2019 was an interesting year for my relationship with reading.
Let's go month by month. For the first half of the year I will share the books I read that month, but July sparks a reading binge, and there is no way I am listing all the books. Trust me, you'll thank me for that. If you want to know what I read, head over to my
GoodReads account.
I read 3 books in 3 days. It was a Christian suspense trilogy called
If I Run by Terri Blackstock. Each book received a 4 star rating. I absolutely loved the series. There were times while reading it that I was literally holding my breath.
I read 1 book. Yep, ONE book. At the end of the month I read Becoming by Michelle Obama. It was so interesting to learn more about her life before she became the FLOTUS, and then even her life during those 8 years in the White House. I was captivated throughout the book. This was a 5 star read for me.
I read 3 books. First up was
Good Luck with That by Kristan Higgins. It was an interesting read, and touched on some difficult subjects. I gave it 4 stars. Next up was
This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Oofta, this book. It is a fictional book that covers a school shooting. It was a tough read, but a necessary one. I definitely cried. I absolutely recommend this book. 4 stars. Last up for the month was
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. I went into this book knowing very little. It was an impulse buy during Barnes & Noble's 50% off sale. 9 months later, I still don't know how to put that book into words. It was intense at times, there were bizarre moments, and ultimately it is memorable. Yet something didn't resonate with me, and I gave it 3 stars.
I read one romance book. It was called
Get Lucky by Lila Monroe. The book had me laughing, and I did enjoy the romance aspect. For those unfamiliar, the book takes place in Vegas. Julia is a romance author who is there for a conference. Meanwhile Nate is in town for his friend's wedding. Things happen, Julia and Nate hook up, but their memory of the night is fuzzy at best. I gave it 3 stars.
I read two books that I received for review from Waterbrook Multnomah. First up was
Becoming Us by Robin Jones Gunn. This was the first book in a new spinoff series she is working on. I adored this book. The friendship that the women have is something I long for. I do admit that I feel a bit like Emily. Not wanting to put myself out there, and not feeling confident/comfortable with my "status". I gave the book 4 stars, and I am looking forward to the next installment. My other book of the month was a Christian historical romance called
No Ocean Too Wide by Carrie Turansky. This book had me wanting to learn more about the orphan children who were sent from England to Canada as laborers between 1869 and 1939. I would like to believe that hearts were in the right place, but my brain knows better. Looking forward to book 2 so I can find out what happened to the siblings. This was another 4 star book.
I managed to read 4 books. It was my best month for the first half of the year. Full disclosure: those books were not read until the last week of the month. The first book I read is
The Middle Matters by Lisa-Jo Baker. The book had been sent to me by Waterbrook Multnomah, and I was on the launch team. Lisa-Jo has a way of speaking to my heart. Rating wise, I felt this was a 4 star.
My second read for June was Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos. This book, oh this book, I cannot even put it into words how much I loved it. The book also broke my heart. Again, I gave it 4 stars. Next up was a novella called
Appalachian Serenade by Sarah Loudin Thomas. It was cute, and I still want to read the remainder of the series. 4 star rating. Last but certainly not least was
Then Came You by Becky Wade. It was an okay story. I honestly don't remember a lot about it. In the end I gave it 3 stars.
I read 13 books! Hello feast, I am so happy to see you. Average rating was 3.92 stars. My most read genre was romance. This month I also participated in my first readathon, which was The Reading Rush. I also discovered the joys of Amazon's First Reads program. This month they allowed us to download 2 free kindle books. I selected
A Fire Sparkling and
Relative Fortunes.
I devoured 15 books! My average rating was 3.8 stars. The genre I read the most of was romance. I also participated in my second readathon, which was called Discover New Worlds. It is a readathon hosted by Paige, who runs the Creating & Co Book Club on Facebook.
My book consumption jumped to 20 books read! My average rating was 3.05 stars. My preferred genre was romance. September also brought about another readathon for me. This time it was
Contemporaryathon. This month I also read
Nimona which was my first graphic novel
My books read increased again. This time I read 24 books. My average rating was 3.79. My most read genre was romance/rom-com. This is the month I discovered the writings of Aven Ellis, and I devoured the majority of her books. I had yet another readathon this month. This time it was Read in Peace which was hosted by Paige with the Creating & Co Book Club. At the end of October I also hit a bit of a reading slump. It lasted 11 days, which seems short, but when you've been binge reading like I had been a slump hurts.
I had another slight jump in my book count. I managed to read 27 books! I was in disbelief over this number. Never in my life
(okay maybe back in my early years when I was reading BabySitters Club & Sweet Valley Twins/High) have I read this many books in a month. Wow! My average rating was 3.33. My most read genre was once again romance. I joined in on the
TisTheSeasonathon readathon for the first time, and loved the group read
10 Blind Dates. It was a cute YA read.
My reading began to slow down, and another slump wormed it's way in. I ended up reading 10 books, and my average rating was 3.5 stars. This month my primary focus was Christmas titles. Okay fine, the end of November was that way too. I'm not complaining, I love a good Christmas story. I tried to participate in one last readathon (Treat Your Shelves by Creating & Co Book Club), but the slump hit directly at that time. So my participation was severely lacking. Here's hoping I can break the reading slump quickly. I am missing books, but also kind of enjoying the break.
So what's the final numbers? Well the kind folks at GoodReads gave me this information.
I cannot wait to see what my 2020 stats end up looking like.
How did your year end up? If you set a goal on GoodReads did you make it?
