Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025

Hey everyone, and Happy Tuesday! I’m here participating in another Top Ten 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 Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025. There are a lot of options with this one: new-to-you authors, new genres, new bookish resources you found, new general bookish stuff, etc. I’m going with: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2025.

Anyway, in order from earliest discovery in the year to latest, here we go!

Christine Calella (via Liar’s Kingdom)
Max Gladstone (via This is How You Lose the Time War)
Amal El-Mohtar (via This is How You Lose the Time War and The River Has Roots)
L.R. Lam (via Dragonfall)
Katherine Rundell (via Impossible Creatures)
M. Stevenson (via Behooved)
Nicole Jarvis (via A Spell for Change)
Andrew Rowe (via How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps)
Brittany Cavallaro (via A Study in Charlotte)
Lois McMaster Bujold (via Penric’s Demon and Penric and the Shaman)

What authors were new to you in 2025? How did you like their books? Will you be reading things written by them again, or was their work not for you?

As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1/19 – 1/25

Jeez, I can’t believe it’s been another week already. Oh well, time flies when you’re being relatively productive, I guess.

Last week wasn’t too bad, in regards to both my reading and my blog activity. I finished a book and reviewed it – and it was my first of both for the year too! I also managed to post a few times, and am happy with the amount of blog posts I was able to do. So yeah, a pretty good week overall.

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

Wednesday 1/21: The Ashfire King Review

Last Wednesday, I finally posted my review for The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah. It’s the sequel to The Stardust Thief, as well as the second book in the Sandsea Trilogy. This one was a long time coming – but I finally read and reviewed it!

The book ended up being slower than I expected for a good portion of it, but I liked it overall. The plot and characters are still great, and the writing is as engaging as ever. I gave it ★★★★☆.

The Ashfire King Review

Thursday 1/22: Birthstone Book Covers

On Thursday, I participated in Birthstone Book Covers at a more reasonable time for the first time in months. 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 January, and its birthstone is garnet. So the colors to pick from are shades of red.

Birthstone Book Covers: January 2026

Friday 1/23: First Line Friday

Last Friday, I participated in First Line Friday for the first time in a few weeks. 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: 1/23

The Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, my reading and blogging this past week was pretty good. I’m pretty happy with all that I did. I hope this week is just as good.

Concerning the blog this coming week, I want to participate in at least a couple of the usual weekly posts that I participate in as well as do a book review. So hopefully I’ll finish the book I’m about to start reading before the end of the week so that I can review it.

Speaking of what I’m planning to read next, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune. I already have it checked out from the library. I haven’t read any of his works in a couple of years, so I’m looking forward to it. This has actually been nebulously on my TBR for about a year, lol. I was going to read Water Moon and The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao, but I ended up not feeling either of them at the last second.

Being in late January, we’re now in the midst of winter, and it really displayed that in my area late last week. It snowed quite a bit, and said snow is still piled on the ground even now. It’s also been freezing cold and will continue to be for at least the next several days. Brrr. In other news, my spouse and I are still trying to be healthier.

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

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1/12 – 1/18

Right on time this week! Whew! Last week went by pretty quickly! I can’t believe it!

The blog activity was not as strong last week, especially compared to the week prior. But because of how many posts I got in the week before last, (Six!) I’m actually okay with my more lackluster posting from last week. For once. My reading on the other hand was much better.

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

Tuesday 1/13: 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 Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026.

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026

Wednesday 1/14: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

On Wednesday, I participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the second week in a row. 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: The Elsewhere Express

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, not the greatest week in terms of blogging, but my novel reading was good. I wish both could’ve been good, but alas. Hopefully both books and blogging end up being up to par this coming week. 🍀🤞

In regards to blog posts this week, I want to do a book review (or two), participate in a couple of my weekly posts, and also join in on my favorite monthly post. For reading, I just finished up with The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah finally (you’ll hear my thoughts about it soon when I do a review), and I’m pretty sure I want to read the first volume of Love Me to Death by Toonimated next. After that, I want to read Water Moon and The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao, though I might not get to those two until this weekend or early next week. We’ll see.

Outside of books and blogging, my spouse and I started the new season of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. It’s a high fantasy anime that focuses on an elf with a long lifespan who seeks to learn to understand humans and connect with others, decades after defeating the Demon King with the group she journeyed with at the time. It’s a great story so far, if a bit of a slow-burn, and season two just started releasing weekly this past Saturday.

We also started watching The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife. It’s really cute and we’re really enjoying it. The world and characters are vibrant and interesting. It’s more episodic, but it’s still a lot of fun.

My spouse and I are also still trying to be healthier. I think it’s going okay so far, but I hope for us to improve even further with it.

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

Another Year of Books: Reading 2025

Yet another year has gone by, and with it, another several books read. I didn’t read as much as I did in 2023 or 2024, but I read at least twenty books in 2025, so I’m not that disappointed. Not to mention, I had a lot of really difficult Real Life Stuff going on as well, which definitely contributed.

Anyway, I’m not gonna waste time explaining everything to you guys. The StoryGraph has all these awesome features that track different aspects of your reading. It’s really cool. So, without further ado, here’s all of my stats from the year from The StoryGraph.

There’s an important thing I want to note before I move on. Like last year, this post is gonna be a two-parter. The StoryGraph just logs and analyzes so much information, and there’s a lot of stats. Almost too much. Next year I think I might try to condense some things, because this is kind of ridiculous. Anyhow, here’s the link to Part #2 of this post.

So yeah. These are all my statistics and stuff from The StoryGraph. Well, almost all of them at least. The rest of them are coming in the next post, since there’s so much.

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

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: December Reading 2025

I’m a little later than I’d like to be with this wrap-up, but it isn’t as bad as the last two months, so I’m fine with it. But yeah, here’s my reading wrap-up for December 2025! I still can’t believe that 2025 is over and a new year has started!

December was pretty decent. It’s not my best month of 2025, but I read two books, which is better than most of the months last year, not to mention some of the Decembers of the past. So I’ll take it as a win.

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

December Reading 2025

I read 2 books and 438 pages

😶 MOODS: I had three Moods in December, which is one more than the month before. The Moods from this past month were: Adventurous, Hopeful, and Reflective.

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

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novels I read were between 198 and 240 pages.

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

🎭 GENRES: There were a bunch of Genres on the graph this month, and I’m really happy about it. They were: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Magical Realism, Young Adult, LGBT+, and Graphic Novel.

📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was correct again this time. Both books I read were physical copies.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 4.5

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading was pretty divided in December. I read a lot during the first week, didn’t read anything at all for the next couple of weeks, and then I read some during the last couple of days of the month.

Books I Read in December

★★★★★ • my review

★★★★☆ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, my reading in December wasn’t too bad. I managed to keep up the same pace of the two months preceding it, and end the year in a decent way in regards to reading. I’m also happy that I enjoyed the last couple of books that I read last year. It felt like leaving on a high note.

Regarding what I want to read next, I’m in between The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah and waiting for a book to be released in the next few days and reading that. I also would like to read Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao, as well as her new book also coming out this month. I’m not sure what I’m going to end up choosing next, though. We’ll see.

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

See ya ~Mar

End of the Year Book Tag 2025

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!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 9/1 – 9/14

Heyyyy – look who it is! It’s me! I’m back with another Weekly Wrap-Up! Or, I guess a Bi-Monthly Wrap-Up in this case, haha.

The last couple of weeks have been a little busier than normal, but during the last one I managed to get some blogging and reading done. And I was happy with what I was able to do for both.

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

Monday 9/8: The Most Interesting Looking New Books of September 2025

Last Monday, 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 September 2025. As always, it’s basically only fantasy and science fiction, as those are the two genres I primarily read. This time I had a whopping eight books on my list!

The Most Interesting Looking New Books of September 2025

Wednesday 9/10: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

On Wednesday, I did another Can’t-Wait Wednesday. 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: The Faerie Morgana

Friday 9/12: First Line Friday

Last Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays for the first time in a few weeks. 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: 9/12

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, though the week before last was a little lacking, I made up for it some this past week. I’m hoping that I can keep it up this coming week, but ultimately time will tell.

For posts I want to do this week on the blog, I want to do a couple of my usuals, but I also want to do my monthly reading wrap-up for August 2025. I’d also like to participate in my favorite monthly post, but we’ll see.

In regards to books… I have a few that I’m eyeing right now, though I’m not sure which one I’ll end up choosing before the day is done (I’m giving myself a hard deadline of picking by the end of today). Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean is calling me a little bit, but I’m also considering a couple of other things.

Concerning stuff outside books and blogging, my spouse recently started playing the long-awaited sequel to a certain indie hit from 2017, Hollow Knight: Silksong. Admittedly, I haven’t been as into this one, as I’m not super into Hollow Knight (though I know some people are), so I haven’t seen too much of this game yet. But I’m really happy that my spouse and all the people who waited like seven years for this game are finally getting to play and enjoy it. We’re also still continuing to try to eat healthier and be more active.

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

Weekly Wrap-Up: 8/18 – 8/24

A bit later than I like to aim for, but I’m ready to wrap-up last week.

Last week was… fine. I would’ve liked to have posted at least one more time, but seeing as I ended up reading another book, I’m actually okay with how things turned out.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the weekly wrap-up!

Wednesday 8/20: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Last Wednesday, I did another Can’t-Wait Wednesday for a second week in a row. 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: Katabasis

Friday 8/22: First Line Friday

On Friday, for the first time in like a month, I participated in First Line Friday.

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: 8/22

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, I wasn’t the most impressed with my reading and blogging last week, but I did end up doing both, so I’m happy with it. As always, however, I do hope I do better with this coming week.

For this week, I want to do some of my usual posts, on the blogging side of things. Concerning books, I want to finish up the current arc I’ve been reading in One Piece and then possibly read another book before the end of August.

Regarding stuff I did this past week outside of books and blogging… well, it was my monthly cleaning week. So now the house is nice and clean. Other than that, we’re still trying to eat better and be more active, but that’s kind of it.

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

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 8/4 – 8/10

It’s slightly late, but something came up later in the day yesterday, so I didn’t have time to finish this up. Oh well. At least last week went pretty well – I’m actually pretty satisfied with what I was able to do.

I did three blog posts this past week. Three in one week – that’s the first time in a while. Which is simultaneously both unfortunate that it’s been a few weeks since it last happened, but also fantastic that it happened again. I really hope that this is a sign of good posting to come for me. Oh, and I did read (part of) a book last week as well, so there’s progress on that front, too.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the weekly wrap-up!

Tuesday 8/5: The Most Interesting Looking New Books of August 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 Most Interesting Looking New Books of August 2025. As always, it’s basically only fantasy and science fiction, as those are the two genres I primarily read. This time I had four books on my list.

The Most Interesting Looking New Books of August 2025

Wednesday 8/6: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

This past Wednesday, I did another Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in two weeks. I also made a new graphic for the featured image!

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: Girls of Dark Divine

Sunday 8/10: July Reading 2025

On Sunday, I posted my Monthly Reading Wrap-Up for July 2025. And it was posted at a reasonable time of the month this time! 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: July Reading 2025

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, last week was a big improvement in regards to my blog activity, and I at the very least, read something. And with how the summer has been so far… I’m counting that as a win. I’m hoping that I can keep this up.

For blog posts this week, I’m planning on doing a couple of the usual ones that I participate in sometimes. In particular, one that I haven’t done at all for the last couple of months. I also might do another post that is one of my originals, though I’m not sure yet.

Regarding reading books, I ended up DNF-ing the one I tried to read last week. I just couldn’t get into it, though I did like the writing. For this week, I’m gonna finally get back into buddy-ret One Piece with my spouse. It’s been ten months since we left off at the time skip (which was the perfect spot to pause, honestly), but it’s definitely been too long I think, and we’re eager to get back into it. I don’t know if I’ll read anything else this week, so there probably won’t be a review since I dropped the novel I read this past week as well. We’ll see.

Concerning stuff outside of books and blogging… Nothing has really changed, honestly. We’re still trying to eat better and be more active, but that’s kind of all. I guess my spouse and I finally finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 last weekend, but other than that we haven’t done much besides hanging out and watching YouTube.

I guess we also both read/are currently reading Aurora: Volume #1, so I guess we’re technically buddy-reading that, but that’s involved with books. I’m gonna try to talk to them about figuring out something more specific to watch next, other than stuff on YouTube because we can’t just watch that all the time, so hopefully that’ll pan out.

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

See ya ~Mar