Weekly Wrap-Up: 3/2 – 3/8

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a good week! It’s time for another Weekly Wrap-Up!

Last week was fine. I missed a blog post or two that I’d wanted to do, but that’s okay. I’ve certainly had worse. I also read a book again this past week, which I’m really happy about.

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

Tuesday 3/3: The Most Interesting Looking New Books of March 2026

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 March 2026. As always, it’s basically only fantasy and science fiction, as those are the two genres I primarily read. This time there were once again six books on my list.

Wednesday 3/4: Can’t-Wait Wednesday / WWW Wednesday

On Wednesday, I participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday again. 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.

I also participated in WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. It focuses on the Three Ws of Reading: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? and What do you think you’ll read next?

Friday 3/6: Stolen Midnights Review

On Friday, I finally posted my review for Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn. It’s a never fantasy novel, that just came out last month. I had mixed feelings about it.

There was a lot to like about it, but there were just as many – if not more – things to dislike about it. I thought the world building and magic and mystery was interesting, but I was less impressed with the characters and romance. I gave it ★★✫☆☆.

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, I think that last week was pretty okay. I’m hoping to do at least as good this week, if not a little better. I want to keep up with at least a book a week again – I miss doing that. Fingers crossed. 🍀🤞

Regarding my blog activity for the week, I want to definitely post my monthly reading wrap-up for February 2026. I wanted to do it last week, but sometimes things happen. I also want to participate in at least a couple of my favorite weekly memes, as well as get out another book review. For my reading, the next book I’m planning on diving into is Brighter Than Nine by June CL Tan, which comes out tomorrow.

Concerning stuff outside the blog, last week I switched over my decorations from Valentine’s Day to St. Patrick’s Day. So now the decor is now shades of green instead of red and pink. Aside from that, my spouse and I are still up to our usual.

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

See ya ~Mar

All the Books I Read Last Year | Reading 2025

Here it is! Part 2 of my reading wrap-up for the books I read during 2025. You can check out Part #1 here if you’re interested in the rest of my statistics from The StoryGraph and you haven’t already.

Anyway, I read 20 books, which were 6,379 pages all together. A decent amount of books. Not as many as I read in 2024 or 2023 as I mentioned in Part #1, but it’s still not bad. I’m hoping I’ll get back in the game this year, though, and that my reading in 2026 will be much better than it was last year.

2025 Reading Wrap-Up

The Books I Read in 2025

How many books did you read last year? How many did you like and dislike? What was your favorite and least favorite? Did we read any of the same books?

Anyway, last year was fine, and I did okay with my novel reading as well as posting on this blog. I think. I could’ve done better, though. Hopefully this year things will be different.

But yeah, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

All the Books I Read Last Year | Reading 2024

Here it is! Part 2 of my reading wrap-up for the books I read during 2024. You can check out Part #1 here if you’re interested in the rest of my statistics from The StoryGraph and you haven’t already.

Anyway, I read 55 books which were 21,359 pages all together. So many books! Not as many as I read in 2023, but still, so many books. I’m hoping that 2025 will be just as good a year regarding reading as the last two years have been.

2024 Reading Wrap-Up

The Books I Read in 2024

How many books did you read last year? How many did you like and dislike? What was your favorite and least favorite? Did we read any of the same books?

Anyway, last year was amazing, and I did pretty well with my novel reading as well as posting on this blog. I think. I’m really happy with the amount of books I got around to reading, honestly.

But yeah, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: December Reading 2024

December Reading 2024

Yes! I’m posting my December Reading wrap-up for 2024 on a reasonable day in January! It’s not halfway through the freaking month this time!

This past month, my reading was… okay. It could’ve been waayyy better, though, and I’m really hoping to improve it some this month. Like, ugh, December was barely acceptable regarding my reading of books.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into my StoryGraph statistics from last month!

December Reading 2024

I read 4 books and 611 pages

😐 MOODS: I had four Moods in December, which was less than I did the month before. As usual, the biggest Mood of the pie was Adventurous, taking up half of the chart. The other Moods were Lighthearted, Funny and Emotional, and they were all the same size slice.

👢 PACE: My books from last month were mostly fast-paced, but with one exception that was slow-paced.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Everything I read was between 26 and 253 pages.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction in December. Per usual.

🎭 GENRES: There were four Genres in the books I read in December. The biggest one as-almost-always usual was Fantasy. The other three Genres were Young Adult, Romance and Manga, and they were all equal on the bar graph.

📄 FORMAT: This particular pie graph is once again wrong. (As it always is.) (I’m too lazy to correct it, also.) Only half of the books I read were physical copies; the other half were digital, though.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 4.13. The ratings I gave were between 3.5 stars and 4.5 stars, so yeah.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My highest spike of reading occured at the edge of the first half of December, between the 10th and the 14th. I also read during the 30th and 31st, however.

The Books I Read in December

★★★★✯

★★★★✯

★★★✯☆ • my review

★★★★☆ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, not super happy about the amount of reading I did in December 2024 regarding novels, but it is what it is. All I can do is try to read more during this month.

There’s at least one book I’m really looking forward to this month, and that I’m also absolutely going to read immediately, so there’s at least one book there. I also got several novels for Christmas that I’m also excited about, and am hopefully going to read some of them in January as well. (I got like six books and two of them are like at least 700+ pages, probably more, so yeah.)

Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my December reading in 2024. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 12/16 – 12/22

Hey look it’s the elusive Weekly Wrap-Up – on a Tuesday this time. Yeah, Christmas time is the time of inconsistent posts for me. I might actually skip the weekly wrap-up for next week just because of all the stuff going on during the holidays.

Anyway, last week was once again a bit of a disappointment. I would’ve liked to do at least one more post, and I’m definitely mad at myself for not really reading any books. Or finishing one, at the very least.

But yeah, let’s wrap up last week…

Wednesday 12/18: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Last Wednesday, I did another Can’t-Wait Wednesday. It had been a couple of weeks since I last participated, but another upcoming release I’m a little interested in.

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.

Friday 12/20: First Line Friday

On Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays for the first time in several weeks. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words.

Sunday 12/22: Winterspell Review

Yesterday, I did another Retrospective Book Review, for the first time in like over a year. It was over a book I’ve really liked ever since I read it years ago – Winterspell by Claire Legrand. It’s a retelling of The Nutcracker, one of my favorite Christmas stories.

When I originally read it, I gave it ★★★★✯. Now, after going through this book again a few days ago, I still give it the same rating – ★★★★✯. I still like it now just as much as when I first read it.

Books I Read Last Week

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

So yeah, last week I didn’t read books or post on the blog as often as I’d have liked, and this week is not gonna be any better. ‘Cause of the holiday and all. Not to mention, my spouse is off the next week or so as well, so I both want to spend time with them, as well as a break from everything myself. Which is why I might skip this post altogether next week.

This week I’m gonna be doing Christmas stuff – baking cookies, listening to Christmas music and spending time with family. I’m still hoping to get some reading of some sort done, though. Maybe a couple of blog posts as well. We’ll see.

The books I’m thinking about reading coming up are: the Winterspell companion novellas and The Lies of Locke Lamora. I’m also currently reading I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons, so hopefully I’ll finish that soon.

Anyway, Merry Christmas Eve 🎅🦌🌟🕯️🥛🍪 everybody, and here’s also an early Merry Christmas 🎄🎁🔔❄️🎶🛷 to everyone as well!

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

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 12/9 – 12/15

Darn it. I’m practically posting this on Tuesday once again. Anyway. Ugh. December (and sometimes January and February) is just rough. I dunno why.

So, I didn’t read nearly as much as I’d wanted to, book-wise. Hopefully, this week I’ll be able to hunker down and really dig into a new novel. Please, for the love of God, Me.

Let’s just wrap up last week already…

Wednesday 12/11: November Reading 2024

Last Wednesday, I finally, finally, finally posted my monthly reading wrap-up for November. (Ludicrously late, I’m super aware.) 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.

Friday 12/13: First Line Friday / Friday the 13th

On Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays for the first time in several weeks. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words.

Last Friday also happened to fall on the 13th – oooh spooky! – the second of this year since it was a leap year. The other Friday the 13th was in September.

Sunday 12/15: Bewitching Book Covers

Yesterday, I – for the first time in months – did another Bewitching Book Covers post. Bewitching Book Covers (formerly known as Majestic Mondays and Tasteful Tuesdays), is when I gush over a book cover that I like and analyze it (sometimes). It’s something I (clearly) haven’t done in a while, but really want to get back into doing.

Books I Read Last Week

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

So yeah, didn’t get the amount of novel reading that I had wanted to last week. I really, really want this week to be better, though. At least I finished Noragami, even though I deliberately put it off for two days because I knew it was the end and I was savoring it.

Regarding the blog, I’m planning on participating in a couple of my normal weekly posts. I also really want to get a book review out – I’m disappointed in myself for not doing so last week. I’m also definitely gonna participate in a certain monthly post.

Concerning the books I’ve got highest on my TBR – and on loan from the library – I really want to get reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch or I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle next. (I should probably read TLOLL first though – I rented it first, so it would be the responsible thing.) I’m not sure what I want to read after these, however.

Oh! And there was a book fair the weekend before last that I forgot to mention in my last wrap-up. It was awesome!! We got so many books – and for less than $15, too! I loved it and am so glad we went!

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

See ya ~Mar

Top Ten Tuesday: How My Reading Habits Have Changed

Hey everyone. Happy Tuesday!

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 How My Reading Habits Have Changed. Which I guess is pretty self-explanatory.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

  1. I read more ebooks than physical copies of novels now: I used to read basically 100% either paperback or hardcover books, but now I’m more inclined to download a book on my Kindle. It’s just so much faster – you can even download copies from libraries nowadays! I’m also impatient, and I got tired of waiting a couple of days to get a new book(s) if I ordered any online. Aldo, digital copies tend to be cheaper, so I like saving the cash.
  2. I read more novellas than I used to: Before I got an e-reader – heck, even after I got one – I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly read a novella. But in the last couple of years, I’ve definitely read a few.
  3. I had a big ghost story phase: This was a long, long time ago, but I feel it’s worth mentioning. For a year and a half in grade school, I read almost exclusively books with hauntings or ghosts. I think Mary Downing Hahn is one of my most read authors ever because of this phase of my life.
  4. I tend to seek out shorter books more often  (like >400 pages type of shorter): I used to seek out the longest books that I could – and I still like them. It’s just, ever since I’ve started the blog, I’ve kind of felt more pressure to get reviews out relatively consistently and often (like at least once a week is the goal). Maybe I should stop worrying about it though.
  5. I read more adult fiction when I was younger, I think: I went through a phase in late middle and early high school where I read mostly adult fiction. It stems from my dad telling me to stop reading YA – I think he thought I was too old or too mature for it? It was after he saw me reading Breaking Dawn though, so I dunno know.
  6. Fall is my favorite reading season now: At the very least, it tends to be the season I read the most books during. (I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite, however, too.) When I was a kid, I did the most reading during the summer, I think. So I guess those summer reading challenges were a good thing?
  7. I used to read multiple books at a time: For a lot of my life, even through college, it wouldn’t be strange to find out I’d been reading like, three books at once. Now, I prefer to only read one book at a time, generally. I’m not really sure why this has changed. Maybe I’ll go back to reading multiple books at once again sometime?
  8. I read more graphic novels and manga than I used to: Graphic novels and manga are things I didn’t read at all growing up, and something I refused to read once I got to be a teenager. As an adult, I’m far less self-conscious about what I read, so I’ve read a lot more of these. Heck, I’m currently working through reading One Piece with my spouse!
  9. I read more middle grade books than I used to: In late middle school and during high school, I was extremely self-conscious about what I read (as mentioned above). So I stopped reading middle grade stuff around the time I was in seventh grade, and completely steered clear of the reading demographic… until just a few years ago. Which is funny, because at the time that I stopped, I was still a part of the middle grade demographic.
  10. When I was very little, I didn’t enjoy reading: It took until sometime in second grade for me to get into reading books and liking it. Thanks, Magic Treehouse! Before this, I’d tend to try to get out of reading relatively often. I know, I can’t believe it either!

How have your reading habits changed over the years? Are they very different than they used to be? What are your favorite types of books to read?

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

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: September Reading 2024

Here I am. Doing my due diligence with posting my September reading wrap-up for 2024 at a reasonable time in October. By which I mean within the first week. Yay!

I’m very happy with the reading I was able to do last month, and not just because I read (and finished) more books than I did in August. It just felt like I read a good amount of novels and that feeling is good enough for me. And I enjoyed all the books that I read in September, too, which is the best part about it.

But yeah, without further ado, let’s get into my StoryGraph statistics from last month!

September Reading 2024

I read 5 books and 2,299 pages

😐 MOODS: The reading Moods for September were fewer than in August, but there were still five of them. Adventurous was of course the biggest chunk of the pie chart. The second biggest slice is Lighthearted, which I’m not sure has happened before. The other three Moods were Tense, Mysterious and Funny.

👢 PACE: My books from last month were mostly fast paced, but around a quarter of them were slow paced.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Everything I read was between 240 and 672 pages.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction in September. As is my usual.

🎭 GENRES: There were less Genres in September than there were in August. Fantasy was the Genre I read there most of, which is always the case. The other four genres were Young AdultMangaMiddle Grade and LGBT+. (BTW, in case you were wondering, the genre vs. demographic thing still bugs me.)

📄 FORMAT: This particular pie graph is once again wrong. (As it always is.) Almost all the books I read were physical copies, but one novel was digital.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 4.35. The ratings I gave were between 3.35 stars and 5.0 stars, so yeah.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I read a lot during the last two thirds of September. My biggest reading spike of the month was the 23rd, though my reading on the 19th and the 20th were nearly as high. I also read books between the 11th and the 17th, as well as between the 26th and the 28th.

The Books I Read in September

Darker by Four by June CL Tan

★★★✬☆ • my review

One Piece: Volumes 46, 47 & 48 (Thriller Bark Arc) by Eiichiro Oda

★★★★✯

One Piece: Volumes 48, 49 & 50 (Thriller Bark Arc) by Eiichiro Oda

★★★★✯

The Glass Scientists: Volume Two by S.H. Cotugno

★★★★★ • my review

Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan

★★★★✯ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, I’m pretty satisfied with the stuff I read during September. It was a good month for me this year – and not just because a new Legend of Zelda game came out. The books that I did read, I liked, which is unfortunately something that doesn’t always happen.

I’m not sure what my reading is gonna look like for October this time. I think it’s gonna be more than last month, though, even though I’ve hardly read at all this past week. (Sorry, whenever a new Zelda game comes out, it usually takes up most of my attention for at least a week. That’s just how it is and I’m totally fine with it! 😁🎮) It’s ’cause I have plans to read specific books this month, and there are more of them than what I read in September. So that’s why. But we’ll see what ends up happening.

Anyway, thanks for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my September reading in 2024. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have an wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: August Reading 2024

August Reading 2024

So I dropped the ball a little bit last month, regarding my reading in August 2024. I read a little bit less than I did in July.

But I’m hoping to at least match my reading (of books, specifically) from last month, this month. Especially since September has a couple books coming out that I’m looking forward to in particular.

Well anyway, without further ado, let’s get into my StoryGraph statistics from last month.

August Reading 2024

😐 MOODS: The Moods for August definitely varied more than the last couple of months. Adventurous was of course the biggest slice of pie on this particular pie chart, because it always is. But the secondary most Mood was Mysterious, which isn’t always the case. The other Moods included were Reflective, Lighthearted, Funny, Emotional and Challenging.

👢 PACE: My books from last month were split between fast and medium paced.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Everything I read was between 160 and 477 pages.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction in August. As is my usual.

🎭 GENRES: There were about as many Genres in August as there were in July. The Genre king for last month was once again Fantasy as is basically always the case – I don’t think I’ve ever had a month where it wasn’t. The other five genres were Young Adult, Shirt Stories, Science Fiction, Manga and Literary. (Once again – and I’ll probably keep saying this – it really bothers me that StoryGraph lumps in reading demographics with genres though – they’re not the same thing!!)

📄 FORMAT: This particular pie graph is once again wrong. (As usual.) Nearly all the books I read were digital – only one was a hard copy.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 3.94. The ratings I gave were between 2.0 stars and 5.0 stars, so yeah.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I read a lot during the end of the first week and then first half of the second week of August. It was my biggest reading spike of the month, as well. Then I dropped off for a bit. I then read between the 20th and the 24th, paused again, and then read from the 26th all the way to the end of the month on the 31st.

The Books I Read in August

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow

★★☆☆☆ • my review

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

★★★★★ • my review

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

• did not finish •

Noragami: Stray Stories by Adachitoka

★★★★★

Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie

★★★✫☆ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, once again – even though I read several books in August – it wasn’t as many as I might’ve liked. I mostly enjoyed the novels I did read and did end up finishing, however, so I count that as a huge win for me.

I think I have a better chance of reading more books in September than I did this past month. For one thing, my husband and I are gonna start up with another arc of One Piece again (which means at least two super volumes). But also, there’s a couple of books coming out this month that I’ve been anticipating all year. Not to mention what I’m currently reading and all that.

Another thing in my favor, is that I tend to really get into novels in the fall, for whatever reason. It might be kinda weird, and I don’t know why it happens, but I pretty consistently seem to do the majority of my novel reading in autumn. Maybe it’s the atmosphere? The vibes? I just don’t know.

Anyway, thanks for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my August reading in 2024. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have an wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday: 8/21

I’m so happy to be reading more books again. Sort of. Summer is weird for me – for some reason, I have trouble getting into and reading books. I dunno why.  But it feels like it’s picking up again for me?

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Thing I’m Currently Reading

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

CURRENT STATUS: 25%

CURRENT FEELS: 🤔 (unsure…)

The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow

The Thing I Might Read Next

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

This has been on my TBR since last year. It was even on my Christmas list, so I received a copy then. I just haven’t gotten around to reading it, unfortunately. But with the sequel, Bringer of Dust releasing next month, I’ve decided that I gotta get on this.

What books are you guys currently reading? Have you read any of the ones on my list this week? What did you think of them, if you had? How do you feel about the book(s) you’re reading now?

Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar