BPR’s 2018 in Review + Our New Year’s Resolutions!

It’s almost 2019, and we’ve officially become those old people that are forever asking, when did it become 2019??? We’re here to count down some of the best and worst of 2018, as we eagerly await a whole new bunch of moments, memories, and books to come for 2019!

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YEAR IN REVIEW

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JANUARY

• TOP POST: The Princes Read: Hercules

• EVENT: Sha joined the blog!!

• BEST BOOK: Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan for Mandy / Every Day by David Levithan for Sha

• WORST BOOK: Wicked Charm by Amber Hart for Mandy / Attachments by Rainbow Rowell for Sha

FEBRUARY

• TOP POST: You’re Not Good Enough tag

• EVENT: Nothing was excitingness for our princesses this month sadly. We were just vibing in Sha’s makeup posts and Mandy being a month and half behind in reviews.

• BEST BOOK: American Panda by Gloria Chao or Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young (YOU CAN’T MAKE ME CHOOSE. BUT LIKE MAYBE SKY IN THE DEEP. SO, OKAY, YOU CAN MAKE ME CHOOSE) for Mandy / The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher for Sha

• WORST BOOK: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black for Mandy/ Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick for Sha

MARCH

• TOP POST: Book Blogger Test

• EVENT: Well, um, we were…we were doing things. Sha created our Facebook page that had a wondrous banner, and forever landed her as the official BPR graphic maker (little did she know). I’m calling it an important event.

• BEST BOOK: These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas for Mandy / Chomp by Carl Hiaasen for Sha

• WORST BOOK: My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent for Mandy (sorry, Sha) / If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin for Sha

APRIL

• TOP POST: Discussion Post: What makes you say goodbye to a physical book?

• EVENT: Sha and Mandy took on human rights with our challenge to every day relate our posts and books back to one of the universal human right. It was surely a challenge, but hopefully helped bring some awareness.

• BEST BOOK: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett for Mandy / Dare to Disappoint: A Graphic Novel by Ozge Samanci for Sha

• WORST BOOK: The Queen Underneath by Stacey Filak / Bruised by Sara Skilton for Sha

MAY

• TOP POST: How YA Contemporaries Lied to Me: Work Edition

• EVENT: Um, Sha and Mandy were keeping it on the low. We were hiding in wait for much goodness.

• BEST BOOK: It’s Not Me, It’s You by Stephanie Kate Strohm for Mandy / None t’was a bad month for Sha

• WORST BOOK: The Life and Death Parade by Eliza Wass for Mandy (who still isn’t sure what happened in this book at all) / Friends and Other Liars by Kaela Coble for Sha

JUNE

• TOP POST: Ways to Tell You’re in a Blogging Slump

• EVENT: Summer = time Sha and Mandy were basking in the sun, so we were not the happening in big events. However, June did mark the most important buddy read ever: Grave Mercy where these GM fangirls just died and went to Book Heaven.

• BEST BOOK: Grave Mercy for both

• WORST BOOK: The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan for Mandy / None for Sha who was basking in Grave Mercy feels

JULY

• TOP POST: Goodbye Book Princess Reviews

• EVENT: We got our most unique visitors this month! Woo! So many new people to meet, and greet. (I hope you stuck around, you lovely people!) Also, it was Mandy’s birthday month!

• BEST BOOK: Letting Go of Gravity by Meg Leder for Mandy / Like Never and Always by Ann Aguirre for Sha

• WORST BOOK: Magnolia by Kristi Cook for Mandy / Alpha by Jus Accardo

AUGUST

• TOP POST: 90s Movies Book Tag

• EVENT: We hit 2K followers on BPR!! Thanks everyone soooo much. In celebration, we hosted a sweepstakes and gave away two $10 e-gift certificates to Thrift Books.

• BEST BOOK: The Bigfoot Files by Lindsay Eagar for Mandy / The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh for Sha

• WORST BOOK: Uncharted by Erin Cashman for Mandy / Beast by Lisa Jensen

SEPTEMBER

• TOP POST: Nightmare Before Book Princess Reviews Readathon

• EVENT: We held a blog contest!! If you could guess who had more books between Mandy and I (and what the number was), you would get a guest post on BPR. While we did pick a winner, Mandy and I never did say what our totals were… Hmm. Also, #spookseptember was in fulllllllllll swing!

• BEST BOOK: The Diviners by Libba Bray for Mandy / The 71/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton for Sha

• WORST BOOK: Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco for Mandy / Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal

OCTOBER

 

• TOP POST: Disney Channel Halloween Movies tag

• EVENT: Oh, so much happened. October was BPR’s two year anniversary AND we created an original tag AND we hosted a spooky book readathon. What a great month!

• BEST BOOK: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White for Mandy / The Witches by Roald Dahl for Sha

• WORST BOOK: Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel by AW Jantha for Mandy / Under My Skin by Lisa Unger for Sha

NOVEMBER

• TOP POST: Library Lover’s Book Tag

• EVENT: Mandy went to YALLFest!! We also joined in on Bookishly Rebecca and Malanie Loves Fiction’s Read&Chill-a-Thon.

• BEST BOOK: My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison for Mandy / Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys for Sha

• WORST BOOK: The Agony House by Cherie Priest for Mandy / Rule by Ellen Goodlett for Sha

DECEMBER

• TOP POST: Top 5 Tuesday: Books I Didn’t Get to in 2018

• EVENT: A light attempt at Blogmas (we did the daily posting, but not everything was holiday themed). We’ll be doing Kathy @ Books&Munches and Destiny @ Howling Library’s Short-a-Thon later in the month.

• BEST BOOK: The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton for Mandy / Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks by ‘Nathan Burgoine

• WORST BOOK: The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan for Mandy / n/a for Sha

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NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

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What are we aiming to achieve in 2019?

📝 [SHA] Read more books featuring LGBT+ and/or POC characters.

📝 [MANDY] ^^^ Same, same, and more same. I would love to participate in a pride month TBR as well in June.

📝 [SHA] Attend a book convention.

📝 [SHA] Keep a healthy balance between blog life and personal life.

📝 [MANDY] Actually finish reading all the books on my physical TBR. I’ve officially run out of room on my shelf, and I need to make sure I have them all read so I can dehaul some to make room for the ones I currently have and all the 2019 beauties.

📝 [SHA] Receive my first physical ARC.

📝 [MANDY] Finish all of the Rick Riordan series, which also lends itself to reading more middle grade books. But mostly, I just need to complete the RR binge that I started a year ago this month.

📝 [MANDY] Keep a schedule of blogging activities – blog hopping one day, doing comments one day, reading one day, etc. so I don’t actually just fail and not answer my comments for 10 days like I do.

📝 [SHA] Post at least one buddy read with Mandy every two months.

📝 [MANDY] Do more readathons! I really enjoy doing prompts and themed reads, so I definitely think I might hop in a few more.

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What do you think? What are some of your 2019 resolutions? What were some of your top books or worst books for 2018? What was memorable for 2018? Let’s discuss in the comments below!