2017 Reading Challenges Wrap-Up

I participated in three reading challenges this year (other than the usual GoodReads challenge) and while I barely squeaked by on one of them, I totally dropped ball on the other two. #ReaderShame

I blame this on two factors: 1) I got myself completely bogged down with ARC's, therefore June through September was spent reading and reviewing those and 2) an epic reading slump hit in October (probably brought on by reading/reviewing all those ARC's even when they weren't necessarily what I wanted to be reading at that time) and is still in full effect. *sobs loudly over reading slump*

So here's a quick look at how I failed two challenges and succeeded at the third by the barest of margins. 

In 2016 I slam-dunked the #ShelfLove Challenge so I was gung-ho to do it again. I set the same goal for myself: to read 31-40 books that I already owned (physical or Kindle). Nope, didn't happen. Instead that number is a paltry 18. The others consisted of new releases, ARC's, library books and new purchases. *sigh*

Then came the Reading Assignment Challenge. Where I pre-assigned myself twelve books to read throughout the year, one per month. I started off strong but then fizzled out. (Again, ARC's... reading slump... blahblahblah.) I actually got back on track in the fall and managed to end the year with 7 of my 12 books read. Not bad, but again, a challenge fail. *double sigh*

That brings us to the Contemporary Romance Challenge. This one seemed like a no-brainer since contemporary is my jam. It's what I read so why not make life easy and join a challenge I'm sure to ace? To be honest, up until this morning I thought I had failed this one, too. I signed up for the Grand Slam level which meant 21+ contemporary romance books read/reviewed/linked up. You get credit for this one by linking up your reviews each month and somehow that proved to be too challenging after the first few months. By summer I wasn't reviewing a book immediately after reading it (I blame those #$@&%*! ARC's) so either I was too late to make it into that month's link-up or I forgot about it completely. But... this morning when I went back and checked the link-up for every month, I saw that I actually managed to get 25 reviews linked up! Thank goodness for a strong start in January and February: 11 contemporary romances read and reviewed in just those two months helped me meet this goal.

Based on these less than stellar results I'm still contemplating what challenges, if any, I'll join for 2018. It's not that I'm bothered by failing two of my challenges (it's all for fun, after all), but maybe I'm better off just reading what I want to read, when I want to read it and leave it at that. What a concept! :)

How about you? How did you do with your 2017 challenges? 

What challenges are you joining in 2018? Let me know!

#2017HW Report Card - 3rd Quarter

Last December I signed up for the 2017 Reading Assignment Challenge and pronounced it the easiest challenge of all. I mean, I chose the number of books I would read (12), I chose which books I would read (all ones I was excited for), and all I had to do was read one per month. How simple is that, right? Well, join as me as I eat my words...

This 3rd quarter check-in is a chance for me to update my progress for July, August and September. Also known as, That Time Tanya Was An Epic Fail. Yep, I completely hit the skids in the 3rd quarter. July was about the time that I got myself bogged down with ALL THE ARCs and I am only now digging myself out of that hole. So it was basically Summer of the ARCs and I read NOTHING off my reading list. Progress = total face plant.

So, sad to say, my report card shows a big, fat F for this quarter. I started out the year strong but definitely fizzled out over the summer. The upside? I can still finish the year strong and have a great 4th quarter. Surely I can read three of these books by the end of the year, right? Right??

2017 Reading Assignment Challenge

How are you doing with your reading challenges 

(whatever they may be)? 

Tell me I'm not the only one struggling!

#2017HW Reading Assignment Challenge | Sign-Up and Reading List

I'm taking part in the Reading Assignment Challenge in 2017 and it's going to be awesome. This one kicks it old school with a reading assignment... except way cooler. Because you get to assign your own books. Sweet!

This challenge is run by Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun and Michelle @ Because Reading. You can get all the details at their sites but here are the basics.

* The challenge runs between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017.

* You can only participate for the months *after* you sign up.

* Make a list of specific books you'll read in 2017. Commit to reading 1,2,3 or 4 of those books each month.

* You can ready from any genre or format (must be over 100 pages and published before January 1, 2017).

* Post a quarterly report card and link it up at the host's blog.

I'm easing into this challenge by choosing Reading Level 1 - which means I am committing to reading one book from my reading list per month. Totally doable, right? And here are the 12 books that make up my assigned reading list.

Have you already signed up for any 2017 reading challenges? 

Do you have favorites that you participate in year after year?