Reader’s Choice Goal Review Giveaway

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Another fairly new Best Reads Blog tradition is quarterly reading goal reviews. I’ll share my progress (or not!) here just for some fun, book nerdy stats and, if you’re so inclined you can share a goal or two in the comments. But no pressure – a goal can be as simple as ‘read a book.’

So, to enter this giveaway, just share anything goal related in the comments. Then, in the same comment, list a book that will help you reach your goal. So it looks like this:

“I want to catch up on some suspense series. Night Prey by Susan Sleeman.”

****NOTE: BOOKS MUST BE CHRISTIAN FICTION****

You can enter up to three times in three separate comments — and you can use the same goal or a different one each time, but a different title for each entry.

Books can be published any time up through the end of this year. Currently published books will be ordered this coming week for winners, otherwise it will be an IOU for a title releasing later in October, November or December 2023.

See? Easy Peasy. But if you’re still not clear, don’t be shy about asking questions.

So, I’m trying to be all techie with some of my reading in review summaries — and maybe a goal or two. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂 I am no mathematician and creating and then figuring out how to add a graph to this blog has been…interesting. Bwahahaha!

Breakdown of Genres so far this year (Jan- Sept):


Breakdown of reading formats so far this year

(can we say, audio books for the win?)


383 books read so far. Yes, that seems like a lot, but I live alone and have a chronic pain condition that limits what I can do. Plus I have a tedious amount of stretches and exercises to do daily, plus walks, and listening to books is my dangling carrot! 🙂 And yes, audible books have really increased the # of books I am able to read.

27 books DNF (Did Not Finish) mostly because of content issues regarding coarse language and/or innuendos (cozy mysteries) or cliche plots, culturally insensitive, poorly researched, unlikeable main characters etc.

2023 Goals:

READ MORE INDIE AUTHORS — 38 books read so far which is about par for this time last year but I want to do better on this goal. Already have three more Indies on my TBR pile waiting to be read and hoping for many more before the year’s end.

GIVE DEBUT AUTHORS A CHANCE! — 9 books read — Yikes! I need to work on this goal. Last year I averaged about 2 debuts a month so I’m sliding here!

READ MORE NEW TO ME AUTHORS — 60!! Pretty good since I read a total of 65 in 2022, so will definitely meet or exceed that number. Of course, the problem then becomes having oodles of new authors to follow which also eats into the reading new-to-me author time. Such a conundrum!

DIVERSIFY MY READING — 116 books. Not bad, a little under a third of my total book count. I really want to source out more though. One of my goals for next year will be to read more non American authors.

Non US Settings:

Diverse author nationality: 10 Canadian — 6 British — 3 Australian — 1 Irish — 1 New Zealand

Other Diversity stats: 16 Ethnically diverse authors — 22 books with ethnically diverse characters — 10 books with disabled or chronically ill characters.

AUTHOR CATCH-UP — this is a hot mess. I kept adding authors to the list which, of course, makes it difficult to actually completely catch up with any one of them. 🙂 Sally Britton and Susan Sleeman are the authors I’m still hoping to be up-to-date with by the New Year!

GIVE UNLOVED TROPES A 2ND CHANCE: 9 books — so a minuscule amount of what I actually read. What can I say but I know what I like and I rarely venture from it. Will admit to enjoying all 9 of these books so that’s a lesson learned. Never say never when it comes to a trope, all it takes is a talented author to change your mind.

SERIES: I don’t even want to go there. I am meticulously keeping a record but I keep adding to the series I want to read so it’s a bit alarming.

Started out the year current with 37 series and I’m still current with 28 of them so looks like I know what I should concentrate on this last quarter.

Started out the year with 31 series in progress, am up to date with 6 of them now, and made a wee bit of progress on some others.

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate…er, on my TBR shelf?…I started 55 new-to-me series this year (blushing furiously while avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room.) I am up-to-date with 13 of them though, if that counts. 🙂

Phew! Now it’s your turn: Did you make reading goals this year? If so, how is it going? Share below and remember to include a book title that will help you achieve your goal. You can enter three times in three separate comments using the same goal or different ones. What ever strikes your fancy. Just make sure each entry is for a different title.

DRAW WILL BE HELD AND WINNER ANNOUNCED ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 7 2023.

OFFER OPEN TO ANY READER WHO HAS A KINDLE .COM ACCOUNT FOR EBOOKS. OTHERWISE IT’S WINNER’S CHOICE OF PAPERBACK OR EBOOK FOR US AND CANADIAN ENTRIES.

151 thoughts on “Reader’s Choice Goal Review Giveaway”

    1. I’m a mood reader too and I usually just slot the books I’ve read into my goals as opposed to hunting out books to meet my goals — for the most part. I’m trying to be more intentional about diversity and indie authors. Good luck, Sandy!

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  2. Goal #3. Read a backlist book from a favorite author:

    Lulu’s Cafe by T.I.Lowe

    For anyone’s interest, her wonderful recent release Indigo Isle is currently on sale on “A” for $2.99

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  3. Goal #3 read a backlist book from a favorite author:

    Lulu’s Cafe by T.I. Lowe

    Her recent release Indigo Isle is currently on sale at “A”. I loved that one and read it twice so far.

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  5. I totally love book nerdy stuff so gimme all the pie graphs you want! 😁

    Goal 1 of 3 – To continue the new Elite Guardians series with book 2, Impending Strike, with Lynette Eason and Sami Abrams. I have the first book on audio. I absolutely loved the original series that Eason did. Probably my favourite series of hers.

    Thanks!
    Tammy
    Obertam at gmail dot com

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  6. I totally forgot you did this one!! I always love to enter and reevaluate my goals 🙂 One of my goals is to finish Sarah Monzon’s Sewing in SoCal series, but I still need book #4-Amanda to complete this series…so that is the book I would pick. cilydav at hotmail dot com

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  7. Another goal is to try new-to-me authors that I KEEP saying I am going to try and never get to…Lisa Phillips is one of those authors. I would love to try her Sanctuary Lost book, the first one in the Witsec series (witness protection has ALWAYS fascinated me!).

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  10. Love the charts! Plus just the depth of detail you have overall. The type and source of book was interesting. I have wondered how many people heavily use the library or how frequently do they purchase books. The majority of my reads are from the library, but I did purchase 12 books over the last quarter. I read 34 books for the quarter but had a few I didn’t finish. Also, I added more memoirs and biographies recently.

    Doing an easy theme of one favorite keeper author upcoming plus prior releases I am missing.
    Jen Turano, To Spark a Match

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  19. Goal #1: Meet my reading goal of 115 books. I’ve currently read 93. A book that will help me meet that goal is Letters From My Sister by Valerie Fraser Luesse.

    pmkellogg56[at]gmail[dot]com

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  22. 1) I set a reading goal of 600 books for the year – my youngest niece suggested that number since I did a goal of 200 last year and hit 554
    A book that will help me towards that goal is Grave Secrets by Elle E. Kay. Due out October 16
    marcus802001(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  24. 3) A third book that will help me towards my reading goal of 600 books for 2023 is King of the Crown Imperials by Joanna Alonzo
    marcus802001(at)yahoo(dot)com
    BTW, I am at 483 books so far.

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    1. Whoa — 600 book goal!! And you’re pretty much on target to do it. Hooray for nieces who challenge us! And you’ve introduced me to three new-to-me authors. These all look great. Good luck, Mark!

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  25. I didn’t get a chance to finish with my 3/3 entry. I’ve been wanting to read Sharon Mondragón as a NTM author. I’d like to start with The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady.

    Thanks,
    Tammy
    Obertam at Gmail dot com

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  30. Kav, you amaze me with all books you read and the variety! And thanks so much for offering these goal-related giveaways!

    #1 – For a new-to-me author – John Eyre – Mimi Matthews

    ckbarker at gmail dot com

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  32. The three books I have chosen all involve rediscovering family. With mystery and the unexpected tossed in, along with one contemporary, each is a little different from my favorite genre of historical fiction. These will meet my goal of new-to-me authors. Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House

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  35. Goal #3: Put a serious dent in my every growing TBR list

    Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel (I love this cover. It’s stunning!)

    nj(dot)bossman(at)gmail(dot)com
    Alison Boss

    Thanks for continuing to inspire me to attain my reading goals, Kav! Your goals and victories of achieving them amaze me! You go, Girl!! 🙂

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  36. The Last Exchange by Charles Martin would help me reach my reading goal of 75 books for 2023!

    Jolene – iwant2save34 at gmail dot com

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