Hey there, it’s Monday again. Which means it’s time to wrap up the past week!
Last week was pretty good – I read a book and I did more than two blog posts. So I’m definitely going to count that as a win, especially considering my reading and blogging activity during the last couple of months. Not to mention, I actually got a book review out, too! Yay!
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!
Tuesday 12/2: The Most Interesting Looking New Books of December 2025
Last Tuesday, I posted a list of the books that I’m looking forward to this month. Or, at least the ones that I think look the most interesting. It was the The Most Interesting Looking New Books of December 2025. As always, it’s basically only fantasy and science fiction, as those are the two genres I primarily read. This time there were four books on my list.
On Wednesday, I participated in another Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in several weeks. Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings. It focuses on books you’re looking forward to reading, usually new releases.
This past Saturday, I finally did another book review. It was the first time in a few months. There was a lot of really tough IRL stuff that was going on the last few months, so I’ve been behind on some stuff. But I’m catching up!
Anyway, I reviewed A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. It’s a YA Sherlock Holmes reimagining set in the modern day. It had some fun references to the original and some pretty good writing, though there was some stuff I didn’t really like about it. I gave it ★★★✯☆.
So yeah, that’s what I did last week regarding books and blogging. I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out. Hopefully I can keep it up during the coming week!
I’m honestly not sure what I’m gonna read next. At this point, I’m almost tempted to just cover my eyes and randomly grab one of the new books I got a few weeks ago. I’ll figure it out somehow. For blogging, I’m planning on posting one book review – hopefully even two – this week. I still gotta catch up! I also want to do my November 2025 reading wrap-up, and hopefully another couple of posts.
Last week was also the first snow of the month, and part two of the first snow of the year in my area. The first snow started the week before, technically, but Thanksgiving was also that week, so I mostly focused on that during last week’s wrap-up. It was nice to see some fluffy white snow on the ground, after the roads were cleared.
Now that Thanksgiving week is over, my spouse and I were also starting to try to be healthier. I have a feeling we’re not going to really get into it until after the new year, though. There are just too many holidays this time of year.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
GENRES: Mystery, Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction
PUBLISHER: Katherine Tegen Books
RELEASE DATE: 1 March 2016
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The first book in a witty, suspenseful new series about a brilliant new crime-solving duo: the teen descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. This clever page-turner will appeal to fans of Maureen Johnson and Ally Carter.
Jamie Watson has always been intrigued by Charlotte Holmes; after all, their great-great-great-grandfathers are one of the most infamous pairs in history. But the Holmes family has always been odd, and Charlotte is no exception. She’s inherited Sherlock’s volatility and some of his vices–and when Jamie and Charlotte end up at the same Connecticut boarding school, Charlotte makes it clear she’s not looking for friends.
But when a student they both have a history with dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Danger is mounting and nowhere is safe–and the only people they can trust are each other.
My Review
Truth be told, I liked that blurriness. That line where reality and fiction jutted up against each other.
It’s been a heck of a while since my last book review – and it’s more than overdue. And seeing as I’m in a good headspace finally, and I have the time, I decided that it’s time for me to catch up. So here we go: My review for A Study in Charlotte.
I’ve experienced several Sherlock Holmes reimaginings, as well as quite a few things that were clearly inspired by the work. I’ve never read the original, though I probably should give how I enjoy the retellings and such. And this one was no different – I liked several things about this story. (A few things did annoy me, however, but that’s how it always goes.)
The Characters and Story
We weren’t Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I was ok with that, I thought. We had things they didn’t, too. Like electricity, and refrigerators. And Mario Kart.
First off: the characters. 🖊️ Jamie Watson 📖 is our protagonist, as well as a descendant of Dr. Watson. Much like his ancestor, he also narrates the story. I thought he was alright and liked his personality, though I did find him to be kind of cookie-cutter. Our deuteragonist was 🔎 Charlotte Holmes. 🧪 I don’t think I have to even state who she’s descended from. Like her ancestor, she’s a murder magnet, the violin, and has a predilection to solving mysteries. Well, most of her family does; either that or they’re all hyper intelligent. It’s a whole thing. She was okay. Like Jamie, I unfortunately found her to be a little generic, though I really liked their rapport and thought they were a pretty good duo.
None of the other characters really stood out too much to me, except for Jamie’s father. I thought that Jamie and his dad had an interesting relationship, and finding out what was straining their relationship was one of the more compelling threads of the novel. Charlotte’s brother was also intriguing, when he finally appeared, as well as her interactions with him.
🖋️ The story 📒 itself was kind of slow and didn’t really stand out to me either, even though I ended up liking it well enough, once I got closer to the end. But parts of it were really slow to me. I found the twist and the antagonist kind of obvious, however, and was a little bit annoyed at the author’s attempt to throw the reader off the scent. Especially when I found the murderer to be as obvious as it was. I did think that the climax, ending, and epilogue were very good, and they convinced me to give this book an extra half star.
The Romance and Writing
Oh my God,” I said as she startled. “Oh my God. You just wanted to come here to-”
“There are excellent opportunities for observation and deduction here.”
“-to dance.” I was trying very hard not to laugh. “Would you like to?”
“Yes,” she said, and fairly dragged me out onto the floor.
💘 The romance 💝 was okay. I thought that Jamie and Charlotte definitely had some chemistry, and the slow-burn was definitely one of the better parts of the book. I thought that the two complemented one another pretty well, which is important in a Holmes and Watson dynamic.
✏️ The writing 🗒️ itself was also pretty good. Though I found parts of the novel to get slow, I never found any of it to be overwritten, which was nice. Especially as overwriting is one of my biggest pet peeves as a reader (as is slowness, but ehhh). The prose was good and the dialogue sounded pretty natural.
I also really enjoyed all of the 🐍 little nods 💎 to Sherlock Holmes. Charlotte’s science lab being Sciences 442. There being a helpful and caring older lady, who was clearly a reference to Mrs. Dobson, not to mention there being a character with the last name Dobson in the book, as well. And let’s not forget about all the cases featured in the book, as they were based on Sherlock Holmes cases. Even the title is a reference to A Study in Scarlet. Not to mention all of the myriad of other references I know I missed (I don’t know much about the original material, okay?).
Final Thoughts
“You have my implicit forgiveness, you know, even when you’re driving me crazy.”
“Jamie.”
“Charlotte.”
“Do come home soon. It won’t be London without you.”
“You never knew me in London.”
“I know. I intend to fix that.
So yeah, all in all, I thought that A Study in Charlotte was pretty okay. It was well constructed and there was a solid dynamic between the two main characters. The plot was kind of slow, though, and the chapters were really long, and I didn’t really gel with that. I did enjoy the story as a whole, though. I think fans of Sherlock Holmes reimaginings, and possibly of the original material, might like it.
I don’t think that I’m gonna continue with this series, unfortunately. For one thing: there was a lot of stuff going on IRL when I read it. But also, it just didn’t really grab me. And I just have far too many things in my TBR at the moment. Maybe I’ll be feeling the sequels someday – you never know.
And as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
Ugh, this is so late. Oh well, what can you do. I’m still trying to get back into things, but it’s been a little rough. Anyway, reading wrap-up for October 2025 incoming!
Last month was pretty decent, especially compared to the last six months. I read two books! Yay! I hope I can either keep it up or get better before the end of the year. If not, then I’m gonna strive for better next year.
Anyway, let’s just start talking about my StoryGraph statistics from last month! (Edit: Shoot it didn’t post when I wanted it to again. Ugh. Oh well, I fixed it.)
October Reading 2025
I read 2 books and 515 pages
😐 MOODS: I had three Moods in October, which is the same as the month before. The Moods from this past month were: Adventurous, Mysterious and Tense.
👢 PACE: The books I read last month were medium and fast-paced.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novels I read were between 179 and 336 pages.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction. As usual.
🎭 GENRES: There were several Genres on the graph this past month. They were Mystery, Horror, Contemporary, Young Adult and LGBT+.
📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was incorrect for the first time in ages. One novel I read was digital and one was a physical copy.
⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 3.75.
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading spiked in the first half of October, before dropping off during the second half of the month. My highest peak was on the 9th.
So yeah, my reading in October reading was definitely an improvement over the few months preceding it. I hope I continue to read at least a decent amount for the remainder of the year. We’ll see, though.
I’m not quite sure what I’m going to read next, and I’m not going to force it. I do have a general idea, however, and once I officially pick which book I want to go with next, I just have to ease myself into reading. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get into a new novel soon. I’m still recovering from the past few months of stuff. I’m definitely planning on getting reviews out for the two books I did read last month out soon, though.
Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my October reading in 2025. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
It’s the start of a new week, which means it’s time to wrap up the last one. And look – I’m on time this week!
Last week was still a bit rough for me, particularly during the first half. And it’s also why I didn’t post at all until Thursday. There’s just been some stuff going on outside the blogging part of my life that’s been hard on me, which is why updates aren’t what they could be. I’m hoping that will change coming up, but it’s more of a wait-and-see what happens kind of thing.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!
Friday 10/3: The Most Interesting Looking New Books of October 2025
Last Friday, I posted a list of the books that I’m looking forward to this month. Or, at least the ones that I think look the most interesting. It was the Most Interesting Looking New Books of October 2025. As always, it’s basically only fantasy and science fiction, as those are the two genres I primarily read. This time there were only three books that looked interesting to me, which isn’t what I had last month, but it was still something!
Yesterday, I posted another Bewitching Book Covers for the first time in two months. Wow, and I thought last time’s gap with this post was big.
Anyway, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly known as Majestic Mondays and Tasteful Tuesdays), is when I gush over a book cover that I like as well as analyze it (sometimes). I also typically give the book covers funny rating systems – not the usual blank out of five stars kind of thing.
So yeah, last week wasn’t the greatest in terms of blog activity, but it could’ve been worse. I’m also feeling better than I was early last week, and have finally started reading books again. So I’m very happy about that!
This week, I want to do a decent amount of posts. I want to do my monthly reading wrap-up for September 2025, participate in a couple of the usual posts that I usually engage in and definitely do at least one book review. I really want to get back in the groove of things in regards to books and blogging.
Concerning my reading of books, I finally started reading A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. I’m not quite finished with it yet, but I’m hoping to do so by the end of tonight. Then, I’m planning on starting The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah. It’s one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and it’s almost a crime that I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. So I want to rectify that as soon as I can. And then after that, I want to get back into the Dresden Files. And then after that, probably the next arc in One Piece. And maybe somewhere in between all that, I might possibly read a new release – like something that came out within the last few weeks to the last couple of months.
Regarding stuff outside of books and blogging, this past weekend I finally started switching and putting out our Halloween decorations. I don’t switch out the fall decor that much really – I just add to it and complement the autumn decorations with Halloween stuff for a month. Usually I’m a bit more on top of things, but the last month and a half has been a lot – I was late with getting the fall stuff out too, when I swapped out all of the summer stuff for autumn last month.
My spouse and I are still working on being healthy. It took a little bit of a dive for a few weeks with everything going on in real life beyond the blog, but we’re trying to get back into it.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night! As well as a much better week than I’ve been having!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection or TBR List. I’m doing a mixture of these two prompts, but I want to note that there’s quite a bit of correlation with the new books and the stuff I’ve recently added to my To Be Read stuff.
It’s been awhile since I’ve participated in this post. I don’t have a particular reason why I stopped; I guess I just wasn’t feeling it for a while. Anyway, on with the post!
The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde: Recent acquisition, but not so recently added to my TBR.
A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand: A recent addition to my book collection, as well as recently officially added to my To Be Read pile.
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallero: Recently collected, but it’s been on my TBR for a bit.
Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne: A book I recently obtained, and it was on my immediate TBR for a bit, but now I’m not as sure. So it’s technically on the back burner.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky: I saw this and got it ’cause it looked interesting. Not quite in my immediate To Be Read stuff, though.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: Recently acquired, but also already read. I just loved the book so much I wanted to own it.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone: A book I finally obtained, but has been on my TBR for some time.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: Once again, a book I’ve already read, but one that I loved and wanted to own.
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie: Recent acquisition, and somewhat more recently added to my TBR as well.
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas: A book I finally recently collected. It’s in a weird position on my TBR, because I still need to read the first book in this series before this one.
What books have you recently added to your collection? Have they been on your TBR for a while, or are they new to that, too? What books are you looking to add to both in the future?
As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have an amazing day/night!
