Monthly Recap: March 2022

March!

The War Of Two Queens completely destroyed me!

I can't wait for the next book!

My review will be live this coming Monday!

Now on a completely different note, I just really need to rant. My timeline on Twitter showed me a post about someone who had gotten DMed by a guy she had never met and since she didn't reply right away he got combative. After she replied with something like "oh I'm not on as much on here sorry for not replying" he changed his tune. I went ahead and posted about a similar experience and all of a sudden I get quote tweeted as "paranoid" and had a guy ask "how am I supposed to meet someone if not by messaging them". How about they don't get super aggressive when they don't get a reply?

For the sake of venting, I'd like to put two stories on "paper" to maybe help people understand why so many of us are so scared of what could possibly happen if we're not careful.

Story #1: I was in college and a few months in a got a message on FB from a guy I had never met or seen before. The first red flag was that he messaged me in English. I never replied. For context, I live in Brazil in a small city. I had nothing on my profile specifying to speak to me in English. I didn't know how he knew to speak to me in English. That made my blood run cold. I was lucky in this first instance that even when he saw me out on campus alone he didn't approach. When I tell you I was scared of what this guy could possibly do given the chance is an understatement. I'm glad nothing ever happened.

Story #2: I was in high school and there was this guy around my age that lived in my building. I saw him every day for years. Eventually, he ended up talking to me. A few months later he seemed okay enough and asked for my number and FB. Even though I wasn't interested I didn't know how to say no. He messaged me on FB and (I'm not proud of this) I never replied. That situation made me so anxious that I was making myself physically sick. So I did what any 17-year-old kid who's running away from her problems would do: I blocked him on everything. Fast forward 2 or 3 years and I see him a few times on campus in college. The one time I was alone he struck. As I was coming out of the bathroom and turned my head there he was. I saw him run in my direction as I'm turning to head back to class. A few seconds later I feel someone clamp their hand around my arm and pull me toward them. I try and pull free while turning to look and come face to face with him. He then proceeds to repeat loudly with a very angry and aggressive tone "do you know me now?". I froze like a dear in the headlights and ended up nodding rapidly without speaking a word. I think I was still trying to pull my arm out of his grasp while all this was happening. He eventually lets me go and turns around and walks away. It was so quick that I don't think the people around me even noticed what happened. I raced to class and didn't sleep that night. This was what I was so afraid would've happened with the guy in the first story. Granted it could have been so much worse but that guy had just proved to me that all my fears could become a reality if I wasn't careful next time.

Now tell me how I'm supposed to be flattered and not scared when a guy DMs me out of nowhere when this has been my experience (and so many other people's experience) with men who like to call themselves "the good guys". These stories happened sometime in the last 10 years and I'm still affected by them even while just writing them out. 

Sorry for the heavy topic guys!

I'll try and make it light next month 😅

Until next month!

Happy reading!

Books I Read & Listened

To In March

| eBook | eBook | eBook |

• Dance With The Demon By Stacia Stark - This series is a drug because I'm very much addicted! I love, love, love the universe the author is fleshing out with these books! The characters are complex and painted in shades of grey. I don't know whether or not I can trust them but in the best way. It sounds odd, I know. (My review coming soon!)

• Inner Demon By Stacia Stark - This series has turned into my favorite so far this year! The characters are complex! The story is interesting! I love how the author manages to intertwine 3 different plots into one while still making it possible for me to keep everything organized in my head about them. If that's not talent then I don't know what is! (My review coming soon!)

• Luck Of The Demon By Stacia Stark - This book felt like one big very obvious connect the dots but in a good way. I could see the pieces falling into place long before they happened. There are quite a few interesting twists along the way and a lot about possible future spin-offs were hinted at. That was actually one of the most interesting aspects of this book in particular. (My review coming soon!)

| Audio Book | Audio Book | Audio Book |

• The War Of Two Queens By Jennifer L. Armentrout - The lengths I had to go to to not be spoiled from Day 1 was not fun. People seem to feel VERY strongly about certain aspects of this story. I understand now why I ended up reading a spoiler on my timeline on the day this book was released with no spoiler tag. (My review is live here!)


• Becoming Alpha By Aileen Erin - If you had told me I would be rereading this book almost 9 years later I would have looked at you funny and moved on. BUT alas here we are! If I'm being honest I jumped at the opportunity to read this book because this was one of my one-that-got-away series. I absolutely loved it but after 3 books the main character changed and it was jarring enough that it turned me off the series as a whole. (My original review is live here & the GR update is here!)

• The Crown Of Gilded Bones By Jennifer L. Armentrout - THAT ENDING WAS JUST AS BAD THE SECOND TIME AROUND! The Blood Queen deserves everything she's going to get and more by the time this series is done. (My review is live here!) 

Books I Can't Wait To Get

My Hands On In April

* Book titles are linked to Goodreads.

5th

| Lover Arisen | Claimed By The Barbarian Dragon |

26th

| Other Half Of The Grave |

(Audio Book)

28th

| Wolf Hunter |

29th

| Demon's Advocate |

Here's What Happened On

This Blog In February

I reviewed the following books & audiobooks:

• Winter Wolf By Rachel M. Raithby  ★★★☆☆
• The Quarterback Alpha By Emma Wolfe ★★☆☆☆
• Dragon Mate By Jen L. Grey ★★★☆☆
• The Last Vampire By R. A. Steffan & Jaelynn Woolf ★★★☆☆

What books are you looking forward to reading this month?

Let me know in the comments below!