2025 Reading Challenge discussion

I'm not pushing myself again this year, and I really like 60 as a goal. It's such an accomplishable feat without feeling like I'm cutting myself short so 60 is my golden number.
My sub goals are as follows:

1) Read and complete the 1236 page book this year (this is sort of a joke because I know I will. Just been feeling daunted every time I think of it.)

2) Reread and finish the Inheritance series by Paolini (unless book three is just that horrible that I simply can't finish it.....again).

3) Start into my other massive three books in one on the dark elf by Salvadore to prove to myself that he really is as an amazing author as I believe (unless he isn't and I just happened to like the one book of his that I read).

4) Stop giving myself excuses for not finishing above goals. XD

I hope you go beyond your 60 book resolution! Best of Luck!

Good luck, Keri!

Thank you both! I appreciate the support. 😁

I had read this when I was either preteen or an early teen. I remember loving it. It was wonderful discovering it to be even better than I had thought upon rereading it. I was amazed to find myself on the verge of tears upon the death of Mistress Treason. It wasn't even written all that sad, mostly in a comical way, and yet, I could have cried a little. That is some beautiful writing.
Also, Wintersmith? What a bitter sweet ending for that poor elemental who tried so hard to be a man. I'm in love with this book. Definitely a favorite. Five star rating.

Not much to say. Pretty predictable. Kind of ridiculous how often the adults knowing that there are killers out to get them allow a teenage boy to wander in dangerous situations by himself, especially in completely foreign countries. Two star rating.

Very good writing skills and an interesting plot. Just couldn't stand the "love" triangle. I got too pissed at the female main character (Trelaine?) that I didn't even want to read another word. Two star rating.

Keri wrote: "

Very good writing skills and an interesting plot. Just couldn't stand the "love" triangle. I got too pissed at the female main character (Trelaine?) that I didn't even..."

Ha! The author would feel so bad. But then it's on Goodreads for us to either mark it as good or mark it as bad.

Niharika wrote: "Keri wrote: "

Very good writing skills and an interesting plot. Just couldn't stand the "love" triangle. I got too pissed at the female main character (Trelaine?) that ..."

I know. I always stop and consider how the author would feel upon reading a bad review, but I don't know. Not that I want to attack the author, or that I want the author to feel like I am attacking them, but in the end, this is how I felt reading it and reviews are literally reader's opinions, so I feel like I should be honest. Oh well, if I remember right, a lot of people loved her books so it isn't like my little voice will affect the overall rating. And seriously, love triangles but with MARRIED people??? That's just a crappier twist of the YA love triangles, and I've long ago had my fill of those.

I don't know why, but I am almost always surprised by how much I enjoy these books. The first one I read was actually the 5th (?) in the series and by the end, I was ready to bawl my eyes out for the MC. It was .....incredibly well-written, and the characters are so real and beloved. The third one, which I thought I wouldn't like at all since it was about the most annoying of the cast of characters, ended up with me loving it too.

This one, the fourth (?), somehow lost me a bit at the end, but was still very enjoyable. The author writes such intelligent fantasy that it doesn't feel like a typical fantasy. I really enjoy escaping into these books. They are a breath of fresh air each time I open them. Four star rating.

Okay, I didn't think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. I liked the Percy Jackson series well enough, but by the time I got to the last book, I was growing a little weary of the characters. I started the Kane books but they started to really annoy me by the second book. When I started the Heroes of Olympus, I was ready to DNF especially when I discovered it was taking place after the Jackson series. But the cast of characters for HO are soooo much more loveable than for Percy Jackson. I mean, I liked the cast overall, but Jason is true leader quality and he's so mature that he's easy to follow and love. Piper is such a great female character, she never annoyed me, and she's AWESOME. Leo is fantastic! I don't normally like the comic relief character because they are rarely done in such a way that they work with the group. They just feel useless. Like the satyr that accompanied Percy. But Leo was epic. He is the perfect balance in the trio.
Overall, this book exceeds all my expectations. Percy Jackson series was fun and entertaining, but Heroes of Olympus contains so much more if they continue to be as good as the first book. I am so glad I picked this series up. Four star rating.

This is the second book I have read by Diane Setterfield, and I have come to the decision I must read more of hers. I love this kind of story, fiction with the subtle feel of magic, a quiet mystery of long past slowly brought to life. I did figure out a lot of the mystery on my own, but it was definitely still engaging. Although fantasy is my genre of choice, sometimes I need a break from it and this is exactly the kind of writing and story that I am looking for. I read this in under 24 hours, which goes to show that I was hooked. Five star rating.

I don't know why I love these books so much, although I suspect my infatuation with Morley has a lot to do with it. Unfortunately, by the second story in this book he turned into a bit of a pansy and my infatuation has reached its limits.
The first book was as good as all the previous. Petty Pewter Gods lost me. It wasn't terrible but it really felt unhinged (?). The whole plot felt like a loose end. The third story (I have the hardest times remembering the titles) was right back to the good stuff. Even Morley came back a bit from being a pansy. Sadly though, he lost his touch with me and I just can't see him in the same light as before. My long time crush has met its end. Four star rating, was going to be three but then I decided that I really enjoy fantasy crime thrillers too much to rate it so low. Lol

This one was a reread. I remember loving it more the first read than I did this one. I think a lot of it had to do with me already knowing what was going on. Nevertheless, this is a charming story. I'm a sucker for a well written Beauty and the Beast retelling. I was mistaking this for another book from another author so that also didn't help matters. Maybe I should go reread that one too, so I can get my stories straight.
Four star rating.

I wasn't all that impressed with this. I found it quite predictable. But it was an easy read and well written. I had been drawn in for the first third, but then something happened where it felt like the story couldn't pull me in. I gave it a three star rating.

This wasn't quite what I was expecting. It had a fair amount of "old" stories and poems. I had been expecting newer authors and modern writers, but I'm not disappointed persay. Just too familiar with some of the stories already. Although, I did really enjoy The World Beyond the Wood, and I have already bought the ebook version of William Morris's complete works. As a whole, three star rating

This was a pleasant slow paced but fast read story, well written and rather elegant in an almost simple way. Four star rating.

Cute, well-written story. Three star rating.

Alaric from the first book oddly enough was my favorite Keeper, even though that book is my lowest rating. I did not like his wife, not sure why, nor Ayda who was super annoying. Also, I felt cheated by the ending. I thought his wife should have died. Having a character go down dark paths to save someone and then realize his error only to have the someone end up living just made it feel like he never had to actually learn his lesson. It was set up so well for such major character development only to take the cheap way out and have him learn his lesson AND get what he wanted. To me, it was like all the evil he did...well, worked. He did bad things and some annoying elf helped him out anyway so he wouldn't have to suffer for his actions, in the end, making it all worth it. There were some other minor issues I had with that book, but the ending is what "burned" me the most. But it still wasn't horrible. I mean, I liked the story overall.
Book two was written much better and I connected with Will very quickly as a character (and yet Alaric is still my favorite lol). And the third book was even better. It helped that the ending didn't cheat like it did for the first one. Lol. Also love how the romance was so . . . back seat. It felt more realistic where the action and plot took priority over the connecting of couples. Four star rating.

This was one of those books I only picked up because it was free and I was in a hoarding mood. I didn't think I would actually like it. I eventually believed I wouldn't even read it. But then I did.
Turns out, I love it. It felt like a passive read and yet I was constantly engaged no matter where I was in the story. Even though I never felt like I was drawn into any of the characters heads, they still felt very real and individual. It was quite a different writing style from what I am used to reading, but it convinced me to read the first book and maybe see if there is a third one (since it left off still in a middle of a war).
I decided to give a five star rating since there was nothing to turn me off from it and I had no faults or annoyances with any of it.

Look at You go! Do you have a stand-out winner?

Blagica wrote: "Look at You go! Do you have a stand-out winner?"

Like a favorite thus far? I would have to say Wintersmith. I really love Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, and so far Wintersmith is my favorite of the three I read. I still have four and five to go and am excited to see what he does for those.

I don't even want to try to review this. I have never come across a book with such AWKWARD dialogue (or lack of). It was painful. Frey hardly said anything!! To anyone! And when others were talking, the reader never got to see the end result because we are seeing through Frey's eyes and she just like....quits listening. So many times people were in arguments but the author would just distract from the dialogue that I don't know how the argument got settled! Or if it even did. I honestly believe the author did not know how to write dialogue so just avoided it as much as possible. It was frustrating reading because I wanted to keep yelling at the MC to just SPEAK ALREADY!!!
I had other issues (big issues) with the whole story but the dialogue was the one that stood out the most. Rated two out five stars, and I'm not really sure why I even gave it that much.

I was going to rate this higher but the ending was so abrupt and inconclusive that it left me feeling rather pissed off. The story also kind of dragged. But on the positive side, the writing was smooth, the story well written, and the characters unique and relatable. I just wish the plot had been more clear. And there are too many unanswered questions. And when you are reading and pulled into the story and interested to see where it is going, and you turn the page and read 'The End' and your absolute first thought is, "WHAT?!?!?!"

That is not a good ending. -_-

Two star rating. Not because it deserves it but because the ending left me--

Midway Update: page 750

This is torturous. So well written. So emotional. I can't read too much at a time. My poor little nerves can't handle it. This is a really hard book to read because there is so much going on and I get way too emotionally invested. And oh my goodness, Kaladin! He is going through so much and is so tortured. I'm dying to see him redeemed (is that that the word I want?)
At any rate, I'm taking it one week at a time. Lol.

I read this for the month group read challenge (?). I found it to be an easy read and I rather liked the style. Unfortunately, there were no surprises for me. I guessed every twist way before the reveal and predicted the plot about a third in. I knew the main villain the moment he entered the scene, and was frustrated that (view spoiler)[January was so blind to him pretty much to the very end. Now, I realize that it is understandable. He raised her. He was good to her. He was there for her. He was her father in pretty much every way. But I didn't feel the connection to him that I should have. The author didn't convince me of the feelings between the two. I didn't relate with January which is crazy because that villain/father figure relationship is the type of social drama I LOVE. I gravitate to it. I adore it. I want to write it in every story. And yet, I never felt it through the whole book no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to. I REALLY wanted to. Never happened. So in the end, I was annoyed with January giving him credit for everything when it was obvious from the start that it wasn't him. I never felt like he liked her so I wasn't convinced that January should feel that way. (hide spoiler)]
With that all said, it was not a bad book. It was creative and inspired stories in my head. I did feel like it got preachy. I didn't like how the author made the characters so modern thinking when the time frame was quite far in the past. I didn't feel like I was pulled into the past. I felt like I was reading a modern day story. That was a little off putting.
At any rate. I gave it a three star rating.

This book cracked me up. I love Terry Pratchett's humor, and this one was the funniest one yet. Although it is the second book in the Moist Van Lipwig series, I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not reading the first one. Four star rating.

I need to take a break from Sanderson. Although the writing and story is as superb as always, I find myself just feeling exhausted reading/trying to read it. Regardless, five star rating.

Oooooh boy, this cracked me up. Definitely found a new manga to enjoy. Luckily I already have volume 2 on hand to readily read.

EEEHHH??? Did not end the way I was expecting! I had no idea it was going to be such a ....lead up to book two. I was seriously expecting it to be a complete story by itself. I'm not complaining. It still ended good. Just surprised.
Very well written and good characters. Although I feel completely robbed of justice being done to a certain villain, I don't have any particulae complaints about the story, and I will be reading Eona eventually. I gave it a solid three stars.

Keri wrote: "

I need to take a break from Sanderson. Although the writing and story is as superb as always, I find myself just feeling exhausted reading/trying to read it. Reg..."

I too get tired reading print. I use audiobooks a lot. Have you tried them?

Dorothy wrote: "Keri wrote: "

I need to take a break from Sanderson. Although the writing and story is as superb as always, I find myself just feeling exhausted reading/trying to..."

I have and I do, but only with books that I'm slightly interested in because I have a bad habit of tuning out audiobooks and missing a lot of the plot. I don't know why I do that....>_<
.

A very interesting read. It had a nice steady pace that never felt rushed but had plenty going on. It was basically a bunch of mini stories through different perspectives that led up to one main conclusion. I enjoyed it a lot. Four star rating.

Very fast read of old myths and legends rewritten. I love how simplified and witty the majority of the stories were. There were a couple that seemed very . . . Pointless but that's probably because they originally were. Lol.

Not a lot to say. Fairly typical epic fantasy, lord of the rings-ish feel, good characters, big war, super powerful enemy. I gave it three stars.

Okay, I didn't read from cover to cover. I skimmed.....a ton. But when you skip 70+ pages and the heroes are still in the same place and nothing changed, and it feels like you missed nothing, then you know there is just way too much filler. Also, I have to stop picking up these kinds of books. I have really outgrown the mainstream YA emotional turmoil.

Highlights: good characters, good writing, fun storyline.
Two star rating because I can't give an honest three stars if I didn't even read it cover to cover. >_>

I have only read one other of Ms Mckillips books, and, although I loved it, it was a lot more difficult to understand what was going on. This book, thankfully, was a lot more clear written. It's a very scenic, beautiful story about two worlds interlapping. I really liked it. I definitely will read more of hers. Already put her books on my to read list at the library. I rated this book 4 stars.

Not in the mood to give a better review, but it was entertaining and well written. Had only a little problem with the flow of the story due to not having read the first three books in the series. It had a rather depressing ending. I rated it 3 stars.

Terry Pratchett writes such fun, humorous, delightful stories. I will have to add him to my favorite authors. I especially love his Tiffany Aching series. Every time I read one, I want to go back and start over from the first book. Five star rating.

Fast read, fun characters, good for its age range. Three star rating.

Juliet Marillier always writes such interesting books, but my only personal preference complaint is that it seems every book I have read of hers has some version of rape in it. I love her writing and her characters and her plots, but sometimes I hesitate to pick up a book of hers because I don't feel like going through that emotional trauma. As I mentioned, personal preference complaint. Very cool story, although I did figure out the plot pretty quickly, but it didn't draw away from the rest of the story. Four star rating.

This book's rating is based purely on my own personal distate. It was very well written and flowed very smoothly. The characters were all unique and alive. The story was actually very predictable. I called the plot within the first few pages. As for the way, Emory defeared the dragon.....that is so disgusting and as far as I can see RIDICULOUSLY OUTRAGEOUS. What numnut would even think of that??? No, don't answer me. I honestly have no desire to know.
At any rate, the general idea of the whole story was pretty fascinating. The execution was filthy. Two star rating.

(I admit I had been warned prior to reading it, but I had completely forgot about it when I was at the bookstore and bought it. It sounded like a dark fairy tale rewrite and the cover was gorgous. But I thought it would be dark like Uprooted, not dark and filthy like the premise of the old fairytale Donkey Skin. I regret buying the darn thing.)

I've actually read over 70 books now, although I have not reviewed them all here. Mainly, I completed my goal and will probably not post anymore on this thread.

Thanks for reading! See you all next year :)