Heartbeat Monthly (26): March 2020

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on April 12, 2020 | 0 Comments

March haul

Bought

Mister Kindly embroidery hoop from Fiction Stitches
Throne of Glass playing cards (Owlcrate B/S/T group)
Subterranean Press Iron Gold – signed, numbered, limited edition

Freebies

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (Flatiron Books)
Hawk by James Patterson (Jimmy Patterson Books)
Hood by Jenny Elder Moke (Disney Hyperion)
Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu (Simon)
10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon (#shelfqueens, Riveted Lit)
Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti (#shelfqueens)
Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon (#shelfqueens)
I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick (#shelfqueens)
We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian (#shelfqueens)
A Girl in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel (Knopf/Penguin RH)

Thank you so much to Flatiron, Jimmy Patterson, Disney, Riveted, and Penguin for these lovelies!

March Wrap Up

Books I read

Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa – ★★★★★
The Wicked + Divine, Vol. 1 – ★★
The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – ★★★
The Cerulean by Amy Ewing (AUDIO) – DNF
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (AUDIO, re-read) – ★★★★
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig (AUDIO) – DNF
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor (re-read) – ★★★★★+
One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus (AUDIO) – ★★★½
Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor (re-read) – ★★★★★
Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor – ★★★★★
Renegadesby Marissa Meyer – ★★★★
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord – ★★★½
DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff (AUDIO, re-read) – ★★★★★
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – DNF
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stewart Turnton – DNF
Bone Crier’s Moon (Bone Grace #1) by Kathryn Purdie – DNF
Crier’s War by Nina Varela – DNF
The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller – DNF

Pages read: 6,134
Average rating: 4/5
Favorite book read in March: Night of the Dragon
Least favorite book read in March: All of the DNFs lol

I hit a HORRIBLE reading slump this month! I recently talked a little about the zillion books I started and didn’t finish this month. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much trouble finding a book I could stick with. I went through about a dozen other books to read the first page – trying to see if anything would grab me – and still no luck!

Books I reviewed

#24in48 & Spring into Readingathon wrap up

Here’s my sign up post for both!

I did really good with the #24in48 readathon! I managed to read for almost the entire 24 hours! I may have been an hour or two short, but I came pretty close. I’m proud of myself!

I didn’t do as good with the Spring into Readingathon. There were 7 prompts, and even though you could use the same books for multiple prompts, I was hoping to read a different book for each one. I ended up only reading 3 books – all of which I finished during #24in48 – because after those I hit a terrible reading slump! I did manage to cover 5/7 prompts, but still not as much as I was hoping to get done.

What I’ve been up to this month

March was a really rough month. It started out fairly stressful, even before the coronavirus outbreak – my parents are having some major health issues, and I couldn’t afford to take off work to go take care of things for them. They are stuck in Florida and I’m stuck in Ohio.

The outbreak forced my hand – taking off work no longer mattered, because I was no longer able to work. Dog grooming was considered inessential, and we had to close down. So, I made the decision to go on down to Florida. I had to weigh the risks and decided it was better to risk it, than to not go and have something happen (and regret it for the rest of my life). My parents desperately needed help. I got a lot of things sorted out while I was down there, and it was great to see them! I’ve been very scared for them during this time, and it kills me that we don’t live closer. I can’t do anything to help take care of them from 800 miles away.

I was able to hitch a ride down with my sister (who also needed to be down there to take care of things anyway), and my aunt & uncle graciously paid to fly me back to Ohio because my sister is staying down there for a while and I couldn’t stay for long. The airport was eerie! There were hardly any people – I had a short layover in Charlotte, NC, and it was crazy to see that huge airport so empty! They also spaced us out on the plane itself, there were maybe only 15-20 people TOTAL on the whole plane. Insane! These are definitely unprecedented times. I had to do some grocery shopping in Florida for my parents (they do NOT need to be going out, but still have been!! *exasperated sigh*) and the stores were limiting people; some of the smaller stores are only allowing 1 customer in at a time. It’s been weird for sure.

Not working has been extremely difficult. I’ve tried to read as much as possible as a means of escaping my own mind, but for the most part I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything. I’m stressed, and my anxiety is at an all time high, so my focus is suffering majorly. I’ve tried applying for unemployment, but haven’t heard anything back yet. I don’t even know if I’m eligible – the last I heard, they were still working on getting help for those with a 1099 (me). So we’ll see. I may have to just try to find something else for a little while, just to pay the bills. I’m extremely envious of all the people who are able to work from home, or just have a job still in general! I would much rather be working – and getting an income to pay my bills – than being stuck at home.