Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2015

The new year is fast approaching, it's that time to reorganize our shelves, our lives, and our blogs. This week we get to share some of our Goals for 2015 and that's exactly what Jacquelyn and I have prepared for you today.

1. My Goodreads challenge is the one thing I tend to stick by. In 2015 I plan on reading 105 books in order to complete the 105 challenge hosted by Nori. I'll be talking more about this in my post for tomorrow, where I go into detail about all the challenges I'm going to attempt. This is big for me since I've never completed a challenge (besides the Goodreads challenge) and I haven't set my goal as 100 since 2012. I'm going to set out to read at least 50 pages a day in order to complete my goal. I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of cheerleaders.

2. This goal goes with the 105 challenge, and that is to read a book in French. If you didn't know, I graduated from college in December with a minor in French, but I know that if I don't keep practicing I'm going to forget everything I know. So along with reading a book in French I also want to watch a French film a month. They're usually dark, depressing, and forbidden so one a month is all I can take. OH! And I also want to keep track of all the movies I watch in 2015. There's an app called Libib that makes this super easy.

3. COMMENTING ON COMMENTS (any Grace Helbig fans out there?). I want to increase my participation in the blogging community, so I'm going to try to comment on 10 blogs every day or every other day. I'm going to try my hardest to stick to it. I'm even setting an alarm on my phone to remind me every day.

4. This is a personal life goal for me...BLOGILATES. I know of a ton of other book bloggers who take part in the monthly Blogilates calendar and I want to join in. I did it for a week in December and honestly felt so great. I can't imagine what doing it for an entire month would feel like. You know I'm going to need cheerleaders and workout partners for this one as well so let me know in the comments if you're doing this.

5. Posting at least 2 times a week. I have a co-blogger now *hi Jacquelyn*, and that's really taken some of the stress off me. I hope my anxiety stays away in the new year and I don't feel stressed to put out posts on the blog. That said, I do want to create some sort of schedule where I set aside time every day, or every other day, and blog for an hour or two. That way I can post and still have time for my social life and my reading pile.

Now it's my turn to tell all of you what my goals for 2015 are! I personally love making goals for myself because I just love having something to work towards but if I set a crazy goal I usually get stressed out. That said I will be making my goals obtainable and achievable. 

1. I would like to read 150 books this year. I have read 147 so far this year so it's not that big of a jump but I think 150 is a really achievable goal for me. I would also like to be better with balancing ARCs, "me" books, and older books! I am thinking that every 3 or so ARCs I read I get to read a "me" book or an older book! 

2. Like Audris, I want to increase my participation in this community! I am pretty good with replying to comments that I get on my own posts but I don't comment on other people's blogs enough and that makes me sad because you all have lovely blogs! I would love to try and comment on blogs each day of the week with maybe an hour or two on the weekends just set aside for commenting on blogs! 

3. I want to be more organized and prepared. I would love to have a list of all of my ARCs and their release date so I can read them in the order of publication date and have their reviews up a month prior to release date. I hate when I don't read an ARC before release date so I am really hoping to become more organized with them so I can avoid this. Also, I think if I wrote my review soon after finishing the book, my reviews could be more insightful and informative than the review you would be reading that I wrote a few months after finishing the book. 

4. I would love to post 2-3 times a week and schedule posts more often. I think scheduling posts is awesome because I never know when school is going to be super busy or whatever and I wouldn't have to worry about getting a post up if I already had them scheduled! I want to be much more consistent with my posts and  have more variety. I would obviously love to post reviews and memes but also have some discussions or just chatty posts. Maybe even some fun but not book related posts! 

5. I want to meet and talk to more of you guys! This kind of goes along with the commenting goal I have but I just want to interact with more of you and meet new friends! All of my internet book friends I have so far are wonderful and I would just love to have more friends to flail over books with! I want to interact more with people and readers on blogs, Instagram, and over on Twitter!

I hope you all have a lovely New Year and reach and complete all of the goals you hope to!

Top Ten Books I Read in 2014 + IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

This is a very special Top Ten Tuesday, and if you didn't guess it by the title, I TURN A YEAR OLDER TODAY. I'm officially 23 (and I graduated last Friday). Oh, hello there real life. All of these changes are both exciting and terrifying. And since 2014 was such a huge year for me what better way to celebrate my birthday than with books?

I also just found out minutes ago that Theo James and I have the same birthday. JEALOUS? YOU SHOULD BE.

Top 10 Books I Read This Year:

  

1. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

2. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

3. Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

Under the Never Sky was a very recent and surprising read. I forgot all forms of reading material at home one day (along with my phone) and all I had was my nook. So I pick one of my random ebooks and this one happened to be it. AND OMG AM I GLAD. The love I developed for these characters was on another level.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before...there's not much to explain about this. I may or may not have an unhealthy obsession with everything Jenny Han writes. Refer to later part of the post for more fangirling.

Unbreakable was the perfect thing to help me form an even crazier obsession with Supernatural than the one I already had. This one is definitely for fans of Supernatural. Brothers, demons, exorcisms, OH MY!

4. Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas

5. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

I'm forever indebted to Racquel from The Book Barbies for making me pick up Dangerous Girls earlier this year. It feels like so long ago! But YESSSS! Abigail Haas is a mastermind at twisted psychological thrillers. You need to pick these up if you haven't (btw they aren't part of a series or even companions. Very different, but very worth it.) and I need more from her!

6. The Summer I Turned Pretty

It's Not Summer Without You

We'll Always Have Summer

All by Jenny Han. Jenny Han is a goddess when it comes to writing and developing characters. I count all three of these as one because I'm a cheater, but also because I read all of these books in the span of about three days. There was no jerky pause between books. I felt like I grew up with Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad in just a few days.

7. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

8. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This section should be called the Rainbow-Rowell-Can-Do-No-Wrong section. I read Eleanor & Park last December and since then I've been hooked on her characters. They are some of the most relatable characters I've ever read. Let's be honest, Landline would have probably made it on this list if I had already read it *stares longingly at shelf*.

9. Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

10. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

These two are the extremely emotional books of the bunch. I suggest you have a pack of tissues handy when you pick up Torn Away. It literally ripped my heart out and threw my emotions all over the place. I wish more people knew about this one.

As always, there are some VERY honorable mentions:

 


Have you read any of these? What was your number one book of the year?

Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Broke and Bookish!

This is a very exciting Top Ten Tuesday. I always look forward to everyone's posts about what books they're excited for in 2015. There are so many amazing books being released, I just had to cheat a little bit...

  

The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand: The Unearthly series is one of my all time favorite series. The emotions I got while reading the whole series were out of control and that series was paranormal. Imagine what she can do to my heart in contemporary?! I'm ready for the feels.

Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby: I read her book, Moonglass, when I first started blogging so every time I see a book by Jessi Kirby it brings the memories. This one sounds like it's going to be another emotional read. A girl looking for the person who received her dead boyfriend's heart? *cue tears* yes, please. OH! And my coblogger, Jacquelyn, recently read this and loved it. She said it's one of her top ten favorite books ever!

Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott: On a whim, I ended up picking up Fire & Flood earlier this year and loved it. I loved the nonstop action, the characters, the twists! Everything that makes a novel unputdownable, Fire & Flood had. I'm craving more from these characters!

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson: I fell in love with Noelle Stevenson's art while I was reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. She did such a fantastic job bringing the fanfic characters to life, so I'm really excited to get an entire graphic novel with her art and story.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West: Can a novel summary give me cuter vibes than this one? I don't think so. The Fill-In Boyfriend sounds absolutely adorable! I've read her other books and I'm looking forward to more hilarious, cute and fun situations.

  

The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver: I heard Juhina from Maji Bookself talking about this one in her November book haul and I knew I had to have it. The summary actually made me gasp out loud. There is no way I can explain it as well as they did so just click here to read the summary.

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales: There's not much of a synopsis for this but I'm going to put the goodreads summary here: "Tonight the Streets Are Ours is a YA novel about a teen girl living in the suburbs who becomes obsessed with a blogger in New York City, and sets out to track him down in real life." Doesn't that make you want to pick it up? And the cover...all of these covers are so gorgeous. 

All Fall Down by Ally Carter: I grew up with the Gallagher Girls series. It's basically my teenage years so I need this. That's it.

Both of these have gorgeous covers! Publishers are definitely doing something right in 2015 when it comes to covers. Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan sounds so intriguing. It seems like a great story about revenge and treachery. While you're waiting, if you haven't read The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, go read it. You won't regret it (or maybe you will when you're sobbing for the characters and your heart is in pieces).

The synopsis for Sweet by Emmy Laybourne sounds so strange that I just have to have it. A cruise ship for people that want to lose weight, a sweetener that might be killing people, all sprinkled with a bit of romance? Hmmmm....I trust Emmy with my life after having read the Monument 14 series (one of my favorite series of all time).

And my most anticipated book of 2015 goes to:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale of all time. I used to watch the movie while studying for finals in college. It's my comfort zone. Anything Beauty and the Beast related automatically makes me feel warm and happy inside. So this book would obviously be my most anticipated book of 2015. This is the Beauty and the Beast retelling that has captured my attention the most. Usually I'm excited for them, but this one surpasses that excitement. AND CAN WE TAKE A MOMENT TO STARE AT THIS COVER? You can be certain I will be reading this one as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Honorable Mentions:

Top 10 (or 15) Books I Want To Reread

This post could actually be titled, Top Ten Books I Want To Reread So I Can Finally Finish Some of These Series, but I thought that would be a bit too much. Seriously though! I need to finish trilogies I started YEARS ago. I'm going to cheat a little with this post, I never cheat though, so I think it can be forgiven. I just have so many books I would love to reread that this is going to be a top 15.

To finish the series:

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
AHHHHHH! THE EMOTIONS. That's basically what I felt while reading Everneath, plus COLE. SO MUCH COLE. Okay, I'm done with the caps...Cole is my book boyfriend, that is all.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
This is such a unique world, I'm definitely ready for more of it, but I need to reread this one first.

Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Whenever I think of fantasy this is the first book that pops into my head. I remember reading it in one morning and falling in love with the characters, the writing, and the world.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
What a fun book! I need to reread this one and see what happens next. Kiersten knows how to write a kick ass main character.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
I devoured the first three books of the series back when they were supposed to be a trilogy. I would actually sneak it to work and read it during any spare minute I got. But that was so long ago! I need a refresher. I'm actually listening to this series on audiobook so I can move on to the other books.

Anna and the French Kiss & Lola and the Boy Next Door
I adored Anna! It was one of my top books I read that year, but sadly Lola wasn't my favorite. I'm thinking that if I reread it now I might enjoy it more since I don't have crazy expectations. Plus, I need to read Isla because Josh <3.

Altered by Jennifer Rush
The love I have for this book (and those boys) is insane. I need to reread this one and binge read the  novellas and second book so I can read the final book when it comes out in January.

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
This book wasn't my favorite throughout, but that ending was like a punch in the gut. I definitely want to see what happens next!

Favorites I would love to reread:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
This was one of those books I read wayyy back when. Even before I started blogging (and that was a long time ago). The story was beautiful and heartbreaking and I want to experience that again.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
I already actually finished this series, but I loved it so much that I wouldn't mind reading all about Clara and TUCKER all over again.

The Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter
I could reread this series over and over again and never get tired of it. In fact, I've probably read the first and second books a total of 4 times each. Back before I got into blogging and reading avidly I used to pick up these books on a regular basis. I want to reread the series so I can finally read the final book, but at the same time I don't want it to end.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan
Both of these books are filled with some of my favorite quotes! I'm actually contemplating rereading Dash & Lily this Christmas. It's the perfect book for the holidays!

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Almost forgot Before I Fall! I read this one years back but it left a really big impression on me. I had the biggest book hangover after reading the last page and I just kept thinking about the main character. It also has incredible quotes about friendship and love and life in general. If I could reread one book for the first time ever I would pick this one hands down.

Favorites I read this year but will reread in the future:
(AKA THE JENNY HAN SECTION)

The Summer series by Jenny Han
This whole damn series had me submerged in feels. I never cry in books but We'll Always Have Summer tore my heart out and put it back together. I read all three within about a week and even then I felt like I grew with these characters. I will definitely be picking this series up again in the future. Sorry to all the people that recommended this series for years and I ignored. I will never doubt you again *bows down*.

To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han (YES. Another Han book)
Her writing is perfect and I will devour anything by her. I will probably reread this one right before the sequel comes out.

Phew! I would love to think that I'm actually going to find the time to reread all of these books, but let's be honest...

I'm probably just going to end up rereading a few and winging the rest, or using Recaptains to remind me of what happened in the first book. Seriously, if you haven't checked out Recaptains get on that. The girls over there are lifesavers!

What books are you planning on rereading?