#Reading wrap up

[4theitgirls]

may 2025 reading wrap-up

1. seed by anita ahlborn

rating: 3.8 ⭐️

2. ask for andrea by noelle ihli

rating: 4.3 ⭐️

3. the chain by adrian mckinty

rating: 4.15 ⭐️

4. lady killers by tori telfer

rating: 4.85 ⭐️

5. the tenant by freida mcfadden

rating: 3.95 ⭐️

6. under her care by lucinda berry

rating: 3.45 ⭐️

7. rotten tommy by david sodergren

rating: 4.65 ⭐️

8. in the miso soup by ryu murakami

rating: 2.5 ⭐️

9. the god of the woods by liz moore

rating: 4 ⭐️

10. saving noah by lucinda berry

rating: 4.3 ⭐️

11. things have gotten worse since we last spoke and other misfortunes by eric larocca

rating: 2.8 ⭐️

12. i’m thinking of ending things by iain reid

rating: 3 ⭐️

13. 100% march by patrick c. harrison III

rating: 3.9 ⭐️

14. the embalmer by rayne havoc

rating: 2 ⭐️

[jasper-book-stash]

Occult/Magical Books I Read This Year That I Actually Kinda Recommend

Information about these various books can be found in the reading wrap up tag of this blog by going to the month I read them in. We have two 10 out of 10 books, one 9 out of 10 books, and six 7 or 8 out of 10 books.

I read far more occult/magic books than this for this year, but I don't actually recommend most of them.

10/10 Category

Welsh Witchcraft: A Guide to the Spirits, Lore, and Magic of Wales | Mhara Starling

Sacred Gender: Create Trans and Nonbinary Spiritual Connections | Ariana Serpentine

9/10 Category

Warrior Magic: Justice Spirituality and Culture from Around the World | Tomas Prower

7-8/10 Category

Spells for Change: A Guide for Modern Witches | Frankie Castanea

Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic | Phil Hine

Magickal Servitors: Create Your Own Spirits to Attract Pleasure, Power and Prosperity | Damon Brand

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South | Aaron Oberon

Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice | Misha Magdalene

Bending the Binary: Polarity Magic in a Nonbinary World | Deborah Lipp (NOTE: the author is a cis woman, and it's a little obvious, but compared to the bigots I deal with regularly, she's still doing pretty good)

[asexualbookbird]

Okay. So May. Happened. I had a lot of birthday fun and fun with friends. The month was a friend sandwich with The Horrors in the middle. At least I managed to read a lot, with thanks to audiobooks. I spent a lot of time sewing, which means I spent a lot of time listening to books. And a many good books this month at that! Step aside, Horrors, fantasy escapism is here!

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klaus ⭐️⭐️ - Hm. This book sure is from the 90s. This is why I never reread favorites from my childhood, they rarely hold up. It is refreshing to see the woman (lol she's seventeen) be the unhinged stalker for a change, but Vivian. Girl. What the absolute shit are you doing. I finally feel brave enough to say The Movie Is Better, but now I'm scared that's bad too. My original rating was five stars, and I kept that rating on goodreads for nostalgia's sake, so no real rating here except also it's a two star book.

After the Forest by Kell Woods ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Fine. That's all I really feel about this. I thought things Just Happen to Greta and was annoyed about it until she said "I'm tired of doing nothing, actually" and took action, but that was the last quarter of the book. I don't know, I mostly enjoyed reading it, might read it again, but it's really Just Fine.

The River Has Roots Amal by El-Mohtar ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - An absolutely delightful nugget of a book. Illustrations? Beautiful. Writing? Wonderful. Characters? Delightful. Loved every bit of this, would read again in an instant and I almost did.

The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Reread! Still love it. Is it heavy handed? Yes. Is it fun? ALSO YES. This is one of those books where I am ignoring all flaws because I love the characters and their dynamic so much. Still my favorite depiction of bone magic.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Overall fine and enjoyable, but nothing special. I think most people may have been blown away because they've never read a book about a queer woman before. I find it hard to believe that a bisexual woman from the 50s, who lived through the AIDS crisis, would've never uttered or heard the word queer before. I'm glad I read it, but I won't be repeating the experience.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Fantastic. Delightful. Heartbreaking. This was technically a book club book, but for reasons I don't remember I missed that meeting and didn't read the book. Foolish of me, to be honest. I was missing out. It's interesting that I read this so close to After the Forest, because I think that tried to do similar things and failed. I enjoyed this so much more and how it focused more on Vasya's relationships to everyone and everything around her rather than a Love Interest. I love that despite it all, I do in fact feel bad for The Evil Step Mother. The writing was melodic and makes me excited to read The Warm Hands of Ghosts.

Inheritance by JC Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - My friend wrote a short story! He put his heart on a platter for the world to read, and I am honored to be one of the first.

Metal From Heaven by August Clarke ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ - waffling between three and four and even three and a half feels odd somehow. I loved the genders going on here, loved the anger and the grief. It did some meat things with POV, too. I think the comps do this a real disservice. I could come up with a half dozen things that are better fitting than Princess Bride and Gideon the Ninth. Parable of the Sower, The Unspoken Name, Leech, to name some. It's not a bad book, and I read whole chapters multiple times. I even reread the first quarter of the book once I got a better feel for things. It feels disjointed somehow, and maybe that's intentional but it didn't quite hit right with me. I'll probably read it again regardless, I'm curious if my opinions change.

The Girl In the Tower by Katherine Arden ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Against my better judgement, I have been bamboozled by a charismatic man. You know I'm having a good time when I almost immediately go to the next book in a series. Some good gender presentations going on here and a wonderful example of social dysphoria (with a cis main character!) I'm in love with the horses, and especially Solovey. Finally, some good fucken fairytale retellings.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Crying. Sobbing. Screaming. The cyclicalness of it all. You know it's good when I not only finish a series, but do so in a timely manner. And a fairytale retelling, of all things. I was crying at the beginging because they killed my fave. I was crying at the end because they brought him back. I want to reread this whole series immediately.

I'm also halfway through The Art of Destiny (a buddy read!) which is going slow, but well. I kind of like the slowness of it all, to be honest. So I look forward to finishing that in June. Book club is soon too, so I get to read Katherine Arden's other novel which I am now SO hyped for. I'm almost done with my sewing project, which means I will once again be able to do Fun Art. A couple friends say I should get into furry art, so I don't know, maybe I'll dabble in that. We'll see! This post is long enough so as always, Be Kind <3

[howlsmovinglibrary]

*Top 5 Books of 2024!*

2024 can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned, but I had a really good reading year! 63 books (compared to a goodreads goal of 30), 18 5* reads, and only 2 dnfs!

Here are my top 5 books of 2024!...

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

Cosmic horror and eldritch transformation in a post-apocalyptic aquatic fantasy world (...in a YA book).

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

I love villainess isekai and I love Sarah Rees Brennan, this book was written for me <3

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Academic rivals-to-lovers with a faerie prince, another book written specifically for me <3

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by HG Parry

Fantasy university story that lovingly performs dark academia conventions, about a scholarship student at magic Oxbridge

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

I read a lot of romance this year, but this was my favourite! Katherine Center's first book was hit or miss for me, but the pacing and tension and high stakes of this story were perfect!

Honorable mentions (not pictured)

Feast While You Can and The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley...

[thequeerlibrarian]

Read in January

[tippilo]

I usually don't post these on tumblr (the last three months are on insta) but most tomione authors are only on tumblr

Taggable authors: @allofthelights11 @ginnyruin @peppershark @desmathewu @thoronris @nerysdax

Taggable artists: @bis-art @garfunkelworld @avendell

I did my best to tag everybody I could, but I likely missed people (sorry! If your account name isn't like your username on ao3, I'm not going to hunt for you)

[bookishfreedom]

may wrap up 🌸

[the-forest-library]

This is a ridiculous number of books to read in a year. Do not measure your reads against this. I basically listen to audiobooks all day, and that’s not something everyone can or wants to do.

I always assumed that if I read more books I’d encounter more stellar reads. Turns out you just encounter way more mediocre reads (and that’s considering that I DNF a ton), and those tend to overshadow the good reads. I’m hoping to be even more selective in my reads in the coming year as reading so many mediocre books is really affecting my reading enjoyment.

[widebrimmedhatsblog]

My 2024 reads tier list!! There is a slim chance I finish one more book tomorrow, but this is otherwise complete sans-rereads. If you have similar tastes and have recs let me know!

[bookcub]

my reading has slowed down slightly, i stopped and started a few other books i didn't end up documenting. review for when the angels left the old country is in draft form!

[the---hermit]

March 2025 reading wrap up

I was not expecting so many books this month, but I guess those are the consequences of the big return of audiobooks in my life! I had missed listening to audiobooks and my overall lack of energies this month made me pick the habit back up, and I am having a great time! It was overall a lovely month of reading. It was quite chaotic, but I feel like it perfectly represents my goal of embracing whatever feels natural in my reading life. I picked books up, let them go, paused stuff, had some rereads, found my love for audiobooks again, a lot happened, but I am happy. This proves that letting myself be chaotic and just listening to my needs in reading makes a great reading time, which is exactly the point of my yearly goal of no goals, and just going with what feels the most natural.

Books read:

Cultish by Amanda Montell (audiobook)

The Decagon House Murders by Ayatsuji Yukito

A Psalm For The Wild Built by Becky Chambers (audiobook) (reread)

The Lord Of The Flies - the graphic novel adaptation by W. Golding and illustrated by A. De Jongh

Nimona by ND Stevenson (reread)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faries by Heather Fawcett (audiobook)

Deadendia: The Watcher's Test by Hamish Steele (reread) (read this for the trans rights readathon)

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irvin (audiobook)

Deadendia: The Broken Halo by Hamish Steele (reread) (trans rights readathon read)

Dnf:

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (when I started it I was having a good time but by the end it became a painful task. I risked a reading slump. This was way too long and slow. I doubt I will attempt to read another Grady Hendrix book in the future)

Paused:

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White (I read around 60 pages, was loving it, but I realized how emotionally heavy it is going to be, and I am not at all in the right headspace to deal with those kind of emotions. So I decided to pause it and save it for when I'll feel a bit stronger emotionally)

Current reads (books I have not necessarly started on March but I have been reading and haven't finished yet):

Re:carmilla (audio adaptation of Carmilla by S. Le Fanu)

Emily Wilde's Map Of Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (I actually finished it today but it is the new month so I won't include it in the reads for March)

[4theitgirls]

🌱 april 2025 reading wrap-up

1. kill for me kill for you by steve cavanagh

rating: 4.25 ⭐️

2. all good people here by ashley flowers

rating: 3.56 ⭐️

3. dark matter by blake crouch

rating: 4.17 ⭐️

4. the couple next door by shari lapena

rating: 3.9 ⭐️

5. the house of my mother by shari frank’s

rating: 4.9 ⭐️

6. the stranger in her house by john marrs

rating: 3.8 ⭐️

7. nightshift by kiare ladner

rating: 3.4 ⭐️

8. the woods are always watching by stephanie perkins

rating: 3.62 ⭐️

9. the last party by a. r. torre

rating: 4.6 ⭐️

10. like mother like daughter by kimberly mccreight

rating: 3.85 ⭐️

11. the haar by david sodergren

rating: 3.8 ⭐️

[asexualbookbird]

Ah, I read some books in 2024, huh? And eight rereads? Who am I. Tried a lot of new things this year which yay! Go me! Branching out! Not all of those were successes, but I did it and therefore no one can criticise me. But we all know what's important here. So here you go, THE BEST AND WORST OF 2024 (in no particular order)!

THE BEST BOOKS OF 2024

The Adventure of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - yes, I am still thinking about this, thank you for asking! A full entire adult of a person, a mother even, going on adventures? Fighting and killing and fucking and living? Hell yeah! More of this, please! I would also love to see a prequel of Amina's adventures before the book timeline. Everything about this was so great, I look forward to rereading it.

The City We Became by NK Jemisin - I was wary about this because it was so polarizing to readers. On one hand, even my least favorite Jemisin was still fun, on the other hand, I know nothing about New York. HOWEVER. The audiobook was FABULOUS. I wholeheartedly believe the audio is why I enjoyed this so much. This was FUN this is what reading should feel like all the time.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb -FRIEND TO MY SOUL. Again, beautiful audio performance. Beautiful story. I need my own copy so I can reread this to my hearts content. It's cute, it deals with heavy topics, it's gay, it's the friend to my soul.

WORST BOOKS OF 2024

The Novice by Taran Matharu - Ugh. Bought when released, knowing nothing, which seems to be a Theme with books sitting on my shelf I end up not enjoying. Learning about the history of this book made me more angry than the book itself. What do you mean his entire series was bought and published without an editor? It shows, but. Come on. Wattpad born and it shows.

Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox- this was only for a summer reading bingo challenge, but come on. There are ways to pull the memory loss, or altered memory plot line and have it work. This did not do that. Wish a library would eat my memories of this book so I never had to think of it again.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence - Mark Lawrence is one of those authors who writes long books because he thinks it makes him a Good Writer. Mark Lawrence is one of those writers who is afraid to write adult characters because he thinks they won't sell, but continuously puts them in adult situations to show how Hard their lives are and Isn't This Dark And Gritty And Sad without doing the work to actually get there. It toes the line between fantasy in scifi, but not well. It feels more indecisive than anything else.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace -more like fireBROKE MY HEART!!!! It was on my tbr list for years, and I finally found a copy and I'm glad I own it so I can reread it at my leisure. It's what Ready Player One could have been if it was actually good.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner - Okay honestly, this and City were fighting for a spot in the main top three. Either could be there. I do honorable mentions for this very reason. I was surprised to learn this was a tiktok book, because yknow. It's actually Good. Witcher vibes, but with more respect towards women. Why isn't book three in my possession right this second.

Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell - I Am Normal About This Book. It was fun to read and annotate it for a friend. It was fun to be around as two friends read it and I loved seeing their reactions to it. Loved cheering on Shesheshen, still think she deserves to eat more people. Friends and I will still share biting goop memes with the caption "Shex3 posting". It's safe to say this has rewritten my brain.

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward - I was hyped about this book before release. I bought book two before even reading this because I was that sure I'd enjoy it. What a fool. This did NOT have to be 800 pages. It was another example of someone writing many words because they think that's what Good Writers Do, and not stopping to think about what those words even SAY. Which, in this case, was ~Absolutely Nothing~

Ghost Station by SA Barnes - crying sobbing this book was so fucking stupid. Best thing to come out of it was seeing a friend read it and confirming that yes, it was That Fucking Stupid. Learning the author mainly writes YA Paranormal explained why everyone had Too Stupid To Live disease.

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle - Admittedly only here to make things even and because it's still pretty fresh in my mind. I was soooo excited when this was announced, and now I'm soooo happy I didn't preorder it. More boring than anything else, but I don't wish it was longer because it already felt Too Long.

Once again, ignored rereads because I feel like that's cheating somehow. Let these be for highlighting new and fun books I discovered! I feel like the last few Bricks I've read have been Very Bad so I hope a couple of the bricks I have planned for 2025 are actually good. Considering one of those is Labyrinth's Heart, I think we're okay.

[howlsmovinglibrary]

April Reading Wrap-Up!

I read only 3 books in April, but thank god, I hit my first 5 star read <3

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (5 STARS)

This book was devastatingly good. I spent the final act in tears, for literally all of it. I already knew Arden was a good writer, but the prose here was beautiful and haunting and awful, all in equal measure, both when dealing with the supernatural and the human horror. This was such a wonderfully crafted book, with the most incisive, chilling villain and honestly an ending that had no right being as hopeful as it was.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (3 STARS)

I thought this book would be for the monsterfucker girlies, unfortunately it wasn't :((( I would romance the nightmare in my head, personally, but maybe that's just the depression talking. instead, we got A Very Generic Fantasy Man, in a Very Generic Fantasy Book.

There were occasionally some very beautiful paragraphs of characterisation, or interesting turns of phrase, and then suddenly the romantasy of it all would reassert itself and suddenly characters would be talking in the Standard Romance Script all over again. It had potential but ended just feeling quite shallow tbh. The curse word is 'trees'.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees-Brennan (5 STARS)

insane. picked this book up for a re-read for a silly fun time, and ended up emotionally devastated. The crux of Elliot's character hit so much harder on this reread, and so unexpectedly that I think I accidentally therapised myself. If anyone wants a book that reads like fanfic, in the BEST way, while also dealing with themes of imperialism and self-acceptance and coming of age with some of the funniest characters imaginable.... this is the book for you! :)))) (complementary, 5 stars).

also reading on webtoon...

The Knight Becomes a Lady (for enjoyers of: unreliable narrators with blinkered worldviews. enemies to lovers. yanderes.)

It's Just Business (for enjoyers of: hypercompetent women. simps.)

My Lucky Strike (for enjoyers of: kickass ""plain"" heroines)

books read in 2025: 14 wrapups: jan | feb/march

[thequeerlibrarian]

Read in April

Märchen by Hermann Hesse - 3.5/5

Oedipus rex by Sophocles - 4/5 (for uni)

[bookishfreedom]

March Wrap-Up ☘️

this was a month of quantity AND quality. I somehow read… 18 books in March??? (Most not pictured because library/audio/ebooks) many of which are new favorites ❤️