December/End of 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Forward to 2020

December has gone by so fast, and now we are at the end of the year, and the end of a decade!  And it has been a decade of blogging for me as well!

Got probably more reading done this month, although a few of the books were either really short audio books and one was a re-read of a book I'd gotten to do kind of a beta read as a critique partner on a website I was trying out for getting my own stuff read.

I got the last two weeks off for holiday break, great Christmas times with family and my friend who got a job at Macmillan this past summer was home and I got to sit down with her one morning and talk about her job and catch up.  I haven't gotten as much as I would like to get done though, because the bookstore where I work didn't hire enough holiday help, so I've had to work a ton.  Money though, right?  I am looking forward to being the assistant bowling coach for my high school where I am a librarian though in January and February.  No, I'm not a good bowler or anything, they just needed an assistant, so I decided to volunteer!

On with the reading stats for December

According to Goodreads, I've completed my goal that I upped to 220 books as I got closer to it, and I've gone over by 4 more books.  December made up 22 of those. So yay for reaching and exceeding my goal! 

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

1. Shopping for a Billionaire #1 by Julia Kent
2. Shelf Awareness by Katie Ashley
3. Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman
4. The Lineup by Meghan Quinn
5. Shopping for a Billionaire #2 by Julia Kent
6. Beard Necessities by Penny Reid
7. The Younger Man by Karina Halle
8. The Boss Who Stole Christmas by Jana Aston
9.  If You Give a Jerk a Gingerbread by Jana Aston
10.  Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao
    
11.   The One Night Stand Before Christmas by Jana Aston
    
12.  Wait for Me by Tia Louise
    
13.  Recipe for Disaster by Allie York
14.  Shopping for a Billionaire #3 by Julia Kent
    
15.  The Pretenders by Rebecca Hanover
    
16.   Shopping for a Billionaire #4 by Julia Kent
17.  Dear Beau by Penny Reid
18.  So That Got Weird by Amelia Kingston
19. Beauty and the Beard by Penny Reid
20. The Setup by Rachel Van Dyken
21. Chosen by Kiersten White
22.  The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole
    
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for the audiobooks I listened to.  I did get audiobooks I was behind on reviewing done though, six of them HERE:  Beauty and the Mustache, Dating-ish, Happily Ever Ninja, and Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid, as well as #Heart by Cambria Hebert, and Back in the Game by Meghan Quinn.  One other review I didn't get done last month was Naughty or Nice by Rachel Stewart.



Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  While I haven't added anymore since October, there is one ARC that I'm close to DNFing if I don't get back to it soon.

My number of posts in December was much better, only 36!  I'm getting much better about turning down tours that I might normally want to go ahead and try.  But I'm still kind of booked to the gills for the first month or two of 2020.  Now, of those 36 posts, 13 were reviews.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My average rating was down to 4.3 stars.

I did a fun Book Tag this month:

• Christmas Songs Book Tag

I rejoined the Top 10 of the year posts and completed them all for 2019:

• Books I wish I'd Made Time to Read in 2019
• New or New-to-Me Authors
• Captivating Characters
• Cover Love
• Favorite Book Boyfriends
• Best of the Best
• Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2020

Okay, on with my challenges.

1.  I mostly kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can't Wait Wednesday posts.  However there really aren't a lot of books that come out in December to share.

December 10th
December 31st

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:

December 7th
December 14th
December 21st
December 28th - giveaway still going till January 3rd!


2.  My Reading Goals for the Goodreads challenge as I mentioned above were completed.

3.  Still no writing actually completed. But still planning to try to get a story ready to submit to SmartyPants Romance next year.

Overall my Beat the Backlist Challenge was a bust.  I only got four of the 12 books I planned to read:

• Rabbit and Robot by Andrew Smith
• Tinfoil Heart by Daisy Prescott
• Sweet Southern Secrets by Colbie Kay and Chianti Summers
• Midnight Blue by L.J. Shen

I only got two of my goal of four discussions done.  :-(.

• I Will Always Love You - Favorite Authors
• After Movie

I never came up with a button for the First in the Series Challenge, although I didn't complete my goal of 6, I'd say only 3 done, and two of those weren't on my original list

• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• First Down by Michelle Sodaro
• Truth or Beard by Penny Reid

Looking forward to in January:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month:

1. Oasis by Katya de Becerra - I am reading this as I write this post, should be posting the review on the 2nd.
2. Keystone by Katie Delahanty - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 4th
   
3. Just Kidding by Lani Lynn Vale - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 7th
4. Always Mine by Kennedy Fox - supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 7th
5. You Too? 25 Voices Share Their #MeToo Stories - part of a review tour and posting on the 9th
   
6. Jane Anonymous by Lauri Faria Stolarz - part of a review tour on the 10th 
7. Spark by Aleatha Romig - part of a review tour on the 14th
   
8. Finding Mr. Better Than You by Shani Petroff- part of a review tour on the 16th
   
9. Frenemies by Emma Hart - part of a review tour and posting on the 22nd
   
10. BMBG by Meghan Quinn -Not sure exactly what book this is but I'm scheduled to post a review as part of a tour on the 24th, and if it's by Meghan Quinn, I'll love it
    
11. Must Love Forever by Leigh Lennon- part of a tour that I'll be posting on the 27th
    
12. Bachelor Bastard Society by Sara Ney - part of a tour to post a review on the 28th
    
13. A Favor for a Favor by Helena Hunting - part of a tour to post a review on the 30th

ARCS I have that I hope to get to this month:

1. Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry
2. What I Carry by Jennifer Longo 
3. Wardens of Eternity by Courtney Allison Moulton
4. A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier
5. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - been trying to get this one read and reviewed for a couple months now
6. A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy - this is the one I kind of started, but may end up DNFing.

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  I signed up for a lot of tours this month it seems.  May keep me from getting writing done or any extra books read.  We'll see. 

I think I'll do a separate post later this week with my challenges that I'm signing up for in 2020.  

So, how was your December?  Are you excited for 2020?