Reading Challenges

I'm not doing well in my reading challenges for 2026 at all.

Part of the problem--and I'm not sure it is a problem--is how much writing I'm doing. I feel like every minute where my brain isn't shut down for the night, is spent creating new words or editing existing words.

And the part of my brain I use for writing is apparently the same part that reads. Once I'm done writing for the day, I don't feel like reading.

Also the library ebooks stress me out because I feel like I'm under the gun to read them. Possibly I need that spur? Because like I said, I usually don't feel like reading after writing. But also when I feel stressed, it makes it hard to enjoy what I'm reading.

Like right now? I have a library ebook due back in three days and I haven't started it yet. I also spent last night power reading another library ebook that had 15 people behind me on the waiting list.

This month, one of the reading challenges I'm doing has a read-a-thon where the idea is to read a lot of books in 31 days. Last year? I kicked butt, but last year my book was with my editor for a couple of rounds of revisions for most of that month, and I had a lot of downtime. This year? Book was with my editor in March, so no downtime.

The one thing that might impel me to read more--my book journal--has been sitting untouched for months.

I'm failing 2026 reading intentions. By a lot. 

Reading Problems

I have discovered something. When I am doing a lot of writing, my brain doesn't want to read at the end of the day. It's tired and apparently reading and writing use the same part? Total guess since I can still watch TV or videos or doom scroll.

Problem two: The library loan period for ebooks is only two weeks.

Problem three: Whenever I look at my list of books and say, "oh, wow, it looks like I won't get any of my holds from the library for a while, let me unsuspend one of the books I want to read," multiple books miraculously become available. Either the library orders more copies or other people suspend their hold.

Problem four: It's a book I want to read and I think, "I can read a few books in two weeks. I used to read a book a day." Apparently forgetting Problem One, I've been focused on doing more writing every day than I used to do.

Problem five: the books (it's always plural) are now due in four days, so I spend Friday and Saturday nights staying up ridiculously late to read and finish them.

Problem six: I can't get up on Saturday and Sunday mornings and it throws my whole schedule out of whack.

Guess what happened this past weekend? Both books are read. Both books are back at the library. I now have nothing to read, but I'm scared to unsuspend a hold because I have a couple of books on active hold. All of those say they a couple of months out, but I don't believe it. 

Journal Fails

Guess who hasn't touched her media journal?

It might possibly be the same person who hasn't filled in her reading journal. :-(

The Media Journal is easy. I haven't been consuming any podcasts. Mostly. I have listened to a couple of podcasts, but I didn't actually finish any of the episodes, so I couldn't mark them on the tracker.

The reading journal is another problem entirely.

What's the problem here? It's the reading challenges I'm involved in. One of them allows you to count the same book for multiple categories and I'm also trying to use these books to count for the other reading challenge I'm doing. Which leaves me wondering how many copies of the cover do I need to print?

Is it two? Three? More? Because I want a copy of the cover in my normal book section and a copy of the cover for each of the prompts in the reading challenge that it satisfies. And I'm tracking my reading challenges on StoryGraph and the big reading challenge is broken down into so many categories, which means I need to open multiple categories to figure out the cover situation and it just feels like too much.

So, yeah. Fail. 

I Have an Opinion

For someone who used to read ebooks only on her phone or on her tablet, I have developed a really interesting preference since I returned to using eReaders.

My mom had a Kindle, and after she died, I used it and then my dad used it.

Last year, I bought a Kobo Libra Colour with buttons on the side.

I read on both the Kindle and the Kobo. And you know what? I prefer using buttons to turn pages rather than touching the screen.

There it is. My weird opinion.

I don't know why I shy away from reading on a touchscreen now. When I was reading on my phone and tablet, it was all touch, there was no other option. I'm used to touchscreens. I never have a problem on any other device I own. Except my eReaders. I want buttons.

Kindle used to have a reader with buttons, but it was discontinued in 2019. I would love to see them come out with a color version WITH buttons. That seems unlikely, though.

For a while now, I've been trying to figure out why this is. I have no answers. All I know is what I like. 

2026 Reading Challenges

I am hoping to finish two reading challenges this year. I have them all ready to go in my reading journal. These are challenges that I failed last year.

I'm giving myself grace because both are year-long challenges and I didn't discover them until well into the year. One of them in May, the other one much later than that.

There was never a chance to get caught up and I spent a lot of time writing in 2025.

This year, I have a plan. Um, I hope because I haven't actually done it yet and it's February. My idea is to slot books ahead of time into each category. That way I know I'm reading a book that fulfills a prompt.

I've started to follow my plan a few times by looking at other readers' choices and hoping to pick one of them to fulfill that prompt myself. This isn't working real well for me. I'm thinking I just need to make my own choices and not refer to anyone else's list.

We'll see how this goes. 

Fiction Reading Journal, Take Two

I didn't think I was going to attempt my own book journal this year. 2025 was such a failure that I ended up throwing it away and that is not like me.

Then I ended up buying a book journal because there was a misprint and I was able to get a B5 size for around $12. But there are pages for reviewing books and I'm not writing that much.

My brain was back to no reading journal for 2026.

Until the two year-long reading challenges I planned to participate were released in December and I was like, I totally need a reading journal.

The picture of the reading journal cover page to the left is from 2025, BTW. It's the one I threw away. I couldn't share pictures of my 2026 reading journal because, well, I haven't made it yet.

I know! I need to get on it. Soon.

The issue? I create a lot of the things I use in my sticker making machine's software, and because I'm not good at this, it takes some time for me to get it done. I haven't felt like doing it, and the few times I thought, maybe I can do it today, it was gray and cloudy. The sticker cutter needs lots of light to read the registration marks and there are times even on sunny days that I need to hold my phone with its flashlight on to get the thing to cut.

This year, I'm going to make changes. For one thing, I'm going to do two books per page instead of one. That's where my journal got ugly, trying to decorate the rest of the page. But this will eliminate that. I will only have room for a book cover and a little room to write down information and a review. If I have stickers that will go with it, fine. Otherwise, the book cover is all the art I'll use.

No bingo boards this year. I hardly remembered I had them in 2025. Also, this book journal will not be limited to one year. If I don't fill it in 2026, I will use it in 2027. Because of this, I'm planning to add calendars and keep track of what I read by month.

I'm debating whether to put the book challenge icons/information in the same section with my review rather than a whole separate section. I need to decide before I start the book journal.

Hopefully, I don't mess everything up again this year. Stay Tuned. 

Bye Bye Book Journal

I blogged about my Book Journal Blues back in September, but I never shared my decision or the outcome.

After days and days of consideration, I decided I would recreate my 2025 book journal. I cut out the pages that I thought I could reuse and trimmed them down to put them in an A5 notebook. (I had been using an 8 X 8.)

And of course, cutting out the pages and trimming them down didn't work well. There were issues. Some of it was related to the washi tape, some of it was related to all the Scotch tape I'd used to try and hold the journal pages together, but it was an utter fail.

Then I thought about all the book covers and readathon layouts I would have to reprint on sticker paper and run through my sticker cutting machine.

I had the new journal out on the table. I had washi tape with books on it at the ready. I had decorative papers at my elbow, ready to create a charming title page.

And I couldn't do it.

I couldn't spend the time it would take to redo the journal. I need to be writing, not redoing months of work in a journal that I probably wouldn't look at again. I cut out the used pages and threw the rest of the journal away.

My heart is broken, but the journal was already a loss. I wasn't using it because of the condition it was in. Not only how ugly it was, but that it was also half falling apart because I accidentally sliced the binding strings holding it together. It was a catastrophe.

I have a book tracker sticker (okay, two stickers) in the front of my regular planner and I transferred all the book titles, formats, authors, ratings over there. It nearly filled my two pages, but that's okay. At least it's recorded, and since I archive my planners every year, it will be preserved for posterity.

Now I have a new problem. Do I do a book journal for 2026? Or do I just use the notes pages at the back of my planner to keep track?

There are only 20 extra pages, so I wouldn't be able to do a full journal, only a list like in this year's planner. I'm not sure what to do. It takes time to find, print, and cut the book cover stickers for the journal. On the other hand, I really liked keeping track of my readathons in there and I'll lose that if I don't have a book journal.

The wrench in the gears? When I'm writing, I don't feel like reading. The only reason I did so well on the May readathon this year was because Wicked Ambition was in edits multiple times that month. The year-long readathons? I'm failing miserably at them because it's taking me two weeks to read a book.

Right now, I'm leaning toward just keeping a list of books at the back of my 2026 planner, but I'm still mulling. Stay tuned.

Reading Journal Joy: The Books That Surprised Me (In the Best Way)

This post contains affiliate links. There's no cost to you, but I will receive a small commission should you use my links to purchase something.

My reading journal is woefully out of date. While I like the 8 x 8 size square journal I'm using, it's also too much space for me. If I had time to hunt down decor that matched each book I read, that would fill all the open space, but I don't.

It already takes enough time to print the book covers for each book I'm reading. Decor is a bridge too far for my schedule.

And while I can't read as many books as I'd like, I thought I would share some of my favorite reads so far in 2025.

💖 Books That I Fell In Love With

Under Your Spell - Laura Wood 

The heroine is the daughter of a famous rock star, and things are not going well. She loses her job, her boyfriend dumps her, and—just to add insult to injury—he takes her cat. What’s a girl to do except call her sisters, break out the wine, and perform the childhood ritual known as the Breakup Spell?

What follows is a whirlwind of misadventures, including a one-night stand with the most famous musician on the planet and a job she definitely didn’t ask for: spending six weeks alone with that rock star. There's chemistry, banter, and an awesome romance.

From the moment the first sister showed up to console her, I was laughing. I also really liked how the heroine came to terms with her issues about her famous father enough to reach out and accept the love she and the hero had.

Let's Make a Scene - Laura Wood

Two five-star reads in a row made Laura Wood a new must-buy author for me.

I loved this book so much that I reread it immediately after finishing reading it for the first time. I wasn't ready to leave Cynthie and Jack's world that quickly.

Cynthie Taylor gets her acting break thirteen years earlier on a small British film starring alongside Jack Turner-Jones, the son of acting royalty. Yes, both his parents are famous actors. It's hate at first sight. Or nearly so. The chemistry between them is palpable, and while promoting the film, they pretend to be in love.

Fast forward to present day. Cynthie is now Hollywood royalty, and because of a lying jerk, is now public enemy number one. She's dropped from her next movie, but she has a chance to film the sequel to her first movie, alongside Jack. Oh, and throw in a let's-pretend-to-be-a-couple, something they both have reasons to agree to.

When I tell you I couldn't get enough of this couple, it's not an exaggeration. I could have kept reading them for pages and pages more. Just totally love this book from start to finish. 

The Blonde Identity - Ally Carter 

This book made me snort-laugh as I read. Humor is subjective, but I generally don't laugh out loud when I'm reading. I tend to simply smile at the funny parts. But Blonde Identity? It was a good thing I was reading at home and not out in public.

The heroine wakes up with amnesia, and when she sees footage of herself fighting off multiple men, assumes she must be a spy. It's the hero who tells her she's the identical twin sister of the super spy she thought she was. But the people chasing her sister don't believe she's not her twin. Good thing she has the hero (who really is a spy) to keep her safe.

Once this story got rolling, I couldn't read fast enough. So much fun and lots of little romance book references that I enjoyed.

Final Thoughts 

I’m pretty sure my 2025 book journal is going to remain half finished, and that’s okay. I’ve already got plans to switch to an A5 journal for 2026—less space to fill, but hopefully just enough room to jot down my thoughts. I’m not going to complain about this year’s journal, though. The important thing is that I discovered new books and authors I hadn’t read before, and they gave me hours of entertainment.

So if you’re on the hunt for a new author or book to fall in love with, these three titles come highly recommended by me.

Reading Journals: The Updates

I was all excited about my two reading journals--one for nonfiction and the other for fiction. So what happened?

I haven't read any nonfiction books since the first few. That journal is sitting, gathering dust.

The fiction reading journal. I kicked butt on that reading challenge back in May because my book was with my editors, and because I can only work on one project at a time, I had some time without writing/revising which made it easy to read.

I've made a discovery. When I am writing, especially when I am writing a lot of words in a day, I don't want to read. Instead, I just veg out either playing games or watching videos.

This has increased my library book jam. I've kicked so many books I have holds on down the road that it's ridiculous. But I don't want to check them out and then just not read them because I'm too focused on my own work to read someone else's story.

Since I'm trying to get caught up on a reading challenge that started in January and I didn't discover until what? July? This made it an extra challenge for me. I'm still way behind and I don't know if I'll catch up at all because I need to write more than I need to read. People are waiting for Cal and Io's book.

Part of the problem is that I think I should have used an A5 notebook as my journal instead of the 8x8 journal. There's too much to decorate and too much to write, so even on the books I have been reading, my journal is woefully empty. Just the book cover and a sticker where I put the title, author, reading dates, and genre.

I'm rethinking 2026's book journal. I think I am going to try an A5 and this time I'll know about that year-long reading challenge at the beginning of the year, and will tackle it slowly rather than feeling as if I have to race to catch up.

And there's still the problem of not wanting to read when I'm doing a lot of writing. 

Book Journal Blues

You guys! I was so close to throwing away my reading journal! It's ugly and the pages are sticking together and it's not updated and I don't even want to work in it because I'm so disappointed with it.

I haven't tossed it yet, but only because the idea of reprinting everything and setting up a new journal feels too overwhelming. I'm just not sure that it's worthwhile to do anything with the current journal. I already have ideas on how to do it better next year, but for this year? Now what?

I have some really nice pages in the beginning of the journal and I used a lot of my supplies to make them. I was thinking I could cut them out and reuse them, but then I realized they're double sided and I'd only be able to keep one side. Another reason why I didn't attack the journal.

Not only is the journal ugly and the adhesive is causing massive sticking issues, I also created another problem when I set it up. I used a craft knife to cut washi tape and accidentally sliced into the string holding the binding together. Now I have a whole signature of pages trying to separate from the book.

Something else that leaves me disappointed with the journal.

So what do I do? Do I just forget about using the journal for the rest of the year and keep this dilapidated thing? Do I throw it away and just not have a book journal for 2025 to keep? Do I remake the 2025 book journal and toss that mess away?

I just don't know.

Also, I am writing and the book journal takes time. Just setting up the 2026 journal will be busy enough. Remaking 2025, too? Gah!

So what would you do? Visit me on Facebook and offer some sage advice! 

Reading Journal Trial Run

I've discussed doing my own reading journal. My pages haven't turned out nearly as gorgeous as I'd hoped. I mean, I knew it wouldn't measure up to a lot of other people's journals because art stuff doesn't come naturally to me, but I didn't think it would be as bad as it is.

I have a different plan for next year, but in the meantime, I decided to try using stickers. I found a sticker maker who does all kinds of reading stickers and ordered the August kit. Well, I ordered part of the kit à la carte because the kit had two pages of stickers I knew I wouldn't use.

The shop also had an August reading challenge, and I did buy that kit. Which was probably something I should have skipped since I'm still struggling with that big reading challenge that I joined late, but I did it anyway because I like the challenges so much.

This is the first time I've done a monthly spread in my reading journal. I'd been keeping track via the list I have at the front of the journal, but I was thinking I would split out the months going forward. There was also matching bookshelf washi tape available, so I picked that up, too.

In addition to the August bookshelf page, I also have the facing page with the list of books releasing in August. I got too excited and added a non-August book, but there was no way to erase it, so I'll live with it. Because of the size of the stickers for Most Anticipated, Books Bought, and Books Releasing This Month, I used some butterfly stickers to fill the white space. 

These two pages hold the reading challenge stickers. I started out with all six prompts on the left hand page, but then realized I wouldn't be able to put down book covers for each of the prompts. I readjusted onto both pages. That left a great big chunk of white space on the lower right, so I added two butterflies in that location. Then I added a butterfly sticker and butterfly washi tape to the left side so that it looked more cohesive.

Here is a close up of the butterfly page. I colored them in with glitter markers, although I'm not sure that comes through in the picture. It looks very nice in person. Okay, it looks reasonably nice. I had trouble with the stamps for both butterflies and white out tape was required to get rid of the smudging.

I'm Confused

One more reading post this week. If you're a newsletter subscriber, you've already read this story.

I joined another reading challenge in July, one that started in January and goes for the full year, so I am scrambling to get caught up.

Also, some of the prompts have me going, Um, what do I read for this one? Luckily, StoryGraph lets me check what other people recorded for the prompt and that's how I ended up reading Nora Roberts' The Awakening.

Not only do I need a book that fits the prompt, but it also either needs to be on my eReader already, or the library has to have it. My library had the Nora book and I didn't have to wait to get the book. It was available! Yea!

I didn't realize this was the first book in a three book fantasy (with romantic elements) series. I'm really more of a romance girlie than fantasy. I'm not even a huge fan of most romantasy, although that has a large part to do with how dark most of the ones I tried were. I don't do dark anymore. I don't enjoy it. There is one series that's romantasy that I have absolutely loved, but it's humorous.

But I digress. Anyway, I read The Awakening and then I hit the ending and I was like OMG! I immediately checked out the next book in the series, which also was immediately available at my library. I devoured The Becoming, even staying up way too late to read. I started reading again the next morning, and as soon as I finished the second book, I went to check out the third (and final) book of the series.

And discovered my library didn't have it.

Did you hear my scream echoing through the world?

What kind of sadistic librarian buys the first two books in a three book series and doesn't buy the third (and final) book? That's just cruel!

I live near Atlanta and Georgia has a statewide library lending program, so I went on there looking for the final book. I found it, but the wait list is five weeks. FIVE WEEKS! I want to read it now!

So far, I've checked the Libby app like fifty gazillion times, hoping to get it early. I want to finish this series now, not next month.

And I got lucky. After one week, the hold became available. As I'm writing this, I'm 53% into The Choice by Nora Roberts.

I Stand Alone

I have a very unpopular opinion. After much trial and error, I've decided that I don't like audiobooks for fiction.

Nonfiction? Yes, I love audiobooks for nonfiction, but I find it frustrating in fiction.

I'm not sure why, exactly. Part of it might be how fast I read. I find it annoying to be held back by the speed the narrator can speak at.

Another reason I came up with is that I can skim or even skip things I'm either not interested in or don't want to read. For example, lots of description or something that gives me secondhand embarrassment for the hero or heroine (usually the heroine).

I thought I could listen while I was doing stuff around the house, but that's when I tend to listen to podcasts. Despite having audiobooks from the library with due dates, I still reach for my podcasts rather than listen to a story.

When I had a monthly audiobook subscription, about 95% of the books I picked up were nonfiction. In the beginning, I bought a few fiction series, but I almost always used my credit for nonfiction. It should have dawned on me before now that it meant something.

Anyway, I currently have an audiobook with 8 days remaining until the library takes it back and I have no desire to listen to it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have the same reaction if I was reading the ebook. This isn't the only audiobook I've reacted to in this way. There have been books I loved and then listened to the audiobook and was like, no.

My theory on why I like nonfiction is that it's more like listening to a podcast or a lecture where I'm learning something, not trying to sink into the world of the story.

I know I'm in the minority, but it's just the way my brain works. Of course, if it's the only way to get the story I want to read, then I'll do it. My library sometimes gets the audiobook, but not the ebook. I just prefer to read myself. 

The Pressure's On

I've been doing more fiction reading this year than I have in a while. Amazing what a library card can do for a person.

The only problem is that the library only allows two-week loans and sometimes I don't have as much time to read as I'd like. Or I'd rather unwind at the end of the day by doing something else.

As an example, I returned a book today that I felt stressed about reading because it was due! I finished the book. I liked the book. But reading isn't supposed to be filled with deadline anxiety. (That's for writing.) Someone was on the wait list for the book, so I couldn't renew it. It was either finish it or get back on the wait list myself.

I have another library book on my eReader, but I have 12 days before that is due, so I can just enjoy it rather than stress read. :-)

And I can't talk about reading without discussing my book journal. I like the opening pages that I created, but the individual book pages don't look cute. I don't know how some people can just put together these outstanding spreads so easily. It must be because I didn't get the artistic gene. It makes me sad because I enjoy having a book journal.

I'm behind on filling in my thoughts on a ton of books. During the May Readathon, I was reading too fast and furiously to fill it in. Afterward, I forgot a lot of details. The biggest problem is all the Jayne Castle (JAK) Harmony books I glommed during the month. I have them all confused in my head and now I need to review them so that I can fill in the notes sections. Of course, I also read these books out of order, so I'm thinking maybe I should just reread all of them and do it right this time.

Only I have library books to get to. I've already delayed holds on multiple books, some of them more than once, because I have other books already checked out. 

Final Week of Special Pricing

Six more days to get Wicked Ambition at special pricing! On August 4th, the price increases.

Ayla Desmond never takes risks, but when she senses her twin is in trouble, she boards a plane to Puerto Jardin—a country teetering on the edge of chaos. As a Public Relations specialist at the Paladin League, she’s used to spin, not bullets. But this mission plunges her into a deadly game where trust is scarce and danger is everywhere.
 
Special Forces Sgt. Oziah “Wizard” West is the king of one-night stands, but he hasn’t been able to forget the last woman he hooked up with, a mysterious blonde who slipped away from his hotel room. When he spots her in Puerto Jardin, he knows there’ll be trouble. Oz rushes to her side, determined to keep her safe.
 
Ayla wants nothing to do with Oz. He’s a mistake she’d rather forget, but circumstances force them together. Surrounded by mercenaries and stalked by an arms dealer who believes she holds the key to a hidden treasure, she has no choice but to rely on the enigmatic stranger who ignited her passion. As danger escalates, so do their feelings, and then a positive pregnancy test changes everything.
 
Now, Oz risks not only his heart but also his life to protect Ayla and their unborn child. Can they survive the treacherous game they’re caught in, or will their love become the ultimate casualty?

Wicked Ambition is a stand-alone romance with a HEA. There are references to events that happened in earlier books, but it's not necessary to read them to enjoy this story.

 

Indulge in a protective Special Forces hero and a heroine who is a fish-out-of-water, but will do whatever it takes to save her sister. This romantic suspense story features a one-night stand, an unexpected pregnancy, and a second chance romance.

Fiction Reading Journal Thoughts

I've discovered one big issue I'm having with my reading journal. I hate taking time to write out my thoughts/review of the books I'm reading.

I have pages of books (pages) with nothing except the book cover and a little decoration. I can't even remember my thoughts on some of the books because I read them at the beginning of May.

Oh, I meant to go back and write up what I thought. That's one of the reasons why I'm doing the journal. But I haven't actually done it.

Some of the pages are missing decor, too. The basics are there: the book cover, the sticker I have to print out the title, author, format, page numbers, dates read, etc., and the scrapbook paper I use underneath these stickers, but only a couple of the pages have all the decoration I want. I read a book where the hero plays hockey, and I thought I'd make stickers of hockey sticks and skates. I haven't done that yet. Not for that book or made stickers that represent the other books.

I'm less worried about the decorations, though.

Other issues I'm having: Remembering to write the book title in the front of the book. Remembering to look at my book bingo cards to see if I can fill them out. Remembering to fill in my Alphabet card.

Obviously, I made it too overwhelming. Next time around, I'll make it much simpler. The only thing I really need to worry about is recording my thoughts about the books I read. And doing the book covers. I like having those.

Read-A-Thon Results

Let's talk about the read-a-thon I did and my results. I realized I kept talking about it in general terms, but didn't give specifics.

I kicked butt! I didn't think I would get as much reading done as I did because I was working on revisions while it was going on, but I had breaks between the rounds of revisions and was able to get through a lot of awesome books. (And a few clunkers.)

But I found two books that were five-star reads for me! Both were authors I'd never read before. I love when that happens!

One was a book for the Recommendation from Someone Else prompt. It was a mystery with a strong romance in it, but I was unlikely to have read it (even with the recommendation) if it weren't for the read-a-thon. OMG, I loved it! I stayed up way too late on a Saturday night to finish it. Um, like 2am.

The other I found accidentally. It was for the Has Less than 300 Pages prompt. I originally had a book from my TBR slated for the prompt, but it was like 296 pages, so it was still long. I thought that there had to be something shorter and quicker that I could read. I started out going through more eBooks that I own, but it took so long to check them out one by one.

Somehow, I spotted something about short reads over on Amazon, clicked on the banner, and went with the first book listed. It was 101 pages. It was also so awesome that I've got more books from this author wishlisted at the library.

The read-a-thon also had me plowing through the Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krentz) Harmony series. I owned 7 of the books but hadn't read them. I wish I'd read them all in order, but I started with the third book. I love this series and literally couldn't read fast enough. Now I need to get my hands on the books that I don't already own.

Overall, the read-a-thon was a great experience, but it was also exhausting trying to read so many books in a month. I would maybe only do a couple of these a year. Maybe one in the spring (like this one) and one in the fall. And I know I didn't need to max out my points, but well, if you can't ace the thing, why do it?

Yes, I hit the highest level, Haunting Herbologist. Yes, I finished every book prompt. There were categories related to plants, like take a nature walk or make a vegetarian meal that I didn't complete, but anything involving reading? Nailed it!

Everything All at Once

I'm laughing at myself. Apparently, you can't make me happy when it comes to eBook versus audiobook.

For example, during the readathon, one of the prompts was to read a book with more than 100,000 reviews. I wanted to pick something I already owned, and after checking book after book, I ended up with Inferno by Dan Brown. I already had the audio version.

The nice thing about audiobooks is I can listen to them while I do other things, like cook or do the dishes, or work out.

But the book is so suspenseful that it's giving me stress. Maybe it would be easier to read it? Then I could skim ahead and know that Robert Langdon and his co-lead will be safe. But it's long book. More than 17 hours in audio.

Which leads me to another prompt: Pick a book from the hosts' TBRs to read. It's two points if you read one book, four points for the second, and six points if you read a book from all three of the hosts' TBRs. One of the hosts had a book that my book club planned to read, so one down.

Host two had a couple of nonfiction books in with her fiction choices. I did try one of her fiction reads first, but it was too dark for me, and because it was romantasy, it doesn't wrap up on one book. I skipped ahead, read the last chapter, and was like nope, definitely too dark for me. One of her nonfiction choices was available at my library in audio and it was only about 6 hours long. I did that one.

Host Three killed me. My reading taste doesn't match hers at all. I had no interest in any of the five books she listed. I picked the one I hated least and checked it out of my library. It's long. Like really long. And I want to listen to it in audio, not read it. But since I was already not interested in the book, there was zero chance I was spending $30 for the audiobook and my library only had the eBook.

Basically, you can't make me happy unless I have both the eBook and the audiobook. Apparently, I like choices. Or something.

The Fiction Reading Journal

I have started putting together my fiction reading journal. I was hoping that I could talk myself out of it, but it was too tempting to resist.

I used an eight-inch square journal, and I have all these decorative papers and stickers and washi tape that I've either been buying or already had for scrapbooking, so hey, free creativity.

When I put together the Nonfiction Reading Journal, I bought a large number of steampunk files on Etsy and only used a fraction of them. This time, I was determined to use only what I had.

Of course, that limited me on theme. I have an Alice in Wonderland kit, and I thought about doing that as a theme, but after some consideration, I decided to save those papers and everything else that came with it for another day.

That left me with dark academia, which feels like the default book journal aesthetic. I hated doing what everyone else is doing, but I had two different kits with dark academia papers, washi, etc. and I was like, might as well.

The books along the bottom are washi tape, and so is the purple and black diamond border on either side of the image. The picture of the desk with the bookcase behind it came from a craft kit I bought a while back. My plan is to put my name on this page.

This is the title page of the book journal. That open space on the left-hand side is where I plan to put "Fiction Book Journal 2025." I've actually been doing a lot of reading, so I'm hopeful that I will be able to fill it up in the year and won't be dragging into 2026. I do realize the three ladies are writing, not reading, and I've added two pens and a typewriter in addition to the book stickers, but I did not have any paper with ladies reading. I decided since I write books that this will be fine.

I found more supplies while I was looking for Halloween paper for my DNF page. I didn't actually find my Halloween paper, which I know I bought when I was scrapbooking, but I'll make do. I found scrapbook paper with stars on it for my Five-Star reads page. I'm really hard on books, and almost never give any five stars, but I've already had one this year, so I decided I'd make a page.

I'm going to do a couple of book bingo pages. I just need to find some good prompts or make my own. And of course, I'll put together a couple of spreads for the readathon. I'm going to do a spread for the book club/buddy reads and then each book will have its own page. I made stickers for the rating and format.

There's lots of work left to do, but it's fun to have a creative outlet that doesn't exhaust me like writing does.

One Little Card

I didn't realize just how much buying a new eReader and getting a library card would open up my horizons, but it has. I've read more since I've done these two things than I have in years.

Mostly, I was reading on my phone or my iPad and both are heavy to hold for long stretches--especially the iPad. I have a Kindle. Actually, my mom had a Kindle, and when she died, I began using it occasionally. But my dad wanted to read, so I gave it to him, and I lost track of what he did with it. Now that he's passed away, too, I have no idea where to look for it.

A friend of mine got a Kobo Clara Colour and really liked it, so after several months of "I always read on my phone, would I even use it?" I bought my own Clara Colour. It's so light! I love that. I did add a Popsocket to the back, though, because it's just slightly too wide for my hand to hold comfortably.

The library card was something I meant to do since I moved to Atlanta, but I had enough eBooks, that I didn't see why I would need to use the library. Oh, boy, was I wrong!

Using the library has allowed me to try new authors, ones I'd never heard of before, and because they're traditionally published, have eBooks priced at $9.00. Gah!

I know. My traditionally published books that the publisher still holds the rights on are also ridiculously priced. I wish I had them back so I could repackage them. Only one has a cover that I love. And price them at reasonable amounts for an eBook. Sigh.

Anyway, I found books I loved. I found books I liked. I found authors that I want to read all their books. It's been fun!

I've been reading a lot of contemporary romance. I tried a romantasy, but decided that's not my genre. The one I picked up had great reviews, but it was so dark and gothic, and I'm not in the mood for dark. I want light and fun, and if I laugh, it's a win.

Don't worry! I'm doing my writing! Reading comes after the words. Wicked Ambition will release in mid-July.