Monthly Recap #03 March 2015

I feel like March has been such a crazy month, when in reality it's just been a whole bunch of the same old thing. Maybe it was the 2 weeks in a row where I had insane book hauls? Maybe it's the fact that the teenager has been sick for a week now and just as he's starting to very slowly get back to normal I'm the one who's now starting to feel super run down and have a scratchy throat. I breathed all over this post by the way and if I go down...I'M TAKING EVERYONE WITH ME!! Anyway. March has been both awesome and sucktastic.

So here's what happened on the blog:

March 2015

I reviewed:

Ask Me Nicely by Amy Andrews

The Hidden Library (The Collectors' Society #2) by Heather Lyons

How to Master a Millionaire (Rich List #1) by Talia Hunter

Yours Tonight (Reign #1) by Joya Ryan

Guarding His Heart (Half Moon Bay #3) by Annie Seaton

Dances With Wolf by Farrah Taylor

His Last Redemption by Clarissa Yip

The Thorn and the Sinking Stone (Thorn and Dagger #1) by CJ Dushinski

Tamed (Club Sin #5) by Stacey Kennedy

The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead

Protecting Fate (Serve #6) by Katee Robert

The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead

Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) by Richelle Mead

Breaking the Bachelor (Smart Cupid #1) by Maggie Kelley

Flirting with Fire (Hot in Chicago #1) by Kate Meader

The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines #6) by Richelle Mead

Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Favorite read of March:

Sentinel (Covenant #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I thought this would be an easy pick but I have read some pretty freaking great books this month. This could have easily been a 5 way tie but I feel like Sentinel has just a teeny tiny bit of an edge. It's pretty minuscule really but I'll go with that.

Least favorite read of March:

Breaking the Bachelor (Smart Cupid #1) by Maggie Kelley

Maggie Kelley actually seems like a very good author, one who I'll no doubt be picking up again, especially the 2nd book in this series I'm sure. My problem with this book was not feeling a spark between the couple. I kinda fell for the wrong guy so my bad. Good book though regardless.

Weekly Memes:

Weekly Haul #48 - 03/01/15

Weekly Haul #49 - 03/08/15

Weekly Haul #50 - 03/15/15

Weekly Haul #51 - 03/22/15

Weekly Haul #52 - 03/29/15

Top Ten Tuesday #52 - Books I Would Classify As ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS

Top Ten Tuesday #53 - Books For Readers Who Like ____ [Feels]

Top Ten Tuesday #54 - Books On My Spring To Be Read List

Top Ten Tuesday #55 - Books From My Childhood/Teen Years I'd Love To Revisit

Top Ten Tuesday #56 - Books Recently Added To My To Be Read List

That's What HE Said Thursday #25

Swoon Thursday #42

The Indigo Spell

Swoon Thursday #43

The Fiery Heart

That's What HE Said Thursday #26

Swoon Thursday #44

The Ruby Circle

Swoon Thursday #45

Deity

Challenge Progress:

My series read for March:

Covenant by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I don't think I have ever...ever been more happy with a series ender. Ever!

The Ultimate Reading Challenge 2015

Woohoo! I got 5 more books checked off of this list to bring my grand total 14 out of 50 accomplished! There are still a few of them that I have no idea what I'm gonna read to get them done but it's only March. I may end up getting closer to fully completing this challenge than I originally thought :D

So that's my boring little month. But now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go down an entire bottle of vitamin C, sterilize everything and continue to binge watch Switched at Birth in between bouts of sleep.

Top Ten Tuesday #56

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's topic is...

Top Ten Books Recently Added To My To Be Read List

(Click on the covers to go to their Goodreads pages)

Commanded (Club Sin #6) by Stacey Kennedy

This one is kind of sad because it will be the last full length Club Sin novel. Yay for finally having Sawyer's story but sad all the same. BUT! It also means we get to meet some new characters in the spin-off series Dungeon's Key!!

Angelfall (Penryn & The End of Days #1) by Susan Ee

Dystopia. Angels. Though um they don't seem like they're going to be the warm cuddly kind... but still I can't wait to read this series!

Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark

I saw this on somebody's blog in the last month or so and the blurb sounds kind of interesting. I don't have super high expectations but I guess we'll see.

Illusionarium by Heather Dixon

Um, Hi gorgeous cover! Plus YA Fantasy? Alternate worlds? I'm thinking that I really, really need this book in my life!

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Like the last book...hi gorgeous cover! I have a feeling this one is going to trample my feels a bit and I'm okay with that. I'm trying to work more fantasy into my life and even though I have a list a mile long of other fantasy books I should be getting read I'm thinking I need to make this one happen immediately. It's been pre-ordered and I'm beyond excited for it!

Ready Player One (Ready Player One #1) by Ernest Cline

I saw this one a a couple months back I believe on Wendy (Book Scents)'s blog and I was highly intrigued! This one sounds like it's going to be a very exciting read!

Turtle Bay by Tiffany King

Really there's not much to say for this one except that Tiffany King wrote it therefore it automatically goes on the TBR. 

Captive (Captive #1) by Brighton Walsh

That blurb alone had me on the edge of my seat. Can you even imagine? I need to get this book ASAP and meet Ghost and see what happens. I'm thinking I'm gonna love this series!

The Truth About Jack by Jody Gehrman

So, yes. The blurb on this one is a bit different but the hopeless romantic in me has me swooning already. 

The Contradiction of Solitude by A. Meredith Walters

I've heard this book is quite dark and twisted and psychological.  Bring it on! The ratings are all over this place from people raving to people hating. It's one of those that has me feeling like I want to give it the benefit of the doubt and give it a shot. I enjoy a good mindfuck every now and again.

That's just a few of the books that I've added to my to read shelf on Goodreads lately. What books have you added to your list? :)

REVIEW: Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Deity
Series: Covenant #3
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Published: November 6th 2012
Format: Paperback | Pages: 330
Genres: YA, Paranormal, Mythology, Urban Fantasy, Romance
Source: Amazon
★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!

Jennifer L. Armentrout | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "

Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden. 

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome. 

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed. 

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate... 

Can I be honest with you guys? I haven't really been feeling this series. Don't get me wrong! I have really, really liked it, but it was never that deep, crazy, intense love that I normally feel when reading something by JLA. Look at my start and stop track record. Since 2013 until now I have read both Half-Blood and Pure three times now and never even put a dent in Deity. I've hated the fact that even though I was enjoying these books I didn't feel like I did when reading Lux or The Dark Elements or Wait for You or anything else I'd read by her. And then the other day I picked up Deity and...everything changed. And I mean everything! I was worried about feelings? Now I have so many I don't even know how to deal with them. And all I can do is just sit here and stare at the book and wonder...what the heck did I just read?!

A lump of horror and frustration formed in my throat.

Oh man this book was such an intense and frustrating ride! I swear only JLA can write something that would have me frustrated to the point where I wanted to physically hurt someone or something one moment, in the next nonstop tears, and then moments after that laughing hysterically. I don't know how she does it! Even my feelings for certain characters have been flipped upside down. I went into this feeling very strongly one way and came out the other side completely reversed. The woman is a magician.

It was official. The gods were overgrown children.

I am a huge lover of Greek mythology. So I think one of my most favorite things about this book was getting to meet a few of the gods. I always figured it would happen eventually, but I thought that maybe it would be more towards the end of the series. Getting to see three? I was over the moon! One of them was part of some of the funniest scenes and I couldn't get enough. I wanted more of him! Then the other two, well it was pretty intense. And as crazy and chaotic as everything is at the end of this one, I'm really hoping that means that there are more of them to come.

"Don't look at me like I've kicked a baby pegasus into the street."

Though I wasn't really a huge Alex fan in the beginning of the series, that's also something that's now changed. She was always just so reckless and never really used her brain and it drove me crazy. I absolutely adore her now. She's fierce and the reason she's always so reckless is because she lets her heart lead her. She's so full of passion and a sense of duty. Alex has so many things weighing down on her and I love the fact that through it all she's still filled with so much hope, though a lot of it was misguided hope, but nonetheless I respected her for that. And the fact that she could find things to laugh about and still have her sarcastic side after everything she's been through, I don't know how she hasn't cracked yet. She kicks some ass in a major way.

"I wanted a piece of you with me always. No matter what."

I don't really want to get into anything else just in case there are those out there, like me, who haven't gotten very far into this series yet. All I can say is this book shocked me, broke me, filled me with rage and made me, finally, fall in love, a deep, deep love, with this series. The holy crap factor was bumped up quite a few notches. I was on the edge of my seat and lost sleep and that ending? I think if I'd have read this back when it was first released I would've died having to wait and find out what was going to become of it. What a difference one book can make am I right?

Weekly Haul #52

Stacking the shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's basically a way in which we get to show off the lovely new goodies we got over the past week/month however you decide to do it.

For Review:

Flirting with Fire (Hot in Chicago #1) by Kate Meader

Thank you to Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster) for this one! May have drooled on that cover a bit ;) I have already finished it and it was SO GOOD! 

Rescued by the Rancher by Victoria James

Just for Appearances by Jenna Rutland

Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London

Big thanks to Entangled Publishing for these titles!

Bought:

So a couple of Wednesdays ago...this happened

And this post is the result of that happening.

A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) by Claudia Gray

Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare

The Bad Place | Lightning | Watchers

by Dean Koontz

Ugly Love | Maybe Someday (Maybe #1) | Confess

by Colleen Hoover

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Caged in Winter (Caged in Winter #1) by Brighton Walsh

Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #4) by Maggie Stiefvater

Every Breath (Every #1) by Ellie Marney

Mayhem (Mayhem #1) by Jamie Shaw

Brushing off the Boss (Half Moon Bay #2) by Annie Seaton

Tempting Her Fake Fiance by Julie Particka

Fiancee For Hire (Front and Center #2) by Tawna Fenske

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress #1) by Jeaniene Frost

Unbeautiful (Unbeautiful #1) by Jessica Sorensen

Fisher's Light by Tara Sivec

Captive (Captive #1) by Brighton Walsh

Manwhore (Manwhore #1) by Katy Evans

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Hey what can I say? It was a huge GC. Half was for the teenager but he ended up trading me half of his half for use of my debit card so I had a lot to spend. Expect the next few posts, if there are any, to be only review books and/or pre-orders. I've run out of plastic book money to burn through at this point haha. So what have you added to your shelves this week?