Writey goals: ✨️ Adeane and Ravina (another stepbrother romance? YAY) ✨️ Babydoll (this book is gonna be fucked upppppp) ✨️ Another year, another yeet. ♥
Writey goals: ✨️ Adeane and Ravina (another stepbrother romance? YAY) ✨️ Babydoll (this book is gonna be fucked upppppp) ✨️ The Flesh Pavilion (look at me putting this on here all optimistically) ✨️ Sine Qua Non (this is where I'd put the follow up to QPQ IF I HAD ONE) ✨️ Also I hope to find a TikTok/reel for one of my books in the wild because I ONLY see the ones that people directly send to me (not that I mind having them sent to me ;~;)
Ready goals: ✨️ My Kindle has almost 2k books on it, I need to whittle that down ✨️ Support and uplift the authors I enjoy on all my social medias ✨️ Do more buddy reads with friends ✨️ Make more of an effort to engage with people because I feel like I get so busy that I'm just like YOLO LOVE YOU BYE ✨️ Donate more books to the community and fill up the Little Free Libraries around me ✨️ Commit to using TikTok more...more
These are the WIPs I would like to finish this year. Whether I actually will is up in the air because I wriMy goals for 2023:
Hello, it's me, Ms. Yeet.
These are the WIPs I would like to finish this year. Whether I actually will is up in the air because I write based on inspo, but ANYWAY. Here are just a couple of the things I have on the backburner. ✨️ Wildscape (Luca Mecozzi spinoff, but I actually have an idea of story and plot now! WOOHOO!) ✨️ Adeane and Ravina (what's this? another stepbrother romance?? maybeee) ✨️ Raise the Blood (who doesn't love a dark gothic about a fucked up family?) -- unfuckingbelievable I actually finished it! ✨️ The Flesh Pavilion (I love fantasy but I'm too lazy to write it, why did I do this to myself)
Reading goals (BECAUSE I READ) and personal goals (BECAUSE I *AM*) ✨️ whittle down the physical books on my shelves ✨️ continue posting regularly on Instagram (follow meeeee: https://www.instagram.com/alwaysbeebo...) -- I'm gonna give myself this one because I usually post every day ✨️ make more of an effort to engage online ✨️ I HAVE JOINED REDDIT. I MUST REDDIT MORE. -- r/RomanceBooks is my shit. That is all. ✨️ I HAVE JOINED TIKTOK. I MUST TIKTOK...LESS. BECAUSE THAT SHIT'S ADDICTIVE. ✨️ read and support more indie authors ♥ ✨️ find more ways to reach out to authors I like now that Twitter is f*cked ✨️ purge my Kindle backlog (and actually read some of the books I have on there??? haha no) ✨️ get better at promoting myself as an author because I kind of suck at this ✨️ write a book good enough that someone makes a TikTok about it
More to come probably as I have more time to dwell upon my failures as a human being......more
I suck at reading goals. I suck at goals in general, actually. My brain is like a spinning hamster wheel (hamster incHello, it's me, Queen of Trash ✨️
I suck at reading goals. I suck at goals in general, actually. My brain is like a spinning hamster wheel (hamster included) in that it's always turning, but doesn't always know where it's going, interspersed with moments of "I REQUIRE FOOD AND WATER NOW! THE WHEEL MUST STOP!"
Soooo let me make a list of goals.
These are the WIPs I need to get around to finishing because I'm just as trash at making writing goals as I am at making reading goals: ✨️ Batter My Heart (AKA, THE BOOK THAT NEVER FUCKING ENDS) -- I DID IT! ✨️ Rent Girl (HIGH KEY EXCITED FOR THIS) -- I DID THIS TOO! WHAAAAAT ✨️ Court the Night (UGH HELP I HAVE NO IDEAS) ✨️ Little Deaths (IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK... OR IS IT??!) -- Ohmigod she PUBLISHED IT. And after having a legit panic attack on release day, thinking everyone would hate it... not everyone hated it! In fact, most people liked it! I'm so HAPPY! ;~; ✨️ Wildscape (LUCA MECOZZI IS BACK, BITCHES) -- CURRENTLY WRITING! ✨️ Evergloom (GHOSTS OR SOME SHIT IDK)
Productivity, who that?
Reading goals: ✨️ Whittle the number of books on my Kindle down from 1k to 700. I know there's some shit on there that I impulse-bought that I'm never going to read. IT MUST BE PURGED. -- Well this was a fail because I'm almost at 2k now. What the fuck am I doing. Curse those 99c sales. ✨️ Do more buddy-reads! I like buddy-reads. I am not very good at buddy-reads. I need to practice being a better buddy-reader. ✨️ Read more books by PoCs/books with disability rep/neurodivergent rep/etc. A few years ago I realized that I read under ten a year??? That was not good. Since then I've ramped that number up quite a bit, but ✨️ we can always do better ✨️ ✨️ Post on Instagram every day. JK I'M NOT GONNA DO THIS. BUT I CAN DREAM. (Are you following me on Instagram, BTW? I post pictures of old romances in nature: https://www.instagram.com/alwaysbeebo...) ✨️ Read a career/work-related book at least once a month. Because I'm a boss bitch in tech. >:D ✨️ Cross post more to Amazon and Twitter, even though I'm a lazy shit. (You can follow me on Twitter too if you want, but it's very much "old woman yells at cloud," BECAUSE FUCK YOU, CLOUDS. CALIFORNIA IS ON FIRE AND YOU WON'T GIVE US RAIN? THAT IS SOME BS, YOU STINGY WHITE WISPS OF WATER VAPOR: https://twitter.com/NeniaCampbell) -- Mad success with this one actually. I'm giving myself an A. ✨️ Make more of an effort to reach out to authors whose books I loved and tell them they are awesome. :') Because authors need love too. -- SUCCESS. Also made some new authors buddies over this outreach program and my bitter jaded heart is weepy and soft about this. ✨️ Go through my wishlist and to-read shelves and delete the things that I no longer want to read/probably am not going to read. ✨️ Engage more on GR. I feel like sometimes my feed gets so bogged down with content that I accidentally ignore people and I feel bad about that. IT'S NOT ON PURPOSE I'M SORRY. ✨️ Stop beating myself up over things I can't help and focus on things I can actually change ✨️ Try to be a better person overall because being trash is for books and not for people ✨️ Something I probably forgot but is definitely important oh well...more
Authorly Authorish Goals (because I am an authorrrrrr :D) Publish Quid Pro Quo -DONE HAHA ENJOY MY STEPSIB-ON-STEPSIB SLEAZE, WORLD ✔️My goals for 2021:
Authorly Authorish Goals (because I am an authorrrrrr :D) Publish Quid Pro Quo -DONE HAHA ENJOY MY STEPSIB-ON-STEPSIB SLEAZE, WORLD ✔️✔️✔️ Publish Batter My Heart -bully romance??? UMMMM YES. Currently have 70,000 words. Might be all crap though, so who knows???? Publish Court the Night -hahaha why did I write this in first person THIS IS MY HELL Publish Evergloom -I wrote half of this book and then ragequit. Someone yell at me.
-
Read at least 200 books -I COUNT MY DNFs. YOLOOOOOO. --->challenge completion looming large at 126 books
-
Make new friends and meet interesting people who share my love of trash -DONE-- although I welcome more takers, that friend cap is looming large, buddies. Get in on that friendship action while you still can. Supplies are limited. ✔️✔️✔️
-
Clean out one of my IRL bookshelves and actually read what's in my Kindle
-
Do more buddy reads! -Soooo many buddy-reads!!!! ALWAYS feel free to hit me up for a BR!
-
Make a point of reaching out to authors whose books I genuinely enjoyed and tell them GOOD JOB I LOVE YOU because it is important to tell creators when they did something well I think + supporting and RTing creators and their ~sales~ because I love it when people do that for me
-
Act my age -LOLOLOL NOPE
---
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MY AWESOMETACULAR BOOKS OF 2021...more
Let's face it, 2020 has been a pretty shitty year for a lot of us. I'm grateful for my good health and the health of my family (hopefully that continuLet's face it, 2020 has been a pretty shitty year for a lot of us. I'm grateful for my good health and the health of my family (hopefully that continues *knock on wood*), and I'm glad that I have this site to engage with people during quarantine because I have so many friends on this site and it does make me feel very lucky, but this year has been a STRUGGLE for me, stress-wise, and I've felt bad for such huge swaths of this year that I really can't in good faith rate this higher than a three.
I hope we all find a much happier, healthier year in 2021.
+: So already one of the coolest things of 2020 has happened. My author friend Heather Crews made this gorgeous fanart of Gavin from the Horrorscape series and I can't stop staring at it because it's so amazing. Check out her insta and her books and stuff, because she's talented as all get-out. ♥
+: Wow, Dawn Lawson painted a gorgeous picture of Catherine Pierce from the Black Beast series. This is the first painting someone has done for me and it's so beautiful I can't stop looking at the magic and the hawk and her. I love that she made Catherine look muscular (she's a shape-shifter!). #PowerfulWomen Go check out her author profile and website! <3
[image]
I feel cautiously optimistic about 2020. I've become "cool" enough that I've actually started getting some really buzz-worthy ARCs (#humblebumblebrag), and I keep meeting awesome people through this site who I really enjoy talking to and look forward to meeting (hopefully) many more, even if I am an awkward starfish.
In the meantime, check out my reviews from the ghosts of Goodreads past:
What can I say about 2019 that I haven't already said in various ways?
+: I've officially read over a thouI've been on Goodreads for ten fucking years.
What can I say about 2019 that I haven't already said in various ways?
+: I've officially read over a thousand books. And most of them... I liked? My average rating last year was 3.1, which is pretty good coming from me, Ms. Thanks, I Hate It. I applaud myself for becoming a better judge of my own tastes. It only took me-- oh, what was it? Ten fucking years.
+: I've met so many cool people. I say this every year, but it's true. I'm actually very socially awkward and coming on here to talk about books is literally one of my favorite things. I'm always sort of vaguely surprised and shocked that people want to have anything to do with me, so it's incredibly validating to be such an active part of this great community. I love you guys. ;~;
+: This is the year I've finally started writing again. I published a novella called The Darkest Night, and I currently have two WIPs in the works, Dragon Queen and Escape, which will complete two of my outstanding series. My goal is to have both published in 2020. Oh, the feelings.
+: I got my first piece of fan art in a LONG time. Nobody has made me fan art in years, so I was so happy when my friend Heather Crews made this drawing of Finn from Black Beast. I'm obsessed, okay? It's beautiful. I want to cry every time I look at it.
[image]
I suppose I should probably talk about books and shit, yeah?
Best YA Contemporary* Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett *A sex positive book about an HIV+ girl. One of the best YA books I've read in YEARS.
Best Mystery* Impossible Causes by Julie Mayhew *I'm honestly shook that NOBODY has heard of this book because everyone I've recced it to/lent it to has LOVED it. Picture Wickerman meets The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. This is one of my forever books.
Best Christian fiction* Midnight on the River Grey by Abigail Wilson *I'm not religious at all but I'm a sucker for historical romance, and so sometimes I'll plunge the depths of the Christian fiction pile. I was high key surprised by this book, which has deep Jane Eyre undertones and has curvy heroine rep on the cover. It's not very religious and the only nods to the Big Guy Upstairs are 1) that it's squeaky clean and 2) one religious reference at the end.
Best YA Fantasy* The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones *Sabriel meets Black Cauldron in this dark Welsh fantasy about zombies. It's so good.
Best Literary Fiction* Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum *This dark and delightful book is about a woman spinning slowly out of control. I'd recommend it to fans of The Dinner.
Best I Can't Fucking Wait of Two-Oh-One-Eight* The Wicked King by Holly Black *I devoured this book. It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be. GoT for kids-- with faeries.
Best It's Weird and I Liked It* NVK by Temple Drake *An unusual take on vampires. It's allegedly the first in a series. I can't wait to read the rest....more
+ This is my ninth year on Goodreads. Can you believe it? I can't. I was a teenager when I signed up for thisSo far 2018 has been a pretty great year.
+ This is my ninth year on Goodreads. Can you believe it? I can't. I was a teenager when I signed up for this site and now I'm almost thirty.
+ Since I've been on this site for the better part of a decade, I've made a lot of really great friends. Books bring people together, and I think the forums on this site are proof of that. An especially big shout-out to the romance community. The romance community is such a warm and accepting group and I've met some of my favorite books and people because of it. ♥ ♥ ♥
+ Speaking of romance, my all-romance-themed group, Unapologetic Romance Readers is now in its second year with 1200+ members and an amazing team of moderators. We keep all our forums completely promo-free. Our goal is to create organic dialogues about romance, where people feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about the many sub-genres and discussing the tropes in a safe, warm, and welcoming environment. (If this sounds like you, feel free to join us.)
+ I finally published another novel. Star Crossed is the first full length book I've published in four years. I forget how many books I've actually published at this point, but I think I'm approaching 20. Hopefully that number will grow in the years to come! If you're a reader of my books, thank you so much for supporting me. I read all my reviews, even if I no longer respond to all of them, and I appreciate every single one of them - good or bad!
+ Also, this happened: [image]
If you're seeing this, that means you're either friends with me or following me - and big ups to you for bringing your bookish presence into my life! :-)
+: This is my EIGHTH YEAR ON GOODREADS, you guys! I joinLast year was a more eventful year in both a good and a bad way. So far, 2017 is pretty chill.
+: This is my EIGHTH YEAR ON GOODREADS, you guys! I joined in April 2009. Next year will be my ninth year on the site. The year after that will be my tenth. To put it in perspective, I was just out of my teens when I first signed up here. On my tenth anniversary, I'll be turning 30.
+: My romance group, the Unapologetic Romance Readers, has grown so much over the past year. We're currently sitting at almost 1,000 members 1000+ members, with three other hard-working moderators who do so much behind-the-scenes stuff to keep everything running smoothly. I'm so lucky to know such an intelligent, kind, and quirky group of people. Stay amazing, you guys. <3
+: I've made some new and interesting friends, and stayed in touch with some old ones (I've known some of you for eight years! My God, that's incredible). I always love making friends, so it's never not delightful when someone sends me a friend request (unless you're a troll or a spammer - then not so much). FYI, I don't send requests anymore since I know people are leery of author requests, so 99.9% of the time, I wait for others to take the initiative. (In case we've chatted and you're wondering why I haven't added you - that's why.) If we're friends, thank you for being my friend. I'm so honored to know you. The bookish nerdy little girl inside me rejoices every day at FINALLY being able to connect with people who love books as much as she does.
+: My Goodreads friends helped me translate a family heirloom for my mother, who owned this piece of a Qu'ran for fifty years but never knew what it meant. When I shared this moment on Twitter, whoever manages the GR Twitter account told me I made their day. I teared up.
+: I read my 300th book last week! YES!
+: I published my first book of poetry, The Pocketbook of Sunshine and Rain. Incidentally, unless I miscounted, I believe it's the seventeenth independent work I've published.
+: Sovereign to the Skies will be my eighteenth published work. I'm currently serializing it for free on the website I used to publish on as a teen: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/330185... . I haven't really felt like writing fiction in a while, so this is a big step back towards the treacherous waters of the #WriterLife.
+: I made it back to the top 50 best-reviewers list! #26, most recently. Thank you!
I suppose I'll update this review again closer to the New Year, but these are just some thoughts for now.
2016 has been an interesting year - a mostly good year. I've read so many great books, books that were life-changing in some instances, and found some2016 has been an interesting year - a mostly good year. I've read so many great books, books that were life-changing in some instances, and found some new authors to follow. This has been an especially good year for nonfiction. I've also made so many new and wonderful friends. Every day, I meet new people from all over the world who have my favorite hobby in common with me. I love that dialogue, getting excited with people over books, getting to know them as the amazing individuals that they are -
Goodreads is what book culture should be about!
So I'm going to start out by taking a moment to appreciate all my friends & followers. Isn't it crazy that some of us have known each other for over half a decade? And some of you, I've known less than half a day. Crazy! But new or old, I really enjoy talking with you and I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk to some of you as much as I'd like. The best way to prod me into engaging with you is to leave me a profile comment or comment on one of my reviews; I'm pretty good at responding back to those, since I can do that easily from a phone.
But regardless of how much we talk or how long we have known one another - I appreciate you. I appreciate your thoughts, your opinions, and who you are as individuals. One of those stars in my rating is devoted entirely to you guys, for being so dang cool. Staaaahp, already. JK, don't ever stahp.
One big event of note: I started a romance book club on Goodreads. I was shopping around for one and couldn't find any that really fit what was looking for, so I went by that old adage by Toni Morrison and created the group I wanted; the Unapologetic Romance Readers, or URR.
We're a cool bunch of men and women who enjoy thinking critically about romance novels, dissecting tropes, psychoanalyzing characters, and just in general having fun poking fun at our favorite genre of books. We have book of the month reads, theme reads, several active reading challenges, and forums for just about every romance topic you could imagine (and some you probably didn't!). It's a really great place, and shout outs to my co-moderators, sraxe and Heather, for helping to keep it that way. We do allow authors to join but zero self-promotion is allowed, because there are plenty of other groups for that, and we want to give our members a place where they can talk and share their opinions without being solicited. It puts everyone on equal footing and makes the atmosphere much more casual and comfortable.
If this sounds appealing to you, please check us out - URRgently! We love new members. :)
2016 is also the year where I deleted about 6+ years' worth of reviews, going from early 2016 all the way back to 2009. There were many reasons involved in this decision, and since I keep getting asked about it, both on my reviews and in my Ask the Author box, I'll post the blog entry I wrote explaining my reasoning behind this decision here.
It was a tough decision, but ultimately a happy one. I've since solidified my reviewing system and format, so the overall result is a much more cohesive and consistent library of book reviews. (Something that is hard to achieve when you start a site as a teen and continue using it well into your late twenties.)
On the author side - four of my books now have over a thousand reviews, with a fifth on the way, and one of the existing four about to break the elusive 2k. I'm not actively writing at the moment, but I still appreciate all of my readers, and I thought that this was so cool - thank you. ♥ You guys are da best!
Also, shout out to Goodreads because it seems like the "recommended books" have gotten better? I don't know if the algorithm has improved, or if I've just become more predictable*, or what, but Goodreads appears to have figured out my weaknesses. Bodice rippers, weird fantasy novels, and nonfiction books about the history of the Yugo.** My wallet is doomed.
I look forward to seeing what books, friends, and exciting changes that 2017 brings.
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨
>
Books:
year-in-review
(9)
Loading...
