Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge

I officially decided! In March, Iʻll be joining in on the Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer! Basically, the goal is to read books already on your TBR list that were published before March 1, 2016. Easy enough, right? There will also be a few events like a Twitter Chat & a 24-Hour Read along! Thereʻs also going to be a prize at the end! Tempted to join yet? You should! Stop by the Caffeinated Book Reviewer to see the full rules and to sign up!

I am not one to make actual TBR lists because I tend to be a mood reader, but no worries--I have bookshelves and e-reader apps full of books that I havenʻt read yet! My goal is to read 6 books this month. I havenʻt decided how Iʻm going to update on the blog yet (via individual posts or on a page in my top bar), but I will have a Goodreads shelf dedicated to this challenge. Go and friend me HERE so that you can keep up with my challenge! And let me know in the comments if you are participating in the challenge--I would love  to follow you so that we can motivate each other!

January Monthly Motif Check In & 6 Degrees of Separation

One of the reading challenges that Iʻm doing this year is the Monthly Motif Challenge hosted by the lovely ladies of girlxoxo. Basically, every month has a theme, or a motif, and the goal is to read a book (or two, or more) that fits in to that monthʻs motif.

This monthʻs motif was Who Dunnit? All things mystery and sleuthing were fair game this month!

I read five books that matched Januaryʻs theme because, well, Iʻm an overachiever. I did Mini Reviews for all of the books on my blog and full reviews on goodreads. Iʻll link yʻall to my full reviews below:

Pretending to Be Erica by Michelle Painchaud

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Trouble Is A Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly

Donʻt Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Because Iʻm just linking you to the reviews, I thought it would be fun to take a page from Tanyaʻs book and do a Six Degrees of Separation ʻWho Dunnit?ʻ style. So here goes!

1. One book that I read this month that kept me asking #WhoDoneDidIt until the very end was Donʻt Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

2. Jennifer L. Armentrout is a new-to-me author that I always hear great things about and it makes me excited to read the rest of her books. Another new-to-me author who I hear great things about is Sarah J. Maas. I recently put her book, A Court of Thorns and Roses on hold at the library, I canʻt wait  to receive it!

3. Another book I recently put on hold at the library is Jubilee Manor by Bethany Hagen. Itʻs the second book in Landry Park series (duology? trilogy? Iʻm not sure, actually), a book that I read back in 2014.

4. Whereʻd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple is another book that I read in 2014. I loved it so much that after I borrowed it from the library, I ended up buying it because I needed it on my bookshelf.

5. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin is another book that I bought after borrowing because I loved it so much, It takes place in the World War II era.

6. I am super excited for the release of Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, another World War II era book. That seems to be all the craze lately!

So there ya have it! Six degrees of Separation linking 6 books with #whodonedidit - new to me authors - books I put on hold at the library - read in 2014 - bought after borrowing and world war II era books. 

Did you read any mystery books this month? Iʻd love any recommendations!

See yʻall next month with New Releases!

2016 Reading Challenges

Hey guys!

I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas. I took a break for a few days to spend time with my family and it was much needed. I got to spend my daughterʻs first Christmas completely focused on her without any internet distractions.

It also gave me time to decide what reading challenges Iʻll be doing in 2016...thanks especially to some of your suggestions! Iʻll be sharing these challenges with yʻall in this post. Let me know what challenges youʻre doing this year && if youʻre doing any of the ones Iʻm doing!

Goodreads Challenge -- I was kinda on the fence about this one but I decided that Iʻm gonna do it! Iʻm keeping my goal at 50 books, which has been my goal for the past few years and though Iʻve exceeded that goal every year, Iʻm keeping it right there. 50 is pretty easily attainable for me without going overboard.

PopSugar Reading Challenge -- I was on the fence about this one, too, but Iʻm excited to use this challenge as a guideline to add more variety into my reading!


2016 TBR Pile Reading Challenge -- OK...raise your hand if your reading pile is bigger than you are. Right...that definitely describes me so Iʻm doing this challenge hosted by Bookish Lifestyle in hopes of tackling that ever growing TBR pile. Basically, you can read any book from any genre of any length...it just has to be from 2015 or earlier--so no 2016 ARCs or new releases. My goal is to read between 21-30 books from my TBR pile which puts me on the First Kiss tier for this challenge. Click on over to Bookish Lifestyle to learn more about the challenge and to link up!

2016 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge -- This one is definitely more of a just-for-funsies challenge but I am so excited about it! Basically, all you have to do is read a book with a title for each letter of the alphabet. Sounds easy, but Iʻm sure that it can (and will) get challenging real fast! Head on over to Escape with Dollycas to link up and learn more!




2016 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge -- Yet another reading challenge that looks like itʻs going to be a blast. There are 12 different motifs or themes, one for each month of the year, and the challenge is to read a book that matches the motif of the month. I love that because it gives me the freedom to choose while giving me structure to work with. You can learn more about this challenge and discover the monthly motifs over at girlxoxo!

2016 Full House Reading Challenge -- No...itʻs not Full House like the TV show (but on that note, anyone else excited for Fuller House? February canʻt come quickly enough!) but it seems just as entertaining! Iʻm thinking about it like BINGO. Basically, you have to fill out a ʻcardʻ (Iʻm linking the graphic below). You can learn more about this challenge over at The Book Date.

I am so excited to get started on all of these challenges! Iʻll be posting about these challenges using the ʻ2016 Reading Challengesʻ label or you can keep up with me on my Reading Challenges page. 

What reading challenges are you doing this year? Feel free to link me to the reading challenges on your blogs--I would love to keep up with you all!