Top Ten Tuesday - Issue 4, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Ten YA Books I Cannot Believe I Haven't Read (genre was my choice).

Top Ten Tuesday - Issue 3, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Ten Books I'd Love to Read With My Book Club If I Had A Book Club .

Top Ten Tuesday, Issue 2, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Freebie. I've decided to go with Top Six Ways Reviewing Books Has Changed How I Read Books.

Top Ten Tuesday - Issue 1, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant to Read But Didn't Get To

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten New-to-Me Authors that I read in 2014.

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Anticipated Books for 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2015.

Top Ten Tuesday - July 29, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Ten Authors I Own the Most Books From.

Top Ten Tuesday - March 18, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR List.

Top Ten Tuesday - March 4, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Popular Authors I Haven't Read.

Top Ten Tuesday - Feb 18, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Reasons I Love Being a Blogger/Reader.

Top Ten Tuesday - Feb. 4, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Books That Make You Cry. This one was problematic for me.

Top Ten Tuesday - Reading Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Things on My Reading Wishlist:

1. Clever heroines. I love smart women doing smart things, particularly when they're also smartasses. 


2. A really strong romance in a really awesome fantasy story. I haven't read one in a while - I want something along the lines of a historical romance but in a fantasy setting. If that makes sense? That amount of focus on the romance/courtship/seduction/whatever but give me something meaty alongside it - a mystery, political upheaval, revolution, SOMETHING! 

3. Alternative history books - anything grounded in the past but with a twist makes me happy. This is probably why steampunk appeals to me so much.

4. Stories involving books. Magic books, book clubs, libraries, book stores, publishing houses, book bloggers. I love books and people who love books. 

5. Female main characters in epic fantasy. I haven't read this genre in a while so if anyone has some good recommendations, please send them my way!

6. More, smart New Adult. I'm loving this genre - I think the theme of identity which seems so integral to the genre really appeals to me. I'll read anything I can get my hands on in this genre!

7. HEAs in non-romance books. I love happily ever afters - and while I don't ever need the "married with kids on the way" type ending that often exists in romance, I do prefer books with happy endings, bonus points for happy endings with couples. 

8. More books in which the romantic couple get together mid-way and stick it out together through the end of the book. Get their drama over in the first half and let us see how awesome they can work together!

9. Urban fantasy that doesn't involve detectives/cops/private investigators. 

10. More time for reading. There's not enough hours in the day....


I've already taken a look at a handful of top ten lists and there are some great ideas out there. What's at the top of your list?

Top Ten Tuesday - 2014 Resolutions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten Goals/Resolutions for 2014.

I've chosen to focus on reading/blog related goals, though I'll toss in a few non-book ones:

1. Read 150 books. I've signed up for the 50 Book Pledge so you can follow my progress here.

2. Research upcoming titles so I can be more thoughtful about selecting books for review. I've avoided this in the past because I tend to want every book I read about, but as I review more and more, I'd like to think that I'm becoming more discerning. An increased awareness of what's coming onto the market will, I think, improve my ability to select and review books overall.

3. Read at least three books every month just for me. It's easy to get bogged down by books I've committed to reviewing for the blog. 

4. Expand my blog's purview to include a regular feature, as well as participating in at least one feature hosted by another blog every week. I want to post an opinion piece, possibly on a bi-weekly basis, as well as participating in Top Ten Tuesdays, Stacking the Shelves and whatever else I discover that interests me.

5. Finalize and update my blog's graphics. I do have someone working on a banner but there's been a delay. Time to either go a different route or try to push past the delay.

6. Visit at least five new blogs each week (in addition to those visited as part of the above mentioned link up feature). I usually do this, but I'd like to be more systematic, take notes on what I find that I like or don't, and learn as much as I can about blogging.

7. Increase overall quality of reviews - take more notes while reading, more careful editing, more thoughtful thoughts. 

8. Create an action plan for promoting my blog to increase my number of followers and make my blog more attractive to sources of review copies. Because I don't host author interviews or giveaways which I imagine are generally a good way to draw in new and repeated readers, I need to think carefully about what else I can do.

And two that are not blog/reading related:

9. Increase my level of physical activity so that my overall health will improve. 

10. Be more conscious about organizing and maintaining my home.

What are your resolutions? Any advice for me about achieving mine?

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten New to Me Authors in 2013.

In no particular order:

1. Lauren Layne - I read and reviewed two books by Layne late this year and both were excellent. I'll be watching for more written by her in 2014.
2. A. W. Exley - I discovered Exley this weekend when I devoured her Nefertiti's Heart - a book I'll be reviewing on Thursday so stay tuned! (Spoiler alert: It was a book that could have been written just for me, I enjoyed it so very much!).  I'm looking forward to reading more in her Artifact Hunters series.
3. Lisa Burstein - Burstein's Sneaking Candy was another book that hit so many of my personal favourite elements that I cannot wait to read more from her!
4. Cassie Mae - Mae makes my list because her book Switched achieved what should have been impossible - making the main characters likable even though they schemed to break up their best friends so they could steal their significant others.
5. Michele Renae - Renae's Window was the first erotic novel in a while that I had read without an "alpha male as Dom" for the hero and I so, so enjoyed it. I've already got the follow-up, Screen, on my to read list for the start of next year!
6. Robyn Schneider - I didn't review The Beginning of Everything for this blog, but I really, really enjoyed it. I would normally have been irked by the ending because I didn't get everything I thought I wanted, but it was actually pretty profound just as it was.
7. Olivia Cunning - I haven't reviewed anything by Cunning on this blog yet, but I probably will as her erotic novels are numerous and will make excellent Monday fodder if I don't come up with something else to review instead. Though I don't love the extended nature of some of her series, I do find her novels always extremely sexy, kinky and full of variety (despite revolving around rock stars!)
8. Jillian Stone - I discovered Stone at the beginning of the year, speed reading two of the Phaeton Black books. I haven't returned to her since then only because I didn't realize until looking for a link to her website just now that she's as prolific as she is! I'm sure I'll binge read more of her books in 2014!
9. Kat Martin - I borrowed a ton of Martin's "Against The" series from my local library during the last months of my pregnancy in the spring. I loved them and I loved that I was able to binge read so many of them. I suspect I'll do the same with her historical romances when I hit a lull in 2014!
10. Thomas E. Sniegoski - I read the first in Sniegoski's Remy Chandler series because my library had a later book in the series in their 'new' section and I thought - "Hey, that looks kind of like the Dresden Files meets angels. I might like that!"  I was not wrong. I always love to add new authors of urban fantasy to my 'go to' list, and I was particularly pleased to add Sniegoski because I love what he does with angel mythology.

Which authors were you happy to discover this year?