Dec 31, 2023

Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: December

Challenge 1: 2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge

Cold Curses by Chloe Neill (Heirs of Chicagoland)


Challenge Completed! I originally set out to finish 5 series, then 10, and I ended with 15!



CHALLENGE 2: 2023 Discussion Challenge

Font Size
Long Books
Blogmas Naughty or Nice Tag
2023 End of the Year Survey

 

Challenge Completed! I set out to write 15 then 25 discussions and ended up with 51!



CHALLENGE 3: 2023 New Release Challenge

Cold Curses by Chloe Neill (11/14/23)


Challenge Completed! I aimed to read 20 new releases and ended with 29!



CHALLENGE 4: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2023

Devouring Darkness by Chloe Neill (9/20/22)
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (2/15/22)


Challenge Completed! I set out to read 20 TBR books and ended with 29 as well!





 



2023 End of the Year Survey

 

Well, it's the last day of 2023, so it's time to reflect back on the year of books and see what's what! Lol. I believe the post originated with Jamie at The Perpetual Reader as I continue to borrow her lovely headers! I've also borrowed the above image from Lili at Lili Lost in a Book as last year I didn't see anyone do the post!



Reading Stats:

Number of books you read: 63 (1 up from last year! Woohoo!)
Number of re-reads: 2 (another 1 up from last year...but quite likely won't have any in the new year)
Genre you read the most from: Mostly Fantasy and Thrillers



Best Book You Read in 2023

This was my most anticipated read for 2023 as you may know and I suppose my only complaint was that it wasn't longer...and maybe that Jacks didn't have as many pov chapters. But still it was amazing!



Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

 

Well, since this was the "spooky" month pick for Owl Crate, I was expecting a lot from it. Sadly it just didn't hit the mark for me.



Most Surprising (in a good way or bad way) Book You Read


Most definitely in a good way! I was thinking the story was going to be something totally different than what we got, but in a surprising twist it goes back to my old favorites! So this one was definitely a shock but utterly amazing!



Book You "Pushed" The Most People to Read (and did they?)

I think it might have been this one actually! I saw a saddening story from Suzanne online about her release party and it made me cry. So after I read it, I felt like I pushed people to read it, but not sure if they did!



Best Series You Started in 2023? Best Sequel? Best Series Ender of 2023?


Fourth Wing was a great start! Ruling Destiny was awesome and so not a middle book. Naturally, A Curse for True Love was an epic ending!



Favorite New Author You Discovered in 2023?


Amy Goldsmith wrote a nice creepy supernatural thriller here and I am definitely eager to see what else she will write from here on out!



Best Book from a Genre You Don't Typically Read/Was Outside Your Comfort Zone


This one was definitely more romance than paranormal romance which is what I thought it would be when I went into it. It was still pretty good, but needed a little more ghosts!



Most Action-Packed/Thrilling/Unputdownable Book of the Year


I think I totally checked out of reality once I had this one in my hands and read it in every spare minute I had!



Book You Read in 2023 that You Are Most Likely to Re-Read Next Year?


Since the OUABH trilogy is concluded, I am not anticipating re-reading anything just yet.



Favorite Cover of a Book You Read in 2023


The color scheme to this one was just so pretty! Plus faery wings!

 

 

Most Memorable Character of 2023


Jacks of course!

 

 

Most Beautifully Written Book of 2023

Repeating last year apparently! Lol! I just loved returning to the Magnificent North!

 

 

Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2023


So yeah, we're back to this one again! Lol. This one held me riveted from start to finish!

 

 

Book You Can't Believe You Waited Until 2023 to Finally Read

 


This one was just creepy and chilling as I had anticipated. I am a little fearful to fly, but after a few more books I should be okay! Lol.

 

 

Favorite Passage/Quote from a Book You Read in 2023


 But the problem with happily ever after is that it's more of an idea than a reality. A dream that lives on after a storyteller is finished. But real stories never finish.

 

 

Shortest & Longest Book You Read in 2023


Dead Letter Days by Kelley Armstrong was a novella and came in at 87 pages
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas came in at 801 pages

 

 

Book That Shocked You the Most


As previously mentioned, this book did shock me as I thought it was going in an entirely different direction! But it was amazing!


OTP Pair of the Year (You Will Go Down with this Ship)


Yup, no change here!



Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of the Year


Can it be non-romantic if Oz and Willow were once romantic? Yes, an odd choice to have since they are the adults of this YA book but I still love these two and that they are in each other's lives!



Favorite Book You Read in 2023 from an Author You Previously Read


I don't know what I would do if this series was delayed to 2024...but luckily it wasn't AND that we should hopefully have a new series from Stephanie in 2024!



Best Book You Read in 2023 That You Read Based SOLELY on a Recommendation from Somebody Else/Peer Pressure


Rec/Peer Pressure in the sense that I was seeing and hearing SO much buzz about this one even before it released that I ended up ordering it that Wednesday...but didn't read it until later. Whoops. Lol.



Newest Fictional Crush from a Book You Read in 2023

Xaden for sure...but I was pretty mad at him by the end of this one. Still need to read Iron Flame, so we'll see if he redeems himself.



Best 2023 Debut You Read


Amy Goldsmith was amazing with this one! I love a good supernatural thriller and I want this to be a genre that takes off because WOW!



Best World Building/Most Vivid Setting You Read this Year


This one was very lush in the description setting! It was the perfect image of dark, gothic manor riddled in secrets!



Book That Put a Smile on Your Face/Was the MOST Fun to Read


Going back to Poison Study but seeing it through Valek's eyes was a lot of fun!



Book That Made You Cry or Nearly Cry in 2023


Let's just say that this book brought out all the emotions!



Hidden Gem of the Year


I will go with my first read of 2023 and say Reborn Yesterday! It was so fun to read a paranormal romance that was uncomplicated. I do love complexity too, but it's a breath of fresh air sometimes to have a simpler plot.



Book that Crushed Your Soul


As far as series finales go, this one was a little soul crushing!



Most Unique Book You Read in 2023


I really liked this one as there were three stories happening and you could just tell something creepy was going on and when the answers started coming it was mind-blowing!



Book that Made You the Most Mad (doesn't necessarily mean you didn't like it)


That ending...that ending was the most...yeah...I need a sequel asap!




I'm once again skipping the blogging stats part as it still saddens me to see things declining at my blog over the last few years. But being stubborn as I am and still enjoying blogging, I continue to do it. But I don't want to dive into see a lack of progress or whatever with my blog.


One Book You Didn't Get to in 2023 But Will Be a Priority in 2024

First time in a long time that I fell behind in Kim's series!

 

 

Book You Are Most Anticipating for 2024 (non-debut)


 
Well, it's all totally unknown as of now. We have just 8 more days until Stephanie Garber's next book is revealed. Hopefully nothing will mess up its release for 2024!



2024 Debut You Are Most Anticipating


I haven't encountered one just yet...



Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2024


So behind in some series that I can't quite say it's the most anticipated release...but I am caught up with this trilogy and cannot wait to see how it all ends!














Stacking the Shelves--The Christmas Haul

 

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Reading Reality


Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a nice holiday if they were celebrating! I had a pretty good week all things considered as I didn't work at all! Lol. I used up the last of my vacation days in advance to take this last week off and it was super nice to just veg out and chill! I mostly just read my book which was a mammoth SJM tome. I did a little post holiday shopping, but since I wasn't really in the market for anything I didn't buy too much. Even with B&N's holiday sale. Sadly, just about EVERY hardback I wanted to buy wasn't in a single store in my area. So that was a bust. I did order 2 books online that were half off, so that worked out nice! And as you possibly might have saw in my last StS post, I edited to say that my TBTB Secret Santa gift showed up! It came some time after my post went up...which that was midnight and the box arrived before noon, so you know, almost half the day but whatever. Lol. Alisha was very kind to me in my gift and I loved everything that was in it! It's in the post below...which is almost the entirety of my haul this week, but that's cool too! 


From my TBTB Secret Santa I received all these wonderful goodies:

The Camp by Nancy Bush
The Life She Had by K.L. Armstrong
Painted Devils by Margaret Owen
The Return by Rachel Harrison
plus Christmas socks which are ADORABLE! I love the gingerbread prints!!
Mini Reese's trees which were delicious...I had one or two before I went back to Xmas cookies, lol
I received some hand sanitizer and hand cream, plus a little key chain thingy for the sanitizer
and I received the Beauty and the Beast Book Beau! Out of all my book sleeves that I own, I've never had a Book Beau! I initially saw some reviews that led me to believe the newer ones weren't of the same high quality as the original ones before the site went up. I love my Book Bean pillow from them and this sleeve looks a lot better than the one I got in an Owl Crate box so many years ago. Plus the patter is just gorgeous!


THANK YOU AGAIN Alisha!


Then I received my German special edition of Stephanie Garber's Once Upon a Broken Heart from Bucherbuchse! This one is truly gorgeous! I took all the photos, so if you're waiting on a copy and don't want to see the art details, pleases skip on down to the next set of photos. 

Just look at these sprayed ends! They are so pretty! I love the glass window look! I am so glad they changed it from the original AI art concept they were going to use.



The end pages are really pretty too. Though I feel like Evangeline's expression in the top picture looks a little villainous! And if memory serves, I thought Jacks' hair was blue in both of these scenes...that it didn't turn blond until after sunrise when he was no longer almost a vampire. But they're still stunning regardless!



Then my sister got me bookish gifts for Christmas! She had gotten me a B&N gift card for my birthday, so or Christmas I got this:


I had just started seeing these fun book blankets on Amazon and my sister must have too as she picked this one for me! I love it! Definitely adding this to my reading chair...once I get one! Lol.


Then my mom got me the cute little book lover sign! I love the definition it gives! Click on the image and it should get bigger for easier reading!
Then my sister also got me this cute little bag with a Beauty and the Beast print on it too! I'm almost afraid to use it since it's so pretty and and has a white background. I feel like I'm prone to get light colored items dirty...but that's just my weird tics! Lol.

 

Then my mom also got me one of these!

One can never get too many of these at the holidays! Lol.

 



And that was it for me this week! I had a very Merry Christmas indeed! What all did you get this week?