My Most Anticipated Releases for January

I already have a copy of Everless, thanks to FairyLoot, but there is tons more to get excited about for the January releases. What a way to start off the new year!

JANUARY 2

Everless // The Cruel Prince // Before I Let Go

Book Review: The Departed by Kristy Cooper

Publish Date: July 6, 2016
127 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Olivier

Book Review: Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Publish Date: February 23, 2016
475 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Harlequin Teen

Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward to In 2018

I'm surprised that my list of 2018 books is so short, but I know that will change. I ended up with over 300 on my 2017 list and it was sparse at first too. Here are some books I'm looking forward to in 2018.

Book Review: Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren

Publish Date: April 4, 2017
288 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Top Ten Favorite Books of 2017

Is 2017 really almost over?! I can't believe it! I love talking about favorite books of the year at the end of each year. I love seeing other people's favorite reads too because I know that I'm super behind on all the good books and I need to know what the hype is about. This year, thanks to Owlcrate, I was able to pick up some books published this year and be part of the hype :) Without further ado, here are my top ten favorite books of 2017.

Book Review: It Started with Goodbye by Christina June

Publish Date: May 9, 2017
272 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Blink

Book Review: A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

Publish Date: January 9, 2018
400 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Simon Pulse

November Book Haul

Check out what books I got in the month of November!

Books I Read in November

#AYearAThon [December TBR]

Each first full week of the month, a #AYearAThon readathon is held and there are themes and challenges for each month. In the month of December, the theme is 2017 DEBUT with the challenge of reading the last book or books we bought. It runs from December 4 through 10.

I picked out two books. As of right now, I may add more, but two is great to start out with :)

Daughter of the Pirate King // It Started with Goodbye

Updated on 12/10: I finished It Started with Goodbye but never started Daughter. I'm okay with that...honestly am I :)

Total books finished:1

Total pages read: 272

2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge

I'm excited about the upcoming year and all the reading challenges that will be happening. I decided to add another (because I have no self control) in this Beat the Backlist challenge hosted by NovelKnight. I am not making a TBR persay, but I want to shoot for a goal of reading 40 books published before 2018. My Goodreads goal for 2018 is to read 52 books and I think I will very easily hit 40 books that are not brand new. I have too many books to read that were purchased in 2017.

I will include updates in my monthly TBR/update post on the 1st of each month :)

My team is the Novel Knights!

2018 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge

The last two years I wasn't able to find a series challenge hosted anywhere, so I just did my own thing. But Celebrity Readers is hosting one for 2018 and I'm jumping right in :) You can click the picture for more details.

My goal for 2018 is to finish 10 series aka A-List Series Finisher level. I have a page that lists my current series: here. I will be updating it in January to remove old series and books I have read in 2017. My goal was to finish 10 series in 2017 and I've only finished 2, however, I have read 21 books in a series. I still have December to go, but I'm hoping to do way better in 2018. Instead of quarterly updates, I will post monthly ones in 2018. :)

December Monthly Reading Goals + TBR

 

In November, I finished 5 books. I'm currently at 62 books read for my goal of 52 books in 2017. I spent the last week or so working on reading It and taking it easy.

• The Surrendered by Case Maynard (240 pages, 2016, Kindle, YA Dystopia) - 2.5 stars - counted towards mini Netgalley challenge, yearly Netgalley challenge, Throwback Book Club challenge, and Overused YA Tropes Bingo.
• Read Me Like a Book by Liz Kessler (304 pages, 2015, Kindle, YA Contemporary) - 2 stars - counted towards mini Netgalley challenge, ABC challenge, yearly Netgalley challenge, and Throwback Book Club challenge 
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman (196 pages, 2009, Kindle, YA Contemporary) - 4 stars - counted towards Travel Gnome challenge, Series challenge (although did not complete any series), Movie Adaptation challenge, and Throwback Book Club challenge. 
• Reboot by Amy Tintera (365 pages, 2013, YA Dystopia/Sci Fi) - 4.5 stars - counted towards Travel Gnome challenge, Series challenge (although did not complete any series), and Throwback Book Club challenge.
• A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard (400 pages, 2018, YA Contemporary) - 5 stars - counted towards mini Netgalley challenge, ABC challenge, and yearly Netgalley challenge

Pages read: 1505

Average pages read per day: 50

Pages DNF: 0

Total pages: 1505

Top Ten Books on my Winter 2017 TBR

Today's prompt is Books on my Winter TBR. I had to think about this one for a good bit because I've been more of a mood reader lately and that seems to work pretty well for me. I do have a lot of books from 2016 and 2017 that I want to read, so those are what is making my 2018 TBR starting with the first few months!

My Most Anticipated Releases for December

December is a pretty calm month of anticipated releases for me :) Here is what I'm looking forward to:

DECEMBER 5

Rules of Rain // Instructions for a Secondhand Heart

Tome Topple Round 5 [TBR]

I decided a day late to join in the Tome Topple readathon that was created by Samantha of Thoughts on Tomes. Check out more information here. It runs November 17th 12:00am (your time zone) to November 30th 11:59pm (your time zone).

My TBR consists of ONE BOOK...

It

Yep...gonna be taking this one on...again. I started it back in summer 2015 and got 15 pages in...then put it down and didn't pick it back up. It has been sitting on my nightstand just staring at me. So my hope for the readathon is to get to page 500. So here we go!

Updated on 12/6: Late update here, but I only got to page 235 of It, but I am pleased with that because it took me forever to pick it back up and I am happy with my progress.

Total books finished: 0

Total pages read: 220

October Book Haul

Check out what books I received in the month of October!

Book Review: Read Me Like a Book by Liz Kessler

Publish Date: May 14, 2015
304 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Orion Children's Books

#AYearAThon [November TBR]

Each first full week of the month, a #AYearAThon readathon is held and there are themes and challenges for each month. In the month of November, the theme is NEW TO YOU AUTHORS with the challenge of reading a duology. It runs from November 6 through 12.

I chose four books that I *may* read. If I have a good reading week, I may be able to finish 2 or 3 of these, especially since If I Stay is under 200 pages. But I hope to finish at least 1. All of these books are new to me authors and they are all duologies!

Passenger //  The Star-Touched Queen // Reboot // If I Stay

Updated on 11/9: I was working on finishing Read Me Like a Book on Monday and Tuesday, due to not realizing the Read-O-Rama readathon was the 3-5 not 5-7. I read If I Stay on Wednesday and really liked it :) I have started Reboot.

Updated on 11/13:  I got a quarter of the way through Reboot. I didn't end up reading much after I finished If I Stay, so that's why my page count isn't super high. I'm happy with finishing one and hope to finish Reboot this month and possibly finish the sequels during the month!

Total books finished: 1

Total pages read: 196 (If I Stay) + 87 (Reboot) = 283

Read-o-Rama [TBR]

The Read-o-Rama readathon is hosted by Chloe of Brunette Bibliophile, Elizabeth of The Owlery Books, Alyssa of pucksandpaperbacks, and April Sarah of April Sarah. It happens three times a year. This particular round is going to be a mini round from Nov 5 to Nov 7 Nov 3 to Nov 5 - apparently I had it written down incorrectly and missed two days. There are 3 challenges:

1. Read a book with a fall connection (story takes place in fall, was published in the fall, the author has a fall birthday, etc.)
2. Read a book with RAMA in the title or author's name
3. Read 3 books in 3 days

My TBR contains just one book, but I may attempt to read two more books if I get through that particular one. The author's birthday is October 15th and RAMA is in the title.

Read Me Like a Book

Updated on 11/6: I failed pretty hard at this because I had my dates wrong. I don't know why I thought it was Nov 5 to 7, but I didn't start Read Me Like a Book until early Sunday morning and then I didn't really read too much yesterday because I thought I had two more days. :(

Total books finished: 0

Total pages read: 21

 

Book Review: The Surrendered by Case Maynard

Publish Date: September 20, 2016
240 Pages [Kindle edition]
Published by Blaze Publishing, LLC

Synopsis:

After a financial collapse devastates the United States, the new government imposes a tax on the nation’s most valuable resource—the children.

Surrendered at age ten—after her parents could no longer afford her exorbitant fees—Vee Delancourt has spent six hard years at the Mills, alongside her twin, Oliver. With just a year to freedom, they do what they can to stay off the Master’s radar. But when Vee discovers unspeakable things happening to the younger girls in service, she has no choice but to take a stand—a decision that lands her on the run and outside the fence for the first time since the System robbed her of her liberty.

Vee knows the Master will stop at nothing to prove he holds ultimate authority over the Surrendered. But when he makes a threat that goes beyond what even she considers possible, she accepts the aid of an unlikely group of allies. Problem is, with opposing factions gunning for the one thing that might save them all, Vee must find a way to turn oppression and desperation into hope and determination—or risk failing all the children and the brother she left behind.

Books I Read in October

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris - 4 stars (finished 10/2)
BOOK 11 IN SOUTHERN VAMPIRE MYSTERY SERIES
I had originally rated this at 3 stars, but after this reread, I bumped it up to 4 stars. I'm not even sure what I was talking about because this book definitely had substance. There was plenty of moving parts to different pieces of the story and I am ready to finally get to book 12 and 13, to finish out the series. I realized that I had flipped through the novella-type book that comes after book 13 and I know who Sookie ends up with, unfortunately.