Book Blogger New Year Challenge: Day Fourteen

Blogging Wish List Of 2014:

1) A custom domain

This is an instance of "Everyone good has one except for me!"

2) A search bar that actually looks good

It looks decent before you use it, but afterwards, it's just the most generic search results.

3) A better template

Right now, it seems my template is just boring. And it gets weird on the side buttons.

4) More good books

We can never go wrong with this.

5) Less trolls

I just don't understand them. Especially when they don't know how to spell.

6) Quicker sequel releases

As in, the next day after I read the book. Or the next hour.

7) No Badly Behaving Authors

No explanation needed.

8) More amazing books turned into amazing movies

I thought 2014 was the year for this, but now that I've seen the Vampire Academy clips, I'm scared.

9) Writing better reviews

I think all bloggers want this.

10) A Blog Button

This is reason is just like #1's.

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Eleven:

How Many Books Are On My TBR List?:

I have an embarrassing amount of books on my To Be Read List. The exact number?

2714

On a good week/month . When I get a lot read. One time it went up to the four thousand, before I decided I didn't really need to read all those books and put them on my maybe-read list.


Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Ten:

New Things I'll Do This Year: 

There's not too many things I want to do, but anyways, here are a few of them

-Write More Reviews
-Edit My Blog Design
-Publicize My Blog Some More
-Write Longer and Higher Quality Reivews
-Learn some more HTML codes


Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Eight:

Best Book Blogging Moments

I've had a lot of great moments ever since I've started blogging, and it's really hard to narrow them all down to one. The first time I ever got an ARC was from Netgalley made me so excited that I ran around deafening my dog. When an author first approached me to review a book made me even more happy. And the first time a physical ARC was sent to me probably made me the most excited.

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Seven:

Top Ten Book Blogger Pet Peeves

If you knew me in person, you'd know how annoyed I get with books, people with books, and book blogs. Narrowing it down was hard, but I managed. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the worst things people do to books:

1) Dog Earring: There is something called a bookmark. You can use almost anything flat and papery. Or, you can write down the page number somewhere. How about doing anything but ruining the book?

2) Love triangles: I don't care how hot the guys are. There is a magical, wonderful thing called a plot. And these two guys are detracting from it. 

3) Grammatical Errors: Whether this is in a blog or a book, it just makes me so angry. If it's self-published and there's only a few, sure, whatever. But if I can't understand the book because it's so bad, then there's a problem.

4) Cliffhangers: If the next book's not written yet, then how am I supposed to function in life?

5) Badly Behaving Authors: This is one of the worst things. If you cannot handle a review, then don't write the book. Or just don't read the reviews in the first place! 

6) Trolls: Look at at number six on this list.

7) Formatting: Making everything perfect is horrible. I need it to look professional and really well done, but it takes so much time.

8) Buttons Not Working: Do you see that search button on the right? It doesn't work. And no matter what I do, it won't be fixed.

9) Breaking Book Spines: Why would you completely ruin a book? Now it's never going to close again!

10) Horrible Book Titles/Covers: If there's a young adult book, and it's called something like "Sexiest Passion and the Sexy Secret", I'm not going to buy it. I'll just buy the Kindle version and be sad when it's about a serial killer and has no romance.

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Six:

Best Book of 2013

This post is so much more difficult than yesterday's. There are so many books that were amazing this year, but one of my favorites has got to be:

He lost to her twice and it nearly consumed him. Now, it's time for another game. And this time, he won't let her go so easily. Val's not just fighting for her friends' lives this time: She's fighting for her own, too.

Remember my pathetic fangirling here and here.

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Five:

Worst Book of 2013

I haven't read that many horrible books this year, but the ones that were bad almost blinded me.  So, between three books, it's hard to decide which one is the worst. But there's one that was published this year. And that is:

Rain Wilson isnt ever going to love again. 

It’s a promise she made the day her boyfriend died in a water park accident, one she still blames herself for. Now she’s a senior lifeguard in a new town with a new pool and she’s just going to keep her head down and everyone safe. 

Until a mysterious guy follows her into the waves at the pre-season bonfire and kisses her senseless. It’s just one mistake, and Rain is determined to put it behind her, until the dark haired, blue eyed hottie turns out to be her new co-supervisor Knight Mcallister. 

Knight is hot, tatted, and carrying baggage of his own. He’s not happy about having Rain for a co-supervisor, and he’s even less happy about his attraction to her. 

But between lifeguard drama, hot underwater kisses, and a growing attraction between them that can’t be stopped, Knight and Rain are being pulled deeper into their pasts, and realizing that sometimes too much broken can make a relationship impossible.

Then again sometimes it’s the broken parts of us that fit together best.

So, while I go bleach my brain, you can remember my horrible experience here.

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Four:

Books of 2014 I Won't Miss:

Like yesterday's post, this will only be titles, authors, and links, and the books are in no particular order.

1. Bitter Spirits (Roaring Twenties #1) by Jenn Bennett 
2. Unhinged (Splintered #2) by A.G. Howard
3. Darkest Fear (Birthright #1) by Cate Tiernan
4. No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale 
5. A Breath of Frost (The Lovegrove Legacy #1) by Alyxandra Harvey 
6. The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #1) by Brian Staveley
7. Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore
8. Dark Metropolis (Dark Metropolis #1) by Jaclyn Dolamore
9. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
10. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer
11. Hang Wire by Adam Christopher 
12. Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter #2) by Megan Shepherd
13. Be with Me (Wait for You #2) by J. Lynn
14. Talon (Talon #1) by Julie Kagawa
15. Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
16. The Mirk and Midnight Hour (Strands #2) by Jane Nickerson
17. Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
18. Grave Visions (Alex Craft #4) by Kalayna Price 
19. Salvage by Alexandra Duncan 
20. Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige
21. Sekret (Sekret #1) by Lindsay Smith
22. Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell
23. Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy #1) by Danielle L. Jensen 
24. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
25. Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3) by Laini Taylor
26. Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends #1)by Kelley Armstrong
27. A Shard of Ice (The Black Symphony Saga #1) by Alivia Anders 
28. Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout
29. The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) by Julie Kagawa
30. The Warrior (Dante Walker #3) by Victoria Scott
31. Brazen by Katherine Longshore 
32. Free to Fall by Lauren Miller
33. I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora 
34. The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes 
35. Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo 
36. Hexed (The Witch Hunter #1) by Michelle Krys 
37. Followers by Anna Davies
38. Burned (Dani O'Malley Trilogy #2) by Karen Marie Moning
39. Midnight Thief (Midnight Thief #1) by Livia Blackburne
40. Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Three:

The Books of 2013 That I Really Shouldn't Have Missed:

Since there are so many of these books that I didn't read, I'll just post the link to Goodreads, instead of the cover and summary. And these are just a few of the books I should have read and are in no order:

1. Night of Cakes and Puppets (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2.5) by Laini Taylor
2. My Name is Rapunzel by K.C. Hilton.
3. Nameless (Tales of Beauty & Madness #1) by Lili St. Crow, Lilith Saintcrow 
4. Poor Little Dead Girls by Lizzie Friend 
5. Catch Me by Claire Contreras
6. This Wicked Game by Michelle Zink 
7. After Eden (After Eden #1) by Helen Douglas
8. Champion (Legend #3) by Marie Lu 
9. In the Blood by Sara Hantz 
10. I Am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton
11. The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray
12. Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales by lots of people
13. Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3) by Karina Halle
14. (Never) Again by Theresa Paolo
15. Heart Failure by Richard L. Mabry
16. Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein
17. Do I Bother You At Night? by Troy Aaron Ratliff
18. Cursed (Fallen Siren #1) by S.J. Harper
19. The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski 
20. This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
21. Antigoddess (Goddess War #1) by Kendare Blake 
22. The Elites by Natasha Ngan  
23. All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry
24. Reality Boy by A.S. King
25. Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

There. I think that's enough.

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day Two:

Pros and Cons of Blogging:

Like everything, blogging has its upsides and its downsides. These are mine:

Cons:

1. Already having read everything.
2. Realizing that you'll never get a Jericho Barrons or any other Romance character
3. People think you're going to kill them because you never come out of your room, since you're either writing or reading
4. Losing sleep because you have to finish a book or else you'll die from suspense
5. Cliffhangers in an ARC when the next book hasn't been written yet
6. Everyone automatically assumes you've read anything that's ever been written.
7. If you haven't read something, everyone in a fifty foot radius turns to you and gasps
8. The formatting of every blog post
9. Realizing you're not going to be as awesome as that other blogger
10. No one understands your sense of humor, since most of it comes in the form of snarky book quotes

Pros:

1. The amazing people that you'll meet
2. Free books
3. Reading everything before anyone
4. Becoming a better writer
5. The feeling you get when you get a like that's not from you family member
6. Getting an ARC in the mail
7. Better memory skills from differentiating between one book from another 
8. Patience from waiting for a book to get better
9. Finding great books
10. An outlet for your rants about annoying books that's not to your friends

What are your pros and cons of blogging?

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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Book Blogger New Year’s Challenge- Day One:

Five Blogging Resolutions:

So I've been blogging for a little over a year now, and I think I've gotten lazy. I went from over ten reviews a month to around two or three. Most my posts are just promotional posts. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but if it's the majority of what I publish, well, it doesn't really show dedication. Since 2014 is a new year and all, I have a list of things I want to improve on The Reading Obsession.

1. Write more reviews: I already wrote about this
2. Clean up the blog design: The blog already has a decent design, but it has some flaws. I'm planning to fix some of the bugs and just make it look neater.
3. Expand my genres: The Reading Obsession is a blog dedicated to fiction book, such as crime thrillers and high fantasy. However, I've focused on Young Adult and Romance. I'm planning to change this up.
4. Stop being terrified of asking for ARCs: I usually use Netgalley or Edelweiss to get ARCs and I never really try and branch out to publishers. I've been changing that in 2013, but I want to make a more drastic change
5. Balancing my blogging time: Whenever I write reviews, I go to Goodreads for the book synopsis, cover, and link. But then, I always get sidetracked by funny reviews or just random things. This takes up a lot of my blogging time, and then I end up not having any.

What are your blogging resolutions?

Thank you, Parajunkee, for coming up with this idea. 

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