The Bookmark Lit Bulletin wraps up the last month in reading and what was on the blog, as well as what’s coming up next. You can check out my book haul, books read, posts shared, challenge updates, etc. You can read past bulletins here. If you’re looking for more personal updates, you can check out my Lauren Lately feature; it highlights my life events and non-bookish fun from the previous 30 days.
December involved just enough reading to satisfy my Goodreads Challenge, as well as my Christmas-loving heart. I managed to finish 8 Christmas books (I started 2 more but DNFed them, unfortunately)! It was so nice to just get lost in the holiday feels over the month and not worry about the challenges I decided not to finish for the year.
10 books read in December
10 new reads • 0 reread • 2 DNF
4,009 pages read including up to 23:57 of audio
Source: 10 owned books {8 review copies}
2 borrowed books {0 review copies}
Formats: 1 hardcover | 2 paperbacks | 0 ARCs
5 egalleys | 0 ebook | 0 audio | 3 read/listen combinations
Average rating this month: 3.9 stars
Favorite
Most Festive
Quickest
Disappointing
All of the books from this month:
Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.!
Popsugar Reading Challenge
0 read this month | 38 read total | 95% complete
Monthly Motif Challenge
2 read this month | 28 read total
This month: Last chance
Retellings Reading Challenge
0 read this month | 7 read total | 70% complete
Picky Pledge
My goal is to work on Alexa and Hannah’s Picky Pledge, reading one book from my shelves per month that fits a category on this TBR idea list. (I may read more each month but I’ll just highlight one book and category.)
This month: None
Breakdown: 1 bought | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 4 for review
All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review.
For Review via Netgalley
From Gallery Books: The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren
From Berkley: Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
From Atria Books: To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters
For Review via Pub Mail
From Katherine Tegan Books: The Hand on the Wall by Johnson
Purchased
Purchased for Kindle sale: Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Hardstark/Kilgariff
- [6 Dec] The Matchmaker's Mistletoe Mission by Jaci Burton ★★★★
- [6 Dec] 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston ★★★★½
- [11 Dec] A Wedding in December: A Christmas Novel by Sarah Morgan ★★★½
- [21 Dec] Coming Home for Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne ★★★★
- [25 Dec] The White Christmas Inn by Colleen Wright ★★★★½
- [25 Dec] Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
- [27 Dec] Snowfall on Cedar Trail by Annie Rains ★★★★
- [27 Dec] Christmas at Silver Falls by Jenny Hale ★★★★
- [2 Dec] Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2019
- [3 Dec] Top Ten Tuesdays #264: Holiday
- [5 Dec] Holiday Decor Home Tour
- [7 Dec] Lauren Lately | Nov-Dec 2019
- [9 Dec] #AllIWantForeverReadALong Kickoff and Miranda Liasson Interview
- [10 Dec] Top Ten Tuesdays #265: Freebie
- [13 Dec] 2020 Resolutions and Challenge Sign-Up
- [16 Dec] #ChristmasMovieADay (40 Movies) | Part 1
- [17 Dec] Top Ten Tuesdays #266: Winter TBR
- [18 Dec] Christmas Q&A
- [20 Dec] Spotlight: Calendar of Crime Challenge
- [24 Dec] Top Ten Tuesdays #267: Under My Tree
- [26 Dec] January TBR
- [30 Dec] 2019 End of Year Survey
- [31 Dec] Top Ten Tuesdays #268: Favorites of 2019
December: Enjoy Christmas books ✔
January: End the month ahead of schedule for GR Challenge
I definitely succeeded in reading a lot of holiday books in December! I cranked through most of them throughout the month, but especially in the days leading up to Christmas. There were only TWO books I read that didn’t have to do with the holiday season!
For January, as usual, I hope to end the month ahead on my Goodreads Challenge. I don’t care if that means I read some short books to get ahead or what, but I always like to end the first month of the year AHEAD. I’m setting my goal at 120 books again because 10 per month is pretty feasible/easy for me most of the time. I hope to get to maybe 12+ in January.
ARC Reviews: I read a couple of books last year that are publishing in early 2020, so you can expect to see some quick reviews for those!
Five Star Predictions: I always try to put these together in January because it’s fun to see if I was correct by the end of the year! I didn’t read a lot of five-star books in 2019 but hopefully these come through for 2020.
Anatomy of a TBR Post: I wrote one version of this post a little while back but I’ve since updated my TBR planning for 2020. You already saw hints of it in my January TBR post from last month! I hope it keeps me on track and focused on specific reading goals, while allowing enough wiggle room and options!
PopSugar Reading Challenge Ideas: I posted another one of these for last year’s challenge and honestly 2020 looks great for this one so far! I honestly may read more than 40/50 prompts. I hope this list helps others and keeps me in line too!
Check out my January TBR post! ?
Ahhhh I just requested The Honey Don’t List toooo (RIP my NetGalley ratio lol). Also, I didn’t have many 5 star reads in 2019 either-I hope 2020 is better!
I know, I really need to get NG to 80% this year lol. I’m hoping to do better in 2020 because I think a lot of the time I hem and haw too much about five stars. If I loved the book, I should go with my gut!
I had an overall lower average rating this last year too which was odd! Here’s to better this year! You got so many Christmas books read! I didn’t get nearly as many as I wanted to but am still sort of carrying the holiday books over into the new year, ha!
Haha yesss, why not! January can still be snowy 😉
The Hand in the Wall!!!! I can’t wait to read that one. 🙂 Also I really enjoyed Stay Sexy. I listened to the Audible version on my commute and teared up really hard during one of Karen’s sections. I hope you enjoy it!
Oooh good to know – I was thinking I’d probably mix in the audio too! I love when the “celebrity” narrates their own memoir.