My End of Year Reading Frenzy | Five Books To Go!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve had this sudden urge to open WordPress and write a blog. It’s also been a very long time since I managed to finish two books within twelve hours. At the time of writing this, it’s 10.37 PM. And if you know me even the slightest bit, you know I always go to bed before 10. I know going to bed is absolutely useless right now because I’m just so excited about books and reading, I need to share it with the world. I’m five books away from finishing my Goodreads reading challenge, and twenty days to read them. LET’S GO!

Five books in twenty days should be a piece of cake. I know it used to be! These days, though… Reading – or any activity I should be doing in my free time, really – is just such a struggle. I work a lot, and I’m still studying for my pharmacy exam which is coming up SOON. Like… Thursday next week. AAAHH!! Besides that, I’m honestly not really doing much. Reading just wasn’t happening. Rereading The Wicked King by Holly Black somehow pulled me back into all things bookish and I’M JUST SO EXCITED. I genuinely didn’t think I’d be reaching my Goodreads goal this year, but it’s doable and so I’m doing it!

The Plan

I wouldn’t be me without a proper plan to get this done, right?! I started reading The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black this morning (as that’s why I’ve been reading The Wicked King in the first place!) and I want to finish the year with at least one more audiobook. Basically, that leaves me with four physical books in twenty days (five days average for each book) and one audiobook that I’ll listen to for the next 20 days during my morning routine, dog walks, travel, house chores, etc. I do need to work quite a bit, and my exam is next week so’ll have to study until then. I feel like it’s a solid plan, though! And obviously there’s still Christmas plus the days off after my exam during which I don’t have to study.

The Books

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. OH MY GOSH. I’m about a 100 pages in right now and AAAHHH. No spoilers, but OMG. I’ve been wanting to read this one so, so, so badly! My Amazon preorder somehow ended up being send back before it was even out for delivery, but I have it now! And I’m so not ready for it to end. Shit.
A Lite Too Bright by Samuel Miller. This book was huuuuuuge for me when it came out last year, because it’s written by one of my favourite musicians (read about it here). I finally got myself a copy during Amazon’s sale and it feels like a great book to end the year with.
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (Illustrated) by J.K. Rowling. I’m slowly collecting all the illustrated Harry Potter books and for some reason, I feel like they”re perfect for reading at Christmas? I started this one a little while ago and then didn’t put it back up again, but I’m finishing it at Christmas!
Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab. I feel as if I’m cheating a little bit with the shorter and ‘easier’ books but it’s not on purpose. I’m just really excited about all these books, and I just know that if I set unrealistic goals, I’m gonna give up halfway through! I LOVED City of Ghosts a lot more than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to read about more of Cassidy’s adventures. Plus, oh my gosh, it’s set in FREAKING. PARIS.

And an Audiobook…

My Audible credits have been stacking up for months now. I had four of them! I was just being suuuuuuper slow with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I was even more indecisive over what audiobook to pick up next. Well, I’ve finally made a decision! I’ve gotten TWO books. Drumroll, please…

Over The Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love by Jonathan van Ness. I was mostly indecisive about what audiobook(s) to get because I didn’t just want to get a book I’d already read, or a YA one like I usually do. I was randomly browsing through all kinds of books on Audible when I found this one, and since I’m quite obsessed with Queer Eye, and absolutely LOVE Jonathan, I thought I’d give it a shot! I’m really, really loving it so far.
Queer Eye: Love Yourself. Love Your Life. by Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan van Ness, Bobby Berk & Karamo Brown. Hey, how did this extra book end up on here?! Let me tell you: I wanted to get this one as my own Audiobook to finish off the year, but it’s only about four hours long. I’m traveling to Germany this Saturday and the journey there and back takes about that amount of time. Which basically means I’m able to finish this in just one day. I guess you could say this is my safety net for if I’m unable to finish one of my physical books? AHH, can’t wait!

Alrighty, I’m off to read some more! If you’d like to stay up to date on my progress, check out Goodreads or follow me on Twitter!