All the April stats

This post will get us mostly caught up this year with my reading information.

I did not create a TBR for March or April, so these will just be the stats for what I actually read.

**links open to Goodreads**

My reads and ratings:

Raspberry Danish Murder by Joanne Fluke, 4 stars, 417 pages

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas, 3 stars, 451 pages

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, 5 stars, 413 pages

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny, 4 stars, 339 pages

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley, 3 stars, 320 pages

Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry by Kelly Richmond Pope, 2 stars, 256 pages (my notes: this was not a bad book by any means, but I wanted more of a deep dive and more practical advice. This is a good enough overview, and the writing is approachable, but I think the average reader will be left wanting more.)

I felt like I was getting back on track with my reading in April, but I really didn’t pay attention to my goals for the year. It was very much a mood-reading month.

April Books Acquired:

None. Yay me!

Progress towards 2024 Reading Goals

  1. Read a little every day: 20/30 days
  2. Finish 2 series per month: Nope, progress was made on 4 series.
  3. Get NetGalley percentage to 80%: Beginning of month: 56%. End of month: still 56%. No progress.
  4. TBR beginning of month: 283. TBR end of month: 283. Ideal TBR: 150. Books read from physical TBR: 1. Nothing unhauled. No progress this month towards the goal.
  5. Read at least 100 books. Currently: 30/100. Still on track with this goal.
  6. Read more graphic novels: None this month.
  7. Read more short stories: None this month.
  8. Join a book club that I don’t run: Failed again this month.
  9. Make a book club kit for 1 book per month: No progress.
  10. Read 15% of physical TBR: 14/283= 4%. No measurable progress there.

April Reading Stats:

Total books read: 6

Total pages read: 2,196

Average rating: 4

5 Star Reads:  The Bullet That Missed. The Thursday Murder Club series continues to impress me more with each new entry. The characters continue to be some of my favorites. The humor is always on point. The antics are very enjoyable. The tension is there as you wonder how this group of meddling pensioners is going to get out the tricky situation this time. I can’t recommend this series enough (spoiler alert: I caught up completely with this series in May).

Highest page count:  The Assassin’s Blade, 451 pages

Lowest page count:  Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry, 256 pages

Book I’m still thinking about: Raspberry Danish Murder. As a fan of the movies, this book made me switch teams to team books! The murder in this story and how Hannah experiences it was so gripping. I love that we have this ongoing personal conflict, the twist on that matter at the end really got me. For a cozy mystery, these can get a little dark, but I don’t think that’s a flaw.

All the March Stats

I’m very overdue on my reading updates, so get ready for some long posts.

I did not create a TBR for March or April, so these will just be the stats for what I actually read.

**links open to Goodreads**

My reads and ratings:

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, 4 stars

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett, 5 stars

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas, 5 stars

And that was it. I think January’s success may have put me into a mini-slump. Not to mention, work and like really piled on.

March Books Acquired:

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas (this was the last SJM book that I needed to purchase. I now have all of her published works.)

Progress towards 2024 Reading Goals

  1. Read a little every day: 23/31 days
  2. Finish 2 series per month: Nope, progress was made on 1 series.
  3. Get NetGalley percentage to 80%: Beginning of month: 56%. End of month: still 56%. No progress.
  4. TBR beginning of month: 282. TBR end of month: 283. Ideal TBR: 150. Books read from physical TBR: 2. Nothing unhauled. No progress this month towards the goal.
  5. Read at least 100 books. Currently: 24/100. Still on track with this goal.
  6. Read more graphic novels: None this month.
  7. Read more short stories: None this month.
  8. Join a book club that I don’t run: Failed again this month.
  9. Make a book club kit for 1 book per month: No progress.
  10. Read 15% of physical TBR: 13/283= 4%. Smidge of progress there.

March Reading Stats:

Total books read: 3

Total pages read: 1,640

Average rating: 4.67

5 Star Reads:  Heir of Fire and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

Highest page count:  Queen of Shadows, 648 pages

Lowest page count:  The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, 416 pages

Book I’m still thinking about: Heir of Fire. This book really feels like the tipping point for the entire series and this is the second time that I have attempted to read this book and I’m glad I didn’t get distracted this time.

All the February Stats

I’m very overdue on my reading updates, so get ready for some long posts.

My TBR in February turned out to be too ambitious, as I suspected.

I intended to read:

**links open to Goodreads**

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Hide and Seek by M.J. Arlidge

A Letter to Three Witches by Elizabeth Bass.

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy.

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey.

Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallet

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

By the Book by Julia Sonneborn

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Eventide by Sarah Goodman

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

The Thoroughly Modern Collection

Classic Crime Short Stories

Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood.

The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century edited by Harry Turtledove.

I ACTUALLY read:

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey

and that was it…literally 4 of my total TBR books…so yeah…moving on.

February Books Acquired:

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Wildwood Magic by Willa Reece

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

Shadow Baron by Davinia Evans

The Collected Adventures of Bannon and Clare by Lilith Saintcrow

Progress towards 2024 Reading Goals

  1. Read a little every day: 22/29 days (there were 3 days in the middle of the month where I was too sick to read or stay awake long enough to listen, but the other 4 days were just me falling off the wagon).
  2. Finish 2 series per month: Nope, progress was made on 2 series and I started another one…
  3. Get NetGalley percentage to 80%: Beginning of month: 56%. End of month: still 56%. No progress. Failed to write new reviews even though I finished some NetGalley arcs last month.
  4. TBR beginning of month: 271. TBR end of month: 282  Ideal TBR: 150. Books read from physical TBR: 1. Nothing unhauled. No progress this month towards the goal.
  5. Read at least 100 books. Currently: 22/100. Still on track with this goal.
  6. Read more graphic novels: None this month.
  7. Read more short stories: Started but did not finish one of these.
  8. Join a book club that I don’t run: Failed again this month.
  9. Make a book club kit for 1 book per month: No progress.
  10. Read 15% of physical TBR: 11/282= 3%. No real improvement here either.

February Reading Stats:

Total books read: 4

Total pages read: 1,549

Average rating: 3.75

5 Star Reads:  Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

Highest page count: The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Lowest page count: Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Book I’m still thinking about: The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey. Part of this novel was set at Biltmore House, which is a relatively short drive from me and the Vanderbilts are a family that has always fascinated me.

All the books I read and my ratings:

Caraval by Stephanie Garber, 3 stars

Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke, 3 stars

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, 5 stars

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey, 4 stars

January Books Acquired

Hello all! Can you believe we’re already through with January? I didn’t buy a lot of books this month, surprisingly. I think part of the reason is because I finally sat down at the end of December and counted how many books that I own that I have not read and really looked at how full my bookshelves are (I literally have one that is being held up by books because the shelves were sagging so I strategically rearranged the books on it to support the shelves). In any case, here are the books that I purchased this month:

  1. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (Book of the Month selection)
  2. Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin (Book of the Month selection)
  3. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  5. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  6. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  7. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  8. House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas (Target)
  9. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  10. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)
  11. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon)

It was definitely a Sarah J. Maas-fest, but I finally accepted the fact that I am going to be re-reading this series many times before they are all complete. I really enjoy these books and I want to be able to mark up my copies and have them at a moment’s notice instead of waiting to get copies from my library.

2024 Reading Goals Update #1: January

Hello everyone! I wanted to check in with my yearly reading goals progress as we close the first month of the year. I’m off to a promising start, but as with many resolutions, the first month tends to be the easiest.

  1. Read a little every day: 31/31 days
  2. Finish 2 series per month: Themis Files completed (technically completed end of December because I got too excited and started early). Empyrean series completed (at least caught up to current publications). I went above and beyond on this goal this month and also finished the Illuminae Files series by Jay Kristoff and Aimee Kaufman. I also closed the month by reading the newest Crescent City book from Sarah J. Maas, which gets me completely caught up with that series.(4 series completed)
  3. Get NetGalley percentage to 80%: Beginning of month: 56%. End of month: still 56%, but I have 3 reviews to write from NetGalley books I read, so we’ll get some movement on this next month.
  4. Determine an ideal physical TBR and stick to it. TBR beginning of month: 260. TBR end of month: 271 Ideal TBR: 150. This number is somewhat arbitrary, but I think it would leave my bookshelves in a more comfortable place. Books read from physical TBR: 10 (including the Themis files, technically read in December). I am going to be un-hauling Under the Whispering Door, which will take my physical TBR to 270. Significant un-hauling will need to be done to get me down to 150 by the end of the year.
  5. Read at least 100 books. Currently: 18/100. Well on track with this goal.
  6. Read more graphic novels: Read 4 this month.
  7. Read more short stories: Not a focus this month, switching to focus on this in February.
  8. Join a book club that I don’t run: I failed with this one this month. I had intended to catch the CoverswithCassidy live show for The Girl and the Mountain but missed it. I’m going to watch the replay when I have time.
  9. Make a book club kit for 1 book per month: I started work on my first book club kit for the book The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan. It should be published in the next week or so and I can’t wait for people to see it.
  10. Read 15% of physical TBR: 10/271= 3%. Caveat** I added 11 books to my physical TBR this month and am un-hauling 1, which changes the number to: 10/270 but is still 3%.