Spell the Month in Books: March 2026

Intro

This is a fun challenge that I am going to try for 2026. This is inspired by Mehsi-Hime! You can check out their picks here!

This month I decided to do this based on the first manga series I could come up with. I want to read month, I'm back to using my recent (or recentish) reads to spell the month. Shall we begin?

The Books

M - Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

A- Attention Seeker by Darcy Michael

R - (The) Rival Upgrade by Lauren Blakely

C - Caught Up by Navessa Allen

H - Hurt Me Not by Davidson King

Outro

All but "R" I was able to pull from within the last two months! Go me! R is a smidge of a stretch I know, but my goal is to minimally repeat so here we are. See you next month for another fun twist on this challenge (I think I might pull from my shelves!)

February 2026 Reads

 

 February 2026 Reads 

This month I read 16 books 

I DNFed 1 book

These books were 63% fiction

They were 19% physical, 13% digital, and 69% audio

The most popular genres were LGBTQ+, romance, and contemporary

My average rating was 4.18 stars

My longest reading day was the 23rd

The Books

➽ The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

➽ Growing Up Urkel by Jaleel White

➽ Stolen Moments by A.B. Jackson

➽ Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

➽ All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

➽ Cubby Season by Bindi Kennedy

➽ Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

➽ This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us by (too many authors to list here)

➽ The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

➽ Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood

➽ Hurt Me Not by Davidson King

➽ Attention Seeker by Darcy Michael

➽ It Seemed Like a Good Idea by Lauren Blakely

➽ Delusions by Cazzie David

➽ Let Me Count the Ways by Laurel Osterkamp

➽ Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

FFAF: Did I Read My 10 Before the End

Intro

Now that 2026 is here, my time has expired to finish my "10 before the end" books of last year. I will tell you now, not all of these were finished and we will get into that. That said, progress did happen, so we are gonna celebrate the wins regardless of completion.

✅ means completed

💔 means untouched

🔆 means progress was made on it

The Books

1. Merry Little Kissmas by Lauren Blakely ✅
2. The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 🔆
3. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton 🔆
4. The Autist's Guide to the Galaxy by Clara Törnvall 🔆
5. Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth 💔
6. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff 🔆
7. My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich ✅
8. Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel ✅
9. Dolls of Our Lives by Mary Mahoney and Allison Horrocks 🔆
10. Yule be Mine by Piper Rayne ✅

Discussion

See, it's not thattttt bad, I only entirely neglected 1 book. You can also blame my fiancée for two of these being unfinished (The Outsiders and The Autist's Guide to the Galaxy) as we are reading those together and they are way less inclined to reading than I am.

I enjoyed the books I finished and honestly did not read all that much time in December so it is unsurprising I am still in the middle of many of these. 4/10 is pretty good for prioritizing ARCs over anything and otherwise being a mood reader.

Outro

How did you do if you had a 10 before the end? Please tell me I am not the only one who did not finish half of it. I am still proud of kind of committing to a TBR that I considered no stakes. Let's just say, any other TBRs I make in the future of a similar nature are just for funsises.

 Free For All Friday: 10 Before the End

Intro

As this year comes to a close, I wanted to recap the books I still hope to read before the end of the year. That is where "10 before the end" comes along. It is a trend that encourages us to make a TBR with a new year's due date. Can you believe there are only 2 months left in 2025?

A lot of these I am currently in the middle of. A couple are ARCS. I am hoping I end up loving every one. Let's get into them!

My Picks

1. Merry Little Kissmas by Lauren Blakely
2. The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
3. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
4. The Autist's Guide to the Galaxy by Clara Törnvall
5. Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
6. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
7. My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich
8. Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel
9. Dolls of Our Lives by Mary Mahoney and Allison Horrocks
10. Yule be Mine by Piper Rayne

Outro

I have a nice variety of reads in my future (assuming I actually get to these.) I am hyped for each and every one. Have you read any of these? If not, what is on your ten before the end? I will see you again next week!