2017: A year in review

Happy New Years, Readers!  I hope everyone had a safe and happy end to their 2017. Here's a look at everything I read for 2017.

As always, I did the Goodreads reading challenge. I set a goal of 50, but only read 25 books. I think I may have set my ambitions way too high last year. I had put the goal at 50 because that's how many books were in my reading challenge. A link to 2017's challenge can be found here. In hindsight, this challenge was a good start to creating challenges, but too specific and unobtainable in a lot of places. It did lead to the creation of a mega challenge for 2018, however. The post for this can be found here. I'm really excited about this, as it is a collaboration with one of my dear friends, and a lot of fellow bloggers are jumping on it!

Enough about the 2018 challenge, however. Here's a look at what I read for 2017, with links to the reviews.

First up, the books I read at the request of their authors.

A Gleam of Light by TJ and ML Wolf- Review
The King's Peace by Kevin Hammond-Review
Aaru by David Meredith- Review

The Book I reread (According to Goodreads, I reread Betrayed, but I don't think I actually finished it... It also said I read Flyte twice, but that didn't actually happen.)
Marked by PC and Kristen Cast - Review

The Books I read for the 2017 challenge:

2.) A book in a series you've yet to finish -The Immortal Circus: Act Two by A.R. Kahler
3.) A free book you found on Amazon- One Tequila by Tricia O'Malley
6.) A book that's considered a classic- 1984 by George Orwell
8.) A book about royalty- The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson
13.) The first book in a series you've meant to start- Magyk by Angie Sage
15.) A book about magic- The Immortal Circus: Final Act by A.R. Kahler
16.) A Historical Fiction- Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith
19.) A Book you picked out because of the cover- The Merciless by Danielle Vega
28.) A book with a green cover- Flyte by Angie Sage
31.) A book recommended to you on Social Media- Storm Front by Jim Butcher
35.) A book that takes you somewhere you would like to live - The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor
38.) A Book That's been made into a movie/tv show- Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitts
40.) A Dystopian Novel- Scythe by Neal Shusterman
45.) A book that takes place in another country- Almost a Queen by Laura Du Pre
46.) A Romance Novel- Public Secrets by Nora Roberts
48.) A Young Adult Book- The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Books that didn't really fit anywhere else:
The Unkillable Kitty O'Kane by Colin Falconer (I may have this on the challenge, but I have my notes mixed up on if the challenge was supposed to be a book published in 1917 or 2017. It fits for 2017.)- Review
The Queen's Mary by Sarah Gristwood- Review
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette- Review

I will say that this year I plan to read a lot more. I set my Goodreads goal at 30, but I think with the challenge if I plan ahead I'll do way more than that. I think by far my favorite book that I've read this year was Scythe by Neal Shusterman. There's a few of them that are a toss-up for the worst, but I'm not going to list them here.

Feel free to let me know what book was your favorite read of 2017 in the comments!

February Reading Challenge Update

Good evening, readers! I am way behind on this post, and I apologize for that. I've been insanely busy lately.  I didn't read as much as I'd have liked to in February, but I did manage to get three books read.

You can check out my reading challenge here.


6. A book that's considered a classic

I almost listed this one as my choice for the Dystopian novel, but given that I really don't read classics I thought this was a better fit. Mainly just to make it easier on myself.

46. A romance novel 

I'm thinking I went with the obvious choices for my list this month. I wanted to do explanations, but I feel like these are pretty self-explanatory.

8. A book about royalty

I feel like half the books I read could probably be under #8. I read a lot of historical fiction about royals. This one was about the Queen of England/France back in the 1100-1200s.

1st Update on 2017 Reading Challenge

Hi, readers! This will be another reoccurring post that was also suggested by Tori. Thanks for the suggestion! This post will focus on where I'm at on the reading challenge that I created for 2017.  I think this will help me keep on track with my own challenge. And Tori suggested that it might motivate other readers as well!

Every year I do the Goodreads' challenge. Last year I set my goal at 35 and surpassed it, but this year I decided to sync up my challenge with the Goodreads Challenge. So my goal is 50 books. As of right now, I'm at 4 of 50. Not a bad start, could be better, but I'm pretty proud of it.  Fair warning, I'm not doing my list in order.


Here's what I've read so far for my challenge.


2. A book in a series you've yet to finish

For this one, I chose the Immortal Circus Act 2 by A.R. Kahler. I had started the series a few months ago but set it aside to read other things. I wasn't really expecting to pick the series back up, but I did so this seemed like a fitting place for it.  You can check out my review for it here.

15. A book about magic 
For number 15 on the list, I went ahead and put The Immortal Circus the Final act by A.R. Kahler. This finished up the series, which was mostly about magic. Fairie magic and witch magic to be exact. Everything pretty much happens because of magic in the series. Overall, it was a decently entertaining series. You can check out my review for The Final Act here.

16. A Historical Fiction
This one might be cheating a bit, considering I started the book in the middle of December 2016. I'm counting it though because I finished it in 2017. This was a decent read, not the best historical fiction ever, but not bad. It spans 30+ years, so it's pretty lengthy. You can see my review for it here.

35. A book that takes place somewhere you would like to live
This might be a bit of a stretch, but I think it works. I went with The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor on this one.  So a portion of the book takes place in Ireland, and that's what I went with on this. I'd really love to live abroad for some time, and Ireland seems like it'd be beautiful. Plus it'd be kind of cool to learn about my Irish heritage.  Anyways, if you'd like to read my review of it, you can check it out here.

I think that's a decent start to my challenge. If you're doing the challenge with me, where are you at on it? I'd love to know.  I think in February I'll be able to tackle a book that's considered a classic and maybe the oppressed culture one. We'll see, though. Stay tuned for more updates, these will be happening on the first of every month!

Discussion: 2017 Reading Challenge

Happy Early Thanksgiving, Readers! As many of you know, last year I participated in two book challenges (not including the yearly Goodreads Challenge I do). I'll post an update of how I did on those either in the last week of December, or the Beginning of January. There's still some time for me to work on those.  They've inspired me to create a reading challenge for 2017. I've had some friends interested in it, so I thought I'd share it here. Hopefully, everyone enjoys it!

There were some good ones on the previous lists and some that just aren't going to happen. Some of my items are similar to these other challenges so as a credit, here are those links again Pop Sugar Reading Challenge Modern Mrs. Darcy's Reading Challenge

2017 Reading Challenge

1. A book by Stephen King
2. A book in a series you’ve yet to finish
3. A Free book you found on Amazon
4. A book on a banned book list
5. A book by Terry Pratchett
6. A book that’s considered a classic
7. A Book about Time Travel
8. A book about royalty
9. A book that was a gift
10. A book from the library
11. A book you got on sale
12. A book was written by an author from your home state
13. The first book in a series you’ve wanted to start
14. A book about a hobby you enjoy
15. A book about magic
16. A Historical Fiction
17. A book by James Patterson
18. A book about a lawyer
19. A book you picked out because of the cover
20. A book published in 1967
21. A book published in 1917
22. A book about a journalist
23. A book by Jane Austen
24. A book published in the year you were born
25. A book that takes place near Halloween
26. A book about an ancient culture
27. A book about mythology
28. A book with a green cover
29. A book involving sports
30. A book involving something you are afraid of
31. A book recommended to you on social media
32. A book you know you should read, but haven’t yet
33. A book involving your favorite animal
34. A book by H.G. Wells
35. A book that takes place somewhere you would like to live
36. A book about the Lost City of Atlantis
37. A book about ghosts
38. A book that’s been made into a movie/tv show
39. A book that’s referenced in a film or tv show
40. A Dystopian novel
41. A book that inspired a musical
42. A book by Maya Angelou
43. A book by an author with your first or last name
44. A book that you’ve been hesitant to read
45. A book that takes place in another country
46. A romance novel
47. A book with your favorite type of flower or the word flower in the title
48. A young adult book
49. A book about an oppressed culture
50. A book on a best seller list