Hey pals! I was looking at my physical library to see how many of my books I have not yet read, and there are a lot. In particular, I was looking at books I've already started and not yet finished, of which there are 22. So I am planning out when I will finish them using the Pagebound scheduling feature, because what the heck, me?! XD To quote Taylor Swift, "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22." Which made me curious about how many physical books you have on your TBR! And if you want, tell me what you're most excited to read soon!

So how do most people decide what number to set as their yearly challenge goal?

For example, I only read 12 books last year, so I thought I’d go for something attainable and only put my goal at five books. Now that I’m using Pagebound, I’ve already read 10 🫣 so maybe I should have set it higher? I’m curious about how other people determine their yearly challenge goal.

(As a side note, this is my first time posting an original post in the Pagebound Club, so let me know if I overlooked a similar post or if this post should go elsewhere!)

I love a supernatural romance, but usually when I see a F/M human x monster/creature/beast/supernatural being pairing, the monster is almost always the MMC!!! I mean no disrespect to all the human girl x 100 y/o fae, 100 y/o vampire, angel, werewolf, demon, fish-man etc etc. I have read and loved many, and I know there are 500 beauty and the beast retellings for a reason.

But I want to see a man pining over a terrifying woman!!! I want a reversal of the usual situation where the FMC falls for the man because of or in spite of his monstrosity, and the MMC learns to accept/feel deserving of love.

I don’t mean situations where the FMC is only supernatural in a hot way (i.e. the little mermaid where she’s pretty and non-threatening throughout). I do have a soft spot for when the MMC is supernatural but the human FMC is objectively scarier, but that’s not exactly what I mean either.

I will also accept queer recs with monster girls or trans/nonbinary folks, though I have a few of those already (Ex. Someone You Can Build a Nest In (sapphic)).

So please, give me your favorite scary/monstrous girls! I am BEGGING someone to come in here and say, “Oh what a terrible oversight, here are 10 recs that do this exact thing!” If I get enough maybe I’ll make a list. 🙏

I’ll add the few recs I have so far in the comments.

Sooo I think we've all been through a reading slump before and this has probably been mentioned thousands of times before but I wanna get this off my mind lmao I haven't read a singular book since the end of February. As a matter of fact, I've been maxing 2-3 books per month ever since I started working full time and let me tell you, i was NOT prepared for how hard it is to get back into reading once you actually have the time. I have a week long break from work and I could've read all day, but every book I pick up is boring. I cannot focus on reading. But i WANT to read. Is this normal? I swear school was more than a full time job and i still managed to read 10+ books a month back then (excluding school related books because let's be real, i didn't read those LMAO) i've heard before to not force myself to read, so i've just been non stop crocheting a scarf but now that's getting boring and i don't have any other hobbies lmao. so my next step is to try reading a book i've been wanting to annotate, but it's just been sitting next to me all day. and yes i know audiobooks, i've been listening to those a lot but i just miss the feeling of getting completely immersed in a world of fiction if that makes sense? i'll update this if i actually get around to reading today lmao.

This book is so deliciously and decadently eerie and gothic. I began reading it on a dark, rainy day while the winds were picking up outside and the clouds were dark gray and thick in the sky. The perfect atmosphere for how this story crawls inside of you and takes hold.