Try a chapter tag #1 - in review.

Hi booklovers

I don't know why, but for some reason I want to do some 'in review' posts. 

I'm trying to decide what I'm going to read next so I wanted to do another 'Try a chapter' tag. While looking at my first 'TaC' tag post, I thought it would be nice to first take a look at which books I ended up reading.

In that post I organised the books from 'I'm not going to read this' to 'This is the one I'm going to read first'. Obviously, I read my number one book, but what about the other books in between those two?

Let's take a look:

#6 The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. Like I said in the original post, this wasn't my cup of tea, so I returned it to the library.

#5 The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. I haven't picked this one up yet :-s Shame on me.

#4 A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. I've actually read the whole trilogy, which I think is quite the achievement. I really enjoyed the trilogy and the covers are stunning.

#3 Graceling by Kirsten Cashore. Nope, I haven't read this one yet.

#2 Bloodlines by Richelle Mead. Same here.

#1 Legend by Marie Lu. When I read this one, I didn't have the other two in the trilogy yet. But, I enjoyed this book so much that I went and bought the other two and I've actually read them as well. *pets oneself on the back*

Not too bad, especially since I actually finished both trilogies I started :-)

Have you ever done the 'Try a Chapter' tag? Does it help you to decide what you want to read? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

2016 anticipated releases - in review.

Hi booklovers

First of all, let me wish you all the best for 2017 and a very good reading year!

Before sharing my 2017 anticipated releases, I thought I'd take a look at my anticipated releases of 2016: which ones did I buy, which ones have I read, which ones haven't I bought (yet)?

A) Bought and read:
*Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry. I really enjoyed this second book in the Thunder Road trilogy and I can't wait for book three to come out.

*A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. I absolutely loved this book. It even made it to my top 10 books of 2016, even though I know there are some flaws to the story - and no, I'm not talking about the cast of characters not being diverse enough! I'm talking about some exaggerations in some character's attitude and behaviour!

*Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard. I have mixed feelings about this one. I really liked Queen's Song, the story about Cal's mom, but I didn't enjoy Steel Scars all that much.

*Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard. I liked this one a lot better than Cruel Crown and I'm curious to see how the story will continue after the major cliffhanger. (I have to admit I might need to reread Glass Sword before reading King's Cage :-$ )

These three authors have the next book in the trilogy / series coming out in 2017, so expect them to appear in my 2017 anticipated releases.

*Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. This is my most recent read and my feelings are still all over the place.

B) Bought but still unread:
*Stars Above and Heartless by Marissa Meyer.
*The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson.
*The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johanssen.
*Frost Like Night by Sarah Raasch.
*Passenger by Alexandra Bracken.
*The Crown's Game by Evelyne Skye.

C) Not bought:

*Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas. I haven't even read Queen of Shadows, so I thought it was a bit useless to already get Empire of Storms.

*Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes. Same story as with EoS. I only recently bought Frozen Tides so I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, so no point in already getting Crystal Storm.

*The Dark Days Club by Allison Goodman.

*Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake.

*Truthwitch by Susan Dennard.
*The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine.
*Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.
*A Million Worlds Without You (Firebird #3) by Claudia Gray. I haven't even read A Thousand Pieces of You or bought Ten Thousands Skies Above you, so I won't be getting this one any time soon.

*The Glittering Court by Michelle Read. I'm not sure I'm even going to get this one anymore. I kind of lost my interest in it.

D) These publications were pushed back:
*Damaged Like Us by Krista and Becca Ritchie.
*All Closed Off and Inflict by Cora Carmack.
*The Star Maiden by M.J. Melrose.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed these books will be released in 2017.

I didn't include any of the books I don't even have the first book in the series of.

What's the conclusion of my 2016 anticipated releases list? I had way too many books on it. This time I'm not going to include books from series of which I don't even own the first book.

Did you get/read all of your 2016 anticipated releases? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

2015 reading goals in review.

Hi booklovers

At the beginning of 2015 I wrote a blogpost about my bookish goals and now I want to take a look at the things I accomplished - or failed at :-s 

#1 Goodreads goal => read 50 books => Check = I've read 54 books (actually 58, but again, rereads).
 

#2 Read a classic => I mostly failed this goal, because I haven't read a single classic. But I did read the graphic novel of 'Sense & Sensibility' by Marvel. I know, this is technically cheating, but hey!

#3 Reduce my TBR => Fail: at the beginning of this year I had 114 books on my TBR. At the moment I have 121 :-/ I'm not even going to bother justifying that.

#4 Continue/finish some series: I'm dividing this into different 'categories'.

a) Not continued:

* The Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare.
* The Cousin's War and the Tudor Court series by Phillipa Gregory.
* The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
* The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
* The Inheritence Cycle by Christopher Paolini.
* The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
* Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.
* The Shannara series by Terry Brooks.
 

b) Continued:

* Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: I've read Heir of Fire, but not Queen of Shadows, but I'm still counting it as continued.
* The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: Hmm, I haven't read Winter yet, but I have reread Cinder. Does this count as continueing? ;-)
* The Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes: I finished Falling Kingdoms and read Rebel Spring and Gathering Darkness, but not Frozen Tides.
 

c) Unhauled:

* The Fallen series by Lauren Kate.
* The Dwarves by Markus Heitz.
 

d) Finished:
 

* The His Fair Assassin's trilogy by Robin LaFevers.

#5 Buy less books than in 2014 => Let's just say I failed this goal too, but only slightly. I've bought less physical books, but more e-books.

My conclusion?
A) What does this tell me: I'm not good at sticking to my set goals.

B) Will I be doing another 2016 goals post? I don't think so, I don't know yet. Maybe I'll just make a TBR of 10 books I really want to read in 2016.

Did you set yourself any goals for 2015 and how did you fare? Are you setting yourself goals for 2016? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies