Favorite book I read in February
Books I COMPLETED
I read 8 books in February, plus started/continued 4 other books. I’ve included snippets from my reviews and additional thoughts. Continue reading
Goodreads
January 2026 Round-Up
Books I Read
I read 7 books in January, plus started a readalong. Great start to the new year!
The Undertakers and The Starseekers by Nicole Glover
Lovely series of stand-alone novels set in a secondary world with magic. All of them feature and center the Black experience. (latter title: eARC)
Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire
As always, the newest story in the Wayward Children series makes me cry a lot. (eARC)
A Lady for All Seasons by TJ Alexander
A new queer Regency romance–give me more. (eARC) It is the entertaining sequel to A Gentleman’s Gentleman (which I am currently re-reading in a readalong). (eARC)
Dead and Breakfast by Kat Hillis
I really wanted to like this book–two gay vampires run a bad and breakfast–but it did not click for me. Their relationship dynamic was so cliche. Maybe it will improve in the next novel, which comes out soon, but I won’t be reading it unless it ends up in a book club.
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose
Solid sequel that ends on a cliffhanger. I want the third book now, please. (eARC)
I’m Starting to Wonder About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin
Going to quote from my own review: “This is a fun romp that begins with a riff on Repo Man and turns into a farcical version of Arlington Road with a load of social commentary.”
February TBR
Backlist
- A Fae in Finance by Juliet Brooks
- Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller
- Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
Upcoming Releases
- Vow Made Twice by Emma Denny – pub date 2/17/26
- Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett – pub date 2/27/26
- Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin Kirkbride – pub date 2/3/26
- The Body by Bethany C. Morrow – pub date 2/10/26
- Green and Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons – pub date 3/3/26
I already read Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers (pub date 2/3/26). I really really really wanted to love this book, but the generic worldbuilding put me off and then I didn’t buy the main romance. However, the worldbuilding improves exponentionally as the plot goes on. I want to red more stories set in this universe. (eARC)
Notes
- I’m playing around with the focus and format of these posts. Though the idea for these monthly round-ups came from Jo Walton’s reading lists, I also wanted to highlight upcoming releases with more than just a synopsis.
- I add so many new books to my TBR. And I get eARCs for a lot of them. I am trying to be better about reading them before they are published. Maybe posting my intentions here will motivate me read more or download less.
January 2026 TBR
This year, I am going to write more about the books I read. To start, I am going to list the new releases that interest me. I may also do monthly roundups on what I actually read.
For the record, I mostly read a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, romance, and cozy mystery. The queerer, the better.
January 2026 Releases
Here is my initial list of books. There could be more! I am always looking for recommendations, and boy, howdy, does Intergalactic Mixtape supply them.
| Pub Date | Title | Author | Status |
| 1/27/26 | Artifact Space | Cameron, Miles | To read |
| 1/27/26 | To Ride a Rising Storm | Blackgoose, Moniquill | Currently reading |
| 1/20/26 | Nine Goblins | Kingfisher, T. | To read |
| 1/20/26 | George Falls Through Time | Collett, Ryan | To read |
| 1/20/26 | Arcane Inheritance | Cole, Kamilah | Did Not Finish |
| 1/13/26 | Into the Midnight Wood | McCollum, Alexandra | To read |
| 1/6/26 | Through Gates of Garnet and Gold | McGuire, Seanan | Read |
| 1/6/26 | Starseekers | Glover, Nicole | Read |
Somehow, I received eARCS for all of them from NetGalley or Edelweiss. Will I read all of these books by the end of the month? Ha! No. My NetGalley feedback ratio is only 49%, and I get most of my eARCS from Edelweiss. But I am trying to be better.
I post my reviews on Goodreads and Storygraph.
2010 SDCC: Comic-Con Day 1
Note: I found this super old draft and decided to publish it as is. How much has changed in 15 years? Guess I’ll find out in a few weeks. . -7/10/2025
I survived the first day of the San Diego Comic-Con – yay!
Meme: “Remember when MTV played music videos?”
No, MTV did not have a presence at SDCC (that I know of), but it has been used as an example in several conversations of television channels that do not live up to their names. On the trolley to the Convention Center, I overheard some guys were chatting about tv channels about gaming, like G4 and Spike. At the con, there was grousing about the (lack of) science fiction on the SciFi/SyFy Channel both before and after its name change.
Of course, many people were once again decrying how Comic-Con isn’t about the comics anymore.
Lines
The lines were long this year. For the most part, they were well designed with lots of tents for the outside, until Sunday when the rules seemed to change. One guy told us that if you left the line for any reason, you would lost your place and have to go back to the end of line. Bah!
On Friday, I spent over 3+ hours in line for Ballroom 20 which is longer than the train ride from Los Angeles to San Diego. I felt compelled to stay in that room for at least as long as I spent in line. Luckily, I was interested in the panels in that room once I made it in: EW panel, True Blood, and the TV Guide Hot List. While in line, I missed The Big Bang Theory (which was one of the hottest properties this year), Caprica, the Joss Whedon Experience, Bones, and other stuff. Of those, people were most excited about BBT and JW.
I didn’t go into Hall H this year. Yes, I wanted to see some of the panels, but I just couldn’t handle the line after Ballroom 20.
Girl Power
I went to a bunch of lit and writing panels. The io9 panel was fun. It was great to put faces to names. Also, the first item lauded was Warren Ellis’ Freak Angels.
Despite all of the geeks are girls too, the media still needs to catch up. Girl geeks are finding their moment in the sun offends me, especially the line:
“I’m hearing from a lot of women who read it with their boyfriends,” [Blair] Butler says. “I think more guys like being able to share that experience.”
NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo!
After the ### panel, I had thought about revising my rant. Maybe it wasn’t necessary any more. Girls were accepted in comics as readers, creators, and purveyors.
And then there is this Best Buy/Geek Squad commercial:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFe_641Gbog]
Later came the “Kiss Them or Kill Them panel.” I thought it would be philosophical in nature about violence, writing attack scenes, and villainy. Nope, Mysterious Galaxy should have gone with the title “slayer or lay her?” (Yes I still love the -er jokes.) it was the paranormal romance/urban fantasy panel and really about sex with monsters. Most of the authors were women with 2 token men, one of whom writes under his initials. I think that this replicates the secrets of the 19th cenutry romance fiction industry when authors had to be perceived as “female” to get publishes. On the flip side, the next panel on “Twisting Genres” was mostly male with one token female (Naomi Novik.) I don’t want to be noticing this type of gender and genretyping in the 21st century!
Tagged comic-con, found in my drafts, sdcc, throwback thursday
