Category: Book Lists

Most Anticipated Reads of 2021 – How Did I Do?

Posted January 12, 2022 / Book Lists, Features / 1 Comment
Most Anticipated Reads of 2021 – How Did I Do?

I developed an annual post of “Five Star Predictions” to discuss which books I thought I would rate five stars within that year, and then follow up with a “did my five star predictions come true?” post at the end of the year. It was always fun to not only see if I was correct but also if I actually managed to even READ all of the books. It’s wild how much you anticipate reading something and then just… not even read it. 2020 and 2021 were totally shitty reading years for me and I didn’t even make a predictions post for 2021. When I saw Cristina post about her most anticipated 2021 reads to see how she did with them, I thought that would be a fun alternative for my usual five-star post. I always have two “anticipated reads” posts for the year – one TTT in Dec/Jan for the first half of the year and one in June for the second half. I always include a TON of books instead of just 10 for each section of the year. Here are the details of the 30 books I was excited to read throughout 2021 and how I fared! Overall Stats 30 books on my most anticipated list for 2021 Read 17 books (57%) | Didn’t read 13 books (43%) Ratings of books read: 5 stars = 2 books = 12% 4.5 stars = 6 books = 35% 4 stars = 7 books = 41% 3 stars = 1 […]

January TBR

Posted January 5, 2022 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
January TBR

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. January TBR I had just a couple of TBRs toward the end of the year because I didn’t do a lot of planning with my reading in October/November. My last actual monthly TBR was for September because I did a “holiday reads” kind of TBR and an EOY TBR around November. In any case, I completely forgot to even make a TBR for January for a bit because I’m out of practice! I do love planning the first books I’m going to read for a fresh year and brand new Goodreads challenge though. Library Books I’ve had all three of these since late 2021 and am hoping to get to them early this year! I’ve determined that YOU’LL BE THE DEATH OF ME will be my first read of the year – I’m writing this on the first so there’s a good chance I finished already by the time this post.  OF PRINCES AND PROMISES and YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED are two books I was looking forward to last year and will try to read ASAP. Review Copies The first three books here are publishing this week, so I’m aiming to […]

2022 Illustrated Covers

Posted December 29, 2021 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments
2022 Illustrated Covers

I asked people for help building out my 2022 release queue because I didn’t spend my usual amount of time on Goodreads this year. Andi and Morgan came through with links to their shelves and I added a ton of books! I was looking at all of the cute covers and thought I’d do a little roundup of some of my favorites coming next year.

Holidays 2021 | To Read & Watch

Posted November 12, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment
Holidays 2021 | To Read & Watch

Usually I’m getting jazzed up for Christmas in September and forcing myself to wait until at least Halloween, but this year I’ve been feeling weird! I’m not super duper into the holiday spirit like I expected, post-Halloween. I’ve been listening to my holiday music since 11/1 and hopefully reading some holiday books at the end of the month PLUS decorating this week will be helpful. Here we go – onto the usual holiday fun and plans! Here’s a roundup of ALL of the holiday books I may read, including review copies (both backlist and current year), new releases, and backlist titles that have intrigued me. I have one or two review copies from last year and then the rest were this year’s holiday releases. As usual, most come out in October or November and I’m always late to read them. I definitely will be getting to all of the 2021 holiday ARCs I have though because I’m super excited for them! I usually know that I’ll only get to a couple new releases that aren’t review copies, just based on timing of reading! However, I decided to keep a bunch of them here to browse and remind myself. There are a TON of amazing holiday books – I think I’ll go ahead and request some of these from the library! I didn’t read any of the backlist copies I had on here last year, and so many keep carrying over! The two books in the right column are 2020 releases […]

Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read Yet

Posted November 11, 2021 / Book Lists, Features / 1 Comment
Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read Yet

Yes, I have been a horrible reader this year. It’s not ACTUALLY that surprising that I haven’t read any of these because I’ve primarily read cookbooks and review copies I’ve been trying to keep on top of (not successfully). But there are a number of books I’ve been super excited for – whether it’s a new book from a favorite author, or a new series/standalone that sounds perfect for me, there are so many books I should really have made a priority to read. The Tea Dragon Tapestry // I always read these ASAP because they’re so quick and cute. The illustrations are completely adorable. Twist // I read and enjoyed LOOP (love me a time travel book) a while ago and definitely should have read book two immediately after. I haven’t been super in the mood for it unfortunately but I do hope to get to it next year! The Unexpected Everything // I do try to leave one book unread by some of my favorite authors for some weird reason, so I haven’t read this one by Matson. It’s also a HUGE book, which is a little annoying for a contemporary romance. A Week of Mondays // I love Groundhog Day-style books and this one has been on and off my “you have to read this soon” list for a long time. I even own it. It’s also kind of long, which doesn’t help. The Fallen Kingdom // This is the third and final book in a series I really loved. I’m kind […]

November and December (EOY) TBR

Posted November 3, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
November and December (EOY) TBR

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. November and December TBR I didn’t post a TBR for October since I didn’t do much reading in both September and October. I kept thinking the wedding wouldn’t derail me but I just didn’t have a lot of brain power to read, and spent most of my time watching TV with Chris or scrolling on my phone (annoyingly). I’m back in the swing of things for November now that my blog break is over. I usually like to develop a combined November and December TBR to target book to read by the end of the year, instead of by month. I don’t typically include my Christmas reading in these but I have a lot of review copies that are holiday reads. As of the time of writing this on 11/1, I need to finish 14 books to meet my new reduced goal of 75 books read. Here are the most likely 14+ books I’ll read or finish to complete the Goodreads challenge! Currently Reading / Recently Finished in Nov.   I really should have put RULE OF WOLVES on hold. I decided that I am determined to finish this year. With around […]

Upcoming Mystery/Thrillers on my TBR

Posted September 23, 2021 / Book Lists, Features / 4 Comments
Upcoming Mystery/Thrillers on my TBR

I’m finding in these shitty reading times that mystery/thrillers have been the key to getting some reading spark back. I usually want to read them quickly and will finish in a few sittings, in order to race to the end and see whodunnit. I also enjoy these in audio format because I spend most of my audio-listening-time with true crime podcasts… and mystery-based audiobooks can be just as addicting! I thought I would highlight some upcoming mystery/thriller books I have on my TBR – both books that recently published and those that are coming soon. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley // February 2022 I’ve really enjoyed her previous two mystery novels and haev been anxiously awaiting her third! The MC travels to Paris to escape her life for a bit and live with her brother, who ends up being completely MIA when she arrives. Did one of his neighbors have something to do with his disappearance? These Deadly Games by Diana Urban // February 2022 I’ve got this waiting on my Kindle and it’s taken a lot of effort to not read it ASAP! This one sounds intriguing overall but I’m mostly interested because of how much I enjoyed her debut mystery and its plot. The MC is forced to play a kidnapper’s game and she has to choose between hurting or killing her friends, or getting her sister killed. Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano // February 2022 Genuinely depressed I have to wait until February […]

September TBR

Posted September 1, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
September TBR

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. September TBR August, again, was terrible. I was somewhat busy but honestly it’s mostly just that I don’t prioritize reading. I got super into some new podcasts and listened to very little on audio. I only managed to read 7 books in August because THREE were cookbooks. Currently Reading    I am somehow still reading RULE OF WOLVES although I’m pretty sure “reading” is a strong word, since I’ve only read 2-3 chapters since the last time I wrote about this here. I do genuinely need to make a commitment to reading a chapter a day (or listening to an audio chapter) until it’s done. I’m also still working through THE INTUITIVE EATING WORKBOOK because it’s a little repetitive after reading the full book and working in my group coaching. It’ll get done eventually and be a quick boost to my reading numbers when it happens. Physical/Owned Books These are holdovers too, whoops. I got ARSENIC AND ADOBO in my recent BOTM package and it’s been sitting there! I’m excited to read it but I’ve been Kindle-addicted lately. I also got DONUTS AND OTHER PROCLAMATIONS OF LOVE from Laura (the author’s agent) […]

August TBR

Posted August 4, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments
August TBR

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. August TBR July was another rough month. I did manage to check some books off my list but when I would have usually finished 1-2 books in the final weekend of the month, I was at my friend’s wedding and didn’t have any time to read for quite a few days. There are at least two books I’ll be able to finish off ASAP this month at least. Currently Reading and Just Finished    Yes, RULE OF WOLVES is here for the millionth time. Really hoping I can actually finally follow through on my plan to listen to one chapter or read one chapter per day until it’s done this month. I’m just sick of having it on here and really hope once I get rolling and things start happening in the book a little more, I’ll be itching to just finish it off. I’m almost done with INTUITIVE EATING and plan to finish off the INTUITIVE EATING WORKBOOK soon as well. Physical/Owned Books I got ARSENIC AND ADOBO in my recent BOTM package and it’s been sitting there! I’m excited to read it but I’ve been Kindle-addicted lately. I also got […]

July TBR

Posted July 5, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
July TBR

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. July TBR I’m in terrible shape here y’all. I’m even further behind. I hope to read a few graphic novels this month to get slightly back on track. This TBR post is also late so I will cheat and include the book or two I’ve already read. I’m also ready to admit defeat on some of the books I keep carrying from month to month on my TBR, like INSTANT KARMA and MAJESTY. I want to focus on review copies for the next month or two because I somehow went wild on Netgalley and ended up with 10 more last month. Currently Reading and Just Finished   Yes, RULE OF WOLVES is here. I put it on hold for a few weeks while I read another fantasy book because I don’t like reading two of the same genre at once. I do hope to do my “chapter a day until I finish” plan for this one beginning ASAP because I want it off my shelf. I started COMING HOME TO SEASHELL HARBOR right after finishing THE WOODS ARE ALWAYS WATCHING because I needed something contemporary right afterwards. That was a tough (but […]