Favorite Suspense/Mysteries in 2013

Ever since I was a kid and fell in love with Nancy Drew books, I have loved mysteries.  I also really love suspenseful stories, and the creepier the better!  Any book that you have to read with all the lights blazing and your door locked are worth a read for me!  I love being deliciously scared, but I do recommend reading the following during the daytime!

8. The Dark Unwinding and A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron

7. Deadly Little Lessons by Laurie Faria Stolarz

6. Catherine by April Lindner

5. The Diviners by Libba Bray

4. I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

3. Dead Silence by Kimberly Derting

2. Name of the Star and The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

1. Notes From Ghost Town by Kate Ellison

What books did you read in 2013 that gave you the chills?

Favorite Sci-Fi of 2013

Time travel.  Missions in space.  Crazy abilities.  Sci-Fi is takes a lot of brain power sometimes, to figure out all that "science."  My favorite is definitely time travel.  I loved the Back to the Future movies as a kid, and have been obsessed with time travel ever since!

Most of the sci-fi I read this year was kind of lumped into other categories as well.  Here is the top true Sci-Fi reads I read this year!

8. Timebound by Rysa Walker

7. Altered by Jennifer Rush

6. Tempest and Vortex by Julie Cross

5. Pivot Point by Kasie West

4. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children

3. All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

2. Unraveling and Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris

1. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What was your favorite Sci-Fi in 2013?

Favorite Contemporaries of 2013

Contemporaries.  Most are centered around romance, but not all.  They can be fun, light and fluffy--or dramatic, dark, and heart breaking.  Its not my most favorite genre, but I have found some amazing books over the last year in this category. And I read quite a few! Here are my faves!  And if you attempt to read any of these, get your tissues ready!

10. Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

9. Hate List by Jennifer Brown

8. Me, Him, Them, and It by Caela Carter

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green

6. If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

5. Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell

4. Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

3. Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

2. Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

What about you? What were your favorite contemporaries this year?

January Random Reads

I just learned about this fun challenge!  And I like it because its monthly, so you can participate as much or as little as you want!  Its hosted over at I'm Loving Books.  

The details:

In short, Random Reads is a meme where we pick a random book from our shelf to read within the month. Feel free to do more than one per month, but since a lot of people have a lot of books to read each month, only one is “required” for the meme. I’m on Goodreads so I’m using a combination of the sorting feature and Random.org to pick the book I’m going to read.

WANT TO JOIN IN ON RANDOM READS?

It’s easy…

1. If you’re on Goodreads enable sorting to your to-read shelf (you should see numbers next to each book now).
2. Go to Random.org and type in the Min as 1 and the Max as how many ever books are on your to-read shelf. Or you can enter a smaller number as the Max in order to always pick books that have been on your TBR shelf for longer.
3. Scroll down to the book matching the number Random.org picks.
4. Link up to your Random Reads post (below). If you choose more than one book per month, be sure to put a number by your name in the list so it doesn’t look like a duplicate.
5. Read and be merry. 

If you’re not on Goodreads just pick a random book from your list in whatever way you want to do it. You can use the method I used above or even just close your eyes and point randomly at a book on your bookshelf if you want (spin the bottle style). lol

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So, my Goodreads shelf has a ton of books that I don't own, and I didn't really want to spend the time sorting--so I just picked a random number and counted down my bookshelves until I got to that book.  I had random #90....so I'll be reading

An adult read for once!  I'm really pretty excited to read this one, too!  I picked it up at a thrift shop a few months ago.  Woot!

I think this month I'm only going to pick one random book, because I have so many review books to get to.  Buy this will be one book down on my shelves!  YAY!

Favorite Paranormals in 2013

I still have a lot of love for the genre, even if some of the themes are getting tired.  Reading Twilight is was got me back into reading YA, so I will always think fondly of vampires and werewolves.  And who doesn't love those cute, conniving fairies?  And in my opinion, you can never go wrong with a story about witches!

Here's the best I read in 2013!

12. The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

11. You Are Mine by Janeal Falor

10. Mythos Academy by Jennifer Estep

9. Bound by J. Elizabeth Hill

8. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

7. Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

6. Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

5. Emblaze by Jessica Shirvington

4. Vanquished by Nancy Holder & Debbie Vigue

3. Born Wicked and Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood

2. Boundless by Cynthia Hand

1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

What were your favorite paranormal reads in 2013?

New Year's Resolution and Goals for 2014

2013 was an AMAZING year for me!  I really don't know how I'll top it, but I'm sure going to try!  When setting my goals for this year, I looked at last year's goals.  Some of them didn't get done, so those are going back on the list.  Here's a look at last year's goals.  The comments in bold are my new goals for 2014!

Reading Resolutions

Read 200 books this year. I feel this is a pretty good goal. Last year, I shot for 120 books, and read 150! So time to up it! Did it!! New goal: 300 books 

Keep up and finish all my challenges. I signed up for several, and I'm hoping I can follow through!Did about 75% of them I think. So this year, I will only sign up for 6 yearly challenges, and I think I will try to stick to ones on Goodreads. 

Read more adult books. Last year, I read almost entirely YA, which is fine. But I missed my adult time! FAILED. Massively. I need to count, but I know it has to be less than 10! Next year's goal: 25 adult books.  EDIT: I actually read 13 adult books, so I did a little better than I thought!

Finish up several series I'm reading. Vampire Academy, Sookie Stackhouse, Stephanie Plum, Rick Riordan's series, and there are several others! FAIL. Again. I finished Vampire Academy, and that was it out of what I listed. So add those others back on for next year! Also need to finish The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel, Eragon, and the Matched series.

Another one that wasn't in there was I made a goal to read at least 100 books released in 2013. I read 132 new releases in 2013! So Woot! Making the same goal for 2014: read 100 new releases!

Blog Resolutions

Try to review every full length book I've read. I did a really horrible job of this last year. I read 150 books, and posted 55 reviews! I'm just sticking to full length book reviews for now. I read a lot of short story and novella ebooks, and those are almost too short to write a review for. Another FAIL. I read over 300 books this year, and I reviewed 105. I was doing great until July. Then I completely fell off the wagon until September, and had a few more reviews then nothing until about a week ago. UGH. This year, I'm going to keep the goal more realistic--I will review ALL review books and ARCs I receive. There. That should be more doable! 

Make my reviews more interesting. I need to try a few new things. Like maybe added quotes from the book. Things like that. No idea...I think they are probably about the same. I did do a few on video, but those sucked I think! Going to skip this one for 2014!

Participate in less memes, but more blog hops. I do a lot of memes. I've been cutting down the last month. I will stick with the In My Mailbox for awhile. I will continue Top Ten Tuesday and What Are You Reading Monday when I have the time. Aced this one! So its off the list for 2014 

Do more giveaways, and try some Book Tours. I am participating in my first Book Tour later this month! I did do this, more in the first half of the year. I actually got a little burned out from it, but I found some fabulous books!! So I will aim for 1 new blog tour a month I think, in addition to any authors I already do tours for. 

Personal Resolutions

Make some more blogger friends. I've been blogging over 2 years, and I feel like I'm really suffering in this department! Totally did this! I aced this one and had so much fun doing new things, and I did make a ton new friends! Some really close ones, too!  But I'm keeping it on the list, because I just love making new friends!  If you want to "friend" me, the best place to chat with me is on Goodreads!

Keep the Mr. more involved in my blogging processes. I've just realized how interested my computer geek hubby is in my blogging and reading. I didn't realize I was excluding him so much! Yup, did this. And it was met either with extreme happiness, or complete boredom. Sometimes, he really wants to know, other times...not so much! Can leave this one off for 2014, just keep doing what I'm doing!

Learn 5 new things this year. I used to keep a bucket list of things I wanted to learn or do, and every year I'd try to knock 5 things off my list. I haven't done that in at least 5 years! So now is the time to get back on it! I might even include some of my adventures in my blog! Not sure on this one...5 new things. Here we go (turning on my brain) 1. Learned how to use a meat grinder. For work. New job in kitchen. Ya know. 2. Learned how to use my webcam! 3. Learned how to record and edit my own videos! 4. Learned how to play "Hearts" (card game). Darryl taught me a few weeks ago. Kind of dumb I didn't know how to play. 5. Learned how to play Apples to Apples. At Holiday Party. That I had a little too much fun at.
Some of those may have been reaching...they weren't life changing or anything, but they will help me in my life, so I guess that's all that counts! So I will make the same resolution for 2014, learn 5 new things!

Oh, one that wasn't on the list last year but is something Darryl and I do every year: Volunteer! We try to volunteer with the kids at least 4 times a year. Same for 2014! 

That's a pretty full list!  Here's hoping 2014 is even better than 2013!!