Year: 2020

2019 Year End Wrap Up

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I was very interested in doing the math and figuring out some of my stats for 2019. Thankfully the reading journal I kept really helped me in figuring out these stats, so let’s get into it.

In 2019 I read a total of 301 books. Now, this was amazing, but I need to add a caveat that a large reason I was able to read this many books is because I’m able to listen to audiobooks at work. If I was not able to do this I would not be able to get any where close to this number.

I do have a break down of how many per month, you can definitely see where I had reading slumps:

January: 50
February: 37
March: 20
April: 25
May: 14
June: 28
July: 42
August: 29
September: 13
October: 14
November: 11
December: 18

This year I also kept track how many books I was bringing in, how many were review books/backlist/etc. and how many I unhauled. This was because I had a goal for myself to read more than I brought in as well as tackle some of my backlist titles.

I added 151 physical books to my library this year. This is a large number, but I’m happy that it is about half when compared to how much I read. Of the books I read, 61 of them were physical books that I was able to move off my TBR and four of those I unhauled (not a ton, but it means I really enjoyed most of them).

I read a total of 49 review books this year, mostly from NetGalley and authors that reached out to me. I’m hoping to up my game even more in 2020.

I did the math and overall I read an average of approximately 166 pages per day. I think this is a great number and would like to keep this level or increase it.

All in all I was really happy with the way 2019 worked out and my fingers are crossed that 2020 is just as good or better.

Happy reading!

Blog Tour: Good Girls Lie

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Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

Buy Links: Harlequin  Indiebound Amazon Barnes & Noble 
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Good Girls Lie is set at an all girls boarding school, which already has me taking interest. Boarding school stories, especially those with secret societies or similar aspects are typically must reads for me. This one did not disappoint. It had a lot of twists and turns, some that I predicted but also some that threw me for a loop.

I did really enjoy the format with the flashbacks that suitably built up the backstory. It was like puzzle pieces falling into place as each different perspective and scene was revealed. The suspense and pacing of this book was also really good as it was a relatively fast read for me.

This was definitely a win when it came to suspense and creepiness, a lot of the time you are left wondering just who certain people are and what they have as motivations. And there are definitely moments of misdirection that I loved.

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 20 novels, and the EMMY-award winning co-host of A WORD ON WORDS, Nashville’s premier literary show. With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim, prestigious awards, and has been published in 26 countries. Ellison lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens.

Social Links: Author Website Twitter: @thrillerchick
Facebook: @JTEllison14 Instagram: @thrillerchick Goodreads BookBub

Happy reading!

January 2020 Reading Plans

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It’s 2020 already and I’m hoping to hit the ground running. For the most part I’m planning to tackle more review books that I have since I’m trying to get caught up after my slump, but I’ve also pulled some of my physical books that I would like to get off my TBR this month as well.

The Cheerleaders and Night Music are books I currently have audio books for so those should be easy to knock out. I’m already half way done with Robots Vs. Fairies and the other two books are pretty short. So I’m fairly confident I can knock these ones out – my hope is that this happens and that I’m also able to pull additional books from my shelves. We shall see what happens in that regard.

There’s also always random books that I may pick up on my kindle or via audio books as the mood strikes me. Also, there are monthly challenges I want to participate in that I haven’t been able to check out yet, so this may have additions or changes based on that.

Happy reading!

December 2019: Wrap Up

DeAnne2 Comments

I cannot believe December (and 2019) is already over, it went by so fast! I know a huge part of that was because of all the planning and prep I had to do for my vacation, and then the vacation itself. While I didn’t get back up to my usual reading pace, I do feel like I broke the slump and that I am getting back on track.

In total I read 18 books this month, including one on my kindle, 3 print books that were on my shelves (though one of them was a book I received for review) and 14 other review books which were either in eArc or audiobook format. While I was stoked to tackle so many review books, I was a little bummed that more print books weren’t taken care of.

For books that I acquired in December, there were a total of 11 – which is awesome for December. December and April tend to be my highest months so having less this December was a win. I got two from Book of the Month, three as Christmas gifts and the rest I purchased for myself mostly with gift cards that I received for Christmas. I also picked up the second Crowns of Croswald book from the author’s website as after reading the first one that I received directly from the author for review, I definitely wanted to pick up the next book in the series.

So that’s about it for December! I’ll be doing a full year wrap up in the next couple days to cover how many books total I read (301!) and how many books I added to my library as well as some other stats, but that’s going to take a little time since I have to organize my data.

Here’s hoping that January and beyond will see me getting even more on track with my reading (begone slump!) and get me back to my happy place. Fingers crossed for 2020 being a good year.

Happy reading!