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Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf

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Maya C. Popa, from “Dear Life”, Wound Is the Origin of Wonder

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Good Grief by Brianna Pastor, available here!

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January Finished List

As it is the last day of January I get to post my first monthly wrapped!

In January I read a total of 21 books. I had 2 DNF. 9 were audiobooks and the rest were ebooks through either libby or kindle unlimited

Here is my rapid short reviews of each book I read this month:

Foe by Iain Reid: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you like black mirror and want something short but engaging; read this.

Insatiable by Leigh Rivers: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 I went into this strictly for the smut and it delivered plot, smut, and characters I fell in love with??

DNF Voracious by Leigh Rivers at 20%: I loved these characters but I could not take the abuse porn it turned into. Feels like the plot became how badly can we fuck up our MC's with the same repetitive abuse.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this was an intense lit fic about family and the consequences of choices made, for better or for worse. Does have some slow parts but still a great read.

Deaths Obsession by Avina St. Graves: ⭐️⭐️.5 novella about fucking the grim reaper. Would I throw it back for him? Yes. Was this a good book? Debatable. Almost nothing made sense.

A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L Armentrout: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is literally the first book but told from cas’ perspective. I loved the first book and I love cas so I loved this. However this was a cash grab and should not have been included in the series itself. (cas will always be book daddy number 1 idc idc)

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Another heavy lit fic with themes of racism, homophobia, and religious prejudice. This was so impactful and made me cry a lot.

Confessions by Kanae Minato: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 This book asks the question what if everyone at a middle school had mommy issues and a penchant for violence and revenge.

Skyshade by Alex Aster: ⭐️⭐️.5 I really thought this was a trilogy and it’s not but it is for me now. This book was boring and repetitive. (I think this was my last straw with this series)

For the Fans by Nyla K: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Step brothers make an onlyfans and I didn’t know I was going to be as invested in these boys as I was but man it was cheesy but worth it

When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A Parker: ⭐️.5 if your book requires a 20 page glossary to explain the world it’s not good world building. This world was not well fleshed out the writing was overly flowery and the MCs were both insufferable. (this was my last straw with booktok recs cause wtf)

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I still miss cardan and Jude. The best enemies to lovers imo.

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I wanted to rate this lower because of how horribly gruesome it was but it was well written and compelling

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ this one felt like it had a lot of plot holes and was predictable. Even for YA read extra juvenile and gave more children’s book.

The Body Papers by Grace Talusan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I hesitate to rate anyone’s memoir less than 5 stars. It wasn’t for me I felt like we ended where we started but isn’t that life.

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier⭐️.75 the potential was there but that’s where it starts and stops. This was a bad soap opera and gave me the ick (I did continue the series cause I’m a glutton for punishment)

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister ⭐️⭐️.75 this was a fine psych thriller. Kind of felt like reading a criminal minds episode in both a bad and good way?

Mother of Death and Dawn by Carissa Broadbent ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a beautiful end to a beautiful and heartbreaking story.

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this is one that hits a little too close to home with the current political situation.

No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This is a basics of IFS therapy. I think it is something everyone should read esp helping professions and witches.

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier ⭐️⭐️.75 Better than the first one but not by much. Still very soap opera-y and repetitive which made it drag.

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I missed Jude and Cardan so I loved coming back to this world. Fun little novella, wish it gave more to their relationship.

DNF The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori at 22% I don't even know what it was but both the MC's gave me the ick.

January was such a good reading month with some lovely books but I think my top three will be:

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

Mother of Death and Dawn by Carissa Broadbent

A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L Armentrout

So romantasy was the vibe. On to month 2 of 2025!

✨

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To be seen is not to be loved. But to be loved is to be seen and understood completely.

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love that kids are emo again. i love walking into the grocery store or goodwill and seeing some teenage emo kid all decked out walking around with their mom or something

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The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

Rating: ⭐️⭐️.75

TLDR Spoiler free review: This was fun at the start but quickly got repetitive and boring. The plot was very soap opera drama vibes (in a bad way) and the smut was the same scene over and over. The way the author writes female characters and how others feel about female characters is very misogynistic in a way that gave me the ick. I liked these characters which is why I finished the book and was the biggest redeeming quality.

Yes if: You like smut heavy noncon/dubcon books with a touch her and die trope.

No if: You want your smut to have a compelling plot or you're squeamish.

Spoiler Review Ahead:

I read The Ritual and was not super impressed but it kept me engaged and I liked the concept of this universe I wanted to give it another shot in case this was an example of the first being the worst. It was not.

This book once again had me captivated and I think that's down to how the author writes characters that you do really enjoy. I am not sure they are the most dynamic characters but their motivations are clear and their inner monologues are descriptive enough that you do feel immersed in the scenes with them. Unfortunately, at least for me, that was the redeeming quality of an overall bad book.

First is an issue I had with the first book as well, and it's the way female characters are written and talked about. I get this is a dark romance with heavy dominance themes, but that does not mean there has to be such overt misogyny and SO consistently. It seems like every other sentence someone is referring to a female character in derogatory terms even in scenes where it is so out of the place it feels over the top and truly just offensive. I love a little degradation but when it is used consistently and in a way that just trivializes a female character it gets to be cringey. Along those same lines, the females (except for the FMC) always being the bad guys and then getting their "comeuppance" in the form of death or sexual assault is also icky and just gives unresolved internal misogyny and mommy issues that makes the books hard to choke down.

Next, another issue with The Ritual as well, this was SO soap opera campy. I mean the plot was he had a twin like that feels like the quintessential comedic plot to make fun of dramas. It was also so repetitive. It was unrealistic, our FMC was constantly sexually assaulted by literally everyone and always getting kidnapped, and there were so many half baked "twists" toward the end the plot got confusing and it just took me out of the story.

Not only was the plot repetitive but the smut was too. I really liked the smut of The Ritual but these scenes felt like one note. There are only so many times I can read about her being tied up and brutally fucked before it looses it allure. Aside from changing in location there was no real spice to the spice.

These books are too long and try too hard to have a plot when honestly they could have been great if they stayed in the erotica lane.

I am sad because I had high hopes for these (there are 6 total) but I will but DNF-ing the series because I cannot read another 700 pages of the Lords being gods who hate women.

On to the next!

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A message to newer Hellenic polytheists;

The gods do not hate you.

They are not going to hate you if you can’t pray every day.

They are not going to hate you if you can’t make offerings every day.

They are not going to hate you if you can’t make an altar for them.

They are not going to hate you if you do not dedicate every single thing you do to them.

They are not going to hate you if you do not light their candles every day.

They are not going to hate you if you step away from your practice for whatever reason.

You can breathe, the gods do not and will not hate you for being human.

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This fucking sucks I’m going to [ remembers suicide jokes are bad for your mental health ] find glendower

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Reminder to myself:

The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be good.

Just write it

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✧˖°.☪︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖☁︎

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hello bookish people! if you’re looking for a community to join specifically for romantasy books, please join this one ❤️‍🔥 the pinned post has a place for you to introduce yourself if you want to find like-minded mutuals on tumblr 🏰

(p.s - this community is spoiler free) 🐉

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And remember kids, the next time someone tells you "the government wouldn't do that!" – they're gaslighting you. Bark at them. Bare your teeth and let them know that you know what you saw and what you heard. Don't move an inch from the standpoint you have, don't let anybody talk you out of the picture you've made yourself. It's not "oh yes they would", anymore. It's "they do and they will continue to do so." Be attentive. You know what's happening. Be loud about it.