Reading update

So we're a week into March, and I still haven't done my wrap up of my February reading. Listened to a bunch of books. I got through a total of 30 books in February: 3 ebooks, 1 physical book, and 26 audio books. My top three genres were Fantasy, Romance, and Historical. I think Fantasy and Romance will probably always be in my top three genres. It's just what I enjoy reading. I finished all the books I started, except for the ones I was reading at the end of the month. I also managed to finish another eight series, which makes me very happy. That makes for a total of 11 series finished so far this year, and we're only at the beginning of March. At this rate, I might not even have anything left to read by the end of the month. Okay, unlikely, but the thought makes me happy. Of the books I read, 25 were written by female authors, and only 5 by male. The main characters were again almost evenly split between male (22) and female (21), which makes me very happy, too. I also managed to read 12 books with LGBTQ+ content, and 11 with significant if not main characters of color.

I did end up making a separate place to track the audience intended for the books I'm reading, just to confirm what I already know, which is that I read mostly YA. The Audiences I am tracking are Kids (something I don't tend to read, but if it crops up, at least I have a group for it), Middle Grade (books that have a younger audience, generally don't have romance, certainly don't go further than a kiss), YA (teen audience, often has romance, but almost never goes beyond emotions and kissing), New Adult (late teens to twenties, frequently romance, often goes further into steamy territory), and Adult (anything meant for an adult audience). So...here's what I read, by audience: 1 Middle Grade, 17 Young Adult, 2 New Adult, and 10 Adult books.

The newest book I read in February was A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas, which came out on the 16th of February. Such a great follow up to my new favorite series, and I can't wait to see what the other two books will be like. The oldest book I read was Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop, which came out in 2005. It is the fifth book in the Black Jewels series, and strongly features my absolute favorite character in the series, so of course I love it. I don't know if anyone else has read both Maas and Bishop, but I am beginning to suspect, reading their books so close together like this, that Maas might be a Bishop fan. Nothing specifically I can point to, but they definitely have similar tendencies in their writing, and if you like one, you will probably enjoy the other, and should definitely check them out. A Court of Silver Flames was also my favorite book of the month. As I said, it was wonderful to read, and I can't wait to see where Maas takes this world from here. Runners up for best book of Feburary: Dreams Made Flesh, and also Kushiel's Justice and Kushiel's Mercy by Jaqueline Carey.

My current reading: 

• Teenage Wasteland (Runaways book 2) by Brian K Vaughan (No page numbers, so not sure where I am, but not far. I got a copy from Amazon, and it's tiny, and the spine has already cracked, which makes it hard to get myself to read.)
• Magic University Collection by Cecilia Tan (54% - I'm currently done with three of the four books, and am now on the collection of short stories before the final book.)
• War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard (91% - except I'm currently listening to this, so I may well be done by the time I finish this post.)

I also have four more audio books waiting for me to listen to:

• Blood of Tyrants (Temeraire book 8) by Naomi Novik
• Morning Star (Red Rising book 3) by Pierce Brown
• Unbirthday (Twisted Tales book 11) by Liz Braswell
• Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake book 3) by Laurel K Hamilton

As of today, I have already finished seven books this month, so we're off to a very strong start. I am really wanting more sci fi, so I need to figure out what series I have that I haven't finished under that genre. I'd ask for suggestions, but since I'm focusing entirely on sequels this year, I won't be able to read any new books yet. Hopefully I'll find some that I can continue on with, at least.

And my next five on hold at the library are:

• The Shadow Queen (Black Jewels book 7) by Anne Bishop
• Princess of Glass (Princesses of Westfalin book 2) by Jessica Day George
• Star-Touched Stories (Star Touched Stories book 2.5) Roshani Chokshi
• A Vow so Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers book 3) by Brigid Kemmerer
• The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials book 3) by Philip Pullman

That will be another three series once I finish those five. The one I'm looking forward to most is A Vow so Bold and Deadly. I only hope it's as good as the first two were. I miss the brothers.

And that's everything! So what has everyone else been reading? What has your favorite book been this year so far? Have you read any of these, either this year or before? Hope everyone's doing well out there on this anniversary of the virus month.