Wednesday, December 30, 2020

2021 Bookish Resolutions


2021 is almost here and I am very much looking forward to the new year. While a lot of this year's problems will persist into the upcoming year, I also have hope that things will get better. That being said, my reading and life habits have changed drastically this year and I have no clue what this next year holds. 

In looking back at last year's resolutions, there were a lot that I didn't achieve. Most of that can be attributed to the pandemic, but some were just because I wasn't feeling them. Based on this past year and what I think my next year will look like, my goals this year are slightly different. Let's go ahead and just dive right in! 
  • Reading
    • Read at least 1 book
      • In the past, my yearly goals have usually been to read 100 books each year. That's about two books every week. While I love the impressive round number of 100 books a year, I think that making my reading about statistics in the last few years has made me enjoy books less. I am going to change that this year and try to change my mindset away from the idea that I need to read a certain amount of books in order to be considered a "real" reader. 
    • Don't force reading
      • My next resolution, which ties into the first, is not to force myself to read. Due to my high reading goals, I've sometimes felt like I was forcing myself to read a book when I wasn't actually feeling it. This has made me dislike books that I'm sure I otherwise would have loved. Because of this, I want to develop more of a mood-based reading schedule and get back into reading for fun. I will still have monthly TBRs, but they're going to be just general lists of what I want to read next and not strict schedules of what I have to read in a specific order or timeframe. 
    • Review less books
      • This seems counter-intuitive, I guess, considering I am a review platform. However, I accepted way too many books for review this year that a lot of titles I was really dying to read were pushed to the side in order to review books. Additionally, I would feel like I was forcing myself to read sometimes which further diminished my enjoyment. This upcoming year, I plan on only requesting or signing up for review copies for books that I'm dying to read. 
  • Social Media
    • Hit 3,500 followers on bookstagram
      • This is a goal I had last year that I just about achieved this year. However, Instagram's algorithm is all kinds of messed up so I didn't quite hit it. I don't want bookstagram to feel like a job, though, so I'm not setting a super high follower goal for myself like I might have in previous years. I simply want to hit my original goal from last year and just enjoy taking pictures and engaging with the community again. 
    • Consistent blogging 
      • Due to how hectic life got this year, I was pretty inconsistent with my usual posting schedule on my blog. I'd like to get back into consistent blogging, even if it's not my usual 3-posts-per-week that I try to aim for. I don't want blogging to feel like a job so I just want to continue putting out consistent yet fun content. 
  • Book Buying
    • Buy less books
      • I dramatically cut down on my book buying in 2020. Whereas in years prior I would average 15-20 books a month (sometimes more, sometimes less), this year I consistently hauled less than 10 books a month. I noticed something with this, too. I was more excited about the books I hauled because I had to be more selective with what I bought. Part of this was because of money but also because I'm just trying to read through my backlist TBR as much as possible. My goal for 2021 is to continue buying less physical books and only buying ebooks when they're a book I really want and are on sale. 
    • Unhaul books
      • I also want to unhaul books. I wasn't able to unhaul many this year because the pandemic screwed those plans up but I would like to unhaul a decent amount this year. There's just a lot of books I have in storage that I would like to send to better homes.
Well, those are my goals for this upcoming year! I am trying to take a more laid-back approach to reading and content creation as I am quite busy with school and stressed because of life. I want reading to be an escape and something I can do to relax again. Do you have any bookish resolutions for the new year? Let me know in the comments! 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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End of the Year Book Tag: 2020 Edition


Hello everyone! I'm a little late doing this tag this year but better late than never! As I'm writing this, there's about four days left of 2020, though, so I'm squeezing it in last second! Let's go ahead and just dive right in! 



1. Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

Yes. I won't get around to finishing all of them but, according to Goodreads, I'm currently reading seven books. Ideally, I'd like to finish Deity by Jennifer L. Armentrout and maybe one more from that specific list. 



2. Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

Not particularly. I'm doing this tag rather late this year so I've already moved past this. Oops!



3. Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

There are a ton of new releases in 2020 that I am really excited to eventually read, but for now there's none left coming out in the next four days. I am excited to read a bunch of them in 2021 (hopefully!) like These Violent Delights, A Song of Wraiths and Ruins, and so many more! 



4. What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

I do actually hope to read Deity, Elixir, and Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Before finals and the holidays hit, I was reading one of these books in a day so I'd love to finish this series or, at the very least, most of the books in it before 2021 hits! 



5. Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

I honestly doubt it. While I'm excited for the rest of the Covenant series, I don't think it will top my  number one on my current list of favorites. It *may* end up on the list but we'll just have to see! 




6. Have you already started making reading plans for 2021?

I definitely have! I have an extensive TBR list of books I'd like to read in 2021 and some series I would like to finally finish. I actually have an entire list of reading resolutions for 2021 coming out in tomorrow's blog post! 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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Sunday, December 27, 2020

Disappointing Books of 2020


Well, we're at the end of 2020. It's been a long year yet somehow this ending snuck up on me. I'm just glad it's over. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about my general feelings about 2020 but, rather, to dive into the first of my yearly wrap-up posts. Every year I do a few fun posts to wrap up my reading year and this year was definitely an interesting one.

Today I'm going to be chatting about my disappointing reads of 2020, but I feel like I need to give a bit of an explanation and disclaimer first. Just because these books are on this list does not mean I didn't like or enjoy them. Also, I am not trying to throw shade at any of these authors or people who like these books because, again, I did enjoy some of these. However, the books on this list are here because I had high or different expectations for the book and ended up disappointed. Let's go ahead and dive in!

The first on this list is actually the only one that I didn't like at all. In fact, I'd go as far to say that I hated it. I've mentioned this book multiple times over the year since I read it at the beginning of isolation but I just...it wasn't good. The book I'm talking about is Crave by Tracy Wolff. I had such high expectations for this book. It seemed right up my alley and I had heard nothing but positive reviews. And then I read it. And hated it. I won't get super in depth here because I have a non-spoiler rant review here but I just was severely disappointed and didn't like this book at all.

The next book is Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer. I feel like this might be a bit of a cop-out add since I technically haven't finished it yet but I think that fact warrants addition to this list on its own. I have been a die-hard Twilight fan since I was nine. I started Midnight Sun the day it came out. And I still haven't finished it. I'm over halfway and have been struggling. I'll have more thoughts once I finally finish but, for now, it's been mostly disappointing so far despite some new content I've enjoyed.

The third book I have is Losers Reap Her by Hayley Stumbo. This is the long-awaited final book in one of my favorite adult trilogies and I was so excited to finally get to reading it. I will admit that I probably hyped it up way to much in my mind and added unnecessary expectations to it. However, I also feel like this book was way different from the first two. Part of the reason I loved the trilogy so much was because I loved our main narrator, and when the POVs changed in this final book I felt a tad disconnected. Also, the ending was one of my least-favorite tropes of all time so that also didn't help. I won't say that I didn't like this book, because I did. I enjoyed finding the resolution to a trilogy I've loved for so long. However, i was a bit disappointed in it not matching my expectations. 

The last book on this list is Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin. This one hurts probably the most out of every book on this list. The first book, Serpent & Dove, was my number one favorite book of 2019. It still remains one of my top books of all time. I was incredibly excited for the sequel. However, I felt like it let me down. I did try to make my expectations realistic in that a lot of the things I loved about the first book couldn't be replicated. However, it felt like this book dragged a bit and I was quite frustrated by many of the characters throughout a lot of the book. I do think this is a case of second-book syndrome, especially considering this was originally a duology that got stretched to a trilogy. I am still quite excited for the third book, Gods & Monsters, and I did give this book 4 stars, but it didn't live up to the first book or the early hype I'd been reading and, for that, I was disappointed. 

Thankfully, those were the only books I had for this list! There were books that I rated low this year but a lot of those were also ones that I wasn't highly anticipating so they didn't really disappoint me, per se. Hopefully next year I won't even need to do this post! 

What books disappointed you this year? Let me know in the comments! 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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Saturday, December 5, 2020

November 2020 Book Haul

Hello everyone! Another month, another book haul for you guys! This month I got five physical books and I'm super excited for them all. I'm not quite sure how December is going to go since it is a the holiday season but so far I've been getting fewer books each month which is exciting. I'm trying to cut back a lot on what books I bring into my collection and I'm really excited about all of these!



The first two books I'm going to talk about are The Darkest Star and The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I ordered these because I wanted the covers to match the newest book and I just hadn't bought proper copies yet. The Burning Shadow arrived quickly and is beautiful. The Darkest Star, on the other hand, took so long to arrive that Amazon refunded me before it showed up a week and a half later (and not the edition I ordered, either). What will most likely happen is I end up donating or giving away The Darkest Star since (1) I got it for free and (2) I have the ARC with this cover and would much rather have the new cover edition. Still, I'm super excited to binge this series when the final book releases!

The next book I got was kindly sent to me by Book Terminals and that is a finished copy of the new We Need Diverse Books anthology, A Universe of Wishes which is edited by Dhonielle Clayton and features a brilliant line up of amazing authors! This is a fantasy and sci-fi anthology featuring some authors that I really love so I was incredibly excited when I was chosen for this tour! My post will be up on December 10th over on my Instagram :)

The next book I got was Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. This is my second edition but I got it for a very specific reason...it's the Beacon edition! This edition features metallic gold edges and is signed! I'm absolutely in love with it and I'm so excited to have both the Barnes & Noble cover and regular cover in my collection. You can also find my non-spoiler review for this book here as well as a playlist curated by me if you're interested!

The final book I hauled in November was Fable by Adrienne Young. I got this off ebay and it was quite the steal! First, it is signed which is awesome since my other book by Adrienne Young is also signed. Then when it arrived I found out that it was the Bookish Box edition with fan art on the back of the dust jacket! This edition goes for $50+ so I was really surprised to find I had gotten it for less than retail price. The main reason I ordered this was because I wanted a hardcover without the Reese's Book Club sticker on it. I think it's incredible and amazing this book was chosen for the club, but I absolutely hate that sticker being put on every book under the sun (figuratively, that is). So I wanted to snag a first edition before they were all too hard to find or too expensive. I'm really excited to have this in my collection and can't wait to read it soon!



Those are all of the books I hauled in November. Like I said, I have no idea how December is going to go. I already have at least three books on my probable haul list but that's before we even get towards Christmas gifts and whatnot. What books did you get in November? Let me know in the comments!



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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Wednesday, December 2, 2020

November 2020 Wrap-Up


Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well on this sunny December afternoon. Today I'm bringing you my wrap-up for the month of November! Now, November was a pretty good reading month. Do I wish I could have read a little bit more? Yes. However, I enjoyed every single book I read this month and had some new favorites added to my list! I also have a solid TBR lined up for December based off of what I read this month, so I'm hopeful that December will also be a good reading month for me. For now, though, let's dive into my November! 


1. Title: The Inheritance Games
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

2. Title: Hate
Author: Tate James
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

3. Title: Liar
Author: Tate James
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

4. Title: Fake
Author: Tate James
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

5. Title: Kate
Author: Tate James
Rating: 3.25 // 5 stars

6. Title: Half-Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

7. Title: Daimon
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

8. Title: Pure
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Rating: 4 // 5 stars






Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



You can follow my bookstagram here for more bookish content!

To get more awesome posts like this post, click the follow button to the right!

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