My Books Are Too Sad?! | Reading Update 2.19.24

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!

Sorry I've been kind of AWOL lately, but February is really just kicking my ass. I've been feeling much more depressed than usual (due to outside circumstances) and I'm also battling a severe allergic reaction to mosquito bites. I know that sounds really weird, but insect bites are one of my biggest allergens. My whole body is currently covered in hives, and they itch so badly it's physically painful. It only takes a couple of mosquito bites to completely overwhelm my histamines. 

Is that TMI? Sorry if that's TMI. 

Anyway, as far as reading goes, I'm not doing too hot there, either. Honestly I'm feeling a slump coming on. The beginning of the month went great: I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and LOVED it, which I wasn't expecting. But I've noticed that every book I've read in February so far has been extremely dark and depressing. Which is fine, I'm not really complaining about that, except for two issues that keep coming up. One, since I'm also extremely depressed right now, the books I've been reading have only been exasperating that depression. And two, the Buzzwordathon prompt for the month is positive words. There are NO positive words in my TBR! It's all "Death" and "Hollow" and "Missing." Struggling to find a book to fit the Buzzwordathon is actually what clued me in to how dark the books I've been reading lately have been. And now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it. 

It doesn't help that all of my library holds also fit into the dark and depressing category, and that they're all really popular reads so I don't want to lose my holds with them. But I don't think I can keep going with the gloom because it's taking a serious toll. Maybe I just need to reread a tried and true YA contemporary, like Fangirl or Loveless.

Loveless...Jesus Christ. Can't even get that right.

Okay, I think I'm just gonna go before this gets way too depressing for even my own good. I'll see y'all next time.