Reader's Choice -- New Year's Reading Goals

GIVEAWAY

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
THIS IS MY LONG SUFFERING
SIMBA. HE'S CROSSED OVER 
THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
BUT THIS PHOTO
STILL MAKES ME SMILE!

And now for something new and exciting that might just fill me with a wee bit of dread too 'cause I've never done this type of goal setting before. Mostly I just see book, devour book, look for my next bookish meal. And repeat.  :-)

A few years ago, I started setting yearly # of books-to-be-read goals thanks to prompts by GoodReads but, recently I've gotten into watching a few book tube channels and that has inspired me to dig a little deeper and try to guide the path my reading journey takes me on. 

You'll see that most of my goals are open ended. They are ideas and hopes more than concrete 'X number of books in this category, tick the box and call it done' goals. That's because, while I do follow some planning -- I mean, I diligently recored all the Reader's Choice recommendations in an organized month by month fashion -- I'm also very much a mood reader. I'll get a strong yearning for Regency or Suspense or a specific trope and I just have to go into a deep dive reading binge so I want to leave lots of freedom for me to still be able to do that. 

So, I'm going to share my reading goals in a sec, but first, let me explain how the giveaway portion of this blog is going to work:

Nothing like a tippy-toppy
TBR pile to keep an
Avid Reader in 
Bibliophile Bliss!

 

BEST READS FIRST EVER

NEW YEAR'S READING GOALS

GIVEAWAY!

It's super easy -- you just need to share at least one reading goal you have made for 2022. Can be as simple as the # of books you'd like to read or an author you'd like to try or a genre you want to focus on. Anything goes, they're your goals, after all. Then, in the same comment, list a book that will help you reach your goal. So it looks like this:

"I want to catch up on some suspense series. Night Prey by Susan Sleeman."

You can enter up to three times in three separate comments -- and you can use the same goal or different ones each time.

Books can be published any time up until March 2022. Currently published books will be ordered the first week in January for the winners, otherwise it will be an IOU for a Jan, Feb or Mar 2022 title.

See? Easy Peasy. But if you're still not clear, don't be shy about asking questions.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: TODAY'S GIVEAWAY IS OPEN TO EMAIL ENTRIES. JUST TYPE 'READING GOALS' IN THE SUBJECT LINE AND THEN LIST YOUR ENTRY SELECTIONS IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL.*

KAV'S 2022 

READING GOALS

READ MORE INDIE AUTHORS

It used to be that almost all indie books were only available in ebooks so I stopped paying attention to them. These days indie books are often available in paperback and even audible editions so I'm on the hunt!

Authors on my radar: 

Milla Holt 

Valerie Comer

Narelle Atkins

Janet Ferguson

Liwen Ho

Elizabeth Maddrey

Jaycee Weaver 

Do you have any favourite indie authors you think I should try?

CATCH UP ON SERIES I'M BEHIND IN

I'm hyperventilating just thinking about all the unfinished series I could put on this list. Both Susan Sleeman and Christy Barritt could keep me busy playing catch up all year long! Oh, and Sara M. Eden's Lancaster Family series is etched in stone. I've only read the first book and I'm definitely going to read all of them in 2022!

READ MORE DEBUT AUTHORS

This is a tricky one because I think it's hard to source out debut novels. I usually just stumble over them in a random bumbling fashion. But I'd like to be more purposeful and seek out debuts this year. Wish me happy hunting!

READ MORE NEW-TO-ME AUTHORS

I read a lot of new-to-me-authors this year. I get a tad shy of giddy when I discover a new fave...but that discovery also comes with some angst because -- more books to keep up with!!!! Such a divine readerly dilemma!

DIVERSIFY MY READING 

I'd like to approach this three ways: Culture/ethnicity in characters, Culture/ethnicity in authors and diverse settings. While I love all the books I read in the US, I'd also love to armchair travel around the world. Oh -- and characters with disabilities or chronic conditions are rare, but I'm determined to source some out too. Sarah Monzon's Amanda is a fantastic example of how powerful (and fun) as story like that can be!

STAY CURRENT WITH SERIES

Sometimes this is relatively easy to do if a book is published traditionally because there are usually only two or three released in a year BUT when it comes to Indies! Yikes. But I'm going to try.

START NEW-TO-ME SERIES

As I discover new-to-me authors, I find myself scrambling to catch up and then keep up. I aim to follow through with at least some of the new-to-me-series I start in 2022.

PLAY AUTHOR CATCH-UP

There are a few authors I think I'm close to being caught up with and I want to work on their books this coming year (as long as books aren't only in ebook format)

Sarah Monzon

Toni Shiloh

Ruth Logan Herne

READ OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE (OCCASIONALLY!)

This gives me heart palpitations even though I do have a pretty wide reading palette. There are still some genres that I'm not drawn to. Science Fiction (Brand of Light by Ronie Kendig -- I've checked it out from the library twice and didn't read it!) Biblical Fiction, Action Thrillers, anything without a romance in it (snicker!) 

GIVE UNLOVED TROPES A SECOND CHANCE

Sigh. Am I really going to write this down? Yes I am!

Love Triangles (bah, phooey!)

Secret Baby

Billionaires

Tada! That's it (so far!) I'm pretty excited to see what reading goals I accomplish in 2022. I have a fancy dancy notebook to record all my successes in too! So, now it's your turn:

WHAT KIND OF NEW YEARS READING GOALS ARE YOU SETTING? Share below or in an email (remember to include book titles that will help you achieve your goal) and you have a chance to win one of those titles.

DRAW WILL BE HELD AND WINNER ANNOUNCED ON

SUNDAY JANUARY 2 2022