Oh wow, happy end of 2017!
I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. I’ve been very busy but still managed to get back on track with reading, blogging, and some other book related activities. It has been a great year.
I did it guys! I beat my goal.
Well, I did fairly on in the year so I’m just super happy that I didn’t give up afterwards. I think setting a low goal was really helpful and definitely lowers the stress so I’ll be doing the same in 2018.
I think some of my favourites that I think you should check out were Stake Sauce, The Girl with All the Gifts, Taproot, Bubblegum, Motor Crush, The Bone Witch, Saga, Ice Massacre, and The Princess Diarist.
I’m writing this before the year is even over so its worth mentioning that I’m part way through some books too.
I think its likely I will finish reading Ice Kingdom before the year is over or on the 2nd Jan as its an eBook and I have a long train journeys ahead of me. I won’t be taking any books with me to my boyfriends due to lack of room so the others will not be finished.
The other books I’m reading are Find me by Laura van den Berg, Do Andoids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.
I’m actually really proud of myself for the amount of reviews I’ve written, I do still have a backlog but I’m getting there.
I think I’ll aim to have them all finished by the end of January.
Aside from my reviews I’ve also posted a few other things.
I’ve announced the January and Series read-alongs with my book club
I took part in the Naughty or Nice Book Tag and the Mr Men and Little Miss Tag
started looking at my old haul posts: 1 and 2
signed up to take part in Beat The Backlist
made a few posts about #SpooksandTea and a summary of my book club
wrote a piece on how best to use your Goodreads shelves
shared my love for the creators of my banner and icon
looked at my NetGalley shelf
got awarded the Blogger Recgonition Award
wrote and designed my dream loot crate
I made a to be read pile for the year and do you know what? I failed.
I read a total of 3 books from it.
This was the stack but all I read was The Princess Diarist, Ice Massacre, and Ice Crypt. Ooops.
I also said I wanted to finish off some series…
– Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
– Unwind Dystology by Neal Shusterman
– Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr
I’m reading the last of the Gemma Doyle trilogy now so… yeah I failed that.
And I wanted to finish off books I started in 2016:
– Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
– Darkest Mercy by Melssa Marr
– Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
I also wanted to successfully participate with at least 2 read-a-longs with my book club, because I’m great at arranging them but just fail to ever take part, especially during the set time. I’m proud to say I did this!
My last goal was to keep on top of review copies. I started off so strong at the start of the year but I as I became more active on Twitter I ended up with more review copies. Of the 29 books I got in 2017 I’ve still got 13 left to read and review. I uh, I’ll get round to them okay!
I think I took a break for a tiny bit but it averages out that I managed this. Either way I’m counting this as a success because I’ve definitely upped my blogging game.
I also want to get back into photography. ❌
I mean I used my phone camera a lot more to photograph books but not my DSLR oops.
Another blogging thing that would be pretty good is if I could reach a minimum of 500 views on each post. ❌
I was doing really well on this before I moved to WordPress but not so much now I’m building up my following again. So even though I’ve failed this I’m definitely really happy with the move and seeing a stead rise in viewer activity here.
It’d also be good if I could actually put time aside to visit other blogs more regularly so I feel like less of an outside in the blogging community ✔️
Again, the move to wordpress really helped me with this.
Added to the previous one I want to remain active on Twitter (and possibly reach 1,000 followers there) too because the community there is really great and I’m always finding out lots of new and interesting things thanks to them.✔️✔️
I’m so impressed I did this!
You can also find Lauren at:
Twitter | Book Club | Instagram | BlogLovin
Northern Plunder 
I’m really impressed with how many of your goals you met! Have you finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep yet? It’s been on my to-read shelf for quite a while now, but I just haven’t motivated myself to pick it up yet…
I’m reading it slowly but I really enjoy it. If you’ve seen the movie its nice to like compare what they stayed true too and what they altered. I think the testing makes more sense now that I’ve read it too.
I think you did awesome on your goals, despite not reading too many books from that massive TBR pile!
What are your goals this year?
I plan to be more involved with the bookish community this year! ☺
I’m still deciding what I want to achieve this year, no doubt I’ll have a post up at some point!
Being more involved is definitely a good one and something I hope to keep doing
Hmm, why did you not finish Neverwhere? I gobbled it up. It’s both good and short. So I’m curious :) 500 views on every post seems big! I hope you achieve it this year though :) congrats about Twitter! I also exceeded my hopes and dreams… 1500+!! I wasn’t counting on 1000 even xD
The main character really annoyed me even though I enjoyed the rest, I do still intend to read it. I definitely haven’t shelved it as DNF I just never got around to it last year.
It seems it but I just looked back on my blogger stats and it was definitely achievable when I was there. but I 100% have more interaction now so I’m happier here for sure.
That is awesome!
500 views on every post?! Gosh that is such an unattainable goal for me! I barely get 200 on successful ones, I rarely get 100 🙈
Good luck!
It seems it but I just looked back on my blogger stats and it was definitely achievable when I was there. but I 100% have more interaction now so I’m happier here for sure.
Going to have to see what number I can aim for this year for sure :’)
Congratulations on beating your reading goals. :) The Bone Witch was also one of my favourite readings of 2017. I can’t wait for its sequel.
Also, congratulations on all the 2017 goals you met. Hopefully, this year you will reach 500 views on every post. I’ll surely help you do it. =)
Happy readings Lauren!
Tânia @MyLovelySecret
Yeah I’m super excited for the sequel too! I’m hosting a read-along for it on my book club :)
Aww thank you, thats super sweet!
You did really good with your goals overall! Rarely does someone get all of them, but you did a lot of reading, made progress on some series and kept up blogging (and made that Twitter goal!) I hope you’ll be able to read even more books from your TBR pile in 2018!
My recent post: http://oliviascatastrophe.com/2018/01/solitude-the-change-of-heart-book-review/
I hope so too! :D
Congratulations on hitting so many of your goals! I don’t know what it is about TBR piles, but they never seem to shrink. :( Must be enchanted…
Thank you!
Me either it just grows and grows
My goals always end up changing a little as the year goes by…so even though you didn’t meet all of your exactly I think you did great! Happy New Year!
I can’t believe how many books you read last year that is amazing! Also don’t worry if you didn’t reach goals bc I hardly scraped through doing some of mine oops xoxox
heh thank you, im lowkey aiming to read more this year but we’ll see
Congrats on meeting some your goals, even if you didn’t get to complete all of them! The amount of reviews you wrote is amazing, and to hear you have a backlog is really inspiring, as I’ve really fallen out of the habit if reviewing things, so that’s definitely a 2018 goal for me.
having a back log is common and also helpful because when you do find the time to catch up, bam, suddenly you have posts scheduled for a few weeks :D
Wow, Lauren! How do you do that ! 69 books read, along with Books&Tea discord and everything you take care of… teach me your ways ! I look up to you so much as a blogger & a person 💝
May all your 2018 goals be accomplished !
AHHHH I AM CRYING HAPPY TEARS
You are so sweet. I don’t know how I do it, I still feel like a v slow reader compared to a lot of bloggers and also feel not v relevant at times gosh wow youre great. I wish you the best for 2018 too!!
This is a lovely post. I love reading wrap ups and recaps. I fortunately was able to accomplish most of my goals last year, which I’m really proud of.