Yesterday I already talked about Looking Ahead to 2020 but I didn’t really cover all the bookish and blogging goals that I hope to achieve this year. I’ve always been one of those people who like the idea of setting goals more than keeping track and achieving them 😅 But I hope that I’ll be able to stick to these ones!
I feel like a broken record every time I say that 2019 was a crazy reading year but it really was! I read over 200 books and I’ve never ever read that much in one year before. But knowing that I can read that much, I’ve set my Goodreads Reading Challenge to 100 books this year.
Welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
My first three books of the year have been from The Great Libraryseries by Rachel Caine. I don’t think I’ve consumed a series so fast before, although I haven’t finished it yet. I’ve still got two more of the books to go but I’m now taking a break (even though things are certainly continuing to heat up in the book)! So far I would rate this series a solid ★★★½. It was slow to start, but the pace has really picked up in the sequels. The world building continues to be exceptional, except there’s little to no character development save for the first book. Still, the characters are definitely what I love the most about this series. There are strong found family vibes and many of the characters lean towards being morally grey, which is always exciting in my book! You can check out my review for Ink and Bone, but I’ve decided that I will post an overall review for the rest of the series once I’m done with it!
I first discovered this post on BookLoversBlog on NYE and decided it was the perfect way to wrap up my reading and blogging year. The survey was originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner and asks us questions that reflect the last year of books, reading and blogging. I was wondering how I would do my yearly wrap up and I’m so glad I stumbled across this survey because it’s not only fun but also covers all the bookish and blogging bases. And so we’ve come to the third and final part of this comprehensive survey and it’s about Looking Ahead in 2020. If you’re curious, don’t forget to check out Part I (2019 Stats & Best in Books) and Part II (Blogging/Bookish Life)!
1. One book you didn’t get to in 2019 but will be your number 1 priority in 2020?
Well, there’s a disappointing number of books that I was adamant I’d read before 2019 ended and I didn’t end up getting around to… I think that’s perhaps the worst part about being a mood reader and if I force myself to pick it up anyway I’d probably really not enjoy it. But I digress! One book I’m really looking forward to reading is The Toll by Neal Shusterman. I’m starting my re-read of Scythe now, so I’ll hopefully get to The Toll very soon!
It’s that time of the week again, friends! We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: most anticipated releases for the first half of 2020. It’s amazing how one year of immersing myself in the book community has made me so aware of upcoming releases. I still don’t keep track as much as others do, but before 2019 I had zero clues. Honestly, I still don’t even know what or how I’d find books to read before then 😂 On that note, there are quite a few releases that I’m keen to get my hands on this year (unfortunately for me, I’m locking down on my spending this year so I’ll only be adding a select few to my shelves in 2020)! I’ve already mentioned five books in this post, but here are ten more that I’m super keen for:
I first discovered this post on BookLoversBlog on NYE and decided it was the perfect way to wrap up my reading and blogging year. The survey was originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner and asks us questions that reflect the last year of books, reading and blogging. As the survey was quite lengthy, I decided to break it down into three parts. You can see Part I with my 2019 Stats and Best in Books HERE. Part II will be about my Blogging/Bookish Life in 2019, and stay tuned for Part III, which will be about Looking Ahead to 2020.
1. New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2019?
Since this was my first year of blogging and intensively bookstagramming, I discovered all the blogs and bookstagram accounts, so I really can’t just pick one because they have all quickly became my favorites. To say that choosing would be difficult is an understatement! I’ve discovered so many new book loving friends in 2019 and it’s not only been fun, but it’s been beyond amazing. I’m especially thankful for those who interact with me on a daily or regular basis on all my platforms, whether it’s the blog, twitter or instagram. I really appreciate all of you 🥰
Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time. In 48 AD, a fire set by the troops of Julius Caesar destroyed much of the Great Library of Alexandria. It was the first of several disasters that resulted in the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world. But what if the fire had been stopped? What would the Library have become? Fast forward: the Great Library is now a separate country, protected by its own standing army. It has grown into a vast power, with unquestioned and unrivalled supremacy. Jess Brightwell, seventeen and very smart, with a gift for mechanical engineering, has been sent into the Great Library as a spy for his criminal family. Magical spells and riots abound in this epic new YA series.
How could my interest not be piqued after reading this blurb? Caine presents such a fascinating retold history wherein The Great Library of Alexandria is the most powerful entity in the world and knowledge is highly regulated. I admit to having a difficult time getting into the story initially. The pacing was slow and I found myself getting lost in the details of this alternate world, but I kept on reading because I was hoping that it would pick up and I wasn’t disappointed!
“There are three parts to learning: information, knowledge and wisdom, A mere accumulation of information is not knowledge, and a treasure of knowledge is not in itself, wisdom.”
Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends 😍We’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here areTHE RULES:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
“Even in death the boys were trouble. The secret graveyard lay on the north side of the Nickel campus, in a patchy acre of wild grass between the old work barn and the school dump.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
Oh what a month December turned out to be! With the end of the year activities at work combined with family flying in for the holidays, and my sister staying with me, there turned out to be a lot less time to read than I anticipated. Silly me for thinking I’d have more quiet time this month 😅 Now that everyone is on their way home, I’m back alone at my place and although I still feel slightly frazzled, I can also tell that my mind is calming down some. With that, I managed to read 17 books in December.
Goodreads: The Queen of Nothing Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Romance Panda Rating:
He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.
Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.
And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…
WELL. I closed this book with a lot of new, mixed and surprising feelings for many characters that I honestly didn’t care all that much about to start with. This was a pretty good conclusion although it was really nothing mind-blowing. Honestly, if I had been more invested in the characters from book one, I might even go so far as to say that I might’ve been disappointed with this ending. But if you like clean happy endings (and I mean who doesn’t?), then I think that The Queen of Nothing will tick all your boxes and leave you feeling satisfied.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, BOOK LOVERS AND FRIENDS!!! The last decade has been a helluva journey that’s been full of both high-highs and low-lows. I still can’t believe that we’re already starting a new decade, but I hope that it’s brilliant for all of you. I hope the year ahead is full of light, love, happiness and peace. And of course, all the very bookish things!
So it’s time for December’s last WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
With all the family time and holiday festivities fully under way over the last week, it’s not surprising that I haven’t been able to read much. I think I ended the year on a pretty good note though. I finished The Folk of the Air series and I surprisingly enjoyed The Queen of Nothing the most in the whole series.
dinipandareads 