Woo hoo! Happy New Year and good luck to everyone embarking upon new reading and writing challenges! I just scraped by with my exactly 50 books for last year, and thought it would be fun to look over the titles I read in 2016! For 2017, I’ve doubled the challenge, and I look forward to it! Feel free to share your favorite books or recommendations for my ever increasing TBR pile, and let me know how your 2016 reading challenge went!

A few notes: I work as an automotive journalist, so that explains those outliers! Romance and erotic romance novels are in purple. Also, I count audiobooks because they are such a huge component of my reading experience, which I discussed here. Otherwise, enjoy the list!

 

Books:

Funniest_Memes_2016-reading-challenge_12519.jpegThe Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, Mitch Albom

Car Crazy, G. Wayne Miller

Enchanted Pleasures, Eloisa James

A Lady Most Likely, Connie Brockway, Eloisa James, and Julia Quinn

Just Like Heaven, Julia Quinn

Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng

The Taming of the Duke, Eloisa James

Pleasure for Pleasure, Eloisa James

Aussie Grit, Mark Webber

A Fool for Love, Eloisa James

A Wild Pursuit, Eloisa James

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn

The Rogue Not Taken, Sarah MacLean

Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare

Her Mad Hatter, Marie Hall

Leonardo: The Artist and the Man, Serg Bramly

Interview With a Vampire, Anne Rice

In Bed With the Devil, Lorraine Heath

Between the Devil and Desire, Lorraine Heath

Surrender to the Devil, Lorraine Heath

Viking Fire, Crystal Jordan

The Tempest, Julie Cross

A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin, Sophie Jordan

A Duke of Her Own, Eloisa James

The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss

Must Love Breeches, Angela Quarles

Commonwealth, Ann Patchett

A Song of Snow and Ash, Diana Gabaldon

Dirty For Me, Jackie Ashenden

Audiobooks:

The Sum of All Kisses, Julia Quinn  

Much Ado About Love, Eloisa James

Duchess in Love, Eloisa James,

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume, Julia Quinn,

Desperate Duchess, Eloisa James

An Affair Before Christmas, Eloisa James

When the Duke Returns, Eloisa James

Duchess By Night, Eloisa James

The Wicked Wallflower, Maya Rodale

Night Hawk, Beverly Jenkins

The Lady Most Willing, Connie Brockway, Eloisa James, and Julia Quinn

The Switch, Lynsay Sands

Love and Other Scandals, Caroline Linden

The Selection, Kiera Cass

The Elite, Kiera Cass

My American Duchess, Eloisa James

Hard As It Gets, Laura Kaye

The One, Kiera Cass

I really enjoyed going through this list, because it helps me understand my reading habits and see where I can expand. I read a lot of romance novels (obviously) because I write romance novels – and I write them because I love them! I have my clear favorites – no points for guessing right – but I’ve stumbled upon some authors and books in the genre I positively loved! For instance, Kiera Cass and Laura Kaye are playing leapfrog in my heart right now, as the books come in from the library. I’m currently reading the next book in The Hard Ink series, Hard as You Can, by Laura Kaye and The Heir, book four in The Selection Series by Kiera Cass, just came in on my holds list (along with another Julia Quinn novel, so my audiobook pile is full).

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Looking past the romance genre, I know it’d be good to add more nonfiction and historical to my list, and I certainly plan to do that this year. I have several non-fic feminist and political books I’m looking forward to reading, My current read is Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming, a fascinating but, at nearly 8 years since publication, ultimately outdated text about climate change.

I took a little look at the 2016 Reading Challenge that went around, and I don’t think I did too poorly! For me, the point of a reading challenge is to help people prioritize reading over other things and I certainly look forward to doing more of that in 2017. Let me know how you did with your 2016 Year in Books!