2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 12

I plan to visit other blogs and comment on their blogs with a link back to my blog.  Since I am new to blogging I'm not sure what else I can do to draw traffic.

2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 11

I keep my TBR shelf on Goodreads so this is an easy one: 355

How about you?  What is your number?

2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 8

This is a hard one.  I haven't been blogging very long so I haven't had anything all that exciting happen.  I guess I would say when I look at the number of followers I have and it keeps increasing.

2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 7

1. Spoilers in book reviews.
2. Bad reviews where the person never finished the book.
3. Reviewing a book I can't get interested in.
4. Netgalley pdf books that I have to read on my phone.
5. Seeing 50 visitors to my blog page with one comment.
6. CAPTCA- I give myself a set amount of time each day to read and comment on blogs... this takes time from other blogs.
7. When I can't think of anything to blog about and I'm in a reading slump so I can't post reviews.
8. Pressure to give a high star review because the book was an ARC.
9. Embarrassing book covers... thank goodness for e-books!
10. Authors who e-mail me books I'm not interested in reading without asking me first.

2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 6

2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 5

You can read my one star review here.

2014 Book Bloggers New Years Challenge Day 4

Up From the Grave

The Undead Pool

6th Grave on the Edge

Night Broken

Bear Naked

The Book of Life

Shield of Winter

2014 Book Blogger New Years Challenge Day 3

Books I'm sad I missed in 2013:

Origion 
(Lux #4)

Black and Blue 
(Otherworld Assassin #2)

Terminated 
(Revivalist #3)

Archangel's Storm 
(Guild Hunter #5)

With All My Soul
(Soul Screamers #7)

2014 Book Blogger New Years Challenge Day 2

Day 2 The Pros & Cons of blogging:

I haven't been blogging all that long so I'm kind of winging it here...

Pros-

• I can share my passion for books with other people who have a passion for books.
• I don't have to see that glazed expression people get on their faces when I talk about books.
• It's fun!
• I feel like I'm part of something.
• Sometimes authors stop by my blog or tweet links to my blog and that's just awesome.
• It gives me an outlet to express my thoughts whether good or bad.

Cons-

• Sometimes when I'm really into reading I just want to go to the next book and not write the review.
• I feel uncomfortable writing negative reviews.
• It's a lot more work than people seem to think it is.
• It's not just about writing your own blog but visiting others blogs and sometimes I don't feel up to commenting.

2014 Book Blogger New Years Challenge Day 1

1. Learn some web design- I want to make my blog prettier!
2. Socialize with other blogs- I have a bad habit of reading blog posts and not commenting.
3. Participate in challenges- I love challenges and they keep me motivated.
4. Social media- I am terrible about updating Twitter and Facebook.
5. Goodreads- I haven't been very active on Goodreads lately and I miss my friends!  
6. Schedule posts- I have a bad habit of not writing posts right away and skipping to the next book.
7. Update blogroll- I have added a bunch of new blogs that I follow but haven't updated them to the blogroll.
8. Participate in more blogtours- It's fun.
9. Make my blog a priority- As much as I love reading it's all for nothing if I don't keep blogging which I love!
10. Participate in more memes- I love Feature & Follow Friday... I'd love to find more to add to that.

2014 Reading Challenges

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

I'm planning to read 50+ books for this challenge in 2014

1-10 - A Firm Handshake

11-20 - A Friendly Hug

21-30 - First Kiss

31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling

41-50 - Could this be love?

50+ - Married With Children

At first I was going to go with a smaller goal and work my way up but I figure I read over 200 books in 2013 I'm sure that I can manage to make it past that in 2014 and most will be older... 

According to my Goodreads "My Books" page I have 352 books in my to-read category.  Now, that may not sound like a lot to some of you but what you have to understand is when there is a series I only put the next book in the series in my to-read list.  Because, what if I hated book 4 and decided not to read book 5-8 of a series?  So keep that in mind while I do this challenge.  

There were several new books published in 2013 that I have not read yet.  I've become leary of reading a book I'm really looking forward to right away because I tend to set myself up for disappointment.  For example Allegiant.  If I had only waited and read reviews I could have saved myself that pain.  So, in addition to weedling down my ever growing to-be-read pile I would also like to read some of those 2013 new releases that I put off.

In addition to new releases I discovered many new authors this year that I'm dying to read.  Some of them I may not have added the books to my Goodreads to-read list yet.  But they are in my to-read list in my head!  During my experiment with reading Christmas books for 2 weeks this year I discovered some excellent new authors in the contemporary romance genre which I haven't read much of and am looking forward to exploring. 

2014 NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge

I'm planning to read 25 books for this challenge in 2014

Aluminum – 5 books

Bronze – 10 books

Silver – 25 books

Gold – 50 books

Platinum – 75 books

Diamond– 100 books

Last I checked my NetGalley percentage was exactly 80%.  That was before a bunch of books that I had requested months ago got approved.  Now I have all this catching up to do!  The other day I was bored and requested a bunch more books so if I get approved for those I'm in big trouble.  The idea of posting which books that I read each month sounds great.    As far as Edelweiss goes I have been planning to sign up but have been to busy to do so.  I spent like an hour reading about how to sign up and request books but that's as far as I've gotten.  So my Edelweiss part of the 2014 goal is to sign up and request a few books.  I'll get back to ya on the rest. 

I signed up for both the vampire and shifter challenges on:

Both challenges are to read 10+ books... vampires and shifters.  Which are my favorite types of books so I will have no problem hitting that goal at all.

Here are the Categories 

Classics are the new black – read a classic novel
It’s a serial thing – you’ve read the first in a series (or even three of them), it’s time to read another!
Lost in translation – time to read a book that was first written in another language and then translated.
It’s about time! – read a book that has been sitting on your shelf for at least two years! (and haven’t read it yet!)
By the numbers – read a book with a Number in the title
Weird Science! – read a book that features some form of science – and maybe discover an untapped passion.
I just love a good Duet – a book written by more than one author.
New Guy in Town – read a Debut book written by a new author.
Almost Human – read a book from the perspective of an animal – or an alien – or a robot! (at least feature an ‘almost human’)
Chunkster-time! – read a book that is longer 500 pages. (Time to dust off War and Peace)
Random Rescue – go to a used book store and RANDOMLY pick a book! (could even be from a grab-bag)
Under-Aged Writer – read a book by an author who is not yet 21. Here's a little help.
Time for exercise – read a book that is set in or around a sport or exercise activity (like yoga or baseball). This can be fiction or nonfiction!
Make-Believe - This category is just for YOU! (and anyone who wants to try it!) Here is your chance to let others know what would get you outside of your Comfort Zone!

Here are the levels

I plan to read 8-10 books for this challenge.

I’m a little Scared: 3-4 categories
It’s not so bad out here!: 5-7 categories
Look at me, outside my comfort zone!: 8-10 categories
Outside In!: 11-13 categories
No Box can Contain Me!: I did ALL 14!



I thought about posting lists of books that I will read for the challenges but I have decided to wait on that. I may add to this post with more details but I'm afraid I'll end up changing my mind as I always seem to do every time that I pick certain books to read within a time-line. So, that's it for now! I'll be tagging all of my TBR Pile Reading Challenge books so everyone can keep up with my progress. Have a great new year ya'll!