I’ve gotten to the point in the year where the challenge prompts are not easy to fill organically or naturally anymore – it’s time to make an actual effort to finish things off! As of the end of April, some challenges are definitely looking better than others! Here’s a quick check-in (more detailed than my monthly wrap-ups) on my challenges, how many books I’ve read, what books I can read to finish off some more prompts, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge Status: 27 books read out of 50 prompts (54%) Goal = 40 prompts completed It’s pretty good to hit over 50% on a challenge like this around April! Just goes to show it can be easy to fill in certain prompts more so than others. Here are some of the reading plans I have to potentially finish up this challenge and/or get close to my goal. (There are some prompts I’m sure I won’t get to and/or won’t bother planning for them, so this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the prompts left!) Bought from indie bookstore: Legends & Lattes – actually kicking off May with this book so it’ll be finished soon! I bought this from RJ Julia, my favorite indie in Connecticut. About a forbidden romance: Once Upon a Broken Heart – I’m excited to finally get to this series this year! I fully plan to read this and the second book in September/October so I can dive into the final book in the trilogy when it comes out in October. […]

I’ve been making these posts ALMOST every year since starting my blog (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022). I fell off the wagon for 2021 but I was back preparing for 2022. I posted a few resolutions on my Instagram stories (trying to be better about being active there!) and was reminded to make this post for 2023. I took off the personal resolution section because I just don’t believe in them. I prefer to have some areas of focus for each year but don’t find value in them overall. Stay on track or ahead of my Goodreads challenge | I got really behind last year and will touch on this more a few bullets down, but I want to have my Goodreads goal always say I’m on track or ahead throughout the year. If I read 6-7 books per month as I discuss below, I can maintain my goal progress instead of scrambling in November and December. Keep up Instagram stories about current and completed reads | I usually do this for a few months and lose interest, but I hope that I can keep it up this year. I’m feeling pretty good about where I am overall and hope to build up my Instagram in general. I want to keep up with sharing what I’m currently reading, reviews when I finish books, monthly wrap-ups and TBRs, etc. Read 1-3 owned (physical) books per month | I read a ton of Kindle books each year but have been slightly getting better […]

It’s time for the annual challenge sign-up! I decided to switch things up a little bit this year and try a few new challenges, in addition to a tried-and-true favorite. The 52 Club focuses on reading 52 books in a year, aka one book a week. I feel like (at this point in my life) that could be a more realistic goal for me but I refuse to dip lower than 75 books for my goal. I still thought this would be a fun Popsugar-esque reading challenge for the year! I really like most of the prompts. I hope to read all of the books, as always, but I think a more realistic number is 40. I try to read 40 of the 50 Popsugar prompts per year so let’s assume the same for these. Here are all of the prompts for this year’s challenge: Mystery/Thriller Storygraph Challenge I usually do the Calendar of Crime Challenge but am feeling a little bored of that particular format. Still highly recommend for other mystery/thriller readers if they haven’t tried it before! I recently started using Storygraph in addition to Goodreads and decided to partake in a couple of challenges that are listed there. It seems really easy and fun to join them, so why not?! The first is the Mystery/Thriller Challenge. I definitely think I can get to all of these books. Much like Calendar of Crime, I read at least one (or many) mystery/thriller types of books each month. I can […]

I’ve been inspired lately to try to get back into reading and on track with my book life since I’ve been watching a lot more booktube. (I’m sure most people expected me to say booktok since that’s all the rage but honestly it makes me mad seeing every 3rd video on there recommending Colleen Hoover.) I watched a couple of people do “7 thriller books in 7 days” challenges and thought it would be exactly what I need to get me reading again. I’m currently a whopping 9 books behind on my challenge, so this would certainly help me eliminate a lot of that. I struggle with reading too many books of the same genre in a row though so this is a more broad and basic 7 books in 7 days. Honestly I have a feeling they’ll be mostly thrillers anyways since those tend to be the most addicting for me. I don’t have any real plans after work over the next week including this weekend. I decided to start today (Saturday) around 5pm so I was at a bit of a disadvantage haha. Luckily I’m already in the middle of two books (more below on that) so I figured I could finish one of them today and check that box. This coming Friday and Saturday I have some plans after work so we’ll see how I do then. I posted a July and August TBR the other day so I’ll use that for inspiration below. I also have […]

I used to always do these posts (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) but obviously fell off the wagon for 2021, the first full calendar year of the pandemic. I didn’t even think about making this post honestly! My reading went to shit in 2020 and was even worse in 2021, but I have a renewed sense of energy right now. 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. Try to balance reading and other hobbies better | The resolution to “not be pressured to read; spend time enjoying other hobbies” has been on this list for years now. I used to read during the vast majority of my free time and it got to be draining. I’ve definitely fallen off the wagon a bit in 20-21 though so I’m rephrasing my goal. I want to better balance all of the things I like to do. At this point in my life, that really just means “sometimes listen to an audiobook instead of a podcast” or “stop scrolling on your phone during a wrestling TV show and read instead.” Read 75% contemporary and mystery/thrillers | I used to try to get my contemporary fiction numbers down to under 50% because I wanted to read more widely across genres. I finally achieved this goal! I read 46% contemporary in 2021. I also read 18% […]

I decided to keep signing up for challenges because I do enjoy them still. I didn’t actively work on them in 2020 or 2021 but always loved to see how much I could fill out just by reading books and seeing how things went! Here are the challenges I’m signing up for in 2022. I’m excited to sign up for an easy TBR-based challenge, hopefully focusing on books I own already in some format. You can read more HERE. There are prompts for each month and different levels you can aspire to read (example: 12 books is a Safety – maybe I couldn’t help signing up because it’s football-themed). My general plan is to read one per month from my TBR – ideally physical books but I’m okay with “owned” books on my Kindle, review copies or otherwise. The prompts and half of my potential TBR are below. JANUARY – Published in 2021 (most of these)FEBRUARY – Romantic read (The Heart Principle)MARCH – TV or movie adaptation APRIL – New-to-you author (The Ex Hex, Arsenic and Adobo, Everything We Didn’t Say)MAY – Favorite genre (Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love, The Heart Principle)JUNE – Diverse read (The Heart Principle, Arsenic and Adobo)JULY – Summery readAUGUST – Back to schoolSEPTEMBER – On your TBR the longest (Mister Impossible)OCTOBER – Spooky or suspenseful read (The Ex Hex)NOVEMBER – Unfinished series (Mister Impossible)DECEMBER – Holiday read I’ve done this one for at least three years now (HERE). I just like the variety of prompts and challenges! I usually don’t go wild […]

Am I being ambitious for even thinking about signing up for challenges? I basically stopped actively trying to work on them in 2020 and still managed to squeak out a few additions in the second half of the year by pure coincidence or luck. However, there is something about a fresh slate of challenges and goals that really motivate me. I know turning the calendar to 2021 won’t magically fix the world’s problems but I am finally feeling hopeful about things. That includes my reading life! This is a pretty straightforward challenge, hosted HERE. You basically aim to read books that begin with each letter of the alphabet. They also have mini challenges for each month: JANUARY – A book you purchased in 2020 but didn’t readFEBRUARY – A book with non-romantic love (siblings, parent-child, friendships)MARCH – A book written by a person of a different race than youAPRIL – A book with an Autistic main character (April is Autism Awareness)MAY – A book about a nurse (Nat. Nurses Week 2021 is May 6-12)JUNE – A co-written book (2 authors)JULY – A Christmas book (Christmas in July!)AUGUST – A book by an Indie author (self-published or independent)SEPTEMBER – A memoir/biographyOCTOBER – A book written by a new-to-you authorNOVEMBER – A book outside your normal genreDECEMBER – A backlist title (published BEFORE Jan 1, 2021) I’d like to meet most of these but I’m not 100% sure I will focus on them. It definitely depends on if my reading year looks more like 2020 versus 2019 haha. I’ve done this one for at least three […]