Reading Challenges 2016: First Quarterly Recap

Posted March 31, 2016 by Lola in Challenges / 32 Comments

I decided to join some reading challenges this year and will do quarterly recaps, so at the end of March, June, September and December. I’ll list my challenges, goals and how well I am doing so far and list the books I read for each challenge. I am doing good with some challenges, but really bad at some others.

Blogger Shame Review Challenge
The Blogger Shame Review Challenge is hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup and Addicted to Happily Ever After. The goal of this challenge is to read books you received for review that have been on your review list for 6+ months count.
I set my goal to read 12 books for this challenge, so one every month.

Books I read for the Blogger Shame Review challenge?

Goal: 12
Total so far: 0
Yes I am doing very bad at this challenge so far and managed to read no books for this challenge. I think my goal of 12 was a bit too optimistic, but at the bright side, I am reading my first book for this challenge at the moment!

2016 pick your genre challenge
The Pick Your Genre Reading Challenge is hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup. More information about this challenge can be found here. You can find my goal post here.
I set my goal to read 6 books for each genre for this challenge.

Historical Romance

Goal: 6
Total so far: 0
I do have a few historical romances I want to read, but haven’t really felt in the mood for historical romances yet, so I haven’t read any books for this goal yet. let’s hope I do better next quarter.

Cozy Mystery

Goal: 6
Total so far: 11 – Goal made!
I’ve been in a big cozy mystery mood lately, so I read a lot of books for this goal and exceeded my goal already. Will be interesting to see how high I can get this.

Romantic Suspense

Goal: 6
Total so far: 1
Hey it’s something at least, I had hoped to read more, but having read one book for this goal isn’t too bad. I have three more books in this genre planned to read this year, so let’s hope I can get to those.

New Release Challenge 2016
This challenge is hosted by Lexie over at Unconventional Book Views and Stormi at Books, Movies, Reviews Oh My!
Goal: 31-45 books per year – New Release Veteran.
Total so far: 16
I am doing great with this goal and am nicely on/ ahead of schedule. I’ve been reading lots of new releases I pre-ordered and got from netgalley.

New Releases I read in the past 3 months

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge
The 2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge is hosted by Laura @ trips down imagination road and Michelle @ Because Reading. The 2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge is about setting New Years Resolutions for books and book blogging.

Blogging Goals

Reading Goals

  • Get my Netgalley percentage up to 70%. I did horrid with this the first few months and requested a lot of books, but I am doing okay again and building upwards again. I think I am back at where I started at the start of the year at 67%. So yeah I need to keep working on this one.
  • Get my amount of review books below 55. I don’t see how I will ever make this goal. I am reading books and even deleted one or two I don’t plan on reading anymore for this shelf, but I just keep adding new ones as well. I am at 87 books at the moment, *cringe*. So needless to say I have to keep working on this one.

Personal Goals

How are you doing with your reading challenges?

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32 responses to “Reading Challenges 2016: First Quarterly Recap

  1. Hey Lola! It’s perfectly fine to fall behind sometimes! It happens! I know how much you’ve been in your mystery kick so it’s good that you’re dominating that challenge! As for the rest of them, you’ll get to them so no stress! AND THOSE PIES AND CAKE THOUGH. OMG. HUNGRY.

    • Yes I am doing really well with the cozy mystery goal, I hadn’t expected to finish that one so fast. I should’ve set my goal higher, lol. And indeed there are still enough months left to work on the other challenges. The pies are a fun challenge, I hope to finish that goal for the next quarterly recap.
      Lola recently posted…Reading Challenges 2016: First Quarterly RecapMy Profile

  2. I’m so happy you are loving cozies! You just started reading them this year, right? Or at least exploring the genre more?

    I hope you pick up romantic suspense. I have a few recs for you like Julie Ann Walker. Her Black Knights Inc series is on sale for 99c πŸ˜‰
    Braine recently posted…Loved It: Black Listed by Shelly BellMy Profile

    • I started reading them end of the previous year, then I also had a reading goal to start reading them, but didn’t get to it at the end of the year. I am really enjoying the cozies so far :).

      I just checked and it seems I already own the first book in that Black Knights series as it was free. Thanks for reminding me about it! I hope I can read it this year!
      Lola recently posted…Reading Challenges 2016: First Quarterly RecapMy Profile

  3. You’re doing really well with several of your goals. The only goal I set for myself this year is to try to finish off some series instead of starting so many new ones. I’ve been doing pretty good. I think I’ve only started two new ones and I’ve finished off several and put a pretty big dent in some of the others. I’m actually allowing myself to start a new series on audio that has been on my TBR for years.
    Melanie Simmons @mlsimmons recently posted…Against the Dark Audiobook by Carolyn Crane (REVIEW)My Profile

    • Sounds like you’re doing well with your goal too :). I could use a goal like that as I start way too many new series, but then again I don’t think I own enough books to only read series I already started. I hope you’ll enjoy the new series on audio you’re starting!

  4. 87 book?!?! How do you even handle that?! Lol. I have like 10, and that’s about as much as I can handle without getting stressed.

    You are doing really well with some of your challenges and goals! That’s great πŸ™‚ And you’ve still got the whole rest of the year to catch up on the rest!

    I did make a goal post at the beginning of the year, but it wasn’t anything strict, more like vague guidelines about types of books I wanted to read. I’ll have to go check it out though and see if I’m accomplishing any of the reading I set out to.
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Review: How to Date Dead Guys (The Witch’s Handbook Book 1) by Ann M. NoserMy Profile

    • Embarrassing right? It’s up to the 90 right now. It’s nice if you can keep that amount low. When I just started blogging I made the mistake to say yes to everything that sounded sort of good and I think about half or one third of my list is thanks to that, I have to go through the list and remove those I don’t plan to review anymore, but that’s hard too.

      Indeed there’s still enough time to catch-up on the goals I am not doing so well with so far.

      I always like looking back ad seeing how well I did on my goals. I hope you managed to make some progress on your guidelines!

    • I like the Bookish resolutions one with how we can set our own goals :). And indeed that’s the nice thing about year long challenges, even if you do badly or not so good now, there’s still time to catch-up.

    • I about doubled my goal so far :). I am really enjoying the cozies so far. I think about half of my review books are from netgalley and I really want to read them, but I just keep requesting new ones as well. I really have to work on my review books this year.

  5. I’m soooo behind in my reading and reviewing that the one challenge I should do is the Blogger Shame Review challenge πŸ™‚

    You read 11 cozy mysteries! I have read NINE books altogether LOL

    And you still read SIXTEEN new releases!!! wow congrats!

    I’ll make sure to check out your Lola’s Advices and see if I can improve πŸ™‚

    E.g. your Netgalley rate is 67%, mine? it was 30% BEFORE I added like 5 more ARCs πŸ™‚

    Now of all your goals the CAKES is my favorite. Nothing better than cake (except chocolate) especially cheesecake!

    Good luck reaching the 40 blog tours Lola!
    Daniela Ark recently posted…Writing tips: Get it done! Camp NaNoWriMo Machiavellian PlanMy Profile

    • The Blogger Shame challenge is one I need so badly and I am doing so bad so far. I finally finished my first book for the challenge ad I feel so accomplished, lol.

      I read about 2 books a week, so you can see a lot of those were cozy mysteries and/or new releases. The new release challenge is one of my favourites as I always read a lot of new releases each year.

      My netgalley percentage is pretty okay, but if you realize I got approved for a total of 117 books, that’s still a lot of unread books. And I really want to get it to that 80%. but I’ll be happy if I finally can reach the 70% for now.

      Gotto love the cake goal, but I so badly avoid making cakes and pies, that I decided to make it a goal and finally bake some of them. Really enjoying that goal so far ;).

      I am not sure if I will reach the 40 tour, but I sure can dream about reaching it.

    • Your previous comments landed in the trash, seems like you forgot to click the I am not a spammer button? Next time it happens just let me know on twitter or other social media and I’ll remove your comment from the trash, so you won’t have to retype it :).

      I really have to work harder on the Blogger Shame one, but I am glad with my progress on the rest of them.

  6. Those reader moods can help or hinder when it comes to challenges. Looks like it really helped with one and didn’t help the other one for you. πŸ™‚ Oh well, plenty of time to feel in the mood for other books.
    My big one this year was the blogger shame and my Net Galley piles. I don’t expect to be completely caught up on review books, but I wanted to cut in half the pile this year and I wanted to read more off my own actual and virtual TBR pile. Doing alright. πŸ™‚
    Good luck for next quarter, Lola!

    • Yeah my moodreading definitely helped the cozy mystery and new releases ones, but hindered the blogger shame, romantic suspense and historical romance one. I just need to get in the right mood for those.
      The Blogger Shame is one I really need as I have so many review copies ad so many older ones too, I really hope I can make a dentin those and in my review pile in general.
      Lola recently posted…My To-Be Read List #20: pollMy Profile

    • Me too! But I didn’t have time to bake one today, maybe tomorrow or monday.

      I am doing great with my new releases, but it’s hard getting to those older books as it’s easier to be enthusiastic to those brand new ones. I am really happy with how well I am doing for the new release challenge. I set my goal pretty high this year and wasn’t sure if I would make it, but my progress os far is making me feel more confident about being able to reach that goal πŸ™‚

  7. Looking at what you *have* accomplished, it’s easy to see what you’re in the mood for/enjoying right now, Lola! πŸ˜‰ Cozies, new releases, and baking! *haha* I think you’re doing pretty well. You’ll be able to put some focus on the challenges you haven’t done much for soon as you’ll have completed some of the other challenges, right? πŸ˜‰ Good job so far and good luck in the next quarter! πŸ˜€
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…My TBR List ~ April ~ Let’s VoteMy Profile

    • Yes my challenges really show which books I was in the mood for lately ;). And indeed once my mood changes I can work on some of those other challenges.

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