I did well on my reading goals again this year.
I enjoyed Elizabeth Hunter's Cambio Springs series and would recommend it to fans of shapeshifters. Also, if you are a fan of small-town romances (and don't mind the paranormal aspect). It's only three full-length books plus two novellas, so not a huge time commitment.
I’d picked Kylie Brant as my auto-buy author I was woefully behind on (9 books). I’ve now decided to drop her and Meg Benjamin from my autobuy list since they’ve both gone to Amazon-only imprints. If MB ever releases the third book in her Brewing Love series with Entangled I will buy it though. Brant has switched to mostly straight suspense with no romance, so…
The only goal I didn't meet was finishing a complete new-to-me series. Only because the final two books in Jeffe Kennedy's Sorcerous Moons series have yet to be released. I did read (and enjoyed) the first four books.
I am still way behind on a few authors. I’ve selected Carla Neggers to catch up on in 2019. This is mostly because my
big goal for 2019 is to
completely finish up my print TBR pile. I have 19 of CN’s books and one last Linda Raye (aka Linda Turner) Jove Second Chance at Love in print. I also have more of Neggers old category books in digital I haven’t read yet. I am missing one of her books written as Amalia James, but am reluctant to spend the money I’ve seen it listed for at Thrift Books, Amazon, etc. So it may be I just never get to that one
My eyes may not thank me, but 20 print books spaced out over the year shouldn't be too bad (I hope!). Plus I broke down and bought some reading glasses. I so resent having to wear contacts and glasses both, but what else can one do
I went "shopping" in Calibre (via cover view) and picked ten “must read” books for 2019. I’ve done this the past few years and it’s a fun way to get to some books which I was eager to read when purchased but have languished on Mount TBR.
I plan to read one of the *coughdon'twanttoadmithowmanytherearetochoosefrom* series I bought in its entirety by an author I have not yet read. I’m going with Caitlyn McFarland’s Dragonsworn trilogy which is just three books. Only because I also want to finally read the multi-author Hotel Marchand series I bought during the big 5¢ sale at Harlequin which has 12 books. I also picked four authors to read two backlist titles each. And I have a few other small goals.
I think this approach has worked well for me the past few years. I like setting goals in conjunction with reading challenges because it offers me a wide variety of books to suit whatever mood I'm in. The challenges at AAR are flexible and I can easily switch out a book if I decide to DNF something. Having goal books/authors and loosely “scheduling” books to read has helped me to read more from my TBR.
I did fairly well with only buying books I planned to read right away this past year unless they were on sale. I only had the one buying binge from last week, which was mostly backlist I’ve already read in print. There were some new releases I haven't gotten to yet, but I did much better than in past years.
2019 will be more difficult with having to stretch the budget to buy Harlequin titles at Kobo rather than using the free codes to get them direct from Harlequin. So I'll apply the same rule to them (only buy when ready to read). I've saved up all of my Google Play rewards this year, so I will buy more from them in 2019 than I did this year. I've made a strict book budget, so having this option will help.
My most eagerly anticipated books for 2019 are
- Warrior of the World by Jeffe Kennedy (Chronicles of Dasnaria #3)
- Flare Up by Shannon Stacey (Boston Fire #6)
- Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik (The Consortium Rebellion #1)
- End Transmission by Robyn Bachar (The Galactic Cold War trilogy #3)
And the usual JD Robb In Death and Nalini Singh Psy/Changeling Trinity books. Plus Jeffe Kennedy will be finishing up The Uncharted Realms series with
The Fate of the Tala. The new Singh mystery,
A Madness of Sunshine, should also be good.
What are you all looking forward to next year?