Sunday, October 6, 2019

September 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to October

September has just flown by!  As per the past few months since I moved in, I continue to work on unpacking and moving in to the new house,  I still have boxes of books to take to Half Price Books, and too many boxes still in the storage space that is costing me $140 a month.  Plus, my garage is still full of stuff, and I want it out before bad weather so I can put my car in there.  Especially since I'm kind of thinking I want a new car.  One that I can haul things in without having to call my stepdad, who is getting really old and cranky, to help me.  Hauling the stuff as I mentioned in the storage space above for one thing.  Writing, still none.  I'm hoping to use October to do some planning though, so that I can participate in NaNoWriMo again this year.  Not sure if I'll start a new story, or continue to work on finishing another.

On with the reading stats for September.

According to Goodreads, I've read 167 of the 220 books goal for the year.  September made up 21 of those.  Most of the month I was either right on schedule, or a book ahead, but I'm two books ahead at the moment, or as of the time I posted this I was.  That's because I had a couple I had to rush to complete because I'd gotten behind. 

Here is a list of books I read in September, and I'll link to my review if I've finished it:

  1. Handle With Care by Helena Hunting
  2. Love Hacked by Penny Reid
  3. The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden
  4. Jock Road by Sara Ney
  5. Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan
  6. Styx and Stones by Carmen Jenner
  7. Truly Yours by Kennedy Fox
  8. Heidi's Guide to Four Letter Words by Tara Sivec and Andi Arndt
  9. Hungry Hearts Anthology
  10. I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
  11. No Judgments by Meg Cabot
  12. Fake Date by Monica Murphy
  13. Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith
  14. Closer by Kylie Scott
  15. Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid
  16. The Speed of Falling by Nancy Richardson Fischer
  17. Team Player 2 Anthology
  18. Reveal by K. Bromberg
  19. Kiss Me Tonight by Emma Hart
  20. Slay by Brittney Morris
  21. Harbor for the Nightingale by Kathleen Baldwin
  22.  
I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for one audiobook.


Books that I read in August but didn't get reviewed until September are the two audiobooks I mentioned last month, and I reviewed them in the same post HERE.


Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I'm up to 14 for the year, two from this past month.

My number of posts in September was back up, I had 44, which is way over my goal of only one post per day.  I have got to quit signing up for tours!    I'm doing a lot better about quickly scanning tour group emails for any books that either I know I want to read, or else making sure I don't have anything already scheduled.    Of those 44 posts, 17 were reviews, one of which was more than one book reviewed.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My rating was even higher than last month, 4.8 stars!  I guess that's what I get when I give up on books I'm not enjoying instead of fighting my way through ones I'm not enjoying.  It also means I guess, that I'm picking the right books to review, since pretty much all of them were review books.

Okay, on with my challenges.


1.  Once again I kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can't Wait Wednesday posts.
September 4th
September 11th
September 18th
September 25th

I'm still working on visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I am posting on my own blog, but I still haven't been keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  Don't know if that'll ever get going again.

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway (except that I keep adding new to Goodreads), as well as even my physical TBR a little.  I think I now have two people occasionally joining in, and you should feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:

September 7th
September 14th
September 21st
September 28th

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge as I mentioned above.

3. Even with my preparations, I have yet to get any writing done.  I'm hoping in October to get a lot of planning done and do the blogging ahead challenge so that I can actually participate and win NaNoWriMo again this year.


Still nothing from my list.  :-(




No new discussions this month. Again. 



And.... I still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, although once again, didn't do any from my list!


Looking forward to in October:
Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month:

  1. The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armetrout - hoping to read this weekend and post a review next week
  2. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis - I've got to get read and post a review this coming Tuesday, the 8th.  Probably should have brought it with me on my trip this weekend instead of the JLA book.  Oh well.
  3. Beard With Me by Penny Reid, currently reading and loving - posting review on the 9th as part of a tour.
  4. Call Me, Maybe by Stephie Chapman - posting review on the 13th as part of a blog tour
  5. Sticking to the Script by Stella Weaver - reading a bunch of the SmartyPants Romance series from Penny Reid's publishing company.  I think I'm posting a review on the 24th, but not part of a tour that I know of at this moment, in fact this isn't one that I'd signed up to review, just to promote, so we'll see
  6. A Lie for a Lie by Helena Hunting - posting review on the 17th as part of a blog tour
  7. Weight Expectations  by M.E. Carter - another SmartyPants Romance title, this one I believe I'm posting the review on the 16th as part of a blog tour
  8. The Second We Met by Maya Hughes - posting review on the 18th per author's request
  9. Happy Trail by Daisy Prescott - posting review as part of a tour on the 23rd
  10. Kiss Me Again by Emma Hart - posting review as part of a tour on the 24th
  11. The Bookworm Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts - posting review as per publisher request on the 27th
  12. Love in Due Time by L.B. Dunbar - another SmartyPants title and posting review as part of a tour on the 28th
  13. A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy - hope to read and review the ARC by the 30th
  14. Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate - another SmartyPants Romance - review won't be posted till November 1st though for a tour
  15. The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White - finally gave in and requested the egalley, even though I am so wanting the physical ARC of this favorite author of mine, but probably won't actually post a review till November
  16. Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel - I have an ARC to read, probably won't post a review till November again
  17. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz - I have the e-galley, won't post a review till November
  18. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - I have the ARC of this one, hoped to have it read last month, but since I didn't, hoping to read this month
  19. Michigan Vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen - I did not get this ARC read last month as planned, so maybe this month?
  20. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux - I have an ARC of this and it is published on the 15th, so I'd love to get it read and reviewed by then or close to then
  21. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy - I meant to get this ARC read last month, but didn't
  22. The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh - Got an ARC from Bookish First, still need to read!
  23. In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund - I somehow was lucky enough to get an ARC of this in the mail last week, but no idea when I'll get time to read it
  24. Dating-ish by Penny Reid - audiobook I'm listening to right now and should finish for sure this month

Hopefully I will get the audiobook I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog, along with the one I'm listening to right. now.  And fingers crossed I can get all these done for tours!  October is just as busy, my birthday will be towards the middle.  Plus I have a weekend that I thought I was going out of town, but now I'm not, and I already took those days off at the bookstore, so I plan to use those days to do lots of reading and possibly blogging ahead to be ready for NaNoWriMo in November.

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.   Hope everyone had a great September, and here's to an even better October!  I'm so glad that fall weather finally seems to be here!