Another week, another wrap-up. Here we are, enduring the first full week of 2026. I can’t believe another year is over.
Last week, my blog activity was okay. I did like three posts, which is never a bad amount, but it’s especially good on a holiday week where I’m not able to get a lot of stuff done. My reading was fine too – I managed to get a book in. Yay!
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!
Tuesday 12/30: Top Ten Tuesday
Last Tuesday, I participated in Top Ten Tuesday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. The prompt for last week was Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf.
Wednesday 12/31: New Year’s Eve / End of the Year Book Tag 2026
Wednesday was the last day of 2025. So here’s a late Happy New Year’s Eve!! 🎆🎇 I can’t believe that 2025 is actually over – what a crazy bad year it was. Hopefully 2026 is waayyy better!
I also did a Book Tag for the first time in… a year! The last time I did was was New Year’s Eve 2024. Wow! It was the same Book Tag too – the End of the Year Book Tag. It was created by Ariel Bissett over at YouTube. There are six questions, and the tag focuses on reflecting on the past year’s reading, as well as looking forward to future reading.
Last Thursday was the first day of 2026. Happy New Year’s Day!! 🥂🍻🕛🎉 I hope that everyone has had a good start to the year so far! So far mine has been okay. I hope that it gets better and that the year ends up being better than last year was.
Sunday 1/4: To 2026 Post
On Sunday, I did my first post of 2026. It’s the same kind of puar that I usually do – in it, I reflect a little bit on the past year and I talk about my goals for the coming year. It was my To 2026 post.
So yeah, I was decently active last week. The end of 2025 was alright, though it could’ve been better. It wasn’t as bad as the last few months have been, though, so it could’ve been worse. My start of 2026 has been okay so far, but I’m hoping that it gets even better.
Once again, I’m not sure what book I’m gonna go for next – I’ve just got so many options that I’m interested in. We’ll see what happens, I guess.
Regarding my blogging for this week… I want to get out my list for the Most Interesting Looking Books of January 2026, a book review, my reading wrap-up for December 2025, and my yearly reading wrap-up for 2025 as a whole.
Concerning stuff outside of books and blogging, it was kind of another relaxing week. Which, I expected, because that’s what we usually do the week of New Year’s. We also watched the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. And it was… okay. The first half of the season was definitely stronger than the second half, and the finale was very meh. It wasn’t the worst season finale I’ve ever seen or heard about, but it was nowhere close to being one of the best finales. And as someone who followed the show for almost ten years – ever since season one came out in 2016 – I wish it was better. It’s also hard to believe it’s finally over.
This coming week we’re going to try to start being healthier. Eating better… being more active… the works. So hopefully it works out and we start the year off strong.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
Hello all and Happy New Year’s Eve!! 🍾🎉 Since it’s the last day of the year, I thought I’d do the End of the Year Book Tag like I did last year. It’s just the perfect thing to do. Also, Leslie @ Books Are the New Black tagged everybody, which reminded me about it, sooo… yeah.
The End of the Year Book Tag was created by Ariel Bissett over at YouTube. There are six questions, and the tag focuses on reflecting on the past year’s reading, as well as looking forward to future reading. Once again, I’m kind of posting this at the eleventh hour, but oh well.
Anyway, here we go!
📖 Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish? 📖
No. I think I finished all of the books that I’ve intended to. Especially considering that it’s the last day of the year; had it been earlier, my answer here might have been different.
🎆 Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year? 🎆
This isn’t exactly a Christmas themed book, but it does take place just before it. Plus, there’s magical stuff going on, so it’s kind of got a holiday vibe on that front.
🕛 Is there a new release you’re still waiting for? 🕛
No, all the books I was looking forward to in 2025 have already come out.
📚 What are three books you want(ed) to read by the end of the year? 📚
Out of all three of these books, The Ashfire King is the one that I definitely wanted to read the most. Like, by a wide margin. But as the days crept closer to the end of the year, I realized I wasn’t going to have time, considering it’s size. Which is disappointing, because I got this book the day it came out way back in April. I’m definitely reading it next year, though – hopefully in January.
I’ve wanted to read This is How You Lose the Time War for a couple of years now, and after I got it for Christmas last year, I was determined to read it within the year. Which is why I read it in January – to make sure I read it in 2025.
This was another book that I’ve had my eye on for a while, as well as received for Christmas last year. I was also resolved about reading A Study in Charlotte in 2025, especially during the last third of the year after the really bad thing happened in my personal life. And I did, and I was very happy that I was able to read it.
💘 Is there a book you think that could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year? 💘
No, I don’t think so, not with the end of the year being hours away. Not to mention, I’m not going to read anything else this year, and I don’t believe I’m going to change my mind about anything in the meager time remaining of 2025.
🗒️ Have you already started making reading plans for 2025? 🗒️
Somewhat. As always, it’s nothing too specific, nor do I have a certain order I want to read any of these books in, if I don’t change my mind about reading them. I’m definitely planning on reading The Ashfire King very soon, though. I’ve sat on this book for more than long enough. I’m pretty sure I’m going to read this one next, but we’ll see.
So, I guess I’ll tag everyone who wants to do this tag again, even though it’s basically too late to do this tag at this point. Unless you’ve got some time and you’re quick, lol. This was a fun little tag, though, and I’m glad I managed to squeak this out.
As always, thanks to everybody so much for reading, and I hope that you have an awesome day/night!
So I took a little break last week with this post. Ya know, ’cause of all of those holidays in a row and all that. But I’m back on schedule!
The last couple of weeks have actually been pretty good, both with my reading and with my posting. Particularly with my posting. And especially with how busy the last couple of weeks have been with all of the holiday stuff going on. I was kinda busy.
But yeah, I’ll stop talking. On with the wrap-up!
Tuesday 12/24: Christmas Eve
I already said it during the last Weekly Wrap-Up I did – but Merry Christmas Eve!! 🦌🎅🔔🕯️ As I do every year, I spent this day hanging up a storm. So many cookies!
Wednesday 12/25: Christmas Day
I didn’t post at all during the rest of the week of the 23rd, unfortunately, so I didn’t really get to say Merry Christmas. So I’m gonna say it now: Merry Christmas!! 🎄🎁❄️🌟 I hope everybody had a great holiday, if you celebrate. Once again, it was super nice to see and spend time with family. It’s always the highlight for me this time of year.
Monday 12/30: Birthstone Book Covers
Last Monday, I participated in my favorite monthly post, Birthstone Book Covers. Birthstone Book Covers is a fun little post created and hosted by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black.
Each month, for the post, you feature book covers that are either the same color of the month’s birthstone or include the color in the title. This month was December, and its birthstones are tanzanite, zircon and turquoise. So the colors are all different shades of blue.
Tuesday 12/31: New Year’s Eve / End of the Year Book Tag
Tuesday was the last day of 2024. So, to everyone, here’s a belated Happy New Year’s Eve!! 🎇🎆 So, since it was the last day of the year, I decided to do a post that kind of focused on the end of the year (even if it ended up kind of late to do this particular post).
The post I did was the End of the Year Book Tag. It was created by Ariel Bissett over at YouTube. There are six questions, and the tag focuses on reflecting on the past year’s reading, as well as looking forward to future reading.
Last Wednesday was the first day of 2025! Happy New Year’s Day!! 🥂🍻🕛🎉 I hope that everyone’s had a nice start to the new year so far!
On New Year’s Day, I did my first post of 2025. It was basically what I usually do: a little ruminating on the past year mixed with some of my goals for the coming year.
On Saturday, I finally got around to posting another book review. Or reviews technically in this case? Whatever. Anyway, it was the first time I posted a book review in close to two weeks.
For the novella I read, Summerfall, I gave it ★★★✯☆. It was the prequel novella to Winterspell by Claire Legrand. And for the short story I read, Homecoming, I rated it ★★★★☆. Homecoming was a sort of extra epilogue to Winterspell.
Yesterday, I posted my monthly reading wrap-up for December 2024. It was thankfully at a reasonable time, this time around. For those who don’t know, monthly wrap-ups are when I go over the books I read over the past month, as well as my stats over on The StoryGraph.
So yeah, I think I did okay the last couple of weeks with regards to reading and posting. I actually planned to take a bit of a break anyway, as my spouse was off the weeks surrounding the holidays, and I wanted to spend time with them and relax. It was a very nice couple of weeks.
Regarding this coming week, I’m planning to do my first Anticipated New Books Releasing in 2025 post of the year. I’m also gonna do my Yearly Reading Wrap-Up for 2024, as well. As for other posts… I’m not super sure about the rest. Hopefully I’ll do a book review, but who knows what’ll happen.
Concerning the current novels at the top of my TBR… I’m probably gonna end up reading one or more of the books I got as Christmas gifts. I’m not totally sure which one I’m gonna read first, or if I’ll read another after I finish it, but I’m definitely gonna do it. I’m looking forward to reading all of them – it’s all a matter of when I’ll get around to reading them.
Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope you all have a wonderful day/night!
Hello all and Happy New Year’s Eve!! 🍾🎉 Since it’s the last day of the year, I thought I’d do the End of the Year Book Tag. ‘Cause it sounded interesting and fun and perfect for today, and Leslie @ Books Are the New Black tagged everybody, sooo… yeah.
The End of the Year Book Tag was created by Ariel Bissett over at YouTube. There are six questions, and the tag focuses on reflecting on the past year’s reading, as well as looking forward to future reading. I’m ludicrously late to this (I only found out about it late last night, lol), but it’s still 2024 right?
Anyway, here it is!
📖 Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish? 📖
I don’t really have hope for finishing this at this point in time, but I’m still only about 25% of the way through I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Oh well, haha.
🎇 Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year? 🎇
No, not really. I’ve never given any thought to autumnal types of reads, though I do definitely read seasonally sometimes. (And at this point it’s a little too late to try to look into something. I only have a few free hours today, as well.)
🕛 Is there a new release you’re still waiting for? 🕛
Since it’s the last day of the year, everything has already been released. But The Losting Fountain by Lora Senf came out literally today, and I haven’t even gotten close to reading it, so I’m counting it.
📚 What are three books you want(ed) to read by the end of the year? 📚
Two things I really wanted to read before 2024 ended were the Winterspell novella, Summerfall, and short story, Homecoming. (I actually ended up reading and finishing these last night and this morning.)
And as for the last book, well… Since one of these was a short story, I’ll say another two books I was interested in reading and finishing before this year ended: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle.
💖 Is there a book you think that could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year? 💖
Nah, at this point I’m almost positive that’s not gonna happen. ‘Cause it’s December 31st, lol.
🗒️ Have you already started making reading plans for 2025? 🗒️
Yeah, a little bit. I got several books for Christmas, so I’d like to start reading them soon. Also, Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Last Tales is coming out in January 2025 and I’m really looking forward to that, so I’ll definitely read when it comes out.
So, I guess I’ll tag everyone who wants to do this tag again, even though it’s basically too late to do this tag at this point. Unless you’ve got some time and you’re quick, lol. This was a fun little tag, though, and I’m glad I managed to squeak this out.
As always, thanks to everybody so much for reading, and I hope that you have an awesome day/night!
Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday! How’s your September going so far?
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 Posts I’ve Written That Give You a Glimpse of Me. For this one, share the blog posts (or social media stuff) that showcase your personality the most and offer the clearest window into your personality. These are the posts you wish everyone would read! I wasn’t feeling this prompt a few weeks ago, when it was originally for, but I’m feeling it now.
I could only think of eight posts this time, unfortunately. Which kind of sucks, ’cause this is the first time I’ve had trouble thinking of ten things for this list. (This might be why I originally passed on this prompt a few weeks ago, haha.)
One of my first ever posts. I really like the books I ended up picking for this one, though I think that when I did this post again in 2023, it was better written.
I really like doing monthly reading wrap-ups. From the beginning on this blog, I’ve discussed and analyzed my StoryGraph statistics every month on the Blog That Nobody Knows, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m proud of how most of these turned out.
My review for Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garner is where I felt like I was starting to hit my stride to some degree, regarding how I wrote my book reviews. The way I write and structure my reviews is very different than it was almost two years ago now, and is ever evolving, but this was the first book review I wrote wherein I felt genuine satisfaction with the way it turned out.
I haven’t done a retrospective review in a while, but I’ve enjoyed making them nonetheless. I feel like my personality shines with some of these posts, because I love to talk about books I’ve read in the past, not just ones I’ve read more recently during my time with this blog. And going over a book again to see how it holds up with my present eyes is something I sometimes like to do.
I like to do these lists because it encouraged me to look into new books coming out. But I’m also too lazy to do this every month, so instead I do it seasonally. And thus, I get kind of unique lists sometimes. Plus, these are all pretty much strictly science fiction and fantasy only, ’cause that’s what I like to read.
This is a post I hold dear to my heart. The Legend of Zelda series is something that is very special to me, and is something that has impacted so many parts of my life. I did this post in celebration of the latest series installment – Tears of the Kingdom – releasing in May 2023. It’s one of my favorite posts that I’ve ever done.
I haven’t done a lot of them, but I’ve enjoyed every Book Tag I’ve taken part in. In each of the ones I’ve done, I put a lot of effort into the visuals and images (including doing and redoing the thumbnail/featured image multiple times). And I’m very proud of how it all turned out. I feel like the Taylor Swift book tags in particular give insight into me, because they show the kind of music I enjoy (to some degree), and they showcase a lot of the different novels that I’ve read or want to read in the future.
This post was the first series post that I ever created. And, even though I haven’t been very consistent with it lately, I like to talk about, admire and analyze book cover art which is why I originally decided to start doing it. I still enjoy doing it and know I’ll eventually come back to it. Hopefully soon and more consistently. It’s gone through a few title changes since I first started it, which might not be a good thing, lol.
This tag looked awesome and was a ton of fun. I’m so glad that Leslie @ Books Are the New Black tagged everyone. Welp, here I go!
Rules:
📚 Mention the creator (one’s peculiar) 🏷️ Answer the questions 📚 Tag as many people as you like 🏷️ HAVE FUN!
👸 The Lost Princess 👸 A book/series you lost interest in halfway through
So, full disclosure: I went into Serpent & Dove kind of planning to hate-read it. But then I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Sure I had a lot of problems with it – and it was a bit of a trashy romantasy novel – but I had fun with it. Enough to continue with the sequel, at least. No, Blood & Honey is where the real problems lie. I despised that book, and it completely turned me off from finishing the trilogy.
🛡️ The Knight in Shining Armor 🛡️ A hyped book/series you were swept up by
The Emily Wilde series sank its claws into my with Encyclopaedia and I fell further in love after reading Otherlands. I’m absolutely frothing at the mouth waiting for book three, I’m so excited. I absolutely adore this series.
🧙♂️ The Wise Old Wizard 🧙♂️ An author who amazes you with his/her writing
V.E. Schwab. Every book I’ve read of hers, from like three separate series and one standalone, has been a book that I enjoyed.
♍ The Maiden in Distress ♍ An undervalued character you wish had a bigger storyline
When reading The Girl With No Reflection and writing its review a couple weeks ago I felt that Prince Zhang was somewhat underutilized as a character, and that the narrative of this novel would have benefited if the POVs were split between him and Ying. I still feel this way now. Also, Ying’s handmaidens may as well have not been there for all their storylines mattered to the plot.
🗡️ The Magical Sword 🗡️ A magical item/ability you wished authors used less
Hmmm… This one is a bit tricky. I can’t really think of any specifically that bother me, but when stuff like time travel isn’t done right or written well, it pisses me off. So I guess magical items and abilities that are written badly.
😈 The Mindless Villain 😈 A phrase you cannot help but roll your eyes at
There are a couple. “Like calls to like” got to me a bit after some time while reading ACOTAR, “a breath she didn’t know she was holding” makes me almost physically angry, and I absolutely cannot stand the phrase/descriptor “pillowy lips.” I. Hate. That. Phrase.
🐉 The Untamed Dragon 🐉 A magical creature you wish you had as a pet
The Flames (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) from the Charlie Bone series. Three adorable, hyper intelligent, immortal, magical fire cats? I mean come on, who wouldn’t want them? And there’s three of them.
🥠 The Chosen One 🥠 A book/series you will always root for
Murderbot was a character I fell for instantly and was immediately rooting for. I absolutely devoured this series when I first discovered it, and I think it’s something that I’ll continue to follow for a long time.
Sooo… Since I don’t really know anyone or have any blogging connections, everyone who reads this gets tagged! The fantasy tropes book tag was a fun one, so if you’re interested, you should totally do it!
As always, thanks to everybody so much for reading, and I hope that you have an awesome day/night!
Sooo… I was originally aiming to post a book review today, but I’m not finished with the book yet. 😅😂 But today, Taylor Swift released her latest (double) album The Tortured Poets Department, so I thought there couldn’t have been a better time to do this tag. Thanks again Leslie for introducing me to the TS tags!
I haven’t had the chance to listen to the new album(s) yet, but I have had multiple chances to listen to ✨ Midnights ✨, Taylor’s tenth studio album. And I’m super excited to participate in the Midnights Taylor’s Version Book Tag created by Star is All Booked Up. This is the second TS book tag I’m doing – the only other one I’ve done so far is 📷 1989 📷.
My favorite songs from the Midnights album are: “Anti-Hero”, “You’re on Your Own Kid”, “Vigilante Shit” and “Mastermind”.
❃ a book you will always love and defend ❃
I love this series, and a crappy movie that I’ve never seen nor am planning on ever seeing isn’t gonna ruin that for me. Ever.
❃ a spicy book ❃
I’ve never seen as many sex scenes or sexually charged interactions in a book than I have while reading this book. I mean, Nesta and Cassian are constantly making passes at each other. (Not that I go looking for spice books or anything – I really don’t. Which is why this is the one on my list.)
❃ unreliable narrator ❃
Considering the book is first person and the character POV spends nearly the entirety of the book lying to the reader, I’d say this counts as an unreliable narrator! (I’d also say the MC is a bit of a literal antihero.)
❃ an unexpected surprise ❃
This was my first proper delve into one of Gaiman’a works (I read part of Coraline in like 2009, I think?). I don’t know why I chose for Neverwhere to be the first of his works that I experienced, but I fell hard for this novel. I liked it so much I sought out the crappy TV series it was published simultaneously to. Now, if only Gaiman would actually work on a sequel to this (allegedly titled The Seven Sisters) like he claims he does.
❃ a character that really needs a hug ❃
I don’t think I’ve read a book with a character that needed a hug as much as Holland in the last few years. And. That. Ending. 🥹😭
❃ star-crossed lovers ❃
It’s been a very long time since I read this book, but I remember really enjoying it. The plot twists. The weird and awesome magic stuff. And of course the star-crossed lovers B-plot/backstory.
❃ grumpy x sunshine (or neurodivergent rep) ❃
Whenever I think of Grumpy X Sunshine lately, the first couple that comes to mind is Rook and Sun from Spell Bound. I dunno why.
❃ favorite character out for revenge ❃
I had so much trouble with this one. I guess I don’t read books with characters after revenge really at all, huh? So I had to really go back into my brain, and slog through all the books I’ve ever read – and look back at the stuff to read in college for my English degree even. And whaddya know, I remembered that I read Hamlet in my Shakespeare class!
❃ strong character development ❃
Artemis’ character arc still sticks in my brain to this day. It’s because of this book that I can look at unlikeable protagonists/MCs that are assholes and want to see how they become compelling characters that I want to follow.
❃ second chance romance ❃
… … …I got nothing. Sorry, I don’t really read romance. (Though I have had The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling on my radar for a while. I haven’t read it yet however, so it doesn’t count!)
❃ favorite full circle moments or parallels ❃
I’m struggling to think of books that work with this one. Like, for whatever reason, I can’t think of any books with moments that parallel earlier moments in the book or have a plot that comes full circle. But I remember that The Outsiders starts and ends the same way, even though it’s been over a decade since I read it. So this is what I’m going with for this one.
❃ favorite fluffy/cozy read ❃
This was such a cozy and fluffy set of graphic novels, and absolutely perfect for reading in the fall. I got some Mooncakes vibes with these.
❃ perfect world building and storytelling ❃
This is a perfect book. Like, there’s nothing else I can say about it. Go read it.
This was another fun post to do, even though I definitely struggled with a few of these. Midnights might not be one of my favorite Taylor Swift albums, but I still enjoy some of the songs, and I love this tag. (And just wasn’t able to come up with anything for one of them – curse my lack of interest in romance!) I can’t wait to do the rest of the TS albums!
As always, thank you so much to everyone for reading, and I hope you have a fabulous day/night!
For the first time ever (I’m pretty sure at least), I’ve been tagged to do a post! So well, I guess I gotta do it, huh? 😁 Thanks Leslie @ Books are the New Black for tagging me!
I’m a bit of a Swiftie myself, so I don’t mind at all! I’ve been a fan of Taylor Swift’s music since 2008 – maybe even 2007, I can’t really remember. Which is… Over 15 years. Uh, wow.
Anyway, 1989 isn’t my favorite Taylor Swift album, but I still love several of the songs on both of them. My favorite songs from 1989 in album placement order are: “Welcome to New York”, “Blank Space”, “Out of the Woods”, “All You Had to Do Was Stay”, “Wildest Dreams”, and “Wonderland” (this was on the special edition version also released in 2014 with the original 1989 album, so it counts!). Concerning the previously unreleased tracks from the vault, the ones I like best are: “Sweeter than Fiction” and “Now that We Don’t Talk”.
The song prompts on this book tag I got from Leslie’s blog, who got them from Elli @ AceReader. So, let’s get to it!
❃ a book with LGBT themes ❃
Mooncakes was such an adorable graphic novel, and the LGBT romance were cute. Yeah, Nova and Tam were okay, but I was personally super invested in Niva’s lesbian grandmas, lol.
❃ a book that hit you right in the feels… but was totally worth it ❃
This book made me cry – more than once – and if you know anything about the book or the hell that Jeanette McCurdy went through, then you know why.
❃ a book that you hated but you loved the cover ❃
Ugh, this book. Nightbane was easily the worst thing I read last year. I HATED it. But the Lightlark Saga book covers are, unfortunately, very pretty.
❃ your latest book boyfriend/girlfriend ❃
Wendell. Brambleby. He’s mischievous and pretty and has a silver tongue, and I couldn’t help falling head over feet for this man.
❃ a timeless classic that you love ❃
People will be remaking this book into a movie or TV series until the earth explodes. And I can’t help loving this book either. Sure, the writing is a bit archaic, but it was written in the 19th century, so you can’t expect too much modernity. Plus, it’s pretty short. And it truly is a bonafide classic.
❃ a book with vivid world building ❃
I stopped reading A Song of Ice and Fire about a third of the way through book two, but I still remember how absolutely vivid the world building was for this series. Too vivid, actually. (For me personally.) I got bored with how slow it was and opted out.
❃ a book where things weren’t exactly how they seemed ❃
I’m not going to say anything about the story, as I don’t want to give even the smallest iota away, even if no one that reads this post is ever going to read The Other. But I will say this: when you get to The Part, it completely recontextualizes everything you read before it.
❃ a book you were eagerly anticipating but ended up being disappointed by ❃
I was so, so, so looking forward to Witch King. Like, you don’t even know how much. It was my most anticipated book for ALMOST A YEAR, and it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. Ugh. I was so disappointed.
❃ a book/series that everyone seems to love but you can’t help but hate ❃
Ah, The Name of the Wind. I didn’t like it, and I DNF-ed. And I absolutely haven’t regretted it. I didn’t like Kvothe and I didn’t like the way he narrated the book. And seeing as Patrick Rothfuss might never even finish book three at this rate, I’m doubly glad I stopped when I did.
❃ a book series you love but everyone else seems to hate ❃
The Inheritance Cycle seems to get a lot of hate now, for being as derivative (and shameless – mostly/particularly in Eragon) of other works as it is. But it was huge when I was growing up, and I enjoyed the series well enough when I read it (though I’m not sure if it would hold up for me today upon a reread).
❃ a book/series you know you will always love ❃
I love The Book Thief so much. And I know that I always will. I have nothing else to say on the matter.
❃ an upcoming release you wish you could have right now ❃
First of all: the cover? 👨🍳💋 It immediately caught my eye. Second of all: the summary? It sounds amazing and fantastic and romantic and I really wanna read it.
I’ve been reading more Asian inspired fantasy throughout the past year or so, and I’ve been loving a lot of it. This one looks really good, too.
❃ a character you once loved but grew to hate ❃
Serilda. I really liked her as a protagonist in Gilded, but she got so annoying in Cursed. I hated every decision she made here, and her personality just started to irritate me in general.
❃ an author you haven’t forgiven for what they did to your favorite characters/books ❃
How dare you kill off Han Alister, Chima!! How dare you make him one of your two co-protagonists in your Seven Realms series and make him my favorite character, and then murder him in the first chapter of the first book in your Shattered Realms sequel series!!!! How dare you!!!!!!
This is the reason I DNF-ed Flamecaster! And after I was super anticipating this for weeks and bought this release day! This is the reason I can’t bring myself to try this series, even though every once in a while I kind of want to!
❃ a book that was far too predictable ❃
This was a retelling of The Nutcracker, so I wasn’t surprised to predict a lot of stuff. The story had certain plot points to hit, after all. And honestly? I actually really enjoyed this book.
❃ a book/series that you wish could have gone on forever ❃
I adored this story, and I loved Cerys and Fox. I could bask in this world that Ashley Poston created forever, and I still wish that a sequel would pop up sometimes.
❃ one of your favorite books where they ‘got the girl’ ❃
Yeah, I know, I’m kind of stealing my answer for this one from AceReader, but I honestly would’ve picked this if I hadn’t seen their post.
I’ve never read a book/series where I’ve been more satisfied with the relationship at the end of it than with PJO and Percabeth. They were just so perfectly written as friends and then as a couple. This series established the way that I like my romance in books, and the standard I kind of hold romances to.
❃ a book that completely shocked you ❃
I didn’t expect this book to go at all the way it did after A Court of Thorns and Roses. I thought this series was gonna go in an entirely different direction than it did. And the ending of A Court of Mist and Fury also surprised me – I didn’t expect it either!
❃ a book you thought you loved but quickly came to hate ❃
Speaking of derivative and shameless – I think Divergent is even moreso than Eragon ever was. Not only did it come out in the midst of the Hunger Games trilogy craze (so it was immediately shameless as opposed being shameless decades after the fact). But it also continued the ‘YA dystopian novels that are adapted to movies’ craze, and prompted a bunch of these to be shameless as well.
I didn’t love this book when I read it. But I liked it well enough and thought it was okay. However, my feelings for this book and series have since turned into a burning hatred. It hate the plot, I hate the characters, and I especially hate how the world building DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.
❃ a book you didn’t want to be seen reading ❃
Now, I wouldn’t mind if someone caught me reading this nowadays, but when I was a young teenager when I thought I was too old for middle grade? Yep, that was me. And that was the reason I never read it when I was fourteen.
❃ when the wait between books made you forget everything that happened ❃
So I read The Stardust Thief last year, and when I looked it up originally, the Internet said that The Ashfire King was coming out in 2024. Because of this, I was like: ‘Oh cool, that’s kind nine months away from how, shouldn’t be too hard for me to remember all the stuff from the first book.’
That date has since shifted.
Now, this book’s slated release date is next year – 2025. And I’m a little worried that I might forget stuff from book one in that time.
❃ a book/series you wiped from your memory ❃
Um, I think this was about witches that were Wiccan and folklore inspired? And the main girl’s parents die immediately, and she’s sent to live at a house with two other girls? And I’m pretty sure theirs three guys from a rival coven or something?
I barely remember anything from this series, even though I’m pretty sure I read the entire thing. In a day, or something. But yeah, it’s basically all gone.
So yeah, thanks again to Leslie for tagging me. This was a really, really fun post! I love Taylor Swift’s music, and am definitely gonna continue this with her other albums at some point. (And release Reputation already Taylor! ‘Cause then I know you’re gonna cap this all off with the rerelease of your debut album and I need “I Heart Question Mark” to be on it!!)
As always, thank you so much to everyone for reading, and I hope you have a fabulous day/night!
