Category: Monthly Wrap Up

Monthly Wrap-Up | May & June 2025

Posted June 30, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 6 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

May and June 2025 Wrap Up

Hello my friends, I have been so very absent on the blog to the point that this month’s wrap up is actually a combination of May and June. I have posted some book reviews but only because I have a compulsive need to keep track of the books I read and record my thoughts about them. Even so, I’m far behind on keeping up to date on writing the reviews, and I haven’t replied to any comments in the last couple of months. I am so sorry!

A lot of things have happened that have kept me busy, but only two worth mentioning right now;

First, we lost one of our beloved cats, Loki, very unexpectedly earlier this month. One day, he was fine and perfectly happy as usual, the next day he started having seizures and vomiting. We took him to the vet in the afternoon, but he wasn’t getting better, and we ended up having to go back later that night to put him to sleep.

It was a horrible day.

He was the most vocal and active of our cats, and it’s very noticeable that he’s gone now. We miss him every day, and it still hurts to think of him. The worst thing was how sudden it was. He was only nine years old and had no signs of any health problems. I don’t know why this happened. We’ve been cuddling our other two cats, Button and Pepper, a lot more than usual lately, and they’ve been more receptive to it as well. They notice he’s gone too and have been more affectionate with us.

The second thing is a happier thing, although it has me nervous. I’m going back to school for an Accounting certificate this fall. I had been busy with paperwork and applications, and recently just got my acceptance letter! I am very excited and nervous at the same time. It’s been a long while since I’ve been in school but I also love learning new things and once upon a time, my biggest aspiration was to be a “professional student”.

I still have a lot of things to organize and prepare for going back to school but there’s a couple of months to go. Being so absent from the blog these last couple of months, I do worry that I might not be able to keep up with the blog once school starts, but I like fixed schedules and routines and I’m expecting things to settle down once I adjust to the student lifestyle once again.

Now on to the book updates;

My May 2025 TBR Intentions

I did manage to finish all the books on my TBR intentions in May. Yay! The ones on the list were the priorities and I wanted to leave space for mood reads, and I got some in.

  1. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (The Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers
  2. Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  3. Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
  4. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
  5. Rose Madder by Stephen King

Books Read in May 2025

  1. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
  2. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
  3. The Accounting Game by Darrell Mullis and Judith Orloff
  4. Every Tool’s A Hammer by Adam Savage
  5. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
  6. Rose Madder by Stephen King
  7. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  8. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
  9. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  10. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

My June 2025 TBR Intentions

My June TBR intentions were chosen because my online bookclub was having a friendly competitive read-off event, where the team that got the most points for books read would win. There were exponentially higher points for books over 1000 pages and 1500 pages, so I made my list with that in mind, although some books were chosen because they were BOTMs, and/or had end-of-June deadlines. I also did end up reading a lot more than expected because I was trying to distract myself from Loki’s passing.

  1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  5. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  6. 1984 by George Orwell

Books Read in June 2025

  1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  2. 1984 by George Orwell
  3. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  4. Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley
  5. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
  6. The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
  7. Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum
  8. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
  9. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  10. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
  11. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
  12. The Complete Double Dead by Chuck Wendig

Notable Books

For May, the notable books were Perdido Street Station, Rose Madder, and The Ghost Bride. For June, the notable books were Les Misérables, Gone with the Wind, Scarlett, and Oz: The Complete Collection. I won’t go too much into detail about the books here because these are two months’ worth of books and I’m somewhat rushing this post as well.

In brief, Perdido Street Station is a little wordy but the world-building is incredible, and the story is haunting and heartbreaking and lives in my head rent-free. Rose Madder is a Stephen King book and everyone knows I’m a fan. It’s not gory horror, but it’s psychological horror and that really gets me. The Ghost Bride is a reread and written by a Malaysian author about the early 1900s’ in Malaya. It’s so reminiscent about my life, family, and culture in Malaysia, and I love that it incorporates our folklore into such a vivid fantasy story.

I listened to Les Misérables on audio and absolutely loved the experience of it. It is a little long-winded but I enjoyed it still! The whole story infuriates me but it’s told so well that I can’t help but love it, and I feel like this is one of those books where I’ll come back to and get more out of every time I reread.

Gone with the Wind, and Scarlett, are two of my favorite books that I’ve read over and over again. My experience and thoughts about them have changed over the years, but this last read was very nostalgic and I appreciate them for the works that they are.

Oz: The Complete Collection is the collection of books 1 through 14 of the Oz books. I have never read them, not even the first book, and I had no idea there was so much to the stories! Reading them as an adult, I’ve fallen in love with the stories and the characters, and it makes me wish I had read them as a child. They are just so magical and imaginative, they were so fun to read!

July 2025 TBR Intentions

My online bookclub is continuing the competitive read-off event in July, so I’m planning to continue with the big books, plus also July’s BOTMs and other buddy reads with July deadlines.

  1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  4. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  5. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  6. If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino

How was the last couple of months for you? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful July with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap-Up | April 2025

Posted May 6, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 3 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

April 2025 Wrap Up

I’m posting April’s wrap up a little late, it turned into quite a hectic month for me and I have so much to catch up on with the blog! I didn’t finish as many books as I wanted either; I overcommitted to too many buddy reads in the last few months and I have learned my lesson! I’m making good progress in finishing the ones I’ve committed to though, and I’m a lot more careful about signing up for more. I’m also missing a lot of books I want to read that aren’t buddy reads, so I’m excited to make space for them as well. Still, I love buddy reads and I can’t give them up completely. If only everyone else wanted to read the books I want to read at the same time I want to read them! 😂

My April 2025 TBR Intentions

Five out of six of my TBR intentions aren’t bad. And the only reason I didn’t get to Stoner is because the library hold is still 3 weeks out at the time of this writing. I’m probably going to defer it to later since I already missed the deadline for the buddy read, but I’m still very much interested in reading it eventually.

  1. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
  2. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  3. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  4. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
  5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  6. Stoner by John Williams

Books Read in April 2025

  1. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  2. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  3. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
  4. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
  5. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
  6. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Notable Books This Month

The Terror, Little Fires Everywhere, and Sunshine were all really amazing books for me this month!

The Terror was weird and a little trippy, but I was surprised by how invested I got into the characters and what happens to them. It’s a fictionalized account of real events, but I’m not very familiar with the history of the expedition so it was interesting trying to figure out what was real and what was made up.

I watched the adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere with Keri Washington and Reese Witherspoon and loved it, and it was nice to read the book and see that the show stayed quite true to the story. I got a lot out of the book, some of the nuances of the rich and privileged’s thinking processes were quite jarring to see on the page, but so incredibly well-written.

Sunshine was a reread. This is the third time I’m reading it and I’m still loving it! There were definitely some things I didn’t notice the first couple of times that I noticed now. The relationship stuff were… questionable, in that I’m curious as to the kind of relationship Rae actually has with the people in her life, but the story was amazing nevertheless.

May 2025 TBR Intentions

These are some of the books I’m planning to read in May. I read fewer books in April than usual and I’m definitely hoping to read more than five in May, but these are the priorities and after that, I’ll see where my mood takes me!

  1. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (The Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers
  2. Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  3. Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
  4. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
  5. Rose Madder by Stephen King

How was your month in April? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful May with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap-Up | March 2025

Posted April 2, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 3 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

March 2025 Wrap Up

The first couple of weeks in March was quite slow for me in terms of reading. I was in a bit of a slump and only finished two books in those two weeks. The good news is that the other six books happened in the second half of the month, so at least I got my reading mojo back!

My March 2025 TBR Intentions

I managed to read three books from my TBR, and cross one off as a dnf. I’m sorry, I loved Fourth Wing and I wanted to see the series through but I just didn’t feel excited about Onyx Storm as I was reading, and 25% in I just… didn’t want to pick it back up. Maybe I will finish it, one day, but it’s not a priority.

  1. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
  2. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
  3. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (dnf)
  4. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
  5. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  6. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  7. All The Living and The Dead by Hayley Campbell

Books Read in March 2025

  1. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
  2. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
  3. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
  4. The Main Dish by Michael Ruhlman
  5. The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
  6. Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
  7. All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
  8. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Notable Books This Month

The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
I stumbled upon The Main Dish by the author while browsing on Audible. It was only an hour or so long, so I listened to it out of curiosity, and I ended up wanting more so I borrowed this book from Libby. I didn’t expect to get so engrossed in it. The whole time I was reading it I was completely immersed in his world of food and cooking, it was such an experience! I enjoy cooking but I’ve always known I’d never be a professional chef because I don’t care enough for precision and finesse; this book made me consider enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America! I eventually came to my senses and realized that while I love reading about the life of a chef, I don’t think I’d do well as one. Still, it made me want to!

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
This book blew my mind! It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub that another member chose because it was one of their favorite books. I’ve had Stiff by Mary Roach on my TBR for ages and a morbid fascination about death and dying, so I thought this book would be really interesting. I expected something clinical and analytical, facts about the business of death, but it turned out to be much more emotional than that. It talked about what people in the death business did, but more importantly, it also talked about the people themselves; why they do it, how they got into it, the emotional toll it takes on them, ways they cope. There is a lot more to this book that I could go into; we had such an incredible discussion during our bookclub meeting for the book, but just suffice to say that I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about death and grieving.

April 2025 TBR Intentions

I wasn’t able to get to all the books I wanted to read last month but I’m hoping I’ll get them this month! Plus some others. I’m really looking forward to all of these!

  1. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
  2. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  3. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  4. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
  5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  6. Stoner by John Williams

How was your month in March? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful April with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | February 2025

Posted March 1, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 1 Comment

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

February 2025 Wrap Up

February was a little better. I’m still disorganized but doing better with getting things done and cleaning up the disorganization bit by bit. The first part of February was bad, but things improved later and I’m trying to keep things going on an upward trajectory.

The weather has started to get nicer, and I started running outdoors again! That makes me so happy and gives me a little bit of grounding that I needed. My body is sore because it’s gotten used to being lazy this past winter, but I’ll just do what I can when I can. At the very least, it’s nice to just be outside in the comfortably cool weather.

My February 2025 TBR Intentions

I ended up reading different books because of mood and library loan deadlines! I’ll come back to the ones I haven’t read soon though!

  1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
  2. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  3. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  4. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
  5. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Books Read in February 2025

  1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
  2. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  3. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
  4. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  5. How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis
  6. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
  7. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  8. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

Notable Books This Month

Children of Time and All Systems Red are rereads, but they were necessary because Children of Time is quite complex and I needed to refresh my memory before moving on to the next books. All Systems Red was the chosen BOTM for my in-person bookclub and I had to reread to refresh my memory for discussion as well. I enjoyed them both very much the second time around!

Vicious was a stand out; I had no expectations going in but was very pleasantly surprised. It had me at the edge of my seat and I had to keep reading because I needed to know what happened next.

The Frozen River was another surprise! I had not expected to be excited while reading about events that happened such a long time ago or that it would keep me so worked up that I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep. It’s based on true events and real people, and unfortunately it’s not completely accurate to what really happened, but this version of events was very well-written and satisfying and I loved reading it.

March 2025 TBR Intentions

Most of these are BOTMs and/or buddy reads that have a March deadline. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish all of them, but I’d like to try!

  1. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
  2. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
  3. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
  4. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
  5. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  6. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  7. All The Living and The Dead by Hayley Campbell

How was your month in February What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful March with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | January 2025

Posted February 2, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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 2025 Wrap Up

Hello, my friends! What even is this new year! A month has gone by and I feel like I haven’t found my feet yet. I’m still so frazzled and disorganized it’s not even funny! 😭

I’m doing the bare minimum, but of course, “bad habits” like reading are hard to get rid of, so I’m always reading even as I’m drowning in my disorganization. You could say that it’s partly because of my reading that everything is disorganized, I’m sticking my head in books to avoid handling stuff I need to do. 😅 Ah well, they’ll get done eventually.

My January 2025 TBR Intentions

I didn’t do very well with my TBR intentions even though the list isn’t very long, but 50% isn’t too bad.

  1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  2. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  3. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
  4. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  5. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  6. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Books Read in January 2025

  1. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
  2. The Measure by Nikki Erlick
  3. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  4. NPCs by Drew Hayes
  5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  6. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
  7. Joyland by Stephen King
  8. Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson
  9. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  10. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Notable Books This Month

Two Stephen King books this month! One was a reread (‘Salem’s Lot) and the other (Joyland) is a new read. I loved them both, as if there could be any doubt!

Killers of the Flower Moon was really good; infuriating and emotional, but also educational, and we ended up watching the movie too.

I also finally read Shark Heart. It’s been on my TBR since last year but not prioritized because I thought it was a light-hearted magical realism story. It ended up being so much more emotional and heartfelt than I expected and I had a lot of great discussions come out of it.

Guillotine and Maus were also really good, but I haven’t written my reviews yet. They’ll be coming soon!

Reading Challenges

I’ve read a few books that fit into The 52 Book Club 2025 Reading Challenge and The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge already, but I haven’t done a proper tally and I still haven’t decided on the other challenges I actually want to take on. My focus has been all over the place!

I will try to figure things out before this month is over!

February 2025 TBR Intentions

So many books to read, the TBR never ends! There are some I’m looking forward to this month though.

  1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
  2. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  3. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  4. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
  5. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

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!

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Monthly Wrap Up | December 2024

Posted January 2, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

December 2024 Wrap Up

Happy New Year 2025, everyone!!

I’ve been so frazzled and disorganized these last couple of months that I haven’t been very present on the blog at all, or in other areas of my life. Things haven’t settled down yet and I’m still catching up but I’m trying to be a little more organized. I’m also cutting down on reading challenges this year because I got so overwhelmed last year with more than ten of them!

At this point, I’m still just trying to catch up, so I don’t have a complete picture of my goals and plans yet, but I’ll get there eventually! Thank you for being patient with me!

My December 2024 TBR Intentions

Well, the good news is that I read 5 out of 7 of the books on my TBR in December! Yayy!

  1. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  2. In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
  3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  4. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Outsider by Stephen King
  6. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Books Read in December 2024

  1. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  2. Bloody Acquisitions (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 3) by Drew Hayes
  3. The Fangs of Freelance (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 4) by Drew Hayes
  4. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
  6. Deadly Assessments (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 5) by Drew Hayes
  7. The Outsider by Stephen King
  8. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  9. Undeading Bells (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 6) by Drew Hayes
  10. In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
  11. Out of House and Home (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 7) by Drew Hayes
  12. Posthumous Education (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 8) by Drew Hayes
  13. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Notable Books This Month

I ended up spending most of the month reading Drew Hayes’ Fred, the Vampire Accountant series! They were so fun and enjoyable, and I really loved reading about Fred and his friends. I’m a huge fan of found family stories, and Hayes really has a talent for writing interesting characters. I was so sad when I finished the last one, but I found out there’s going to be a Book 9, so I’m eagerly waiting for its release!

I also really loved The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson, and I’m completely invested in the story and intend to read the rest of the series.

The Outsider and A Closed and Common Orbit are both rereads, but worth mentioning because they’re both still so good the second time around.

And finally, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was such an eye-opening read. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it, I learned so much and it made me feel so many things. I’m also very curious about the movie and I’ll probably want to watch it sometime soon.

Reading Challenges

I’m going easy on the reading challenges in 2025 because I got a little overzealous last year. These are the ones I’m committing to this year:

  1. The 52 Book Club 2025 Reading Challenge – I’m doing this one again this year because I enjoyed it so much last year!
  2. The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge – My own personal challenge because I’m a fan of SK but have plenty of his books I haven’t read yet. No time limit, and everyone is welcome to join me if you’d like.
  3. The Classics Club – This is a 5-year challenge and I’m on Year 2.
  4. Reading From My TBR Challenge – Also a personal challenge because I figure I should be at least trying to read from my TBR, but I haven’t figured out the parameters yet so I’ll come back to this later.

January 2025 TBR Intentions

I’m just taking it one month at a time. I hope to read these books in January! What about you?

  1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  2. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  3. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
  4. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  5. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  6. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

How was your month in December? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful 2025 with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | November 2024

Posted December 3, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 0 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

November 2024 Wrap Up

November was a hectic month for me and I missed several weekly posts and didn’t write a single book review. I also haven’t replied comments here or visited other book blogs. I have so much to catch up on! I’m also feeling a little pressured because there is one more month in 2024 left, and I haven’t read so many of the books I listed on my 2024 tbr, and I don’t think I can.

December is probably going to be another hectic month, and I’m already thinking of all the ways I want to slow down for 2025. Unfortunately, I already committed to some things that will go on into 2025, but I’ll do my best to lock it down!

My November 2024 TBR Intentions

I did relatively well on my November TBR intentions, but The Glass Chateau has been on my TBR the longest out of all the others listed, and it’s the one I don’t think I’ll be able to get to until next year! But let’s just focus on the wins, okay? 😅

  1. Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
  2. Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
  5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  7. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  8. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
  9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Books Read in November 2024

  1. Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
  2. Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
  5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
  7. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
  8. The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
  9. Undeath and Taxes by Drew Hayes
  10. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  11. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
  12. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Notable Books This Month

I was super surprised with Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan! I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but it was just fun and so enjoyable to read. It’s isekai, apparently (I just learned the term isekai recently!), and I love it!

There were a couple of heavy books this month but because of stuff happening in my personal life, I ended up reading a lot of light and fun books this month because they were all I could do. Specifically I loved:

  • The Super Powered series by Drew Hayes
  • Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
  • Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman

There are many more books to go in the latter two series and I am so hyped up about them! I had to pause on them because there were other books with deadlines I had to finish, but I’m totally going back to them whenever I can!

Reading Challenges

All done with challenges this year. Time to think of new challenges for next year! I’m going to slow it down and go a little easier on myself next year, hopefully.

December 2024 TBR Intentions

Most of the books listed below are December BOTMs or buddy reads with a December deadline. I also fully intend to continue with the other series I’m reading now; Fred, the Vampire Accountant, and Dungeon Crawler Carl.

  1. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  2. In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
  3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  4. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Outsider by Stephen King
  6. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

At this point, there are several books I listed on my TBR since the beginning of the year that I still haven’t gotten to and don’t think I’ll be able to get to before next year. Oh well. There have also been so many books I didn’t intend to read this year, but did and loved, so it totally balances out!

December is the last month of the year; I hope you all reach your reading goals this year, receive all the bookish gifts and wishes you make, and have the most wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

How was your month in November? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful December with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | October 2024

Posted October 31, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

October 2024 Wrap Up

October wasn’t a very good reading month for me; I had two DNFs and a few books I wasn’t quite satisfied with. I was in a general funk and sulking about the DNFs and sub-par books, and I spent a little too much time on the DNFs trying to decide if I should finish them or not. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now but it’s really not easy to let go! 😭

I did have a few great books though! And I’m choosing to focus on them. I read two Stephen Kings, which are always great! And I’m currently obsessed with the Super Powered series by Drew Hayes.

My October 2024 TBR Intentions

I think I’ve learned my lesson with setting my tbr intentions. The DNFs were kind of demotivating, but I need to learn to move on and focus on the books I loved.

  1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  2. The Shining by Stephen King
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. Never Whistle at Night by various authors – DNF
  5. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  6. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  7. I Fell in Love With Hope by Lancali – DNF

Books Read in October 2024

  1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
  2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  3. The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth
  4. Exhalation by Ted Chiang
  5. The Shining by Stephen King
  6. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 9 by Nagabe
  7. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 10 by Nagabe
  8. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 11 by Nagabe
  9. Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes
  10. Super Powereds: Year 2 by Drew Hayes
  11. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  12. The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

Notable Books This Month

Super Powereds by Drew Hayes
This series was the highlight for me this month. Almost every other book I’ve read this month is either horror and/or have heavy themes, and I think this series was just so fun and enjoyable to read. The books are huge, and so many hours on audiobook, but they’re so entertaining and easy to get through. Once again, I have to comment on the amateurish writing because I don’t want to hype it up without giving this heads up, but it’s come to a point that I almost feel the writing is deliberate and becomes part of the fun of reading the books – you can have drinking games out of pointing out how many times the author uses a few particular phrases!

I also had three very good rereads:

  1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
  2. The Shining by Stephen King
  3. Pet Sematary by Stephen King

I loved the Becky Chambers books the first time I read it and I feel like I got more out of it the second time around, especially reading it as a buddy read and seeing what other people thought about it and what stood out to them. I’m also planning to read the next books in the series again some time soon.

I had also read both Stephen King books some time ago and enjoyed them but it has been decades since I read them and they both hit differently this time. I’m paying more attention to some of the details this time even though I’m sure there’s still a lot I’m missing. I’m definitely noticing Stephen King’s genius a lot more this time.

Reading Challenges

I have finished every challenge I signed up for this year except two:

They are both related to finishing series and even though I don’t have very many to go, I have decided to let go of both these challenges because they no longer resonate. I have been reading many series this year, actually, and even finishing them(!), but they don’t count based on the parameters of these challenges and I realized that these challenges don’t work for what I originally wanted them for and it’s okay to let them go. I’ll be more mindful of the challenges I sign up for next year!

November 2024 TBR Intentions

Definitely wanting to continue with the rest of the Super Powered series, and I’m also looking forward to Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s good knowing that these two fun series are in there among the other heavier books.

  1. Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
  2. Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
  5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  7. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  8. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
  9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Even though many of these are heavy, I’m still excited to read them. Some of them have been on my TBR for ages!

How was your month in October? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful November with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | September 2024

Posted October 1, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

September 2024 Wrap Up

It was a pretty good reading month! I read from my September TBR, and I finished all my reading challenges except two! I’m not sure that I’ll finish the other two though; they’re both about finishing series, but series that we started before this year, and I’m currently embroiled in new series and I’m not sure what to do! 😅 I can’t resist the shiny new books!

My September 2024 TBR Intentions

I read all the books in my September TBR Intentions! Woot! I was kind of conservative with it with only five books on the list, and I do have more motivation when they are buddy reads and BOTMs, but still!

  1. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
  2. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
  3. Cujo by Stephen King
  4. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
  5. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I’m just realizing that all of them are darker-themed and there were several other dark books I read in September too. Setting up my intentions for next month, I’m going to try to get in more balance for the light and the dark. I know ahead of time there are some horror stuff coming because October is Halloween season, but I can definitely add more fun stuff to my book diet too!

Books Read in September 2024

  1. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  2. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
  3. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
  4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  5. The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward
  6. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
  7. The Girl from the Other Side Volume 8 by Nagabe
  8. Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
  9. Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare
  10. Surrender of A Siren by Tessa Dare
  11. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
  12. Cujo by Stephen King
  13. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
  14. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
  15. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
  16. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
  17. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
  18. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Notable Books This Month

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’m very proud of having finished this chonker! I’m not sure that I liked it, but at least I finished it!

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
This was amazing and might be my favorite book this month! I love listening to Trevor Noah’s stories and I love his humor and wisdom.

Cujo by Stephen King
This is a reread, and I think I got a lot more out of it this time around than I did the first time. I love the buildup of the story, and I love the insight we get into such different characters in the book. Stephen King is truly a master at his craft.

Reading Challenges

October 2024 TBR Intentions

It’s October and that means Halloween, and guess what? My irl bookclub’s BOTM is Pet Sematary by Stephen King. And my online bookclub’s BOTM is The Shining by Stephen King! I’m not complaining, because I love Stephen King!

  1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  2. The Shining by Stephen King
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. Never Whistle at Night by various authors
  5. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  6. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  7. I Fell in Love With Hope by Lancali

I’ve got so many books I hope to read this October, some have been on my TBR for ages. Let’s hope I can get to them all!

How was your month in September? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful October with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | August 2024

Posted September 1, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 6 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 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.

August 2024 Wrap Up

I completed The 52 Book Club’s 2024 Reading Challenge! Yayy! So proud of myself.

I finished the challenge relatively early in the month, so I tried to make a dent in my other reading challenges and I managed to complete my Classics challenge as well! Technically, The Classics Club challenge is reading 50 classics in 5 years, so I just decided to read 10 classics a year (which I just completed), but if I wanted to do more, I could! We’ll see.

My August 2024 TBR Intentions

My TBR Intentions for August was to knock out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge, and I did that! I had five more prompts to go, which were:

  • 13. An academic thriller
  • 17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
  • 37. Palindrome on the cover
  • 42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
  • 48. The word “secret” in the title

And the books I planned for them were as listed below, but subject to change as long as they fit the prompts:

  • If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  • The Women by Kristin Hannah
  • Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I managed to finish the challenge, and the only book I switched out was The Secret Garden for The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. I still want to read it eventually but I was happy to read The Secret Garden too. I’m so happy the challenge is done!

Books Read in August 2024

  1. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  2. The Women by Kristin Hannah
  3. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  4. Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
  5. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  6. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
  7. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  8. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
  9. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
  10. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
  11. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 1-7 by Nagabe
  12. Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower
  13. Prose and Cons by Amanda Flower
  14. Murder and Metaphors by Amanda Flower
  15. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
  16. Wordhunter by Stella Sands
  17. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
  18. Anne’s House of Dreams of L.M. Montgomery

Notable Books This Month

I loved The Women, Oryx and Crake, and Children of Time, but the highlights for me this month were the rereads.

Daddy-Long-Legs, and the Anne of Green Gables series were some of my favorite childhood books and I just love all the memories and vibes they brought back.

11/22/63 is also a reread, even though it’s more recent, but it’s such a great story and I love it so much more this time around because I think I got more out of it.

Reading Challenges

September 2024 TBR Intentions

Most of these are buddy reads I signed up for and bookclub books. The ones with end-of-September deadlines will take priority but I think I can finish most of them, even if I interperse them with other reads in between. I find I do a lot better sticking to my TBR intentions when I have buddy reads and deadlines, so let’s do this!

  1. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
  2. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
  3. Cujo by Stephen King
  4. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
  5. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

How was your month in August? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful September with lots of great books!

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