I’ve been doing these resolutions for the past couple of years and found that it’s a really nice way to keep track of some goals for the upcoming year. I’ll be honest when I say that generally “resolutions” or the “clean slate of a new year” isn’t my shtick, but sometimes the marking of a new year just helps when setting new goals. It’s an easy marker of time and that’s about it. You can find 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 resolutions as well. Continue to not feel pressured to read and enjoy other hobbies | I feel like a broken record with this one but honestly I have to remind myself every year to KEEP DOING THIS. I used to get so bogged down in meeting my goal or challenges that I would focus exclusively on reading every second I could. I would have the audiobooks going during my morning routine in commute, plus another book to read from the second I sat on the couch after dinner until bedtime. It’s nice to read all time because DUH I love reading, but I really want to feel like I can veg out for a week straight with my favorite show instead. Read 50% or less contemporary novels | I got SO close to completing this goal in 2018 – I was about 3% over! I’m genuinely quite impressed with myself because I think it’s the closest I’ve ever been. I know I can definitely get under 50% for contemporary books in 2019 because […]

The first Jenny Hale book I read was A Christmas to Remember – I could see the holiday feels right from the beginning of the story and knew she’d become my go-to holiday romance author. I immediately read her debut, Coming Home For Christmas, in the same month. I’d receive a copy of her newest book for review ever year since then and the rest, as they say, is history! When Forever approached me to host this read-a-long, I was so excited to share one of my go-to authors with you all for the millionth time. If you’re a fan of the classic Hallmark Christmas movie, I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed with any of her books. This story in particular happens to be one of my very favorites of hers. Read-a-long Details If you’re in the mood for the perfect holiday read, you’ve come to the right place today! I’m kicking off the Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses read-a-long with Forever Romance. Jenny Hale’s novel is now available in paperback from major retailers. You can learn a bit more here and see our suggested schedule below. Please read at your own pace if you’d like. Be sure to use the hashtag #AllHaleXmasWishes on Twitter so you can chat with me (@bookmarklit), Jenny Hale (@JHaleAuthor), and the Forever Romance team (@ReadForeverPub)! Read-a-long schedule: December 3: Chapters 1-6 December 4: Chapters 6-12 December 5: Chapters 12-18 December 6: Chapters 18-24 December 7: Chapters 24-30 Forever Romance holiday giveaway: If you purchase […]

ARC August is over! I signed up because I had some goals to get my ARC percentage to 80% by the end of the year, so this challenge was set to be a nice push for both backlist books and some coming later this year. I planned to focus on egalleys, with maybe a couple of ARCs in between, because I can focus on the NG/EW Challenge I’m working on. All of the details for this challenge can be found here! Challenge Tracking ARCs read: Book title/author: After Nightfall by AJ Banner Dates read: 8/1 – 8/2 Book title/author: Unclaimed Baggage by Jen Doll Dates read: 8/4 – 8/10 Book title/author: Sadie by Courtney Summers Dates read: 8/5 – 8/7 Book title/author: The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyenne Young Dates read: 8/7 – 8/14 Book title/author: Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Dates read: 8/11 – 8/13 Book title/author: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle Dates read: 8/15 – 8/22 Book title/author: A Date with Darcy by Tiffany Schmidt Dates read: 8/2 – 8/21 DNF Book title/author: One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards Dates read: 8/23 – 8/26 Book title/author: The Universe is Expanding and So Am I by Carolyn Mackler Dates read: 8/26 – 8/28 Non-ARCs read: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Strange New World by Rachel Vincent Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire Final Numbers Total ARCs read: 9 Total non-ARCs read: 3 Percentage of ARCs: 75% My goal was to have 75% of the books I read this month be ARCs. That way, if I […]

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 20th and runs through Sunday, August 26th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 23 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team Instead of posting a million updates or even a kickoff post, I decided to do my tracking in this post (while it was a draft) and just let the final numbers publish at the end of the readathon. I did write a goals and TBR sign-up post though. I usually have a goal to read double the normal amount of books I would in one week but I don’t really see that happening, so I adjusted my plans for the readathon a little bit. Here are my original goals, how I progressed, and the final numbers/bingo cards after completing BoB. Original Goals & Thoughts Because this readathon fell during ARC August, my goal was to read only ARCs during the readathon. This didn’t work out quite as well as I planned because I started a library book the week before BoB started and didn’t have time to finish it over the weekend. I was traveling, watching wrestling, and doing some family stuff all weekend instead. My other goal was to make progress on both […]

ARC August is halfway over! I signed up because I have some goals to get my ARC percentage to 80% by the end of the year, so this challenge will be a nice push for both backlist books and some coming later this year. I will probably focus mostly on egalleys, with maybe 2-4 physical ARCs in between, so I can focus on the NG/EW Challenge I’m working on. Here is where I’ll outline my goals, TBR, readathon plans, and bookish bingo. All of the details for this challenge can be found here! Goals and Plans I really would love to somehow get my Netgalley percentage up to 80% this month but I don’t think it’ll be super feasible. I’m currently stuck around 71% and definitely need to read more than 10 books to improve. (ETA: after completing the books below, I’m at 73%!) I hope to read mostly ARCs throughout the month, again primarily egalleys. My goal is for 75% of the books I read in August to be ARCs, that way I don’t have a set number to stress about. I have been reading 10+ books each month so that looks like 7 or 8 if I stick to what I assume will happen. Challenge Tracking Book title/author: After Nightfall by AJ Banner Dates read: 8/1 – 8/2 Book title/author: Unclaimed Baggage by Jen Doll Dates read: 8/4 – 8/10 Book title/author: Sadie by Courtney Summers Dates read: 8/5 – 8/7 Book title/author: The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyenne Young Dates read: 8/7 – […]

Of course I’m signing up for Bout of Books, y’all! When do I not? I happen to love when this falls during ARC August because then I can usually get hyper-specific about my goals and make sure ARC August is successful. Here’s more info on the readathon in case you aren’t aware: The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 20th and runs through Sunday, August 26th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 23 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team The good thing about this one is that I actually don’t have any plans that week, as of right now. My life has been quite busy since moving home and I find myself with SO many packed weeks and weekends. I wanted to do the ARC August Readathon earlier this month but I ended up having zero free time to read. I hope to really knock out some reading during Bout of Books week and enjoy my newly furnished porch! Goals Because its happening during ARC August, I’m going to only read ARCs during Bout of Books. I’ve done this in the past and it’s very helpful. My usual goals for ARC August involve reading a certain percentage of […]

I’m excited to join another round of ARC August! I have some goals to get my ARC percentage to 80% by the end of the year, so this challenge will be a nice push for both backlist books and some coming later this year. I will probably focus mostly on egalleys, with maybe 2-4 physical ARCs in between, so I can focus on the NG/EW Challenge I’m working on. Here is where I’ll outline my goals, TBR, readathon plans, and bookish bingo. All of the details for this challenge can be found here! Goals and Plans I really would love to somehow get my Netgalley percentage up to 80% this month but I don’t think it’ll be super feasible. I’m currently stuck around 71% and definitely need to read more than 10 books to improve. I hope to read mostly ARCs throughout the month, again primarily egalleys. My goal is for 75% of the books I read in August to be ARCs, that way I don’t have a set number to stress about. I have been reading 10+ books each month so that looks like 7 or 8 if I stick to what I assume will happen. I’m going to include 3-5 books in each category below so I have a good mix to pick from. I’ll let my mood reading guide me so I’m not going to make restrictions about how many from each section. TBR for 1st Half of August I’m adjusting my TBR a little bit based on books […]