Tag: Monthly Wrap-Up (Page 7 of 9)

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the three of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR and updates on my Reading Challenges.

*We linked this post to May Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction*

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from May were –

✮ Our lives are filled with baseball, baseball and some more baseball.  Between my two littles being in different divisions, we usually have it 5 days a week.  Our last game is this Saturday and it’s definitely a bittersweet feeling.  I love watching their games and practices but I’m excited we’ll have more time to get together with friends!
✮ I got to attend #RT18 on Saturday and wrote a huge post about it here.  Spoiler alert – it was amazing!!

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What Arielle, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir
✮ ISAN (International Sensory Assassin Network #1) by Mary Ting
✮ The Importance of Being Scandalous (A Tale of Two Sisters #1) by Kimberly Bell
✮ Everless (Everless #1)  by Sara Holland
✮ From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

4.5 Stars:
✮ Caught Up in a Cowboy (Cowboys of Creedence #1) by Jennie Marts

4 Stars:
✮ A Bridge Through Time (Thistle & Hive #1) by Jennae Vale
✮ No Cowboy Required by JoAnn Sky
✮ Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
✮ Moonlight And Midtown (Fairy Tales of the Magicorum #1.5) by Christina Bauer
✮ Damaged Like Us (Like Us #1) by Krista and Becca Ritchie

3 Stars:
✮ Finding Felicity by Stacey Kade

2 Stars:
✮ Hot Asset (21 Wall Street #1) by Lauren Layne

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

Damaged Like Us (Like Us #1) by Krista and Becca Ritchie (Arielle’s Choice)
I was so happy to be back with these characters and will 100% be reading the rest of the series (and will just be sitting here pining away until Jane and Sully get their own books). ♥

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From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata (Chelsea’s Choice)
These characters aren’t just characters, they’re YOU. They’re your BEST FRIENDS and soul mates and whatever you want them to be. You care THAT much about them. Or, at least, I did.

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ISAN (International Sensory Assassin Network #1) by Mary Ting (Jen’s Choice)
If you’re a fan of dystopian, kick ass girls and a sprinkling of romance then you have to check out this book!  Or even if you liked the Bourne movies (one of my favorite movies!), then you’ll probably enjoy this story as much as I did.  

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Other Posts:

✮ Our Most Anticipated Releases For May
✮ RE-READ BLOG TOUR: A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir
✮ #RT18 – My Saturday at RT Booklovers Convention

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Instagram:

We thought it would be fun to share Chelsea & Jen’s most popular posts for May. And they are….

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Books Added To Jen’s TBR This Month:

I didn’t include the books I got from RT since I included those in my #RT Post. 🙂

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Reading Challenges:

This is the first year I’ve EVER joined a Reading Challenge. I went through Nicole’s huge list of reading challenges – check it out here – and found three that sounded absolutely perfect for me. Here’s where I am so far….

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Status: 12
Goal: 16-20

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Beat The Backlist
Team Book Bard!
Status: 10
Goal: 15-20

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Library Love Challenge
Status: 0
Goal: 12 books

I tried to read a few books through Overdrive, for authors attending RT, but they just didn’t work for me.  I’m definitely not doing good at this challenge lol!

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So that was our May. Did you read any of the same books that we did? Or share the same favorite book as us? If not, then what was your favorite book? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful May too.  And cheers to June being fabulous for all of us!

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the three of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR and updates on my Reading Challenges.

♥ Enjoy!

I’m not sure if you’ve heard but Arielle had her baby girl on April 10th.  She is the most beautiful, little girl ever!  Chelsea and I are so happy for Arielle and her husband! ♥♥♥

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from April were –

✮ We finally took our littles to their first real baseball game.  It seemed fitting since they play it at least five days a week, ha!  They had so much fun cheering on the Reno Aces.  We lucked out too, it was a gorgeous day in the mid 70’s and the boys got to watch the Aces win the game.  It was the perfect day!
✮ I celebrated my birthday on April 10th….also the same day Arielle had her little girl.  My day was filled with take-out Mexican food and cheesecake – my favorite food ever!  My five year old was sick, so we ended up just celebrating it with the four of us at home.  But that following weekend we got to have again Mexican food and cheesecake with all my family that lives here.  Best week ever!
✮ Last month I learned how to give my bestie shots so she doesn’t go into early labor.  She’s only 18 weeks pregnant but I’ll give her a shot every week until she hits 37 weeks in September.  I was super nervous because the needle is a little more than 1 1/2″ long and the nurse had told me to “just pretend you’re throwing a dart into her“.  WHAT?!  But it was a lot better than I ever could have imaged…..besides the prep work which takes a long time since the medicine is so thick.  But regardless, I can do it so that’s what matters, yay!

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What Arielle, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Glitter and Sparkle (Glitter and Sparkle #1) by Shari L. Tapscott
✮ To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
✮ Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

4.5 Stars:
✮ The Shadow Weave (Spell Weaver #2) by Annette Marie
✮ Shine and Shimmer (Glitter and Sparkle #2) by Shari L. Tapscott
✮ Spies, Lies, and Allies by Lisa Brown Roberts

4 Stars:
✮ Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body (Page Turners #1) by Jennie Marts
✮ The Demon King (Seven Realms #1) by Cinda Williams Chima

3.5 Stars:
✮ Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren (Arielle’s Choice)
Seriously, please read this book. It’s such a sweet story of two young people that are soul mates who have connected over books and words and who find their way back to each other even after tragedy rips them apart. I really think it would be impossible to be disappointed.

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To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (Chelsea’s Choice)
Guys. I adored this book. And the writing-it was seriously out of this world. Savage. Unrelenting-the most vicious kind of poetry. If I could write, and, believe me, the last few books I’ve read have made me pine for it so, this is exactly how I’d want to write.

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Glitter and Sparkle (Glitter and Sparkle #1) by Shari L. Tapscott (Jen’s Choice)
Glitter and Sparkle was the cutest book ever!  If you’re a fan of Cookie O’Gorman, or even the feelings you got while watching the movie Clueless, then you definitely have to give this one a try!

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Other Posts:

✮ Our Most Anticipated Releases For April
✮ TRAILER – Moonlight Seduction (de Vincent #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books We Loved but Will Never Re-Read
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books That Take Place In Another Country

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Instagram:

We thought it would be fun to share Chelsea & Jen’s most popular posts for April. And they are….

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Books Added To Jen’s TBR This Month:

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Reading Challenges:

This is the first year I’ve EVER joined a Reading Challenge. I went through Nicole’s huge list of reading challenges – check it out here – and found three that sounded absolutely perfect for me. Here’s where I am so far….

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Status: 9
Goal: 16-20

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Beat The Backlist
Team Book Bard!
Status: 8
Goal: 15-20

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Library Love Challenge
Status: 0
Goal: 12 books

I actually read two books this month from the library, but their reviews are scheduled for next month.  So next month. 🙂

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So that was ourApril. Did you read any of the same books that we did? Or share the same favorite book as us? If not, then what was your favorite book? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful April too. And cheers to May fabulous for all of us!

**We linked this post to March Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction**

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the three of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR and updates on my Reading Challenges.

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from February were –

✮ We got slammed by two different snowstorms….one was 5 feet and the other was 6 feet, which meant that the boys didn’t have school, yay!  Our roads are always fine with 4×4 or AWD, so we went and picked up my mom.  Then we spent the day playing in the snow, sledding and going to our favorite ice cream sandwich shop.  You can see a picture of the boys and I in our winter wonderland HERE.
✮My youngest turned 5 *sobs hysterically*.  We played baseball, hide and seek and jumped on the trampoline and then repeated everything all over again.  It was such a fun day, but definitely bittersweet that he is already this old.
✮Me and a group of 16 friends went and watched #IMomSoHard.  It was amazing being surrounded with a few thousand moms in the audience and we laughed so hard we had tears pouring down our face.  If you are a fellow mommy and haven’t seen their videos on their facebook page, I can’t recommend it enough.  They are beyond hilarious and we can’t wait for them to go on tour again to go to another show!

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What Arielle, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Getting Lucky Number Seven (Taking Shots #1) by Cindi Madsen
✮ The Return (Titan #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ The Power (Titan #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ Legendary (Caraval #2) by Stephanie Garber
✮ The Girl With the Red Balloon (The Balloonmakers #1) by Katherine Locke
✮ The Struggle (Titan #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ The Prophecy (Titan #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata
✮ Tangled (Tangled #1) by Emma Chase

4.5 Stars:
✮ The Raging Ones (The Raging Ones #1) by Krista and Becca Ritchie

4 Stars:
✮ Crossing Hearts (Cross Creek #1) by Kimberly Kincaid

3 Stars:
✮ An Ex for Christmas by Lauren Layne

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

Legendary (Caraval #2) by Stephanie Garber (Arielle’s Choice)
THIS WAS SO GOOD. I spent a good four hours this morning finishing this book, completely ignoring everything else around me an I can’t say that I regret it. I mean seriously, the only part of this book that I didn’t like was when it ended…

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The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata (Chelsea’s Choice)
This book owned my heart. This book touched my soul. This book possessed me so wholly that I walked around everywhere with a smile on my face and a skip in my step-literally-just because I was so excited I got to read more of it.

Other Posts:

✮ I helped do a guest post on a Goodreads Tutorial.  You can read the post on Avalinah’s blog here.
✮ Our Most Anticipated Releases For March
✮ COVER REVEAL – Spies, Lies, and Allies by Lisa Brown Roberts
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books That Surprised Us, In A Good Way
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books On Our Spring TBR

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Instagram:

We thought it would be fun to share Chelsea & Jen’s most popular posts for March.  And they are….

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Books Added To Jen’s TBR This Month:

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Reading Challenges:

This is the first year I’ve EVER joined a Reading Challenge. I went through Nicole’s huge list of reading challenges – check it out here – and found three that sounded absolutely perfect for me. Here’s where I am so far….

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Status: 5
Goal: 16-20

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Beat The Backlist
Status: 4
Goal: 15-20

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Library Love Challenge
Status: 0
Goal: 12 books

I’ll get to this eventually. There’s a few authors attending RT who have books at my library. 🙂

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So that was our March. Did you read any of the same books that we did? Or share the same favorite book as us? If not, then what was your favorite book? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful March too. And cheers to April fabulous for all of us!

**We linked this post to March Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction**

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the three of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR and updates on my Reading Challenges.

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from February were –

✮ We’ve had so much puppy time this last month!  My Aunt & Uncle, who live near us, got a puppy.  Her name is Zoey and she is the most adorable little girl in the world.  You can see a picture of her here.
✮On Valentines my oldest surprised his BFF with flowers.  Oh my gosh, her expression was so adorable and I love that they have such a strong, beautiful friendship!
✮My youngest had a huge break through at the pool.  He takes weekly lessons and he can now swim free style across the smaller pool.  And then he went and jumped off of the diving board, without a life jacket, and swam to the steps in 10 feet of water.  I am SO proud of him and how hard he’s worked toward that.  

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What Arielle, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ From Lukov with Love
✮ Immortal Reign (Falling Kingdoms #6) by Morgan Rhodes
✮ Tempests and Slaughter (Numair Chronicles #1) by Tamora Pierce
✮ Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

4.5 Stars:
✮ Return Once More (The Historians #1) by Trisha Leigh
✮ Assassin of Truths (Library Jumpers #3) by Brenda Drake
✮ About That Kiss (Heartbreaker Bay #5) by Jill Shalvis
✮ More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

3.5 Stars:
✮ We Own Tonight by Corinne Michaels

3 Stars:
✮ This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

From Lukov with Love (Arielle’s Choice)
The verbal sparring that went on between him and Jasmine was HILARIOUS. Oh man I was dying so many times laughing because of the horrible crap they said to each other..and his nickname for her. Lol, sigh.

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Immortal Reign (Falling Kingdoms #6) by Morgan Rhodes (Chelsea’s Choice)
More than once I couldn’t breathe. More than once I had to put the book down, take a breath, release it, and just try to breathe because my heart was furiously pounding out of my chest, my stomach was in knots…

Other Posts:

✮ Our Most Anticipated Releases For February
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books That Have Been On Our TBR the Longest and We Still Haven’t Read
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Favorite Hate to Love Romances
✮ COVER REVEAL & GIVEAWAY – Kiss Collector by Wendy Higgins
✮ EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT & PRE-ORDER LAUNCH – Moonlight Seduction by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books We Could Re-read Forever

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Books Added To Jen’s TBR:

Except for the first two books, these are books I added to my TBR because the authors will be attending RT this May.  I’m hoping to get through as many of them as possible, and I can’t wait to meet these authors in just a few months!  Now I just need more time to read between now and then……

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Reading Challenges:

This is the first year I’ve EVER joined a Reading Challenge. I went through Nicole’s huge list of reading challenges – check it out here – and found three that sounded absolutely perfect for me. Here’s where I am so far….

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Status: 4
Goal: 16-20

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Beat The Backlist
Status: 2
Goal: 15-20

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Library Love Challenge
Status: 0
Goal: 12 books

I’ll get to this eventually.  There’s a few authors attending RT who have books at my library. 🙂

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So that was our February.  Did you read any of the same books that we did? Or share the same favorite book as us? If not, then what was your favorite book? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful February too. And cheers to March fabulous for all of us!

**We linked this post to February Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction**

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the three of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR and updates on my Reading Challenges.

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from January were –

✮ This month my oldest turned 7 *sobs*.  I don’t know how time goes by so fast *sobs some more*.  Since it was during Christmas Break, we spent the day doing everything he wanted to do.  We played soccer, baseball, went bowling and had family back at our house for pizza.  For dessert we had chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cups inside and a chocolate buttercream frosting on top.  YUM (recipes linked)!
✮We went to the Children’s Museum in Reno and got to see Sue the T-Rex who is the  largest, most extensive and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex.  My youngest was a little scared but eventually warmed up and my oldest kept saying her teeth had to be the size of bananas lol!  If you’re ever in the area with little ones, I highly recomend that museum.  It was so much fun and we spent part of our day there.
✮And I’m so excited I get to be an Auntie again.  My bestie came over to our house a week ago, took a pregnancy test, and then we bawled our eyes out because it was positive!  This will be and her hubby’s second kiddo and I can’t wait to be in the delivery room again and meet him/her this fall!

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What Arielle, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3) by Morgan Rhodes
✮ Furyborn by Claire Legrand
✮ Runaway Groom by Lauren Layne

4.5 Stars:
✮ To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
✮ Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

2.5 Stars:
✮ The Vanishing Spark of Dusk by Sara Baysinger

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

Runaway Groom by Lauren Layne (Jen’s Choice)
Runaway Groom was hilarious, sigh worthy, crazy at times and so much fun!  If you’re a fan of the Bachelor, Bachlorette or Lauren Layne, then I have a feeling you’re going to absolutely love this book!

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Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3) by Morgan Rhodes (Chelsea’s Choice)
This series, while easily dismissed by those who aren’t truly enraptured by one of the characters, has a way of really getting under your skin. It’s not so much the scenarios, though those are of some note as well, but about the characters and the deep-rooted connections you make with them.

Other Posts:

✮ Our Most Anticipated Releases For January
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – New-To-Us Favorite Authors We Read For The First Time In 2017
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Books We Meant To Read In 2017 But Didn’t Get To (and totallyyyy plan to get to in 2018!!)
✮ ANNOUNCEMENT-Welcome to Instagram!
✮ TOP TEN TUESDAY – Our Bookish Resolutions/Goals
✮ A Special Welcome To Our Newest Star-Crossed Lady!
✮ 2017 Favorite Singles
✮ 2017 Favorites From A Series

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Giveaways:

✮ Win a digital copy of READY TO RUN (I Do, I Don’t #1) by Lauren Layne
✮ Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card for the release of Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

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Books Added To Jen’s TBR:

Um.  Yeah.  I may have a HUGE addiction for adding books to my tbr.  But between my co-bloggers, bloggers I follow and my book reading buddies here and in Cali my tbr is officially doomed lol!

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Reading Challenges:

This is the first year I’ve EVER joined a Reading Challenge. I went through Nicole’s huge list of reading challenges – check it out here – and found three that sounded absolutely perfect for me.  Here’s where I am so far….

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Status: 2
Goal: 16-20

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Beat The Backlist
Status: 0
Goal: 15-20

I’m currently re-reading two books, that are backlist books, so I’ll get to start the 1st of February off with 2 books on my status.

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Library Love Challenge
Status: 0
Goal: 12 books

This month I have been working my way through ARCs, but next month I’m going to start diving into authors who are attending RT this May and a few of them have books at my library.

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So that was our January.  Did you read any of the same books that we did?  Or share the same favorite book as us?  If not, then what was your favorite book?  Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful January too. And cheers to February fabulous for all of us!

**We linked this post to January Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction**