Monthly Wrap-Up: February

February was probably one of the busiest months I’ve had in a while. Not only did school suddenly become extremely hectic, to the point where I found myself leaving school at around 4pm – 4.30pm every day, and then doing some form of 'work' until 10pm(blogging isn't work, but I hope you understand what I mean). Being any busier would be a challenge for anyone; but, I’ve got a feeling ‘free-time’ is not going to exist for a few months yet. I also only managed to read a dismal two books this month, and start a third (which is ‘Acid’ by Emma Pass). Even with half-term I’ve managed to procrastinate all week and suddenly, I’m going back to school! Not that I mind, I'm actually looking forward to it.

 

‘A Day Dreamer’s World’ hit 45,000 pageviews this month, which I am extremely humbled about. To know that so many people have taken a look at my blog is surreal, especially since I started this having no idea what I was getting myself into to. Also, it means that my next milestone is 50,000 blog views, and that is an amount that I can’t quite contemplate ever reaching, but this blog’s on its way there! My favourite post that I wrote this month was definitely my, “Should more serious-topics be dealt with in books?” discussion, which has had over two-hundred pageviews, and I can’t express how strongly I feel about getting rid of the stigma that surrounds mental-illness, disability and sexuality; and how I think books can do this!

In February, my first review went up on The Guardian! When I woke up, looked on my Twitter feed, and saw that a publisher had tweeted a link to a review on the Guardian that was mine, it was such an amazing feeling. The Guardian is a site that I have always wanted to post my reviews on, and seeing my review of ‘Fearsome Dreamer’ up there was great! I can’t wait to really become a part of their team and start posting more reviews, as well as doing more for Spinebreakers, as this month I also became an Editor! One of the things I really want to continue doing is getting involved in more projects surrounding books, and I hope this is a way to do that.

Outside of the blog last month I managed to do some things I will be proud of for quite a long time. For about a year now, I’ve realised I want to be an English teacher, as I’ve been inspired by the work I’ve seen those in my school do. I don’t know whether I’d like to teach for years, or just for a few, but I did get to teach for a day in February and I absolutely loved it! In January, I did some training that would allow me to teach young pupils about substance-abuse, and after hours (around seven or eight in the end) of lesson-planning, putting together a power point and a worksheet, I finally got to stand in front of the Year Eights at my school. Admittedly, I was nervous, and of course, extremely excited. In one day, I had four lessons, and by the end of these, my throat was sore and I had managed to get through three bottles of water. The lesson was about tobacco, and I taught it with two of my friends, who always had an interesting experience. I was asked if my hair was fake, called Miss, Sir and four boys even walked out of the classroom, after I regretfully said, “If you find this video(about Cancer caused by smoking) sad, please feel free to leave the classroom” and they, for a joke, left, mock-crying.

I also started to organise the BBC School Report at my school, which is a project I noticed a few other bloggers talking about last year, and decided to join – with the help of my teacher - this year. It’s a yearly project that invites young people to create their own news, and post articles and reports online on News Day, which is the last day.

Books! Let’s talk about the books! Since I only read two, this should be quite short, although I also had some of the best-book post!

Read:

'A Breath of Frost' by Alyxandra Harvey - This was a lengthy read about life in Regency London, where warlocks lurk, madcaps jump from roofs and magic is everywhere. It was gorgeous and gothic, and the main characters are so much fun to read about!

'Looking For JJ' by Anne Cassidy - Thought provoking doesn't come close to describing how much this book haunting me while reading. It's a tough and tragic read, that asks the question, "Why would a child kill another child?" and it's, of course, really powerful.

Currently reading:

'Acid' by Emma Pass - I'm currently half-way through this book(about two hundred pages) and am loving it! It's so exciting, and Jenna - our main character - is great to read about!

This month I received some amazing books; I doubt I would have stopped smiling by the new Wrap-Up because of a few of these:

'A Black Crow Conspiracy' by Christopher Edge - I won a signed copy of this when Christopher was doing a Twitter giveaway, and since I love the main character in this series, I hope to give this one I go soon!

'The Madness' by Alison Rattle - I haven't heard much about this book, but it seems like a beautiful novel and I think it'll be a really good read.

'The Assassins' Blade' by Sarah J. Maas - You may know that I am an absolutely huge fan of the 'Throne of Glass' series by Maas, and that the books are my favourites. So, you can probably imagine my reaction to receiving this, as a surprise, through the post. The prequel to the series, it's four novellas that have only been available on Kindle combined, with an extremely gorgeous cover!

Thank you to Christopher Edge, Hot Key Books, and Emma Bradshaw from Bloomsbury for sending me these books!

I hope you all had fantastic February's!

What books did you read? What books did you receive?
Tell me in the comments!