EOY 2015 Wrap Up

At the end of every year and the beginning of the next, I go into contemplative mode. I think about the past year. What happened? What changed in my life? What were the big things that I accomplished? What did I spend my time doing or thinking about? And then I think about the upcoming one as well. What do I want to see happen? What do I want to change in my life? What big things do I want to accomplish? What do I want to spend my time doing and thinking about? What things about last year do I really want to see change in the upcoming one?

The first thing that I think of when reflecting on this past year is all of the family changes that happened throughout the year. Husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for approximately 18 months (including one miscarriage) when the year started. I found out that I was pregnant the middle of the second week of February. So very early on, we know this year would involve some majorly drastic changes to our lives. Also very early on we became very baby focused. Because of the difficulties we had getting pregnant and the prior miscarriage, my mind was focused solely on getting past week 12 when chances of miscarriage decrease. In March, I lost a cousin who had been fighting breast cancer for quite a long while that had eventually spread to her bones and other areas of her body. She had the most positive attitude through her entire fight. Husband’s parent’s celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary also in March and we partied for them in April where we also announced their upcoming grandchild. Late May, my aunt and uncle were involved in a car accident that killed my uncle and left my aunt with broken bones throughout her entire left side of her body. On July 4th, my husband’s father died somewhat suddenly. He’d been in the hospital for a week but we were getting positive news about his progress. In July, my grandfather was also hospitalized for a hernia in his intestines that required surgery. By October, we welcomed our new baby girl, Ever Lael (meaning “Always Belonging to God”) into the world and into our family. Needless to say, our family has truly been through a lot this year. But everyone goes through hard times, and we celebrate our blessings as well as we mourn our losses.

Pregnancy was a good bit different than I expected it to be. One thing I noticed off the bat was how extremely tired I was. In the first trimester it wasn’t unusual for me to sleep 10-13 hours a day. I noticed early on that I was just not making much progress in my books because I couldn’t stay awake. Prolonging the length of time it takes to read a book also tends to affect my overall enjoyment of the book. So on top of noticing that I wasn’t reading as much as normal, I also noticed that I wasn’t enjoying the books I was reading nearly as much as I hoped or as usual. Throughout the year and my pregnancy, I noted to my friend Paula that “either it’s me, or the books I’ve been reading this year just aren’t as good as other years.” She quickly informed me that it was in fact me. Truthfully, I shouldn’t have been surprised. While pregnancy did leave me more emotional than normal and in a much easier place to cry, I also found myself more annoyed and easily irritable than normal. Hormones. Got to love them. So things that might have been minor annoyances or things that I didn’t even really mentally note in prior years became things that I zeroed in on and would find myself beyond annoyed with. During my EOM Wrap Up posts, I found that I where last year I regularly read between 11 and 14 books, I was doing extremely well to read 8 this year.

My frustration with the books I was reading combined with my lack of progress in reading led me to a bit of a blogging slump as well. My slower reading progress meant that I wasn’t as far ahead on blog scheduling. And I also didn’t have as much of a backlog of reviews already prepared to pull from. I had to cut my reviews from 3 per week back to 2 per week. I told myself that this was fine because I was still reaching my overall goal of 104 books for the year (2 books per week), and I could always supplement a review post with a discussion post.

Now that I've had 2 1/2 months of being a mom I've realized that it's likely that I just won't be able to read as much as I thought or hoped I would. Even though I'm now a stay-at-home mom, I still just don't have as much time as previous years to read. Being home full time doesn't mean I don't have a job. Instead I have the best job in the world. A job that doesn't pay in cash but in smiles and snuggles and a heart full to bursting with love. I realize that Ever's first year will be full of changes and my time to read will likely vary as much from month to month as it does from day to day. However, since this is my first time doing this mom thing, I have no idea what is a good goal for reading or blogging for 2016. That being said, I rather hate having vague goals. I like my goals to be specific and measurable. But truthfully, I think my goal for 2016 will simply be to read some and blog some. I'm not going anywhere. I just have to do some readjusting. And so far the biggest lesson that I've realized I need to learn since becoming a mom is being a bit more flexible and letting go of my imagined control--I don't truly have any control anyway. This year has taught me that for sure.

EOM Wrap Up Posts for 2015

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Blogging Highlights from 2015

Holly and I successfully hosted the 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge. This was our second year. We are returning for 2016 also.

I participated in the March Take Control of Your TBR Pile and read 5 books from my TBR pile.

Celebrated my 4th Blogoversary.

Participated in Armchair BEA for the 4th year in a row.

October was my 3rd annual All Things Halloween event of Halloween-ish book reviews and such.

I continued features created in previous years: Upon Further Review, From the Ashes, and Discussions Only We Know. Although, I didn't get any Series DNF or Cover Doubles posts done.

I reviewed one movie: Insurgent.

I listened to 15 audiobooks. A significantly less number than last year.

I re-read 4 books that I've read in previous years.

Books Read in 2015

*These qualify for the 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge.
Burning Glass - Kathryn Purdie (review coming soon)
Assassin's Heart - Sarah Ahiers (review coming soon)
Sword and Verse - Kathy MacMillan (review coming soon)
*Paradise Road (Paradise, # 2) - CJ Duggan
Kate and Alf - Carrie Stone (DNF @ 6%)
Kiss Kill Vanish - Jessica Martinez
November 9 - Colleen Hoover (review coming soon)
The Praying Woman's Devotional - Stormie Omartian
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, # 1) - Laini Taylor (re-read)
The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, # 2) - Mary E Pearson (review coming soon)
Faking Normal - Courtney C Stevens (review coming soon)
Cage of Deceit (Reign of Secrets, # 1) - Jennifer Anne Davis
Whisper - Heather Hildenbrand
The Fill-In Boyfriend - Kasie West (review coming soon)
The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, # 3) - Julie Kagawa (DNF @ 64%)
*War (True Reign, # 3) - Jennifer Anne Davis
Red (True Reign, # 2) - Jennifer Anne Davis
The Key (True Reign, # 1) - Jennifer Anne Davis
The Lies About Truth - Courtney C Stevens
Until Friday Night (The Field Party, # 1) - Abbi Glines (review coming soon)
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E Smith
The Sin Eater's Daughter (The Sin Eater's Daughter, # 1) - Melinda Salisbury
*Surviving Ice (Burying Water, # 4) - KA Tucker
Golden Son (Red Rising Trilogy, # 2) - Pierce Brown
*The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, # 3) - Michelle Hodkin
Velvet Undercover - Teri Brown
Stealing Third - Marta Brown
Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy, # 1) - Rae Carson
Truest - Jackie Lea Sommers
*Sweet (Contours of the Heart, # 3) - Tammara Webber
A Thousand Nights - EK Johnston
The One (The Selection, # 3) - Kiera Cass
Awakening You (Unraveling You, # 3) - Jessica Sorensen
Raveling You (Unraveling You, # 2) - Jessica Sorensen
Unraveling You (Unraveling You, # 1) - Jessica Sorensen
Deliverance (Defiance, # 3) - CJ Redwine
My Life Next Door (My Life Next Door, # 1) - Huntley Fitzpatrick
Unbreakable (Unbreakable, # 1) - Rebecca Shea
*PS I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, # 2) - Jenny Han
All Played Out (Rusk University, # 3) - Cora Carmack
The Elite (The Selection, # 2) - Kiera Cass
*Deep (Stage Dive, # 4) - Kylie Scott
Chasing Impossible (Pushing the Limits, # 5) - Katie McGarry
The Selection (The Selection, # 1) - Kiera Cass
Lead (Stage Dive, # 3) - Kylie Scott
Forbidden (Forbidden, # 1) - Kimberley Griffiths Little
Beautiful Sacrifice (The Maddox Brothers, # 3) - Jamie McGuire
Deception (Defiance, # 2) - CJ Redwine
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between - Jennifer E Smith
For the Love:Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards - Jen Hatmaker
*Champion (Legend, # 3) - Marie Lu
Things I Can't Forget (Hundred Oaks, # 3) - Miranda Kenneally
Prodigy (Legend, # 2) - Marie Lu
Chasing River (Burying Water, # 3) - KA Tucker
Never Never Part 2 - Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
Stealing Parker (Hundred Oaks, # 2) - Miranda Kenneally
Faking Perfect - Rebecca Phillips
Jesse's Girl (Hundred Oaks, # 6) - Miranda Kenneally
All the Rage - Courtney Summers
Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road, # 1) - Katie McGarry
Paper Towns - John Green
Catching Jordan (Hundred Oaks, # 1) - Miranda Kenneally
Crimson Bound - Rosamund Hodge
*Asa (Marked Men, # 6) - Jay Crownover
*Ignite Me (Shatter Me, # 3) - Tahereh Mafi
The Night We Said Yes - Lauren Gibaldi
World After (Penryn & the End of Days, # 2) - Susan Ee
What If - Rebecca Donovan
7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess - Jen Hatmaker
Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, # 1) - Susan Ee
Vanishing Girls - Lauren Oliver (DNF 25%)
Unrequited (Woodlands, # 4) - Jen Frederick (not reviewed)
*Ruin Me (Nova, # 5) - Jessica Sorensen
Wreck Me (Nova, # 4) - Jessica Sorensen
Confess - Colleen Hoover
All Broke Down (Rusk University, # 2) - Cora Carmack
All Lined Up (Rusk University, # 1) - Cora Carmack
*The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines, # 6) - Richelle Mead
Paradise City (Paradise, # 1) - CJ Duggan
A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice & Fire, # 5) - George R R Martin
The Summer of Chasing Mermaids - Sarah Ockler
Breathe Annie Breathe (Hundred Oaks, # 5) - Miranda Kenneally
Divided We Fall (Divided We Fall Trilogy, # 1) - Trent Reedy
Riot (Mayhem, # 2) - Jamie Shaw
The Body Electric - Beth Revis
Legend (Legend, # 1) - Marie Lu
That One Summer (Summer, # 3) - CJ Duggan
Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers, # 2) - Jamie McGuire
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, # 3) - Cassandra Clare (re-read)
*Until the End (Sea Breeze, # 9) - Abbi Glines (not reviewed)
Becoming Rain (Burying Water, # 2) - KA Tucker
Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, # 1) - Pierce Brown
Carter Finally Gets It (Carter Finally Gets It, # 1) - Brent Crawford (re-read)
99 Days - Katie Cotugno
Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, # 1) - Robin LaFevers (re-read)
Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum, # 21) - Janet Evanovich
Invincible (Invincible, # 1) - Amy Reed (DNF 40%)
Never Never (Never Never, # 1) - Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
The Secrets of Attraction - Robin Constantine
Things We Know By Heart - Jessi Kirby
Mayhem (Mayhem, # 1) - Jamie Shaw
Twice in a Blue Moon - Cate Masters