This year I decided to sign up for the Audiobook challenge run by Hot Listens and Caffeinated Reviewer because it sounded like a lot of fun and just my type of thing since I already listen to a lot of audiobooks. More details about the challenge can be found in my original post here.

Levels of achievement:

• Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
• Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
• Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15
• Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
• Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
• My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
• Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+

Well, there are a few days left to the year, but I’m posting this early because I think I know about how things will go with my audiobooks for the rest of the year (I have a plan! For once! That I might actually stick to!)

Here’s a list of all the books I’ve listened to so far this year:

1. Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts
2. This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada
3. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
4. In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
5. White Stag by Kara Barbieri
6. Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
7. Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron
8. Dracul by J.D. Barker and Dacre Stoker
9. The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty
10. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
11. Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich
12. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
13. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
14. Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
15. The Au Pair by Emma Rous
16. The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
17. The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron
18. The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor
19. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
20. Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
21. The True Queen by Zen Cho
22. The Prince and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston
23. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
24. Enchantée by Gita Trelease
25. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
26. Fledgling by Octavia Butler
27. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
28. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
29. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
30. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher
31. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
32. Beautiful but Juliet Marillier
33. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
34. A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
35. The Defiant Heir by Melissa Caruso
36. Touch by Claire North
37. Last Bastion by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach
38. The Night Before by Wendy Walker
39. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
40. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
41. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
42. Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau-Preto
43. Part-Time Gods by Rachel Aaron
44. Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff
45. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
46. Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
47. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
48. Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell
49. Slayer by Kiersten White
50. City of Lies by Sam Hawke
51. Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly
52. Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa
53. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
54. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
55. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
56. Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
57. Dark Age by Pierce Brown
58. Blood Price by Tanya Huff
59. Blood Trail by Tanya Huff
60. The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen
61. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin

And here is what I’m currently listening to and / or plan to listen to by the end of the year:

1. Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
2. The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl by Theodora Goss
3. Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger

To Sum Up

I have listened to a whopping FIFTEEN books since my last quarterly update. That’s pretty great, more than a book a week. I don’t know how I did that considering Dark Age took me two weeks to get through, but I was sort of frantically listening to books throughout the fall to compensate for my otherwise slight slump in print due to depression kicking in.

And Look at those final numbers! Somehow I’m still sitting at less audiobooks than last year though–if I finish all three o my list that will bring me up to 64 and I finished 69 last year and 74 in 2017. I think some of it is that I’m just taking breaks to listen to other things now and then, like music and podcasts. And also I sometimes sneak in ebook reading at work on my phone during downtime which is usually my audiobook time, whoops! (Also, shhhhhhh lol.)

Let’s talk about some favorites here just for sheer listening value, books that I really enjoyed the narration for:

• My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows – SO. MUCH. FUN. And a lot of my laughs were thanks to the exaggerated reading style of the narrator. See review here.
• The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons – This book has some of my favorite audiobook narrators! It was a blast to listen to! I don’t know that I’d actually recommend it in audio since it has multiple timelines which can make it hard to follow and it’s already a SUPER confusing book to begin with, but I certainly had a great time with it (I’m a little weird though). See review here.
• Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff – Of course I continued to love the narration for this book into the finale, it just works SO WELL in audio. Also makes for fun awkward reading times at work whenever you’re doing a spreadsheet and a sex scene happens. Just sayin. And while I didn’t love the finale as much as I’d hoped, I fully recommend this one in audio format.  See review here.
• Dark Age by Pierce Brown – And the narration for this series continues to be amazing as well. I’m glad I listened to this one, it was a heck of a ride and reading that tome would have taken me forever, so thank you audiobooks. See review here.

So, that’s it! My final numbers look pretty good! I think I’ll probably join up again next year, this was fun to keep track of. Did you participate in this challenge? How did you do? Leave a note in the comments, I’d love to chat!