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 […]

I talked last Friday about why I reduce my Goodreads challenge each year, but now I want to talk about how I always make sure I reach my Goodreads goal. I’ve never really struggled to make it happen each year and I thought people might appreciate learning how I do it. Some of these tips are similar to those in my post about breaking reading slumps during slow-reading months, so feel free to check that post out too! Go H-A-M in January I love to start my year with a bunch of reading, to be honest. Getting as ahead as possible as early as possible makes me feel SO GOOD. You can follow the rest of these tips (or the ones in the aforementioned post) to try to get ahead, but that’s my biggest thing. I read a lot of shorter, quick books in January so I start off on the right foot. You know you’re going to be scrambling in December to read a bunch of novellas and graphic novels to finish, so why wait? Eliminate the pressure by reading all those tiny books in January. I always find my reading re-invigorated at the beginning of the year once I sign up for challenges, so it helps to use that extra motivation when you have it. Do you know how good it feels to see “X books ahead” in the second week of January?! SO GOOD, okay? I’m currently 4 books ahead on my challenge and I love it. Audiobooks forever I […]

This post is one of three in the Impact of Book Format series I’m starting on the blog. You’ll see how I feel about ebooks, physical books, and audiobooks over the course of three Wednesdays. I’m a huge fan of physical books. I know VERY few avid readers who don’t love smelling a book and opening those pages up. There’s no better feeling. I totally love my Kindle and my audiobooks, but I feel like nothing compares to the real thing. Regardless of how technology and the publishing industry evolve, I sincerely hope and believe that physical books will be around for a looong time. Cultivating a library of favorites The biggest bookworm dream of mine (and countless other people) is to have a full library room. I’ve discussed my dream library in the past. I want it to have a full bed, so many colors, Christmas lights all over the place, shelves on every wall, and book-related art and knicknacks. It’ll be a haven and I need it in my life… someday. Chris and I still aren’t planning on settling down any time soon, so for now my library dreams are far in the future. I want to have a house someday with a full room just for books and bookish things. I want it FULL of books that I love (or at least like enough to own and take pictures of). A library with all of those things will be an amazing place to relax and read. I […]

I’ve spoken a lot about my ~resolutions~ to read less books, so I can give myself more time for other hobbies. This was something I resolved to do for 2016 and again in 2017. Book blogging has done a wonderful job of introducing me to countless friends, new authors, and books I never would have thought to pick up. It’s also wildly increased my reading numbers. This is really great and makes me feel super accomplished! I love reading. But lately, I’ve hated the pressure to read. I was often 13 books ahead on my reading challenge this year. This was mostly because I binge-listened to a series with thirteen short books. But still! I was ahead! Then, I hit my slow reading month in October and ended up catching up to be just “on track” by the end of December. I found myself on December 15th needing to finish 6 more books in order to complete my challenge. What happened?! Instead of saying “oh well” and just reading as much as I genuinely wanted to read, I pushed myself to finish it off. It ended up working out well because I squeezed in more holiday reads than expected. Because of the unnecessary pressure to read, I’ve actually ended up reducing my Goodreads challenge each year. I see most of my friends reading more and setting a higher goal each year since I started blogging, but mine has gone down. You can see from the picture that I blew my 2014 challenge […]