2021 Year In Review

Another year has come and gone! I was hoping to post this closer to the first of the year but I’m still just going with the flow and posting when I feel the urge to post. So that day has come today! I had a fairly decent reading year for the most part. There were a few months that I fell into a bit of a rut overall, not too shabby. One of my main goals for the year was to finally read the giant tome, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, and it was even better than I thought it was going to be. I also wanted to read more of my owned but unread books but that didn’t quite work out. The majority of the books I read in 2021 ended up being audiobooks. And now for one of my favorite things… various statistics from my year of reading!

Total Books Read: 139
Total Pages Read: 56,116
Number of Different Authors: 98
Most Read Author: Stephen King
Books in a Series: 59
Standalones: 80

Hardcover: 30
Paperback: 13
Ebook: 12
Audio: 84

Adult: 116
Young Adult: 17
New Adult: 5
Middle Grade: 1

Average Pages Per Book: 403.7
Average Pages Per Day: 153.7
Average Pages Per Month: 4676.3

• Fantasy: 40
• Science Fiction: 1
• Historical Fiction: 15
• Contemporary: 8
• Romance: 15
• Classics: 3
• Mystery/Thriller: 21
• Horror: 31
• Nonfiction: 4
• Literary Fiction: 1

And for the finale…. my favorite book that I read in 2021, which may come as no surprise to those who know me….. EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE BY JAY KRISTOFF! This is the first book in a new trilogy and after reading it I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book. There were lots of special editions and I wasn’t able to collect them all but I did manage to get 6.

And that’s a wrap on 2021! What was your favorite book that you read in 2021?

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

The Regency Vows #2

Published April 6, 2021 by Atria Books

384 Pages

Goodreads Summary: The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham are infamous among English high society as much for their sharp-tongued bickering as their flirtation. One evening, an argument at a ball turns into a serious wager: Jeremy will marry within the year or Diana will forfeit one hundred pounds. So shortly after, just before a fortnight-long house party at Elderwild, Jeremy’s country estate, Diana is shocked when Jeremy appears at her home with a very different kind of proposition.

After his latest mistress unfavorably criticized his skills in the bedroom, Jeremy is looking for reassurance, so he has gone to the only woman he trusts to be totally truthful. He suggests that they embark on a brief affair while at the house party—Jeremy can receive an honest critique of his bedroom skills and widowed Diana can use the gossip to signal to other gentlemen that she is interested in taking a lover.

Diana thinks taking him up on his counter-proposal can only help her win her wager. With her in the bedroom and Jeremy’s marriage-minded grandmother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Willingham, helping to find suitable matches among the eligible ladies at Elderwild, Diana is confident her victory is assured. But while they’re focused on winning wagers, they stand to lose their own hearts.

With Martha Waters’s signature “cheeky charm and wonderfully wry wit” (Booklist, starred review), To Love and to Loathe is another clever and delightful historical rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Evie Dunmore.

Review: I adore regency period romances so I knew that this one would be right up my alley. I hadn’t read the first book yet when I requested it on NetGalley but wanted to read that first before reading this one. I wouldn’t say that it is 100% necessary for you to read the first book in this series to be able to read this book but there is some continuity. The focus of the first book is on Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley and the second book focuses on Lady Diana Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham. Diana is a widow who has no desire to marry again because she enjoys her freedom too much so when Jeremy comes to her with his proposition, she decides to take him up on it. Diana and Jeremy soon realize that there may be more to their relationship than what they had planned. While the story is a tad predictable, it was still a fun read. I really loved Diana and Jeremy’s banter. They were such fun characters. I definitely liked them and their story more than Violet and James from the first book. Their story felt more petty and ridiculous whereas this one was fun, witty, and cute. I am hoping that the third book will be about Emily and Julian. If you’re looking for a flirty historical romance, I recommend checking this book out.

4 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

June 2021 Book Haul

So I may have gone a little crazy buying books in June… In my defense, I re-discovered the amazing book prices at Goodwill and the majority of my haul came from two very successful Goodwill trips. It’s really hard to pass up books when paperbacks are $1.49 and hardcovers are $1.99! I also got a few from Barnes & Noble as well as Book of the Month club, Half Price Books, Thriftbooks, Amazon, and publishers. From all of these books I had already read Where the Crawdad Sing by Delia Owens and A Fate of Wrath & Flame by K.A. Tucker but I wanted physical copies for my own library. In June I read The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska and really enjoyed it. From Grand Central Publishing I received an early copy of the paperback edition of The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. It is the sequel to The Royal We which I really enjoyed. After this month of book buying I will definitely be limiting my book purchases in July.

• People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska
• Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly
• The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
• A Fate of Wrath & Flame by K.A. Tucker
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
• Mrs. Mike by Benedict & Nancy Freedman
• Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
• Travels in Alaska by John Muir
• The Last Seance by Agatha Christie
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• The Other People by C.J. Tudor
• Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
• Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• World Without End by Ken Follett
• Black Hills by Nora Roberts
• Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts
• The Liar by Nora Roberts
• Hideaway by Nora Roberts
• Irish Born trilogy by Nora Roberts
• Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts
• Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts
• Heart of the Sea by Nora Roberts
• Irish Hearts by Nora Roberts
• Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts
• Girl A by Abigail Dean
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
• Elevation by Stephen King
• Copper River by William Kent Krueger
• Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser
• A Witch in Time by Contance Sayers
• Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl & Melissa de la Cruz
• Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
• Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart
• False Mermaid by Erin Hart
• The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart

Have you read any of these books?

April 2021 TBR

Happy spring! It is hard to believe that it is already April 2021 but I’m definitely not complaining. I don’t know about you guys but I am so ready for spring. This has been one of the easiest winters for me in quite awhile but it’s still my least favorite season. Since I am still working from home, I didn’t have to drive to or from work in any snowstorms and am so grateful to have had at least one winter off from that. But enough about that… Today I am presenting to you my April 2021 TBR in all its singular glory. That’s right, folks, there is indeed only ONE book on my TBR this month. And no, this is not an April Fool’s joke! 🙂

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace is a mighty tome that I have been wanting to read for many years now and I decided that this would finally be the year that I would make it happen. I spent the past few months consuming books in the attempt to get a good start on my Goodreads reading challenge before I would have to devote a lot of time to reading this Russian classic. Clocking in at 1,440 pages, I knew that I would need to block off at least a few weeks, if not more. A couple of weeks ago I sat down with my copy and in addition to relaxing the spine a bit to prevent the dreaded broken spine, I also leafed through and tabbed off the volumes and parts of the novel in an effort to come up with a loose schedule for reading it. There are 4 volumes plus an epilogue and within those are 17 parts total. I figure that if I can read one part every couple of days, I will need just a little over a month to complete the entire book. Once I start reading it I will be able to better gauge how quickly I can read it or how slowly I want to take it. From what I’ve gathered doing research on this book, this is not one to rush through.

When I first decided to read War and Peace this year, I wanted to do a little research on the different translations to find the right one for me. This article from Tolstoy Therapy really helped me start to narrow down the translation I wanted to read. I already owned a used copy of the Aylmer and Louise Maude translation but after finding a blog post by The Ardent Biblio where the author included a single line from three of the more popular translations, I decided that it was not the translation for me. I ended up choosing the Anthony Briggs translation which just seems to flow a little better for me. If you are wanting to read this book, I highly recommend doing some research to decide which translation will fit better for you. What works for me may not work for you or the next person.

I am really excited to get started on this book and I am hoping to do a few updates here on the blog and Instagram as I read.

Are you a fan of reading the classics? What’s the biggest book you have ever read?

February 2021 Wrap Up

Hey everyone! I’m a little late on this one but better late than never, right? I read some great books this month and I made some great progress on my Goodreads goal for the year. For the first few months this year I wanted to get ahead of my goal by quite a bit because one of my goals this year is to finally read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. With that book sitting around 1400 pages, I need some wiggle room so I don’t get behind in my goal. I’m currently 25 books ahead of schedule so my plan is to start War and Peace on April 1st. Anyways… more on that another time.

I also did a lot of re-reads in February to refresh for a couple of new releases. I re-read The Bone Season books plus the new novella to prepare for my current read of The Mask Falling which was published in January. I also re-read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series to refresh for Nesta and Cassian’s book, A Court of Silver Flames which I ended up finishing at the end of the month. I also got some library holds in for books that I have been wanting to read forever – The Silent Patient and Where the Crawdads Sing.

• February 2021 Books Read: 17
• 2021 Year To Date Books Read: 35
• February 2021 Pages Read: 7,762
• 2021 Year To Date Pages Read: 15,482

February 2021 Books Read:

• A Promised Land by Barack Obama
• Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – reread
• The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon – reread
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – reread
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
• The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon – reread
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – reread
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas – reread
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas – reread
• The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
• The Dawn Chorus by Samantha Shannon

Favorite Book Read

Least Favorite Book Read

February Book Haul: I ended up getting a lot of books throughout the month as well. I was finally able to get copies of the rest of the Bridgerton series as well as the prequel series. I’m really looking forward to continuing with those and seeing what’s in store for the rest of the Bridgerton family. Both Target and Amazon had a buy 2 get 1 free sale so of course I had to jump on that. From Target I got Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson, The Guest List by Lucy Foley, and The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse. I was super excited that Kristin Hannah’s newest novel, The Four Winds, was a choice for February Book of the Month. From Amazon I got What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon and a couple of the Bridgerton books.

For March I’m going to be focusing on The Mask Falling and also catching up on some advanced copies that I’m pretty far behind on. I want to start April off with a clean slate so I can focus on War and Peace.

What books did you read in February?