Just when I think I‘ve figured out where this story is going, I pick up the next volume. We‘re nearing the end and things are starting to come to a head. It‘s really quite a well-built story and of course, I hang onto Hua Cheng‘s and Xie Lian‘s romance. My heart can‘t take what I think is going to happen.

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I‘ll do multiple books so long as my brain can label them as ‘different forms‘. Here‘s the current set!

20th Century Boys is manga so quick for me, although this series is a little too on point right now.

Bone Gap, I am doing on Spotify in audiobook form.

Garrison Girl is my last official novel in the AOT world, which will probably make me want to read the OG all over again or watch the anime again!

Hoping to get done by end of February!

I love the wildness that is Brynne Weaver. While this is not my favourite of the trilogy (it‘s hard to top what happened in B&B), this one had moments of epic comedy gold, so inappropriate that you‘re amazed you‘re laughing. I think what confused me about this book was that it‘s really a tandem read with the other two. Because of that, it shifts and jumps timelines, and it didn‘t quite feel like JUST Rose and Fionn‘s story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I basically read this in one sitting so I can‘t say I didn‘t love it. But Shiloh… oof. I‘m going to call her the Queen of Self Sabotage because wow. The back and forth was a tad frustrating. Unlike the ‘no communication‘ trope, these two almost talked too much, without saying anything.

That being said, it was light, heart-felt and the fluff I needed after reading some heavy books. I love Rowell.

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Early Saturday morning recharge.

If this was an anime episode, the VA would be sick and off so the company made a filler, recap episode… and in manga… that‘s unnecessary and annoying. This has two chapters pertaining to the story, a 3 chapter what-if scenario and then random recapping. At this point I feel like I‘m petering out on this. I‘d rather read the previous volumes again than possibly continue.😢

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This was the thriller I needed. Told from the POV of a serial killer‘s victims, the potential next victim, and the woman he‘s kept for five years, this is a true tale of trauma and survival.

I really can‘t say more except that it‘s tense, and truly a heavy read.

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Here‘s my hot take of 2025: this was … okay.

Two major complaints:

1) I figured out every little surprise, including the last. The foreshadowing was almost too obvious. And when you know what‘s going to happen for 400 pages… it tends to drag.

2) Yarros has a habit of doing cliffhanger chapter endings and then treating them as cut scenes never dealt with. Annoying.

The dragons kept me going. Andarna was Toothless level adorable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I wish I could‘ve stuck with this one because I read that it was a genius book for Simmons. I can certainly appreciate the concept and story behind this book, but the one chapter just killed me (actually stopped midway through it). After 3 years left on the shelf it was time to let it go.

My reading plans backfired when the audiobook of Wicked Beauty wasn‘t jiving with me. So I‘m switching to starting Fourth Wing on Spotify… and continuing Wicked Beauty and The Quiet Tenant in tangible form.

I think this is the one I‘ve been waiting for. I devoured this one. This is THE arc! From the beginning, the reader is aware that there is something underneath Xie Lian‘s calm, godly exterior. Everyone pushes him to make him snap and show his ‘true self‘. And here we see it. This volume is violent and heartbreaking. It is tragic. But it‘s absolutely what this series needed.

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The reading spot has a book light now and just completed the vibe.

Backman can do no wrong IMO. I will always refer to him as a wordsmith. He can take the most absurd scenario and make it a philosophical look at life. In this case, Lucas just wants to live his life by himself, but nagging neighbours stealing wifi, a cult believing he‘s an angel (and one that believes he‘s not), a meddlesome apartment committee… and a frying pan, just won‘t let him enjoy his Pad Thai and video game.

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And with this, I think my 2024 reads are locked in.

I missed Tracy. The level of mystery/thriller is unparalleled and her Nolan series is top notch. It kept me on my toes throughout and revisiting loved characters was such a treat. These feel like real people that have gone through different types of trauma, and Tracy deals with them in a masterful way. I can‘t wait to read the next in the series.

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This might be ambitious but the end of the year TBR is locked in. I have a plan!

Desolation Canyon and The Widow (already about 1/2 done) are my 15 hours Spotify listens. Throne of Glass, I expect to finish this weekend and then I can start Wreck the Halls. Sasaki and Miyano is something I can definitely breeze through!

Wish me luck!!

I‘m glad I read the third one first in this trilogy, because if I had read in order, I wouldn‘t have continued. This is repetitive and just… terrible. I began to hate the relationship of Poppy and Tyler. Just… nope.

Express to the purge pile.

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It is a rainy day here so I‘m enjoying the weather in my sunroom, with a good book!

King of Immortal Tithe - 🏳️‍🌈 retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth. Thoroughly enjoying it!

I loved The Blackhouse trilogy, so this was shockingly a disappointment. IMO Enzo is a sub par John Rebus… so read Ian Rankin instead.

Some thoughts:

1) Enzo is kind of… skeezy
2) wow, a character with the worst daddy issues I‘ve ever seen…
3) I think everyone was sleeping with everyone?? Or trying… see 1 … and 2.
4) oh yeah… murders happened, which obviously got overshadowed by the annoying stuff above.

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I am not a fan of golf, but I did enjoy this for what it was: short, sweet and smutty. Also relatable as the MFC is T1D and so her struggles and insecurities hit me personally. Being a T1D of 36 years, I can relate entirely to the need of being independent but also supported just in case of an emergency.

As Bailey wrote, this is a love story, with a side of insulin, because T1Ds are more than just the disease. And I appreciated that.

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Sometimes the translations in this series really get to me. It‘s too overly simplistic in writing style at times. That being said, I‘ve read the greatest sentence:

If the communication array had been as confusing as a pot of stew earlier, the stew had now just toppled onto the ground and fed the dogs.

🤣💀

Yeah I completely blew through this one! In order to sum up my feelings, I‘ll make a few points:

1) If I see a puppet in the near future, I will punch it.
2) The narrator‘s Pupkin voice made me want to turn inside out.
3) I actually LOL‘d at times, despite having a constant case of the shivers while listening.
4) IMO this is Hendrix at his best.

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

And with that, the Spooktober pile is done. Now I‘m gonna read a romance.

The last spooky book on my planned Spooktober pile! Doing this one on Audible.💀🎃👻

White is quickly becoming a favourite author. Using the late 1800s as a backdrop for a discussion on those that don‘t fit the mold, White seamlessly blends discussions on the use of asylums, trans and autistic individuals, and the spirits these places leave behind.

It‘s gruesome and tragic, but brilliantly constructed.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

I gave it the good ole college try… but when the thought that you only have so many audiobook hours and this is wasting them… there‘s no going back. As per my usual feelings with King… this just dragged on too long.

I know it‘s also an old book but there should also be trigger warnings… because it‘s almost vulgar detail. The audio also had weird chime noises that would happen mid sentence… it just got annoying.

Another spooky fail.

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The care that Tanabe took to visualize Lovecraft‘s story is truly commendable. With every horror, my brain is constantly screaming some version of PUT IT BACK! And this was no different. An excursion to the Antarctic goes wrong, when eons old visitors are discovered.

While the imagery was both beautiful and horrifying, I think the most terrifying was what the reader did not see. Despite this being a manga, it still excelled there.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

Welp, I seem to be in my DNF‘ing era. I‘d say this is a reading slump if I wasn‘t actually enjoying everything but my Spooktober pics.

This wasn‘t Anno Dracula. It was a mishmash of short stories, the first two which were so beyond boring. I then looked up a summary and realized that none of these are worth it, and the one Anno Dracula story is an excerpt of the next book.

Disappointed.

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Well, I‘m flying through my Spooktober pile, mostly because I‘m DNF‘ing a lot. This book fell flat. It was both so convoluted and yet… had nothing happening. It was an attempt to build a metaphor, which didn‘t quite make sense. The writing style was just… off. And the characters? Mostly horrible.

Sometimes being drawn in by the cover doesn‘t work out.

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This is a spooky book club read for next month, but as the deluxe edition is quite hefty, I‘m starting it now! Excited to read this one!

I don‘t do well with a lot of King, but I‘ve seen the movie and this type of horror seems more in line with my interests.

Also despite having the tangible book, this will be partially on Spotify audiobooks.

I love me a Brubaker/Phillips and I was excited for this one, but it kind of fell flat. The back says it‘s a Jekyll/Hyde type story and maybe that got me too excited. It‘s a tale of stumbling into a world of drugs, sex and violence, and becoming a different person for one night. Why? 🤷‍♀️ Behind the beautiful art, and sometimes trippy instances… it missed the mark and could‘ve gone further.

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I DNF‘d these authors before so I‘m not shocked I‘m doing it again. I‘ve never listened to the podcast so maybe I‘m missing the connection there, but these books are just so instantly and overly weird that the storyline (if there is one) gets lost completely. Your head is left spinning trying to figure things out and the authors are just throwing random, strange comments at you.

A spooky read fail.

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Let‘s start my first spooky read of the season with my remaining Spotify hours this month, with Welcome to Night Vale.

I‘m two chapters and so far… it‘s … f***ing weird. No other words.

There is so much about this book, but I really have no words. It was uncomfortable, but due to its topic, I knew that was going to be the case. I do feel that although the synopsis is clear what it‘s about, there should‘ve been a trigger warning. It does not hide anything. This is about abuse. Despite that, it was a good book. But it was hard to like.

Kudos to the narrator for giving me the heebie jeebies at times.

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The Spooktober books have been chosen. This might be over ambitious but I‘ll be starting them soon. 👻🎃💀

Planned reads include: Gerald‘s Game by King (audio); Welcome to Night Vale by Fink and Cranor (audio); How to Sell a Haunted House by Hendrix (audio not pictured); The Spirit Bares its Teeth by White; Anno Dracula 1899 by Newman; Dead Collections by Fellman; Night Fever by Brubaker; At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft and Tanabe

Intrigued by Blue Period but not wanting to start another series, I picked up this one shot… and think I got the author‘s weirdest, most disturbing tales. While the three stories have underlying themes of eroticism, some are more graphic and violent than others. Ranging from coming of age to horror, the art also lends an air of creepiness to it. I did enjoy it, but it was not what I was expecting.

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Oof. I knew this would be hard, but I thought knowing the ending from the anime would‘ve helped. It did not. This story is pain. Overall it is a tough subject matter and for a shojo, this was groundbreaking for its time and IMO still is. The characters have depth, the story feels real, and it will stay with you long after the last page.

Overall series rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘m still working my way through this series. The closer I get to the end, the more I‘m slowing down, because I know what‘s coming.

A sad point of this series are the spelling mistakes; more than I‘ve ever seen in manga before. While it‘s really only averaging about 1 mistake a manga, this is a format I usually don‘t see that occur.

Also Halloween wine glass because it‘s Augtober.

Back in my prime reading spot with the last Fangirl manga. I‘ve been thoroughly enjoying this adaptation of the novel!

This was light and delightful. A burly fisherman that doesn‘t know how to talk to women?? Sign me up. And then the SPICE! 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ I wasn‘t expecting that spice level, but excuse me SIR?? When he was unleashed? 🥵

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I basically kept picking up this novel because I wanted it finished. The premise drew me in. I love a good Christie-like closed room mystery/thriller. But I‘m learning I should just stick with the master. Let‘s have all completely unlikeable characters, all with a mix of a dark secret and hatred for one another, be invited to a wedding no one really wants to be at, on an isolated island. What could possibly go wrong?! 🙄

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It is a gloomy rainy Saturday, but with a covered portion on my deck, I‘m back to days when I used to sit on my apartment balcony during a storm and read.

I picked this up with zero expectations. It‘s the last in the trilogy but the one I thought I‘d like the best. IT WAS SO GOOD!! I cried, I laughed, I grinned ear to ear. I was committed to the struggle of Aiden to find a balance between his need for religion and his love for Elijah. The spice? 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️. I‘m going to need to get the first two in the series now.

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A Goodreads review said this book is full of completely unreliable characters, gaslighting to the extreme (between characters and for readers), ridiculous motives and a lack of common sense. And I agree. This premise drew me in, and it was wild, but it was absurd. The one character I did like, I didn‘t get to see the real character because of said gaslighting and stupidity. I‘m seeing these trends in thrillers and they do not agree with me.

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I enjoyed this one! Read by Carey Mulligan (love her immensely) it was a nice foray into the multiverse, chaos theory but mainly taking on that saying of ‘the grass is always greener on the other side‘. We have regrets in this life, mostly of what we failed over or what hasn‘t happened. And oftentimes those regrets weigh us down and don‘t let us enjoy what we already have and live for the small joyful experiences.

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On a short vacation visiting friends. Couldn‘t resist picking up Saint.

Starting the third one immediately because I do love Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. And meet Shadow, one of the pets I‘m babysitting this month.

I struggle with the writing and that makes it lose stars. It is at times beautifully written and poetic and then too often, simplistic. I still love it though. It has a great premise, great characters, backstories that continue to build and create tension. The lore and the world are amazing. It is slow burn to the max but I will be rooting for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng throughout.

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Anyone aim to review a volume and then find themselves 8 volumes in? Volume 1-7 are PAIN (and I‘m sure the rest of the series is as well). This is a tough story with tough subjects; it‘s hard to read. But it‘s the characters that really keep you coming back for more. I want all to read this and watch the anime, but I know it‘s heartbreaking from the very first volume to the very end.

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RuPaul has an outlook on life that is truly inspirational. Coming out of hardships, suffering and struggles, with a strength beyond words, it was a pleasure to listen to their story. This isn‘t a celebrity tell-all but a tale of knowing you were made to shine, and going about achieving your goals.

The audiobook is also read by RuPaul which adds to the feeling of sitting down with them to listen.

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My 15 hour allowance for Spotify audiobooks (dumb) is back so let‘s finished the last LGBTQ audiobook with the absolute Queen!!