New Books from February 21st – March 6th!

I missed a week last week – life got in the way – but I only had a couple of things to show you, so I’m just going to roll them together into today’s post!

ARCs and Review Copies

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Even and Odd by Sara Beth Durst

I enjoy Sarah Beth Durst’s writing in all age brackets, so I’m looking forward to this middle grade fantasy, which follows twin sisters on a magical quest. It promises wizards, unicorns, and a portal to another world, which is definitely a recipe for a book up my street!

The Way of the Argosi by Sebastien de Castell

This is the prequel to one of my favourite YA fantasy series (check out my Spellslinger review for more about that). We know Ferius Parfax as the card-fighting, gun-toting, hat-wearing mentor to Spellslinger‘s protagonist, but in this new book we get to glimpse her youth and her first steps onto the path of the Argosi. I’m so excited!

Kitten Corner: Books About Feelings!

This time on Kitten Corner I’m featuring a selection of books that look at a range of emotions, good and bad, through sweet animal stories. If you’d have asked me a couple of months ago, I would have said that was quite a narrow niche to find books in, but it just so happens we’ve read quite a few recently! As always with these posts, any books I received for review will be marked with a *, but the fact they were sent to me doesn’t affect my opinions.

Love by Emma Dodd*

Board book published on 14th January 2021by Nosy Crow

Oh, this is one that will make you cry if it hits you on the right day! This is a sweet, simple rhyming book that describes lots of different things that love is all about, accompanied by beautiful art of two rabbits, a baby and an adult. There are no genders assigned to either rabbit, and no explicit mention of who the adult rabbit is to the child (except in the blurb, where it says “mummy”, but I wouldn’t tend to read that with a child), so this would be a beautiful one to read together no matter what your relationship to your young reading partner is – mum, dad, grandparent, or any other caretaker, this book makes it clear that love is simple and pure and brilliant. It’s a beautiful book in both sentiment and illustration, and one I’ll be buying for many people, I think.

TBR Check In: March

Goodreads Challenge

I’m very behind on logging books into Goodreads, but my own TBR tells me I read 38 books in February, which is brilliant, especially for such a short month! February is historically a really good month for me reading-wise, I don’t know why… I’m at a total of 67 books read currently so ahead of where I need to be for reaching that goal of 300 for the year, but I’ve been pretty slumpy for the last week or so, so I’m not sure how much reading I’ll get done in March – we’ll see!

My Owned TBR

I promised an unhaul last month and I ended up doing a huge one! Over 60 books left my shelves, and though the majority were books I’d already read and decided not to keep, I did knock a few things off the TBR that I’d lost interest in. The total is down this month, from 517 to 509 (though it’s still higher than January 1st thanks to a lot of lovely review copies!) so I’m making some progress towards my quarterly goal. Tracking all the books that come in has been a great idea for keeping me on top of it, and I’m also keeping a tally of how much I spend on books, which is definitely making me think twice about buying more. Wish me luck getting this down again – I’d love to report back on April 1st and tell you I’ve hit that goal (just, uh, 39 books to get off the list…)

Physical Review Copies

Last month I had 57 physical review copies awaiting review, and this month it’s 62. I have reviews for 12 of them scheduled or part-written, so it’s just a case of getting those up and then getting stuck into the rest. I’m so annoyed that this category is only getting worse – I really need some time to write up these reviews, but I’m just so busy with baby things!

Book of the Month

February’s books of the month were:

• Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold
• Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore
• Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett

and I only managed to read Dead Man in a Ditch. It was brilliant, though, and I’m so glad I made time for it! I’m going to drop to two books for March to try to coax my mood-reading self into actually getting to them, so I’ll be aiming to read:

• Dragon Tamer by Ophelia Silk
• Beneath Cruel Fathoms by Anela Deen

Wrap Up

I’m adding a new section! I thought it would be nice to give you a little glimpse into what, as well as how much I’ve been reading, so:

Least favourites: The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson; The Jewel by Amy Ewing; Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

Favourites: Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold; A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker; Picklewitch and Jack and the Sea-Wizard’s Secret by Claire Barker; The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles; Botanical Curses and Poisons by Fez Inkwright

Shortest: Love by Emma Dodd

Longest: The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson and Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold tie at 464 pages!

How was your reading month? If you have a wrap-up post, I’d love to see it!

Blog Tour: A Song for a New Day

I haven’t been on a blog tour in so long, and I’m really happy to have jumped back in to celebrate the paperback release of this fantastic, thought-provoking book – if you like your dystopia near-future and frighteningly realistic, this is a must-read.

This Week’s New Books #7

I thought I was doing so well this week but then I put this post together and realised that I really wasn’t, haha! I write these posts on Friday mornings, even though they go up on Saturdays, and I had a totally unexpected huge delivery last Saturday morning that played havoc with my numbers (although I’m delighted to have had it)! Read on to see what’s been added to the TBR this week, from picture books to epic fantasy and more…

ARCs and review copies

I had the most amazing parcel from the fabulous Little Tiger Books this week, absolutely chock-full of lovely picture books and board books for me to review on Kitten Corner! Just take a look at all of these pretties!

Bear and Mouse: Birthday Party by Nicola Edwards and Maria Neradova

I Can Learn My First Shapes: Busy Day by Lauren Crisp and Thomas Elliott

Where’s My Dinosaur? by Kate McLelland

Little Hen Little Hen What Can You See? by Amelia Hepworth and Pintachan

These four board books all have different fun interactive elements, from flaps to sliders to feely bits to twirly bits – they’ll be great for little hands! Look out for reviews in an upcoming Kitten Corner post!

Kitten Corner: Non-fiction For Babies!

For this instalment of Kitten Corner I wanted to highlight some of the beautiful non-fiction books we’ve been enjoying recently. While I do love a good story, there are some wonderful books out there that look at interesting topics like wildlife and history, and they can be just as gorgeously designed and illustrated, and just as captivating, as fiction!

As always with these posts, books marked with a * were sent to me free of charge by the publisher.

The Castle The King Built by Rebecca Colby, illustrated by Tom Froese*

Published 14th January 2021 by Nosy Crow

Review: Clifftoppers – The Frost Castle Adventure

This fab series of middle grade mysteries continues with the exciting fourth book, The Frost Castle Adventure!

Review: A Chase in Time

I accidentally read book two of this fab time travel series first (see my review of A Christmas in Time here!), but that didn’t spoil anything – book one is just as good!

Review: Jasper and Scruff Take a Bow

The first Jasper and Scruff book was a delightful story of two oddly-matched friends, and I couldn’t wait to read another of their adventures!

Review: The Angel of the Crows

If you like your Sherlock Holmes retellings with a touch of the paranormal, The Angel of the Crows is a solid addition to the genre!