Monthly Inventory: December 2019

December 2019

What a year 2019 was! There were definitely some highs and lows when it comes to things personal and reading/blogging but overall, it was a year of growth as I shift my life priorities.

I reflected back on my monthly recaps for 2019 as I wrote up this summary and they were a little bleak. At the start of the year, I debated about keeping my blog as self-hosted or if I should move back to the regular WordPress.com model as my blogging has decreased. But shifting my posting schedule around and taking on fewer deadlines has allowed me to re-embracing blogging and how much I enjoy it.

Throughout the rest of the year, I spent most months lamenting about my dismal reading numbers and how I was perpetually behind on my various reading challenges. But I pulled up my socks by the end of the year and got some last minute reads in. I might have fallen short on my Goodreads Challenge (a first for me!) but as I look at my reading year as a whole, I truly enjoyed most books I read so I consider it a success.

Like I always do, I have a plan for 2020. It’s all about book series (when is it not around here?) and my goal to finish 31 series I have on the go. Of course, I hope to catch-up on some sequels for some other series and read the many books I own. It’s a lot less structured than it has been in the past and I’m making it a resolution of mine to keep up with it throughout the year.

Total for December 2019: 13 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read

DNF’d: 0 Books

Last December 2018: 15 Books Read + 2 Novellas Read + 2 DNFs

Grand Totals for 2019:

59 Books + 41 ARCs + 55 Audiobooks + 22 Novellas + 8 DNFs = 183 Books

*Note some ARCs were audiobooks or novellas so they maybe have been counted twice

Standout Read (★★★★★)

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
What an adorable read! I loved the chemistry these two had–which was so refreshing after some lacklustre romances in the last few months.

Biggest Let Down (★★)

Cross Crease (On the Edge, #3)
This was one of the titles I was looking forward to the most when I resubscribed to Kindle Unlimited…and it was a huge disappointment. The lack of maturity; the heavy focus on the heroine’s virginity and a slightly messy plot had me skimming to finish the book.

Once again for Black Friday, Kindle had a promotion for new Kindle Unlimited Subscribers where you got 3 months of reading for only $0.99!!! I was hoping this deal would return after I had such a blast taking advantage of it last year.

Like I always do when I resubscribe, I wanted to see if I got my money’s worth ($10/month) and so I will be keeping track of all the books I read via the service. (Just like I did when completing the free trial.)

A Hurt So Sweet: Volume 2 – $5.24
Cross Crease – $5.30
Top Secret – $6.99

I definitely got my money’s worth this month! I plan on using the service heavily in the next two month’s to finish up some series.

Previously posted series reviews that got updates:

You can always get the full details on all my challenges on my dedicated page but here is a quick update:

5 Year 5 Book Challenge: 2 books added | 24 of 25 Titles Read – So Close!
Goodreads Challenge: 14 books added | 172/200 Books – Short 28 Books
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 2 books added | 33/24 Books – Completed!

View my Challenge Progress Here!

Overall: For a little while, it didn’t look like I was going to get any of my challenges completed but I pulled through! Obviously, my Goodreads Challenge fell short this year but I did complete my Tackling the TBR challenge (and by a lot too! I had actually set my goal to 34 originally but changed it to 24 so I was so close!). And being just one book short of my 5Y5BC was great! Usually I don’t get to all the titles so having one title left is AMAZING!

2020 Reading Challenges:

For 2020 the idea is to focus on SERIES! Crazy, given the title of my blog 😉 But because of my blog’s premise, I have a ton of series on the go ( ??? specifically) and I find some just get pushed to the side. So my goal this year is to finish at least 30 series and if I can get a few more sequels in, I’ll be ecstatic.

My Goodreads Goal this year is 155 Books.

This is a drastic change from year’s past but given this year’s results, I feel like this is a great number to strive for.

5 Year 5 Book Challenge 2020 Edition!

My 25 books (plus a bonus 5 more) for this challenge are all series finales from the last 5 years that I never got around to (well, there is an exception or two).

>> View the titles I’ve selected here!

Tackling the TBR – The 2020 Challenge

I’m following the same guidelines as always by only counting titles that I owned prior to 2019. The minimum goal is 24 titles in 2019. Titles from my 5Y5BC will count towards this challenge (unlike last year).

My main mission for 2019 was bringing my “Want to Read” shelf (new to me books) on Goodreads to a number close to 400—and I was pretty darn close when I finished the year with 422! I also set my “Sequel” shelf to be below 250 titles and I did do that and more with a total of 238!

So this year, I’m aiming for a “Want to Read” shelf that is less than 400 titles. I’ve also set a goal to get my “Sequel” shelf below 200 titles.

	Currently	December 31, 2018
Want to Read (New)	422	472
To Read (Sequels)	238	263

I used to do a big Goodreads Purge twice a year but I like the idea of doing a little bit at a time and had great success last year doing this on a monthly basis. The idea is to go through 5-10 books on your Goodreads TBR list chronologically and decide if they should stay or go. My 10 titles consist of 7 “new to me” titles and 3 “previously started series” titles.

This month:

Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Keep
Pass	Pass	Keep	Keep	Keep

Pass: 6 | Keep: 4

Grand Total YTD: Pass: 34 | Keep: 56

Did I give up on any too soon? Let me know in the comments below!

While this is a monthly meme hosted by Avalinah’s Books, I usually only update every quarter.

My Progress for January to December, 2019:

ARCs Read: 41 | ARCs Overdue: 1+1* | Upcoming: 2

(September State: ARCs Read: 11 | ARCs Overdue: 3+1* | Upcoming: 1

*Titles given to me as a member of an author’s street team to read ASAP.

Going Forward:

I say that I am going to limit myself every year when it comes to ARCs but 2019 was probably the first year where I actually did that. It took me a while to wane myself off but the effects were immediate. Not being consumed by deadlines helped to get me out of this dark cloud that seemed to be hanging over my reading.

I still love to read ARCs but I don’t want to be only reading ARCs. So I will be sticking hard to my limit of 2 a month for 2020 so I can focus on finishing series and reading books I already own.