Y’all, I know I say this all the time, but the year is flying by. I missed out on posting my March Wrap Up, as it has just been a completely crazy few months. We’re staring to get out of the house more now that we’re vaccinated. It’s been great but also how did we managed to be so social before? Even one event a week is wearing me out. I digress.

If you’re new to Speaking Of…, I like to post a monthly wrap up of everything I read during the month. I link my reviews to what I read for easy access, talk about any books I did not finish (DNF), and pick out my favorite and least favorite reads for the month, In addition to covering what I read during the month, I also like to take a look back at the my yearly goals. More in part to keep myself accountable, I provide updates on these as well, though they’re not all book or reading related.

While my goal every month is to read 12 – 15 books, this month I finished up 11 books. Most books I read this month were digital review copies. I’m finding that I read digital books much faster than physical books, who knew! Check out everything I read in April below!

January Reading Recap

1. When the Stars Go Dark Paula McLain | ★★★★ | REVIEW
2. To Love and to Loathe (The Regency Vows #2): Martha Waters | ★★★ | REVIEW
3. Local Woman Missing: Mary Kubica| ★★★★ | REVIEW
4. Hana Khan Carries On: Uzma Jalaluddin| ★★★★ | REVIEW
5. Paper & Blood (Ink & Sigil #2): Kevin Hearne| ★★★★★ | REVIEW
6. People We Meet on Vacation: Emily Henry| ★★★★★ | REVIEW
7. Dial A for Aunties: Jess Q. Sutanto | ★★★★ | REVIEW
8. We Hunt the Flame: Hafsah Faizal | ★★★| REVIEW
9. Arsenic and Adobo: Mila P. Manansala  | ★★ | REVIEW
10. A Special Place for Women: Emily Hankin | ★★★★★ | REVIEW
11. A Good Day for Chardonnay : Darynda Jones –  ★★★★★ | REVIEW

Books In Progress

1. Malibu Rising: Taylor Jenkins Reid
2. Battle Ground (The Dresden Files #17): Jim Butcher
3. We Begin at the End Chris Whitaker

Favorite / Least Favorite

My least favorite book of the month was Arsenic and Adobe. I’m iffy on the whole cozy mystery genre, and unfortantly this one fell flat for me. It happens.

My FAVORITE books this month was a tie between People We Meet on Vacation and A Good Day for Chardonnay. Both were excellently writing and books that I had to binge. Runner up was When the Stars Go Dark, which was an outstanding read but the other two I’ll be recommending to everyone!

Did you read any of these this month? Share your thoughts and your favorite/least favorite reads this month with me in the comments. Or by going to my instagram @speakingof_books

2021 Goal Updates

While I mainly focus on what I read in these wraps up, I do like to jot down updates to my entire goal list for the year. Mainly because this keep me accountable and motivates me to keep going. You can see a full list of my 2021 goals, both for reading and non-reading, HERE.

1. Read 125 Books: Currently I’m 1 book ahead of scheduled according to Goodreads. Which means the 43 books I’ve read so far in 2021 put me sitting at 32% of reaching my reading goal for the year.
2.  Book buying ban for 6 months: I actually forgot about this but I only bought my Book of the Month books so that’s a win in my book.
3.  Get my Netgalley rating up to 80%: Um yes, I’m so behind. I don’t want to talk about this one.
4. Reach 10,000 Instagram Followers on Bookstagram: Started 2021 with 5300 followers, and I’m up to almost 5,930 which is a ~160 increase for March. Not as much of an increase as I would like but we’re making slow progress.
5.  Reach 500 Blog Followers: I added 15 followers in March. Slowly making my way to 500, if you haven’t already done so, make sure to sign up to follow me!
6. Post 3 blog posts a week: Staying consistent with posting is a huge goal of mine. I’ve been fairly active in this space, but did not make my goal this month. Work and life have just kept me too busy.
7. Write More: Not blog writing, but novel writing. This just did not happen this month at all. Unfortunately, I have all the ideas and none of the time currently to get this one done.
8.  Read my Book of the Month backlist: I read 1 Book of the Month backlist I had, yay me! I also read 3 of my March Book of the Month picks. Go me!
9.  Read my 21 Backlist books of 2021: We Hunt the Flame was on my backlist, so it was great to cross that off this month.

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Thanks for helping me stay accountable with my 2021 goals. If you’d like to share your goals with me please comment below or visiting my Instagram page @speakingof_books. Make sure to follow both my blog and Instagram to see how I’m doing on my goals all year long!

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