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Monthly Inventory: April 2019

April 2019

I definitely thought April might go a different way for me in terms of reading (ie I would be reading more) but it was pretty par for the course. I was hoping to have more free time during my vacation but I ended up playing navigator so I couldn’t spend my time in the car reading or listening to my audiobooks like I had hoped.

I also set a goal for myself to not sign up for more ARCs and I was somewhat successful. I caved when a review opportunity showed up for one of my favourite authors. Otherwise, I’m really happy with where I am when it comes to my ARCs.

Happy 6 Years to Me!

I totally didn’t realize that this anniversary was coming up but it’s been 6 years since I started my blog!

This year, I really hummed and hawed about keeping my blog as a self-hosted site and opted to keep it that way. While I don’t blog or read as much as I did 6 years ago, I’m still content with hobby. I’ve been contemplating my post scheduling system (since I’m posting more than I’m reading it seems) but I don’t have any current plans for a hiatus.

Total for April 2019: 12 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read

DNF’d: 0 Books

Last April: 18 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read + 1 DNFs

Standout Read (★★★★)

I love dark romances and this series is quickly becoming my all time favourite. I just love everything about Kai and Enzo’s story. I’m two novels in and DESPERATE for the rest!

Biggest Let Down (★★★)

I definitely had different expectations for what I wanted this novel to be. I was very close to DNFing it because it was so slow at the start. Add to that an underdeveloped romance and I just didn’t overly enjoy my reading experience.

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 | 6 of 25 Titles Read – Slighty Behind!
Goodreads Challenge: 13 books added | 51/200 Books – 14 Books Behind!
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 0 books added | 4/24 Books – Behind

View my Challenge Progress Here!

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	Keep	Keep	Keep	Pass
Keep	Pass	Keep	Pass	Keep

Pass: 4 | Keep: 6

Grand Total YTD: Pass: 12 | Keep: 28

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

Originally, May was supposed to be about book sequels but I have a few too many ARCs to read so I’m going to focus on those and save the sequels for June instead. I’m also hoping to play some catch-up with my reading challenges as well.

Just a short recap of my month this time around. How was your April?
Leave a comment below!

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Monthly Inventory: April 2018 + 5 Year Anniversary!

April 2018

When I first thought of starting a blog 5 years ago, I really didn’t think I would still be with it 5 years later. Hobbies for me usually come and go thanks to my attention span. But reading is something I’ve been passionate about since high school and it’s that passion that has driven my blogging over the years.

I’ve shared my story many times over the years but I feel like it’s ok to reminisce for your 5 years anniversary. I’ve come a long way from my early days of a free wordpress site. I’ve (somehow) kept this blog going through 2 post secondary degrees; the beginning of my career and as I navigate this tricky world of adulting. I’ve changed the format of my reviews, redid my site design and moved my blog to a self-hosted server as well.

I might not read as many books now as I did 5 years ago or work on my blog everyday like I used to, but I’ve come to accept that things change and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. And in honour of 5 years, I wanted to share 5 lessons I have learned about reading and blogging since I joined this community:

Blog hop and comment on other’s blogs whenever you can
- I really neglected to do this in my first year of blogging and it’s my biggest regret.
You can’t read all the books and that’s ok
- Grow your TBR but don’t be afraid to remove those that don’t interest you
Followers and ARCs aren’t everything
- Stats can be helpful but you need to be happy first and foremost
It’s ok not to read or blog everyday
- I’ve really come to grips with this over the last year
Never be afraid to be honest about your thoughts/reviews
- Don’t say what is expected but rather what you truly feel

Cheesy perhaps, but I think they are important things to keep in mind. Even a 5 year veteran like me can still get caught up in the envy and the like but you work on it a day at a time.

Thank you everyone!

Whether you are a new reader or a returning friend, thanks for 5 fantastic years! Who knows, maybe I’ll still be here in 5 more 😉

—

My Reading Month of April

I think I said it best when I tweeted out this:

I feel like this gif describes my reading month in April. Great then oh sh*t pic.twitter.com/BPMyNBUUX4

— Lauren (@SERIESousBooks) April 22, 2018

April was a month I dedicated to getting things back on track. I was behind in ARCs and my reading challenges so my focus was really on reading those key books to contribute to my reading goals for 2018. For the most part, the first two weeks of April were extremely successful. The last two sucked thanks to life getting in the way but I was still in OK shape when all was said and done.

I think for me, May is about finding that healthy balance between reading, blogging and life and I can’t wait to see what it brings!

Total for April 2018: 18 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read

DNF’d: 0 Books

Last April: 18 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read + 1 DNFs

Standout Read (★★★★★)

This book was everything I wanted it to be! I love the fake relationship trope and this one executes it perfectly! The audio version is also AMAZING! So amazing I’ve got it on my list to buy since I borrowed it from the library.

Biggest Let Down (★★)

I love a good “bad-boy-turned-good” romance but this one just fell flat. It felt rushed and not much was done with the characters either.

Most Viewed Post

Top Ten Tuesdays: Books I Loved But Will Never Reread

Most Viewed Review

Blog Tour: Suitors and Sabotage

View this year’s archives for more posts and reviews!

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: 3 titles added | 5 of 25 Titles Read — Behind
Goodreads Challenge: # books added | #/190 Books — Ahead
52 Sequel Challenge: 4 titles added | 11/52 Sequels — Behind
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 1 book added | /36 Books — On Track

View my Challenge Progress Here!

I’ve seen this meme floating around and thought it was a great idea to help me tackle my TBR list and reach that less than 500 goal. The idea is to go through 5-10 books on your Goodreads TBR list chronologically and decide if they should stay or go. I usually do a big Goodreads Purge twice a year but I like the idea of doing a little bit at a time and have decided to do this on a monthly basis.

This month:

Keep	Keep	Keep	Keep	Pass
Pass	Keep	Keep	Pass	Keep

Pass: 3 | Keep: 7

Did I make any mistakes in letting some go or by keeping them? Let me know in the comments below!

You can still join in on these discussions:

Each month I have a list of 11 books I’ve selected to read for that particular month. These books include review copies and reading challenge picks. Here are some of the books I have ready to go for May:

What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month?
Leave a comment below!

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Site Update: 4th Blog Anniversary?!?!

OK, that’s a super cheesy quote but it totally works!

Blogging–while an individual task–is really all about the community. It’s a system of give and take and that’s what makes it such a beautiful thing.

I wouldn’t be here 4 years later if it wasn’t for you!

I’m pretty notorious for dropping my hobbies after a few months. But reading and blogging are two things that have been constants in my life in the last 6+ and 4 years respectively. And that is thanks to the awesome experiences I’ve had in the last 4 years.

So thank you for sticking by me!

As the quote says, it’s the little things that mean so much. Thank you for reading my blog, commenting on posts and tweets, and for always being awesome!

Some Fun Facts about my blog:

Post #s: 364 Series Reviews + 143 Standalone Reviews + 126 Feature Posts
My most viewed posts:
- For 2013: Too Far / Rosemary Beach Series by Abbi Glines
- For 2014: The Fixed Trilogy by Laurelin Paige
- For 2015: The Arcana Chronicles by Kresley Cole
- For 2016: Made Men by Sarah Brianne
- So far for 2017: SERIESous Spoilers: The Midnight Star

Any New Changes In Store?

I haven’t been very creative lately in posts (ie no new features) but I have a lot of great reviews on the way! I’m also planning on updating some of my old guides by summer’s end. Also be on the lookout for a new Kindle vs Kobo breakdown.

Any Giveaways?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to set up my own giveaway but I’m excited to share a giveaway for one my latest 5 star reads (I can’t recommend Ninja Girl enough!). You have a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Just click the cover below!

Thanks again everyone!

Monthly Inventory: April 2015

April 2015

April 30 was the 2 Year Anniversary of my blog (you can read all about it here!) so that was really exciting! I hope everyone likes the new theme and the new review format I will be unveiling over the next few weeks 🙂

I also finished exams a week ago so I have been basking in the glory of guilt-free reading. I can’t wait to tackle my TBR list and use the jar I made a month ago for the first time!

I’ve shortened this inventory post considerably from what I used to do because it’s just so much work and I don’t think a lot of what I put in it interested people. So I’m going to try this format and see how it goes…

23 Books Read + 2 novellas
- 0 nonfiction novels
- 7 standalones
- Started 9 new series
- Finished 1 series from start to end
- Finished 1 previously started series
- Read sequels for 7 previously started series

Favourite Reads

Least Favourite Read

★★★★★

Unleashed (Uninvited, #2)

★★

*Note: just because I read a series/book this month doesn’t mean that the review was also published. Due to the nature of my blog (ie I review whole series) it often takes me a few weeks to publish a full review (pending book availability) so look forward to seeing some of these reviews in the upcoming weeks/months!

The Mad Tatter Unbroken (Disclosure, #2) Never Forget (Memories, #1) Holding On (Memories, #1.5) Always Remember (Memories, #2) Rock Candy Kisses (3:AM Kisses, #5) Loving You Is Easy (Loving You, #1) Undeclared (Woodlands, #1) Undressed (Woodlands, #1.5) Unraveled (Woodlands, #3) Hard Knox (The Outsider Chronicles, #1) Nero (Made Men, #1) Vincent (Made Men, #2) The Deal (Off-Campus, #1)

Most Viewed Post

“Characters I’d Like to Check in With”

View this month’s archives for more posts & reviews!

With the new site theme, I’ve changed my home page. I will now be posting what reviews have been updated on my side bar by their covers instead of a sticky post. Hopefully this makes things easier for everyone and of course you can still find these updated reviews using the “Updated Reviews” category.

Previously posted reviews I updated this past month:

I thought this was a bit of overkill considering I have pages that I update on a regular basis (plus the tables didn’t format well when reading on an app). You can view my specific progress by visiting my dedicated Reading Challenge Page here.

Because I am finished school, I decided to try a Spring Bingo Challenge and signed up for Great Imagination’s Ready for Spring 2015 Bingo. I also decided to sign up for Bookmark to Blog’s Monthly Word Challenge and added a Canadian Bingo Card (from Retreat by Random House) for the rest of the year!

Book Bingo–Canadian: 0 books added
Bookish Bingo–Ready for Spring: 4 books added
Everything YA Challenge: ✔ Mini Challenge + ✔ 2 YA reads
Goodreads Challenge: 25 books added
Monthly Key Word Challenge: ✔ “The” & “Prince”
Prequel & Sequel Challenge: +13 points added
SERIESous’ Personal Classics Challenge: 0 books added
SERIESous’ Personal Nonfiction Challenge: 0 books added

View my Progress Here!

The idea behind the feature is to pit two books (or other themes) that are always compared to each other in a battle of three rounds to see who the winner is. Of course it is completely subjective to my own opinions so I added a poll feature to get your take on everything. Thanks to those who participated!

This month’s final poll results:

Twilight Saga 4 | Vampire Diaries Series 2

Next Battle: Vampire Diaries Books vs Vampire Diaries TV Show

NEW DOMAIN! seriesousbookreviews.com can now be used; however, seriesousbookreviews.wordpress.com still works!
New homepage now features the intro to the blog and has a separate blog feed page
Updated Series Reviews are now a sidebar widget!
New Theme and colour scheme added!
- Changed the main menu options at the top
- Moved sidebar options around (have footer menus now!)
Also added headers to reviews (subheadings will launch next month)
changed the features of my monthly review
added social media links
- Joined Riffle (it’s a book cataloguing system like GoodReads but allows you to create individual lists and generally recommend books). I mostly use it for lists.
- Also joined Bloglovin’!
Signed up for Netgalley!

Review subheadings will make an appearance
- I had already written some of the reviews for May before I decided to add Subheadings and didn’t feel the need to change all of them. So some posts will have them but not all will
Update the following:
- review directories
- Series Recaps for G-L (I swear I am going to get around to this!)
A new SEASONAL feature
- I am also going to cut down on the number of non-review posts to one a week
This May I’m going a Purchase Purge where I’m only reading books that I’ve bought (ie no books from the library) and I hope to do a review blitz sometime this summer with those reviews
- I’m also going to do a Trilogy Termination Blitz sometime this summer where I finish some trilogies I started years ago but never got around to finishing.
- I also want to try and NOT put any more books on hold at the library.

At the start of the month I was rotating through Lady Gaga, Maroon 5 (saw them in concert in March!) and the 50 Shades of Grey Soundtrack (say what you will about the movie, the music is FANTASTIC!). Exams are always a tricky time and I normally find my new music obsession. This time around it was Rixton, specifically Hotel Ceiling (watch the crazy video!) and Ed Sheeran (who I’m seeing in June!). But my study jam (I can’t have music playing with words or else I do karaoke by myself) is Tchaikovsky 😉

What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month?
Leave a comment below!

Monthly Inventory: February 2015

monthlyinventory

February 2015

It’s a little late I suppose–but it took me a long time to decide if I wanted to do a monthly blog recap. As per my blog resolutions for 2015 I’ve been taking a look at other blogs in the community (which are all great by the way! There are some awesome blogs out there for sure!) and liked that some people did monthly recaps. Not that I think many people will read it, but it’s a good reflection tool for myself (we studied that last week in my inter-professional course at school and it’s kinda stuck on me :P) to keep a positive attitude and maintain good blogging habits.

Like most readers, real-life gets in the way and you end up not reading as many books as you planned (guilty) or you never got around to reading a particular book (guilty) or you bought more books (guilty x2) or put more books on hold at the library (guilty x3) or… the list can go on and on. Yet as I was composing this post, I realized that I accomplished a lot! And that I should be proud of that fact! In everything I do I focus wayyyyy too much on the negative and not the positive. Sure I had to return a few books to the library unread (the horror I know!) BUT I read some really awesome books last month and put a really, really good dent in some of my reading challenges for the year.

Who knew you could do so much in such a short month!?

Books Inventoried

16 Books Read + 3 novellas
- 1 nonfiction novel (Death of a King)
- 3 standalones (Whatever Life Throws, DUFF, Forget You)
- Started 4 new series (Trust Me, Waterfire Saga, Alienated, Worldwalker Trilogy)
- Finished 1 series from start to end (Hopeless)
- Read sequels for 4 previously started series (Wild Seasons, Tangled, Falling Away, Welcome to the Point)

Favourite Read

Least Favourite

★★★★★

Forget You

★★

*Note: just because I read a series/book this month doesn’t mean that the review was also published. Due to the nature of my blog (ie I review whole series) it often takes me a few weeks to publish a full review (pending book availability) so look forward to seeing some of these reviews in the upcoming months!

Posted Reviews

Series:
- Caroline & West by Robin York (Completed Series)
- The Burke Brothers by Emma Hart (Fresh New Series)
- Most Wanted Trilogy by J. Kenner (Completed Series)
- 2B Trilogy by Ann Aguirre (Completed Series)
- Wild Seasons by Christina Lauren (Ongoing Series)
- Waterfire Saga by Jennifer Donnelly (Ongoing Series)
Standalones
- Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross
- Death of a King by Tavis Smiley
Other
- Movie Monday: Fifty Shades of Grey

Updated Stocks

Previously posted reviews I updated this past month:
- Stark Trilogy
- Tangled Series
- Fall Away Series
- Welcome to the Point Series

Reading Challenge Updates

I also created my own personal challenges: A Classics Challenge & a Nonfiction Challenge!

43/150 books!

43/150 books!

View Progress

✔ Two YA books
✖ Mini Challenge
View Progress

86/100 points!

86/100 points!
View Progress

0/5 books!

0/5 books!
View Progress

1/5 books!

1/5 books!
View Progress

View:

YA Challenge Reviews

Sequel Challenge Reviews

Classic Challenge Reviews

Nonfiction Challenge Reviews

Site Updates

Updated some pictures/graphics
Created a new tag for POV (it’s more specific now)
Updated Book Recaps for Series A-F

On Order for March

I have some new features coming!
- Memeful Moments – a NEW monthly feature where I write my thoughts about an internet meme
- Throwdown Thursdays – a NEW ORIGINAL monthly feature where I compare two books/series/etc against each other
- Top Ten Tuesdays – I plan to follow the weekly meme but on a monthly basis
Update the following:
- review directories
- Series Recaps for G-L
a TBR jar — honestly I’m embarrassed it took me so long to find this awesome idea!

Music in the Aisles

Just for fun I thought I would talk about what music I’ve been listening to lately. I’ve really been loving Nick Jonas’ latest album! His songs have been stuck in my head all week!

What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month? Did you accomplish more or less because of the shorter month? Leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading this if you read it all the way through!

I wish you all SERIESously happy reading!

Site Updates: eReading + Updating Reviews

Greetings readers!

You may have noticed that I haven’t had a lot of new blog postings lately. Part of the reason is that I have a full-time job for the summer that drastically reduces my reading time. But the other reason is that I have been hard at work updating previous series reviews (those Fresh Friday posts from last summer have fresh new sequels!) AND updating various pages of the site!

Updating Older Reviews

You may have noticed a new sticky post on the homepage, just below the intro post to the site. I’ve hid the rest of the post just for the sake of scrolling but when you click the “more” button you can see what previously posted reviews have new updates. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of series that I have already started because they have recently published new books and have decided to update my reviews accordingly. Most of these updates are simply a little blurb at the end of the existing blog post with my thoughts on the way the series is progressing or how it ended. It may also include updates on stats such as books in the series, etc.

eReading Page

My previous eReading Page on my site was originally a guide on purchasing an eReader but I have decided to expand it and add new sections for the sake of not having one long, continuous page of text. Now, in addition to my guide on purchasing an eReader, you can read about my experience with various reading apps for phones and tablets as well as a guide for reducing your costs on books for your eReader. Check it all out under the eReading link at the very top of the page.

I hope these additions are helpful and if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear about them below! Over the next few weeks I hope to update the book summaries pages but time will tell!

For those like me who had a long weekend this past weekend, I hope you had an awesome time (and got some good reading in!)! For those who didn’t I hope you had a nice weekend anyways 😛

I wish you all SERIESously happy reading!

Site Update: Launch of the FINAL Series Recap Page!

After nearly a year of promising to update my blog’s Series Recap section, I have finally managed to add the last set of recaps! Now Series from S-Z can be read! And just in time too as some books featured there have just had new releases in the last two weeks!

Now that school is out for the summer, I have started to tackle my long list of plans for this blog in my free time! Look for more series recaps and series updates over the next two months!

I also wanted to share an interesting article I read a few days ago about Reading Rules and how they reflect your personality. I have to agree with a few of these rules (I ALWAYS stop at the end of a chapter–if I decide to stop reading :P) so I am interested in what your reading rules are?

Link: What Your Reading Rules Reveal About Your Personality

Leave your comments below!

I wish you all SERIESously happy reading!

Site Update: Apology for the Lack of Posts Recently

I just wanted to post a quick update that I plan on adding more reviews to the site over the next month!

School got super hectic for me this term and I just didn’t have the time to write full out reviews for all the books I have been reading over the last 2 months!

My hope is to take mini study breaks and write reviews between study sessions and share them all with you!

Thanks for your patience!

Happy reading and good luck with exams (if you are writing them now!)!

Site Update: Launch of Book Recaps M-R & Why we don’t Finish Books!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to get the word out that I have launched the 3rd of 4 Series Recap pages on my blog! You can now view recaps for series that fall between the M and R range on the alphabet! Only one more to go and then it just becomes a matter of updating and new series as I read books.

I also wanted to bring up an interesting thought that Goodreads posted last week: “The Psychology of Abandonment”. As you can see by the picture I have added below, Goodreads has compiled a list of reasons as to why we never finish a book:

I think it brings up an interesting discussion so I am interested in learning what everyone else thinks?

My Thoughts?
Personally, I agree with most of the statements on the photo–especially with the “Point of No Return” ones. Editing, annoying characters and a slow plot are my main reasons for not continuing with a book. Though for the most part, I finish the book even if it bores me to tears (like Wicked by Gregory Maguire) and just not read the next book in the series–but there are a few times I just can’t even stomach that (like Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas, so boring and annoying). I also have a rule that if by page 50-80 (depends on how long the book is) I am not feeling a book, I drop it or shelf it for another time.

Actually, one of the main factors I don’t finish a book is because I have to return it to the library and I can’t renew it–especially with eBooks because they expire right away 🙁 It never fails that I get a whole whack-load of books coming in from being on hold at once and sometimes I just can get to all of them in time or another books grabs my attention more. Most of these books I pick up again as soon as I can and finish them.

So I ask, what are some books you have never finished? Why didn’t you finish them? Do you have a set number of pages before you call it quits? And do you agree with the statements Goodreads has compiled?

Leave your comments below!

I wish you all SERIESously happy reading!