Tag: disney reading challenge

January 2023 Wrap Up

kerrimcbooknerd1 Comment

Hello, reader!

Seeming as we’re well into the second week of February, I thought it was time to wrap up my reading for last month. January is typically one of the months of the year where I read less than I do the rest of the year. I dunno if it’s my recovery month after trying to cram in as much as possible in December or if it’s because I’m so busy in other areas of my life that I don’t read as much. That’s just usually how it is.

So imagine my surprise that I managed to read 11 books last month! To be fair, a couple of those were part of a Amazon Original short story collection and others were fairly short, but I’m still surprised! I even had two five star reads in the first month of 2023, so I feel like my reading year is off to a great start.

Now, let me share all the books I read in January.

Books Reads

  • Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert: My first read of the year and it was this fun, sweet, Black romance that I ended up giving five stars! What a way to kick off 2023. I read this book for a tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours and I loved every second of it. The main characters were both wonderful and had me rooting for their love from page one. There’s also OCD rep that I thought was handled well, though I’m not a part of that community, so I can’t say for sure! Still, this was a great YA romance and has cemented Talia Hibbert as a new favorite author. You can read my full review here! ★★★★★
  • The Garden by Tomi Champion-Adeyemi: This short story is part of one of the Amazon Original Stories series that caught my eye. It surrounds characters that delve deeper than others and peek behind the curtain. Who aren’t afraid to look into the darker side of things. This story in particular was about a young woman searching for a mysterious garden that drew her mother away from her years ago. It alternates between prose and poetry, which I enjoyed. The overall story, however, was just… okay? I think the concept would have made for an incredible novel. As a short story, it felt like a read a couple of chapters in a book that was never finished. Interesting story, but I would have loved more. ★★★
  • Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren: I buddy read this book with a bunch of bookish friends. I was excited because I liked The Unhoneymooners. This, however, was not it. The ending was trash, the male love interest was low-key a stalker, and there was a sexual assault (not on page) that was just not discussed at all. I spent most of the book annoyed with one (or both) of the main characters and that’s not what you want when you’re reading a romance! If I don’t like the characters, I can’t get behind the romance, so there’s really no point, is there? I will say, I loved how bookish both the main characters were, but that was pretty much the only thing. I can recognize why people enjoy this one, but it was definitely not for me. ★★
  • Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney: I’ve been wanting to read an Alice Feeney novel for awhile, now, and I’m so glad this was the first one I picked up! This was a perfect homage to one of the most prolific mystery writers, Agatha Christie, specifically her novel And Then There Were None. The atmosphere was spot on, the characters were intriguing, and I thought the twist was executed so well! I guessed it about halfway through the book but the way the author crafted her story had me second guessing myself up until the reveal. I love that in a mystery! You can read my full review here. ★★★★
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2023 Bookish Goals

kerrimcbooknerd8 Comments

Hello, reader!

I hope you’re having a great weekend. Today seemed like a good day to finally share my 2023 bookish goals! Now, a few of these goals are going to be holdovers from 2022 (*cough*), but I think the main goal of 2023 is trying not to do ALL THE THINGS. Ya girl just does not have the time. I’m also going to talk about my blogging goals and the reading challenges I’m planning on trying to complete this year.

That being said, let’s jump in!

In 2023, I’m trying not to set myself too many goals because I’m the type of person who beats herself up if she does not achieve some arbitrary goal that I made up in my head 😅😂 So I’m trying to be kind to 2024-Kerri’s mental health and set some achievable goals that are a little more ambiguous in nature. Only one hard number here, but it’s definitely something do-able and I can’t go a year without setting a Goodreads goal! So let me share my reading goals for 2023.

#1. Read 100 books

An image showing my 2023 Goodreads goal set for 100 books!

This is my one reading goal that actually has a number attached to it (not counting reading challenges, of course). This is also the highest I’ve ever set my Goodreads goal! I’ve read over 100 books the last two years and, with blogging and Netgalley, I think it’s something I can do again. Blog tours and ARCs have certainly upped my reading in recent years and I can’t imagine 2023 being any different. Still, seeing those triple digits makes me a little nervous 😅

#2. Read from my owned TBR as much as possible

This was a goal last year and it did not go well, lol. I got distracted by a lot of blog tours and new, shiny releases so I’m fairly certainly my owned TBR has grown rather than shrunk. I’m planning on cataloguing my owned TBR… soon. Looking at all the stacks around my bedroom and on my TBR bookshelf is daunting, to say the least, but I want to know where I’m starting so I can see how well I stick to this goal in 2023. I don’t have a specific number that I want to hit, or an amount I’d like to reduce my owned TBR by… I’m just hoping to end the year with less instead of more.

#3. Stay on top of Netgalley reads

Now, there’s definitely a number involved with this, but I’m not setting myself a specific number that I’m trying to achieve. I’m already pretty close to the recommended feedback ratio, so I’m not stressed about that. Mostly, I want to stay on top of my Netgalley reads instead of letting ARCs languish on my shelf until they are already published… heh.

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