Ok, it’s that time of year again!! Let’s see how well (uh oh) I did for my challenges this year!

Goodreads Reading Challenge

So, originally I planned on reading 70 books which was just a couple of books under the total I read last year. Well, as you all know this has been my best reading year yet. So, I am happy to say I successfully completed this challenge. This year I ended up reading 136 books!!! That’s an extra 66 books! I bring this down to starting BookTok again and my new job which has inspired me to read more! Plus I listened to audiobooks and read a lot of manga volumes which helped!

2021 Sequels Challenge

Now, this was a lofty challenge. At the beginning of the year, I had 16 books on the docket to read. I will be honest and say with access to manga on Libby, audiobooks and all the lovely books from publishers – my backlist of books did take a backseat this year. So I have to say I, unfortunately, did not complete this challenge. I ended up reading 10 books out of the 16!

• January

  • Attack on Titan: Volume 2 – Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan #2)
  • The Village of Eight Graves – Seishi Yokomizo (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi #3)
• February

  • The Obelisk Gate – N.K. Jemisin (The Broken Earth Trilogy #2)
• March

  • Fullmetal Alchemist: Volumes 16-18 – Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist Omnibus #6)
  • The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club #2)
• April

  • The Killings at Kingfisher Hill – Sophie Hannah (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #4)
• June

  • One Foot in the Fade – Luke Arnold (Fetch Phillips Archives #3)
  • Three Act Tradgedy – Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #11)
• July

  • The Dragon Republic – R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War #2)
• November

  • Bands of Mourning – Brandon Sanderson (Wax and Wayne #3 / Mistborn #6)

I started a lot of series which will be a whole separate post in the new year.

The books I will be carrying over to the new year are:

• A Torch Against the Night – Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes #2)
• The Fires of Heaven – Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time #5)
• We Free the Stars – Hafsah Faizal (Sands of Arawiya #2)
• The Republic of Thieves – Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastard #3)

But I did DNF The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan and decided not to continue with the SAGA series by Brian K. Vaughn.

Physical TBR

Now I am going to come out and just say it. I failed this challenge so so so badly. I planned to read 30 out of my 54 books I brought into 2022. But I only read 14 out of the planned 30!

1. The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux
2. Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim
3. Under the Whispering Door – TJ Klune
4. The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman
5. The Key in the Lock – Beth Underdown
6. The Lighthouse Witches – C.J. Cooke
7. The Chosen Twelve – James Breakwell
8. Elektra – Jennifer Saint
9. Long Way Down – Jason Reynolds
10. The Clockwork Girl – Anna Mazzola
11. The Ultimate Discworld Companion – Terry Pratchett
12. A Touch of Darkness – Scarlett St. Clair
13. The Hatmakers – Tamsin Merchant
14. Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao

The Book of the Month Challenge

So this challenge was a new one for me. Every month from January to November my store highlights a couple of books to promote that month and I wanted to read 11 of those books. I also failed this challenge. I ended up reading 9 out of the 11 books.

• January

  • The Hatmakers – Tamsin Merchant
• February

  • Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good – Louie Stowell
• March

  • The Last Firefox – Lee Newbery
• May

  • Noah’s Gold – Frank Cottrell-Boyce
• June

  • Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun – Tola Okogwu
• July

  • Nura and the Immortal Palace – M.T. Khan
  • Alex Neptune, Dragon Thief – David Owen
• August

  • Heatwave – Victor Jestin
• November

  • The Very Merry Murder Club – Serena Patel & Robin Stevens

The Audiobook Challenge

Another new challenge for me. My first time ever trying audiobooks. I managed to get a free subscription for a year and after hearing loads of hype I thought I would give it a whirl. While I enjoyed a lot of what I listened to I decided not to renew my subscription and will be sticking to podcasts for the future. But I am happy to say I successfully completed this challenge by listening to 13 books out of my planned 12!

• January

  • Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao
  • Empress and Aniya – Candice Carty-Williams
• February

  • The Ghost Bride – Yangsze Choo
• March

  • The Story of the World in 100 Moments – Neil Oliver
• April

  • Dead Famous – Greg Jenner
• May

  • Agatha Christie’s Poirot – Mark Aldridge
• June

  • A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum – Emma Southon
• July

  • Lord Peter Wimsey BBC Drama Collection 1 – Dorothy L. Sayers
• August

  • Lord Peter Wimsey BBC Drama Collection 2 – Dorothy L. Sayers
• September

  • Lord Peter Wimsey BBC Drama Collection 3 – Dorothy L. Sayers
• October

  • The Dark Fantastic – Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
• November

  • Disfigured – Amanda Leduc