2018: A Year in Review

How in the heck is it 2019? I swear that 2018 flew by and that it should still be September. This past year was definitely a rollercoaster. I was down quite a bit with health issues and lost a couple of jobs because of it, but the time off really gave me more time to focus on my jewelry business (Shameless business plug... Find my jewelry at jewelrybylinzb.) I also got to read quite a bit more than I usually do, which was definitely needed. The biggest joy of 2018 is the addition of my husband and I's first nephew. The little guy was born in October, and I'm loving getting to know him. I'm also continually grateful that I can give him back to his parents when he wants nothing to do with his Aunt Lindsey.

Blogwise 2018 has been an incredible year. I branched out into product reviews, which I thoroughly loved being able to do. The 2018 reading challenge was a massive success, which you can find here. I'm so incredibly excited and amazed at how many of you have chimed in and done the challenge! I never expected that something I put together with one of my dearest friends would have gotten so much attention. I'm really excited to see where the 2019 challenge (which can be found here) goes.

I read 35 books in total. I had set a goal on Goodreads of 30 books for the year. This is the first year in a while that I not only met my goal but also surpassed it.  Here's a list of what I read last year and any corresponding reviews. I jumped around a lot on the challenge list and most likely did not complete a full level. I also read a lot of books where I had no place to put the book.

2018 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club:

1.) A book from Project Gutenberg- Peter Pan by J.M Review

2.) A book that costs less than $5- Fate's Mistress by Laura Du Pre Review

3.) A Cozy Mystery- Curse the Day by Annabel Chase Review

4.) A comedy or Satire book- The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes Review

5.) Read a book by Nora Roberts- Blood Brothers  Review

6.) A book that has been turned into a Movie/TV show- 

7.) A book on a best seller list

8.) A book under 300 pages- Lady of the Court by Laura Du Pre Review

9.) A book that takes place around a holiday

10.) A book with a one-word title- Limelight by Emily Organ Review

11.) A book you first read when you were a teenager

12.) A children's book

Total books read for level 1: 7/12

Level 2: Casual Reader Club:

13.) A book by a new author

14.) Reread a favorite book- A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez Review

15.) A book with a cover that's in your favorite color- The Inventor by Emily Organ Review

16.) A book published in 1993

17.) A book recommended to you on social media or by a friend

18.) A book with a number in the title

19.) A book with pictures in it

20.) A retelling of a fairy tale

21.) A book that involves a mythical creature- Fool Moon by Jim Butcher Review

22.) A book about witches- Black Sanction Magic by Kim Harrison Review

23.) A book by an author named Chris or Christopher- Fool by Christopher Moore Review

24.) A book you got from a used bookshop/site

Total books read for level 2: 5/12

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club:

25.) A book about space travel, aliens, or other planets

26.) A book with an animal in the title

27.) First in a series you've wanted to start- A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray Review

28.) A book with music or song in the title

29.) A book with a purple cover- The Maid's Secret by Emily Organ Review

30.) A cult classic

31.) A book about a Teacher

32.) An action adventure book

33.) A book that takes place before 1900- Rookery by Emily Organ Review

34.) A book about friendship

35.) A book by Michael Crichton

36.) A book about a Queen

Total books read for level 3: 3/12

Level 4: Speed-Reader Club

37.) A book by Agatha Christie

38.) A book that takes place in Australia- Aaru: Halls of Hel by David Meredith Review

39.) A book that has a title starting with the letter Y.

40.) Read a compilation of Short Stories - Six Scary Stories, Various Authors selected by Stephen King Review

41.) Read a book from the Guardian's 100 greatest Novel list

42.) A book with the word thief in the title

43.) A banned book

44.) A book published in 1968

45.) A book about a doctor

46.) A book involving food

47.) A book with a male main character- Grave Peril by Jim Butcher Review

48.) A book by two or more authors

Total books read for level 4: 3/12

Level 5: Overachiever Club

49.) A book published the year one of your parents was born

50.) A book over 500 pages- Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon Review

51.) A book about traveling

52.) A book with a flower on the cover- Curse of the Poppy by Emily Organ Review

53.) A Non-fiction book

54.) A book that takes place during a war

55.) A book involving a culture different than your own

56.) A book that takes place in Canada

57.) A book that was originally published in a foreign language- The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas Review

58.) A book about a character who has your dream job

59.) A book with a woman or girl in the title

60.) A book about a main character that has the same hair color as you- Pale Demon by Kim Harrison Review

Total books read for level 5: 4/12

Total books read for the challenge: 22/60

Honestly, even though I met my Goodreads challenge, I'm not impressed with my progress on the challenge Tress and I created. There's a lot on this list I could have easily checked off if I hadn't allowed myself to get sucked into so many series that didn't fit with the challenge. Here's looking at you Penny Green series and Spellbound series. I also noticed while creating this post that I was terrible at updating my master list of reviews that I try to keep going. I'm calling 2018 the year of the slacker. 

Here is a list of the books I read that I didn't put on the challenge above. Links to the reviews included as well. This is in no particular order. I'm just going down my list on Goodreads.

1.) The Bermondsey Poisoner by Emily Organ - Review

2.)  Crazy for Brew by Annabel Chase- Review

3-9.) All Spell Breaks Loose, Hemlocked and Loaded, A Drop in the Potion, A Touch of Magic, Cast Away, Better than Hex, Lucky Charm, Spell's Bells, Doom and Broom by Annabel Chase Find the series reviews here, here, and here

10.) Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman- Review

11.) The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg- Review

So 35 books in total. 22 that made their way to the challenge, 13 that did not. I definitely need to do better in 2019. I think that the adjustments that Tress and I have made for this year will undoubtedly help. Next year I'm hoping to get 50 books read. We'll see how I do! Best of luck with the challenge if you're joining in, and Happy New Year!

2018 Reading Challenge Progress Update

Hello, Readers! This post is long overdue. I meant to do an update per quarter, but well my time management skills are horrendous. I also meant to start doing weekly posts. When I say these things, just roll your eyes and say "Sure you are, Linz!"

I set my goal for the year at 30 books. I generally set it for around 50, but the past few years I've not come close to meeting it, so I thought I'd be a little more realistic with my goal. Plus, I knew I was going to try and read a couple of 500+ page books. So far, according to Goodreads, I'm right on track at 10 books read so far.

If you're wanting to check out the original challenge post, you can find it here. If you want to check out my co-author Tress's latest update on the challenge you can check that out at her blog, which is linked here. She's kicking my butt on our challenge and has almost read double the amount of books I have so far.

Level 1: Book of the Month Club

1.) A book from Project Gutenberg- Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
2.) A book that costs less than $5- Fate's Mistress by Laura Du Pre *
       *This is cheating just a smidge. I got this with Kindle Unlimited so I didn't technically pay for it. But it's currently listed at $0.99 for the Kindle version, so I'm counting on it. I didn't originally have this on my challenge, but it was bugging me that I had read a book, not on the list.
8.) A book under 300 pages- Lady of the Court by Laura Du Pre
10.) A book with a one-word title- Limelight by Emily Organ

Level 2: Casual Reader Club

21.) A book that involves a mythical creature- Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club

27.) First in a series you've wanted to start- A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
29.) A Book with a purple cover- The Maid's Secret by Emily Organ
33.) A book that takes place before 1900- Rookery by Emily Organ

Level 4: Speed Reader Club

40.) Read a Compliation of Short Stories- Six Scary Stories- Various Authors, Selected by Stephen King
57.) A book that was originally published in a foreign language- The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

I'm really intrigued by the fact that Tress and I are going about this in completely different ways. She's super organized and trying to go level by level, where I'm just going through and hoping for the best. I think this is kind of how we approach life too.

Here's a little bit of what I have in the works, or plan to read soon.

I'm currently reading:
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Fool by Christopher Moore
The Witch of Cologne by Tobsha Learner  (reread)

Going with two huge books at one time is not one of my better ideas, so I started Fool last night to try and get something actually finished so my posts aren't a month a part.

Here's some books I'm hoping to read soonish:
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson
A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez (reread)
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (reread)
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (reread)
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray


If you're currently doing this challenge with Tress and I, I would love to hear where you're at!

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!

2018 Reading Challenge

In 2016 I tried a couple of reading challenges that were floating around the internet, I did okay with them. What I really liked was the idea of challenging myself to read different things. It sort of made me plan out what I had to read. In 2017, I made my own reading challenge. I was pretty proud of it, and it can be seen here. I think that I definitely learned a lot, but ultimately I took on way too much with it and it needed some fine-tuning. Throughout it all, my amazing friend Tress was trying to do the challenge right alongside me. While 2017 is not over yet, I'll be honest and admit I'm not even going to finish half of it. That's okay though because what it did do was give me a lot of ideas for 2018. I started out this list just consulting with Tress on her thoughts on 2017's list. What ended up happening is we ended up collaborating on a massive reading challenge the past couple of weeks. Tress has been talking to a lot of members on a website called Dragonmount that we're both apart of (her far more than I am. I've never been outside the Mafia game thread there) about my previous reading challenge. I think She may have even referenced it on her own blog which can be found here. I'm incredibly proud of the work we put into this, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Before I show off the challenge, I want to explain it a bit.

This challenge is actually several challenges in one. The way it is designed is that you work through one level and then move on to the next. It's comprised of five different challenges of 12 books each, or 60 books total. We tried to arrange it in a way that shows what we thought would be the easiest in the first few levels, and then gradually gets harder. We also wanted to spread it out a bit, so the same types of challenges aren't in each level. Ultimately, I think we both wanted a challenge that's going to really make us have to think ahead and plan to complete it. Tress and I are both really into organization and bullet journaling, so for us, this is just an extension of that. I'm not sure what goals Tress has set for herself within the challenge, but my goals are to work it in order and try to see how far I can get. Last year, I kind of read a book and then tried to fit it into a category on the challenge. This year, I'd like to plan ahead and see if I can read more because of it. I've already got some books in mind for some of the items, so I'm really excited to see what I can accomplish on this list. So, without further ado here is Tress and I's reading challenge for 2018. I've also linked a prettier printable version of the table. Special thanks to the husband for making the pdf and html work, because that stuff is so beyond me it's not even funny.

Download and print the reading challenge

2018 Reading Challenge
Number	Challenge	Book	Author
	Level 1: Book of the Month Club
1	A book from Project Gutenberg
2	A book that costs less than $5
3	A Cozy Mystery
4	A comedy or a satire book
5	Read a book by Nora Roberts
6	A book that has been turned into a movie or TV show
7	A book on a best seller list
8	A book under 300 pages
9	A book that takes place around a holiday
10	A book with a one word title
11	A book you first read when you were a teenager
12	A children's book
	level 2: Casual Reader Club
13	A book by a new author
14	Reread a favorite book
15	A book with a cover that's in your favorite color
16	A book published in 1993
17	A book recommended to you on social media or by a friend
18	A book with a number in the title
19	A book with pictures in it
20	A retelling of a fairy tale
21	A book that involves a mythical creature
22	A book about witches
23	A book by an author named Chris or Christopher
24	A book you got from a used bookshop or site
	Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club
25	A book about space travel, aliens, or other planets
26	A book with an animal in the title
27	First in a series you've wanted to start
28	A book with music or song in the title
29	A book with a purple cover
30	A cult classic
31	A book about a Teacher
32	An action adventure book
33	A book that takes place before 1900
34	A book about friendship
35	A book by Michael Crichton
36	A book about a Queen
	Level 4: Speed Reader Club
37	A book by Agatha Christie
38	A book that takes place in Australia
39	A book that has a title starting with the letter Y
40	Read a compilation of short stories
41	Read a book from the Guardian's 100 greatest Novel list
42	A book with the word thief in the title
43	A banned book
44	A book published in 1968
45	A book about a doctor
46	A book involving food
47	A book with a male main character
48	A book by two or more authors
	Level 5: Overachiever Club
49	A book published the year one of your parents was born
50	A book over 500 pages
51	A book about traveling
52	A book with a flower on the cover
53	A Non-Fiction book
54	A book that takes place during a war
55	A book involving a culture different than your own
56	A book that takes place in Canada
57	A book that was originally published in a foreign language
58	A book about a character who has your dream job
59	A book with woman or girl in the title
60	A book about a main character that has the same hair color as you