2016 Blog Goals Check-in & Giveaway

We almost let the 6 month mark roll on by without doing a Blog Goals Check-in post…but with a few days to spare in June, we are posting our mid-year check-in from the blog goals we set back in January. So take a peek into our statuses so far & see us scramble for the next 6 months to hold ourselves accountable.

As a way to help us grow as a blog we are also looking to add more reviewers/bloggers to our team! If you are interested please fill out this questionnaire!

As for the giveaway…I have quite a pile of books available to choose from, one book of choice for one winner who comments on this post by July 15th. Please leave a comment with the number of books you have read so far this year and what your reading goal was (if you have one) or any other meaningful comment about this post! Thanks!

Kelly’s Check-in:

Well I am almost on point with my Goodreads Reading Challenge of reading 95 books for the year. I have read so far 42 book and it says I am 4 books behind schedule, but what it doesn’t know is that I am okay with that number, especially after my massive book hangover (Thanks SJM!) where I really didn’t read for 20 days! THE HORROR! (I did binge watch some netflix shows so win/win?!)

I have been keeping a paper tally of all the books I have read this year as well, but not quite a reading journal. I thought the journal would help me write reviews later down the line, but all good plans…or whatever. Good thing that whole arc review goal is only really holding me accountable to myself, because…still failing at writing reviews. I am not even writing short reviews! What is wrong with me?! I swear writing a review skyrockets my anxiety, so I do the next best thing and just don’t write one. I know, I know, why am I blogging?! Well…I love books & the book community. Seriously, book people are my people. So yeah our Netgalley rating is still way too low!

As for the Goodreads shelves cleanup and the real-life shelves cleanup, I can only hope that the rest of the year allows me to do these two items. I did add a bookshelf to my home library, however I quickly filled it up and realized I probably need 2 more bookshelves. I really need to go to IKEA and just buy like 4 Billy bookcases and be done with it! I say 4 because I need at least 2 and I would love to stop using my old pantry shelving unit as a bookshelf because there are slats so paperbacks do not do well on there, plus growth. Which brings me to my ultimate failure so far…not buying new books and reading the books I already own. HA! Who would have thought this hoarder would be able to say no! So I recently bargained with myself that I will now only buy books to be signed or signed books until I can reduce my unread books!

Blog changes…are also still to come. 🙂 OK so most of my goals are still to come, but hey I still have almost 6 months to tackle some more of this list!

Shannon’s Check-in:

Well 2016 has been an interesting year so far, insomuch that I found out I was pregnant in January! EEK. That was a total game changer for me. I ended up scaling back my book goals for this year from 60 to 50 books. I doubt I will make that goal with a baby due 9/29 but I hope to at least make it to 30 books by her due date. As of right now I have read 15 books for the year.

In terms of blog goals I am not doing so shabby but could be better. As a refresher here were my goals:

1. Review more books! I reviewed a pitiful amount of books last year but we are so lucky that we brought on two new amazingly talented reviewers! I hope to review 2 books a month moving forward.

Status: This sadly hasn’t improved I’ve only reviewed a few books for the blog this year. Mostly because Kelly, Sara and Theresa, have been doing such an awesome job that I concentrate on our weekly posts. I hope to post a few more reviews in the next few months.

2. Finish up the books I laid out in series sweep.

1) Bloodlines by Richelle Mead – The Ruby Circle (#6)
2) Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi – Into the Still Blue (#3)
3) Delirium by Lauren Oliver – Requiem (#3)
4) Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick – Finale (#4)

Status: I just finished Bloodlines last week and it took me FOREVER. It was such a letdown after having loved the entire series. I’ve since moved on to Under the Never Sky. I have no doubt I will finish up this list by the end of the summer.

3. Finish reading some of the older books on my Goodreads shelf/home book shelf. These are the books that have been sitting around for over 2 or more years and desperately need some love.

Status: I’ve actually made great progress on this goal as I have already read 3 older books that were languishing on my ipad, (Relentless by Karen Lynch, Falling Into You by Jasinda Wilder, and Unbreak Me by Lexi Ryan), which were all released in 2013.

4. Attend more bookish events (I’m looking at you YallWest 2016 😉 )

Status: Another goal I am really happy with! I attended an amazing book event signing at my local indie bookstore with Aimee Kaufmann, Jay Kristoff and Leigh Bardugo! And I got to attend Yallwest again this year! Although it wasn’t the same without Kelly, I still had a great time and got tons of books signed 🙂

5. Finally, just have more fun with reading. This blog was started out of a love for books and I just want to get back to being a super fan again. I am also giving myself permission to stop reading a book if I don’t like it. Life is too short to read a book you don’t like if it doesn’t work I am going to be ok with a DNF and move on.

Status: I have definitely embraced this concept. I’ve even gone so far as to join a book club that reads books outside of my normal YA/NA genre. I just finished Girl on the Train and loved it! It’s great to get out of your comfort zone and I’ve also stopped a few books this year that were just not doing it for me. Mostly freebie NA’s I’ve come across on Amazon or through Rifle. If I am just not feeling it I am moving on.

So there you have it still a work in progress. This year may not see me meeting all of my goals as my baby girl is due the end of September but I hope to at least make a major dent.

 

Sara’s Check-in:

I’m supposed to write a small post to update all of you amazing readers on the progress of my blog goals but the truth of the matter is, I have no update. Life took a crazy turn and I’ve just been busy surviving.

I don’t know many books I’ve read, though I know it’s nowhere close to my lofty goal of 250 books. I’ll be lucky to get to 100 this year, and that’s okay. I did start a handwritten list but I didn’t stick with it, since some other stuff went down. I still carry the notebook in my purse with me, though. Just in case.

I have been able to do “First Line Fridays” most of the time (even though Kelly has to remind me every week), and I’ve found that to be a ton of fun. I’m still not any better at not needing Kelly to remind me about my reviews, but I’ve been trying. I actually put stuff on the calendar now. Well, Kelly puts it on the calendar for me. But still!

I don’t even know how many books I’ve reviewed. Two? Ten? I haven’t reviewed every book I’ve read but I have reviewed most, which is more than last year.

What I do know is that I’ve had to put many things on hold to concentrate on my health and on my family, including reading and blogging. But I also know that books will be there when I’m ready, and I find that thought very comforting.

 

Teresa’s Check-in:

Howdy y’all! It’s June already, wow! I am one of those people who like to prep for the holidays months in advance, so next month I start buying Christmas presents!!!! OK, I know, but hey I have three kids so I have to space the purchases out. 🙂

My goal at the beginning of the year was to read 85 books for the year. As of right now I have read 52 books, and written reviews on 22 of them. The others were just for fun. 🙂 I am still working on consistency, I still fall in to my pit of reading a lot of books one week then none the next. So yeah, I forgot about that.

I wanted to add 10 more signed books to my collection. This year, thanks to some amazing friends and authors, I have 6 new signed books sitting on my shelf! <3

One of my goals was to review more books and be on the blog more, I have written reviews for 22 books so far. On that front I think I am doing well. That is more than I did for the entirety of last year.

I have finished one of the three series that I have, but I have bought the books for one of them so that counts right? My Goodreads account probably has cobwebs with the amount of time it’s been since I have logged in. BUT I have been cooking more, working on that skill. In fact, I have entered a cook off at my church for this Friday! Ha!

Wish me luck!

-T

Giveaway:

Leave us a comment on your reading progress this year! Number of books read so far & your ultimate goal! Or just leave a meaningful comment about our progress! One winner will be chosen from the comments to have their choice of books from our giveaway pile (a lot are signed!)! Open to the US/CA only due to the crazy expensive shipping costs – INTL winner who have the option of Book Depository delivery will win a book of choice up to $15 total (USD)! Good Luck!