2023 Reading Challenges

Source: PNGtree

Happy New Year! For those of you using the Gregorian calendar, welcome to the start of another year. I am lucky enough to have a four day weekend, and I'm getting some reading done. I've also decided to try reading challenges again. I took a break for a few years and I'm ready to try again. I picked four, all repeats except for the Thrifty Thursday. That's been a meme for several years and is now a challenge too. Click on the each challenge's name to go the sign up post, and get more information.

1) Library Love  I use my library a lot, both personally and professionally. I actually did this challenge in 2022 and ended up reading over 100, including books for my classroom. This year, I'm aiming for Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books. 

2) Thrifty Thursday Between sales and author newsletters, I get a lot of freebies every month. Which, more books + no money = AWESOME. But...they tend to languish on my Kindle. So I'm aiming to read and review one a month, more if I can manage it.

3) Mount TBR I'm sure it's no surprise that I have a large pile, virtual and physical, of unread books. I'm going for level 2, Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s. Books owned, requested, or ordered before today, January 1st, 2023, count. Also, rereads count, yay! But ideally, they'll be books I haven't read yet.

And finally the, Goodreads challenge. I do this one every year. Last year's goal was 250 and I almost doubled that. Note: I count all books I read in the classroom, and count rereads. Cuz toddlers love repetition. If they only want to listen to a book once, they don't like the book. This year's goal is 300. 

Are you doing any reading challenges this year? Tell me about them! And, good luck and have fun reading.

Bea Reviews Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer

Series: The Clifton Chronicles #6
Publisher: St.Martin's Press
Source: the library
Release Date: February 16th, 2016
Challenges: Finishing the Series Reading Challenge | I Love Libraries
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Cometh the Hour opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia.

Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy?

Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy, and can see no way out of her financial problems, until she is introduced to the hapless Cyrus T. Grant III from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who's in England to see his horse run at Royal Ascot.

Sebastian Clifton is now the Chief Executive of Farthings Bank and a workaholic, whose personal life is thrown into disarray when he falls for Nadira, a beautiful Indian girl. But her parents have already chosen the man she is going to marry. Meanwhile, Sebastian's rivals Adrian Sloane and Desmond Mellor are still plotting to bring him and his chairman Hakim Bishara down, so they can take over Farthings.

Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. Harry's wife Emma convinces her new friend Margaret Thatcher to raise the subject with the Russian President when she visits Moscow. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.

Cometh the Hour is the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicles and, like the five previous novels - all of which went to number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list - showcases Jeffrey Archer's extraordinary storytelling with his trademark twists.

Bea Reviews Do NOT Bring Your Dragon to the Library by Julie Gassman & Andy Elkerton

Publisher: Capstone
Source: egalley - publisher in exchange for an honest review; hard cover - local library
Release Date: August 1st, 2016
Challenges: I Love Libraries | I Love Picture Books
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Smashwords*  | iTunes | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Have you ever thought about bringing your dragon to the library? Don't do it! You might have the best intentions, but that dragon will cause nothing but trouble. Using rhyming text and a diverse cast of characters, this charming picture book will provide some important and some not so important library etiquette in a very entertaining way."

Bea Reviews Star Trek: Manifest Destiny by Mike Johnson & Ryan Parrott, Art by Angel Hernandez

Series: Star Trek
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date:  July 5th 2016
Challenges: I Love Libraries |
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the STAR TREK franchise with this all-new adventure! At the edge of explored space, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise come face to face with a new Klingon threat... with the fate of the galaxy at stake! Also includes the Klingon Language version of issue #1!

Bea Reviews Love: The Lion by Frédéric Brrémaud & Federico Bertolucci

Series: Love #3
Publisher: Magnetic Press 
Source: eGalley - the publisher in exchange for an honest review & Hardcover - the library 
Release Date: July 12th, 2016
Challenges:
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | iTunes | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The third volume in the lavishly illustrated series of wildlife graphic novels, each following a single central animal through an adventurous day in their natural environment. Each tale depicts genuine natural behavior through the dramatic lens of Disney-esque storytelling, like a nature documentary in illustration.
Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this volume focuses on a solitary Lion as it wanders the plains of Africa, handling the daily hunt, and vicious rivalry, without a Pride of its own. The circle of Life takes center stage in a world where predator and prey trade places on a regular basis, and Family is something worth fighting -- and dying -- for. This exciting tale, written by Frederic Brremaud, is told without narration or dialogue, conveyed entirely through the beautiful illustrations of Federico Bertolucci.
A beautiful, powerful tale of survival in the animal kingdom that explores the all-too-identifiable, universal concepts of Life, Courage, Aging, and ultimately Love.

Bea Reviews Nobody Likes A Goblin by Ben Hatke

Publisher: First Second
Source: 1) the publisher in exchange for an honest review 2) local library
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Challenges:  I Love Libraries | I Love Picture Books
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Goblin, a cheerful little homebody, lives in a cosy, rat-infested dungeon, with his only friend, Skeleton. Every day, Goblin and Skeleton play with the treasure in their dungeon. But one day, a gang of "heroic" adventurers bursts in. These marauders trash the place, steal all the treasure, and make off with Skeleton—leaving Goblin all alone!

It's up to Goblin to save the day. But first he's going to have to leave the dungeon and find out how the rest of the world feels about goblins.

March Challenge Review Link Ups

WOOT! I'm actually posting on time this month. Don't get too used to it, lol. I'm such a procrastinator, plus if it's not on the calendar then it doesn't happen. I did finally remember to add it to the calendar so maybe, just maybe, I'll be on-time next month too.

So, this is the post where you link up all your reviews for March for Finishing the Series Reading Challenge, I Love Libraries, and I Love Picture Books. If you forget, no worry. You can add at any time until the end of the year.

February Challenge Review Link Ups

Late again, sorry. *hangs head in shame*

Post your February review links for Finishing the Series Reading Challenge, I Love Libraries, I Love Picture Books, and the month-long challenge, Winning at Reading Challenge.

January Link Up for I Love Libraries Reading Challenge

Link up all your January library book reviews below. Links can go to your blog, goodreads, or Amazon. I'll try to remember to post the review link up on the first of each month. Feel free to poke me if I forget. :)

2016 I Love Libraries Reading Challenge Sign Up

I Love Libraries was formerly hosted by Book Dragon's Lair. She's cutting back her challenge hosting for 2016 and passed the baton to me. This challenge is one of several library challenges I've done since started my blog so I'm delighted to be hosting.