Fill in the Gaps/Deal Me In Challenge Update December 2015

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You may remember at the beginning of 2015 I challenged myself to read 100 books in five years. If I read 75 books then the challenge is considered complete. I revealed my list, which you can view here. Throughout the year I crossed off books as I read them and I made a couple changes to the original list after trying to read the original book I set forth for myself and not wanting to finish the book because I wasn't enjoying the book. I finally did the end of the year tally to see how many of these books I managed to complete in 2015. I'm so proud of myself. I managed to read 16 books, which puts me right on track to finish 75. I need to read around 20 a year to complete the 100, but if I manage to binge read some of the series I have on my list then I can made a lot of progress towards my goal.

So in no particular order these are the books I read for the Deal Me In/ Fill in the Gaps personal challenge.

January 2016 TBR

So If you want to see my December Wrap Up. You can find it in My December Out with the Old and In with the New post.  I want to bring back the wrap up and TBR list this year, so I'm starting it out right by announcing my TBR List for January. I'm going to stick to 5 books because that usually seems to be a good number for me. With the Size of both Winter and Carry On I do not plan to finish all of these novels, but I want to read as many as possible. 

I'm about 50 pages into Wonder by RJ Palacio. The other books I plan to read are Soundless by Rochelle Mead, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, and Winter by Marissa Meyer. 

I also plan to watch The ShadowHunters TV Show this month and will let you guys know what I think. 

Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant to Read, but Didn't

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I did this post last year for both 2013 and 2014. I still haven't read all of the 2013 or 2014 releases, but I tried to hit them over the year. I am doing updates on those list in the next few weeks. For now here are the 2015 releases that I wanted to read, but didn't. I put the authors I have read previously first followed by 3 new authors. 

1. Winter by Marissa Meyer- this just came in at the library. I'm excited to read the final book in the series. 

2. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell- I didn't get to this book over break, but I have it checked out and plan to read it soon. 

3. The Start of You and Me by Emery Lord- I'm surprised I never got to this book given how much I loved Emery Lord's first novel.

4. See Me by Nicholas Sparks- this has over 100 holds at the library, so it is just a matter of time until it comes in for me. 

5. Jack by Liesel Shurtliff- I loved the other book I read by this author so I'm excited to get to Jack

6. Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George- I read four books by George last year, but this wasn't one of them. 

7. Mirrored by Alex Flinn- I'm interested in this one's summary. It sounds like a great retelling. 

8. Tonight the Streets are Ours by Leila Sales- We bought this one on Black Friday because we loved the summary. 

9. A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston- Another book we bought on Black Friday. It sounds like a great fairy tale retelling

10. How to be Brave by  E. Katherine Kottaras- I have heard this one is emotional, but that is sometimes when I get attached to the characters the most. 

2016 Challenges

Hosted by James Reads Books. I love this challenge as usual the challenge is to just read books that you own until April 1st. My goal is to always limit the new releases I read until April 1st. I'm allowed to read library books as long as they were previously on my TBR list. I don't know of any new releases in early 2016 that I just have to read, but I will allow myself two new releases during this challenge. Otherwise I commit to reducing my Goodreads and Physical TBR. 

Hosted by My Soul Called Life. This is my fourth year joining this challenge. The first year it took me until December 31st to complete. The second year I didn't complete this challenge. I only finished 6 months. The 3rd year I finished 8 months. Now this year I'm back to try this challenge again. All the ideas come from my Goodreads TBR list and will hopefully be apart of Random Reads, which I'm hoping to come back to this year.  

January

Crowd, Girl, The, Bad, Soul, Soft

Ideas: Just Another Girl by Melody Carlson, The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine, Girls Online by Zoe Snugg, New Girl by Paige Harbison, Titan Magic: Body and Soul by Jodi Lamm, Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross, Anything with The

Read:

February

Veil, Kiss, Her, Break, Love, Starts

Ideas: If we Kiss by Rachel Vail, A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn, The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak, The Things we do for Love by Kristin Hannah, Love Lucy by April Lindner, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Read:

March

Game, Fire, Darkness, School, Like, Change

Ideas: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani, Heart Like Mine by Amy Hatvany, Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

Read:

April

Far, Life, Stay, One, War, Thorns

Ideas: Gone too Far by Natalie D. Richards, Far from You by Tess Sharpe, My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick, Once in Every Life by Kristin Hannah, Never Have I Ever: My Life (So Far) Without a Date by Katie Heaney, Stay by Deb Caletti, And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard, The Dear One by Jacqueline Woodson, Just One Day by Gayle Forman, Just One Year by Gayle Forman, Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor, Rapunzel: The One with All the Hair by Wendy Mass, The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell, Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay

Read:

May

Cure, Trial, Family, Key, Thief, Bend

Ideas: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale, The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire, Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

Read:

June

Moon, In, Only, Whisper, Sleep Trap

Ideas: Waiting for the Moon by Kristin Hannah, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott, Moonlight and Ashes by Sophie Masson, Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguie, If Only by Carole Geithner, If Only We by Jessica Sankiwicz, Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey, A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan, Sleeping Beauty's Daughters by Diane Zahler, Anything with In

Read:

July

Rose, Sun, Clock, Day, Angel, Unto

Ideas: Five Enchanted Roses by Elizabeth Anne Stengl, Rose by Holly Webb, The Rose Bride by Nancy Holder, I'll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah, A Season of Angels by Debbie Macomber

Read:

August

Prince, Boy, Glass, Heart, Lost, Now

Ideas: The Frog Prince by Jenni James, Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, Little Boy Lost by Eric Hobbs, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee, Five Glass Slippers by Elisabeth Brown, The Glass Case by Kristin Hannah, The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak, My Paper Heart by Magan Vernon, The Crystal Heart by Sophie Masson, Heart Like Mine by Amy Hatvany, Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid, Little Boy Lost by Eric Hobbs, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, Now and Forever by Susane Colasanti

Read:

September

Wind, Color, Touch, At, How, Sweet

Ideas: At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, How to be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras, Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler, The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors, Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

Read: 

November

Dream, Holiday, And, Of, Dawn, Beautiful

Ideas: The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Durst, Fractured Dream by K.M. Randall, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton, Positively Beautiful by Wendy Mills, Anything with And, Anything with Of

Read:

December

End, Promise, Everlasting, Ice, Snow, My

Ideas: The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine, Crown of Ice by Vicki L Weavil, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, Snow White by Jenni James, Let it Snow by John Green, Snow by Tracy Lynn, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, Scarlet in the Snow by Sophie Masson, Anything with My

Read: 

Hosted by Bea's Book Nook. I cut down on the number of library books I checked out during 2015. I'm going to start student teaching in Fall of 2016, so I don't see my reading going up too much this year. I'm going to go for middle grades which is 18 books from the library. 

Hosted by The Crafty Engineer I'm going to shoot for Level 1, which is 13,000 pages. 

Hosted by Literary Escapism. I'm going to go for 15 New Authors this year. 

Hosted by My Reader's Block I'm going for Pike's Peak again this year, which is 12 books off my previously owned TBR list. With over 60 unread owned books I shouldn't run out of options to choose from. 

Hosted by Second Run Review, Chapter Break, and Bookworm Brandee Sign Up Here. I'm going for 11-20 books again this year. With over 60 unreaded owned books I shouldn't run out of options to choose from. 

Hosted by Bookish Lifestyle. I'm going for A Friendly Hug which is 11-20 books. This is my third TBR challenge and since I have over 60 unread books on my shelve I shouldn't run out of options to choose. 

Hosted by Estellas Revenge. This year I decided not to go overboard with the library challenges, but I'm probably going overboard with the TBR challenges. The stakes are high because if I do not manage to read at least 11 books I own I fail 4 challenges now, but with over 60 unread books I think 12 should be a doable amount. This is a set your own rules challenge. I choose the number 12, but you can choose whatever number of books you would like to read this year. 

Hosted by The Daily Prophecy. I'm going for Goose Girl, which is 5-9 books. 2015 was not the best year for fairy tale retellings. I was much more into contemporary books, so we will see if I gravitate towards this genre in 2016. 

Hosted by Pretty Deadly Reviews. Blacklist books is for those forgotten books. The ones that aren't new releases or arcs. The host of this challenge counts backlist books as books that are published over a year before you read them. In January of 2016 the book must be published in or before December 2014. 

Hosted by Books, Movies, Reviews! oh My! and (un)Convential Bookviews Sign Up Here. I'm going for New Release Newbie which is 1-15 books. I don't see myself reading much more as I haven't really done any research on 2016 books that I'm even interested in reading. 

Hosted by Gone with Words and Love at First Page. Sign up Here. This is strictly a Conteporary romance challenge, so paranormal, historical, time-travel, fantasy, science fiction, or mystery/suspense/thriller do not count. I'm going to go for 2nd base which is 6-10 books. 

Hosted by Somewhere We Only Know and Words Fueled by Love. Another year, another series enders challenge, and another year where I vow to finish those series. I'm going for Level 1, which is 1-5 books. I hope to finish Isla and the Happily Ever After (yes I will complete this one), Winter, 1225 Christmas Tree Lane, and hopefully many more. 

Hosted by Bea's Book Nook. Of course I have series to finish. Anna and the French Kiss and the Cedar Cove series are on top of my priority list for 2016. We will start with Novice Series Reader, which is to just complete 1 series. 

Hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads.  I'm going to go for Ametuer which is 25-50 points. 1 point for prequel or sequel novellas, 2 points for each sequel, 10 pts for completing the series. 

Hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun. I decided to join this challenge after all. I'm going for the easiest level which is 12 books 1/month. They will have quarterly check ins in March, June, September, and December where you can report your results for the quarter. June is my chance to change one of the books on this list. I picking books for this challenge that I own or have needed to read for a long time. I am even including one series on this list, if I complete the series in a month then I will exchange those books for other books to read. Without Further to do here are the books I plan to read for this challenge. I hope you will encourage me and remind me to read these books this year. 

1. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

2. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

3. This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

4. We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sunquist

5. Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

6. Friendship by Emily Gould

7. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

8. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

9. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

10. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

11. Wonder

12. A Thousand Nights

There are my 12 books. This is a hard challenge and I don't want to over pressure myself to complete it, but that being said I would love to finish these 12 books this year. I own most of them or having been saying I'm going to read them for awhile now, so it would be great to finish these 12 books. 

The 2016 Challenge Challenge is hosted by The Novel Orange. The idea behind this challenge is to complete the reading challenges that I sign up for. I'm signing up for level 2 which is to complete at least 5 challenges. 

Reading Challenge Addict. I have only signed up for 15 challenges this year. That is significantly lower than usually. I'm waiting for more people to put up challenge signs ups. For now I'm shooting for On the Roof 6-10 challenges completed. 

Christmas Spirit Reading 2015 Challenge Wrap Up

Hosted by Seasons of Reading

I was going for Miseltoe this year, which is 2 books. As you can see above I completed four books. I read three Debbie Macomber books and The Trouble with Christmas on my kindle. I enjoyed reading all of these books as they looked at the magic and spirit of Christmas.  I read these books very fast as I had about an hour and half to read at work while the kids nap. 

A Cedar Cove Christmas Review

Starry Night Review

Mr. Miracle Review

The Trouble with Christmas Review

I have watched many amazing movies on Hallmark channel this year along with old favorites on ABC Family.

Some of my favorite of Hallmark's new movies have been Ice Sculpture Christmas, Once Upon a Holiday, On the 12th Day of Christmas, Crown for Christmas, A Christmas Detour, Angel of Christmas, and Just in Time for Christmas.

And I did actually like one lifetime Christmas movie this year and that was Last Chance for Christmas.

This was a great year for Christmas movies. We are still working our way through the list, but as of right now I have liked many of the movies they have put on.