2021 Challenges and Resolutions

Well, 2020 did NOT turn out how any of us expected. Taking a look back at last year's resolutions and goals, I can see that I literally failed almost all of them. What can you do? Covid and other unfortunate events really derailed any and all plans I had. I did manage to run a 10k just before we found out the true extent of this virus, so yay for that! My goals for 2021 will be less lofty without question. 

READING CHALLENGES

AUDIOBOOK CHALLENGE

Of course I'm not letting a year go by without the audiobook challenge! I've participated in this for years and I love it so much! I didn't quite make my goal for 2020 because podcasts took over my life, but I'm going to scale back to the My Precious (30+) level for 2021. 

POPSUGAR CHALLENGE

Here we go again! Even though I didn't complete every category for the 2020 challenge, the Popsugar challenge remains one of my favorites and I can't wait to try again next year! This is honestly one I don't even mind failing because it's so much fun to try. 

GOODREADS CHALLENGE

Since I was actually able to meet my goal of 85 books in 2020 despite everything the year threw at me, I'm going to set it to 90 in 2021. I've been reading more adult fantasy, which certainly takes more time to read than my typical YA fantasy does, but I've also recently purchased a few new graphic novels, so hopefully they balance out! 

OFF BLOG RESOLUTIONS

• Don't get COVID/get vaccinated - Speaks for itself. 
• Run at least three virtual 5Ks and one virtual 10K - The races I was signed up for in April have already been canceled, so I think it's safe to say I may not be running any IRL races in 2021. I'll admit 2020 kicked my fitness goals straight into the trash can, so I'm not going to set my sights too high this year. I think four virtual races for the year will keep me sufficiently motivated (I hope). 
• Read more diversely - This has to do with the blog in a roundabout way, but I definitely would like to read more diverse books for 2021. I made it a personal goal in 2020 as well, and did find some incredible books by BIPOC authors, but I'd love to do even better in the new year!

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Those are my very achievable (???) goals for 2021! I don't know about you, but I've never been more ready to say goodbye to a year in my life. Can this year PLEASE give us a break? 

Are you setting any goals for 2021? 

What reading challenges have you signed up for? 

Let me know in the comments! 

2020 Retellings Reading Challenge: Final Update & Giveaway

Hi bookworms! The Retellings Reading Challenge is drawing to a close already! I hope you've all met your goals and have read lots of amazing new retellings throughout the year. I wanted to start the final update by letting everyone know that I will not be continuing the Retellings Challenge next year. As much as I enjoy it, I can't commit to it for 2021. That being said, I've loved having the challenge group this year - the group reads have been wonderful! Now let's look at what we've done this year:

WHAT I'VE READ

   

   

This year my reading progress was slow-going and a bit embarrassing, but here's what I completed! I loved almost all of them and am so glad to have stumbled on to Joanna Ruth Meyers because her books are absolutely incredible! ACOTAR and ACOMAF were re-reads that will probably be repeated again next year. 

MY BINGO CARD

I definitely did NOT get BINGO this year and honestly I failed pretty miserably. Oh well, it happens. I'm glad I was able to participate at all!

2020 GOODREADS GROUP READS

    

    

This year the group voted to read some pretty great books! I'd already read a few of these and especially loved Heartless and The Guinevere Deception! A few I did not get to participate in. 

LINK-UP

Now it's your turn! Link up to your reviews for the challenge to get an extra entry in the year-end giveaway! As a reminder, you can also get extra entries for getting bingo or filling your bingo card completely. Do NOT share your quarterly updates in this link-up! This is for reviews only. Instead, share links to your updates in the comments! 

2020 Retellings Challenge Second Quarter Update

Hi, bookworms! Welcome to the (very late) second quarter update and link-up of the 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge! I hope you've all made some great progress and read some amazing retellings so far this year! As a reminder, this challenge is still open to join! To get started, I'll share my progress for this quarter:

WHAT I'VE READ

  

This quarter I didn't get a ton of reading done and most of what I did read were re-reads, as often happens in stressful times. Although the ACOTAR series is not my favorite and I really didn't care for the last book, the first in the series is the book I've reread most. I don't know why, but it's super comforting to me! I also read the conclusion of Sweet Black Waves, which was fine, but not as great as I'd hoped. My review for that will be coming soon!

GOODREADS GROUP UPDATES

In case you missed it, we also have a group on Goodreads where we discuss books we've been reading, share suggestions to fill bingo spaces, and do a group read each month. You can join the group HERE if you haven't already! This quarter was a bit different! We did a group read-a-thon in May instead of a group read and we skipped July altogether. Here's what we read in April and June: 

 

Each month the group nominates a bingo topic to group read, then we nominate books based on that topic. Finally, we vote on which book to read and discuss throughout the month. For April, we voted to read Heartless to fill the Villain Origin Story space. The Wrath and the Dawn was our June read and filled the One Thousand and One Nights Retelling space. In August we'll be reading a King Arthur retelling and voting is going on now!

LINK-UP

Now it's your turn! Link up to your reviews for the challenge to get an extra entry in the year-end giveaway! As a reminder, you can also get extra entries for getting bingo or filling your bingo card completely. Do NOT share your quarterly updates in this link-up! This is for reviews only. Instead, share links to your updates in the comments! 

Retellings Read-a-Thon: Guess the Cover

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Welcome to the final challenge of the read-a-thon! This challenge is all bout gorgeous retellings covers. There are six small glimpses of book covers below and all you have to do is guess the book from the sneak peek. Once again, you should be able to find them on retellings lists on Goodreads if you're stumped. There are covers from Beauty and the Beast retellings, The Little Mermaid retellings, Princess and the Pea retellings, and more. You'll get points whether you only solve a few or all of them! Fill out this form to send your answers!

Good luck and happy reading!

Retellings Read-a-Thon: Retellings Crossword

Happy Monday, everyone! Welcome to the second challenge of the read-a-thon! This challenge is a crossword puzzle. There are ten words and each one is the title of a popular retelling. Each clue describes a book title and if you get stuck it might help to take a look at some retellings lists on Goodreads. You'll get points whether you only solve a few words or all of them! Fill out this form to send your answers!

Good luck and happy reading!

Retellings Read-a-Thon: Fairy tale scramble

Happy Friday, everyone! Welcome to the first challenge of the read-a-thon! This challenge is a word scramble. There are ten words and each one is the name of a fairy tale character. Not all of them are immediately recognizable Disney names, but they are all from fairytales you probably know! You just might have to dig a little deeper to solve them all! You'll get points whether you only solve a few words or all of them! Fill out this form to send your answers!

Good luck and happy reading!

The Retellings Challenge Read-a-Thon Begins!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today is the first day of the Retellings Challenge Read-a-Thon! Grab your closest retelling and settle in for a week of fairy tales, myths, and historical characters! While the retellings you choose to read this week are totally up to you, it's recommended that you choose books that are already on your shelves, e-readers, or in your audiobook libraries since access to books is fairly limited at the moment. In case you've forgotten, here are the details:

• This read-a-thon will take place from Wednesday, May 13th at 12am (your time zone) through May 20th at 11:59pm.
• The goal of this read-a-thon is to read as many retellings as you can during the weeklong challenge.
• You can gain points for the giveaway by signing up, reading books, and participating in challenges! 
• You're encouraged to create a discussion topic for the books you're reading in the Goodreads group so discussion can take place!
• Challenges will be posted throughout the read-a-thon. Each challenge will gain you points.
• The final giveaway will be for any kindle ebook or physical book retelling of your choice up to $10.

GET THOSE POINTS!

• The first way to get a point is to sign up, which you can do by filling out this form if you haven't already! 
• Next, you can gain points for every book you complete! For fairness, longer books get you more points. Snag your points by filling out this form every time you complete a book! 
• Challenges will be posted here and in the Goodreads group throughout the challenge to gain additional points! 

Good luck and happy reading! 

Retellings Challenge Read-a-Thon

Happy Saturday, bookworms! Yes, I'm still alive. Things have been all over the place, but more on that in tomorrow's recap. Today I want to share that this month I will be hosting a retellings read-a-thon as part of the 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge! If you haven't already signed up for the challenge, you can do that HERE! And don't forget to join the Goodreads group to take part in the discussions that are sure to take place.

DETAILS

• This read-a-thon will take place from Wednesday, May 13th at 12am (your time zone) through May 20th at 11:59pm.
• The goal of this read-a-thon is to read as many retellings as you can during the weeklong challenge.
• You can gain points for the giveaway by signing up, reading books, and participating in challenges! 
• You're encouraged to create a discussion topic for the books you're reading in the Goodreads group so discussion can take place!
• Challenges will be posted throughout the read-a-thon. Each challenge will gain you points.
• The final giveaway will be for any kindle ebook or physical book retelling of your choice up to $10.

SIGN UP 

Signing up is simple! Just fill out the form HERE and get your first point for the giveaway! Check back starting May 13th for challenges and more!

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Will you be joining us?

What retelling are you dying to read?

Let me know in the comments!

2020 O.W.L.s TBR

Hi, bookworms! This has been a... rough few weeks. As someone who struggles with an anxiety disorder, I've been having a difficult time trying to find things to keep my mind occupied while also not being able to focus on anything. I've seen this read-a-thon around before but never wanted to participate. Now it feels like just the thing I need to get excited about!

For those that don't know much about this challenge, you can find all the information on the website here. I love that you can choose what magical career you want to have! Once you choose your career, you'll see which O.W.L.s you have to pass. Then you can find the reading prompts related to those O.W.L.s.

For the challenge I chose Librarian, which is apparently very dangerous and mysterious. I'll also be attending Animagus Training, which comes with its own set of O.W.L.s. Here is my work load and (very tentative) TBR:

LIBRARIAN O.W.L.S

Ancient Runes (Heart on the cover or in the title)
Heartless
Heartstream

Arithmancy (Read something outside your favorite genre)
The Fountains of Silence
This Monstrous Thing

Defense Against the Dark Arts (Book set at the sea/coast)
The Deep
The Beholder

History of Magic (Book featuring witches/wizards)
Howls' Moving Castle
The Near Witch

Transfiguration (Book/series that includes shapeshifting)
Wicked Fox
A Court of Wings and Ruin



ANIMAGUS TRAINING

Arithmancy (Read something outside your favorite genre)

Only Ever Yours

Potions (Under 150 pages)

Silver In the Wood

Gideon Falls Vol. 3

Transfiguration (Book/series that includes shapeshifting)
Crescent City

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Have you read any of these?
Are you taking the O.W.L.s this year?
Let me know in the comments!

2020 Retellings Challenge First Quarter Update

Happy March, bookworms! Welcome to the first quarter update and link-up of the 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge! I hope you've all made some great progress and read some amazing retellings so far this year! As a reminder, this challenge is still open to join! To get started, I'll share my progress for this quarter:

WHAT I'VE READ

  

This quarter I didn't get a ton of reading done, but I did find some incredible retellings! Blood Heir is a retelling of Anastasia and, while its first ARC did come with some controversy, I thought the end result was really good. Echo North, a retelling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, was a magical, five star read for me (review here)! Lastly, Desperate Measures was totally outside my comfort zone! It was super sexy but the story was just okay for me. 

GOODREADS GROUP UPDATES

In case you missed it, we also have a group on Goodreads where we discuss books we've been reading, share suggestions to fill bingo spaces, and do a group read each month. You can join the group HERE if you haven't already! Here's what we read in January, February, and March: 

  

Each month the group nominates a bingo topic to group read, then we nominate books based on that topic. Finally, we vote on which book to read and discuss throughout the month. For January, we voted to read Once & Future to fill the Author Duo space. Children of Blood and Bone was our February read and filled the African Mythology Retelling space. This month we're reading A Study in Charlotte to fill the Sherlock Holmes Retelling space. April nominations will begin soon!

LINK-UP

Now it's your turn! Link up to your reviews for the challenge to get an extra entry in the year-end giveaway! As a reminder, you can also get extra entries for getting bingo or filling your bingo card completely. Do NOT share your quarterly updates in this link-up! This is for reviews only. Instead, share links to your updates in the comments!