Books Read in February

February was a great reading month, with a mix of outstanding fiction and nonfiction. Here's what I finished in February:

• All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater (CO) - YA fiction on audio
• Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson (MA) - adult fiction (reviewed for Shelf Awareness)
• The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea (AZ) - nonfiction on audio

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (GA, SC, NC, IN) - adult fiction
• Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver (NJ) - adult fiction
• Deogratias by J.P. Stassen (Rwanda) - adult graphic novel

• The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh (TX) - adult fiction on audio

Wow, what a wonderful month of books! Of seven books total, six were fiction, most were for adults, with one YA novel, one nonfiction, and I listened to three of them on audio. I rated three of these book (Unsheltered, The Underground Railroad, and The Devil's Highway) 5 stars on Goodreads, so choosing a favorite is nearly impossible! The Underground Railroad blew me away instantly, and Unsheltered  was enjoyable but grew on me even more after discussing it with my book group (which the rest of the group agreed on, even though not everyone liked it as much).

Progress in 2019 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges - and I just finished signing up for a record number of them for 2019!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge - 3 of my 7 books were from my own shelves.

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - February was Judge a Book By Its Cover month. The cover of The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh definitely grabbed my attention.

Back to the Classics Challenge - no classics read - again! Slow start.

Monthly Keyword Challenge - I didn't read a single book with any of the monthly keywords in the title...again. Maybe this one wasn't a good choice for me!

Diversity Reading Challenge - wow, I'm rocking this new challenge! Four of my seven books were diverse. 

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I added just one international book, set in Rwanda, but it's a country I've never read about before.

2018 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added 5 new states (I love the beginning of the year!): Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, New Jersey, and Texas

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 17 squares in February - 

Spaces filled in:

All the Crooked Saints - Sci fi/fantasy, romance, curse/spell, secret ability
Before She Knew Him - thrilling, free book
The Devil's Highway - audio book
The Underground Railroad - shelf love, red on the cover
Unsheltered - one word title, flowers, winter storm, favorite author
Deogratias - read a physical book, under 400 pages
The Blinds - not in a series

Free space

What was your favorite book read in February?