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“An unforgettable, unflinching glimpse into a mind driven to murder” (San Francisco Chronicle)—the #1 national bestseller from Stephen King about a housekeeper with a long-hidden secret from her past…one that tests her own will to survive.
Dolores Claiborne is suspected of killing Vera Donovan, her wealthy employer, and when the police question her, she tells the story of her life, harkening back to her disintegrating marriage and the suspicious death of her violent husband thirty years earlier. Dolores also tells of Vera’s physical and mental decline and how she became emotionally demanding in recent years.
Given a voice as compelling as any in contemporary fiction, the strange intimacy between Dolores and Vera—and the link that binds them—unfolds in Dolores’s account. It shows, finally, how fierce love can be, and how dreadful its consequences. And how the soul, harrowed by the hardest life, can achieve a kind of grace.
For my Stephen King challenge, and also because I heard this was one of the really good depictions of women King has written.
The Quotes
“Sometimes you have to be a high riding bitch to survive, sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang on to.”
“There ain’t no power in heaven or on earth that can stop people from thinkin the worst when they want to.”
“…the love a natural mother feels for her children. That’s the strongest love there is in this world, and it’s the deadliest. There’s no bitch on earth like a mother frightened for her kids.”
The Narrator(s)
Frances Sternhagen. She is absolutely perfect! Just perfect! I love her voice for this book.
My Thoughts
This was actually one of the first Stephen King books I bought but I wasn’t able to read it at the time because the format was difficult to get into and I ended up not finishing it. My original copy has long since been lost, but that’s okay as it turned out to be amazing to listen to on audiobook! The narrator is just so perfect, I cannot express just how amazing it was to listen to her, and I was so pulled into the story.
I watched the movie just last year, and of course, I love Kathy Bates in it and now that I’ve read the book, I think the movie was very faithfully and well done, but I have to say it; the book is better! Having Dolores pretty much narrating her whole life story in an interview format may or may not have worked for me when I tried to read it as a teenager, but listening to it on audio made it feel so much like she was talking to me personally. I love seeing the person Dolores is, as a mother, as a caregiver, as a woman just trying to do the best she can for the people she cares about. How many favorite Stephen King books can a reader have? Because this has become another one of my favorites!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Detective Max Rupert series (Books 1-5) by Allen Eskens
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran–and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.
As Joe writes about Carl’s life, especially Carl’s valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?
The Reason
I accidentally came across the first book as I was browsing Libby. I read it and loved it and wanted more, and the other books were available so I borrowed them all at once!
The Quotes
“No sin could be greater than a sin that cannot be rectified, the sin you never get to confess.”
“But we do have control of how much of our soul we leave behind in this mess. Don’t ever forget that. We do still have some choices.”
“What if, in all the eons of eternity, this was the one and only time that I would be alive. How would I live my life if that were the case?”
“But it also means that this is our heaven. We are surrounded every day by the wonders of life, wonders beyond comprehension that we simply take for granted.”
My Thoughts
All the books in the series are different enough that I feel like I should do an individual post for each one, but they’re also linked as a series, and I have something to say about the series as a whole, so I decided to do one post for them all. Plus, I’m lazy, so there.
These books are listed under the Detective Max Rupert series, but many of them feature characters in other series written by the author. The first book, The Life We Bury, is primarily listed under the Joe Talbert series, and features Joe Talbert as the protagonist. I intend to read that series as well because I love the Joe Talbert character, but I’ll be writing this post from the point of view of Detective Max Rupert as the overarching character.
Book 1 – The Life We Bury Narrated by Zack Villa. I loved his portrayal of Joe Talbert. No notes. For the reading challenge(s) – TBD
The first book features Joe Talbert as the main character; Detective Max Rupert plays an important but minimal role, and if I hadn’t been looking out for him (because he is the series’ titular character) I might not even have remembered his name. I loved Joe Talbert as a character though, and I loved this particular story. Joe is a student writing a story for a school project who stumbled upon a case and felt the need to get to the bottom of the story. I loved how the story played out, how thrilling it got, and how it feels different from other thriller stories. At the end of it, I felt a little disappointed that I was going to move on to the next book in Detective Max Rupert’s series rather than Joe Talbert’s series (one was available while the other was not), but I am definitely looking forward to reading more about Joe Talbert in the future.
Book 2 – The Guise of Another Narrated by Jonathan Yen. My least favorite of the series’ narrators, but possibly because the MC is my least favorite character as well. For the reading challenge(s): 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #8: A three-syllable word in the title)
This one features Detective Max Rupert’s brother, Alexander Rupert. I expected to see more of Max Rupert this time, and I did, but interestingly, Max was a side character to Alexander’s main. I was very much pulled into the story and got very invested in all the characters, regardless of their role in the story. I didn’t like Alexander as a person but his character was very interesting, and I loved that the story shocked and surprised me with the direction it took. It’s not your regular police procedural and I love that.
Book 3 – The Heavens May Fall Narrated by R.C. Bray, David Colacci, Amy McFadden. They were great. I love the different voices for the different POVs. For the reading challenge(s): 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #2: Kangaroo word on the cover [Heaven – haven])
The main character in this one is Boady Sanden, a lawyer and long-time friend of Max Rupert’s. Boady makes an appearance in The Life We Bury, but we see a lot more of him and his backstory in this book. Max Rupert plays a part in this story, but again, doesn’t take center stage. There is also a Boady Sanden series that doesn’t include this book that I will probably check out at some point. In this book, Boady and Max are at odds because Boady is defending a person that Max had arrested and believes is a criminal. Lila Nash, who is Joe Talbert’s love interest in The Life We Bury, also makes an appearance here and I love seeing her again.
Book 4 – The Deep Dark Descending Narrated by R.C. Bray. It was perfect, especially for how intense this story was. For the reading challenge(s) – TBD
We finally see Max Rupert as the main protagonist in this book. Very much front and center, very much raw and intense. There is such an interesting exploration of Max’s history and psyche, mixed in between the chaos happening in real time, that’s just incredible to see happening on the page. We also see more of Niki Vang, Max’s partner, who is definitely one of my favorite characters in this series. It’s hard to talk about this book without giving away key elements, but it’s almost like the intensity I feel with The Count of Monte Cristo, obviously on a much smaller scale because The Count of Monte Cristo is incomparable.
Book 5 – Forsaken Country Narrated by Brian Troxell. I enjoyed his narration very much. For the reading challenge(s) – TBD
Max is still a main character in this story although the primary storyline is about a colleague’s missing adult daughter and grandson. He’s asked to help with the personal investigation as the acting sheriff doesn’t believe the missing persons are actually missing or in trouble. The story itself is as thrilling as all the previous books, but we continue to get some more exploration of Max’s character arc and I love that too. I love where we landed on by the end of the book, but I’m definitely curious to see if there will be more books in the series and where they’ll go.
Overall I’m not sure how the author planned these books because of how different each one of them are, and the fact that the titular character of the series don’t play main character roles in the initial books, but I loved how they turned out! And to be honest, I think what I loved most about these books is the fact that they’re all so different and not formulaic at all; the first book being from a journalistic POV, the second more like a police procedural, the third a legal thriller, and so on. It does feel like I’m reading completely different books, yet they are all immersive and interesting in their own ways. I’m loving this experience and I’m very interested in reading more from the author!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Four stars overall, because while I love the stories and find them very interesting on an intellectual level, I’m missing just a tiny bit of the emotional connection to the characters.
Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like it or do you think you would like it?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Book Covers Featuring Cool/Pretty/Unique/etc. Typography
Some of these books I’ve read and loved, some I haven’t read, some I’m not interested in at all, but I thought all of them had really interesting typography on their covers that caught my attention so I added them here. If you’ve read any of them and think they’re worth reading, let me know!
Top Ten Books Covers with Interesting Typography
Falling into Place by Amy Zhang – I loved this book and rated it 5 stars. I read it twice and thought it was written beautifully about some difficult things.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville – I just recently read this and enjoyed it even though it was quite long-winded. I listened to this on audio while occasionally refering to my physical copy. Unfortunately, this is not the cover of my copy.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll – This is one of those stories I know and love through so many pop culture references, but I can’t remember if I’ve read the actual book. I love this cover though!
Find Me by Ashley N. Rostek – This is book 1 of a series and all the covers are beautiful. It’s new adult, reverse harem romance, which isn’t typically what I’m interested in, but it has great reviews so I might try it.
One Two by Eliane Brum – I’m not interested in reading this book but I love how simple yet creative the cover is, especially because I work with yarn and I love how it looks on the cover.
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer – This book intrigues me and I fully intend to read it one day. The cover is beautiful too!
The Age of Perpetual Light by Josh Weil – I love the cover design! It’s a collection of short stories with a common theme about light. It looks interesting.
Falls The Shadow by Stefanie Gaither – The premise actually sounds interesting, it’s scifi with clones, but I have no interest in reading it. I do love the cover design and how the letters create a different shadow.
Dry by Augusten Burroughs – I remember the hype around his other book Running With Scissors and I still want to read it one day. If I like it, I might read this one too.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – Another popular book that I’m sure most people have heard of. I’ve read it but I don’t currently own a copy. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find this cover if I decide to buy it.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
January 2026 Wrap Up
I had a great reading month in that I felt like I had a good balance between reading from my TBR and for bookclubs and buddy reads, and reading whatever I felt like in the moment. I binge read a bunch of romances that I’ve been sorely missing and it was so healing to my heart!
I think I also did pretty well with keeping up with my book reviews and replying comments. I haven’t finished writing all the reviews or replying all the comments, but I’m trying my best not to let them accumulate too much. It does feel a little challenging at times and I’m hoping this is not a new year’s thing that tapers off, but rather something that I’ll get better with in time!
My January 2026 TBR Intentions
I didn’t do too badly, I think. I’m also trying not to worry too much about reading from the TBR as long as my bookclub commitments get read! I’m keeping it chill. 😂
Firekeeper’s Daughter surprised me because for some reason I thought it was historical fantasy but it turned out to be contemporary fiction, and a really important story at that. I loved how nuanced it was and the story it told about Indigenous culture. It focuses on the current lives of Indigenous people, but it also shows how Indigenous history shapes what’s happening now. It doesn’t shy away from the difficult topics either and I think that’s important.
Everything Is Tuberculosis is another notable book for me this month because I learned a lot about how tuberculosis shaped history, and also a lot of infuriating things about how race, class, and money influence how cures are distributed in the world. I’m not surprised necessarily, just pissed off, but overall glad I read the book.
I’m also really just happy about all the romances I’m bingeing on. I feel like they are just what I need to balance out some difficult reads with some books that make me happy and lift my mood. I need some of that especially with all that’s happening in real life.
February 2026 TBR Intentions
I’m not as concerned with reading from the TBR anymore, but it’s nice to have some books in mind for what’s next. Plus, I do still have bookclub reads and buddy reads that I need to read and some nonfiction I really want to get to.
The Women Are Not Fine by Hope Reese
The Glass Château by Stephen P. Kiernan
The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer, MD
This Is What It Sounds Like by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas
How was your month in January? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful February with lots of great books!
A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.
Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school’s podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she’s left confused and betrayed.
Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost.
By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen’s spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen’s cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can’t let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?
“We all make mistakes. It’s how we deal with our mistakes that really define our character.”
“When are you going to realize that I just want to be near you, Finley? All the time.”
“I came here for you,” Theo said suddenly, an intensity in his voice. He pointed to the picture. “Your grandma’s story is interesting and I know how much it means to you, but…I came here for you.”
My Thoughts
Finley may be a high-school student, but her feelings and issues are so relatable, and I was feeling them all with her. I was incensed with Jensen, bittersweet about her grandmother, grateful for her amazing friendships, excited about her podcast, determined with her training, and fluttery about her closeness with Theo. It was such a journey going through all of it with her, and I especially loved her grandmother’s stories.
I loved Kasie West and she was an automatic read for me at one point, but it’s been a while since I read her books and I thought it might be because I aged out of her target audience. And I have, sort of. I’m no longer a teen or young adult, but I have realized that good books transcends age, era, and any kind of demographic people box them into, and so I’m just reading whatever I want and loving the good books.
Also, I believe stories are important for the purpose of allowing us to see from other people’s points of view and learning empathy. I never want to forget what it was like to be a young adult or dismiss a young person’s feelings about what’s important to them. I think this story is a great reminder of that because of the parallels of Finley’s story along with her grandmother’s. I loved it!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead… but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.
For the Reading Challenge(s): TBD
The Reason
I was in the mood to binge-read some romance after finishing The Seven Year Slip by the same author.
The Quotes
“I began to realize that love wasn’t dead, but it wasn’t forever, either. It was something in between, a moment in time where two people existed at the exact same moment in the exact same place in the universe.”
“There is no happy ending, theres just. . . happily living. As best you can.”
“I hope you find yourself in a book someday. And I hope that book lives forever.”
“He hoped I asked for help because asking was not a weakness – but a strength. He hoped that I would ask more often because I would be surprised by who would come into my life if I let them.”
My Thoughts
It’s so funny because I read this book immediately after The Seven Year Slip, and one of the things I was thinking about while reading The Seven Year Slip was how it had such ethereal vibes and reminded me of the movie, Just Like Heaven, which stars Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo (yes, I know it’s based on a book too!), and now reading this book reminds me even more of that movie!
I loved this story between Florence Day and Benji Andor; their chemistry, their banter… I’m a conversation kind of girl, I fall in love through conversations, and I fell in love with them! A lot of Florence’s story was bittersweet, but also quite relatable, and I think that’s what makes these stories great. Just a touch of the extraordinary in otherwise ordinary people’s lives. I’ve read Ashley Poston’s books before but these two book have made me sit up and pay attention and I think I am now a wholely devoted fan. I need more!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.
Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.
And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.
Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.
Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.
After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.
For the Reading Challenge(s): TBD
The Reason
This book has been on my TBR for-freaking-ever! I finally read it! Woot!
The Quotes
“I didn’t find out who I wanted to be until I was almost 40. You have to try on a lot of shoes until you find some you like walking in. Never apologize for that.”
“Nothing lasts forever. Not the good things, not the bad. So just find what makes you happy, and do it for as long as you can.”
“Isn’t it strange how the world works sometimes? It’s never a matter of time, but a matter of timing.”
“Because the things that mattered most never really left. The love stays. The love always stays, and so do we.”
My Thoughts
I have heard so much praise for this book and had this book on my TBR for so long, but for some reason, never got around to reading it because I was so mired in buddy reads and deadlines. I finally started and got hooked immediately, and basically finished reading it in a single day because I just couldn’t put it down!
I love the idea the moment I heard it but I was worried about the execution because seven years is a long time and I hoped we wouldn’t get a whole middle part of the story where nothing was happening but ah, I of little faith was wrong and I apologize. The pacing of the story, the execution of it, the timing of it (hah, see what I did there!) was absolutely perfect. The chemistry between the two MCs, Clementine and Iwan, was *chef’s kiss* (hah, see what I did there again!). The backstories, the connection with their friends, all of it made the characters feel so real. I just absolutely loved this book!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians comes a tale of the American West, writ in blood.
This chilling historical novel is set in the nascent days of the state of Montana, following a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab as he haunts the fields of the Blackfeet Nation looking for justice.
It begins when a diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall in 2012. What is unveiled is a slow massacre, a nearly forgotten chain of events that goes back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow, told in the transcribed interviews with Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar and unnaturally long life over a series of confessional visits.
This is an American Indian revenge story, captured in the vivid voices of the time, by one of the new masters of literary horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
This is my bookclub’s Book of the Month, and I wanted to read more diverse books and Indigenous authors.
The Quotes
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
“You put your reminders of pain on the wall and pray to them. We still hurt, so we don’t need that reminder.”
“My father used to tell me that I needed to pay attention to where I was instead of looking farther away than I could see, and I know he was right, but knowing and doing aren’t the same thing.”
The Narrator(s)
Shane Ghostkeeper. Marin Ireland. Owen Teale. The narrations and production was incredible, very well done.
My Thoughts
I really loved the story; I loved how Indigenous history and culture was presented here but also woven into the story’s vampire lore. It brings a whole new level to the “you are what you eat” thing and I am here for it, but it’s also such an interesting detail because of the theme throughout the story about how there is this whole “us vs. them” mentality, and how we dehumanize “the others” so that we can feel good about victimizing them.
There is a lot more to parse through with topics of morality, religion, heritage, and revenge, and the story itself is thrilling in and of itself and I found myself rushing through it in order to find out what happens next. The format of the story was also really meta; it’s a story within a story within a story within a story! Good Stab’s story as told by Arthur, Arthur’s story as told by Etsy, and Etsy’s story finally, and the story as a whole.
I feel like there is so much to this book and I’m very aware of the fact that I probably missed a lot of details, but I also feel like this is the kind of book that I will go back to again and get more out of it.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
I found Jamie’s End of Year Book Survey through Jana @ The Artsy Reader Girl two years ago and I’m doing it again this year, albeit really late! Please feel free to do this too if you haven’t already, and leave a comment with your link so I can check out your answers!
Number of books you read: 124 Number of re-reads: 24 out of 124! Number of books you DNFed: I didn’t keep track of them! Number of pages you read: 50,837 Most read genre: Fantasy at 63 books Number of new-to-you authors you discovered: 53
Firsts and Lasts
First book you read: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann Last book you read: Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
Best In Books
1. Best book you read in 2025: The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. Maybe I’m cheating because it’s a series, but they are just so good! If you want to see the top ten best books I read in 2025, I have a Top Ten Tuesday post featuring them!
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t: The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan. I was so excited about a Malaysian author writing Malaysian historical fiction, and it could’ve been good except the characters weren’t believable at all. One character’s behaviors in particular was so implausible that I would’ve dnf’d if it was any other book.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read: Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum. This is one of those stories that you think you know because it’s well-known in pop culture, but it’s the first time for me reading the book and whole collection, and I’m so suprised by how much more there is to the stories! I never really cared for the story we know, but now I’m a fan of the books!
4. Book you “pushed” the most people to read (and they did): The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. This is one of my all-time favorite books by a Malaysian author writing Malaysian historical fantasy, and I managed to get my bookclub to read it! They all enjoyed it (at least they said they did! 😂) and we had a great discussion about it.
5. Best first book in a series you started in 2025. Best sequel of 2025. Best series ender of 2025. Started: I’m not counting Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman here because I read it in 2024 first. So The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal is the next best one! Sequel: The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal. Ender: I’m not counting Book 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl because it’s not the end of the series, and I’m also not counting Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, because it’s not a series ender even though it was written last, so The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal is the next best one!
It just so happened I read the whole Lady Astronaut series in 2025, and the other series contenders didn’t qualify for one reason or other, but I had a good year of finishing series in general!
6. Favorite new-to-you author you discovered in 2025: Fredrik Backman and/or John Scalzi. Backman’s book that I read was just so heartwarming and beautiful, and Scalzi is so much fun. I’m going to enjoy so many more books by these authors!
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone: I actually read a variety of different genres but there was one subject matter I read in 2025 that I’m most ignorant about and that’s art, so The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. There were other nonfiction I loved more, but this was a topic I don’t typically read about.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year: The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. No question. I can’t get enough of them, I still can’t. I love them all so much! I loved the first book and I thought the rest couldn’t keep getting better but they did! I am obsessed and I want more!
9. Book you read in 2025 that you are most likely to re-read in 2026? I don’t think there are any books I read in 2025 that I’d want to read again this year except the Dungeon Crawler Carl series if I need a refresher before reading the next book. Heck, I might reread them just for fun anyway!
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2025: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. It’s gorgeous!
11. Most memorable character of 2025: Oooh, this is tough! I have so many if we count the rereads because I reread so many favorites in 2025, but if we stick to only new reads, it’s definitely Cathy Ames from East of Eden. She kind of haunts me!
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2025: Stoner by John Williams. I don’t know what it is about it but it’s just so well-written. It reads so easy, flows so well, it’s just beautiful.
13. Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2025: It’s surprising to me too, but What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I think it was the way he talked about his life; the writing, the running, the audacity of assuming success – which I found both so arrogant but also admirable. It made me wonder how I would live my life differently if I assumed success for everything I do, and it made me want to live that way, so we’ll see how that changes my life!
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2025 to finally read: Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum. I cannot believe I have never read any of the Oz books until 2025! They are so good and I think I would’ve loved them as a child.
15. Favorite quote from a book you read in 2025: I have so many! But these are some of the ones I’m trying to take to heart;
“Nobody can take care of you the way you need to take care of yourself. It’s your job to take care of yourself like that.” – The Wedding People by Alison Espach
“Don’t cheat your friendships. Don’t ask them to mean less to you than they do, or think they only have value if they’re a stop on the way to a *real* relationship. All relationships are real. Friendship can be as deep as the ocean. It’s all a kind of love, and love isn’t any one kind of thing.” – Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
“I’m the kind of person who likes to be by himself. To put a finer point on it, I’m the type of person who doesn’t find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring. I’ve had this tendency ever since I was young, when, given a choice, I much preferred reading books on my own or concentrating on listening to music over being with someone else. I could always think of things to do by myself.” – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
16. Shortest and longest books you read in 2024: Shortest: The Main Dish by Michael Ruhlman (1hour 11mins) Longest: Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum (1796 pages)
17. Book that shocked you the most: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Perhaps I should say that it shocked me with how blatant the killings were when I read it early in the year, but we are now in January 2026 and have had some shockingly blatant killings happen already and I’m just numb at this point.
18. OTP, One True Pairing, of the year (you will go down with this ship!): Emily Wilde and Wendell from the Emily Wilde books!
19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year: I answered Carl and Donut from Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman last year, and I’m going to answer them again this year. It counts because I read the majority of the series this year and reread the first two books too. What I said in 2024 and still think for 2025: “I love their dynamic, I love their chemistry, I love the way they work together, I love how hilarious they are! I love them!”
20. Favorite book you read in 2025 from an author you’ve read previously: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. This was an incredible book and one that sticks with me.
21. Best book you read in 2025 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else: Stoner by John Williams. This was recommended by a bookclub member. I resisted reading it for so long until I finally read it and was surprised by how well-written it was.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2025: Nicole from The Relentless Moon, book 3 of the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal. Nicole appears in the other books but is not the protagonist of the series except for in book 3, but she really shines in book 3 and I fell in love with her.
23. Best 2025 debut you read: I don’t think I read a single debut in 2025!
24. Most vivid setting you read this year: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I mean, it was such a great book, but so vivid and brutal.
25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read: The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman was definitely the most fun, but in the interest of giving other books a fair chance, The Dispatcher series by John Scalzi was really fun too!
26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2024: I am a crybaby and an emotional reader. Everything makes me cry so I’m sure there are a lot more than these but these are just the ones I remember most; A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, The Relentless Moon, book 3 of the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal, and seriously, almost all the books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman.
27. Hidden gem of the year: This is a reread but I have to plug it because it’s just so good and not well-known enough. I need more people to know about it; The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo.
28. Most unique book you read in 2025: Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. It has the most unique premise, I’d say. The MCs are newlyweds, but the husband had just been diagnosed with a condition that will slowly transform him into a shark. It sounds funny, but it’s a serious book and quite heartbreaking.
29. Book that made you the maddest (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it): Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, for obvious reasons that I’ve already mentioned.
My Blogging/Bookish Life
I am forgoing this part of the Survey because I feel like I haven’t been very present with my blogging life at all and don’t have answers for them. Hopefully next year will be better.
Looking Ahead in 2026
1. Book you are most anticipating in 2026 (non-debut): Some of the books I’m anticipating for 2026 made it to my Top Ten Tuesday post, but Book 8 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series didn’t make it to the list because the cover image wasn’t out yet at the time. It’s out now (just the cover image!) and the book’s expected release date is May 12, 2026, so I am just giddy with excitement!
2. 2026 debut you are most anticipating: If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle, releasing June 18, 2026. I am so excited for this because I love bookish books and I love the whole idea for this book – a reader wishes for her favorite romance author to write her life into a book, and gets her wish, except the author is writing a thriller this time, and the MC has to live it!
3. Sequel you are most anticipating in 2026: I answered All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan, the sequel to Long Live Evil last year, but it didn’t come out last year unfortunately. But it’s expected to be released May 12, 2026, now, and I’m still very excited for it!
4. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2026? I am really hoping to get my reading life more manageable; read more intentionally, write my reviews more promptly, be more present on the blog, make more connections with other bloggers, maybe write a few discussion posts, maybe write a couple of posts about my other hobbies outside of reading. Fingers crossed!
What are your answers to these questions? If you do this survey, let me know so I can visit your post and check out your answers. You can also leave your answers in the comments!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025
I will be focusing on new-to-me authors for today’s topic. There were a lot more than ten new-to-me authors in 2025, but I didn’t like all of them, and some only had the one book written. For my list today, I listed the authors whose books I enjoyed, who have written more than one book, and whose works I intend to read more of. Have you read any of these books/authors?
Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2025
David Grann – I really enjoyed Killers of the Flower Moon, and I was stoked to find out that he also wrote The Lost City of Z and The Wager, books I definitely want to read!
Ariel Lawhon – I was surprised by how much I loved The Frozen River and I see that she has several other historical fiction books published as well, many of which look interesting to me.
Dan Simmons – I’d heard a lot about the Hyperion Cantos series, and had no idea when I was reading The Terror that they were written by the same author. I hope to read the Hyperion series soon!
Victor Hugo – Les Misérables was an excruciatingly long read, but I enjoyed it and I still intend to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
M.L. Wang – The Sword of Kaigen has been on my tbr for a while, but I ended up reading Blood Over Bright Haven first. I loved it and it’s made me even more curious to read the former!
Fredrik Backman – A Man Called Ove was one of my favorite reads in 2025, and there are so many books by Backman I want to read!
Haruki Murakami – I read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running without realizing who the author was, and I loved it. I’ve never really been curious about Murakami’s books before but I feel like I should read a couple now.
Jenny Lawson – Let’s Pretend This Never Happened was a book club BOTM. I fell in love with her weird humor and really want to read her other books now!
Kate Racculia – Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts was another book that really surprised me by how much I enjoyed it, and I love the sound of her two other books as well. I hope she writes more!
John Scalzi – I’ve heard so much about John Scalzi and his books but only read them because a couple were on Audible Plus. I loved how fun and creative they are and I intend to read many more!
Have you read any of these authors? What did you think of them? Would you read any of their books?
