen Kohler
• The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

February turned out to be a great reading month with some laugh out loud moments along with a few nail biting ones. There were no disappointments and I am hard pressed to pick a favorite. Blogging wise, I started out strong, but a busy schedule in my offline life kept me away these past couple weeks. 

This Past February In Reading Mews:

• Weekly Mews: Happy New Year! (First Book of the Year / December Wrap Up)
• Where Is Your Bookmark: Bookish Mewsings on Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano (& Connect 5: Groundhog Day)
• Weekly Mews: Welcome February (January Wrap Up and February's TBR List Poll)
• Bookish Mewsings: Circe by Madeline Miller
• Where Is Your Bookmark: Maps and Favorite Books Read From Ten Years Ago
• Weekly Mews: It's a Pizza Night
• Where Is Your Bookmark: A Wedding and a Dead Body & Connect Five: Top of My Graphic Novel/Manga TBR Pile
• Weekly Mews: New Books, Chocolate & More Chocolate

How did your February shape up? Do you have a favorite among the books you read?

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