March Wrap-Up | Women’s History Month + hiatus announcement

Happy April! 

We made it through another month, folks. And since you probably all saw the blog title, I should probably just get this out of the way to begin with. This probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s noticed how little I’ve been posting lately, but yes, I’m going on a blogging hiatus. 

I could list out all my reasons, but I don’t want this entire wrap-up to be about it, so basically: it’s been getting harder and harder for me in the last few months to find the energy or brain capacity to sit down and write blog posts, reply to comments, blog hop, and do everything else that I want to be doing. I feel like I’m always scrambling to catch up and never doing anything as well as I’d like. Blogging has turned from something that I enjoy doing for fun into just another thing that I feel like I’m failing at, so until I can maybe chill a bit, I’m going to step away for a while.

I don’t know how long this hiatus is going to be, and it’s probably not even going to be a full hiatus because there are some posts and reviews that I want to get out in the next few months. But I won’t be around here as much as I once was. If you want to see what I’m reading or come talk to me, head over to Twitter or Instagram, where I’ll probably be more active. 

But anyways, on a happier note: books! I actually read a ton in March, thanks in part to the Women’s History Month Readathon that I once again led (more on that later!). I read a total of twelve books with an average rating of 3.2 stars. Most of the books I read this book were a middling rating, from 3-4 stars, but one book in particular brought the average down. 😬 Let’s just get into what I read!

Books I read

 

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur ⭐️/5

Meet my least favorite book of the year so far. In short: I hate that this book claims to be inspired by Pride & Prejudice yet does absolutely nothing with that…along with pretty much every other aspect as well. Mini review here. 

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall and A. D’Amico

A graphic novel about women fighting for their rights throughout history, including tons of mini biographies of influential women. This was fascinating, intersectional, and taught me a lot, though I do wish it had been a little more global in the later years, rather than focusing on the US. 

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This novella about a princess trying to protect her nation from colonizers, one of whom is her former lover, has some lovely writing and managed to pleasantly surprise me in the directions it went. As is often the case with novellas, though, I wasn’t able to get deeply enough into the world or the characters to feel very invested, and all the court politics were not the most interesting for me to read. 

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

A middle grade fantasy about a girl who discovers a supernatural world alongside our own while searching for her missing brother. This was quirky and sweet and had some wonderful worldbuilding, even if it didn’t totally capture me as much as I wanted. 

 

Bruised by Tanya Boteju ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

This book was heartwrenching and occasionally difficult to read, but ultimately I quite enjoyed it. Mini review here. 

In the Role of Brie Hutchens by Nicole Melleby ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

A middle grade contemporary about a soap opera-obsessed girl coming out to her Catholic family that was uncomfortable in all the right ways. 

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A Frankenstein retelling from the perspective of Victor’s wife, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Elizabeth was a fascinating character! 

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A beautifully written fae fantasy with a romance that caught me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it. Mini review here. 

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A post-apocalyptic fantasy with Navajo legends coming to life and a badass monster hunter as our narrator. Mini review here. 

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Another emotionally gutting contemporary novel from Emma Mills about friendship, fandom, and growing up. Mini review here. 

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rereading the Six of Crows duology was the best choice I made all month. It’d been over three years since I read them, so I’d forgotten just how brilliant they are, how cleverly Leigh Bardugo constructs Kaz’s schemes, and especially how much I loved the characters. I admit that I finished Crooked Kingdom with a stack of tissues beside me and an ache in my chest! If the Netflix show doesn’t do these characters justice, I will riot.

Women’s History Month Readathon

March was Women’s History Month, so for the third year in a row, I ran the Women’s History Month Readathon! Even though I didn’t have the energy to do as much with it as I would have liked, I still had a great time challenging myself with the prompts and seeing what everyone else was reading. A huge thank you to everyone who participated! 💜

This year, I actually managed to completely fill the bingo board! Here is the starting board:

…and my completed bingo board looked like this:

An Enchantment of Ravens: a book with a trope I love (immortal, nonhuman being falling in love with a human); an author who shares a name or initials with me

Bruised: a book about sisterhood and/or female friendship; a book with a woman of color on the cover

Fireheart Tiger: a non-Western fantasy; a book under 200 pages

This Adventure Ends: a book recommended to me; by an author whose work I’ve loved before; added to my TBR within the last three months

Trail of Lightning: a book by an indigenous author; a book set in the future

Six of Crows: an #ownvoices book for an identity I don’t share (disability)

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein: a book with a name in the title

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: a biography or memoir

In the Role of Brie Hutchens: a book with purple on the cover; a book with fewer than 1k ratings on Goodreads

I was also delighted to see my Women’s History Book Tag making the rounds again this month! Shoutout to Bookshelf Life, of waves and pages, astralbooks, The Awkward Book Blogger, Lindsay Glenne, theliteraryartisan, and anyone else I might have missed. 💜

March blog posts

💜 While we’re on the theme of Women’s History Month: Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant recommended YA books with feminist themes and Caro @ bookcheshirecat recommended more must-reads for Women’s History Month. Both of these posts have some fantastic books!

💜 Caro @ bookcheshirecat also listed 2021 releases by Black authors, which all look amazing in my opinion. 

💜 Jayati @ It’s Just a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile recommended some audiobooks, including some that I definitely want to try at some point. 

💜 Lais @ The Bookish Skies talked about five books set in New York City. This is one of my favorite settings to read about, so you know I loved this post!

💜 Kayla @ The Book Loving Beaut recommended books with amazing female protagonists in honor of International Women’s Day. 

💜 Lauren @ twenty-seven letters gushed about the Six of Crows duology, which may have been a major factor in getting me to reread them this month. 

💜 Reads Rainbow recommended books featuring LGBT found families, aka pretty much the only words you have to say to convince me to pick up a book. 

💜 Esmée @ Servillas Speaks talked about why you should read Talia Hibbert’s Brown Sisters books, all of which I wholeheartedly agree with!

💜 Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical discussed the things that make her dislike a character, and I love all of the salt.

💜 Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks reflected on her thoughts after a year on bookstagram. As someone who only recently started using bookstagram, I found all of this very relatable!

April TBR

• King of Scars (reread) and Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
• Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse 
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin (out: June 1)
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (out: July 20)
• The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean
• Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Anyways, this is going to be it from me for a while. Thank you for being understanding—and for supporting me through the last few months of very inconsistent blogging—and I’ll see you all when I get back. 💜

What books did you read in March? Any new favorites? What are you hoping to pick up in April?

x Margaret

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