Favorite Books of 2016 + 2017 Reading Goals

2016 was a good year for reading! I read more books in one year than I ever have before, which is pretty freaking awesome! I think I'm allowed to call myself a reading wizard because of that, and if you also surpassed your reading goal then you should, too. I only really hated one book (you can read the review here) and the majority of the novels I picked up this year I enjoyed immensely, which made picking my top 12 books really, really difficult. 

Let me know if you read any of these books and what you thought! What were your favorites?

MY FAVES:
♥ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
♥ The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury
♥ P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
♥ This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
♥ I Am Princess Savage by Cherie Priest
♥ Lois Lane: Double Down (Lois Lane #2) by Gwenda Bond
♥ A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
♥ Madly (The Potion Diaries #1) by Amy Alward (and the second book too!)
♥ Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
♥ Scythe by Neal Shusterman
♥ Junior Hero Blues by J.K. Pendragon
♥ The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan

According to Goodreads, I read 94 books in 2016, but in reality I read 106! Crazy! I've never read over 100 books in a year before. The reason it shows 12 less than I actually read is because I listened to A Series of Unfortunate Events (which I realize now I forgot to review on my blog oops) and I just counted it as one big book. 

In 2017, my two reading goals:
1. Read 85 books
2. Read as many of the unread books on my shelves as possible by using this "Read More Books" jar. I'll be picking a new book out of the jar whenever I finish a book. Hopefully this will help me read my TBR shelf! I've already picked the first book of 2017 and it is....Everland by Wendy Spinale!

What's your 2017 reading goal?

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Fall Reading List

Time to curl up under a blanket with some pumpkin spice chai and read a book! My fall reading list is a bit late since we're well into the middle of autumn, but it's never too late to share some awesome-sounding books. When fall comes around, I put aside the contemporaries and fluffy reads and delve into the darker stuff, like urban fantasies and sci-fi stories and murder mysteries. So here are the books I want to read this season. 

MY FALL READING LIST:
♥ Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
♥ The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour by Amy Alward
♥ As Old As Time by Liz Braswell
♥ Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart
♥ Heartless by Marissa Meyer (coming out November 8)
♥ Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
♥ The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
♥ Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
♥ A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
♥ Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff (coming out January 3)
♥ Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
♥ Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

What books do you want to read this season?

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Summer Reading List

My 2016 reading goal is to read 60 books and I'm already at 48 books! I'm a reading monster right now! I'm just devouring every single book in sight! I'm currently four books: Uprooted, A Court of Mist and Fury, Learning to Swear in America, and The House of Hades. The problem with wanting to read all the books is that I want to read all of them right now!

I still have a few books from my winter reading list that I want to get to, but here are some reads I want to devour this summer immediately.

♥ The Shadow Queen

♥ This Savage Song (out July 5)

♥ The Rose & The Dagger

♥ The Darkest Part of the Forest

♥ The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1)

♥ Everland

♥ Far Far Away

♥ The Impostor Queen

♥ Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine #3)

♥ Love Charms & Other Catastrophes

♥ The Queen of Hearts

♥ The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase #1)

Have you read any of these?

What books do you want to read this summer?

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My Winter Reading List + 2016 Book Goal

What a great reading year 2015 was! According to Goodreads, I read 82 books and 23,089 pages. The longest book I read was Winter at 824 pages, the shortest was Zombillenium: Gretchen at 48, and the most popular book I read was Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. 

Of all the books I read, these eight were my favorite! As you can see, most are YA fantasy (my favorite genre), but I did branch out quite a bit last year into contemporary, literary fiction, graphic novels, and even some non-fiction. These aren't in any particular order, though my two absolute favorite novels of the year were Winter and Lois Lane: Fallout. 

♥ Winter

♥ Lois Lane: Fallout

♥ Ms. Marvel, Volume 1

♥ Station Eleven

♥ A Darker Shade of Magic

♥ A Court of Thorns and Roses

♥ A Little Something Different

♥ The Winner's Curse

As you read this, physical copies of these books sit on a shelf, unopened, heartbroken that I haven't read them yet. I can hear them weeping. Some are yelling at me. It's rather disturbing. So this year, one of my reading goals is to read all of the unread books. Let's be real, there's more than just these 12 sitting on my shelf, but these are the one I really, really want to get to. 

♥ The Archived
♥ The Girl at Midnight
♥ Everything Everything
♥ Just Ella
♥ Illuminae
♥ Alias Hook
♥ Of Metal and Wishes
♥ Six of Crows
♥ Black Widow: Forever Red
♥ Undressing Mr. Darcy
♥ Magonia
♥ The Invention of Hugo Cabret

But my main reading goal of the year: READ 60 BOOKS!  

What's your reading goal for the year?

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My 2016 Resolutions

Like everyone else in the world, I'm amazed that it's already 2016! Why does the fall season go by so much faster than the others? It's my favorite and it's the prettiest in my opinion, so of course that means it flies by in a blur. And now it's a whole new year! I feel like I need something to look forward to, so I'm hoping to plan a trip somewhere (Boston maybe?) this year. 

It seems my resolutions get shorter and shorter. In 2015, I had three resolutions and now this year I only have two. 

2015 Resolutions

Exercise more

Finish my novel

Make more friends & hang out with people more

2015 was a fantastic year! Because of NaNoWriMo, I wrote the first draft of a new novel. It wasn't the story I had in my when I wrote my resolutions, but I'm just happy I finally finished the first draft of something. Hooray! 

I exercised a good amount during the first half of the year, but the free membership to a gym via work expired in July. But I did get a Fitbit in October and I try to hit my 6k step goal every day. So progress! I like to think I reached out to people more because I got to meet some really wonderful people in 2015 (hey Kristin, Jess, Kristin, and Marissa!) and hung out with my besties a ton. 

2016 Resolutions

Finish the two novels I'm working on

A writer's work is never done! I want to edit the first draft of my NaNoWriMo novel, which means adding new scenes, introducing new characters, and including a subplot. I'm also currently writing a fairytale retelling, which I'm in love with and I really want to finish the first draft by March. Then onto editing that too. #writerslife

Find an exercise I enjoy

Every year I say I want to lose weight and I still do, but I think I've always gone about it the wrong way. I jump right back into jogging on the treadmill and lifting weights and expect to see results when I always find it boring. This year, I want to experiment more with exercise. I want to try new things and genuinely find an exercise I like. I'm really hoping to find a good kickboxing class near me! 

Do you create a word for the year? My 2016 word is CREATE! 

In 2016, I want to write write write as much as possible! 

Do you have any goals for 2016? Do you have a word for the year?

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Fall Reading List

I completed my Goodreads reading challenge! *pats self on back* I bumped it up from 32 books to 45, but I'm now currently at 50 books. This is the most I've ever read in one year, so I'm both proud of myself and shocked that I've read so much, and we still have four months left of the year! 

I don't know if I'll get to all of the books below by the end of the year (you know how it is, you stumble across a shiny new book and have to read that one immediately), but I absolutely want to get to all of these at some point. 

♥ The Martian by Andy Weir
♥ Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
♥ The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald (via NetGalley)
♥ The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
♥ A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
♥ Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
♥ Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
♥ Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
♥ Off The Page by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
♥ Uprooted by Naomi Novik
♥ The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
♥ Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

What's on your to-read list?

How many books have you read so far?

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26 Before 27 + Birthday Giveaway!

Is today June 22?! Then it's my birthday! Hooray!

I celebrated all weekend of course! On Friday, Avra, Sunny, and I had tea and scones, went to a street fair where there were acrobats, ate tacos, and stumbled upon four old men playing jazz in a small coffee shop. On Saturday, I went into the city with Avra and Sunny to meet up with some of my favorite bloggers at Laduree in Soho, then my friends and I got gluten-free dessert at Babycakes Bakery, and falafel at a small restaurant in the Lower East Side. On Sunday, my family went out to an Italian restaurant to celebrate Father's Day and my birthday. We ate THIS giant dessert. Talk about an awesome weekend! 

Of course, I'm going to celebrate a bit today by getting something super delicious for lunch at work!

Every year I like coming up with a list of practical and fun list of things I want to accomplish, but first let's see how I did with last year's list. 

25 Before 26

1. Finish my novel

2. Visit Jackie

3. Visit Lauren & Sarah

4. Go my cousin's wedding in Texas

5. See the High Line

6. See the Brooklyn Bridge

7. Have a group giveaway on my blog

8. Take a photography class

9. Meet Martie

10. Meet Naomi & Jason (met them twice!)

11. Go to the gym at least twice a week (worked for 6 months!)

12. Start a new series on my blog

13. Keep up with Kristin's awesome NovelTea book club (I've read some of them!)

14. See another movie alone (Pitch Perfect 2)

15. Learn easy smoothies recipes

16. Keep drinking at least two glasses of water a day

17. Make use of the library more (it's like my new home)

18. Visit more new-to-me local restaurants and places

19. Put money aside every month for my student loans

20. Find awesome birthday presents for everyone I love

21. Have fun this summer

22. Only buy new clothing that I really, really love

23. Keep doing more product reviews

24. Get better at talking to people

25. Wear lipstick more

And now my new list:

26 Before 27

1. Finish the first draft of my new story

2. Cut out soda for at least one month (I'm starting this tomorrow!)

3. Keep drinking at least two glasses of water a day

4. Learn easy smoothie recipes

5. See the Brooklyn Bridge

6. Take a trip somewhere, anywhere

7. Meet Martie

8. Have a group giveaway on my blog

9. Get an e-course on photography

10. Take a short blog break 

11. Get rid of things in my room that don't bring me joy

12. Get my underarms and legs waxed once because why not

13. Use up some candles I've had forever

14. Get a gel manicure 

15. Get the new illustrated Harry Potter (!!!)

16. Possibly attend BEA (it's in Chicago in 2016)

17. Cut myself some slack

18. Take a day trip somewhere

19. Keep up my correspondence with my pen pals

20. Go to the farmers' market

21. Complete Code Academy

22. Listen to all the current episodes of Welcome to Night Vale

23. Try any exercise class 

24. Go to two author readings

25. Write two short stories

26. Meet another blog friend IRL

What do you think of my goals?

What are some of yours?

♥ ♥ ♥

As a thank you to all of you for being so awesome by stopping by my little slice of the Internet and being wonderful blog friends (seriously, thank you!), I'm giving away a Too Faced Melted Lipstick (you get to pick the color when you win) and a $25 gift card to Starbucks! It's an international giveaway*.

*Starbucks gift cards bought in the U.S. don't work outside the country, so if someone from outside the States wins they'll get two lipsticks instead. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

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My 2015 Resolutions

Last year, in my 2014 resolutions post I speculated that this year would go by slower than previous years because I was working, but that was not the case at all. Crazily enough, the months flew past in a blur, which I was not expecting. I have no doubt that 2015 will sweep by me just as quickly.  

2014 Resolutions
Get my first full-time job (part-time but still) ☑
Set a monthly budget (nope)
Finish my novel (nope, but I wrote an outline)
Wear heels more often ☑
Wear lipstick more often ☑
Take a trip somewhere (Yay Virginia!) ☑
Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop 12 ☑
Feel less pressured by my blog ☑

2014 was a great year overall and I accomplished a lot! One of the main goals was to find a real job and although it's not full-time there's room for it to be in the future, but I'm for now I'm comfortable where things are and I'm enjoying my job immensely. 

Still haven't finished my novel, but I wrote an outline for the last 1/3 and that's a big step because it's made me feel like I now know where the novel is going and where it's going to end. Now I just have to sit my ass down and type the words out. 

I've definitely felt less pressured by my blog the past year and it helped when I was getting used to a new routine and a new job, but now that 2014 is over I want to focus more time making sure my blog posts are the best they can be. 

2015 Resolutions

Exercise more 
I didn't want to put the classic "lose weight." That's too vague.
This seems like a more realistic goal.
I'm aiming to get my ass to the gym at least twice a week.

Finish my novel
I'm going to start bringing a notebook to work and write on my lunch break
in the downstairs kitchen since no one goes there. Little by little I WILL finish this book.

Make more friends & hang out with people more

Perhaps this is a weird goal, but I need more friends. It's not that I don't absolutely love the friends I have (guys I really do love you, promise), but I feel like I need to branch out a little bit. There are a few people I've met recently that I want to turn from acquaintances to friends and a few people at work that I would love to hang out with more. Plus I want to hang out with the friends I do have more. 

What are your 2015 goals?

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My Winter Reading List + My 2015 Book Goal

I read 33 books this year! My goal was 32 books this year, so I surpassed it by one book. My Goodreads says that I read 34 books, but there's one that I never finished and don't plan to. What do you do with books that you give up on in regards to Goodreads? 

Anyway, I read a lot of fantastic books this year, so it was hard to narrow it down to just my top eight favorites! I picked the eight that left an impression and that I could see myself reading again in the future. My book goal for 2015 is again to read 32 books!

♥ The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a moody story about a man who returns to his childhood home. The memories of that strange time comes flooding back to him and he remembers the magic, the darkness, and the unusual things that occurred. An amazing read!

♥ Fangirl is about Cath, a freshman in college and a fanfiction writer, who is having trouble not being roommates with her twin sister. She wonders if she can do it on her own and if she can start writing her own stories. One of my new favorite books ever!

♥ Perfect Ruin takes place on the floating city of Internment where life is lovely until the first murder in a generation. For Morgan, she starts to sees that their society isn't always perfect and begins to investigate the murder on her own. A fascinating fantasy read. 

♥ Flora & Ulysses is a middle-grade book that is so charming and fun. It's about Flora, a young girl, who witnesses Ulysses, a squirrel, get sucked into a vacuum and then get super powers. It's as adorable as it sounds. 

♥ Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is about Clay, a young man who mans the desk at a 24-hour bookstore. What starts as a simple job turns into something so much more complicated that involves a secret society, history, and a lot of books. This book is amazing. 

♥ Dorothy Must Die is an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. Amy, a girl from Kansas, finds herself transported and then stuck in Oz, but it's not the same place from the book/movie. Soon Amy is recruited to kill the evil queen: Dorothy. It's a fun read that doesn't take itself too seriously. 

♥ Cress is the third in The Lunar Chronicles series (which is my favorite series after Harry Potter). Cinder, Captain Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf are now fugitives on the run and they're plotting to overthrow Queen Levana. In order to do so they need Cress, a girl stuck on a satellite, who was just given orders by Queen Levana to track Cinder down. Loved it!

♥ Horrorstor is a dark but humorous horror novel. Amy works at Orsk, which is similar to Ikea, and strange things have been happening at night in the store while no one is there, so that night she, the floor manager Basil, and a few others decide to investigate, but what they find is not what they were expecting. A fun read and I love that the book looks like an Ikea catalog. 

I only read three of the books from my summer reading list, but I would still like to get to them at some point. I'm bringing Attachments with me on the plane to Austin and the others will no doubt be read cuddled up in bed with hot chocolate. 

♥ Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

♥ The Savages by Matt Whyman

♥ Pure (Pure #1) by Julianna Baggott 

♥ A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

♥ Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

♥ Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

♥ The Sleeper and The Spindle by Neil Gaiman

♥ Office Girl by Joe Meno

P.S. -- Friend me on Goodreads!

What's currently on your reading list?

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My 25 Before 26 List

Since my birthday was on June 22nd, I want to revisit my 24 Before 25 list to see how I did on this year's goals. I'm going to be honest and say that I pretty much forgot about this list, which accounts for why I succeeded in accomplishing just over half of them. Not too bad, but I would've liked to complete more of these goals. So that's the reason why some of these goals are repeated in my 25 Before 26. 

24 Before 25

1. Finish my novel

2. Get my first full-time job (it's part-time, but still counts)

3. Travel outside the country

4. Visit Jackie's new home in Virginia

5. Visit Lauren (upstate New York) and Sarah (Boston)

6. Walk to the post office more instead of driving

7. Visit the High Line & the Brooklyn Bridge

8. Try the 30 Day Shred

9. Read more classic novels

10. Clean out / sell books I don't want anymore

11. Organize all the notes I've scribbled down about my novel

12. Keep saving to pay off loans

13. Save my pennies to buy a DSLR in the future (thanks to all my birthday $$)

14. Get back to drawing

15. Lose 15 pounds / feel comfortable rockin' a bikini

16. Sew a skirt

17. Find a beer that I like

18. Make sure my plants (bamboo plant and moss terrarium FAIL!) don't die

19. Help my dad build a new deck

20. Go to another movie alone (saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)

21. Use my camera more to capture my everyday life

22. Do more product reviews (and maybe book reviews too)

23. Continue seeing new fun exhibits and things in NYC

24. Meet new people (thanks to my job this is a major success!)

And now my new list:

25 Before 26

1. Finish my novel

2. Visit Jackie

3. Visit Lauren & Sarah

4. Go my cousin's wedding in Texas

5. See the High Line

6. See the Brooklyn Bridge

7. Have a group giveaway on my blog

8. Take a photography class

9. Meet Martie

10. Meet Naomi & Jason

11. Go to the gym at least twice a week (free work membership!)

12. Start a new series on my blog

13. Keep up with Kristin's awesome NovelTea book club 

14. See another movie alone

15. Learn easy smoothies recipes

16. Keep drinking at least two glasses of water a day

17. Make use of the library more

18. Visit more new-to-me local restaurants and places

19. Put money aside every month for my student loans

20. Find awesome birthday presents for everyone I love

21. Have fun this summer

22. Only buy new clothing that I really, really love

23. Keep doing more product reviews

24. Get better at talking to people

25. Wear lipstick more

What do you think of my goals?

What are some of your own goals?

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My Summer Reading List

I didn't end up reading all of the books on my winter reading list (I read four, only got halfway through one before giving up, and still want to read the other three), but I figured I would show you want I really want to read this summer while I'm on my lunch break, chilling at the pool, or relaxing before going to bed. 

Also, so far I've read 15 books this year! I'm almost halfway through my goal of reading 32 books!

The books I want to read this summer:

♥ Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
♥ Hollow City (Miss Peregine's Peculiar Children #2) by Ransom Riggs
♥ Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman
♥ The Riverman by Aaron Starmer
♥ The School for Good and Evil 2: A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani
♥ Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff
♥ Romance is my Day Job by Patience Bloom
♥ Add More ~ing to Your Life by Gabrielle Bernstein

P.S. -- Friend me on Goodreads!

Any book recommendations for me?

What have you read recently?

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My 2014 Resolutions

Well, 2013 has now gone. I had a feeling at the beginning of the year that 2013 would sweep past in a flash. It always does when you don't want it to. For some reason, I think 2014 won't feel like it's rushing by, at least for me. It will be the first year I'll have to work five days a week once I find a full-time job (whereas before I worked only two or three days), so I'm thinking that's going to make the time go slower. 

Anyway, this time last year I made my 2013 resolutions, so let's see how I did. 

2013 Resolutions

Be braver / tougher ☑

Take risks ☑

Downsize ☑

Finish my novel

I'd say I did very well this year. Even though I only had four goals, they were tough ones. It's hard making yourself something you're not, but I wanted to be braver, speak up for myself more, do more things on my own, and try new things. This summer was spent exploring New York City, going new places, doing things on my own (since one friend moved and another was away), and I met new people here and there. I would say I'm a little braver, or at least a little less scared of the big bad world, but I still have much to learn. 

I got rid of a lot of clothing and I've actually been going through my closet almost every two months. I went through papers and drawers and got rid of random stuff. There are still places I need to go through, but we'll call this a win. 

Did I finish my novel? No. But over the year I wrote quite a bit and during NaNoWriMo, I wrote several chapters, even though I only wrote 13,000 words. I have more revisions I want to make to the beginning, and then I'm going to keep writing!

2014 Resolutions
Get my first full-time job
Set a monthly budget
Finish my novel
Wear heels more often
Wear lipstick more often
Take a trip somewhere
Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop 12
Feel less pressured by my blog

All of the goals above are pretty obvious ones, but I would like to clarify the last one. I LOVE blogging and I LOVE reading your comments and interacting with all of you, but at times I feel a lot of pressure to always come up with really great things and feel pressure to do everything I can for my sponsors. I love doing it, but sometimes it's nice to take a step back. For the last month, I've been staying off my computer all day Saturday and it feels great to take a small break each week. 

Overall, this year has to me more about moving forward and thinking ahead!

What are your 2014 goals?

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