Wrapping Up 2012 and Looking Forward Into 2013

Hold onto your hats, this is going to be one crazy mash-up of a wrap-up post while I sum up how I did on my 2012 Challenges, what my goals are for my 2013 Challenges, post my December #RAK and Secret Santa goodies and accept my Golden Glo..er. Wrong speech. I’ll throw in a New Year’s Resolution that so far I’ve always failed to meet, but maybe this is my year! On to my wins and fails:

2012 Outdo Yourself Challenge hosted by Brianna at The Book Vixen. Fail. My goal was to read one more book in 2012 than I read in 2011, so 251. I only read 222. I spent way too much time re-reading things. This year I’m not doing this specific challenge but I’m signing up again at Goodreads for their challenge. I’m keeping my number at 200 which is attainable and if I pass it by December 1st, I’ll up it.

2012 TBR Pile Challenge was hosted by Evie at Bookish and I challenged myself to read 11-20 books from the pile of 2011 stack that I hadn’t gotten to last year. Major, major Fail. I read one of them. Not only didn’t I have much time, I found I’d lost interest in a lot of them if they weren’t for reviewing.

Finally! A challenge I can say I blasted out of the park. Okay, over the fence at least. Danya from A Tapestry of Words was the hostess and really I enjoyed this one. I decided to read 9-12 New Adult books and met that goal in July, so I just kept doing as much as I could (which ended up being no so much, unfortunately) and I ended up reviewing 16.

I was excited about this one too, since when I started looking at the ARCs for the year, I saw so, so many debut authors with great looking ARCs ready to slide into my sticky hands. I dropped out of the hosted challenge but decided to keep going on my own with the level I’d already picked, 12 books by YA authors. I ended up with 20, and only because I slacked off and was ill in December – I have a half dozen sitting here raring to go in the next couple of weeks!

It was a wild and crazy book month of things showing up, going out, being left on my doorstep that I didn’t ask for and of me buying books I already have. I hate it when that happens. I’m blaming that for my #RAK fail. I talked big about doing some big #RAK Gifting this month and squeaked out just one.

I sent:

Every Day by David Levithan to Beth at Living a Goddess Life

This year the Secret Santa group I participated in was hosted by The Book Nympho. I gave:

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter
Whispers at Moonrise by C.C. Hunter, both to Nikki at Close Encounters with the Night Kind

Nikki made my Kindle so happy when she sent me some things that have been pining away on my wishlist. Pining in the fjords, you know.

Vengeance of the Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater
Pretty When She Dies by Rhiannon Frater
Pretty When She Kills by Rhiannon Frater
The Devil’s Delilah by Loretta Chase
Irresistible Fear by A. Meredith Walters
Find You in the Dark by A. Meredith Walters

Thank you so much again, Nikki!

My 2013 Challenges

I’m going to make you work to see the fabulous buttons (there are some really pretty ones this year), since it’s also nice and early and you still have plenty of time to sign up for any/all of these yourselves! The links are all on the page I linked to ^there or the page that’s titled 2013 Challenges in my navigation bar.

What I signed up for:

• Debut Author Challenge, Hosted by Hobbitsies – I’m reading 12 or more books by debut authors in 2013.
• Standalone Reading Challenge, Hosted by Icey Books and I Like These Books – I’m reading 15 or more YA standalone titles (or books with no planned sequel) in 2013
• Romantic Suspence Challenge, Hosted by Brianna at The Book Vixen – I’m reading 13 romantic suspense novels and thank heavens re-reads and non-2013 releases count. *whew*
• Contemporary Romance Challenge, Hosted by Brianna at The Book Vixen – This pretty much has my name all over it, so I’m okay with the goal of reading 10 or more contemps in any age category in 2013.
• Witches and Witchcraft Reading Challenge, Hosted by Melissa at Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf – I’m not shooting for the moon, just going to read 1-5 books with a witchy theme/character.
• New Adult Challenge, Hosted by moi, Danya at Tapestry of Books, Tara at Tater’s Tall Tails and Victoria at Confessions of a 20-Something Fiction Writer. I’ve decided to go crazy – no, don’t hold me back, I’m doing it, going crazy – and setting my goal at 40 NA books for the year.

I’m not making any bigger resolutions than I always do – just to get more organized!