The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: December/End of 2022 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Forward to 2023

December has definitely gone by quickly. However I don’t feel like 2022 did. I feel like it was a pretty slow year, even with times that seemed to go by fast. This time last year though I was wishing for Covid to be less of an issue and it has been. We no longer have to wear masks at work, haven’t since early 2022. Unless you get a positive Covid test, and then you stay home till symptoms are gone, and when you come back you have to wear a mask for three days I think. The second year at this new job has had a lot of ups and downs. Once again the money is definitely the one thing that keeps me going.

Still not really talking with my dad’s side of the family from what happened last year. While I did spend some time with them when my stepmom’s mother passed away, I wasn’t able to make it to my dad’s house when my sister who lives in Scotland was back home, and so haven’t really heard much from them. Although I do see from their Facebook posts that they all went to visit and spend Christmas in Scotland with her this year. That could be part of what inspired me to finally look through all the tours I’d researched and go ahead and put a deposit down on a 5 day Outlander themed tour in Scotland coming up in July of 2023.

However I’ve been glad to have more time I guess to spend with my mom’s side, as my stepdad’s prostate cancer which had been considered in remission in March of 2022, came back this summer and had spread to his liver. He seems to be doing well with the treatment and so things are at least looking not as bad as the first prognosis with the spread seemed to be.

My reading was down a bit this month, even with all the time off. I think it was because I didn’t force myself to power through every book in two days once I had time I was ahead because of not scheduling a ton of reviews this month. However I was able to meet my final yearly Goodreads goal of 209. I read a total of 16 books this month, down two from last month’s 18. I do also have all reviews pretty much caught up because of deciding to do a regular monthly L-L-L-Little Reviews post. Having it set up and ready to go really helped.

• # of pages read: 4454
• Amount of time spent listening to audiobooks – I had some issues again with audiobooks this month. With Christmas break taking away from the drive to and from work, that meant less time listening. Plus I got in the mood for some Christmas music at time. But I did finish a couple this month! So my time spent was 25 hours and 35 minutes, and that was for 2 audiobooks.

December Reviews

All reviews are caught up for the month unless they are part of a blog tour in January. I do have one or two DNF reviews to share though.

• [1 Dec] Playing Hard to Get by Monica Murphy ★★★★★
• [5 Dec] A Forest Between Us by Allie Winters ★★★★½
• [8 Dec] Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade ★★★★
• [8 Dec] Talk Santa to Me by Linda Urban ★★★★★
• [8 Dec] The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider ★★★★★
• [8 Dec] Princess of Souls by Alexandra Christo ★★★★★
• [8 Dec] Screwing Mr. Scrooge by Nichole Greene ★★★★
• [10 Dec] He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by Aimee Brown ★★★★½
• [14 Dec] How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy ★★★★
• [20 Dec] Drama King by Penny Reid ★★★★
• [26 Dec] The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos ★★★★
• [27 Dec] Kneel by Candace Buford ★★★★★
• [27 Dec] Those Summer Nights by Laura Silverman ★★★★★
• [27 Dec] Dashing Through the No (Summersweet Island, #3) by Tara Sivec ★★★★★
• [27 Dec] The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox ★★★★
• [27 Dec] Eggnog and Alligators by Erin Nicholas ★★★★
• [27 Dec] The Christmas Blanket: Special Edition by Kandi Steiner ★★★★
• [29 Dec] The Stranded by Sarah Daniels ★★★★
• [30 Dec] Lore by Alexandra Bracken ★★★★

Challenge Wrap-Up

So this is the final wrap-up. Did not make most of my goals. So that will affect what I choose for goals next year.

I got one more done for this challenge. The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox. A Book of the Month pick from 2021. It wasn’t one of the original choices from my sign up post, but it counts. So I ended up getting 6 of the goal of 12 I set. Here are the ones I read:

1. Ice Planet Barbarian by Ruby Dixon
2. My Cone and Only by Susannah Nix
3. Well Matched by Jen DeLuca
4. Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
5. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
6. The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

• Blogging: Ending the year still at 79% on Netgalley. I did hit 80% for one short day or two. I have been keeping up with the books as I get them requested now for the most part. I also did a pretty good job at not signing up for more review tours that aren’t my usual authors that I know I have to read or am on their review teams. Hoping next year to do an even better job of this and to get some of my TBR read that way!
• Reading: As I mentioned last month, I bumped my goal up to 210. I’m currently on track, go between a book or two ahead and right on track depending what I’m reading at the moment.
• Writing: Haven’t done anything since November. I did have an a-ha moment on the New Adult story that I also really want to finish and self publish. I do need to get everything for my YA that is done and needs to be completely re-read and edited and polished all together. When I got my new computer after leaving my last job, stuff got saved on a hard drive that I have to connect to something extra since my new Macbook doesn’t have the old USB input, only the new USB.

What to Expect in January 2023

I need to figure out for sure what challenges I am doing in 2023. I know the two I did this past year I will probably do again as they go along with what I’m doing anyway. I think I am going to set my Goodreads goal just at 200 for the year and not stress over that one as much since I know I will reach 200. I probably won’t sign up for the library committee I am on again as it kind of cuts into what I want to read since they send all the books right in the last four months of the year, no wait, last three months.

Here is my proposed TBR for January:

1. The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim – An ARC I got from the publisher for a review in January, hopefully the 2nd, I had hoped to read it in December, but ended up reading more holiday stories instead. I started reading it yesterday, and hope to finish tonight, but don’t know if I will, so I didn’t include it in my December reads.
2. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert – I got this e-galley on Netgalley I think. Should be reading and reviewing first week of January, possibly the 3rd, had included for end of December, but again didn’t get to it because of holiday reads
3. Love You Now by Julia Kent – I think I’m getting an egalley of this to read and review on the 4th
4. The Wicked Ones by Robin Benway – I might be doing a blog tour for this one and could be posting my review as early as the 5th
5. A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn – I’m on her review team, but we haven’t gotten this one yet. Hoping to get it soon and post a review the second week of January
6. Ice Burn by L.A. Cotton – might be reading for a blog tour review on the 10th
7. Someone to Kiss by Jamie Anderson – reading for a blog tour on the 16th
8. How to Lose at Love by Sara Ney – I’m on this author’s review team, so should be reading and reviewing for a blog tour on the 19th
9. Retro by Sophia Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman – possibly reading for a blog tour review as soon as the 20th
10. Cream and Punishment by Susannah Nix – listening to this audio for a blog tour review by the 22nd of January
11. Pint of Contention by Susannah Nix – listening to this after the last one again for a blog tour review by the 22nd of January
12. Make a Wish by Helena Hunting – another author team I’m on, should be posting the review for a blog tour on the 24th
13. One Girl in All the World by Kendare Blake – I have an ARC of this, but am also hoping to post my review as part of a blog tour, so should be posting as early as the 26th
14. Musical Games by Evie Alexander – I have an e-galley and plan to post my review on the 30th
15. Twisted Love by Ana Huang – since I’m hoping to meet her at a local-ish library event in February, I need to read something of hers before then I think.
16. Any other books I can get read for my library committee this month too!

Final Thoughts

So how was your December? I hope you were able to get some joy out of the season if you celebrate any holidays. And I hope your new year starts off as well as it can! Did you complete your reading/blogging/personal goals in 2022? What are you looking forward to in January 2023? I’m getting switched over to my new planner this weekend! I’ve had to have both with me for the last few weeks, ready to be just down to one again.

Giveaway

Below are ARCs I’ve finished and also a couple of finished copies, the winner will get to pick out 3 books from the list. There may even be a few more choices by the end of the month as I go through and clean out some more bookshelves of ARCs I know I might not ever get to! I will make the giveaway international in that you can pick a book for under $10 if The Book Depository ships to you. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below the picture. I will continue to do a second winner if I continue to get over 100 entries into the rafflecopter by the end of the month, I had over 100 in June, August, September, October, and November, so I did pick two winners from those Wrap-Up giveaways. December I didn’t quite make it to 100, only 44 entries, so only one winner last month!

a Rafflecopter giveaway