Happy New Year!
2024 brought a lot of changes to my life (good and bad), and I expect 2025 to bring even more (hopefully all good). Most notably, I was accepted into medical school! I have been working towards this goal for years and am still in disbelief that it’s finally happening.
Last year, I kept my reading goals simple and was able to meet (almost) all of them, so I’m going into 2025 with the same mentality. I’m keeping my reading and blogging goals light and saving the stress for school!
The Great Series Read Project
Let’s start with the only goal I failed last year: complete more series than I start in a year.
The Great Series Read Project was created by Caitlin from Realms of My Mind as way for us bloggers to keep track of and most importantly finish all of the series we start. Being part of the fantasy blogging world means being exposed to countless new and exciting series. Trying to keep track of multiple ongoing series as their books are published 1-2 years apart is challenging, and has left me with many unfinished series that I initially loved and planned to complete. I love this challenge because it helps me return to those stories that I enjoyed so that I can see how they end.
Although I failed to meet this goal in 2024, I’ve decided not to change it this year. My goal for 2025 is still to finish more series than I start. This year, I think I have a good plan to help me stick to my goal.
Last year I ran into issues when I couldn’t read any new fantasy stories without it being a series, but I was very good at reading all the available installments of the series I did start. This year, instead of trying not to start any new series, I want to be more selective about choosing fantasy series that are fully published. This way, if I do start a new series, I can also finish the series in the same year.
Series Finished in 2024
- The Drowning Empire by Andrea Stewart
- Mead Mishaps by Kimberly Lemming
- The Last Finestra by Emily Thiede
- The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri.
Series Started in 2024
- Saint of Steel by T. Kingfisher (4/7)
- The Rising World by Martha Wells (1/?)
- The Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee (1/3)
- The Godkissed Bride by Evie Marceau (2/4?)*
- The War of Lost Hearts by Carissa Broadbent (1/3)
- The Blood Files by Anna Burke (1/?)
- The Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair (1/4)*
- The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (2/17).
*Of those, I don’t plan to continue reading The Halfling Saga or The Godkissed Bride. While fun at the time, I didn’t love either of these series enough to wait for the next installments.
Self-Published & Indie Reading Challenge
For the past 3 years, I’ve been challenging myself to read 10 self-published and indie books every year. Last year I completed 19 indie and self-published books because it turns out many fantasy romance authors are self-published!
I’m setting my goal at 10 again this year. The challenge is live on The StoryGraph so anyone is welcome to join!
General Reading Goal: 40 Books
Same with my other goals, I see no reason to update this goal. I usually find getting to 40 books in a year challenging because my reading pace ebbs and flows throughout the year.
My goal for the year overall is to try and maintain my current reading habits. I found my reading goals challenging last year and expect it to be the same this coming year. I don’t think that I can add any more challenges/quantity to my reading goals without taking away my enjoyment.
What are you goals for 2025? Are you challenging yourself this year or trying to maintain current progress?
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Peyton
Good luck with your challenges this year! I’m mostly trying to maintain current progress, though I am trying to push myself a bit to read more non-fiction and owned books this year.
Non fiction is a good challenge! I started reading a couple non fiction books last year and ended up not finishing them. I am really enjoying educational podcasts though! I’ve just found that reading is not my preferred way to get information, if that makes sense. I tend to prefer videos, short articles, or listening and use books as a reference for specific questions.