Hey there. Long time, no see. I’ll post my full explanation – and apology – for my absence in this Friday’s coming progress report.

In this post, I’d like to share what I read during my most successful reading year to date!

***note: I count my reading years from Christmas day to Christmas Eve of the following year. Why? Because I almost always receive either books or gift cards to bookstores for Christmas and want to begin reading the new material right away. What better time to begin the new reading year than when I’m most excited to read.

1. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
2. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
3. Pines by Blake Crouch
4. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
5. Not Dead & Not for Sale: A Memoir by Scott Weiland
6. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
7. The Royals by Kitty Kelley
8. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
9. Forgotten Song by Ally Blue
10. Willow Bend by Ally Blue
11. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
12. Strong Enough by Melanie Harlow and David Romanov
13. We Found Love by Kade Boehme and Allison Cassatta
14. Captive Prince: Book 1 of the Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat
15. Prince’s Gambit: Book 2 of the Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat
16. Green but for a Season: A Captive Prince Short Story by C.S. Pacat
17. Kings Rising: Book 3 of the Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat
18. The Summer Palace: A Captive Prince Short Story by C.S. Pacat
19. The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant: A Captive Prince Short Story by C.S. Pacat
20. Man, Oh Man: Writing Quality M/M Fiction by Josh Lanyon
21. Sticky Fingers by Nic Starr
22. Wedding Favors by Josh Lanyon (listened to audiobook)
23. Fatal Shadows: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 1 by Josh Lanyon (the audiobook first, then the e-book to be sure I didn’t miss anything)
24. A Dangerous Thing: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 2 by Josh Lanyon (the audiobook first, then the e-book to be sure I didn’t miss anything)
25. We Boys Together: Teenagers In Love Before Girl-Craziness by Jeffery P. Dennis
26. Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
27. Dirty Mind by Roe Horvat
28. The Hell You Say: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 3 by Josh Lanyon (the audiobook first, then the e-book to be sure I didn’t miss anything)
29. The Trojan War by Bernard Evslin
30. Death of a Pirate King: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 4 by Josh Lanyon
31. The Dark Tide: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 5 by Josh Lanyon
32. So This Is Christmas: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 7 by Josh Lanyon
33. Stranger Things Have Happened: The Adrien English Mysteries, Book 6 by Josh Lanyon
34. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
35. London Dates by Brad Tanner
36. Wrapped with Love by Beth Bolden
37. Fence: Comic One by C.S. Pacat
38. Bared to You: Crossfire Book 1 by Sylvia Day
39. Christmas Can Kiss My Dickens by Hunter Frost
40. Benjamin’s Gardens by J. Walther
41. Snow on the Roof by Sean Ashcroft
42. Rainbow Rebel by Lina Langley
43. A Love Song for the Sad Man in the White Coat by Roe Horvat
44. Fence: Comic Two by C.S. Pacat
45. The Millionaire Upstairs: Dreamspun Desires Book 1 by M.J. O’Shea

As you can see, my reading year began fairly normally with my typical psychological thrillers and literary fiction. But then, I picked up Forgotten Song by Ally Blue at my favorite Half Price Books and got bit by the m/m romance/gay fiction bug – hard. I read my first m/m romance – Illumination by Rowan Speedwell – in the summer of 2016, but I was still going through a bit of a rough patch and couldn’t stomach any more romance at the time. But once I read Forgotten Song at the beginning of this past summer, I latched onto m/m romance with passion. And then I read the Captive Prince series for the first time and well…the rest is history.

While I enjoyed nearly everything I read this year in some capacity, my favorite reads by far were the Captive Prince series by C.S. Pacat (review post here) and the Adrien English mysteries by Josh Lanyon (review post here). As far as stand-alone stories go, my favorites were Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Willow Bend by Ally Blue, Strong Enough by Melanie Harlow and David Romanov, Dirty Mind by Roe Horvat, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, and Wrapped with Love by Beth Bolden.

I tried, at times desperately, to make it to 50 books this year and unfortunately, I didn’t make it. I’m still very proud of myself though, as 45 is still a new record for me. Not only that, but I tried so many new things this year with my reading. I listened to a few audio books, I read a create-your-own-adventure book, I even read my first two comic books (unless you count the Walking Dead compendiums, of which I’ve read the first two).

And next year…next year I’m getting to 50 and finally marking that one off the bucket list. Wish me luck!