January 2022 TBR & Challenge Update

Happy New Year - and I truly hope it is a much happier year for us because I think it's no surprise that a lot of us are feeling extra burnt out. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to a brand new year of reading and I'm excited for my plan for 2022.

In 2022, I'm continuing to participate in the Words & Whimsy Reading Challenge (new challenge each month - January is "Fate Be With You" theme). You sign up and are split into teams and finish books for points. They also have a mini game, photo challenge, and charity challenge to get points for your team as well. I've been doing it for almost 2 years and I really love it. The community is great and the challenge of getting points is also great - for my competitive nature!

For my December, I didn't push myself to read a lot but still managed to finish 9 books. Because Words & Whimsy criteria is 8 books for full points, I usually try and get to at least 8 and I did!

For 2022, I have 4 goals for myself (but I'm calling them challenges):

1. Read 52 books (Goodreads challenge)
2. Finish 20 series (My updated list will be posted on Jan 17th)
   
3. Read 13 Netgalley books (but I'd love to read more because I'm at 99 books)
   
4. Read 30 books I've previous-to-2022 hauled (calling this my Hauled It challenge)
   

My TBR for January:

• How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan
• Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
  
• Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie
• The Diviners by Libba Bray
• A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
• The Marriage Dilemma by Mariah Ankenman
• The Dating Dilemma by Mariah Ankenman
• Evermore by Sara Holland
  

And check out how well I did in 2021 with my reading challenges/goals!
2021 READING CHALLENGES: should be at 100% 
Goodreads Challenge: 119/50 books - 238% COMPLETED 5/8
Series Challenge: 23/10 series - 230% COMPLETED 6/22
Netgalley Challenge: 13/12 books - 108% COMPLETED 9/28
Owlcrate Challenge: 14/12 books - 117%  COMPLETED 10/28

  What are you planning on reading in January?

Top Ten-ish Favorite Books of 2021

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

I am not mad that I struggle to pick a top ten favorite books. This year, I tried to keep tabs throughout the year of my favorite reads and had every intention of picking one each month. But then I couldn't pick between my two January favorites...and then April happened. There are a LOT of runner ups.

1. The Toll by Neal Shusterman (January)
2. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (January)
3. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (February)*
4. A Promised Land by Barack Obama (March)*
5. Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff (April)*
6. Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson (April)*
7. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (May)*
8. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (June)
9. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (July)*
10. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (August)*
11. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (September)*
12. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (November)
13. Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong (December)
14. A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria (December)
    

Honorable mentions: You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria (February), SLAY by Brittney Morris (February), Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan (March), The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (April), A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (April), City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab (April), Daughter of the Siren Queen by Trisha Levenseller (April), Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert (April), Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (April), Mirage by Somaiya Daud (May), A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown (July), Game Changer by Neal Shusterman (August), The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (September)

Top Ten Books on My Winter 2021/2022 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

I'm a little behind on my seasonal TBRs again, but we'll see how far I can get in the next three months before my next seasonal TBR. It's sooo weird to see 2022 in the title as well. But here we go:

1. A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria: Leftover from my Summer & Fall TBRs - Netgalley book.
2. Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart: Leftover from my Summer & Fall TBRs - library book.
3. The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen - Leftover from my Fall TBR - Netgalley book.
   
4. You Have a Match by Emma Lord - Leftover from my Fall TBR - Netgalley book.
5. Lore by Alexandra Bracken: Leftover from my Fall TBR - Netgalley & Owlcrate book.
6. The Mystwick School of Musicraft by Jessica Khoury - Leftover from my Fall TBR.
7. A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer - Leftover from my Fall TBR.
8. Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey - The sequel to It Happened One Summer, I have this one from Netgalley and it follows the main character from the first book's sister. I'm so excited to read another Tessa Bailey romance. They are always such a good time.
9. It Goes Like This by Miel Moreland - I watched an author chat and really loved the author and I believe this is their debut. I love the cover and it's a YA with lots of queer characters, so I'm super excited to read this one.
   
10. Witchy by Ariel Slamet Ries - I really do not know much about this story but I've heard so many good things about it and the artwork is beautiful AND Nick got it for me for an early anniversary present.
    

November 2021 Book Haul

Hello again and hello to what looks like a really large haul. I have 15 books hauled for the month of November - however, I only have 5 left to read - 2 of which I'm in the middle of and should finish this week. My favorite thing at the moment is to haul a bunch of audiobooks from my library and binge listen to them while I work. It's been pretty wonderful. I've even been able to do some fantasy audiobooks lately!

Top Ten Five Star Predictions Part 3

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

So any time there is a freebie, I want to make five star predictions because it's really fun to see what I think I will like and then turn around and see if it's 5 stars or a "what the heck was I thinking?!" kind of thing. My first predictions post was in February 2020 and I have 4 books left on it. Of the six, 4 were 5-star reads, 2 were not. My second predictions post was in June 2021 and I have 6 books left on it - not really doing my best getting around to these haha. Of the four, 2 were 5-star reads.