November 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to December

Did I say October was a crazy month?  Because I have no idea what happened to November!  It's like I jumped right into NaNoWriMo and was doing pretty well a few days after the month got started.  Then halfway through the month things started happening, family things, Thanksgiving, you name it, and my project stalled at about 22,000 words.  Two weeks into the month I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to present at the American Association of School Librarians, and that was a really great trip!  Got some cool books there, so of course my suitcase ended up too full:

I even got to meet Katie McGarry!

For getting things done in my house, I did finally get my garage cleaned out and was able to park my new car in it.  Although at the moment it is currently filled with the boxes I broke down and need to take to recycling.  I thought with my family up at my mom's for Thanksgiving, they might want to drive over and see my new house, I mean I think at some party last year they all went to see my brother's new house, but whatever.  So I spent most of my days off the week of Thanksgiving cleaning up a lot!  Getting boxes unpacked, etc.  No one came.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned yet that my sister who lives in New York City took a job in Scotland?  She came home for Thanksgiving, so it was good seeing her.  We kind of decided that since she probably won't be able to come back next year for Thanksgiving, we're going to try to all fly to Scotland for that week to visit her.  I'm very excited!  It will be my first time off the continent. The only time I've been out of the US is to Mexico, and of course that was still on the same continent.   Today my brother texted and said he wants to take my niece and nephew to Hawaii over spring break.  I don't know that I can afford that and a trip to Scotland, but we'll see, I'd love that!  He can get us all free airline tickets with his frequent miles from traveling basically weekly for work.  Basically, 2020 is looking to be a pretty exciting year!

On with the reading stats for November.

According to Goodreads, I've read 202 of the 210 (new number I set) books goal for the year.  November made up 19 of those.  Because I was so behind last month, and I was worried with NaNoWriMo I'd get even farther behind, I dropped my year goal from 220 to 210 based on the number of books I new I'd be reading for the rest of the year.  I may have to move it back up because I'm pretty sure there are more than 8 books I'll be reading in December.  Currently Goodreads says I'm ahead too.

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

1. The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
   
2. Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate
3. Rock F*ck Club #4 by Michelle Mankin
4. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
5. The Locker Room (audio book) by Meghan Quinn
6. Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley
   
7. No Whisk No Reward by Ellie Kay
8. Back in the Game by Meghan Quinn
9.  Rock F*ck Club #5 by Michelle Mankin
10.  Crime and Periodicals by Nora Everly
11.   Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    
12.   Breakup Boot Camp by Beth Merlin
13.   Outmatched by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young
14.   My Bare Lady by Piper Sheldon
    
15.   Blindsided by Amy Daws
16.  It's Not PMS, It's You by Rich Amooi
17.  The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh
18.  Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid
19. Naughty or Nice by Rachael Stewart
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for the audiobooks I listened to.  And I didn't get the audiobooks I still needed reviews from September or October done either. 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I haven't added any in November, so that's good!  But then again, other than audiobooks and one or two ARCs, I only read books for reviews really.

My number of posts in November was still kind of high, I had 47 which is one less than October.  But part of that is because I did the Blog Ahead Challenge in October to be ready for NaNoWriMo, so there were some extra posts thanks to that.  But I still need to quit signing up for tours!  Now I have turned down a few books I kind of would have liked to read because the tours were too close to other tours I'd already signed up for, or other books I have ARCs of that I know I want to read for sure.   Of those 47 posts, 16 were reviews.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My average rating was down to 4.4 stars.

I also joined into a fun new meme called Six Degrees of Separation, which I might do again in December

• From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to the Twilight series

Rejoined in a couple times to Top Ten Tuesday thanks to my blogging ahead challenge in October:

• Favorite Bookmarks
• Thankful Freebie

And I did a couple of Tags I saved from throughout the year as part of my Blog Ahead Challenge, they were fun!  I'll have a couple more this month too.

• It's Magic Time, Harry Potter Book Tag
•  20 Questions Book Tag

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.  But there was a week that there weren't really any on my list, so I didn't do that week.

November 5th
November 12th
November 19th

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:

November 2nd
November 9th
November 16th
November 23rd
November 30th - Giveaway still open until December 7th!

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

3.  As I mentioned above, I got about 22,000 words done.  I thought I might try to re-do a story I'd written during one of my very first NaNoWriMo attempts that was set in Chicago, because maybe I could get it to connect to the Penny Reid Knitting in the City universe, and try to get it published with the SmartyPants Romance series that I'm loving.  But now I'm thinking it needs so much work, maybe I just need to completely start over.

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 December:

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

1. Shelf Awareness by Katie Ashley - I am reading this as I write this post, should be posting the review on the 3rd.
2. Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 4th
   
3. The Line-Up by Meghan Quinn - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 5th
   
4. Beard Necessities by Penny Reid - part of a review tour and posting on the 9th
   
5. The Younger Man by Karina Halle - part of a review tour on the 11th 
6. Wait for Me by Tia Louise - part of a review tour on the 17th
   
7. So That Got Weird by Amelia Kingston - part of a review tour on the 26th, 27th, or 28th, and I've already read a very early version of this and loved it!
   
8. Wardens of Eternity by Courtney Allison Moulton - maybe reading and reviewing the ARC of this the last week of December. 
   
9. Chosen by Kiersten White - I got an ARC from books for trade on Twitter, so can't wait!
   
10. Oasis by Katya de Becerra - part of a tour that I'll actually not post a review until January 2nd
11. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - I have the ARC of this one, hoped to have it read in the last two months, but since I didn't, hoping to read this month
    
12. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux - I have an ARC of this and started reading last month, so hoping to get done this month
13. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy - I meant to get this ARC read  in the last two months, but didn't
    

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  So I did better at signing up for tours this month, hopefully that means I can catch up on some ARCs, physical books I own, and maybe get ahead for 2020!

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 November, and here's to an even better December!  It's definitely feeling like winter already.

How was your November?

 

October 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to November

October has been a crazy month.  Fast, but also kind of slow as I was sick for almost the whole month.  As per the past few months since I moved in, I continue to work on unpacking and moving in to the new house.  I finally took boxes of books to take to Half Price Books, but still haven't been able to get to all the many boxes still in the storage space that is costing me $140 a month.  I have been trying to get my garage cleaned out because our winter weather has begun, slowly, but surely.  And, I mentioned last month that I wanted to get a new car, well I ended up trading my Toyota Corolla in for a new Hyundai Tucson, and I'm loving it!  Writing, still none in October, but as you read this, it is the third day of November, and hopefully I have about 6000 words written to keep me on track with NaNoWriMo.

On with the reading stats for October.

According to Goodreads, I've read 182 of the 220 books goal for the year.  September made up 15 of those.  I got behind for lots of reasons it seems this month.  And at the moment I'm writing this, I am behind by one book!

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

1. Dating-ish by Penny Reid
2. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
3. Beard with Me by Penny Reid
4. Baking Me Crazy by Karla Sorensen
5. Call Me, Maybe by Stephie Chaman
6. Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid
7. A Lie for a Lie by Helena Hunting
8. The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armentrout
9.   Weight Expectations by M.E. Carter
10.  The Second Me Met by Maya Hughes
11.   Happy Trail by Daisy Prescott
12.   Kiss Me Again by Emma Hart
13.   The Book Worm Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts
14.   #Heart by Cambria Hebert
15.   Love in Due Time by L.B. Dunbar
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for the audiobooks I listened to.  And I didn't get the audiobook I still needed a review from September done either. 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I'm up to 15 for the year, one in October.

My number of posts in October was back up again, I had 48, four more than in September, and still 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 48 posts, 15 were reviews.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My rating was the same as 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.

So once again in preparation for NaNoWriMo, I participated in the Blog Ahead Challenged hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup.   I am pleased to say that I was successful! As of the beginning of this month, I had 30 pre-made posts ready to go. Now a few will need some changes as the day they actually get posted arrives, like adding a Rafflecopter, or a few were review posts that I didn't have the review done, just now have the post ready to fill in once I finish the books.

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.
October 8th
October 15th
October 22nd
October 29th

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:

October 5th
October 12th
October 19th
October 26th

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

3. I still got no writing done in October.  But now that it is November, it is is NaNoWriMo time.  As I write this, it is still the 1st of the month and I haven't had time to do any writing yet, but I plan to write tonight, I hope.  So by the time this post goes up, I hope I have at least 4000 words.  I am debating whether to start something new, or just keep working on older project that need to be finished or revised.  If you're also doing NaNoWriMo, come be my buddy on the website, my name on there is Buffywnabe.

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 Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White - I am reading this as I wrote this post, so hoping I have it finished and a review posted!
2. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz - Got the cool ARC package from the author and publisher and hope to get it finished this weekend as well!
   
3. Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 5th
   
4. Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate - reading and should be posting a review either on the 5th or 6th.
   
5. Rock Fck Club #4 by Michelle Mankin - reading and should be postin ga review on the 7th I believe. 
6. Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao - won ARC from Bookish First I think, need to hopefully read and review maybe on the 10th?
   
7. Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley - Part of a blog tour I think, posting on the 11th
   
8. No Whisk No Reward by Ellie Kay - Part of a blog tour posting on the 13th
   
9. Rock Fck Club #5 by Michelle Mankin - posting review as part of a tour I think on the 14th?
   
10. Breakup Boot Camp by Beth Merlin - part of a blog tour posting on the 19th
    
11. Outmatched by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young - part of a tour posting on the 20th
    
12. My Bare Lady by Piper Sheldon - part of a tour posting on the 21st
    
13. Blindsided by Amy Daws - part of a tour, posting review on the 23rd
    
14. It's Not PMS, It's You by Rick Amooi - part of a blog tour posting on the 25th
    
15. The Lineup by Meghan Quinn - part of a tour posting on the 27th
    
16. 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
    
17. Michigan Vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen - I did not get this ARC read last month as planned, so maybe this month?
18. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux - I have an ARC of this and am behind on reading!
19. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy - I meant to get this ARC read last month, but didn't
    
20. The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh - Started this last month, but haven't finished yet
21. The Locker Room by Meghan Quinn - I've already read this one, but am listening the audiobook so will probably post that review sometime soon for a tour. 

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  And fingers crossed I can get all these done for tours!  November is already looking crazy busy from that list, plus trying to write for NaNoWriMo. AND, I'm going to be presenting at the American Association of School Librarians in Louisville, Kentucky mid-month, so that will be a few days that keep me from doing what I'd do normally.  Hoping there will be some authors there to meet, although I haven't seen any lists yet.

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 October, and here's to an even better November!  I was glad for finally getting fall weather, but it lasted like two weeks and then we got snow in the last week of October, and I was NOT ready for that.

How was your October?

 

August 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to September

As for August, well, school started back to meetings on the 1st!  So no time for much this month.  As 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.  Writing, still none.  But I've really been having the urge to get some writing done.  As I write this blog, I spent today getting the small fence for my dogs up in the backyard so I can sit and blog/write whatever.  Also bought a patio table at an end of the season sale at Lowe's today as well. Here is a picture of my dogs enjoying the yard earlier today:

I know it's crooked, but I've got moles in my yard and the ground is pretty lumpy, but I don't care how it looks.  All I care is that it's set up for them to be safe and me to be able to keep an eye on them.

August was a busy month.  Not only did school start again, but I also went to Book Bonanza for the 2nd year in a row and it was awesome!  You can check out how much fun I had HERE.  But I have to share my favorite picture, when I got to meet Penny Reid, one of my favorite authors!

August was also my 10th Blogoversary. Yep, you read that right, Lisa Loves Literature has been around for 10 years now!  I got a post done kind of late with how busy August was, but that's good for you, because the giveaway is still going for a bit longer if you want to help me celebrate HERE.

I also had some awesome sneak movie preview opportunities this past month.  I can't tell you what movies they were or anything about them. The first one I was really excited for, and it was neat to see a movie that the special effects weren't all done on.  The second one I wasn't as excited for, and you see, you don't know what it is until you get there.  But in the end I enjoyed it, it did make me cry.

On with the reading stats for August.

According to Goodreads, I've read 146 of the 220 books goal for the year.  August made up 13 of those.  I am now right on schedule, so I'll keep this goal for awhile, although I may start getting behind if I don't pick it back up.

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

1.  Resist by K. Bromberg - now I messed up and signed up for two different blog tours for this one, so HERE is the link to the other post.
2. #murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil
3. A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause
4. Remember Me by Chelsea Bobulski
5. Getting Played by Emma Chase
6. Truly Mine by Kennedy Fox
7. The Nanny Rules by Melynda Price
8. The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais
9. I Hate You by Ilsa Madden-Mills
10. Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid
11. Best Player by Jaqueline Snowe
12. That Forever Girl by Meghan Quinn
13. Kiss Me Not by Emma Hart
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for two audiobooks that weren't part of any tour, and I didn't get the two audiobooks from last month reviewed yet either.  I've got them on my calendar to try to get done this month though.

Books that I read in July but didn't get reviewed until August are:

None as I mentioned above.

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I'm up to 10 for the year, one from this past month.

I got down to only 36 posts in August, that's good, getting a lot closer to my goal of only one post. day.   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 36 posts, 13 were reviews, although two of those are actually the same review.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My rating was back up for August books, up to 4.6 stars. 

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.
August 7th
August 14th
August 21st
August 28th

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.   Although I did miss the weekend of Book Bonanza.  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:

August 3rd
August 17th
August 24th
August 31st - and this giveaway is still going!

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, even if I'm not ahead anymore, I'm still at least on track for now.

3. Now that I have my fence up, and bought a table for the back patio, I plan to get some writing done soon! 

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 September:

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

1. Handle With Care by Helena Hunting - posting review on the 3rd as part of a blog tour
2. Babe Driven by Lizzie Chantree - posting review on the 5th as part of a blog tour
3. Jock Road by Meghan Quinn - maybe posting a review on the 6th, not sure!
4. Whiskey Surprises by Jaqueline Snowe - not really enjoying, so don't know if I'll go ahead and post a DNF post or what.
5. Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan - posting review on the 8th as part of a blog tour
6. Styx and Stones by Carmen Jenner - posting review as part of a blog tour on the 9th
7. Truly Yours by Kennedy Fox - posting review on the 10th
8. Wishing in the Dark by Colbie Kay - posting review on the 13th
9. Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith - posting review either on the 14th, or on the 21st or 22nd as part of a tour
10. The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden - reading now, had planned to do a review today, but obviously that didn't happen just yet.
11. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - should be posting a review possibly on the 14th or else the 22nd
12. No Judgments by Meg Cabot - hope to post a review on the 15th
13. Beard With Me by Penny Reid - posting review on the 16th
14. Slay by Brittney Morris - either posting a review on the 17th or 19th, I hope.
15. Fake Date by Monica Murphy - maybe a review on the 20th as part of a tour
16. Reveal by K. Bromberg - posting a review on the 24th or 30th
17. Enchanting Sebastian by Kristen Proby - posting review on the 24th
18. Closer by Kylie Scott - posting review on the 25th
19. The Speed of Falling Objects by Nancy Richardson Fischer - posting review as part of a blog tour on the 26th
20. Team Player 2 - posting reviews of some of the stories in this anthology on the 27th
21. I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal - hopefully posting an ARC review on the 28th
22. Michigan Vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen - hopefully posting an ARC review on the 29th

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  And fingers crossed I can get all these done for tours!  There are one or two I could see ending up as DNFs, but hoping not. September shouldn't be as busy as August.  The only thing coming up is a friend's wedding in two weeks, but that is here in town.  I will have a friend staying with me that weekend, so that could put a dent that weekend in reading, but we'll see.

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 August, and here's to an even better September!  I'm so ready for fall weather to get here!

 

July 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to August

I got a tiny bit of writing, well, a couple chapters in my short story edited, not much though. I got all my books unpacked, and went through them for ones to get rid of. And let's say I have a ton to take to Half Price Books, as well as I've added quite a few ARCs or will be adding to my giveaway on my weekly Cleaning up my TBR post.  I'm getting more used to my house.  Very happy to be here.  I still don't have the little mini-fence put up in my backyard so my dogs can wander and play while I sit and read or blog or write or whatever outside.  The last part I should have needed was supposed to arrive the 1st of August, but it didn't.  And now I'm still waiting.  :-(  I also worked a ton of hours at the bookstore in July, which made for good money, but not so much time for writing and reading.  School  meetings for teachers and librarians started on August 1st as well, so that means I don't have as much time as I did for anything!  Oh well.  I'm glad to be back I think.  Other than the getting up in the morning.  I kind of started looking to date again.  Met a guy who I thought would be perfect on Tinder, only we don't end up being compatible in certain ways, partly because I don't think he's looking for serious like I am.  I guess he was quite a bit younger than me, so that makes sense.  Oh well, enough with my personal stuff!

On with the reading stats for July.

According to Goodreads, I've read 134 of the 220 books goal up to for the year. July made up 16 of those.  I am only 5 books ahead of schedule, so I'll be at this goal for awhile. Unpacking, lots of hours back at my bookstore job, all of it has got me to be behind on reading.  Hoping I'll get caught back up at some point, but I doubt it now that school is back on. 

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

1.  Accidentally in Love by Katy Ames
2. He's a Brute by Chloe Liese
3. Wilder Girls by Rory Power
4. The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
5. The Shortest Distance Between Love and Hate by Sandy Hall
6. Rebel Heir by Vi Keeland
7. Making Up by Helena Hunting
8. All Boy by Mia Kerick
9. Victor by Brenda Rothert
10. Sightseeing in Manhattan by C. Lesbirel
11. When Polly Met Olly by Zoe May
12. The Hooker and the Hermit by L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid
13. Lies by Kylie Scott
14. The King by Jennifer L. Armentrout
15. Perky by Julia Kent
16. We Own Tonight by Corinne Michaels
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for two audiobooks that weren't part of any tour.  I'm sure I'll get them this month probably. 

Books that I read in June but didn't get reviewed until July are:

1. Follow Me Back by A.L. Jackson
2.  The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
3. The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I'm up to 8 for the year, two of them were from this month. 

I was up a few more in July for posts, up to 41, but it's still below where I have been earlier this year.  I'm still trying hard not to take on too many blog tours if I can help it.     Of those 41 posts, 16 were reviews, and a couple of those posts had multiple reviews within them.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too, except for this monthly wrap-up post being late I guess, although not as late as last month!.   My rating was a little lower for July books as well, down to 4.3 stars.  I had one book I rated at only 2 stars, and usually, if I'm going to rate that low, I don't even bother to rate it, or finish it. But this one I kept going and thinking it was giving a bit more, eventually it would pay off.  It didn't.  That book was Wilder Girls by Rory Power.  I guess I just felt so strongly about how much it disappointed me that I felt the need to share that.

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.
July 3rd
July 10th
July 17th
July 24th - includes August 1st books

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.  But then I have been getting rid of physical books as I unpack.  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:

July 6th
July 13th
July 20th
July 27th

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, even if I'm not as far ahead as I was, I'm still ahead!

3. I am working on editing again.  And once I get that fence put up in my back yard, I hope to really have time to get that short story edited and possibly submitted to Carina Press.  I may set the goal to get it done and submitted by the end of 2019.

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!

I mentioned last month about mowing in my new house. Well, I've done it twice now, and really it's not that bad!  I will be so glad when I can finally retill up the yard and get all the huge gopher holes taken care of.  I think I will still try to get someone with a lawn service to come clean up all the plants on my fence, and maybe get rid of the bushes in the front and back of my house that I don't want. But that requires money!  And time to find someone.

Looking forward to in August:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month, some are already read since we are half-way through the month, so I'll link right to those reviews if they're done:

1. Resist by K. Bromberg - the book in a new duet by a favorite author of mine.  And it didn't disappoint!  Reviewed on August 2nd, two posts, because I accidentally signed up to review with two different PR groups.  Here is the 2nd post. 
2. #murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil- A favorite author of mine, finishing a great series!  Reviewed on the 3rd.
3. A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause - reading right now. Hope to post a review as soon as possible!
4. The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais - Planning to post a review on the 11th.
5. Remember Me by Chelsea Bobulski - Posting a review as part of a blog tour on the 12th.
6. Truly Mine by Kennedy Fox - reading as part of a tour and reviewing on the 13th.
7. The Nanny Rules by Melynda Price - reading and posting a review for a tour on the 15th.
8. I Hate You by Ilsa Madden-Mills - part of a blog tour, reviewing on the 20th
9. Best Player by Jaqueline Snowe - review on the 23rd
10. Color Me In by Natasha Diaz - part of a blog tour, review on the 26th
11. That Forever Girl by Meghan Quinn - I hope I'm doing this as part of a tour with my review on the 27th
12. Kiss Me Not by Emma Hart - should be a review for a tour on the 29th
13. The Husband Maker by Karey White - listening to this audiobook right now and enjoying!
14. Whiskey Surprises by Jaqueline Snowe - I think I have a blog tour/review due in September for this one.
15. Handle With Care by Helena Hunting - I think this is another I'll be reviewing for a tour in September.
16. Babe Driven by Lizzie Chantree - I signed up for a blog tour review for this one in September, don't know for sure if I'll end up getting it read, but we'll see!
17. We are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar - I have an ARC of this, going to try to read and post a review on the 31st.

It's possible it could be another audiobook or other book fit in there, but we'll see how much time I have.  Fingers crossed since most are for tours!   I am going to try to add in some of the books from my challenges as well.

Now, next weekend I'll be at the Book Bonanza convention in Dallas, Texas.  I'm so excited, going to be some of my unicorn authors I still need to meet, plus some of my all time favorites that I love.  I'll take a few actual books to get signed, but to save my back and from having to carry a ton of books, I've made my own autograph book to get signed again this year.  

So probably in two weeks I'll share pictures and stuff!  Unless I end up with any time next weekend after it is all over.

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.   

 

June 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to July

Yet another month of no writing, makes me sad, BUT, I did get moved!  However, moving was a huge stress within itself!  Let's just say I have a ton of books, and I knew that, but never thought about how much of a pain that would be to move.  Plus, I forgot to really go into the walk in closet in my 2nd bedroom at my old house to get it ready to move for the movers I was paying, so I ended up spending several days after the movers still moving tons of stuff it seemed.  But I'm now in my new house, and for the most part, loving it.  I haven't quite got the backyard ready for my dogs so that I can let them go outside and play while I sit and watch them and read or work on writing/blogging. But that is hopefully something I'll get done soon.  Along with unpacking, and figuring out how I'll fit all my stuff from my old house into my smaller house, and what all I'll be getting rid of.  So that is why this is a bit late for my EOM post.

On with the reading stats for June.

According to Goodreads, I've read 122 of the 220 books I bumped my goal up to for the year, because I was 11 books ahead of schedule. May made up 21 of those.  I am only 5 books ahead of schedule, so I'll be at this goal for awhile. Moving, packing, lots of hours back at my bookstore job, all of it has got me to be behind on reading.  Hoping I'll get caught back up this month. 

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

1.  If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann
   
2. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
3. The Red Zone by Amie Knight
4. Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
5. Dying to Meet You by Rich Amooi
6. Never Contented Things by Sarah Porter
7. The Chosen by Taran Matharu
8. The Friend Zone by Sariah Wilson
9. That Second Chance by Meghan Quinn
10. Parental Guidance by Avery Flynn
11. The Locker Room by Meghan Quinn
12. Follow Me Back by A.L. Jackson
13. The Accidental Girlfriend by Emma Hart
14. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
15. Courting Kate by Tori Kron
16. The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren
17. Payback by Amy Daws
 

Any that aren't reviewed are either part of upcoming blog tours, or I just haven't had time yet to review.

Books that I read in May but didn't get reviewed until June are:

1. Midnight Blue by L.J. Shen
2.  The Haunted by Danielle Vega
3. Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
4. The Game Changer by Jacqueline Snowe
5. Fluffy by Julia Kent
6. Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  So far this year I've put 6 books on my DNF list, one was in June, but I didn't add it until July because I had a tour for it, and wanted to wait till after that.  I think I have another that I'll DNF later this month after the tour is over.  

June was much better about cutting back on posts, but I'll once again blame that on moving.     Thirteen of those were reviews, and a couple of those posts had multiple reviews within them.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too, except for this monthly wrap-up post being late I guess.   My rating was a little lower for June books, down to 4.5 stars.

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.
June 5th
June 12th
June 19th
June 26th - July 2nd books

In June I was better about visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I was posting on my own blog, but I was bad about keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  I'm kind of back on track today I think.

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 still only have one person joining in, but feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:
June 1st
June 8th
June 15th
June 22nd
June 29th

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, even if I'm not as far ahead as I was, I'm still ahead!

3. Once again my writing goals were nonexistent this  month.  Summer school and moving last month totally cut into any writing time I had.  So far in July I'm not doing great either.  But I'm really itching to write again, so hopefully I'll have some time soon!

So, I still didn't do any from my proposal list, or any others that could count for this.  Oops!

No new discussions this month.  Although I came up with an idea again, but in the midst of moving I didn't write it down and now I don't remember what I wanted to talk about!

 

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!

June became a month I couldn't get into my library to do much because of other schools in the district using it for their offices as their schools were having construction. Then one of the teachers asked if I wanted to do summer school, and I said yes to that pay!  It was a three week assignment of making sure the students read what their teachers assigned them to read over the summer.  One of the books was Brave New World, which I've never read, and I started it, but haven't had time to finish it yet.  I would have finished it by reading with the students during their silent reading time in summer school, but then I had some books I needed to get done for review, and at home I was busy packing so couldn't read as much there.  I also face planted in the driveway of my old house halfway through June, so spent a lot of time with a huge scab right under one of my eyes.  I hurt one of my feet, and although they didn't see a break with x-rays, I still think they didn't x-ray it the way they should have because it still hurts.  My new back yard seems to have had mole activity in the past, maybe still does, and so there are a lot of big holes, and I'm worried about mowing and hurting myself.  I plan to till the ground up and even it out this fall when I can plant new grass as well, but for now, I'm afraid to mow.  I've had my stepdad do it once, but then he was in a car accident, so I hired a friend's son to do it.  And now it is time again, so I think maybe I'll find a service for now.  Oh the joys of homeownership now that I no longer live in my townhomes with maintenance provided. 

Looking forward to in July:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month, some are already read since we are half-way through the month, so I'll link right to those reviews if they're done:

1. Accidentally in Love by Katy Ames - the final book in the 425 Madison series, reviewed on July 1st.
2. He's a Brute by Chloe Liese - I signed up for this tour, didn't realize that the tour was for the second book in the series, but I read the first, will get to the second when I have a chance.
3. The Wilder Girls  by Rory Power - I was very disappointed in this one.
4. The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson - Really liked this one!
5. The Shortest Distance Between Love and Hate by Sandy Hall - enjoyed, not as much as A Prom to Remember, but still good!
6. Rebel Heir by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward- audiobook, freebie I got, didn't realize it wasn't a standalone, but now must have the sequel!
7. All Boy by Mia Kerick - Reading now and really making me think.  Review on the 17th.
8. Making Up by Helena Hunting - Reading now and loving of course!  Review on the 18th.
9. Victor by Brenda Rothert - Review on the 21st
10. Sightseeing in Manhattan by C. Lesbirel - the last in the 425 Madison series I've been enjoying this summer.  Review on the 22nd
11. When Polly Met Olly by Zoe May - review on the 23rd
12. Lies by Kylie Scott - review on the 24th
13. The King by Jennifer L. Armentrout - I signed up for a tour, so hopefully I'll be reading and reviewing on the 26th or 27th
14. Perky by Julia Kent - review on the 28th
15. Willow by Grace Parks - review on the 30th
16. Resist by K. Bromberg - review on the 31st
17. The Hooker and the Hermit by L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid - signed up for Audible's new Escape program where it is only $2.95 a month for the first three months to listen to any of the specific romance books they categorize on this for free.  Loving this one!
18. #Murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil - I've got the ARC, loved the first one, and since this is published at the beginning of August, I'll need to get it read! 
19. A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause - another ARC I've got that comes out at the beginning of August, so I need to get that one read!

It's possible it could be another audiobook or other book fit in there, but we'll see how much time I have.  Fingers crossed since most are for tours!  

The end of the month means back to school, teachers report back on August 1st!  Crazy!  Students are back on the 7th of August, which unfortunately is also when I have a book convention I'm going to, so have to figure out how to go to that without getting docked pay for missing the first two days of school.  

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.