Me vs My Reading Goals

A mid year check in

Jul 06, 2025

Hey page turners, today we’re looking at where I am against my reading goals for the year and also looking at what I’m looking forward to for the rest of the year ⚔️🌶️.

Yearly goal

I started the year with a yearly book goal of 250. This isn’t out of the realm of possibility for me.

When I got back into reading in June 2021, I read 131 / 100 books.

2022 - 315 / 200 books. I was a uni student and started a job in September at the time and had a lot of freedom with my uni timetable because it was mostly online (thanks, COVID)

2023 - 233 / 150 books. I adjusted my expectations for my reading goal because I thought working a full time corporate job meant I wouldn’t be able to read nearly as much. This was clearly a lie.

2024 - 255 / 230 books. I started 2024 with a 200 book reading goal but, when it was clear I’d surpass that, I increased my goal.

Now we’re in 2025 and I set a goal of 250 books and, given previous years, I thought this was realistic for me. I have since decreased my goal to 220 mostly because I have had a terrible start to the reading year, probably up until May. I’ve been more susceptible to book slumps this year and, as some one that has to read everyday, it has been a lot of a few pages here and there and more DNF’ing than usual.

Now, if I counted my DNF’s to my yearly total, we’d probably be right on track or even set to surpass 250 books this year but I *personally* do not do this. I’ve also had a lot of meh books and, for someone that prides themselves on picking good books for me, I’ve actually been disappointed in myself for not liking the books I’m picking more than usual 😅

While I have lowered my reading goal to 220, which I recognise is still a large number, I’m not disappointed in myself for doing so not do I feel like some kind of failure because of it. My yearly reading goal is an arbitrary set by me and I am the only one holding me accountable for reaching it so, to be honest, I can do whatever I want, lol.

And if you’re wondering, yes, I do actually retain the information from the books I am reading and no, I’m not skimming them and, if you’re wondering what I think of them, I review all the books I read on my Goodreads 💋. I am currently at 110 books read.

Indie and trad

I am indie to the world and back ❗️

My preference for books is indie more than trad and, that’s not to say I don’t like trad books, I have read trad and enjoyed trad but there is just something about indie that scratches my brain just right.

This is not to cast stones on trad authors or anyone that prefers trad. I think all authors are working hard and putting out work they love and want readers to love too, this is just my preference for a few reasons and I know some of them are selfish.

Kindle Unlimited is one of those reasons. As noted above, I am reading a lot of books. This is financially possible for me because of kindle unlimited and I am the type of reader where, if a book is not on KU, I likely won’t consider reading it unless it’s an author I love, an anticipated read or, one of my friends have vouched for it.

Yes, I could use a library however, if the system in the UK regarding holds is like what I see online for the US, this is not a system that will work for me because KU has given me the privilege of immediate access to books whenever I want them for £9.49 a month. I am a mood reader with tbr lists so, if I have to wait 12 weeks for a book, I might as well just buy my own which defeats the purpose. If you’re interested in how much money I’m spending on books, I post a wrap up on my insta / TT every month (spoiler, special editions are expensive!)

Another reason is timelines. I know trad timelines are much longer to prepare for print, give authors more breathing room and for all the editing etc. happening behind the scenes. I love this for authors that go trad / are hybrid because I feel like it gives them a better work-life balance. I also know that deals for series exist if book 1 does well but I have learnt over the last 4 years that incomplete series aren’t for me but I will make some exceptions.

If I read a book and book 2 comes out in 18 months, I would have read at least 300 books between book 1 and 2 of a series. My taste has probably changed a few times and I have found, for me, that this has an impact on the reading experience. I have found myself in several situations where book 1 has been 5/5 and book 2 is a 2/5 and I don’t want to do this to myself and I feel like not reading the series in succession isn’t giving it a fair chance.

TL;DR, support all authors where you can

New-to-me authors

As of today (6th July) I have read 20 NTM authors (not including DNFs) out of 110 books read. At 18% of books, I feel like this is a bit low especially given last year I had read 40 NTM in the same time period. Do I know what the cause of this is? No, but we’ll see what the rest of the year has in store for me.

Some of my fav books by NTM authors so far have been:

Diversity

Reading diversely is important to me and I’d like to think that I am intentional in my picks to ensure that I am reading a variety of books and characters, especially from own voices. Romance is my genre of choice and it is an oversaturated genre where the majority of authors are white american women.

There is often discourse online about whether said white american women should be writing diverse characters and, in my opinion, it’s up to them to be honest and how their characters come to them but, if I want a racially diverse book, that wouldn’t be the first place I look.

I posted a thread the other day that essentially says that being Black is so present in my every day life so if your MC is Black and that starts and ends with curly hair and a satin pillowcase, leave it out because it feels forced. There is such joy in reading a book by a Black author about Black characters and relating on such minute details and feeling seen through fiction in a way that others get to experience on a regular basis. That said, there are a lot of Black american experiences that I, as a black brit, do not relate to but I still find it interesting to read.

On the other hand, I don’t read to self insert so reading about people outside of my lived experience isn’t a problem for me. When people say they don’t read about BIPOC characters because they can’t relate but do read paranormal romance all I hear is “bullshit bullshit bullshit”. The argument that “I don’t research authors before I read” is a privilege.

This extends to reading queer romance books. I am straight (men 🤪! but also, men 🥴.) and reading queer romance has given me more insight into others lived experiences and also more understanding other the other prejudices that exist in the world. But also, queer joy is so refreshing to read when reality looks the way it does now. A lot of the authors I read are queer and / or write queer books so this is never really something I have to search for.

That said, if anyone has recs for Black indie romantasy (NOT PARANORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), please send them to me!

Some of my fav diverse reads have been:

Looking forward

Off the top of my head, I’m looking forward to The Primal of Blood and Bone by JLA coming out in September - this is my most anticipated read of the year 😍

I’ve also been reading the Perfectly Imperfect mafia series by Neva Altaj that I’ve been really enjoyed - I can’t wait to read the rest of the books 🥰

Book bracket

this template can be found in my templates highlights on insta or on my pinterest

Happy reading ⚔️🌶️

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My Next Post…

Coming 20/07 and will be about disability pride month and some romance recs with disability rep 💋

Discussion about this post

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