Bye 2014, Hi 2015

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2014 went by so fast and in the latter half of the year in particular I fell into a bit of a reading/blogging funk. But I'm still pretty happy with how I went on my challenges, the only one I didn't reach was the Australian Women Writers Challenge (bummer!):

Aussie Author Challenge, hosted by Booklover Book Reviews

Aim: "Kangaroo" level. Read and review 12 titles written by Australian Authors.

Achieved: 15 books.

Australian Women Writers Challenge, hosted on its own dedicated page.

Aim: I want to read 20 books by Australian women this year. 

Achieved: 15 books.

Audiobook Challenge, hosted by Hot Listens and the Book Nympho

Aim: "Stenographer" level. Listen to 10-15 audiobooks.

Achieved: 35 books.

New Release Challenge (a personal challenge)

Aim: Read at least one new release a month, a total of 12 books published in 2014.

Achieved: 18 books.

Goodreads Challenge

Aim: Read 75 books.

Achieved: 89 books.

As for 2015 - I've decided I'm not going to sign up for any challenges, I'm just going to read what I feel like and see how I go. I've been umming and ahhing over what to do about my blog and I've come to the decision that I'm only going to blog if I feel like it. No pressure. That means no challenges. Well, except the Goodreads Challenge - which I've set to 100 books this year! But that doesn't necessarily require a review for every book, so hopefully it won't be stressful (although I am a little nervous about the number tbh). I plan to keep track of my reading on Goodreads still and will probably note down thoughts on each book there, but I don't know if I will aim to do full reviews for every one as I have tried (and failed) to do in the past. The goal is to do what I feel like, what makes me happy. It's all about having fun, after all. We'll see what happens! That said, I do have a couple of reading goals I will probably (hopefully) blog about regularly:

-The Heyer Project. I want to read through all of Georgette Heyer's Regency novels in chronological order. It will probably be mostly through audiobooks.

-V.C. Andrews Recaps. I started this last year but got distracted by other things - but I'd like to continue doing it this year, starting (again) with Flowers in the Attic.

So that's my plan for the year. Low key and hopefully fun. 

Happy 2015!

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Happy 2014! Hope it's a delightful year for everyone. 2013 had its ups and downs for me but I definitely ended the year much happier than I started it, so I'm excited to see where 2014 takes me! However, I didn't blog anywhere near as much as I wanted to in 2013, especially in the latter part of the year. One of my goals for this year is to get back into regular blogging, bring back some of my features, create new ones and review every book as soon as I've finished it! At the moment I'm about 14 reviews behind, eek! So expect a lot of reviews from me in the next week or so because I really want to catch up and start off on a good foot.

I did a lot better on my 2013 challenges than I did on the previous year. Still not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with my progress:

• Aussie Author Challenge: Aimed to read 12 Aussie authors, and I read 20! Yay!
• Australian Women Writers Challenge: Aimed to read 10 books by Aussie women and I read 17. An improvement on the year before.
• TBR Reading Challenge: Aimed to read 36 books from my 2012 TBR pile, and I got through 20. Not awesome.
• Goodreads Reading Challenge: Aimed to read 75 books, and I finished 71. So close!

All in all I think I did well. The key for me seems to be not doing too many challenges. So this year, I'm focusing on:

Aussie Author Challenge, hosted by Booklover Book Reviews.

Aim: "Kangaroo" level.

- Read and review 12 titles written by Australian Authors of which at least 4 of those authors are female, at least 4 of those authors are male, and at least 4 of those authors are new to you;
- At least 6 fiction and at least 2 non-fiction, and at least 3 titles first published in 2013 or 2014.

Australian Women Writers Challenge, hosted on its own dedicated page.

Aim: I want to read 20 books by Australian women this year. 

Audiobook Challenge, hosted by Hot Listens and the Book Nympho

Aim: "Stenographer" level.

-Listen to 10-15 audiobooks.

New Release Challenge (a personal challenge)

Aim: Keeping up with the Publishers 

-Read at least one new release a month, a total of 12 books published in 2014.

Goodreads Challenge

Aim: Read 75 books.

Here's to blitzing goals this year!