Wrap-Up: February & March 2021

This month I’ll be writing about the books I read in February and March. I don’t usually combine months but I was unable to read anything in February until the tail end of the month and, before I knew it, it was way past time to make an appropriate wrap-up post. I wasn’t able to read as much as I wanted to in March since my sibling and I took a spontaneous (but safe!) road trip for her Spring break but I’ll be including some pictures from the trip to make up for it! So without further ado, let’s get into the recap of my past few weeks.

Books I Read in February:

The first book I wanted to jump into when I was able to read again was The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. One of my best friends has raved about this series for as long as I’ve known her and I was super eager to read them. So I binge read the entire series during the last week of the month. Unfortunately, I didn’t love them as much as she does but I think that may be due to the fact that I read Maas’s writing first and subconsciously compared the series to ACOTAR (which I enjoyed much more than these). I have a post detailing 5 things I liked about the series and 5 things I didn’t like which you can read here but overall I sit in the unusual camp of feeling that the series became better as it went on rather than being disappointed like other readers. It’s a young adult fantasy series featuring a human who has been brought to the faerie world to live out her life after her parents are murdered.

• The Cruel Prince: 3 feathers
• The Wicked King: 4 feathers
• The Queen of Nothing: 4 feathers

Books I Read in March:

The first book I read in March was The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. It’s a young adult fantasy novel marketed as a “slytherin romance” where the new king must marry soon to produce an heir and the girl he starts to court plans to murder him as soon as she is crowned queen. I honestly disliked this novel so much that it almost sent me into a reading slump. I have a full review here if you want to know more of my thoughts on it.

The next three books I read were the Cursebreakers series by Brigid Kemmerer. Full reviews of the first and second book are available on the blog and I hope to have a review of the third up soon. Although it is marketed as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, the Cursebreakers series is entirely a creature of its own. It’s filled with complex, interesting characters, enough twists to keep readers on their toes, and such a thought-provoking conclusion that I haven’t fully absorbed it yet to write a proper review of the third book (it will come though!) I immensely enjoyed the series and am sure I’ll be thinking about the characters for months to come.

The final book I was able to get through this month was the first in the Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. It’s the first of the Grishaverse I’ve ever read and also my first Bardugo book. Another young adult fantasy series, this one is so unique in its worldbuilding and its Russian influences. I have a full review of the book here but suffice it to say that I’m fully invested and cannot wait to get to the rest of the series. I’m endeavoring to finish the Grishaverse before April 23rd when the Netflix show drops so we’ll see if I am successful!

• The Shadows Between Us: 1 feather
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely: 5 feathers
• A Heart So Fierce and Broken: 5 feathers
• A Vow So Bold and Deadly: 4 feathers (am I the only one who always reads this as “A Vow So Dead and Boldly”?)
• Shadow and Bone: 4 feathers

Aesthetics by Wren:

Currently Reading:

Goodreads:

This month I decided to merge my personal Goodreads with the one I created for this blog. I decided it was too difficult to keep separate accounts and I wanted all of my reviews to be available in one place (even those that haven’t made it to this blog yet). That being said, if we were friends on my former Goodreads account, please feel free to request me again. Also please note that my Goodreads account has my real name on it. I didn’t want to confuse my irl friends and family with changing my name so I decided to leave my name as is and just add this blog name to it to make it easy for everyone. I currently have 179 reviews on that account because I’ve had it since 2012–crazy!

Our Road Trip:

We traveled to Solvang, California, a small town in the Santa Barbara area. My sibling LOVES Tik Tok and saw the town on there and wanted to go for Spring Break (our local colleges take break a week earlier than everyone else to help students avoid crowds so it was a really enjoyable experience for us). Solvang’s tag line is “a little slice of Denmark in Southern California” and it definitely lives up to that! The town has about 3 major streets filled with restaurants, bakeries, and souvenir/gift shops. Not only does it deliver on its Danish promise, I also spotted specialty items from the Netherlands and Sweden. While we were there, there was a mask mandate in place that required face coverings in all areas, including outside.

Attractions:

• Santa Ines Mission: The garden of the mission is so so pretty and open for self-guided tours. There are also multiple plaques around that explain different landmarks of the mission and what took place there. We didn’t go into the chapel because we are not Catholic and didn’t want to impose but there is also a gift shop to explore as well!
• The Little Mermaid Fountain: A little chunk of Denmark right in the middle of the town. The Little Mermaid fountain is a replica of the real thing.
• The Giant Windmill: Forgive the heart sticker I placed over my face for privacy reasons. We were lucky enough to get a few pictures without too many people behind us. The windmill is so big and so pretty!

Food:

Paula’s Pancake House: Open for breakfast and lunch only, this is definitely the place to be. Expect a wait but they are very quick. I got the Danish Pancakes with Fruit (strawberries were my choice) which came with butter and syrup as well as an apple and orange slice. If you need more food, you can opt for the Danish Pancake meal which comes with bacon or sausage and 2 eggs of your preference (my sibling got this!) The food was absolutely delicious. The pancakes thin and chewy. The strawberries sweet. The syrup was real maple syrup. Completely worth the wait! They also sell a variety of lunch items too.

Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery: Located right next door to the pancake house, this little shop is filled with Danish pastries and goodies. If you’re a fan of almonds, you will love this bakery. They had so many things to choose from, from macarons to bear claws to pastries. My favorites were the bear claws and the marzipan logs! I’ve linked their website in the title because I believe they ship some select items.

Old Danish Fudge Kitchen: If you like fudge, you’ll love this spot. There are so many varieties to choose from and all are super smooth and delicious. The portion sizes are also huge! I picked up a slice of traditional milk chocolate and a slice of dark chocolate with walnuts. The latter was my favorite.

Shops:

The Book Loft: What a lovely little bookstore. It’s incredibly well-stocked for its size with fun little bookish items to purchase too. The entire upstairs floor is filled with used books if that’s more your style as well. It’s also connected to the Hans Christian Anderson museum which was unfortunately closed for remodeling when we were there. I picked up a set of Shakespeare playing cards from here which I plan to use for some of my Bookstagram photos.

Edelweiss: If magic exists in a store, this is it. Filled with miniature knick-knacks, you can even create your own faerie garden if that’s your thing. There were so many things I wanted to purchase but I settled on a pair of glass blown miniature Basset Hounds. I love seeing them on my dresser every day.

The Mole Hole: Unfortunately I couldn’t find a website for this store but they sell unique gifts. There are 2 floors to it and it’s more of a traditional antique store type of feel (they don’t sell antiques though!) Ranging from kitchen supplies to clothing to lotions, you’ll probably be able to find something for even the pickiest member of your family and friends here. My sibling and I picked up a Basset Hound salt and pepper shaker set for my mom and she loved it!

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What did you read this month? Let me know in the comments. Happy reading!

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