Cozy Mystery Corner discussion

Year-End Wrap Up 2024



LOOKING BACK: How was your reading year?
Answer as many or as few as you'd like.

📚 Overview: Did you have a chance to read as much as you liked? Or did life demand more of your attention and hoped-for reading time? Maybe your reading year was "just right." Here's the place to share.

📚Challenges: What challenges did you complete? Did you play?

📚Taking a Closer Look:

A. Did you discover a new favorite series?

B. Did you enjoy a visit(s) with familiar friends? (on-going series)

C. Who was/were your favorite character(s)? Tell us why.

D. Post a picture of your favorite cover.

LOOKING FORWARD: What are your reading goals for 2025?
Number of books to read? Complete a series? Discover new authors? Participate in challenges?

[You may include both cozies and other genres.]

Best Wishes for a Happy New Reading Year! 🥂🎊🥳

Nell

Year-End Wrap Up 2024

LOOKING BACK: How was your reading year?
📚 Overview: Did you have a chance to read as much as you liked? Or did life demand more of your attention and hoped-for reading time? Maybe your reading year was "just right." Here's the place to share.
I was able to read/listen more than anticipated, primarily due to a combination of vision issues (thus the 'listen' part) and ongoing insomnia.

📚Challenges: What challenges did you complete? Did you play?
I can't resist joining most challenges I see, and am a stickler for completing them, on time if at all possible. I don't want to count how many I completed in 2024, but there are 50 ongoing challenges on my list (so far!) for 2025.

📚Taking a Closer Look:
A. Did you discover a new favorite series?
Among my favorites: the Tate & Bell series by Irina Shapiro; Barker & Llewelyn series by Will Thomas; Secret Staircase series by Ellie Alexander; Zoe Chambers series by Annette Dashofy; Lord Edington series by Benedict Brown

B. Did you enjoy a visit(s) with familiar friends? (on-going series)
Wayyyy too many to list!

C. Who was/were your favorite character(s)? Tell us why.
That changes from day to day :)

D. Post a picture of your favorite cover.


LOOKING FORWARD: What are your reading goals for 2025?
Number of books to read? Complete a series? Discover new authors? Participate in challenges?
All of the above :)

Best Wishes for a Happy New Reading Year! 🥂🎊🥳
And to you and everyone else here too!

Happy New Year!!
LOOKING BACK: How was your reading year? Answer as many or as few as you'd like.
* All the cozies I read in 2024.
* My GoodReads Year in Review. (NOTE: I don’t list all my reads on GoodReads. I list all mysteries, but not all romance. Thus the difference in numbers.)

📚 Overview: Did you have a chance to read as much as you liked? Or did life demand more of your attention and hoped-for reading time? Maybe your reading year was "just right." Here's the place to share.
Overall, I did not get as much reading done as I would have liked. I can’t blame life because I faced the same reading obstacles this year as most years. I just wasn’t spending time reading. I do know part of the time was spent playing games on my iPad. I need to curb that.

By the numbers… Overall I read 34,965 pages over 223 books, for an average book length of 156.8 pages. Looks like good numbers, but I read 19% fewer items in 2024 over 2023—but only 6% fewer pages (still, down from last year). Sadly, this downward trend has been going on for the last three years, something I’d like to turn around. On the plus side, the items I read were, on average, just over 16% longer than those in 2023. I read 42 cozies in 2024, down from 52 in 2024 (-19%).

As usual, I added more to my TBR than I removed. :o)

📚Challenges: What challenges did you complete? Did you play?
I usually enter only two challenges each year, the annual GoodReads challenge and a cozy mystery-reading challenge. I start out my GR challenge at 60—figuring I can read at least that in the year—increasing throughout the year as I meet/exceed. The cozy-read challenge has several levels. I shoot for reading the max, 40+ cozies each year. There are two versions, a straight read of X books and a read X of 10 different mystery sub-genres (e.g., historical, craft-related, etc.). I go for the straight read because I like to read what I like and not everything I read falls into the listed genres. I do track the sub-genres to see if I hit that goal in my reading. I usually fall short by a couple. Though, the stars have aligned the last three years and I’ve hit both goals.

I look at other challenges offered throughout the year, but I know I don’t have the discipline to do most of them—mainly because I like reading what I want when I want. That’s hard to do when challenge books aren’t always something I’m interested in. Or the challenge forces one to find titles or genres or whatever to fit. Some of my reads would work, but… I have joined a couple through the years that seem like easy fun, though not any lately. As for play, I sometimes play the title games, etc. posted in different groups/boards. I also follow a Bingo reading game board for fun.

📚 Taking a Closer Look:
A. Did you discover a new favorite series?
I started seven new-to-me series, four by new-to-me authors, including my first read of 2024.
* Laura Bradford - Friend for Hire
* Amanda Cooper - Teapot Collector
* Reagan Davis - Knitorious
* E X Ferrars - Virginia & Felix
* Tonya Kappes - Southern Magical Bakery
* Sue Minix’s - Bookstore
* J. New - Yellow Cottage Vintage Mysteries

Sadly, four were disappointing first reads for one reason or another. I have the series TBRed, but with so many other reads, I have no idea when I’ll get back to them. Of the other three, two seem to be “dead” series—that is no new additions in several years. One I’ve completed (to date); the other I still have two to go (to date). I enjoyed both series and would continue reading them if more showed up. (Here’s hoping!)

The last, Kappes’ Southern Magical Bakery, a next-gen series to her Magical Cures (a favorite), finally has a new addition scheduled to come in July. It started a serial story on Kindle. A complete book was issued in 2021, but nothing since. I can’t wait for July to revisit the characters!

I also re-started a series I started reading in 2020, Kennedy Layne's Paramour Bay. I only read one that year. When I picked up the series this year, I reread book 1, so I’m counting it as new–to-me (making eight new-to-mes for the year). My year ended with the first five in the series (to date) and have continued it into the new year. There are 26 (to date)—a lot to catch up on!
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B. Did you enjoy a visit(s) with familiar friends? (on-going series)
I totally enjoyed visits with familiar friends. I played catch-up with 17 different series this year, including several of my all-time favorites (though I guess I could say that about most series!):
* Lorraine Bartlett (&Gayle Leeson) - Victoria Square
* Victoria Laurie - Life Coach/Cat Cooper
* Victoria Laurie - Psychic Eye/Abby Cooper
* Jenn McKinlay - Cupcake Bakery
* Addison Moore - Murder in the Mix/Lottie Lemon

And, I caught up on the Jaine Austin series by Laura Levine, reading the last two-in-series. Sadly, Ms. Levine retired in July so book 20 is the finale. She says she may keep Jaine alive in novellas now and then. I really am hoping she does—the series contains several holiday-related novellas, so I could see more coming. I love Jaine (though I hate her cat!). I love the mysteries. And, I love the humor of the books. So so good! I’m sad it see it end. That being said, however, the last book was very satisfying as a series-ender!

While I love the characters and the setting, I had a hard time getting through the two books I read in Laura Childs’ Scrapbooking series. I kept allowing myself to get distracted with other reads and I don’t really know why. I have five more to catch up the series (to date) and would read more if they were issued, The last book (to date) came in 2019, so??? :o(

C. Who was/were your favorite character(s)? Tell us why.
You already know I love Jaine Ausitn from the titular series. Her inner dialogs are sometimes laugh-out-loud. Plus, you’ve got to love a character who goes through what she does and still sees the good in life.

I’ve always liked Gilly Gillespie, currently in the Life Coach/Cat Cooper series. He started out in Laurie’s Ghost Hunter series as best friend (family!) to psychic/ghost hunter MJ Holliday. When that series ended, he moved east and started working with Cat, sister to Abby Cooper of the Psychic Eye/Abby Cooper series. I loved him in both roles. I’m hoping there are more stories to come in both—well all three—series. This year did see a new entry to the previously-ended Ghost Hunter. Maybe Gilly will be splitting time???

Mel and Angie from Cupcake Bakery are also favorites. It’s the humor and well-written friendship that grabs me. (Secondary characters, the DeLaura boys—Angie’s brothers—are a riot.)

I love Lottie Lemon from the Murder in the Mix/Lottie Lemon series. I also love her hubby, Judge Essex Everett Baxter. Her “third” Detective Noah Fox sometimes irritates me, but I like him, too.

D. Post a picture of your favorite cover.

While there were a couple of cute ones, none of the covers really stood out for me this year. If I had to choose, I’d choose that of Plum Pudding Peril because it’s Christmas-y.

LOOKING FORWARD: What are your reading goals for 2025?
Number of books to read? Complete a series? Discover new authors? Participate in challenges? [You may include both cozies and other genres.]
* As mentioned previously, I’d like to reverse my current downward trend by reading as many or more items/pages than I did in 2024.

* I’ve joined my regular two challenges, GoodReads and Cruisin' thru the Cozies. However, I’ve changed it up a bit and have joined two additional challenges…so far. A New Year’s challenge to read up to 12 books in different themed categories by 02/28/25 will get me going. A Series Challenge to complete/catch up on at least one series in a year will keep me going. The series challenge has four levels. I’ve chosen level 4, to read/catch up 10+ series by year’s end.

The good news is that reads can be counted on all the challenges I do--well at least the mysteries can. What these will help with is organizing my reading a bit more. I tend to read what I want when I want. I usually don’t mind if a “pretty” review or description or cover grabs my attention. Posting that I want to finish certain series will help keep me on track—at least that the plan anyway. We’ll see how it goes. :o)

I’ll see how disciplined (brave) I am as the year progress as to whether or not I add more. There are people I follow who do multiple challenges in different groups (Popsugar… man oh man). More power to them. I am in awe.

* I always want to complete series or make sure I’m up to date with all my regulars—Phew! As for new-to-me authors and/or series… That’s a foregone conclusion. I add more to the mountain that is my TBR than the speedbump of reads I take off each year. Unless I stop reading reviews, book news, etc., there is no way to keep me from new stuff. I love it! Never at a loss of something to read.

Best Wishes for a Happy New Reading Year! 🥂🎊🥳
Thank you. Right back atcha, Nell. May your worst 2025 read be better than your best 2024 read.

Overview: Did you have a chance to read as much as you liked? Or did life demand more of your attention and hoped-for reading time? Maybe your reading year was "just right." Here's the place to share.

Didn't get as much reading done as usual.
I had more than usual amount of yard work to do and in summer it is too hot to wear my headset to listen to audio books.

📚Challenges: What challenges did you complete? Did you play?
Challenges help me find books, especially series but I'm more likely to start another book than record what I read so I don't play.

📚Taking a Closer Look:

A. Did you discover a new favorite series?
Not really but I did find books I didn't know about in series I already liked.

B. Did you enjoy a visit(s) with familiar friends? (on-going series)
Yes. It's fun visiting friends.

C. Who was/were your favorite character(s)? Tell us why.
I suppose Lynn Kurland's de Piaget/MacLeod characters because I discovered she wrote more after I thought she quit writing them. Fun reads even if not cozy mystery.

D. Post a picture of your favorite cover.
Don't have a favorite but in general I prefer real not cartoon covers. I also prefer covers that relate to the specific book not generic covers even when I like the art.

LOOKING FORWARD:
What are your reading goals for 2025?
Read more of the paper books I already have that still interest me. Fortunately or unfortunately there are more that no longer interest me than those that still do but I can listen to audio while sorting.

Number of books to read?
I quit setting number goal or keeping close track about 4 years ago.

Complete a series?
Catch up on series I enjoy.

Discover new authors?
Probably.

Participate in challenges?
There will probably be challenges that inspire me to read books but I probably won't officially participate.