Heartbeat Monthly [41]: January & February 2024

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on March 10, 2024 | 0 Comments


January haul

Bought

  • Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross (B&N)
  • Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao (B&N)
  • Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amélie Wen Zhao (B&N)
  • Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Waterstones)
  From subs
  • The Longest Autumn by Amy Avery (Owlcrate, January)

February haul

Bought

  • Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek (Waterstones)
  • The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (B&N)
  • Mood Reader shelf sitter from The Bookish Bird Co
  From subs
  • Voyage of the Damned by Frances White (Illumicrate, January)
  • Heartless Hunter (Owlcrate, February)

 

January Wrap Up

Books I read

  • Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli – ★★★★½
  • Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – ★★★
  • The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo – ★★★★
  • Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter – ★★½
  • The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland – ★★★★★
  • A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne – ★★★★

Pages read: 1,792
Average rating: 3.83
Favorite book read in January: The Invocations
Least favorite book read in January: Pretty Girls

Books I reviewed

Other posts

February Wrap Up

Books I read

  • Sky’s End by Marc J. Gregson – ★★★
  • A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat – ★★★★
  • Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros [Graphic Audio] – ★★★★★

Pages read: 1,378
Average rating: 4.0
Favorite book read in February: Fourth Wing
Least favorite book read in February: Sky’s End

Books I reviewed

Other posts

 

What I’ve been up to

Honestly, this year so far has been such a blur. What has even happened?! I really can’t remember much of note.

It’s been malfunction junction this past month with technology, so that’s fucking annoying. My clippers died so I had to replace those, and a couple days later my backup pair died too. I ended up having to drive to a Petco 30 minutes away that had them in stock just so I could groom the following day. Then, after I got my clippers sorted out, my freakin’ ClipperVac died on me because the motor blew. So that was fun. In the same week my clippers died, my Sudio earbuds AND my Fitbit died, so I ended up splurging on AirPods and an Apple Watch. My wallet was HURTING after February, lol.

I’ve been feeling a bit slumpy with everything. I haven’t read much in 2024 – only 10 books so far as I write this, and two whole months into the year, that’s pretty bad for me. I’ve been spending WAY too much time on TikTok and other social media, to be honest. That has become my hobby as of late instead of the crafting I want to do. I haven’t been blogging, either…I posted quite a bit in January, but almost nothing in February *face palm* I have played zombies on Black Ops 2 pretty frequently, though!

The only other thing of note is that I started bowling weekly. I used to when I was younger, but I’ve only been a handful of times in YEARS. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it! I’ve got a friend couple that I’ve been hanging out with a lot, and we decided we’re going to join a league that starts in May!!

I also joined a new book club! It’s local to my area, and was started by someone I knew in high school. Our first meeting was in Feburary. We’re pretty small for now – our first meeting was 9 people – and read all genres (thankfully); and even though many of the group like books with spice, we chose a spicy and non-spicy option for the first monthly book.

Current obsessions

Movies: I only saw two new movies. The first was Argylle, which I saw in theaters with two of my best friends, and it was hilarious! A lot of people were talking about how terrible it was, so we were apprehensive to see it, but we all ended up loving it. It is objectively bad, but it’s supposed to be. It was entertaining as hell, though!
The second was The Marvels, which I finally saw because it came out on Disney+. It was pretty good, but I freaking LOVED(!!!!!) the baby Flerken scene omfg!!!! I was literally screaming XD

TV: HAZBIN HOTEL!! Oh my GAWD, I did not expect to love it so much! Actually, love is a bit of an understatement. I’m actually rather obsessed. I have seen the full season at least 7-8 times all the way through, and have watched my fave episodes more than that. I also listen to the soundtrack on almost a daily basis. If you haven’t seen it yet, DO IIIIIT.
I tried to watch Helluva Boss, because it’s the same creators, but it just wasn’t ANYWHERE near as good. I didn’t enjoy it very much, sadly. The first season was maybe 3/5 and the second season was 2/5.

Music: The Hazbin Hotel soundtrack! Ranked in order for me: Poison, Out for Love, Respectless, Hell’s Greatest Dad (until the Mimzy part, I fucking HATE Mimzy), Hell is Forever (I skip Charlie’s part in the first 25 seconds or so), More Than Anything, Whatever it Takes, You Didn’t Know, Stayed Gone, [after this it’s the songs I don’t listen to very often because they’re meh] Finale, More Than Anything (Reprise), Ready for This, It Starts With Sorry, Happy Day in Hell. I outright hate Welcome to Heaven and skip it every time I listen.

Food: I went to La Fiesta for the first time in YEARS, and it was delicious! It’s literally right next door to my work so I really want to go more often!

Games: My friends and I got a new game called Power Hungry Pets, and it’s sooo addicting!

Crafts: Sadly I haven’t done much crafting lately. I’ve had a crochet starter kit sitting in my living room for well over a month, oops.

February Kindle deco:

Things I’m looking forward to

I GET TO SEE JAY KRISTOFF AGAIN!!! AHHHHH!!! I’m going to Chicago the second week of March to see him! It will be the first time he sees my whole sleeve of tattoos dedicated to his work in person, eep! He’s only seen (and shared) pics on Insta. I haven’t seen him in 5 years so I’m pretty stoked! This will be my fifth time seeing him :D

My BFF and ride or die is moving back in March too, I am SO. FUCKING. RELIEVED. I have missed her so much and am grateful that she’ll be back in Ohio! She’s still going to be a good hour away, but that’s better than freakin’ Colorado. Yippeee!!!!!!

 

See anything you like? What did YOU get last month? Link me up!

Jessi (Geo)

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