A Year End Review of my 2009 Reading Challenges

This post is a review of each of the four Reading Challenges I joined for 2009. The only challenge I completed successfully according to challenge rules was the Young Adult Reading Challenge. I completed the reading for the Contemporary Romance Challenge, but didn't complete the required reviews. The Category Romance Challenge and the TBR Reading Challenge are even more incomplete.

2009 YA Challenge
Hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye Book Blog.
Challenge: Read 12 young adult novels in 2009.

When I first joined this challenge, I thought I needed to post a review for each book I read in order to meet the challenge, but in reality I just needed to keep a list! So this is one challenge that I successfully completed. I read 14 young adult novels in 2009, 15 if I count Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey. I'm a little confused why Santa Olivia is not categorized as a young adult novel. As far as I'm concerned, it is a young adult novel. The main character and many of the secondary characters for that matter are teenagers after all. There is some mature content in the story, but I did not think it was severe enough to keep it from being marketed as a young adult novel.

Here is the list of young adult novels I read in 2009. The titles in bold are the books that I reviewed here on my blog.

1. Tales of the Beedle Bard by J.K. Rowling
2. Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
3. The Truth About Forever by Sara Dessen
4. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
5. Dingo by Charles de Lint
6. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
7. My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent
8. My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
9. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
10. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
11. Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
12. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
13. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
14. Liar by Justine Larbalestier

15. Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
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Contemporary Romance Challenge
Hosted by Brie at Musings of a Bibliophile
Challenge: Read and Review 12 contemporary romance novels in 2009.

I read 13 contemporary romance novels in 2009 not counting the romantic young adult novels or the Harlequin category romances I read. I didn't count them in this challenge because I wanted to avoid using the same book for multiple challenges. Below is a list of the contemporary romance novels I read in 2009. The four highlighted titles are the ones I actually reviewed.

The titles in bold are the books that I managed to review here on my blog.

1. Stranger by Megan Hart
2. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
3. Taking Care of Business by Megan Hart and Lauren Dane
4. Riding On Instinct by Jaci Burton
5. Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James
6. The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson
7. Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins
8. Stolen Fury by Elisabeth Naughton
9. Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
10. Stolen Heat by Elisabeth Naughton
11. Open Season by Linda Howard
12. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
13. Vision in White by Nora Roberts

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Year of the Category Romance Reading Challenge
Hosted by KMont of Lurv a la Mode
Challenge: READ and REVIEW 12 Category romance novels in 2009.

I started out okay with this challenge, but once I fell off track, I kind of lost interest getting back on track. I think the category romance novels I had on my shelf just didn't appeal to me too much any more.

Here is a list of the books I read for this challenge. The books I managed to review for the challenge are in bold.

1. Shaken and Stirred by Kathleen O'Reilly
2. Kiss & Tell by Alison Kent
3. Sex, Straight Up by Kathleen O'Reilly
4. Nightcap by Kathleen O'Reilly
5. Beyond His Control by Stephanie Tyler
6. Primal Instincts by Jill Monroe
7. The Beast of Desire by Lisa Renee Jones
8. The Beast of Darkness by Lisa Renee Jones
9.
10.
11.
12.

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2009 TBR Reading Challenge
Hosted by Keishon at avidbookreader.com
Challenge: READ and REVIEW 12 books that have been on your TBR shelf for at least a year prior to the challenge.

I failed this challenge terribly this year. I found myself reading either new releases or older books that have been around for a while that I either borrowed from the library or bought new. And of course there's the whole business of never getting around to writing many reviews this past year.

Here is the pathetic list of books I read and reviewed for this challenge. Don't laugh. Okay, you can laugh if you want to. ;)


1. Shaken and Stirred by Kathleen O'Reilly
2. Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
3. Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
4.

5.

6.

7.

8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Hopefully I'll have more success completing the challenges I'm joining in 2010. More on that later.

Did you join any reading challenges in 2009? How did you do?

Did you join any reading challenges for 2010?

REVIEW: Open Season by Linda Howard

Published in 2001

Open Season is one of the books I brought home from the library last week upon a recent recommendation from Nath at Books, Books and More Books and other romance reading friends, so I decided to give it a go.

Open Season is a stand alone contemporary romantic suspense novel.

Daisy Minor is the town librarian and lives a quiet, simple life. She's 34 years old and still rather inexperienced with men and hasn't had a date in years. Still living at home with her widowed mother and aunt, Daisy decides to put an end to her boring, lonely life and makes some changes in order to be more independent and accessible to single men. Essentially, she declares it open season for hunting for a husband. She finds a small cottage to rent across town and with the help of a seemingly gay antiques dealer and friend, Daisy gets a makeover including a new hair color and cut, a new wardrobe and a new passion for line dancing.

Before even having made these exciting changes, the local police chief, Jack Russo shows up at the library a couple of times for assistance and on both occasions, they frazzle each others nerves, yet there's a subtle attraction between them nonetheless.

After her makeover, Daisy sets out on the weekends for evenings of line dancing and meeting men. Heads are definitely turning her way now, and she is drawing the attention of all sorts of men at the bar, including those with nefarious plans. Trouble seems to follow Daisy, and she barely manages to sidestep being the victim in a seriously disturbing crime ring that's taking place within the community that deals with date rape drugs and the sale of young, foreign teenagers who are being sneaked into the country and sold to rich perverts and gangs.

As Daisy and Jack continue to bump heads, the sexual tension between them increases, and then when Daisy witnesses something that puts her life in danger, Jack realizes his interest in her is deeper than just a fling, and in fact, he's falling for her. Daisy doesn't think Jack is her type and accuses him regularly at foiling her plans for finding herself a husband, all the while she's falling for him as well. Daisy may have declared it open season for husband hunting, but it's quite clear she already caught the right one from their first encounter at the library. No one she meets is as exhilarating or as comfortable as Jack. No one makes her feel as safe and as cherished as Jack. Daisy may have declared it open season for husband hunting, but it's quite clear she's already caught the right one for her right from the beginning.

The romance between Daisy and Jack is fun and sweet. Although at first I found Daisy's inexperienced librarian character too cliche, I couldn't help be entertained by her honest, open and somewhat naive approach to the world as she explores her independence. She has such verve for life and her desire for a simple, happy life full of love and laughter. She effortlessly drove Jack crazy and I appreciated the ease at which he came to realize that she drove him crazy in a good way and that it made him crave her company even more. Why wouldn't he? She's kind hearted, honest, adorable and fun! There's never a dull moment with Daisy.

The suspense plot of Open Season is based on a serious and disturbing crime ring involving date rape drugs and the sale of young, illegal immigrant women that felt a bit incongruous with the fun, light hearted nature of the romance plot. I also felt I couldn't quite take the suspense element seriously enough because the men organizing the crimes seemed so stupid and careless. I suppose one could argue that that's why they got caught in the end, but I still thought they were too stupid to have even taken the crimes as far as they did in the first place. I think the novel would have been more cohesive and realistic if the crimes were simply less severe in nature for this fun loving romance between Daisy and Jack. Despite these issues, however, Open Season is well worth the read due to Daisy Minor's high spirited, warm character and the amusing, sweet romance between her and Jack.

Overall, Open Season is an entertaining romantic suspense novel--the romance being this story's strength with generous doses of humor and tenderness that leads to a delightful story book happily ever after.

REVIEW: Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

St. Martins Press
March 31, 2009

Smooth Talking Stranger is Lisa Kleypas' third contemporary romance novel featuring the lives and loves of the Travis family. All three of Lisa's contemporary novels are told from the first person point of view of the heroine and each story is in essence the story of the woman's journey to discovering her true self and the road to her happily ever after. Smooth Talking Stranger is the story of Ella Varner and how her world gets turned upside down and rocked all over the place by her sister's newborn son Luke and even more so by the man her sister implicates as Luke's father--one of Houston's most eligible bachelors, Jack Travis. While Smooth Talking Stranger is not without a few flaws and inconsistencies, the story is completely absorbing, entertaining, very sweet and definitely romantic.

Ella Varner has come a long way in creating a safe haven for herself since distancing herself from her atypical upbringing within a very dysfunctional family. Ella and her sister Tara have been through a lot of craziness in their childhood ever since their father walked out on the family when they were very small. Their mother, Candy Varner is not an easy person to live with. She's insecure, unstable, selfish and has never been a positive influence on her daughters. Ella was smart and strong enough to get out when she could and after therapy, a lot of self reflection and a whole lot of will power has created a stable, content life for herself. She lives with her steady boyfriend Dane in an Austin apartment, has a steady job writing an advice column for a city newspaper, a network of friends, and thinks she's got her happily ever after going on. Her sister Tara, on the other hand, hasn't found her way out of dysfunctional as successfully as Ella. Not that she's necessarily following her mother's footsteps, but she's definitely been struggling with finding happiness and direction.

Ella has been out of regular contact with her mother and sister for a while and one day gets a call from her mother reporting that Tara left her surprise newborn baby with her and left without a trace. Candy is now demanding that Ella come to Houston to retrieve Tara's newborn baby before she turns him over to social services. Without hesitation, and much to her boyfriend's chagrin, Ella drops everything in her life and heads to Houston to look after the baby while she hunts down Tara and the baby's father. Finding Tara proves more difficult than she expected, but their cousin gives Ella a few leads, including the tip that the baby's father is the successful businessman and much sought after eligible bachelor, Jack Travis.

Before Ella hears from her sister with confirmation whether or not Jack could actually be the baby's father, Ella confronts Jack at his workplace about his potential paternity and makes quite an impression on him as he watches her attend the baby and demand that Jack take a paternity test. Jack insists that it is simply not possible that he be the father because he's never slept with Tara, but Ella doesn't believe him. He has all rights to get extremely agitated and angry with Ella's accusations and demands, but he doesn't. He's actually intrigued by her. Ella is very different from the women Jack usually takes notice of, and while he can't quite put his finger on why, he's certainly going to find out more about Ella Varner.

Ella soon hears from her sister and gets some answers. She finds out who isn't the baby's father and what is actually going on with Tara that led her to abandon her baby. It is going to take Tara a few months before she can take back Luke, so Ella agrees to care for him until then. Back in Austin, Ella's boyfriend Dane won't allow Ella to bring Luke into their home and into their world, so Ella decides to stay in Houston in the interim. Fortunately her job as an advice columnist allows her to work remotely, and she sets up an apartment for her and Luke. Still determined to hold Luke's father accountable, she pursues all avenues. During this time, Ella bonds with both baby Luke and with Jack Travis, both of whom throw her for a loop, forcing her to rethink a lot of her views on life, love and the kind of happily ever after she's always deeply craved.

Smooth Talking Stranger is the romantic tale of Ella Varner's journey of self discovery that puts her on the path to her happily ever after. It is a very engaging and fast paced romance of a seemingly unlikely pair, but for those of you who don't like babies in your romance, be warned that Luke is an important element in this story. While his presence does not overshadow or interfere with the romance between Ella and Jack, he is still an integral part of the story and
his presence actually has an important role in teaching Ella about unconditional love.

Ella has some baggage from her past and while she thinks she has found her happily ever after with Dane, she's really just been maintaining this perpetual state of friendship with the added benefit of occasional physical release through sex. She's not experiencing passion, adventure and true love. She quickly finds out what she's missing, however, when she falls for Jack Travis. Jack is everything that Dane is not and more. He's open minded, kind, caring, possessive and passionate and although it takes a while, Ella finally lets go of safe and comfortable and takes a chance with Jack who offers her a better, more fulfilling love, the likes of which she's never known. I loved watching Ella come to realize she wants what Jack has to offer, working through her doubts that it could be something that will last a lifetime. It's a very beautiful journey thanks to Jack's patient and yet seductive nature.

While living in Houston, Ella also befriends Haven Travis, the heroine of Blue-Eyed Devil, and their friendship, although not explored in huge depths, really touched me. Both women have survived very unpleasant situations--Ella with her extremely dysfunctional family, and Haven with her abusive first marriage. Their friendship is very genuine and it allowed for some really great insights into the importance of friends whether those friends last a lifetime or they just walk through your life for a few seasons. It was a very nice touch to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Smooth Talking Stranger, but there are a few elements that kept this book from being perfect for me. One is a scene in which Ella and Jack have unprotected sex. This is completely out of character for both of them who make it very clear that they are very careful and never have unprotected sex, but then there they were! I imagine that this was the first time either one of them have ever done such a thing, because the chemistry between them was uniquely intense and passionate, something neither of them has ever before experienced. And I believed that. But yet, neither one of them said so afterward! If only Ella blurted out that she was on the pill within the few seconds right before the act instead of ten minutes after, this scene would not have tripped my radar. Or if both of them panicked afterward or something to indicate that this was completely out of character for them. Otherwise, it was an amazing scene.

Another small disappointment was a plot device toward the end of the book that forced Ella into admitting her love for Jack that seemed a bit contrived. On the other hand, it definitely added tension and emotional climax to the ending, and taught Ella the lesson that it is better to have loved and lost than to never love at all. It led to some beautiful and romantic dialogue, so I forgave the author rather easily, but I still kind of wish it came about a little differently. It also set up some rather interesting background for what I think is Lisa Kleypas' next contemporary romance featuring Joe Travis.

Smooth Talking Stranger is a fast paced, engaging and very romantic story that will grab you from the first page and not let go until the very end. I read Smooth Talking Stranger in barely over a 24 hour period, which is so unusual for me, but also a true testament to the author's talent. The story flows smoothly and effortlessly, is at times poetic, always honest and beautifully romantic. Lisa Kleypas has the wonderful ability to share a realistic and passionate glimpse into a woman's life at which she is engaged in a soul searching journey ending with the perfect happily ever after.

GRADE: A-

A big thank you to Brie from Musings of a Bibliophile who so willingly shared her ARC of Smooth Talking Stranger with me as soon as she finished reading it. And she just so happened to post her review today, too!

Thank you, Brie!

REVIEW: Sex, Straight Up by Kathleen O'Reilly

Those Sexy O'Sullivan's trilogy, Book 2

Published April 1, 2008

Harlequin Blaze

NOTE: Sex, Straight Up was read and reviewed for my FEBRUARY Contemporary Reading Challenge hosted by Brie at Musings of a Bibliophile AND my FEBRUARY Year of the Category Romance Challenge hosted by Kmont at Lurv a la Mode. I realize it is March 1 by the time this review is posted on my blog, but well... at least it's still February somewhere. ;)

Sex, Straight Up is the second book in the Harlequin Blaze trilogy titled "Those Sexy O'Sullivans" by Kathleen O'Reilly. Each of the three books revolve around one of the three O'Sullivan brothers who co-own the famous Manhattan bar called Prime. Sex, Straight Up is the love story of the oldest brother, Daniel O'Sullivan and a fine arts dealer named Catherine Montefiore. Daniel's beloved wife of five short months was killed in the 9/11 tragedy that felled the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. Seven years later, Daniel still loves his wife very much remains faithful to her in mind and body, and in fact, still wears his wedding ring to prove it. In an effort to get their brother to relax, have some fun, and maybe hook up with a woman, Gabe and Sean convince Daniel to spend a long weekend in the Hamptons at a beach house occupied by several of Sean's single lawyer friends and an equal number of single female friends--without his wedding ring. Daniel acquiesces only to make his brothers happy, but still finds the whole party scene at the beach house very uncomfortable and ends up spending his time sitting on the vacant beach of the house next door.

Catherine Montefiore is staying at her grandfather's beach house for a quiet weekend away from the stresses of living and working in the city. A quiet, single woman who is comfortable being by herself, Catherine loves art and is always looking for inspiration for her sketchbook. She notices Daniel sitting on her beach and is instantly inspired by his handsome, sexy good looks, and even more so by the deep set of emotions that play across his face, so she spends the morning sketching him. Eventually they start talking and find that they're both really comfortable with the other's company. When Catherine offers for Daniel to stay in one of the spare bedrooms in her house to save him from the party house next door that he is so obviously uncomfortable with, he accepts. At the end of their evening together, Catherine spontaneously kisses Daniel goodnight, which sets off desires that have long lay dormant in both of them. They spend the rest of the weekend together having great, passionate sex and amazing conversation. At the end of the weekend, just as Daniel is ready to leave, Catherine spots his wedding ring on his duffle bag. Daniel makes a less than half hearted attempt to explain, and they abruptly and coldly say their good byes, Catherine disgusted with herself for having an affair with a married man.

Upon returning to the City, Catherine's family business is faced with a public scandal that could destroy the Montefiore auction house. Catherine's grandfather hires a private accountant who specializes in audits in order to save the business, who turns out to be none other than Daniel O'Sullivan. Daniel explains to Catherine that he is widowed, but she knows better than to compete with his deceased wife for his love, so tries to keep their relationship business only. However, as Catherine and Daniel team up to prove that the Montefiore Auction house was not involved in collusion with another auction house, they find it impossible to resist and indulge in a passionate affair once again. An affair that starts out as Sex, Straight Up, but ends up as so much more. So much more like Love, Happily Ever After.

Sex, Straight Up is yet another great installment in this fun, sexy, and romantic trilogy. Another relatively short novel, yet impressively packed with an interesting story line and fantastic character and relationship development that is realistic, emotional, and truly compelling.

The nature of this love story made for a fairly complicated emotional journey for Daniel O'Sullivan. He still loves his deceased wife, and knows he always will love her, but he also acknowledges that time has been telling him he's ready to move on. Throughout the pages of the story, Daniel's struggle to figure out how exactly to do just that is emotional and also beautiful. Once he and Catherine begin their affair the second time around, he's honest with Catherine and really does try to do the right thing. One can't help but empathize with him and admire him for his efforts.

At the same time that Daniel struggles with trying to let go of his past and start to move on, Catherine struggles with maintaining realistic expectations of her relationship with Daniel. She knows she's falling in love with Daniel, but knows it wouldn't be wise to just give her heart up to him. She wants to, though, because when she's with him, everything feels easy and right. And yet, when it does start to show that he loves her, too, she doesn't just cave into that without thinking. She's smart and knows Daniel isn't just going to get over his wife after a few nights or weeks of great sex and conversation. So she's cautious. And what's great about that is that while she's protecting herself from heartache, she's also helping Daniel figure out exactly what he needs, too. He is the one who has to figure himself out and when he does figure it out, he's the one who has to make it happen between them.

Sex, Straight Up is a really beautiful romance that is both passionate and tender. Both characters do a lot of soul searching as they try to figure out what they want from the other person and what is a realistic and fair expectation. Their actions are realistic and purposeful, even when it's just about the sex. When love comes into play, this couple share some very tender and romantic moments that had such depth of emotion and truth. You couldn't help but believe their love was true and meant to be.

GRADE: A-

Sex, Straight Up is difficult to find available for purchase new in paperback. Your best bet would be to purchase it either through a used book dealer or to buy the ebook version available at eharlequin HERE.

You can visit Kathleen O'Reilly at http://kathleenoreilly.com/ where you can even read the first two chapters of Sex, Straight Up.

REVIEW: Stranger by Megan Hart

Sorrow, like songs, is never the same. ~Grace Frawley


Grace Frawley is the funeral director of Frawley and Sons funeral home, a long time family business that she recently took over from her father. Grace has been working hard at filling her dad's shoes in the business and also making small changes and improvements in order to keep a competitive edge in the business. She's diligent with her business responsibilities, and also very patient and compassionate with her clients all of whom are in varied states of emotional distress. Constantly exposed to people losing and grieving for their loved ones, Grace has decided to live her life without the risk of suffering those horrendous losses for herself. She doesn't want anything to do with marriage, or even boyfriends, so Grace hires escorts for dates and often, if not most times, for sex.

Regularly using an escort service and paying for sex is Grace's deepest kept secret and suits her just fine. Grace prearranges her dates with the escort agency with specific instructions on where she'd meet her escort and includes the pretense under which they would meet and proceed to a private place for sex. Her sex life is exciting and satisfying, and most of all, she's safe from the emotional attachment of a relationship that inevitably ends in loss and pain. Until the night, that is, that Grace signed up with the agency to pick up a stranger at a bar and proceed upstairs to a room for sex, and she hooks up with Sam Stewart instead. It isn't until after Grace leaves Sam's room after a night of hot, passionate, unforgettable sex that she checks her voicemail only to find out her hired escort missed their date and she picked up the wrong stranger. Or is he the right one?

Once again, Megan Hart has written an otherwise straightforward story of a young woman who avoids romantic relationships, and transformed it into a thought provoking, insightful story of self reflection and discovery that is perfectly layered with dramatic realism and sensuality that is simply unforgettable. Right from the start, the reader learns that Grace pays for sex because she doesn't want the emotional entanglement and the inevitable pain and loss that follows when either the relationship fails or worse, when the one you love dies. But why does she go to such lengths to avoid relationships? What really makes Grace Frawley tick? Can the right man make her change her ways? Is the joy of love worth the risk of losing that love? All of these questions are explored through this riveting story told from Grace's point of view as she struggles to keep her emotional attachments in check.

Stranger is not just the story about Grace Frawley and her sexual escapades. Stranger is the story about Grace Frawley and how she learns about love and loss taking risks through her relationships with the people around her. It's about her relationship with her father who can't help but keep his nose in her business in more ways than one. It is about her relationship with her sister who has the seemingly picture perfect happily ever after with a husband, two kids, and a nice suburban life, but is struggling with her own happiness. It's about her relationships with her office assistant and her intern, and how to balance friendship with professionalism. It's about her relationships with all the families in their various states of emotional well being that pass through Grace's life because she is the one they turn to in preparing their loved one for final good byes. It's about her relationship with Jack, her regular escort at the agency, with whom emotional barriers begin to falter for both parties. It's about her relationship with Sam Stewart who was once a stranger, but ends up teaching Grace a few things about joy, love, and intimacy, and whether experiencing all that is worth the risk of losing it at any moment.

Grace sincerely believes she's doing the best thing for herself by remaining emotionally detached from any guy she goes out on a date with or has sex with. Her confidence in this arrangement, though, begins to falter both with her regular escort Jack and even more so when Sam shows up in her life again after that fateful night of picking up the wrong stranger. The pace at which Grace allows herself to become emotionally involved with a man after having such resolute feelings on the matter is realistic and convincing. I liked that she struggled with allowing herself to love someone until practically the very end when it was almost too late. I liked that she learned that decisions about love aren't just about herself, but about the other person, too.

Realistic characters, natural dialogue, beautiful erotic and romantic trysts, and thought provoking insights on life, death and love all exemplify Megan Hart's signature style of erotic fiction. The characters and their stories will remain on your mind and in your heart long after you've closed the book.

GRADE: A

Stranger was released on January 1, 2009. Visit Megan Hart at http://www.meganhart.com .

My Personal Reading Stats for 2008 . . . . and Reading Challenges for 2009

My Reading Stats for 2008
When I looked back to reflect on the books I read last year for My Favorite Books of 2008 post, I decided to take a closer look at my personal reading stats. 

Note the following simple chart:

Number of Books Read Per Month (2008)

Month: #Books Read:
Jan. 3
Feb. 7
Mar. 10
Apr. 5
May 3
June 4
July 10
Aug. 4
Sept. 8
Oct. 4
Nov. 1
Dec. 2
TOTAL: 61

Mean: 5 Books
Median: 4 Books
Mode: 4 Books

Very interesting. This is what I discovered:

On one hand, you can look at the number of books I read each month and it looks like my reading patterns were all over the place! Reading anywhere from ONE to TEN books in one month is pretty erratic if you ask me.

However . . . if you look at the measures of central tendency, my reading patterns are practically a "normal" distribution! 

    

Um. Okay, so maybe that's not that funny, but it is kind of neat how the mean, median, and mode are so close. When those three measures of central tendency are the same, it means that I'm most likely to read four books in a month, but in any given month, I'm equally likely to read more than four books as I am likely to read less than four books. I think. And you know what that means? It means I need to read more this year. Okay, that I pulled from where the sun doesn't shine.

Anyway, I read a total of 61 books in 2008, which averages out to reading about 1.17 books a week or about 5.08 books a month. That number really isn't too bad considering that in 2006, the typical American was reading four books per year (courtesy of www.npr.org, All Things Considered.). So on average, I read more books in one month than the typical American reads in a whole year. Still, it's usually more prudent to read more books in a month than you buy. Isn't it?

Something else that I observed from my reflection on last year's reads that isn't revealed in those stats is that I actually read books from a wider variety of genres. In 2008, I actually deviated from my normal paranormal fixation and read quite a few urban fantasy novels and contemporary romances, a few historical romances, a few romantic suspense novels, a touch of straight fantasy, and I even went back to pre-romance reading days and read a handful of young adult fiction. I hope to continue this pattern this year as well. 

Reading Challenges for 2009

To encourage myself to read more in 2009, and to help whittle down my TBR pile (ha!), I joined a few Reading Challenges this year. 

In March of last year, I joined the TBR Reading Challenge hosted by Keishon at the avidbookreader.com blog. I did well the first four months, but failed to follow through the last several months. I was disappointed that I didn't keep up, and now my TBR pile is bigger than ever, so I rejoined Keishon's TBR Reading Challenge 2009 and am determined to complete it this time. To learn more about this challenge, visit Keishon at the avidbookreader.com.

I also joined the Year of the Category Reading Challenge hosted by Kmont at Lurv à la Mode. Kmont mentioned late last year that she was going to resolve to read more category romance in 2009 and I coerced pressured encouraged her to organize a Category Reading Challenge and she did!!! So of course, then I had to join. Talk about pressure. To learn more about this challenge, visit Kmont at Lurv à la Mode. 

Last, but not least, I joined a Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge hosted by Brie at Musings of a Bibliophile. I already have several contemporary romances at the top of my TBR pile that I've been itching to read, plus a few MUST BUYS for 2009 (Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas, Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins, anything by Megan Hart ... ), so I figure I may as well join Brie's challenge in order to keep my head in the game. To learn more about this challenge, visit Brie at Musings of a Bibliophile. 

I was actually contemplating organizing a Young Adult Reading Challenge, but thought it might be kind of lame if the only participants were me, Thea and DarlingDiva. LOL! 

Did you join any Reading Challenges for 2009? What are some of your reading goals for 2009?