Happy New Year everyone! 2021 was such a bad year for so many of us, and I know that I am pretty happy to see it go (although it had to get one last parting shot on the way out – RIP Betty White 😭). As far as reading and blogging have gone, it’s been an okay year. Not great, definitely not my best, but certainly not the worst either. So lets start off with my reading challenges to see how they went.

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GoodReads Reading Challenge: read 50 books in 2021.

If you saw yesterday’s post, then you know that I made it! Just barely, but I did. I had such weird reading slumps this year, but then would have equally weird bursts of productivity. Completely hard to predict, but what can you do. Here is the list of my reads for 2021:

1. The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
2. Stolen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston
3. Golden by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston
4. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
6. The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston
7. Looking for Alaska by John Green
8. Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro
9. The Bone Charmer by Breeana Shields
10. Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich et al.
11. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
12. The Bone Thief by Breeana Shields
13. Once Upon a Curse by Yasmine Galenorn et al.
14. The Story of Awkward by R.K. Ryals
15. The Program by Suzanne Young
16. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
17. Dark Disciple by Christie Golden
18. The Treatment by Suzanne Young
19. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
20. Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
21. King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard
22. War Storm by Victoria Aveyard
23. The Remedy by Suzanne Young
24. The Epidemic by Suzanne Young
25. The Adjustment by Suzanne Young
26. The Complication by Suzanne Young
27. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
28. Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi
29. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
30. Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi
31. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
32. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
33. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
34. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
35. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
36. Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke
37. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
38. Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn
39. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
40. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
41. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
42. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
43. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
44. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
45. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
46. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
47. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
48. The World of Critical Role by Liz Marsham
49. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
50. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

The only reason that I made it was because of doing two massive re-reads right at the end, reading The Hunger Games trilogy and the Mortal Instruments series. Started the Infernal Devices trilogy but didn’t quite finish it, so Clockwork Princess (book #3) will be counted as probably my first read in 2022. For anyone new to my process, for this, I always count when I finished the book. The entire book doesn’t need to be read in the calendar year. Otherwise, there might be a book or two in limbo if I started it at the end of one year and finished in the beginning of the next. So there you go.

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Beat the Backlist Challenge: read 24 books from my Owned TBR GoodReads list and use the prompts on the below Bingo card.

I feel like I really set myself up for failure on this one. It was just way too many to try and do, plus I had a hard time finding books on my list that matched the prompts. Or I just got distracted. I did read eight books for it though, so here are those, as well as the bingo card.

1. Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro – standalone
2. The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston – second book in a duology
3. Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul – more than one author
4. Once Upon a Curse by Yasmine Galenorn et al. – anthology
5. The Story of Awkward by R.K. Ryals – book you forgot you had
6. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard – character lets out a breath
7. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes – first line is less than 10 words (it’s 6 words)
8. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – genre I rarely read

I didn’t even get bingo because I couldn’t find a book on that list that had a non-binary protagonist! More proof that I really need to diversify my TBR. Still, I am happy that I managed to get eight. That’s something at least.

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Complete four series from the below list. Also complete any series begun in 2021.

Hey, another challenge that I completed! Yay! I’m not going to repost the entire list (you can find it on my current challenge page), but here are the series that I had started a long time ago and finally finished this year.

1. The Rules of Disappearing series by Ashley Elston – 2 books, finished January 24th.
2. The Bone Charmer series by Breeana Shields – 2 books, finished March 24th
3. The Program series by Suzanne Young – 6 books, finished July 15th
4. Between series by April Genevieve Tulcholke – 2 books, finished October 28th

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You are thinking that I deliberately chose series on this list that were only two books long in order to make this easier. Yes. Yes, I did. Except for The Program which was a bit longer. But hey, it still makes my list shorter and in the end, that’s all I really wanted.

The second part of that challenge was to finish any new series that I started this year, which I did.

1. Heart of Dread trilogy by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston
2. Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard

The only exception to this was the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. I did start that one this year but made the decision to not finish it because I was not enjoying it. I don’t DNF books or series very often, but trying to struggle through this one contributed to another reading slump, so I had to step away. As such, I am not adding it to the current list, even though I might give it a go later on at some point.

But there you have it. Two out of three challenges completed, which given how crazy this year has been, feels pretty good. I’m counting it as a win anyway. I will be back later today to share my reading challenges and goals for 2022. For all of you who have stuck with me and followed me on my crazy little corner of the Internet, thank you so much. I wish nothing but the best for you in the coming new year. Love you all!

Categories: Challenges