I finished my Goodreads Goal in February
In 2018 I set my goal for 30 books, this is the first time I’ve set it low on purpose. I knew from previous years reading I would read more than this and in the back of my head I had my own alternate goal. However throughout my years blogging I’ve seen much discourse on Goodreads goal being a cause of stress and reading slumps should we ever get behind.
Setting it to something I knew I could achieve took all that away, but I still kept it to 30 as in 2016 I read 37 books so I’m very aware how my own mood and life can affect my reading in multiple ways.
I set it to 30 again this year and well… as the title suggests, I completed this is in February. Keep reading to find out what I read and my thoughts on the books.
Please note: this post contains summaries from Goodreads and affiliate links to purchase the books; you’ll not be charged any extra when purchasing through these.
Okay, before you scream and go wild that I finished 32 books by the end of February, I would also like to remind readers I didn’t work for all of February due to my broken wrist. So I definitely had a lot of time on my hands and could’ve easily read even more in that time but I tried to have a little balance with my free time.
emoji key: 💖 favourite | 📚 read | 💔 did not finish
📚 Sex Criminals, Vol 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction + Chip Zdarsky
★★★★ [amazon | blackwells | wordery]
A graphic novel that follows two people who accidentally find out they both have the same skill to freeze time when they have sex. This leads to grand adventures, pranks, and well, bank robbing.
💖 The Wicked + The Divine: Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen + Jamie McKelvie
★★★★★ [amazon | blackwells | wordery]
“I’d appreciate it if you could at least be creepy in a way I could understand.”
Interesting plot line for sure, and it broke my heart to pieces in the final few pages.
📚 Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
★★★★ [amazon | blackwells | wordery]
“No book is dangerous in + of itself, you know. But historically, reading a book in the wrong way has led to terrible consequences.”
The writing style for this definitely took a little to get used too but annotating it with my American pals was definitely fun.
📚 Battle Royale, Vol 1 by Koushun Takami + Masayuki Taguchi
★★★ [amazon]
This manga was a lot darker and violent than I remembered in comparison to the movie. I really enjoyed the map to help me track the progress of characters. Ready to read more, but definitely not for everyone.
📚 Fuan no Tane (Seeds of Anxiety) by Masaaki Nakayama
★★★★
A manga that is a collection of very short and atmospheric stories. They explore urban legends, ghosts, and superstitions. It’s very odd and eerie.
📚 The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One by amanda lovelace
★★★★ [amazon | blackwells | wordery]
“do you ever find yourself nostalgic for the person you never got to be?”
My full review can be read here.
📚 Return to Dyatlov Pass by J.H. Moncrieff
★★★★★ [amazon | wordery]
“She screamed. She was still screaming when her tongue was torn out, along with the inside of her mouth.”
My full review can be read here.
📚 Snotgirl, Vol. 2: California Screaming by Bryan Lee O’Malley + Leslie Hung
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
A great continuation to Lottie Persons story. We get to know a little more about her friend group and the mystery surrounding Caroline continues to grow and be a lil weird.
💖 The Wicked King by Holly Black
★★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
“If he thought I was bad, I would be worse. If he thought I was cruel, I would be horrifying.”
This book actually ruined me tbh, I’m still not recovered. I talk about it a little in this Owl Crate Unboxing post.
📚 Shades of Magic #1: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab, Andrea Olimpieri + Enrcia Angiolni
★★★★[amazon]
The first comic in V. E. Schwab’s new series following King Maxim before he became King. Not my favourite intro but I definitely felt like I was back home in the Shades of Magic world.
💔 Enchantee by Gita Trelease
★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
This was my first DNF of the year and I’m really sad because I was looking forward to it, my full review can be read here.
📚 Saga, Vol 9 by Brian K. Vaughan + Fiona Staples
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
I love Saga so much and this volume absolutely destroyed me! The series is also on hiatus so if you can I might suggest holding off reading this volume – but literally no one listens to me and then comes crying to me about it.
📚 Paper Girls, Vol 4 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, + Jared K. Fletcher
★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
So uh yikes? What went from a very strong favourite of mine had some homophobia which made my stomach drop. I spoke to a friend about how disappointed and also hurt I was about it but she assured me it gets addressed next volume…
💔 Gang of Fools by James Otis Smith
★[blackwells | wordery]
Brill premise but ultimately the art didn’t draw me in and the text was very hard to read from this e-galley. Quickly DNF to save my eyes.
📚 Shades of Magic #2: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab
★★★★[amazon]
Great continuation to this story. The art is spectacular and I’m very glad I bought them all as I needed more
📚 Shades of Magic #3: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab
★★★★★[amazon]
Ah!! Favourite issue yet in this comic series. I love her writing so much.
📚 Shades of Magic #4: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab
★★★★★[amazon]
I really can’t say too much or it’ll give things away but But This Comic Series
📚 Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
Thanks to Donna I got to dive back into the Fables world, I got very strong Deja Vu reading this and then realised I probably had from the library. There has been a murder in Fabletown so Snow White and The Big Bad Wolf are on the case to figure out why and whodunnit.
💖 Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen
★★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
I adored this middle grade graphic novel! Seriously, go read my review of it.
📚 Fables, Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham
★★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
Another with thanks to Donna. I’ve definitely read this one before too but I remember much less of it so I enjoyed it more than Volume 1. I’ll have to look at getting the bind up editions. It follows an uprising on the Farm as those fairytale creatures are fed up of being hidden away.
📚 Man-Eaters, Vol.1 by Chelsea Cain
★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
I really liked the concept of this graphic novel but it had a few areas that I think need to be addressed in future volumes. My full review can be read here.
📚 Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson + Jenn St. Onge
★★★★[amazon | wordery]
A great introduction to Nancy Drew for me, it also has a great diverse cast. My full review is live here.
📚 Aries 181 by Tiana Warner
★★★★★[amazon | wordery]
I’m a huge fan of Tiana’s work and this was a great sci-fi LGBT novel. Can’t wait to see if she revists this world, my full review can be read here.
📚 The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen + Jamie McKelvie
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
WicDiv has lived up to its expectations and apparently I had forgotten about how much Vol 1 ruined me. I threw caution to the wind and was in tears all over again.
📚 Crowded, Vol. 1 by Christopher Sebela
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
This graphic novel is about a crowdfunding site called Reapr where you can back assassinations! The story follow Charlie Ellison who is trying to stay alive with a very large bounty on her head and figure out why so many people want her dead.
💖 The Migration by Helen Marshall
★★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
One of my favourite horror books so far! It has a great tie in with the environment and really gets you to think about our future. Please consider my full review.
💖 Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff + Amie Kaufman
★★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
I finally read my first book by Kristoff and Kaufman! Luckily I loved it. I haven’t yet attempted to write a review because its been a while now and I need to skim through to refresh my memory but I was thoroughly invested in its similarities to Firefly + the fact I cried a bucket tonne at the end.
📚 One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence
★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
“The magical power of D&D to draw together people who knew things. Who cared about questions that didn’t seem to matter.“ You can read my full review here.
📚 To Make Monsters Out of Girls by amanda lovelace
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
It has been a while since I was able to read one of amanda’s books for the first time around physically – the last few i’ve had via netgalley. But I was so thrilled I did it this way. It meant I got to enjoy the illustrations fully and tab my favourite poems so I can revisit them.
📚 The Woods by Marnie Silverman
★★★★[itch.io]
A short story I picked up thanks to #reviewpit and I devoured it! Very creepy – full review is here.
📚 The Wicked King by Holly Black
★★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
“Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.” Okay I didn’t actually re-read the fully book. Instead I just read the deleted scenes in the Waterstones edition. But thats fine, I’d completed my Goodreads challenge the previous book.
📚 Marvel Fearless and Fantastic! by Sam Maggs
★★★★[amazon | blackwells | wordery]
Needed a little break and picked up a non-fiction book celebrating female superheroes! Very much worth my time, you can read more about it in this blog post.
So that is every book I read to complete my Goodreads Goal, plus 2 extra thats I also read in February. I figured this was a good start to getting back on track with my monthly wrap ups though I’m likely to do another bulk one or two till I’m all caught up.
I hope you enjoyed seeing what my reading tastes have been like so far this year, and perhaps even encouraged you to read a book or two!
Northern Plunder 
Wow that is amazing! Glad you had some good reads!
Well done!! 🥳🎉 I read Sex Criminals a year or two ago and it was a fun graphic novel!
Well done! That is awesome that you finished it so early!
Well done for completing it! I think I’m almost half way through mine, but this slump has hasn’t helped lol
I consistently set what I believe to be a manageable goal for me (50 books) and I’m actually debating to now bring it down a bit because of the way things are for me at the moment and I’ve been in a reading slump. I will probably still read over 50 books but I’d rather have the goal out of the way so I can just focus on reading at whatever pace I read at.
Well done for completing your goal! Aurora Rising is also my favourite and I was crying a bucket tonne at the end too 😭
Oh and I really need to read The Wicked King and I’m glad I got the Waterstones edition to read the deleted scenes!
Great post! I set mine low last year too – about 23 I think and it felt so good not to have any pressure. I’m adding a lot of these to my TBR shelf now! Thanks! ~ Steph
This is amazing! I’m close to hitting my goal of 50.
Wow impressive! You’ve read some really excellent books!
Wow! That is so amazing – congrats on finishing your Goodreads goal so fast!
I’m glad to see you really enjoyed some of these books and now I have more books to add to my TBR! Hope you have a good time reading for the rest for the year as well!
That’s awesome! I’m way behind on mine as I set out for 50 ; ; but I’m starting to read more again and catch up! Steel Prince is on my list too :)
Wow, congrats on finishing your Goodreads goal! I set mine the same as last year. Last year I didn’t hit my goal, but I had a super busy year because I got married and much of my year was spent planning and all of that. Well, this year I didn’t have that in my plans so I figured “Let’s try again.” Ha! So far this year, I am behind because I have been working 5-10 hours of overtime every week. I had no idea this would be happening. It has been crazy! As of right now GR says I’m 6 books behind. I have about 3 or 4 books I got about halfway through but I’m a bit slumpy about going backwards. Its kind of a bummer. *sigh* Oh well. I’ve still got 6.5 months to figure it out.
I also set my goal for 30 books this year! I tend to read about 60 books a year but I purposely set my goal this low for the same reasons – I wanted to lessen the pressure on myself. You’ve read some really awesome books!
yeah its helps a whole lot this past month~ where i haven trly committeed to a book yet
Yay. I am so proud of you. I set my goal as 45, which seemed achievable then. Now it seems so very close, so I might go past it soon.
YAY, that’s awesome, Lauren. I think having a lower goal is good. It keeps the pressure off, and just makes reading more fun :)
Oh wow congrats !!
It’s only my third Goodreads challenge so far ? first one I failed- had only started halfway in the year, then last year I succeded reading 23/12 and I opted for a “small and achievable” one aswell this year. As of which I went from 12 to 15. Currently sitting at 14 !!!! So only one and i’m done!! 😄
Ohmygod, Sex Criminals make me wanna read that ahaha just.. how can you rob a bank while having sex ?? I wanna see that xd
and also the steel prince’s cover is so GORGEOUS!! I don’t think i’ve seen that one before.
Good job on finishing your Goodreads Goal! I agree that it can make reading stressful and can be the cause of reading slumps – one of my fears while setting my goal to 100 books this year was WHAT IF I CAN’T REACH IT. I have the tendency to change my goal throughout the year as well… especially when I’m in a huge slump (it’s hard, but uh, I’ll take the thoughts everyone might have about lowering my goal).
Wow! I am already 7 books behind on my reading goal. I have been in a bit of a slump recently. It looks like you had a lot of high ratings on your books! What a nice reading year, with so much more books to look forward to.
I love setting my goodreads goal lower than I expect to read so I don’t stress out about it – I am so much of a goals oriented, all or nothing person that I will turn it into a game and not enjoy anything if I am not careful.
I am glad you were able to read a bunch while you were out with your broken wrist though! Happy reading without goals looming for the rest of the year!
Congrats on completing your challenge :)
The past couple years I’ve purposely set mine low, but this year I decided to aim high, so I’m 11 books behind haha.
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
I have also set my goodreads goal extremely low this year as well. I knew that I wasn’t going to have as much time to read as compared to previous years. Congrats on passing your goodreads goal already! You are on top of it compared to a lot of people that I know. Keep on reading! Lovely post and have a great day :)
Congrats on reaching your Goodreads goal. This is a great idea to set it lower as often it’s a lot of pressure when the number is so high! I’ve set mine to 50 this year and am on 31 so far. I’m such a mood reader too and only read 33 books last year (I think) so happy with how many I’ve read so far 😊