A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: seven books read (one from my Up Next shelf), three new books I want to read featuring one nonfiction that’s a compilation of a civil rights activist’s speeches, a contemporary fiction novel that unpacks the influence of family secrets and a contemporary romance Bachelorette-style and three new books releasing this week!
Updates
| Last Week’s Blog Updates | Last Week’s Goodreads Reviews |
|---|---|
| 📖 The Yearly Wrap: 2020 📖 Sweet Yet Anti-climatic: A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova 📖 Weekly Wrap: December 21st to December 27th | 📚 Furious by R.L. Mathewson 📚 When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon 📚 As Kismet Would Have It by Sandhya Menon 📚 After the Fall by Claudia Connor |
Contents
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Weekly Review
What I’ve Read This Week
Key: 🔁 re-read| ❌ DNF | 📜 from my Up Next shelf | 📲 eARC
- Reckoning (The Elemental Paladins, #7) by Montana Ash 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Furious (Anger Management, #2) by R.L. Mathewson ⭐️⭐️
- When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi, #1) by Sandhya Menon 📜 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- As Kismet Would Have It (Dimple and Rishi, #2) by Sandhya Menon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Adrian (Under the Lights, #3) by Ella Fox and Rochelle Paige ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Finding Strength (The Searchers, #5) by Ripley Proserpina 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- After the Fall (The McKinney Brothers, #1.5) by Claudia Connor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Reading Progress
I am pleased I could knock off another book from my Up Next shelf before the end of 2020. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon was such a sweet and cute romance. Since there were so many negative ratings, I wrote a lengthy review on Goodreads to explain why I rated it 4-stars. You can see my review here.
And, while I didn’t meet my reading goal, I read so many great books this year. You can check out my summary of 2020 here.
I also finished my theme of standalone fantasy novels with my review of A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova. I enjoyed reading it, and as my most read genre of the year demonstrates (HEA Erotica), I found comfort in lighthearted books. However, as my review demonstrates, there were quite a few inconsistencies and plot holes that detracted from my enjoyment of the novel. You can read my review of the novel here.
Up Next Shelf Progress
A reminder: my Up Next Shelf is comprised of all the unread books I want to read and have purchased.
I’m changing up my progress from a simple percentage complete to a line graph (see left) because a percentage doesn’t acknowledge how both the number of books read and the total books on the shelf fluctuate.
Net Progress = Books Added – Books Read
The total number of books on my Up Next Shelf has increased from 94 to 94 books and my books read also increased to 48 books read. I read one from my Up Next shelf last week and moved Crooked Kingdom from my current read back to my Up Next shelf which accounts for the increase in books added.
My Net Progress stayed the same at 7 books; I read the same number of books that I added to my Up Next shelf.
– Total Books is the total number of books still waiting to be read on my Up Next Shelf. It’s important to recognize that when I finish a book, that book is immediately deducted from the total, meaning the total value decreases. It’s important because while the weeks of Nov 2-8 and Nov 9-15 look like my total books value hasn’t changed, it actually shows that I added a new book to my Up Next Shelf during the Week of Nov 9-15.
– Books Read is the number of books I’ve read from my Up Next Shelf in that week. The values are negative because finishing a book from the Shelf decreases the total value. Therefore, when looking at the Overall graph (the yellow line), you can see when the line is 0, the books I read and added cancel each other out. This week (Nov 16-22), the Overall value is below the 0-line, demonstrating that I didn’t add any new books to my Up Next Shelf, but I did finish a book from the Shelf.
Want to Read Updates
You will like To Tell It Like It Is by Fannie Lou Hamer if you appreciate:
✨ Civil rights activist
✨ Nonfiction
✨ Compilation of speeches
You will like All Adults Here by Emma Straub if you appreciate:
✨ Contemporary fiction
✨ Story of a dysfunctional family
✨ Character driven
✨ Theme of secrets
The Upcoming Week
To Be Read
The upcoming week marks the first of my posts that will fall officially under 2021. Therefore, I want to focus my to-be-read list on the books that were still outstanding from my 2020 Weekly Wraps:
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
- For the Love of Men by Liz Plank
Finally, I am currently reading Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks and therefore want to, at minimum, finish this book by the end of this week.
From my 2020 Wrap Up, I realized that a significant majority of my books read were either instant reads (I bought them and instantly read them) or re-reads. As a result, I didn’t really reduce the books on my Up Next shelf. However, since I’m more aware, I’ve realized I need to add any books that I don’t immediately read to my Up Next shelf and remind myself when I’m looking for a new book to read to look at my literal and metaphorical bookshelf first!
To Look Forward To This Week
There are three amazing books coming out this week, one of which I recently added to my Upcoming Release list.
The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr recently came to my attention. It tells the story of two enslaved young men who love each other on a Deep South plantation. It navigates the danger of their existence, the betrayal they suffer and the cruelty they’ve inherited. Yet, it also espouses the transcendent power of love and connection. I am so eager to read The Prophets which releases tomorrow, January 5, 2021.
The two other books releasing this week have been on my Upcoming Releases list for a long time. The first is Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant which is a young adult romance marketed as ‘Jane the Virgin meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.’ I love coming of age young adult novels, so I can’t wait to add this book to my reading list.
The final book coming out this week is White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind by Koa Beck. It explores how mainstream feminism has completely excluded important conversations about race, resulting in a feminism that is distinctly white in its compatriots and ideology. Most importantly, the author unpacks the rising popularity of corporate feminism and challenges the lack of inclusivity through her convincing argument that elitism and racism have been a driving force for many “feminists” for years. White Feminism by Koa Beck appears like it will be one of my most impactful reads of January (and possibly 2021).
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[…] Both these books released this week on January 5th! To find out the details of why they are an anticipated release, check out my Weekly Wrap (here). […]