Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Meant To Read In 2017 But Didn't Get To

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is:
Ten Books I Meant To Read in 2017 But Didn't Get To (And Totallyyyy Plan to Get to in 2018!!)

It's been a looooooooong time since I participated in Top Ten Tuesday! I loved this week's topic, though, and thought it would be a great time to jump back in!

Last year was the worst reading year I've had since I started blogging in 2012, thanks to a prolonged reading slump. :/ It's hard to narrow down the list of books I'd wanted to read but didn't in 2017 to just 10 because really, it was ALL THE BOOKS. These are the ones I'm determined to read in 2018, though:

1. The Dark Days Pact by Alison Goodman

GAH! This was one of my most anticipated sequels of 2017, and I didn't read it thanks to the reading slump that I spent most of last year trying to get out of. :/

2. Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

This is one of those books that I feel like everyone except me has read at this point, LOL. Gotta catch up before the final book in the series comes out later this year!

3. Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken

Yet another 2017 sequel that sat on my shelf unread.

4. Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

I can't believe I didn't get to this one considering how much I love Chaol.

5. All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater is an auto-buy author for me, and while I did pre-order this, it, too, has sat unread on my bookshelf since its release.

6. Lirael by Garth Nix

This is going to be the year that I read Lirael, especially since I received a copy of the third book in the series, Abhorsen, for Christmas!

7. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

The size of the Outlander books intimidates me a bit, but I've fallen behind on the TV series because I'm such a nerd and have to read the book first.

8. Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger

I've stalled on reading the final installment in the Finishing School series. This will be the year that I finish it!

9. Dawn Study by Maria V. Synder

I MUST find out what happens to Yelena and Valek and their friends in this series finale!

10. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

This was supposed to be my 2017 Christmas read, but that didn't happen, so say hello to my 2018 Christmas read! XD

Are you looking to read any of these in 2018? What books made your list?

Reading and Blogging Goals for 2018

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm trying to start 2018 off right by actually posting, LOL. 2017 was the least productive reading and blogging year I've had since I started blogging, and I didn't even bother putting together a year-end post because there was hardly anything to look back at. :\ That was last year, though, and it's time to begin with a clean slate:

• Read 25 books. I'm determined, determined to complete my Goodreads Reading Challenge this year!
• Read 15 minutes every day. I think I finally need to accept that unless I schedule reading time in my planner, it's not going to happen. I also really struggled with finding the motivation to just pick up a book for most of last year. I'm hoping that success with short reading sessions will build some reading momentum.
• Get back to regular blogging. Not only did I slack off with reading in 2017, but I also slacked off big time with blogging and feel really out of touch with the blogosphere. I'm thinking of participating in a meme like Top Ten Tuesday again to reconnect.
• Reach 300 reviews on Goodreads. I thought I was going to hit this number last year, but alas, I did not. I'm 14 reviews away from 300 and am going to make it happen in 2018!

Good luck to all of you with your 2018 reading/blogging goals and challenges! I'm cheering you on! :D

Book Loot (30)

It's been another good while since I did one of these posts; I've been trying to be very budget conscious about book buying this year and have been somewhat successful. XD Half of these were MUST-BUY pre-orders (hello—new Stiefvater), and Zeroes and Dreams of Gods and Monsters were fantastic bargain buys. I've had my eye on Melina Marchetta's Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil since it was released, and I finally caved and bought it. I'm still not back to reading consistently so I haven't gotten to any of these yet, but hopefully, I will soon!

Bought:

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta
All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater
The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

November 2017 Recap

Is it just me, or has this year absolutely flown by?! I can't believe we're almost at the end of 2017! I shudder to think of the current state of my Goodreads reading challenge, so I'll move along. XD

It was another quiet month on the blog, much like it's been all year. :/ November was actually a pretty busy travel month. Ally, Melissa, and I returned to Charleston for our third YALLFest, and it was a much needed break from real life. It was so, so nice to be surrounded by all things bookish all weekend.

I also went on a cruise for the first time ever. Instead of an office Christmas party, my bosses very generously took our team on a weekend cruise to the Bahamas. Everyone got to bring a guest, so Melissa got to witness me making multiple trips to the buffet. It was a good thing the cruise wasn't any longer because being able to eat dessert with every meal, and between every meal, was becoming dangerous. XD

Coffee + Reading + Ocean View = Bliss

Junkanoo Beach, The Bahamas

With only a couple of weeks left in 2017, I'm hoping to squeeze in a last minute read or two. If you're in the same boat as I am, good luck! If you've met your reading goal for this year, kudos! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season with lots and lots of bookish goodness! :D

Reviews Posted:

• Romancing the Werewolf by Gail Carriger

Featured Posts:

• Adventures at YALLFest 2017

Adventures at YALLFest 2017

One of my favorite things about November, besides stuffing my face on Thanksgiving with . . . stuffing is YALLFest, Charleston's young adult book festival! It's become an annual family event for Ally, Melissa, and I, and so a week and a half ago, we packed up the car and hit the road for South Carolina.

Another part of our yearly pilgrimage is leaving in the wee hours of the morning to avoid traffic as much as possible. This year, we pushed "wee hours" to a new level by departing at 1AM. Melissa and I allotted ourselves a half hour coffee stop before traveling north to pick up Ally about an hour and a half away.

We had a minor mishap on the way to Charleston involving driving past a Cracker Barrel because we thought there would be another one before we had to exit I-95. We eventually found out that there was not another one, and some hanger ensued. We did find some breakfast once we arrived in Charleston, though, LOL.

We spent most of the day browsing the local stores and doing some shopping. And more eating. Each year there are some signings and events on Friday, but everything we were interested in was happening on Saturday, which is a jam-packed, all-day affair. After picking up a copy of the festival program, we retired to the hotel early. I am not ashamed to admit that I was in bed by 8PM.

Some rather cool temperatures greeted us on Saturday morning, but it was a very welcome change from the relentless Florida heat and humidity we're used to. It was also perfect weather for all of the running around we were about to do. Equipped with the schedule that we'd made the night before—on a sticky note—we got on our first line of the day. The waiting never felt lengthy, though, and we actually got a rush out of trying to make every event that was on our list. It was challenging because there were so many things happening simultaneously, but again, we loved figuring out the logistics.

I was super, super, super excited to discover that NOVL was giving away ARCs of Claudia Gray's Defy the Worlds. The first book, Defy the Stars, was one of my favorite reads this year, and I was walking on air when I held the sequel in my hands. I was also ecstatic to see that Underlined had ARCs of Rachel Hartman's Tess of the Road. We also got to meet Emily X.R. Pan, who was signing ARCs of The Astonishing Color of After at the NOVL booth, and Jennifer A. Nielsen, who was signing ARCs of The Traitor's Game at the I Read YA booth. Both authors were super sweet, and we were thrilled to get our ARCs signed!

Later in the afternoon, Ally and I headed to Alexandra Bracken's signing. There were already about 70 people in line, and we got there half an hour early. The line ended up being quite long, and Alexandra Bracken very, very kindly stayed past the allotted time to continue signing for everyone. I got my copy of Wayfarer signed:

The signing was our last event of the day, and so we headed off in search of some much needed dinner. I devoured a ridiculous amount of pizza and regretted absolutely nothing. Between all of the scrumptious food we consumed and all of the bookish awesomeness we experienced, it was a fantastic trip and a much needed mini-break from adulting. There was even a happily ever after, when we stopped for breakfast on Sunday morning at the Cracker Barrel that we'd bypassed on our way to Charleston. XD

LOVE this tote bag from NOVL!

Some more bookish goodies:

Lord of Shadows poster given out at the Riveted booth:

SO excited to read these!

Ink by Alice Broadway
Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
S.T.A.G.S. by M.A. Bennett
Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
The Traitor's Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Defy the Worlds by Claudia Gray
Love and Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves
Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson