Very Belated 2018 Wrap Up & 2019 Goals

Well, this is a bit late. I have most definitely been procrastinating this for a long time but hey, I got around to it right?!

So 2018 was one hell of a year. I started this blog! I got my current job in my industry, I met and even interviewed a few authors, started my very own unique BLOG MEME, became one of the The Nerd Daily contributors (yes I’ve been slacking but more content will be out soon!), moved houses not once but twice, survived my second year of university and found myself a SO during one of the toughest times of my life. Whoa. 2019 will hopefully be a much better year for me with so many good things ahead!

My 2018 Reading Wrap-Up

Now for the bookish part of my wrap-up, how did my reading go last year?

Let’s check out the stats from Goodreads, my 2018 reading challenge was 50 books.

Books Read: 74

Pages Read: 28,176

Longest Book: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas at 984 pages

Shortest Book: Fence #5 by CS Pacat at 27 pages

5 Star Reads: 42 (including many 4.5 and 4.75 reads since Goodreads doesn’t do half or quarter stars and I round up!)

My Favourite Books of 2018 (It’s Award Season)

I read a lot of amazing books in 2018 and it was a struggle voting for the Goodreads choice awards. So I’m gonna try and keep the list on a down low for these categories but it’s going to be tough. Books that have been reviewed are hyperlinked.

Best Fantasy:

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor – this duology is my favourite book and series EVER. So of course, this was the top of my list for 2018.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas – the bittersweet ending to a great series. Fight me if you don’t agree that this wasn’t one of the best books in the series.

Best Sci-Fi: 

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman – Who would’ve thought that this series would become one of my all time favs. Neal never lets me down it seems.

Wildcard by Marie Lu – The epic conclusion to an amazing duology that I cannot recommend enough! Marie is a queen.

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – I didn’t expect anything less from the powerful duo that is Amie and Jay. These aussies are absolute gems and so are their books.

Best Contemporary:

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews – Cait is such an amazing blogger and author and this book broke me a little.

Save the Date by Morgan Matson – my new favourite contemporary author, I read two of her other books and also loved them but I gotta give credit to Save the Date for this one.

Best Graphic Novel:

Fence by CS Pacat – One of the only graphic novels I was super keen to read, a bit sad that I can’t read them anymore because I got rid of my Scribd subscription 🙁 time to exploit Bree’s account now 🙂

Best Mystery/Thriller:

After The Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson – a Loveozya STANDOUT. This book took me by absolute surprise and god, was it good.

What the Woods Keep by Katya De Beccera – such an amazing thriller horror for a fellow Melbournian DEBUT, you can also find my interview with her HERE, Katya is the sweetest!

Best Adult Fantasy:

Circe by Madeline Miller – A beautifully written and surprisingly gripping novel that left me wanting more.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel – I don’t know why I haven’t gotten to the sequels of this yet because this was an amazing book!

Best Adult Romance: 

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – A crazy good debut and one of the only two romance novels I’m proud to own.

99% Percent Mine by Sally Thorne – Love Sally’s work to bits and I was pretty stoked to be approved for the eARC of this novel and really want to review it soon after I have another read of it from a physical copy cause it’s been a while and I forgot to write it earlier – oops.

My 2018 Blogging Wrap-Up

Since the beginning of this blog at the end of July, here are some awesome blogging stats:

33 Reviews Written

16 Discussion Posts (including my very own Blog Meme!)

523 Likes

167 Comments

A huge thank you to everyone who liked, commented, followed and has supported this blog. It means the world to me that people are actually reading and enjoying my content! It’s a little crazy and I’m so happy to have joined the blogging community. It’s weird to think that I’ve literally only been doing this for about 6 months and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.

My Favourite Discussion Posts:

While I tend to not have favourite book reviews, I do have favourite discussion posts that I’m really proud of. These posts are part of the quality content I hope to continuously put out and I love all the feedback and love from everyone about them.

My YA Book Trend Report & 2018 Predictions – it all came true and the 2019 predictions are coming soon!

Discussion: Bookstagram & The Disillusion of Popularity Online – If you know me from Bookstagram, this post explains all my thoughts on how the community has unfortunately changed, and not for the better. It’s time that people realised that there are more important things than numbers and followers.

Book Buying On A Budget – Literally what I’m adhering to these because I’m broke af!

The Real Scientific Benefits of Reading – If your parents or anyone ever complain you’re reading too much, tell them it’s for your health!

How to Get Out of A Reading Slump – I, myself, have to read this post often because due to personal circumstances I’ve been in and out of slumps for way too long.

2019 Reading & Blogging Goals

Reading:

In terms of reading, my reading challenge for 2019 is again 50 books to give myself breathing room to read even more if I can. I almost reached 75 last year on my goal on 50, so let’s hope I can read even more to slash through my massive TBR on my bookshelves 😀 Personally, I also want my reading to be more habitual and get into a good routine with it. Reminds me of this Good Bookish or Reading Habits tag I was recently tagged in that I’ll do soon 🙂

Blogging:

For blogging, I want to keep on to my previous blogging goals of just achieving stability. Having a nice consistent posting schedule with posts written in advance (unlike now when I write them right before they go up). It’s one simple yet difficult goal I’m going to keep working towards.

How did your reading and/or blogging go in 2018?