booksdanilikes

Series I’d Like to Start

If you’ve seen my recent posts about my series goals (see: Series tracker, 2024 goals, series plan 2024) then you will know that I have a bad habit of starting series and never finishing them. I have a plan to help me make a big dent in those in 2024, but I also know that I won’t be able to stop myself from starting some new series next year.

Here are the series that I already know I’m interested in:

The Hierarchy by James Islington (1 book currently)

Thorn Witch by Katharine J. Adams (1 book currently)

Soulfire Saga by Matthew Ward (1 book currently)

Bloodguard by Cecy Robson (1 book currently)

Blood & Tea by Hafsah Faizal (1 book currently)

The Five Crowns of Okrith by A.K. Mulford (5 books)

Cotton Malone by Steve Berry (18 books)

Elements of Cadence by Rebecca Ross (2 books)

The Kingdom of Crows by Olivia Wildenstein (4 books)

Queen’s Cove by Stephanie Archer (4 books)

Heromaker by Kendare Blake (1 book currently)

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker (2 books)

Powerless by Lauren Roberts (2 books)

Entangled with Fae by Tessonja Odette (5 books)

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter (2 books)

House of Devils by Kayla Edwards (3 books)

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell (2 books)

Agnes Sharp Mysteries by Leonie Swann (3 books, 2 publishing in 2024)

Stolen Beauty by Alyson Noel (3 books)

Royal Blood by Aimee Carter (2 books)

Ernest Cunningham by Benjamin Stevenson (2 books)

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (3 books)

The Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill (5 books)

Kindred’s Curse by Penn Cole (4 books)

The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson (3 books)

Dance of Thieves by Mary E Pearson (2 books)

Borrow a Bookshop by Kiley Dunbar (3 books)

Salt Chasers by A.S. Thornton (2 books)

Mistlands by Katherine Quinn (1 book so far)

The Grimnir Saga by Scott Oden (3 books)

Crowns of Nyaxia by Carisa Broadbent (2 books)

The Golden Court by A.K. Mulford (1 book so far)

Eidyn by Justin Lee Anderson (2 books)

The Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin (3 books)

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (3 books)

Week in Reading 12/17-12/23

This was a pretty good week in reading considering everything that was going on in preparation for the holidays.

12/17: Finished Bibliophile. 4 stars. Would recommend to people who love: books, authors, writing, bookstores, and libraries. It’s the kind of book you want to own instead of borrowing from the library. I wanted to mark it up and put checkmarks next to the books that I have read on the many lists. Read to page 198 in The Marvellers.

12/18: Listened to 52% of The Girl and the Stars. Read to page 254 in The Marvellers.

12/19: Listened to 59% of The Girl and the Stars. Did not see that twist coming!

12/20: Listened to 72% of The Girl and the Stars. I can’t see where this one is going. There’s been a few references to a big picture, but I don’t think we have enough info to understand that yet.

12/21: I finished The Girl and the Stars tonight. I got to the 82% mark listening and then finished it physically. We’re left with a great cliffhanger. 4 stars.

12/22: Listened to 25% of Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. This is a re-listen for me because I want to complete the series this year. I originally read the book almost 3 years ago to the day. The story is coming back to me better than I thought it would. I like the multi-cast audiobook. Read to page 277 of The Marvellers.

12/23: Read to page 328 in The Marvellers.

2024 Reading Goals

I felt confident that I had set reading goals for 2023 and that I had written them down somewhere, but I have searched and searched and so far have not found them.

In setting my goals for this year, I wanted to challenge myself, but not go too crazy and I wanted some of the goals to be supportive of each other. Without further ado, here are my 10 reading goals for 2024:

Read a little bit everyday.
Finish 2 series per month. This will be the most difficult goal to complete, but I’ve got something of a plan. I’ll be tracking my progress on my Series Tracker page.
Get NetGalley percentage to 80%. Currently: 56%. While math is not my strong suit, I think this adds up to 20 books that I will need to review.
Determine an ideal physical TBR and stick to it.
Read at least 100 books.
Read more graphic novels.
Read more short stories.
Join a book club that I don’t run.
Make a book club kit for 1 book per month (more on this at a later date).
Read 15% of my physical TBR.

Series that could be finished in 2024

As I’ve grown as a reader, I have learned some hard truths about myself. One of those truths is that I am very bad at finishing series. My anticipation of the series drops off dramatically with the last book. I suspect I have a fear that the books will not provide me with a satisfying conclusion and then I will feel bad for having spent so much time on them. This is entirely irrational and I want to work on this problem in 2024. Here are the series that I am interesting in finishing that I have already started.

*Links will take you to the series Goodreads page*

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. (In my defense, I could wait to catch up with this series if and when he publishes the long awaited final book.)

Current status: 1/2 of the published books read.

The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas. I have no idea why I can’t seem to get further with this series, considering I am up to date on the ACOTAR and Crescent City books by the same author.

Current status: 3/8 books read (including the prequel).

Pages & Co by Anna James. This is a really cute middle grade series that I just lost track of.

Current status: 2/6 books read.

The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel. I have even less excuse here than with some of the others because I OWN ALL 3 BOOKS already.

Current status: 1/3 books read.

The Illuminae Files by Aimee Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

Current status: 2/3 books read.

The Serpent and Dove trilogy by Shelby Mahurin. In my meager defense, this series was originally going to be a duology and then they stretched it out for a third book.

Current status: 2/3 books read

The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. I own all or almost all of these.

Current status: 1/8 books read.

The Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. Technically this is a bunch of different series in the same universe, but I loved the first book so much I’m willing to see this through.

Current status: 1/16 books read.

The Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend. This was another middle grade series that I was loving and then I just dropped it for some unknown reason.

Current status: 1/4 books read.

The Helen Grace series by M.J. Arlidge.

Current status: 4/10 books read.

The Hannah Swensen mysteries by Joanne Fluke. I don’t feel quite as bad about this one as I tend to pick one of these to listen to in the car when I don’t have a good audiobook already waiting for me. They’re quick and easy listens and I tend to listen to several in a few weeks and then take a little break from the series. It’s nice that you don’t really need to remember much to pick them up again.

Current status: 19/29 books read.

The Lighthouse Library mysteries by Eva Gates.

Current status: 8/10 books read.

The Licanius trilogy by James Islington. I really loved the first book and was recently able to pick up the entire series at a local book sale. Hopefully that will make it easier to re-read book 1 and restart with this series.

Current status: 1/3 books read.

The Haunted Library mysteries by Allison Brook.

Current status: 5/7 books read.

The Rockton/Casey Duncan series by Kelley Armstrong.

Current status: 1/7 books read.

The Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny.

Current status: 4/18 books read.

The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Current status: 2/4 books read.

The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros.

Current status: 1/2 books read.

The Baker Street Mysteries by Valerie Burns.

Current status: 1/3 books read.

The Drowning Empire series by Andrea Stewart.

Current status: 1/3 books read.

The Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Current status: 2/10 books read.

The Mistborn saga by Brandon Sanderson. I’m including the entire run here as opposed to breaking them into different eras.

Current status: 3/7 books read.

The Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir.

Current status: 1/4 books read.

The Supernatural Investigations series by B.B. Alston.

Current status: 1/2 books read.

The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon.

Current status: 1/6 books read (including both novellas).

Book of the Ice series by Mark Lawrence. I just started the first book in this series for an online book club that I’m interested in following. I’m enjoying it and feel confident that I will finish this book by the end of the year.

Current status: 0/3

The Conjureverse series by Dhonielle Clayton. I am reading the first book in this series right now as part of catching up with my NetGalley Shelf of Shame. This is another book that will be finished by the end of the year.

Current status: 0/3

That adds up to a total of 115 unread books in order to finish out all of these series. I can’t get them all done in one year by any means, but I can make a dent in them if I focus on it. The goal will be to finish 2 series per month. There are a few easy wins in there, but the rest are going to take a few months of work.

Week in Reading 12/10-12/16

12/10: Read to page 86 in The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton. The story is starting to pick up. We’ve sort of met a potential villain and a backstory has been vaguely alluded to that is definitely going to come into play at some point. Borrow The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston and The Kiss of Deception by Mary Pearson on Libby. Also borrowed audiobook for The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence. Got to 85% of All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. It is more gruesome, but there has also been more humanity.

12/11: Finished All the Sinners Bleed before work. 5 stars. Started The Girl and the Stars. Reading and listening to this one. Got to page 14. Also started Bibliophile by Jane Mount on my lunch break. Made it to page 42. Easy to consume. Beautiful illustrations. Fun facts. Read more before bed. Made it to page 63.

12/12: Read to page 96 in Bibliophile. Still loving the fun facts and illustrations. Listened to 16% of The Girl and the Stars. I like the story but I’m having trouble with all the characters when I can’t see how to spell their names.

12/13: Listened to 22% of The Girl and the Stars. Read to page 109 of Bibliophile.

12/14: Read to page 135 of Bibliophile. Every day I think I’m just going to power through and finish this book, but I find myself wanting to linger with it. Listened to 33% of The Girl in the Stars. I’m starting to see this one come together and I’m really liking the characters. There’s a little bit of a Hunger Games/Divergent feel to the story, but possibly more complex.

12/15: Read to page 138 in Bibliophile. Listened to 42% of The Girl in the Stars. It’s really getting me hooked now. I didn’t want to get out of the car tonight.

12/16: Read to page 164 in The Marvellers. I struggle to pick this one up, but once I do, I’m intrigued.