Top Ten Tuesday – My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2022
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is actually supposed to be Books with Names/Character Names In the Titles, but I wasn’t really feeling that one so I decided to go rogue. Since I’ve been a bum and haven’t yet posted my list of goals for reading and blogging, I’m going that route instead. I think most of these are repeats of goals I had for 2021, either because I failed at them last year or because I did okay and really want to continue to work on that same goal in the coming year.
My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2022
1) My number one goal this year is a repeat goal from the past two years and that is to read more of the books I own. I love ARCs of course, but I hate feeling like I’m neglecting books I’ve purchased. I actually did really good with this goal last year, reading 78 of the books I had physically sitting on my shelves. Where I didn’t do as well, however, were all of those ebooks I have sitting on my kindle so I really want to make those a focus this year. I’m not taking part in any challenges aside from Goodreads this year but am setting a personal goal for myself of reading 70 books I already own.
2) This is also a repeat goal from 2021 and 2020. I really want to continue to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book. I did pretty well at this in 2021; I don’t think I participated in any tours where I didn’t already have a copy of the book. Hoping to stay on track in 2022.
3) This is also an ongoing goal since my struggle to finish series continues. In 2021, I had a list of 8 series I wanted to finish or get caught up in and another list of 3 series that I wanted to start. I finished 6 of the series from the first list and started (and finished!) one from the second list. For this year, I have 3 series that I want to finish and 7 sitting on my shelf that I want to start.
Series I Want to Finish or Get Caught Up On:
- Lifelike by Jay Kristoff (2 books left)
- The Aurora Cycle (2 books left)
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians (3 books left)
Series I Want to Start:
- The Poppy War
- City of Brass
- Legend
- The Consortium Rebellion
- The Great Library
- The Invisible Library
- The Bloodsworn Saga
4) This is also a repeat goal from the past two years. I really want to work more on my Bookstagram account. I have always struggled with consistency and honestly almost deleted my account last year because I just didn’t have time for it because of some things going on in my personal life. Things have stabilized now so I’m glad I didn’t delete it, even though I lost a couple hundred followers because I wasn’t active on there. I’ve gotten off to a pretty good start in January and have even made a few reels. I’m really hoping I can keep it up this year. If you’re not already following me, give me a follow at https://instagram.com/thebookishlibra
5) I also want to get better when it comes to re-reading books I love. This is also a repeat goal and one I failed at in 2021. To keep it low pressure, I’m setting a personal goal of 1 re-read a month. Below are the books I’m hoping to re-read. Some are old favorites, while others are series books I need to re-read in order to facilitate goal #3 above.
- The Night Circus
- Aurora Rising
- Rebecca
- LIFEL1K3
- The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
- The Chronicles of Narnia (6 books) – I did manage to re-read the first book in the series in 2021.
- Pride and Prejudice
- The Handmaid’s Tale
6) I am aiming to keep my Netgalley percentage at 85% or above in 2022. I did very well with this goal in 2021, finishing the year at 91%. I know I can’t keep it that high, but if I could maintain 85, I’d consider that a success.
7) In 2022, I want to read more Nonfiction. Most years I only read maybe 1 or 2 nonfiction books. As with the re-reads, this year I’m setting a personal goal of 1 nonfiction book a month. Here’s a list of some of the titles I’m hoping to read:
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
- My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- What Unites Us by Dan Rather
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win WWII by Liza Mundy
- D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose
- A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- Where the Light Enters, Building a Family, Discovering Myself by Jill Biden
8) In 2022, I really want to work on being better organized, particularly when it comes to blogging ahead. I usually frantically writing posts the night before I want to post them and I would love to be able to get most, if not all, of my posts for the week done the weekend before.
9) Revisit Shakespeare. I’m counting this as separate from my re-reading goal because I’m honestly not sure if I’m going to re-read or watch, but bottom line is that my son is now in high school and he’s about to start reading Shakespeare for the first time. Even though I read the majority of his plays in high school, college and even again in grad school, I don’t remember much about any of them and would like to re-familiarize myself with the ones I know my son will be reading (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, and Hamlet).
10) Lastly, I’ve already mentioned that I’m not doing any challenges this year. That’s not strictly true. I am doing the Goodreads Challenge and have set my goal at 150 books. I read 210 books in 2021 and can probably replicate that this year since we have cancelled our cable TV. I stream a few shows here and there, but for the most part, I spend almost all of my downtime reading. But to keep it from being too stressful, although still challenging, I’m aiming for 150.
*****
Do you have any reading or blogging goals in mind for 2022?
Reviews: FINLAY DONOVAN KNOCKS ‘EM DEAD & GOOD GIRL COMPLEX
I’m back today with some of my final January reads. I don’t know about you all, but my 2022 reading year is off to a great start. So far I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read and have no DNFs. Today’s review post is unofficially the “Elle” edition since both author’s first names are Elle (I didn’t even notice that until I started putting this together, lol).
Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead (Finlay Donovan, #2) Goodreads Author: Elle Cosimano
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead is the second book in Elle Cosimano’s new series “Finlay Donovan” which follows the misadventures of author and divorced single mother, Finlay Donovan. For those who haven’t read the first book yet, Finlay finds herself accidentally hired as an assassin when a woman overhears her and her agent discussing the plot of the thriller she is writing. The woman thinks Finlay is the perfect person to “off” her husband and practically starts throwing money at her. Finlay could really use the cash, and thus begins a surprisingly hilarious journey into murder-for-hire, organized crime, and all the while, Finlay is still trying to write her book.
This latest book opens with Finlay learning that someone out there actually wants to murder her ex-husband. As much as she hates Stephen, she doesn’t want her kids to lose their Dad and so she makes it her mission to find out who is responsible and convince them to call off the hit. This sends her on a dangerous yet surprisingly comical adventure, full of twists and turns, that takes her, amongst other places, way closer to the Russian mob than she would ever wish to be.
It’s hard to talk about details from the story without spoilers and I definitely don’t want to spoil the plot as it pertains to her ex-husband. I’ll just say that I adore Finlay. She’s sarcastic and funny, quirky as heck and very resourceful, and she has clearly learned a lot from writing her crime thrillers. It impresses me how she and her roommate/nanny, Vero, constantly get themselves into dangerous and often ridiculous predicaments, but somehow always manage to get themselves right back out of trouble. I’m also a big fan of Vero and was pleased that we got to learn a bit more about her in this book.
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead is well-plotted and fast-paced, so much so that I flew through the book in just a couple of sittings. The Finlay Donovan series may involve serious topics like murder-for-hire and organized crime, but it’s truly one of the funniest and most entertaining series I’ve ever read. I really hope there will be more books in this series because I need more of Finlay and Vero. What a team they are! 4.5 STARS
Good Girl Complex Goodreads
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Good Girl Complex is the first installment in a new contemporary romance series by Elle Kennedy. I tend to gravitate to books with small town and/or university settings and this book has both. I also typically enjoy romances that feature the good girl/bad boy dynamic so Good Girl Complex just seemed like it would be a great fit for me.
Local bad boy Cooper Hartley is tired of the rich “clones” who invade Avalon Bay to attend college every year and act like they own the community and everyone in it. One night, at the bar where he works, he witnesses one of them forcing himself on a waitress. When the clone won’t take no for an answer, Cooper intervenes and ends up punching the guy. Rich boy whines to the owner and gets Cooper fired, which only fuels Cooper’s hatred of this guy and everyone like him. Cooper learns the guy has a girlfriend and decides he’s going to steal her right out from under the guy’s nose. Cooper’s quest for revenge doesn’t go exactly as planned, however, because when he meets the girlfriend, whose name is Mackenzie (Mac), he realizes that she’s not at all like her boyfriend and his kind, and Cooper wants to be friends, maybe even more than friends, with her. But can any kind of relationship survive between them if the truth about his revenge plot comes out?
I loved both Mac and Cooper right away so it was very easy to become invested in their journey. Both characters are flawed and come across as very realistic and relatable because of those flaws. Yes, Mac comes from money, but she is also an entrepreneur and a self-made millionaire. It’s an impressive accomplishment, particularly for someone her age, so it shocked me to learn that neither her parents nor her boyfriend Preston support her in this endeavor. They have her life mapped out for her and there’s no room on that map for anything that doesn’t revolve around her mother’s charity work and becoming Preston’s wife. Mac has always just gone along with what they’ve dictated, not wanting to upset anyone. But when she meets Cooper and they start talking, Mac suddenly realizes there’s more to life than pleasing everyone else. It’s a true awakening for her.
I also loved that as much as Cooper teaches Mac about being her own person and not letting anyone hold her back, Cooper also learns a lot along the way, particularly about passing judgment on an entire group of people just because he has had a few bad experiences. I also love that there’s so much more to him than his bad boy reputation and that he and Mac aren’t very different from one another, despite their different backgrounds. I enjoyed watching them interact – whether they’re being sassy, supportive, or sexy, their chemistry was off the charts. They made such a great couple that I was truly on the edge of my seat waiting for the truth about the revenge plot to smack them both in the face and hoping that they could survive it when it did.
Good Girl Complex is a great start to Elle Kennedy’s new series and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys watching characters figure out who they’re meant to be as well as who they’re meant to be with. 4 STARS
Reviews: SOMETHING FABULOUS & GETTING HIS GAME BACK
Happy Friday all! I’m so ready for the weekend but first I want to share reviews for a couple of romances that come out this week that you’re going to want to add to your TBR. One is from a recent favorite author of mine, while this other is a wonderful debut.
Something Fabulous Goodreads Author: Alexis Hall
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Publisher: Montlake
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I’m a relatively new fan of Alexis Hall’s, having read and loved two of his most recent novels, Boyfriend Material and Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. He has such a knack for creating lovable characters and putting them in hilarious predicaments that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his latest book, Something Fabulous. Something Fabulous is a Regency romance but it’s not like any Regency romance I’ve ever read. I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever laughed so hard while reading a book. On Goodreads, Hall describes the book as such: “It’s a big gay regency romp about an overly dramatic beautiful rainbow sunshine unicorn and an overly dramatic demisexual grumpy duke, going on a cross-country chase.” That description is spot-on and I can’t improve upon it.
I’m all about a good grumpy-sunshine romance so I was enamored with the two main characters as soon as they were introduced. Valentine Layton is an ultra-reserved Duke who is intent on doing his duty at all costs, even if it means marrying Arabella Tarleton, a woman he really has no romantic interest in, just to carry out his father’s wishes. Valentine comes across as a stuffed shirt who could really use a good roll in the hay, and it becomes obvious early on that it’s not Arabella who gets under Valentine’s skin, it’s her twin brother, Bonaventure or “Bonny,” who is just as much of a ray of sunshine as his nickname makes him sound and who pretty obviously has a massive crush on Valentine. Valentine initially thinks Bonny is a pain in the rear but the two of them are forced to work together to find Arabella, who is so repulsed by the idea of a marriage of convenience with a man she doesn’t love, she runs away in the middle of the night.
I don’t want to spoil what happens when Bonny and Valentine embark on this cross-country chase, but let me just tell you, hilarity ensues. Basically, they’re one step behind Arabella throughout the chase and she plants outrageous lies about Valentine everywhere she has been, so that trouble is waiting for him every time he stops somewhere she stopped and inquires about her. There were a couple of times I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.
There are also some tender moments and some super steamy ones as Bonny and Valentine finally start to acknowledge their feelings for one another. I loved watching the two of them grow closer. The banter is still there so most of these scenes are still quite funny, but they’re also pretty touching as well. There are also a few more serious moments as Valentine reflects on his own sexuality, what is socially expected of a man in his position versus what he realizes he actually wants for his life.
Something Fabulous is not exactly what I was expecting going in, but I still thought it was a very entertaining read. The humor is silly and over the top at times, think Monty Python or The Princess Bride when you start reading and you’ll have a pretty good feel for the overall tone of the book. If you’re looking for a read that is pure escapism in its silliest form, grab yourself a copy of Something Fabulous. 4 STARS
Getting His Game Back Goodreads
Author: Gia de Cadenet
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Dell
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Getting His Game Back is a contemporary romance and it’s also Gia de Cadenet’s debut novel. Based on the cover, I was expecting a rom-com, but while it does have some humorous moments, this is a more serious love story that tackles some pretty big topics, like mental health, the challenges interracial couples can face, and even gender stereotypes.
It follows Khalil Sarda, a young man who has been dealing with depression and seeing a therapist. He’s feeling much better than he did a year ago and is hoping to leave his depression in the past as he focuses on his chain of barbershops and thinks about dating again. A self-professed ladies’ man, Khalil thinks the dating will be the easiest part of his recovery, that is, until Vanessa Noble walks into his shop and sets his heart aflutter. Vanessa is a career-driven Black woman working in the male-dominated tech industry. She has no time for romance because she’s too busy stomping on every stereotype that gets thrown at her. That is, until fate and a fire at her favorite hair salon, sends her running to Khalil’s shop because she desperately needs her hair done prior to a huge presentation. Vanessa has no interest in dating anyone who isn’t Black because of some bad past experiences, but after chatting with Khalil, she has to admit the temptation is there.
I really enjoyed watching Khalil and Vanessa get to know one another. Both characters are so likeable and they’ve both been burned by past relationships, so I liked that hint of vulnerability we see as they consider the possibility of romance with one another. I especially liked the frank discussions they have with one another about interracial couples. Even though he looks white, Khalil is actually French-Algerian and the product of an interracial relationship himself so he knows firsthand the challenges Vanessa speaks of and the microaggressions that have been directed toward her. I also thought the author did a wonderful job exploring Khalil’s depression and the impact depression can have on a person and on all their relationships. I loved the respect and support Vanessa and Khalil showed one another, and I especially loved that Vanessa doesn’t let Khalil push her away when his depression resurfaces and threatens their relationship. They’re a team in every sense of the word, and I was 100% invested in their relationship and hoping they would find their way to a happy ending together.
While not the rom-com I was expecting, Getting His Game Back is still a satisfying read and a wonderful love story that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys romances that explore weightier topics. 4 STARS.