lots and lots of books (mostly all written by Kristen Ashley)
Last year I had a little, okay big, trouble with my Goodreads reading goal. This was mostly due to user error on my part.
Read all about it ... Reading Paranoia (2012 edition)
So, with Kindle in hand I set out to make every fucking book worth it this year (and set a motherfucking date for every book read). I also set my goal low (I think it was like at 200) then because someone else was paying more attention than I (thanks Whimsy!) I exceeded that at around six months and was prompted (again, thanks Whimsy!) to make the goal higher (350). I was worried because while I do read fast, and I read a lot of series (mostly romance) I do tend to get in reading funks. This usually is due to reading a bunch of really poorly written books in a row or starting poorly written books and discarding them, etc. or, if I'm not well physically, I can lose too much focus. I just get in big slumps, and it can be hard for me to get out of them.
The good news about this year in reading is that I discovered Kristen Ashley. I got "Own the Wind" when it came out, and it was my first ever MC romance (and then I read a bunch more and thought 'Whoa. What hath Kurt Sutter wrought?'). So my first ever MC romance and my first ever Kristen Ashley - it was thrilling - then I waited for the Hopper-Lainie book "Fire Inside" and FELL FUCKING IN LOVE. I could tell from both of the Chaos books that there were characters from other books of hers so I did my research, realized that she is prolific as hell, started the Rock Chick series and never looked back. I am not alone in being enthralled with this woman. I mean, I know I'm not her only fan at all, but those books? All of those books, every series (and I still have 2-3 series to read) saved my life this year. They provided hours and hours and hours (her books are voluminous) of entertainment, they kept me laughing, they kept me swooning, they made me want to survive some pretty awful stuff in order to keep reading. Kristen Ashley was my lifeline this year.
This would seem trivial to most of the people in my real life, but I'm blogging it because most of those people don't read this blog or know it exists. There are no words to thank her for what she gave me this year.
Hope.
*sniffle*
So I inveigled my friend Whimsy into reading a few of her books in the vain hope that she would fall in love too, and I'd have someone to share this with me. She did by the way. Never underestimate the power of Luke Stark. Never underestimate the power of a Rock Chick. Mostly, never give up on the power of books.
So here's my goal for 2013. Exceeded, bitches.
I have a feeling I won't read nearly as many titles next year because I'm giving up the New Adult genre (except for those series still in play), definitely giving up most of the YA genre (because, dude, I'm just too old except for a few authors), all paranormal (with exceptions), and useless sequels and male POV novellas that exist for craven purposes (ask me sometime for my opinion on this). I am going to try to read more fiction and biography because I have so many fucking actual books littering my shelves that I need to focus on that. There are going to be more real world issues I will have to deal with in 2014 so I'm thinking reading time will be cut down. I'm just going to aim for 200 books again and see where that leads me.
There's my triumphant 2013 reading tale. There were tons of ups and downs and awesome books and very very very dirty erotic romances (there's Bigfoot erotica, you guys), horrible books and way too many series, but I survived to write the blog. Oh and while I couldn't ever pick just one Kristen Ashley book as my favorite read of the year (just assume every time I finish one I think 'That was the best she's ever written' because that's accurate), I will tell you that these books by others also went a long way to making a crap year livable.
Crossing the Line - Kele Moon
Wallbanger - Alice Clayton
Flawed - Kate Avelynn
The Line of Duty Series - Tessa Bailey
The Lonely Series - Tara Brown
The Rocker Series - Terri Anne Browning
I started to list all that I adored that I read in 2013 but that's a bit ridiculous - just check my Goodreads Read shelf and list all the 5 Star ratings - there's a ton but only because (a) I'm easy and (b) I love books.
Read ya next year!
Read all about it ... Reading Paranoia (2012 edition)
So, with Kindle in hand I set out to make every fucking book worth it this year (and set a motherfucking date for every book read). I also set my goal low (I think it was like at 200) then because someone else was paying more attention than I (thanks Whimsy!) I exceeded that at around six months and was prompted (again, thanks Whimsy!) to make the goal higher (350). I was worried because while I do read fast, and I read a lot of series (mostly romance) I do tend to get in reading funks. This usually is due to reading a bunch of really poorly written books in a row or starting poorly written books and discarding them, etc. or, if I'm not well physically, I can lose too much focus. I just get in big slumps, and it can be hard for me to get out of them.
The good news about this year in reading is that I discovered Kristen Ashley. I got "Own the Wind" when it came out, and it was my first ever MC romance (and then I read a bunch more and thought 'Whoa. What hath Kurt Sutter wrought?'). So my first ever MC romance and my first ever Kristen Ashley - it was thrilling - then I waited for the Hopper-Lainie book "Fire Inside" and FELL FUCKING IN LOVE. I could tell from both of the Chaos books that there were characters from other books of hers so I did my research, realized that she is prolific as hell, started the Rock Chick series and never looked back. I am not alone in being enthralled with this woman. I mean, I know I'm not her only fan at all, but those books? All of those books, every series (and I still have 2-3 series to read) saved my life this year. They provided hours and hours and hours (her books are voluminous) of entertainment, they kept me laughing, they kept me swooning, they made me want to survive some pretty awful stuff in order to keep reading. Kristen Ashley was my lifeline this year.
This would seem trivial to most of the people in my real life, but I'm blogging it because most of those people don't read this blog or know it exists. There are no words to thank her for what she gave me this year.
Hope.
*sniffle*
So I inveigled my friend Whimsy into reading a few of her books in the vain hope that she would fall in love too, and I'd have someone to share this with me. She did by the way. Never underestimate the power of Luke Stark. Never underestimate the power of a Rock Chick. Mostly, never give up on the power of books.
So here's my goal for 2013. Exceeded, bitches.
I have a feeling I won't read nearly as many titles next year because I'm giving up the New Adult genre (except for those series still in play), definitely giving up most of the YA genre (because, dude, I'm just too old except for a few authors), all paranormal (with exceptions), and useless sequels and male POV novellas that exist for craven purposes (ask me sometime for my opinion on this). I am going to try to read more fiction and biography because I have so many fucking actual books littering my shelves that I need to focus on that. There are going to be more real world issues I will have to deal with in 2014 so I'm thinking reading time will be cut down. I'm just going to aim for 200 books again and see where that leads me.
There's my triumphant 2013 reading tale. There were tons of ups and downs and awesome books and very very very dirty erotic romances (there's Bigfoot erotica, you guys), horrible books and way too many series, but I survived to write the blog. Oh and while I couldn't ever pick just one Kristen Ashley book as my favorite read of the year (just assume every time I finish one I think 'That was the best she's ever written' because that's accurate), I will tell you that these books by others also went a long way to making a crap year livable.
Crossing the Line - Kele Moon
Wallbanger - Alice Clayton
Flawed - Kate Avelynn
The Line of Duty Series - Tessa Bailey
The Lonely Series - Tara Brown
The Rocker Series - Terri Anne Browning
I started to list all that I adored that I read in 2013 but that's a bit ridiculous - just check my Goodreads Read shelf and list all the 5 Star ratings - there's a ton but only because (a) I'm easy and (b) I love books.
Read ya next year!
