My 2013 Recap: The Year in Books

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

I know this blog has been quiet for a while, and I'm sorry for that. Work has been super stressful and busy, and my blogging and reading has fallen by the wayside lately. I'm going to try my best to post on a more regular basis in 2014, but I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself about it, because that will just make me stressed, and take the fun out of it. Melissa's Midnight Musings also turned 2 back on December 14th. I didn't forget, I just haven't had time to make a post, but I am going to be putting together some sort of giveaway to celebrate that soon.

Last year for my 2012 recap I listed all the books I had read by month with links to their reviews. I'm not going to do that this year, but I will list some statistics, and I did spend part of today updating my review archive page.

I've read a few books lately that haven't been reviewed here on the blog, and I'm not sure whether I will be reviewing them or not.

Seeing as I failed to meet any of my challenges for this year, (getting a full time job has kicked my butt) I've decided that this year I am not going to participate in any sort of genre specific challenges. I have a hard time keeping track of all that (even with my excel list) and I have very limited time on work days to remember to update it (3 hours of my day is devoted toward commute time, which leaves very little time for blogging or keeping up with those kinds of challenges.) I'm just going to keep things simple with a book goal, pages goal, and my continuing journey to read 1 million pages in my lifetime. I'll be back tomorrow with those specific goals to start off 2014, but now lets take a look at 2013 in review

2013 Bookish Stats:

Total Books Read: 52

Total Pages Read: 11,912

Total Number of Different Authors Read: 53 (Some books had multiple authors)

Shortest Book Read: Writing Great Emails Is Not Art: 9 Ways To Get There 9 pages

Longest Book Read: Sunlounger 692 Pages

Average Rating of Books: 3.38 Stars

Number of 5 Star Rated Books Read: 6
Average Length of Book Read: 229 Pages

That's my year in books in a nutshell. How was your 2013 reading year?
 I'm looking forward to jumping in to 2014. Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what my goals are, and please feel free to share your goals too!

May and June Reading Recap

Hi everyone!

It seems like the months are flying by faster the further we get into the year. I can't believe we are halfway done with the year already. Since my last recap I've found out that I'm being kept on at my job at least through the end of September.  I've been so busy with work lately that I completely forgot to do my May and June Reading Recaps, so here are the break downs of both months. The links will go to my review of the book.

May:

Books Read:

Montana Wildfire by Rebecca Sinclair 4 Stars
Finding Compassion in China:  A Bicycle Journey Into the Countryside by Cindie Cohagan 4 Stars

May Stats:

Books Read: 2
Average Rating of Books Read in May: 4 Stars
Average Rating of Books Read In 2013: 3.53 Stars
Favorite Book of the Month: Both were equally good
Total Pages Read in May: 668
Total Pages Read in 2013: 5,838

Books Read in June:

Finding Lily by Lisa D. Ellis 2 Stars
Abundance Triggers by Kanta Bosniak 4 Stars
My Year As A Clown by Robert Steven Williams 3 Stars
Traveling For Love by Becky Due 4 Stars


June Stats:
Books Read:  4
Average Rating of Books Read in June: 3.25 Stars
Average Rating of Books Read in 2013: 3.5 Stars
Favorite Book of the Month: Traveling For Love
Least Favorite Book of the Month: Finding Lily 
Total Pages Read in June: 779 Pages
Total Pages Read in 2013: 6617 Pages

May was another not so great month, but June had some improvement, and I'm hoping to keep that up in July. I think I may schedule some readathon days with a few of my upcoming days off and see if I can catch myself up a little. I'm going to have to do a lot of catching up if I want to make my book goal this year.

Have any of you read any of these books? Are you planning to? 

April Reading Recap

Well, if I thought March flew by, then April zipped by in a flash. April was a busy month for me personally, but not so busy reading wise. I started a new (almost) full time job. It was supposed to only be temporary, for 30 days, but as of right now I'm scheduled to June 1st, which I'm absolutely thrilled about (and hoping to be kept on beyond that). As a result of this new job I didn't have nearly as much time to read.  Here's my April recap:

Books Read:

The Eighties: A Bitchen Time To Be A Teenager by Tom Harvey 4 Stars

David's Song by A.R. Talley 4 Stars

(I only read two books this in April and, I didn't even realize that til writing this post)

Stats:

Books Read: 2

Average Rating of Books Read in April: 4 Stars

Average rating of Books Read in 2013: 3.52 Stars

Favorite Book: They were both equally good

Total Pages read in April: 578 pages

Total Pages read in 2013: 5596 pages

Obviously April was not such a great reading month but I've already read one book so far this month so I'm hoping to at least somewhat improve this month. Has anyone read these two books? If so, what did you think of them? Let me know!

2012 End of Year Recap: The Year in Books

I can't believe another year is coming to a close already. I can't say I'll be sad to see this one go. It's been a mixture of both good and bad, as all years are, but this one has been somewhat tougher for a variety of reasons.

I know that a lot of people are doing top ten recaps of their favorite books of the year, but it's really hard for me to narrow the books I've read down like that so I figured I'd just do a compiled list with links to reviews of all the books I've reviewed on the blog in 2012.

  I always wanted to do monthly recaps but never got around to it, so I figured I'd do this yearly recap now, and then start with monthly recaps at the end of January.

For now, these reviews are going to be listed in the order they were posted, by the title of the book. Clicking the link will take you to the review.

January:

1. Dirk Danger Loves Life by Chris Rothe- 5 stars

2. Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love by Sara Matheny 4 stars
3.A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay 5 stars

February:
4. In My Shoes by Adrian Stephens 1 star
5. Letters in Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin 5 stars
6. A New Death and Others by James Hutchings 1 star

March:
7. Finding Jolie by Jamie Lynn Goldenberg 4 stars
8. The Evolution of Human Intellect by L.N. Smith 3 stars
9. The Incredible Shrinking Bully by Mona Schmitt 5 stars

April:
10. Strange Places by Jefferson Smith 4 stars
11.Stop Eating Your Heart Out by Meryl Hershey Beck 5 stars
12. The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton 5 stars
13. My Fairytale Life by Heather M. White 2 Stars
14. The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith 2 Stars
15. When Destiny Knocks by Heather M. White 1 star
16. Strike: The Hero From The Sky 4 Stars

May: 
17. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson 5 stars
18. Breath of A Child by Donna M. Rinelli 1 star

June:
19. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 5 stars
20. Last Chance Beauty Queen by Hope Ramsay 3 stars
21. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 5 stars
22. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins 5 stars
23. Dark Passage by M.L. Woolley 3 stars

July:
24. Citizen Scientists: Be A Part of Science From Your Own Back Yard by Loree Griffin Burns 5 stars
25. All the Right Stuff by Walter Dean Myers 4 stars
26. The Sugar Frosted Nutsack by Mark Leyner 1 star
27.The Legend of Mickey Tussler by Frank Nappi  4 stars
28. Sophomore Campaign by Frank Nappi 4 stars
29. Misfortune Cookie by Michele Gorman 4 stars

August:
30. Elemental Magic by Angela Wallace 4 stars
31.The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin 5 stars
32. Jaime Lea and the Bumblebee by Adrian Thorpe 5 stars
33. Ambition's Not an Awful Word by Zack Zage 5 stars
34. Then Again by Diane Keaton 3 stars
35. You Know Your Way Home by Suzanne Jauchius 4 stars
36. The Sword and the Prophet by Missy LaRae 3 stars
37.  Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins 3 stars
38. Free Falling by Susan Kiernan-Lewis 4 stars
39. My Love by Joanne Clancy 2 stars
40. Catastrophically Consequential by Stephen C. Bird 1 star
41. Crank by Ellen Hopkins 4 stars
42. Broken City by D.D. Chant 3 stars

September:
43.  The Mirror in the River by Dale Lovin 2 stars
44. Wow! Glowing Bride in 30 Days by Laura Pepper 4 stars
45. A Lovely, Indecent Departure by Steven Lee Gilbert, 2 stars
46. Sparks Off You by Anita Felicelli 4 stars
47. Echoes From the Infantry by Frank Nappi 5 stars

October:
48. Wicked: Witch and Curse by Nancy Holder and Debbie Vigue 5 stars
49. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins 5 stars
50. Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins 5 stars
51. A Whisper to A Scream by Karen Wojcik Berner 3 stars
52. Until My Soul Gets It Right by Karen Wojcik Berner 4 stars
53. Twelve Days to Christmas by Michele Gorman 4 stars
54. Phoebe Who? by Emma Harrison 3 stars
55. Dream Magic: Awakenings by Dawn Harshaw 2 stars
56. Fire Baptized by Kenya Wright 4 stars
57. An Imperfect Wife by Grace Wen 3 stars
58. With Honors by Grace Wen 3 stars
59. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer 3 stars
60. Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman 5 stars

November:
61. Sebastian's Poet by Kevin Craig 5 stars
62. Twelve Months by Steven Manchester 5 stars
63. Anthology I: The Other Side by Hamidah Gul 1 star
64. Catalyst: The Passage of Hellsfire by Marc Johnson 3 stars
65. 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues 5 stars
66. Scrambled by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones 2 stars
67. Moonlight Dancer by Deb Atwood 4 stars
68. What I Did on My Midlife Crisis Vacation by Debbianne DeRose 5 stars
69. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult 4 stars
70. Henrietta the Dragon Slayer by Beth  Barany 4 stars
71. Shifted Perspective by J. Bridger 3 stars
72. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling 2 stars

December: 
73. Four in the Morning by Christi Goddard 4 stars
74. Last Chance Christmas by Hope Ramsay 4 stars
75. Heaven or Hell by Roni Teson 3 stars
76. Beautiful Wild Rose Girl by B. Magnolia 5 stars
77. The How and What of Gift Giving by Antonio Hajden 4 stars
78. Broken Christmas by David S. Henderson 4 stars
79. Volunteers for Literacy by Gretchen Elhassani 3 stars
80. Christmas in Wine Country by Addison Westlake 4 stars
81. Cadence Beach by Linda Juliano 3 stars
82. Cupid's Christmas by Bette Lee Crosby 4 stars
83. Keeping Score: A Guide to Love and Relationships by Marc Brackett 4 stars
84. Silver Bells by Sadie Hart 3 stars
85. My Happy Birthday by Mary Ryan 3 stars
86. We're All Different But We're All Kitty Cats: First Day of School by Peter J. Goodman 5 stars

Note: There are 18 other books I've read this year that are not listed here. 
Some of the books were only reviewed on Goodreads due to their content.
 Some of the books I just haven't published reviews for yet (always have to have that reserve of reviews) 
And some of the books weren't in the GR database so that's why my GR total only shows 102


2012 Stats (Includes stats of books with reviews not listed above):

Total books read: 104
Average Rating: 3.51
Number of Different Authors Read: 92
Number of Pages Read: 25, 851
Shortest Book Read: 9 pages
Longest Book Read: 756 pages
Average Length of Book: 248.5 pages

So that's my reading year in a nutshell. Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see my reading goals for 2013!

Melissa's Midnight Musings Turns One! The Year in Review + Giveaway

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I can't believe it's been exactly one year since I started this blog!

I never in a million years thought that this blog would take off  to the lengths that it has, and I couldn't have made it as far as I did without all of my awesome subscribers.

Thank you to each and every one of you who has stopped by the read, comment and encourage me to keep this blog going. I truly appreciate it.

I have some stats that I figured I would share with you so you can see how this blog has progressed:

Basic Stats For the Past Year

Followers: 272 GFC, 28 Email
Total Pageviews: 21,210 and counting

Month With Lowest Page views: December 2011, 78

Month With Highest Page Views: October 2012, 5,339

Posts Written: 281 (I have a nice cushion of scheduled posts right now)

Posts Published: 266 including this one

Total Books Reviewed: 81

Most Viewed Posts:

1. It's All in the Numbers Birthday Giveaway  2,146 page views

2.  Stories of Chance Romance Guest Post and Giveaway 730 page views

3.  Fresh Start September Wrap Up Post 652 page views

4. Review: The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton 358  page views

5. Author Interview With Andi Katsina 325 page views

Countries This Blogs' Visitors Hail From:

1.  United States 11,628 page views

2. Ukraine 1,294 page views

3. Russia 1,271 page views

4. Canada 769 page views

5. United Kingdom 703 page views

Features and Memes This Blog Has Participated in:

Fresh Start September
Behind the Blog
The Sunday Post

I cannot believe how many wonderful bloggers, authors and publishers I've had the opportunity to interact with over the past year. Thank you all for your support. To further show my appreciation, I've put together a giveaway that's a little different for a Blogoversary (sort of different, anyway)

What's up for Grabs: 

I wanted to do things a little differently so instead of giving out a giftcard, you will get to choose an item, and I'll buy it for you and have it sent to you. READ CAREFULLY PLEASE:

There will be one winner and they will have their choice (depending on if they are in the US or INTERNATIONAL) of the following:

If You Live in the US you have your choice of one (1) item valued at 15 dollars or less on Amazon.com.

I would prefer it be a book or book related, since this is a book blog, but it can be anything you want. It has to be at 15 dollars or under on Amazon at the time you inform me of your choice.

If You are an International Follower: You will have your choice of one (1) book from The Book Depository valued at no more than 15 Dollars US

Giveaway Rules:

There are 2 Mandatory entries for this giveaway, but they're easy.

You MUST be a follower of Melissa's Midnight Musings, either by Email or GFC to enter GFC Must be public for verification, email subscription must be verified for the entry to count.

You must indicate whether you are a US or INTERNATIONAL follower

If both of these entries are not completed, all other entries will be VOID

All other entries are optional

This giveaway will follow My Giveaway Policy

This Giveaway will run from December 14 2012 to January 14, 2013 Midnight PST

All entries will be verified. Any false entries will be removed.

Winners will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond to their notification email before another winner is chosen

Melissa's Midnight Musings is not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged in the mail.

Take the Poll:

You can take the Blogoversary Poll by CLICKING HERE  (WORTH 10 ENTRIES IN THE GIVEAWAY) BE SURE TO ENTER YOUR NAME IN THE ENTRY OPTION PROVIDED ON THE RAFFLECOPTER FOR THE ENTRIES TO COUNT

ENTER TO WIN HERE:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is NOT associated, sponsored nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, or any other social media site.