20 Books Of Summer 2020: Progress Report #20booksofsummer20

Wait, what? It’s All About Books joining in on the 20 Books Of Summer fun even though in Argentina it’s currently Winter?! Well yes, I just couldn’t resist joining the challenge this year as I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to both read more backlist titles as well as maybe forget about the cold Winter months for a bit… The 20 Books of Summer Challenge is hosted by Cath and runs between June 1st and September 1st. The aim is to read and review either 10, 15 or 20 books, and of course I will be going for the full amount as I like to torture myself. xD

I’ve decided to make a separate progress report post as it’s easier to keep up with the titles I’ve read so far that way… I’ve decided to change up my original TBR, as I wasn’t aware we would be starting a huge home improvement project back when I put together that TBR and I haven’t been able to read as much as I hoped in July (and won’t be able in August either). I’m still sticking to my non-ARC requirement for my 20 Books Of Summer list though, and none of the books below are ARCs. (The books with a # symbol were actually on my original TBR.)

16/20 books read and reviewed

20 Books Of Summer 2020 #20booksofsummer20

Wait, what? It’s All About Books joining in on the 20 Books Of Summer fun even though in Argentina it’s almost Winter right now?! Well yes, I just couldn’t resist joining the challenge this year as I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to both read more backlist titles as well as maybe forget about the upcoming cold Winter months for a bit… The 20 Books of Summer Challenge is hosted by Cath and runs between June 1st and September 1st. The aim is to read and review either 10, 15 or 20 books, and of course I will be going for the full amount as I like to torture myself. xD

To make things more challenging, I’ve decided not to include any ARCs in my TBR, which will be interesting as I have a ton due in the next couple of months and I’m not sure how much time I will have left for other titles. We’ll see how things go I guess? The list below is made up entirely out of non-ARCs: backlist titles belonging to a bunch of different genres with a few 2020 releases to spice things up… But no ARCs allowed even if I decide to swap some books later on.

I’ve decided to put together a separate progress report post that will be posted at the end of July.

Magical Readathon: O.W.L.s 2020 Progress Report #OWLsReadathon2020

I’m very excited to be participating in this readathon again! It started on April 1st and runs the whole month until April 30th… Today it’s April 16th which means we are already halfway done with our exams; I thought it was time for a little progress report of how I’ve been doing so far. If you want to learn more about the readathon, you can hear all about it in Book Roast‘s video below!

This is the second year of career choices; last year I managed to complete the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s for the Magizoologist career, and this year I will be going for the Culinary Sorcerer career. I thought it would be a fitting one as I love cooking and baking in the first place!

Hogwarts subjects needed for the Culinary Sorcery career during the O.W.L.s: Arithmancy, Charms, Herbology & Potions.

Magical Readathon: O.W.L.s 2020 TBR #OWLsReadathon2020

It’s Magical Readathon time again! I loved participating in these Harry Potter inspired readathons in previous years, so even though I’m taking things easy with all things blogging this year I just couldn’t resist signing up again. Especially as this readathon might be a distraction from these dark and strange times we are in right now… The Magical Readathons are all hosted by the wonderful Book Roast and you can find out more about this year’s O.W.L. edition in her video below.

The O.W.L.s start on the 1st of April and end on the 30th of April, which means a full month of reading to get those prompts and Hogwarts subjects finished. This is the second year of career choices; last year I managed to complete the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s for the Magizoologist career, and this year I will be going for the Culinary Sorcerer career. I thought it would be a fitting one as I love cooking and baking in the first place!

Hogwarts subjects needed for the Culinary Sorcery career during the O.W.L.s: Arithmancy, Charms, Herbology & Potions.

As I’m taking things easier this year, I will mostly focus on getting those four subjects done first, but I have made a tentative TBR for all twelve subjects below just in case…

CULINARY SORCERER TBR

• Arithmancy: magical qualities of number 2: balance/opposites – read something outside of your favorite genre WHERE SHE WENT BY GAYLE FORMAN
• Charms: lumos maxima: white cover VOX BY CHRISTINA DALCHER
• Herbology: mimbulus mimbletonia: title starts with an M THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
• Potions: shrinking solution: book under 150 pages THE SIGN OF FOUR (SHERLOCK HOLMES) BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

OTHER HOGWARTS SUBJECTS TBR

• Ancient Runes: heart rune: heart on cover or in title MEET CUTE BY HELENA HUNTING
• Astronomy: night classes: read majority of book when it’s dark outside THE OUTSIDER BY STEPHEN KING
• Care Of Magical Creatures: hippogriffs: creature with a beak on the cover WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT BY ISABEL IBAÑEZ
• Defense Against The Dark Arts: grindylows: book set at the sea/coast THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS BY M.L. STEDMAN

• Divination: third eye: assign numbers to your TBR and use random number generator to pick your read THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER BY PHAEDRA PATRICK
• History Of Magic: witch hunts: book featuring witches/wizards RUTHLESS GODS BY EMILY A. DUNCAN
• Muggle Studies: book from perspective of a muggle (contemporary) THE APARTMENT BY K.L. SLATER
• Transfiguration: animagus lecture: book/series that includes shapeshifting LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS (SOOKIE STACKHOUSE) BY CHARLAINE HARRIS

---

Are you joining the challenge? Have you read any of the titles on my TBR? Any books I should make a priority?

---

You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

2020 Beat The Backlist: Official Update Post #BTB2020

I had a lot of fun with the previous Beat The Backlist challenges, so of course I signed up again. This challenge is hosted by Novelknight and in 2020 will be all about reading for the second year in a row. No extra complications or extra points for reviews, just getting those backlist titles read and earning brownie points for that. This challenge is all about reading all those poor neglected books on your shelves instead of just new releases. We all love our new releas-es, but those older books deserve our attention too right? 😉 Books have to be published before 2020 to count, and you can set your own goals as you see fit.

I’ve decided to set my goal at a total of 80 books published before 2020, with at least 30 of them published 2017 or before.

Aaaaand I’m on team TBR STACKER this year!!

On to the official update post part… Where I will share the books I’ve read that fit the challenge. Books are either orange for books published in 2019 or 2018 or green for books published before that. Books with a # in the end have been summited for points on the Novelknight BTB challenge page.

>>> Last updated September 16th 2020 <<<

2020 (Netgalley) ARCS: The Complete List #NGEW2020

I joined this challenge during the last three years and every year so far turned out to be a big success. I’m hoping I’ll be less successful in 2020 though. Why? I want to focus more on my backlist titles; I managed to balance both better in 2019, but I didn’t meet the goal I was hoping for and I’m hoping to do better in 2020… This yearly challenge is currently hosted at Reading Between The Pages.

I’ll be aiming for SILVER – 25 books.

The list below is a list of ALL the ARCs I’ve been able to read in 2020. This includes other ARCs that won’t count for the Netgalley And Edelweiss challenge; those are marked in orange while the Netgalley ARCs are marked in green.

>>> Last updated September 18th 2020 <<<

Happy New Year and 2020 Goals

First of all I want to wish everybody a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2020!! May this year be filled with happiness for all of you. ❤

Now that it’s January 1st, it’s time to think about my reading goals for 2020. I still can’t believe I was able to read over 250 books last year, and I don’t pretend I will be able to reach that amount again… So I have decided to not stress myself and keep my challenges reasonable to avoid that pesky slump. I’ve decided 2020 will once again be all about having fun reading and reading more of my own books. As much as I love my ARCs, I have a HUGE pile of backlist titles and things are spinning out of control. In 2019, I was able to balance my ARCs and backlist titles better, but I’m hoping to really bring back the ARC ratio below that 40% in 2020.

So these will be my goals for 2020:

READING:

• I have set my Goodreads Reading Challenge to 150 books.
• Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count)
• Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count)
• Reread at least 2 books
• Bring my physical TBR pile below 600 books and keep it that way.
• Read at least one book over 800 pages
• Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40%
• Read at least 2 books in Spanish
• Read at least 1 book in Dutch
• Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations
• Read at least 10 TBR jar picks
• Join at least 5 challenges during the year
• Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80%

BLOGGING/LIFE:

• Stress less about having to post every day and don’t feel bad whenever I need a short break. This is going to be hard, but I also know that without little breaks a slump might be just around the corner, so hopefully I’ll learn to prioritize better this year.
• Be active in the community. I always try to comment and bloghop frequently, but somehow it is hard to find enough time to read, blog AND comment on the blogs I follow… And lately I’ve been needing more frequent breaks from social media to keep me from slumping. So this one will be a tricky balance to find.
• Use Babelio more and become more active in the Spanish reading community. I know I read mainly in English, but I really want to start reading more in Spanish again. The Babelio website is a good incentive to do so!

---

You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Magical Readathon: Winter 2019

I always love these readathons and while I’m basically swamped with ARCs this month, I couldn’t resist joining again. The Magical Readathons are Harry Potter themed readathons, and this Winter 2019 edition is all about Christmas at Hogwarts. This is the second Christmas themed readathon and it’s based on the second Harry Potter book Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets… Hosted by the wonderful Book Roast as always. ❤ More in her announcement video which you can find below! And check out the Magical Readathon website for more information and the weekly chapters and prompts.

In short, this readathon is divided into five chapters and each Sunday a new chapter and new prompts for the readathon are being unlocked. Your choices during the chapters will determine which and how many prompts you need to read each week! So far, the first three chapters are already unlocked, and the fourth will be up tomorrow; the last one will become available on the 29th. I’ll be using this post as an update post to keep track of the progress in the final pending chapters as well.

>> Last updated December 30th <<

FINISHED!!!!

2020 Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge #NGEW2020

I joined this challenge during the last three years and every year so far turned out to be a big success. So far I have managed to read no less than 88! NG ARCs this year and 16 other ARCs, with a few more lined up before 2019 is officially over; way more than I planned and in a way I’m hoping I’ll be less successful in 2020. Why? I want to focus more on my backlist titles; I managed to balance both better in 2019, but I didn’t meet the goal I was hoping for and I’m hoping to do better in 2020… This yearly challenge is currently hosted at Reading Between The Pages.

Challenge Guidelines

• The challenge runs from January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020. There is no deadline to sign up.
• Everyone is welcome to participate – you do not need to have a blog.
• Any genre, release date, length, etc. counts – it just needs to be a book from NetGalley or Edelweiss.
• Books can count for more than one challenge that you are participating in.
• The first day of each month I will post a monthly “link-up” for you to link your reviews. If you forget one month, no worries, just catch up the next month.
• Questions: Feel free to leave a comment below or use the contact page at the top of this post.
• Help spread the book love and use the hashtag: #NGEW2020

The Levels

Bronze – 10 Books

Silver – 25 Books

Gold – 50 Books

Platinum – 75 Books

Diamond – 100 Books

I will be going for 25 ARCs, as I’m hoping to focus on my backlist titles again in 2020…

---

Are you joining this challenge? What are your goals? 

---

You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

2020 Beat The Backlist Sign Up #BeatTheBacklist

The year is nearing to an end, and with that it’s time to think about new 2020 reading goals. Since I always seem to be having a huge pile of pending backlist titles no matter how much I read, I’m always looking for a way to make myself free more time to finally read them. I loved participating in the last three Beat The Backlist yearly challenges, so of course I had to sign up straight away for the 2020 edition.

This challenge is hosted by Novelknight and in 2020 will be all about reading for the second year in a row… No extra complications or extra points for reviews, just getting those backlist titles read and earning brownie points for that. This challenge is all about reading all those poor neglected books on your shelves instead of just new releases. We all love our new releases, but those older books deserve our attention too right? 😉 Books have to be published before 2020 to count, and you can set your own goals as you see fit.

No Harry Potter themed teams this time around, as instead you can pick the bookish team you can most relate to (The Borrowers, The Rereaders, The TBR Stackers and The Multi-Taskers) or simply join as a General Reader. I couldn’t resist joining the Team mini challenge again as a…

TBR STACKER!!!

I’m not making a TBR yet since there are still two weeks left before 2020 begins and I’m not sure what I will end up reading before then. But I have established myself a goal…

I’ve decided to set my goal at a total of 80 books published before 2020 next year, with at least 30 of them published 2017 or before.

---

I’m excited to be joining this year-long challenge again. Anyone else signing up?

---

You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.