Have you ever finished a few GREAT books and thought… okay, now I kind of need to read a bad book. I’ve read some really solid ones, somewhere between 4-5 stars, and now I need something not-so-great. I call these buffer books because they act as a buffer between allll of the good books. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m the only weird one, but let’s see. Where’s my logic in this? Let’s discuss. Cleansing the Palette If I read a number of really good books in a row, I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t like to read too many highly anticipated books one after another, just because I could end up ruining them with a book hangover (more on that later). I never want to bang out 5 great, anticipated reads in a row because JUST MAYBE the 6th one will get ruined. I think this often has to do with genre or certain tropes being used a lot. Either way, I like to read some great books and then “cleanse my reading palette” with one I know might be bad in one way or another. Sometimes it’ll be an author that writes ridiculous and addicting stories. Sometimes it’ll be a book I’m reading completely for nostalgia. Sometimes it’ll be an angsty NA that I know will annoy me but I’ve wanted to read for one reason or another. Either way, tossing a book I think will be “bad” in them middle of a few good ones […]

A lot of books end up on my “jazzed up for this” shelf on Goodreads. I made a whole 2015 challenge about the books I MUST read because I was previously so excited for them. So why do I never read them?! This happens way way way too often. Here are some of the books I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t read even though I’ve been ~so excited~ about them for years.    Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour | This was one of those books I added to my TBR riiiiight before I started blogging. I loved the cover and the Hollywood-centered premise. The Catastrophic History of You & Me by Jess Rothenberg | I love books where people are stuck in between life and death, in that kind of ghost-y afterlife watching their friends and family move on. The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes | This synopsis has me written all over it, but for some reason I haven’t opened it up yet. I even own this book like an asshole, as usual.    17 First Kisses by Rachael Allen | I loooooved the other Rachael Allen book I read and have had this one sitting around for quite some time. I don’t have excuses because this seems perfect for me. Before I Go by Colleen Oakley | Much like the previous one, I read another Colleen Oakley first. BEFORE I GO has been on my shelf for years and the concept sounds great, but I’m not prepared for the sads. My Heart […]

I’m not too bad about reading series as they’re released. Usually I’m excited about the next, upcoming book, and am able to read it ASAP. I’ve had issues with binging series lately even though I used to LOVE it. I wanted to take a look at some of the series I still need to finish up. Most of these are all fully published and I really just need to decide if it’s worth it to keep reading. Let me know your thoughts!     The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas Read: The Burning Sky • Number of books left to read: 2 Why I can’t decide: I did enjoy the first book (including the ship!) but I have not felt the NEED to read the next book(s) yet. I’m not sure why. I can’t figure out if I would like these better reading instead of audio, because the audio was good, but it just didn’t keep me as engaged as I’d hoped. Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins Read: Hex Hall • Number of books left to read: 3 Why I can’t decide: Again, I did like the first book. I even started the second one and then put it aside for a little bit. I’m intrigued to see what will happen next but clearly not interested enough to keep going in binge form. This would be a good one to just roll from one to the next, because the first one was quick, but still. Worldwalker series by Rachel Hawkins Read: Trial By Fire • Number […]

I REALLY WISH I KNEW, OKAY? I’ve always been a huge fan of audiobooks, but I honestly like them more in theory instead of in practice… which means that I force myself to listen to them in order to read more books. Don’t get me wrong: the idea of reading ALL the time when I’d usually be doing anything else (cooking, showering, driving, putting makeup on, etc.) is fantastic. I’ve always been under the impression, though, that the audio format impacts my reading and my ratings more than other formats do. A bad narrator can ruin a book completely. I can lose focus and not pay attention to what’s happening, which causes me to rate the book lower because I “feel like nothing happened.” 🙄 I set out today to explore which audiobook genre is the best for me, and see how ratings are impacted by the genre combination. Audio Ratings by Genre I came to an interesting and unexpected conclusion when I looked at my statistics. My average rating for audiobooks in 2016 was 3.8 stars, which is exactly the same as my overall rating for books in all other formats (ebooks, physical copies, advanced copies, etc.). So it looks like I really don’t rate audiobooks any lower than I rate my other books, even though it feels that way for some reason. Here are my ratings for audiobooks by genre: Contemporary audiobooks: 3.5 stars Fantasy audiobooks: 4.1 stars Paranormal audiobooks: 3.9 stars Retelling audiobooks: 3.5 stars Dystopia audiobooks: 2.7 stars I don’t read […]

Like the vast majority of bloggers I know, I LOVE Goodreads. I don’t think I’ve really ever sat here and explained why though. A while back Kate posted a list about this and I was inspired… then kept a post sitting in my drafts for months. I wanted to revisit it today because I wrote a few Goodreads-related posts back in January that people seemed to like, about how I get ahead on my goal for the year and why I reduce that goal each year. Reasons I’m Addicted to Goodreads 100% bookish things all the time This is definitely the biggest factor for me. I love other social networks for various reasons, but I can get bogged down and distracted very easily. I need to find a better way to balance staying up-to-date on current events and maintaining self-care. In any case, when I need to avoid other social network sites (like Twitter and Facebook when I team I absolutely despise wins the Super Bowl and countless fake fans in my region take to the internet to celebrate), I know I can stay in a happy bookish bubble on Goodreads. I still feel connected to my bloggers and reader-friends, but I won’t see things that will annoy me when I choose to avoid them. Adding books to my TBR and other shelves Keeping track of books is the sole purpose of Goodreads, really, aside from connecting with other book lovers. I aggressively use their shelving system to track books I want […]

I don’t think I’ve ever really had this classic discussion on my blog before. Maybe I’ve referenced it somewhere else, but nothing dedicated. So here we go – do you (or I) prefer reading books in a series or standalone books? I’m going to include companion novels in the “series” category here, FYI. My Numbers I was curious to see how my reading has broken down over the past few years, between series and standalones. I only started tracking my reading extensively in 2015, so I do have some series/standalone-related stats from both 2015 and 2016. Before that… I think I’d have to say I read mostly series? This is mostly because I was obsessed with super-long series about rich people or teens solving murder mysteries. Think: Gossip Girl, Private, Pretty Little Liars, The A-List… All of those had SO many books, so I can only imagine what the breakdown was back then. I don’t even know which standalones I liked at that point in my life. Apparently my numbers are almost even. I read approximately 50% series and 50% standalones, give or take a percentage or two. I read more series than standalones in 2016 but read more standalones than series in 2015. I’m not sure if this has to do with my genre breakdown? But I feel like I read more duologies – which are counted as a series here – in 2016. I know that 2015 was also even more contemporary-oriented than 2016 was, so many of those […]

I liked Shannon’s post a while ago about giving books a fair chance. Sometimes, despite all the warnings, we read books we know we probably won’t like. We want to read them because just MAYBE we will like them. We read and read and read, and (some of us) refuse to DNF. I’m usually one of these people. I always push myself to just finish the thing, especially when I’ve read nearly half of it. The biggest thing with DNFing books usually – for avid Goodreads users – has to do with the challenge. Do I include it in my numbers for the year because I read some of it, or does it not count because I didn’t finish the book? How do you decide? Books I’ve DNFed in my Life The list of books I’ve marked “DNF” is so small, I can include literally all of them here. There are probably a few more from my childhood but I don’t remember at this point. These all happened between college and now. All of these books except two of them were DNFed before the 50% mark. The other two were after.            How many of these will I come back to someday? I would think less than half. Some of them were probably mood-related while others… there’s no coming back to. I usually have a decent idea of what I want from a book. If a bad book can hold my interest, I’ll keep reading. The minute I start losing focus […]

There have been a few TTT topics about debut authors and their sophomore novels (like one’s we’re excited about, can’t wait for, etc.). I was thinking about revisiting some of those posts and reflecting on the authors who haven’t let me down yet, based on their debut and sophomore novels. There’s nothing worse than reading a near-perfect debut and then being disappointed by the author’s second novel. Luckily, there are quite a few authors who absolutely did NOT let me down with their sophomore novel! FYI, some authors here have published adult and/or middle grade books before these YA books, so I’m including them here as debut YA authors (or in one situation, debut adult contemporary authors). First & Then   |   This Adventure Ends  I’m a HUGE fan of these covers obviously, but the books inside? Near perfect. I adored FIRST & THEN because of how cute and addictive it was. The football obviously helped too 😉 THIS ADVENTURE ENDS was pretty amazing because of the friend feels and cute slow-burn romance. The only problem with both of these books is that the romance and kissing came waaaaay too late in the book. We’ll see what her next book does! The One That Got Away   |   Results May Vary Oh, Bethany Chase. You are way too good. I don’t deserve you. Both of her books have been complete hits for me. There was a liiiittle something missing from THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, but RESULTS MAY VARY was amazing. Easily a favorite of 2016. […]

Since I started reading, I’ve always reached for the same books. I like young adult contemporary with some fantasy books mixed in – maybe a few paranormal/etc. ones if the mood strikes. I also read a lot of adult contemporary (“chick lit” – ugh) because, back when I started reading YA, there weren’t nearly as many options as there are now. I was reading Sophie Kinsella when I was 14 years old. You can pretty much tell that my reading habits and preferences haven’t really changed; I’m still reading young adult books with some adult books mixed in. However, I can say that a few more specific preferences have changed over time. I wrote a draft a long time ago wondering if I was older and wiser, or if I’ve just read too many YA books. I found that I can easily pick up on certain twists. Is it because I’m getting too old for YA? Is YA getting more predictable? Is is only more “predictable” because I’ve read so many of them at this point? This post isn’t about plot twists and predictability necessarily (I sort of already talked about that) – it’s about how I’ve adjusted my reading based on my age and reading experience. I’m fine-tuning what I want to read and figuring out my reading life as a 25 year old person who still enjoys young adult literature. I don’t want to overstep and judge certain books harshly because I’m older than the characters; I always try to […]