December Photo-a-Day: my month in pictures

I know it seems late, but I wanted to space out my posts a little so that they aren't all in the first part of the month. So...without further ado, let's get into how December was for us :)

Cami made the no-cavity board - they hadn't changed it over to December yet. // PMS hit hard and I heated up a plate of taco meat for chip dip. It was the best thing ever. // Little man not at all impressed. // We have an ornament for each animal on our tree - Saydee's got here at the beginning of December. // Sleeping so hard. // We got an Elf on the Shelf. Despite my initial hesitance, it was really fun. Can't believe I just said that.

Baby Mason: Ten Months

This is literally the best picture I could get of him on the couch. He immediately took to standing, walking, and even coaxing him with a coaster didn't amount to much ;)

2016 Series Challenge: Starting Line

 My goal last year was to finish 15 series and I hit 7. I honestly am not too upset about it because I didn't read near as many books as I wanted to and I really focused on series books. I only started 6 new series in 2015, so that helped. I am hoping to meet the goal of completing 15 series and surpass it in 2016. The following is my "starting line" for the series challenge for the year - there is no official host anymore, so I'm just doing this on my own. I will update in the beginning of April, July, October, and then my finish line post will be in Jan 2017.

I highlighted all the to-be-released books in purple. I am currently reading two books on this list and will try to keep it pretty well updated throughout the next three months.

My 2015 in Books

I've seen some book bloggers sharing some reading stats to wrap up their 2015 reading and loved the idea. So here is some of what I accomplished in 2015...book-wise:

Stats and Challenges:
Books Read: 34 + 1 DNF [My goal was 52 books]
Total Pages Read: 12514 pages
2015 ABC Challenge: 15/26 completed
2015 Travel Gnome Challenge: 19/25 completed
2015 Series Challenge: 7/15 completed [I only started 6 new series this year]

How did I rate the books I read?
DNF: 1
1 star: 0
2 star: 2
3 star: 8
4 star: 14
5 star: 10
Average rating: 3.8 stars

My favorite reads of the year (in no particular order):

Final Thoughts:
I reorganized my Goodreads bookshelves and made a "read in" shelf for each year since I joined. So if you want to check out the books I read in 2015, feel free to friend me (let me know you read Rocky Top Real Talk), and check it out here. I also left reviews for most of the year on the blog under the Book Review label. Even though I didn't reach my goal of 52 books or finish any of my reading challenges, I am happy I read as much as I did. I have high hopes for 2016 because Mason is becoming more independent and life is definitely becoming more tame. :) Hope you all had a great reading year in 2015 and good luck in 2016. May all the books you read be incredible!

January TBR List + Upcoming Releases

This year I don't really have a specific goal in mind for how many books I want to read off of my TBR, series, etc. I just want to read. I am partcipating in a few challenges like I normally am, but they are all low-pressure, so it's not a huge deal if I don't complete them. But I would really like to :)

What I hope to read:

• The King by JR Ward
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell [physical copy]
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien [physical copy]

More information:
Netgalley: 11 books need reviews (0/11)
Goodreads challenge: Read 45 books this year (0/45)
Series challenge: Finish 15 series this year (0/15)
ABC challenge: Read through the alphabet once (0/26)
Travel Gnome challenge: Read books that take place in 20 states (0/20), 5 countries (0/5)

What books do you hope to read this month?  

What releases are you excited for?

Bout of Books 15 [Goals & Progress]

I'm switching things up a bit for my 12th time participating in BOB. Instead of doing each day separately. I will just keep one set of currently reading, pages read, books finished, etc. My posts always get so long and honestly, I hate formatting it LOL. I'm very excited to participate once again in my favorite readathon. I've already finished one book, so I am super duper happy already :)

FINISH LINE
I have finished! I crack up because I never read on the last day for some reason. Something about Sundays. I accomplished my goals mostly - I'm counting reading each day because I read 6 out of 7 days. I did participate in some challenges. Looking forward to 2016 as a great reading year and excited about the next BOB!
 
GOALS

• Read a little each day - mostly ;)
• Finish 1 book - done!
• Participate in a few challenges - done!

2015 Series "Challenge" - Final Update

In my last update in October, I started making some progress and had a total of 3 series and 20 books done. Add 6 more books and 4 more series down [at least as far as released books go] for a total of 7 series and 26 books finished. I am ready to make a bigger dent in my series list in 2016. My goal is to finish 15 series!

Books I Read in December

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead - 5 stars (finished 12/14)
This is the second book in the Bloodlines series.

Yes. yes. and more yes.
I just adore how well Richelle Mead writes her stories. There is always growth in the characters and there is always world-building. I always leave a book knowing more than I did before and I love that. It's interesting to see how Sydney is changing in her opinions of the Moroi and dhamphir, and yet she still hasn't let herself completely be okay with them. It was also pretty interesting to see her date. I didn't like Brayden from the get-go and his [spoiler: breakup with her] was strange and honestly did not make sense to me. I am so excited to see how Ms. Terlinger reacts when she finds out what Sydney did :) I also am wondering about Adrian confronting Sydney at the end - is he supposed to be confronting her about an eating disorder? Anyways...so happy and ready to read book 3.