Weekly Wrap-Up: 12/15 – 12/21

Another week has gone by already. And it’s nearly Christmas and the end of the year to boot! Wow. In any case, time for a wrap-up.

Last week was okay. I feel like I’m getting back in the swing of things, even though I still really haven’t been reading, which is somehow I hope to fix before the new year comes around. But my blog activity was good – I did a Weekly Wrap-Up and additional three posts – so I’m satisfied with that.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!

Wednesday 12/17: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Last Wednesday, I participated in another Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in a couple of 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.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: An Arcane Inheritance

Thursday 12/18: November Reading 2025

On Thursday, I posted my Monthly Reading Wrap-Up for November 2025. It was once again posted little bit later in the month than I’d have liked, but eh, I wanted to get my book reviews from that month out first. 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.

Monthly Wrap-Up: November Reading 2025

Friday 12/19: First Line Friday

Last Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays for the first time in a month or so. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words. It’s where you guess what book the post is highlighting based on the book’s first words.

First Line Friday: 12/19

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, that was all the stuff I did last week. As I said, I kind of wish I’d gotten around to reading something, but with how December usually ends up being in regards to that, I’m not that upset about it. I do want to at least read one more book before the year ends though, so hopefully this week and next week are different.

Considering what week it is, I’m probably not gonna get out more than three posts. One of those is definitely gonna be my review for the last volume of The Glass Scientists by S.H. Cotugno. Honestly, that one should’ve been out last weekend but, oh well. I also want to participate in one or two of my usual weekly posts, as well as my favorite monthly post – doing the latter being the most important to me out of the two. I can’t keep posting that one during the last couple of minutes on the last day of the month! That’s got to stop!

Regarding books, I’m kind of at a crossroads, which is keeping me from reading, which I hate. But sometimes this happens, unfortunately, and it’s the cause of half of my reading slumps: I can’t decide what to read so I end up not reading anything. Ugh. How annoying – I find the way my brain works to be a pain in the ass at times. I’m thinking maybe The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah, though. I kind of feel obligated to read that one before the year is out, since I’ve been stringing it along for about eight months now.

Outside of books and blogging, last week we cleaned the house. Yep, that’s right, it was Cleaning Week. Woohoo. My spouse and I are also generally trying to be healthier, but it being the holiday season and all, it’s kind of hard. So we’re going to wait until the new year starts before getting back into it. There’s just way too much going on this time of year for that kind of thing.

Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: November Reading 2025

Late again! Ugh, this is later than October’s. I’m tired of posting my wrap-ups this late in the month. But at least my book reviews for the novels I read last month are posted, unlike last time. So this being late was a sacrifice I was willing to make. Anyway, here comes my reading wrap-up for November 2025!

And I think November was pretty good. At the very least it matched the month before – I read two books two months in a row. The page count wasn’t quite as good as October, though. There’s certainly room for improvement, but with the way this year has been with books and reading, I’ll accept what I can get. Hopefully December is at least just as good.

Anyway, let’s just start talking about my StoryGraph statistics from last month!

November Reading 2025

I read 2 books and 189 pages

😐 MOODS: I had two Moods in November, which is one less than the month before. The Moods from this past month were: Adventurous and Mysterious.

👢 PACE: The books I read last month were both medium-paced.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novels I read were between 129 and 160 pages.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction. As usual.

🎭 GENRES: There was one Genre on the graph this month, and it’s what’s almost always my top one to read – Fantasy.

📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was correct. Both books I read were digital.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 3.75.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading was practically non-existent for the majority of November. It did finally ramp up near the end of the month, though.

The Books I Read in November

★★★★☆ • my review

★★★✯☆ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, my reading in November was okay. I hope I at the very least keep up the pace for the last month of the year. I’d like to read more than two books in a month, but with how December has historically turned out, let’s just say that I’m not going to cross my fingers too hard. I’m planning on being better next year, though.

I have a few books I’m looking into reading next. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao is one of them, as well as A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, along with The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah, which has been getting pushed back for months in favor of other stuff though I still want to read it. I’m not sure what it’s gonna be yet – it could even be some other book that I didn’t just list even.

Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my November reading in 2025. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 11/24 – 11/30

Yay! I’m not super late with the Weekly Wrap-Up this week! Hopefully this is a good sign for the future!

Though my blogging wasn’t really any better than it’s been, I did read some books this past week. Or at least a couple novellas. But considering my track record with novel reading lately, I definitely see that as a huge win.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!

Thursday 11/27: Thanksgiving Day

Last Thursday was Turkey Day! To those who celebrate, once again, Happy Thanksgiving!! 🦃🍽️🥧🌽🍂🍁 Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday, and not because of the food or anything. I enjoy it because I love seeing family and friends I don’t usually get to see. I also like it because the hype for the holiday season officially starts here.

We had a good day again this year. I enjoyed seeing everyone that I got to see, and even though it’s not the reason that I love this holiday, the food was great this year. So it was a pretty okay Thanksgiving, this time around.

Saturday 11/29: Books I’m Thankful For

This past Saturday, I finally posted the usual thing I do for Thanksgiving, Books I’m Thankful For. It was about a day later than I’d have liked, but it wasn’t that late so I was pretty satisfied.

This year, the book – or series in this case, technically – that I gushed about were the Legend of Zelda bug books. AKA: The strategy guides and the lore books.

Books I’m Thankful For: Legend of Zelda Lore Books & Strategy Guides

Sunday 11/30: Birthstone Book Covers

On Sunday, I participated in Birthstone Book Covers – just barely getting it in before the end of November. 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 November, and its birthstones are topaz and citrine. So the colors of the month were yellow, gold, and yellow-orange.

Birthstone Book Covers: November 2025

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, in some ways last week was a bit of an improvement, and in some ways it wasn’t. I’m happy with it overall – especially with the holiday and all that. Here’s hoping this is a sign of good things to come for the rest of the year. 🍀🤞

For my blog stuff this week, I definitely want to get my Most Interesting Looking New Books of December 2025 post, as well as my monthly wrap-up regarding my reading for November 2025. I want to get those two out during a reasonable week of the month this time around! I also want to get a book review – or two! – out as well. I’m waayyy behind now, especially in light of the fact that I read two novellas last week (which is something I’m very happy about).

Regarding books and reading… I just read the first two novels of the Penric and Desdemona series, but I think I’m gonna pause on that for a bit, even though I’ve enjoyed it. There’s just too much that I want to read. Next on my immediate TBR is the final volume of The Glass Scientists is coming out today, so I’ll be reading that as soon as my copy arrives. I’m very excited to see how everything concludes! After that, I’m not quite sure what I’ll read next, but I feel like I’m finally back on a reading kick. So hopefully it doesn’t go away!

Outside of books and blogging, last week had a lot going on. Sort of. Well, okay, “a lot” was basically only Thanksgiving, but my spouse and I also had a lot of extra time to ourselves compared to usual, courtesy of the holiday. We spent a lot of our time chilling and taking it easy, but we also binged Dispatch. It’s a new game developed by AdHoc Studio that was released episodically from mid-October to mid-November, and is the spiritual successor to Telltale Games. My spouse and I just lounged and watched and played a bunch of stuff in general, though.

Other than this stuff, however, nothing much happened. We even kind of took a break with the diet and stuff, because Thanksgiving is all about food and all. This is like one of the only weeks of the year where we kind of acknowledge that we’re not really going to eat healthy. Oh well. But this coming week we should be back on it.

Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Birthstone Book Covers: November 2025

Ugh. Here I am, crashing in at the literal eleventh hour with this post. November has not been my month this year, and I’m not sure why. I gotta do better next month. Anyway, here I am in the last few minutes of the last day of November with my Birthstone Book Covers contribution for the month. (Edit: Hnnng, it didn’t post when I told it to again! So here I am, back posting it like an idiot. Ugh, 2025 is just the worst!)

Birthstone Book Covers is a fun monthly post created by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black. Each month, she features book covers that are either the same color of that month’s birthstone or include the color in the title.

November has two birthstones – Topaz and Citrine. So yellow, gold, and yellow-orange are the colors!

Rules:

📚 Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black) and link back to her so she can check out your post.
📚 Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
📚 HAVE FUN!
📚 Nominate people if you want!

**Beautiful Chaos** **by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl**

**This Woven Kingdom** **by Tehereh Mafi**

**Touched by an Alien** **by Gini Koch**

What are your favorite books with yellow or golden or yellow-orange book covers? If you participated in Birthstone Book Covers, which books did you choose this November?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have the most amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 11/3 – 11/16

Ughhh, late with this again. Gotta get my act together. Getting back into the swing of things has been harder than I thought it would be.

Still haven’t really read anything – well, regarding books at least – but hopefully this week I’ll finally start another one. My blogging could also be better, so hopefully I’ll get on that, as well.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!

Saturday 11/15: The Most Interesting Looking New Books of November 2025

Last Saturday, 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 November 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.

The Most Interesting Looking New Books of November 2025

Sunday 11/16: October Reading 2025

On Sunday, I posted my Monthly Reading Wrap-Up for October 2025. It was, unfortunately, posted a little bit later in the month than I’d have liked, though. 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.

Monthly Wrap-Up: October Reading 2025

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, I didn’t blog much or read any novels in the past couple of weeks. Which sucks, but that’s just how it ended up being – can’t change it now. Hopefully, the remainder of November will be better.

As I mentioned in my last Weekly Wrap-Up, I have quite a few books on my TBR, and I wasn’t sure what I was gonna read next and how many of those books were gonna stay on my To Be Read List. I believe I have since chosen my next read, which I’m happy about. I acquired several books recently, and I’m kind of itching to read at least two or three of them right off the bat. I’m also still thinking of getting back into the Dresden Files in like December or something. We’ll see what happens with that, however.

Regarding stuff outside of books and blogging, a big reason why I didn’t get any reading done, is because a new Zelda game came out. We’ll, Zelda-adjacent is more accurate, I suppose. I guess I should say Hyrule Warriors came out, since that’s what it is. But this time it’s canon to Legend and Zelda lore, and it specifically tells the story of what happened in the past during The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

I haven’t played it, since I don’t have Switch 2, but I have watched the entire story campaign and cutscenes, so I know everything I need to know. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is awesome though, with a fantastic story and characters, great visuals, a ton of aura farming, and even a little bit of innovation regarding the hack-and-slash gameplay that Warriors titles use. I was pretty impressed with it, and I’m so glad we have the full story of the Imprisoning War spoken of in Tears of the Kingdom. I’m a little miffed that it was in a whole other game, but that’s neither here nor there.

Concerning other stuff with life outside the blog, there’s really nothing else that went on the last couple of weeks. I guess that my spouse and I have still been kind of watching what we eat a little, and I took the Halloween decorations down, but nothing else.

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!

See ya ~Mar

The Most Interesting Looking New Books of November 2025

Hey there everybody! Another month, another bunch of new books that are coming out! Yep, it’s The Most Intriguing New Books of November 2025. I know pretty late in the month this time – I generally like to get it out by the first Tuesday of the month – but there’s been a lot going on in the recent weeks, and I’m just now trying to get back into things.

This used to be a quarterly post, but I’ve recently decided to do it monthly instead. Also, even though this post is about new releases, it’s primarily focused on fantasy and science fiction, as those are the genres I tend to prefer to read. (Not to say other genres won’t ever appear on these lists – it just isn’t super likely; it’s likely to be a very rare occurrence if it happens at all.)

If you’ve seen this post by me before, you know the drill; I’m only interested in these books – there’s no guarantee that I’m gonna read all of them. There’s not even a guarantee that I’m gonna read even half of them. We shall see. Anyway, let’s get going! Similar to last month, this month there are only three books that have caught my eye. (Mot to mention, they’ve all already come out, as they were new releases from the first half of the month. Shhh. Let’s pretend that didn’t happen.) Oh well, my To Be Read Stuff is kind ridiculous right now anyway, lol.

RELEASING: November 4th

The Cruel Prince meets Powerless in this dark academia romantasy that will tattoo itself onto your heart

In the cursed Kingdom of Aragoa, the punishment for magic is death.

Even the students at Vandenberghe Academy aren’t spared. When Viola Sinclair’s deadly shadow magic is discovered, the queen gives her assassin a new assignment and a new cursed tattoo: seven-thorned rose on his arm for the seven days he has to hunt Viola down and kill her. If he doesn’t, he will be the one to die.

The assassin is Roze Roquelart–entitled prince, arrogant fellow student, and the one person Viola hates more than anyone. Roze should revel in the chance to end her life, but he desperately needs something from Viola and her magic. And he’s willing to spare her life–and fake their engagement–to get it.

Forced to work together, Viola and Roze must contend with deadly threats, dangerous secrets, and an impossible attraction. Will they give in to their deepest desires, even if it means destroying Aragoa–and risking both their lives?

HER WORST ENEMY. HIS ONLY CHANCE.

Be swept away by the sizzling, irresistible enemies-to-lovers romantasy with magic more destructive than your darkest nightmares.

RELEASING: November 4th

A time-bending love story between a prickly young woman and a carefree stranger, who are tasked with saving the universe–after accidentally destroying it in the first place.

Genevieve Newhouse and Ash Hargreaves weren’t supposed to meet like this. Unless it was always meant to be…

Gen is a fastidious science prodigy with a chip on her shoulder, and she can turn herself invisible.

Happy-go-lucky Ash has just escaped a sheltered (read: cultish) childhood, and he can manipulate time.

The gifted eighteen-year-olds cross paths at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair, where Genevieve’s experimental physics project causes an apocalyptic explosion. Ash tries to avert catastrophe by gallantly rewinding time a few minutes, but instead, he transports them back to 1893. The duo finds themselves trapped in an unfamiliar, unwelcoming era, with no idea how to return to their own time–or if their own time even exists. Their cataclysmic leap across decades might have destroyed the world as they know it…

Fate and free will intertwine in this page turning historical romance that sets two irresistible strangers down a chaotic, potentially apocalyptic path. “Will they or won’t they” takes on a whole new meaning as Gen and Ash fight for survival while falling in love.

Hand to fans of Immortal Longings and Anatomy: A Love Story, and don’t miss companion novels Murder for the Modern Girl and A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife.

RELEASING: November 11th

A young woman cursed with a fatal heartbreak-induced sickness must race against time to find a cure and protect her family legacy from the ancient finfolk that would destroy it, the fiancé that would kill her for it, and the boy who would love her if she forsook it.

The seafaring humans of Kirkrell have always been plagued by finfolk—bloodthirsty fae who haunt the seas, sinking ships and cursing bloodlines. Yet it’s only by hunting magical whales that Kirkrell can prosper. Nineteen-year-old Annie is heir to the Fairfax Whaling Company, but their family’s success came at a cost: a curse by which heartbreak turns Fairfaxes slowly into monsters. And six years ago, the shipwreck that killed Annie’s parents left her with scales spreading up her arms, claws sprouting from her fingertips.

The love of her fiancé, August, salved her heart for a while—but when she learns August is maneuvering to take over the company, the curse worsens. Fearing her time is running out, she strikes a bargain with a disreputable young captain, half-finfolk and half-human Silas Price: on a voyage to hunt whales in the far north, Silas will take Annie to the finfolk queen, who can lift the curse in return for a promise to end whaling forever.

As Annie, August and Silas sail north, she is determined to uphold her family’s legacy, but the threat of the finfolk tests her resolve. Lies corrupt her relationship with August; meanwhile a dangerous connection with Silas blooms—but he’s keeping secrets too, and his might be the most dangerous of all.

As heiress, it’s Annie’s responsibility to deliver whale magic to her city. But as heartbreak looms, she must choose between saving herself and her family’s legacy—and hope it doesn’t cost her everyone she loves.

So yeah, these are all of the books releasing in November 2025 that I’m at least a little interested in. What books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to? Do we share some of the same ones?

As always, thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar