Category Archives: wrap up

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February 2024 Reading Wrap UP

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February was a great month of reading, but not a great month health wise. I had my worst crash of my Long Covid journey, and have been recovering for most of the month. I’m extra thankful for books and book friends for keeping my spirits up when things were extra hard! 

Photo 1: My physical reads

Photo 2: Reading Goal Check in

Reading Goals:
💖 Physical TBR: 7 of 6 
💖 Total read: 18 / total brought into my house: 25 – closer to equal but still very much not 
💖 Diverse Authors: 9 of 7 planned
💖 ARCs: 6 of 8 planned 
💖 BOTM: 1 of 1

Photo 3: ARCs

Photo 4: Diverse Author / Book breakdown (could be diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, physical difference, neurodiversity, or something else!)

Photo 5: March plans

See my Instagram pinned posts for information on the two challenges!

All the books

Key:
😍 Reread
📖 physical/ebook
🎧 Audiobook
📖🎧 = mix of both
📓 ARC / ALC 
🖋 Reviewed 
📚 Series
🖤 BIPOC Author
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ Representation
🗣️ Mind, Body, Spirit Representation

I have linked to my own review if you want to read more!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧🖋📚 Eleven Scandals to Start…
📖🎧🖋📚🗣️ Always Only You 
📖📓📚🖤 Kiss the Girl
📖📚 Deja Brew

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧🖋📚🖤 Rebel
📖🎧🖋📚 Castle of Dusk and Shadows
📖🎧📓🖋📚🏳️‍🌈 One Night in Hartswood
📖🎧📚 Blood & Steel

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📓🖋📚 Ruthless Vows
📖🎧🖋📚🖤 The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes
📖🎧📚🗣️ Six Scorched Roses
📖🎧📚🖤 Wild Rain
📖🎧📚 The Highlander Who Protected Me 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖📚 Mastering the Marquess 

⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📓📚🗣️ Fangirl Down (skip the audiobook, read with eyes!)
📖🎧📓 Here in Avalon (lit fic readers might like it more than I did)

⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📓🖋 The Breakup Tour

QotD: What was your favorite read in February? Do we have any books in common? Do you have any goals for March?

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January Wrap Up

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❄️January Wrap Up ❄️ 

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Image 1: My physical reads

I started out January feeling a little slumpy after binge reading 9 books in a week, but I ended up having a good reading month! I honestly felt like I was just reading out of habit, but half of my brain was just counting down the days until HOFAS. 

Image 2: Reading Goal Check in

Reading Goals:
❄️ Physical TBR: 6 of 6 
❄️ Total read: 13 / total brought into my house: I don’t want to talk about it, it was my birthday month. More than 13. Thank you all so much for your generosity!!!
❄️ Diverse Authors: 8 of 7 planned
❄️ ARCs: 7 of 8 planned 
❄️ BOTM: 0 of 1 

Image 3: ARCs

Image 4: Diverse Author / Book breakdown (could be diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, physical difference, neurodiversity, or something else!) 

Star Breakdown:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧📓🖋🗣️ Out on a Limb: link to review
😍📖🎧📚🗣️ House of Sky and Breath
📖🎧📓 The Fury: link to review
📖🎧📚🖤 the Marriage Game 
📖🎧📚🗣️ House of Flame and Shadow 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋🖤 Say You’ll Be Mine – link to review
📖🎧🖋📚 The Bone Season – link to review
📖🎧📓 Bride
📖🎧📚 Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖🎧📓🖋📚🏳️‍🌈 The Curse of Penryth Hall – link to review
📖🎧🖋📚🏳️‍🌈 Electric Idol – link to review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋📚🖤 Unladylike Lessons in Love 

Key:

😍 Reread
📖 physical/ebook
🎧 Audiobook
📖🎧 = mix of both
📓 ARC / ALC 
🖋 Reviewed 
📚 Series
🖤 BIPOC Author
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ Author
🗣️ Mind, Body, Spirit Diverse Author 

If it doesn’t have a 🖋, the review will be coming next month! 

Image 5: February plans
HOFAS: Fable link
ARC challenge
Diverse Reading Challenge

QotD: What was your favorite read in January? Do we have any books in common? Do you have any goals for February?

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December Reading Wrap Up

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Happy New Year! I had a great time reading in December but am now desperately in need of a 5 star, can’t-put-it-down book! I’m hoping this month’s reread of Crescent City 2 does the trick!

❄️ Long Covid Update❄️

In December I started working with a physical therapy program that specializes in chronic fatigue and other Long Covid issues. Exercise with LC is extremely difficult because most people with fatigue symptoms get Post-Exercise Malaise (PEM) – basically you feel worse and can’t do anything else for some time after exercising. And by time, it could be days. So, definitely needed some professional help! It’s going really well overall – some days I feel amazing after PT and others I feel drained – but overall I am learning how to manage my symptoms more so I don’t have extreme energy crashes. I’ve regained a lot of mental clarity and have started to actually make plans and follow through with them! I cannot tell you how much I’ve missed feeling like an adult who can handle adult responsibilities. 

Reading Goals:

❄️ 23 for ‘23: 6 of 4 planned
❄️ PopSugar: 3 of 3 planned (finished the 2023 challenge!)
❄️ ARCs: 6 read, 2 December ARCs missed
❄️ Physical TBR backlist: 6 of 4 
❄️ BOTM: 1 of 1 (finished the 2023 challenge!) (Ok I DNFed it but that counts.)

Key:
😍 Reread
📖 physical/ebook
🎧 Audiobook
📖🎧 = mix of both
📓 ARC / ALC 
🖋 Reviewed on instagram, goodreads, TikTok
📚 Series
If it doesn’t have a 🖋, the review will be coming next month!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📓🖋📚 Undercover Bromance
📖📓🖋📚 Wreck the Halls
📖🎧📓🖋📚 A Lady’s Rules for Ruin 
😍📖🎧📚 House of Earth and Blood
🎧 Long Way Down

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋 The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed
🎧 Amor Actually 
😍📖📚 Lore Olympus Vol. 2
📖📚 Lore Olympus Vol. 3

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖🎧📚 The Forest Grimm
📖🎧📚 A Lot Like Adios
📖🎧📓📚 A Merry Little Meet Cute
📖📓📚 Second Duke’s the Charm
🎧📚 A Wallflower Christmas
📖📚 The Captain’s Midwinter Bride 
🎧📚 Tastes Like Shakkar 
🎧 Same Time Next Year 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋📚 Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧📚 Playing the Odds (I read this just to finish the PopSugar Challenge) 

What was your favorite read in December? Do we have any books in common? Do you have any goals for January?

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2024 Reading Goals

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Since I have just now finished the PopSugar 2023 challenge, let’s talk 2023 Reflection & 2024 goals!

2023 Reflection

I had 5 goals for my reading in 2023, and I am really proud of how well I did! Now, let’s make sure we mention the huge caveat that I was home all year with Long Covid so these became kind of my main goals since I wasn’t working and I can’t actually control my health and make goals for that. 

1. Read 100 books – I read 175!

2. ARCs – prioritize reading new ARCs on time. I forgot about this one but I did try. I do have a bit of a backlist for 2023, but percentage wise I did better than in previous years! My big goal was to get to 50% on Netgalley in 2023 which I met in July! My peak was 54%! 

3. Read Physical TBR -my goal was to read as many books this year as I buy and add to my physical shelves – I read almost twice as much as I purchased (physical books). But if the problem is having room for the physical books, I did not take into account this year would be the year that publishers would start sending me physical books…

4. Read diverse authors – focus on Latinx (Goal 6, read 10). This was easier when I started prioritizing reading one BIPOC Romance per week. 

5. Finish PopSugar Challenge – I finished! Something that helped this year was that I did a better job prioritizing the harder prompts!

2024 Goals

1. Read 100 books – I don’t like to focus on the number, since I know I will read less if I finally make it back to work. I also don’t want to feel like I can’t take my time with a longer fantasy book if that’s what I want to read!

2. Physical TBR – I personally get stressed out by the number of unread books on my shelves. 

📕Get new shelves – ordered and my husband is going to help me get them put up as my Christmas + birthday present 💖💖

📕 Books in = books finished. However many books I bring into my house, I want to equal the number that I read!

📕 Read at least 50% of the books I acquire  

3. Diversity – I’m hosting a challenge to help keep me accountable this year, and would love for you to join me! This challenge is extremely open ended, and can be combined with PopSugar, A-Z, or any other challenge that you like to do!

📕 At least 1 BIPOC author each week, at least 1 of those each month should be a new release

📕 At least 2 LGBTQ+ authors each month

📕 At least 1 “Mind, Body, Spirit” diverse author each month 

4. ARCs – end the year at 60% on Netgalley.

5. Challenges – 

📕 My Diversity Challenge on Instagram

📕 Review Challenge on Instagram

📕 Reading Rivalry on Facebook

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October Favorites

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This month started very promising – I read 10 books by October 16th. After finishing my 100th book of the year, I lost my momentum with binge reading all day and have only finished two books since then. Which makes it sound like I quit reading, which I haven’t, I’ve just been reading Kingdom of Ash at a reasonable person’s pace of 50 pages a day. Unfortunately that book is almost 1,000 pages long, so at this rate it’ll take me until well into November to finish it.

I earn a small commission if you buy using my links – thank you for supporting my reviews!

Fantasy

Tower of Dawn

Amazon | Bookshop

Tower of Dawn is the second to last book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. If you’re new to Throne of Glass, you’ll want to start with either Assassin’s Blade (novella prequel set) or Throne of Glass (the first book). Right now is a great time to buy if you want the original covers – the new covers come out in February 2023.

Paranormal fiction

Sign Here

Amazon | Bookshop

Sign Here is maybe the best debut novel I’ve read all year. Chapters alternate between Pey – who works for Hell – and the family he is trying to make a deal with. Sign Here is completely different from anything I’ve read all year, and I was riveted until the very end! If you love dark humor, this is for you.

I would check trigger warnings if you have any sensitivities – there are pretty vivid depictions of torture and self harm. There were two pages I barely skimmed and mostly skipped.

For the Bridgerton Fans

A Reckless Match

Amazon | Bookshop

A Reckless Match was my first Kate Bateman book, and I immediately read the second in this series. I would have read the third too, but it doesn’t come out until December!

This series follows rival families the Davies and the Montgomerys (Montgomeries?). No one remembers quite how the rivalry started – was it over a stolen pig or a stolen woman? – but they are committed to continuing the rivalry.

If you like childhood rivals to lovers, you’ll love this one.

Devil in Winter

Amazon | Bookshop

Devil in Winter is the third book in the Wallflowers series, but is everyone’s favorite. If you cannot handle reading books out of order, you can start with the first book – but it’s everyone’s least favorite. I would recommend reading the second – It Happened One Autumn – before Devil in Winter, because it does set this book up nicely.

The Wallflowers series follows four friends – Annabelle, Lillian, Evie, & Daisy – who band together to help fight their wallflower tendencies so that they can get husbands.

All of the books I read in October

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well Met (reread)
The Hating Game (reread)
Pride and Prejudice (reread)
Tower of Dawn
Devil in Winter
The Four Winds

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
It Happened One Autumn

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Reckless Match
A Daring Pursuit
Sign Here
Northanger Abbey