End of Year Reading Tag

A little update on my reading as we head into the end of the year/ beginning of a new year.

The original tag and questions are from Ariel Bissett, and can be found here: https://youtu.be/UddPv6ROQXk?si=F2bVWB2F8FdskBmG
1. Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

Answer: Only one comes to mind, and I actually just restarted it because I couldn’t remember where I left off. The book is: The Light of All That Falls by James Islington. This is the last book in the Licanius trilogy and I want to complete it by the end of the year so that I can move on to Islington’s newer works (I just bought The Will of the Many).


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

Answer: I don’t have one specifically, but I definitely find myself reading more magic/witchy books starting in September and continuing until December. I transition to snowy thrillers around that time.


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

Answer: I am still waiting for my Library hold for Dan Brown’s new Robert Langdon novel: The Secret of Secrets. It’s been 8 years since we got the last one, and while I have read all of the others, I don’t own any of them, so I’m playing the library waiting game. At last check, I’m currently 36th in line, so I’ll see it soon.


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

Answer: Before the end of the year I would like to read: The Night Ends With Fire by K. X. Song, The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem, and A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir. The first two titles I learned about recently from Booktubers whose taste I share, and the last one is the continuation of a series that I was really enjoying earlier in the year.


5. What trends have you noticed in your reading this year?

Answer: I am finishing more series this year, which has been a goal for a long time. I also have been successfully participating in some online readathons (I completed Magical Readathon from G at Book Roast in September). I always say that I want to do those, but I struggle to follow through. I’m also continuing to make progress with HRCYED 2.0. I’ve completed a few sections and make steady progress each month. I think the variety of prompts has kept me from stalling out.


6. How do you feel about your reading goals? Anything you want to change, adjust, or abandon?

Answer: For once, no. I’m going to achieve a lot of what I hoped to this year.


7. Have you already started making reading plans for next year?

Answer: Not yet. I tend to wait until right around Christmas for that kind of planning. I enjoy the planning sometimes as much as the execution.

HYRCYED 2.0 and Reading Slumps

Hello there!

Long time, no type.

I’m back to reading after going through a pretty significant slump and I wanted to tell you what broke me out of it.

I was watching videos on YouTube from various BookTube creators when I came across one for the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do a.k.a. HYRCYED. This is actually the second year of it’s existence, hence the 2.0 in the title. I watched a creator talking about their planned TBR and then I switched over to the announcement video of the challenge’s creator, Qwordy. If you haven’t heard of this challenge then I strongly encourage you to go take a look at it: Source: YouTube https://share.google/1oDlKKCFCQgrgzELU

Something strange happened to me as I watched that video and then subsequent videos of creators who were preparing to tackle this year-long challenge: I got excited. I was inspired. I wanted to join in and do it to.

But could I? Even with doubling up (which I don’t particularly want to do) it’s more books than I have read in the past few years. And then I thought about what the consequences would be if I failed…and of course there aren’t any. There’s no harm done if I fail. In fact the challenge is designed to be so hard that most people will fail. But is there really a downside when it comes to reading more books? I think not.

So I’m going for it!

I’ve decided not to plan too much ahead. I think that will cause me to freeze or pause if something doesn’t go according to plan. I’ll make some light plans the categories where I don’t naturally read those types of books.

I started on July 7th and I’ve already read 41 books!

January Anticipated Releases

Here are a few of the titles that are releasing this month that have piqued my interest.

*links are to the author/publisher page for the book*

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros- the third book in the Empyrean series. While book 2 was a bit of a letdown for me, book 1 was engaging enough that I am willing to keep going. If this one is a flop however, I will be letting this series go. I probably won’t be able to get to this one until February

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis- this is a historical fiction novel that is set at least partially in Egypt. The cover of this is what first attracted my notice, plus I find Egyptian history really fascinating.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix- This one intrigued me, but I don’t normally read much horror. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Grady Hendrix and thought I might try this as opposed to his backlist.

The Note by Alafair Burke- This is a new thriller from Burke that follows three friends who are reuniting as adults. I love when thrillers use the “something bad happened when we were kids/teens and we’ve hid it until now” trope, and it seems like that’s what this story is going to be. I first read from Burke when she partnered with Mary Higgins Clark for the Under Suspicion series, and really enjoyed those titles, so I’ve explored a few more of her independent works since then.

The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer- I fully admit that the beautiful cover and the word “bookstore” were really enough to put this one on my radar, but then learning it involved witches and had a speculative aspect sold me on this title. I haven’t read from this publisher before, and it seems like they publish a little bit of everything, so I’ll be interested to see how this one lands for me.

The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill- Did I mention that I’m a sucker for a beautiful cover and the word “bookstore”. This one seems a little more serious than the previous title, but no less potentially engaging. I may even read these back-to-back in a “who did it better?” competition. That could be a fun series: similar titles with different concepts go head-to-head. Stay tuned.

Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen- I have a confession to make: I haven’t seen the Barbie movie. Some days it feels like I’m the only one. I’m not sure why I haven’t given in and watched it, but I just haven’t been drawn to it. Which is why I was really surprised that the synopsis for this title grabbed me. It’s a historical fiction imagining of the team that pitched and brought the doll to fruition. I’m not sure how much of it is going to be based on historical research (confession: I originally thought this was a non-fiction title when I read the summary).

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor-I have been meaning to try Okorafor for years (I actually own the complete Binti series) and this concept grabbed me. We’re following an author who faces some personal and professional down times and decides to write a very different kind of book. The story the author decides to write deals with androids and AI and is successful, but the synopsis says, “the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.” Sold! I think as I see AI being forced on us more and more often, I’m really going to enjoy readng more stories where AI runs amok.

Boudicca by PC Cast-This is pure nostalgia for me. In high school, we read about Boadicea (same character) in a World Lit class and we spent a few weeks on it and I fell in love with the character. The teacher for that class even had us listen to the song by Enya, which immediately came back to mind when I read the description for this book. Cast is also a nostalgia author for me because I read the House of Night books when I was a teen. I am very happy to see more female warriors featured in historical fiction.

Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia-This YA fantasy mystery has yet another great cover that caught my eye when I was scrolling through the many publisher emails I get. I really enjoy YA mysteries and I enjoy YA fantasy, but I don’t generally read a blend of the two, so I’m looking forward to see if the combination works for me.

The Queen’s Spade by Sarah Raughley-This is billed as The Count of Monte Cristo meets Bridgerton. Bridgerton was an unexpected hit for me that I ended up binging in a matter of days, so I’ve been looking to explore that style of story a little more. I’m finding it listed as YA, and my gut instinct is that I’m probably going to wish it was an adult novel, but we’ll see.

The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell-This is a debut featuring a magic Academy and a young mage who does not have control of her abilities. There are political machinations at work and the potential for a civil war on the horizon. This one came to my attention because Orbit is one of my favorite publishers and this title is recommended for fans of James Islington and Samantha Shannon.

The Baby Dragon Cafe by Aamna Qureshi-This is being pitched as a cozy romantasy set in a cafe for fans of Legends and Lattes and the Pumpkin Spice Cafe. I don’t think there’s a lot of substance plot-wise and I don’t know what the spice level is going to be, but I’m game to give this one a try.

January Reading Plan

Each month I’m going to be prioritizing the series that I have already started. I will also be evaluating some potential new series to get started on.

The series that I am planning to  continue in January are:

Valor by John Gwynne (Faithful & Fallen #2)

Ruin by John Gwynne (Faithful & Fallen #3)

Booked on Murder by Allison Brook (Haunted Library #8)

The Stranger in the Library by Eva Gates (Lighthouse Library #11)

Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen #23)

Chocolate Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen #24)

Coconut Layer Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen #25)

The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence (Book of the Ice #2)

In January, I will be embarking on a new project to try new series.

Each month I will be trying the first 40 pages of the first book in series that I have not yet started. Essentially, I want to see if I am interested in the writing before I add yet another series to my TBR. I have made little index cards which each of these on them and I am drawing 3-4 randomly each month. For January I drew:

The Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin

A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden

The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams

If I finish all of these, I will have some stretch books each month. These are titles that I intend to read this year but which are not assigned to a particular monthly reading plan yet.

January Stretch Books:

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Cheers to a New Year of Reading

2025 has finally come around and I’m starting the year off in my usual reflective mood.

So, to the elephant in the room, did I achieve the 10 goals that I set for myself?

Nope.

But I’ve got to say, I had a really nice reading year. I read 69 books for a total of 27,424 pages. 13 of those books were 5-star reads for me. That means almost 20% of my reads were 5-stars.

Looking at each particular goal, I did make some good progress on some of them.

  1. Read a little every day- I definitely went through some slumps this year, but I would say that I read more days than not.
  2. Finish 2 series per month- I finished several series and made progress on several others, but I definitely fell short of finishing 12 series. I finished 5 series last year.
  3. Get NetGalley percentage to 80%. Essentially no progress on this one. I’ll be revisiting it in 2025.
  4. Determine an ideal TBR and stick to it. I got started on this, but in the second quarter of the year, life got a little hectic and the numbers got away from me. I do anticipate that this will be a year of decluttering some of my books. I have half a mind to turn that into a full-scale project.
  5. Read at least 100 books. I read 69 books on 2025. I started strong in January, but the Summer months really dragged down my numbers. I overextended myself and work has been a little crazy this past year. I have no idea why…and it could certainly be idealism…but I feel like this year is going to be better in that regard.
  6. Read more graphic novels. I haven’t crunched the numbers yet, but I am pretty sure I read fewer graphic novels in 2024 than I did in 2023.
  7. Read more short stories. Epic fail on this. I could not even make it through one short story collection. I may let this one lie since I do not want to force myself to engage with a format that does not hold my interest. The month where I tried to get the short story collection in was the month that started my reading slump. Coincidence?
  8. Join a book club that I don’t run. I did not achieve this one in 2024, but I have a line on an in-person book club that seems interesting near me.
  9. Make a book club kit for 1 book per month. I still love the idea of book club kits, but I didn’t get it off the ground last year.
  10. Read 15% of physical TBR. I may need to re-evaluate this one. Working in a library means that I will often be reading library books instead of my physical TBR. That wouldn’t be so much of a problem if I didn’t have so many full bookshelves in my apartment. This will be something to address in my 2025 reading plans.