This year I started out with three reading challenges, but it became obvious pretty quickly that one of them was not going to survive the year. RIP Beat the Backlist Challenge. Maybe the #StartOnYourShelfathon will have better luck.

But enough of that! Let’s move on to the challenges that I actually completed!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

GoodReads Reading Challenge

Let’s start off with the challenge that everyone knows about. Due to reading slumps that have lasted years in the past, I wanted to set a challenging number of books while still staying slightly conservative in my estimate. I went with the classic 50 book challenge and I am happy to say that no only did I achieve this back in September, but I exceeded my challenge by reading 72 books in 2019! Here is a list of the books that I read this year.

1. Terrestrial Magic by Marina Ermakova
2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
5. Crow Flight by Susan Cunningham
6. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
7. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
10. Never-Contented Things by Sarah Porter
11. Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
12. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
13. The Shadow Watch by S.A. Klopfenstein
14. The Rage of Saints by S.A. Klopfenstein
15. The Wrythe and the Reckoning by Yvonthia Leland
16. The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters
17. The Circle: Taken by Sage Sask
18. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
19. What We Do For Love by Anne Pfeffer
20. The Bone Charmer by Breeana Shields
21. Art of Death by Becca Vincenza
22. Where I End and You Begin by Preston Norton
23. Becoming the Witch by J.M. Davies
24. The Circle by David Eggers
25. Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
26. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
27. It’s Our Time by Diane Krauss
28. Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
29. Stranger Rituals by Kali Rose Schmidt
30. Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
31. Silken Scales by Alex Hayes
32. You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
33. Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay
34. Perfect Pitch by Alex Hayes
35. How the Light Gets In by Katy Upperman
36. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
37. Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
38. Pawn by Aimee Carter
39. Pharaoh’s Star by Olivia Hardy Ray
40. The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot
41. Altered by Vicki Stiefel
42. Stain by A.G. Howard
43. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
44. Captive by Aimee Carter
45. Winning Westeros: How Game of Thrones Explains Modern Military Conflict edited by Max Brooks et al.
46. ISAN by Mary Ting
47. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
48. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
49. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
50. Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
51. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
52. Helix by Mary Ting
53. Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins
54. Queen by Aimee Carter
55. Eve 2.0 by Winter Lawrence
56. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
57. Shantallow by Cara Martin
58. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy
59. The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith
60. The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif
61. The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield
62. Siren Song by Alex Hayes
63. Angel Mage by Garth Nix
64. The How & the Why by Cynthia Hand
65. Awakening: Rise as the Fall Unfolds by Carissa Andrews
66. The Spectral City by Leanna Renee Hieber
67. The Piper’s Pursuit by Melanie Dickerson
68. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
69. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
70. Feather by Olivia Wildenstein
71. Jane Anonymous by Laurie Faria Stolarz
72. Oasis by Katya de Becerra

I am also pretty happy that I posted reviews on all of these books, with the exception of a few that were re-reads and the last two, Jane Anonymous and Oasis, which are for blog tours early in January. It was also a year of reading very good books, as the average rating I gave was 4.51 stars out of 5. Not too shabby!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Complete the Series Challenge

This challenge probably made me the happiest of all this year, mostly because I’ve been trying for SEVERAL YEARS to actually make a dent in this and I feel like I actually did that this year.

A few years ago, I realized that I was really bad about reading to the end of series that I started, so I made a list of over 30 series that I needed to finish and kept challenging myself to finish them up. Because I constantly failed at this, my goal for this year was to just finish three series. Just three. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? Right?

And I did it! And not only did I finish three series, I finished four!

1. Phédre’s Trilogy by Jacqueline Carey
2. The Blackcoat Rebellion series by Aimee Carter
3. Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins
4. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

The only thing I didn’t quite do was finish all the series I started this year. I didn’t want to add to the list, but I just didn’t have time to read the third Ember in the Ashes book by Sabaa Tahir. I plan on reading it early next year, although it is not the end of that series. There is at least one more book coming out in 2021.

But still! So much progress! The series that will stay on that list are listed below. I won’t have this challenge as an official challenge for next year unless I finish my #StartOnYourShelfathon goal early.

1. Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson
2. The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima
3. Hellsbane series by Paige Cuccaro
4. Book of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau
5. Exalted series by Tara Elizabeth
6. The Rules of Disappearing series by Ashley Elston
7. Otherworld series by Yasmine Galenorn
8. Scarlet series by A.C. Gaughen
9. Grimm series by Adam Gidwitz
10. Legends of Dimmingwood series by C. Greenwood
11. Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hob
12. Mara Dyer series by Michelle Hodkin
13. Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson
14. Scarlett series by Maureen Johnson
15. Arrows trilogy by Mercedes Lackey
16. Five Hundred Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey
17. Starbound series by Amie Kauffman & Meagan Spooner
18. Sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier
19. The Marked series by March McCarron
    
20. Angelfire series by Courtney Allison Moulton
21. Abhorsen series by Garth Nix
22. The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice
23. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
24. The Plantation series by Stella Samiotou-Fitzsimons
25. Books of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater (keeping this on the list, even though book 3 is on hold with no release date yet)
26. Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud
27. Between series by April Genevieve Tulcholke
28. Program series by Suzanne Young

Also, unofficially on this list are the series I have read all the current books in and I’m waiting for the next one to come out. Because I want to keep track of this better.

1. The Shadow Watch series by S.A. Klopfenstein – no new book listed on GoodReads
2. The Bone Charmer duology by Breeana Shields – book 2 to be released May 2020
3. Stranger Rituals by Kali Rose Schmidt – no release date for book 2
4. Chameleon Effect series by Alex Hayes – book 4 to be released December 2019
5. ISAN series by Mary Ting – book 3 to be released April 2020

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So there you have it! 2019 has been a really good reading year for me and I’m so excited to see what 2020 has in store! Tune in tomorrow to ring in the new year with new reading challenges!

Categories: Challenges