Author: Stargrace

Just another gamer with too much time on her hands.

November 2025 Wrap-Up

November was a pretty good month as far as reading went, and it tends to be that way as we approach the end of the year and I look for ways to relax and ‘get back to my roots’ as it were. I managed to complete 5 books this month, though some were very long reads that I had been working through for quite some time. I will do a more in-depth look at each of these books and they’ll be post dated to the day that I completed them on.

The best read of the month was discovering Witch Hat Atelier. This is a manga, and I dove into it head first – reading a few chapters for the first volume, and then promptly buying a box set of the physical books to begin my new collection. The manga does currently go to volume 13, but I couldn’t find an english box set for the volumes after 6, yet. I hope they release it in the future.

I am having a difficult time getting through Primal of Blood and Bone even though I devoured the first 6 books in the series. I’ll talk about this in depth once I complete the book but it’s taking a back seat right now so I have no idea when that might be. Maybe December, if I give it a push. I’m about half way through it at the time of this post.

I can’t believe we’re almost to the end of 2025! That means new goals starting for 2026, and I’m pretty excited about it.

October 2025 Wrap Up

Another month passes where there wasn’t all that much reading going on – well, not exactly true, but looking at my stats, I only completed one book. Still, I did manage to get some reading done each day, even if it wasn’t much. What I tend to do is head to bed with my kobo for a few pages each night, instead of bringing my phone. That way I don’t spend the night scrolling. I do often fall asleep while reading, but that’s not a big deal.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was a fantastic choice for my October read, and I’ve got some great books by friends on the go right now, including Midwinter’s Heart, and The First Sin. I’m hoping to finish those up in November, but it will depend on how real life is going. Look here for reviews on all of these reads in the future!

4/5 Star Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

This book by Grady Hendrix came recommended to me by a good friend, and I’m so glad that I decided to pick it up even though it’s not my usual genre of choice. This book was absolutely brutal and graphic – but also well written. I think if people who read it couldn’t relate to the book, they might have a difficult time seeing it as ‘horror’. It was moving in a way that I can’t really put into words, and the author took some obvious pains to learn their subject. It really showed (I know this all sounds quite cryptic, but I don’t want to give away the plot of the book). I did feel that there were some ‘over the top’ moments, but it didn’t feel like it was ‘too much’ considering the subject. It was a fantastic read.

4/5 stars

September 2025 Wrap Up

It feels like I never read as much as I want to these days, but I did get through a few books in September, and started some new ones. I picked up Strange House when it was on sale from Kobo, this book started out on YouTube and was originally in Japanese, but has been translated. I’ll make sure to post the details about each book when I do the reviews, but coming as no surprise – This Inevitable Ruin, book 7 in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. 5 stars. Absolutely. It was a heavy read, but so well done.

I’ve re-started Onyx Storm a few times now, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the other books in the series that I have read, but I’m glad I finished it. I am hoping to get back to making more time for reading soon, but the next few weeks are incredibly busy and don’t leave me with a lot of free time. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

3/5 Star Review – Strange Houses

This book by Uketsu was a YouTube sensation a few years ago, and a friend suggested I read it, so I did. The translation to English makes it a bit awkward. It was not my favourite genre, but it was interesting to see where it went. I think I was expecting it to be a more interesting story, but I found it pretty tame, with a lot of build up for nothing. The telling of the story was the most interesting part, and then once you knew the details the story lost interest (at least for me). I probably will not read any more of the series though I do really want to read their other book, Strange Pictures.

3/5 stars

August 2025 Wrap Up

There were some FANTASTIC reads for the month of August, mixed in with some not-so-great (for me) reads. I know I might take a little heat for my views on The Enchanted Greenhouse, but maybe I’ll give it another go in a few months, I’m a big mood reader, and it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Of course we see my usual favourites, there was some Dungeon Crawler Carl (I’m finally on book 7) along with some T. Kingfisher (a huge favourite of mine) and I finally stepped back in to Melissa Caruso’s worlds. Plus, a new to me author that was apparently a big thing on tiktok a few years back that came highly recommended by a good friend. I was also looking for a casual cozy book in the middle of the month that popped up at my library (finally) because sometimes that’s just exactly what we’re looking for.

5/5 Star Review: Assistant to the Villain, by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

This was a fantastic read – suggested to me by my best friend. The characters were hilarious, real, and awkward in all of the best ways. The story was surprising, and well written. The book did get negative feedback because it went viral on TikTok, but I really enjoyed reading it and I’m glad it was suggested to me. I will absolutely pick up the rest of the series to read, but it might be some time as there is a huge line of other books to get to!

5/5 Stars

2/5 Star Review: The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, by Laurie Gilmore

This book was supposed to be a cozy comfort read, but it was just a bad book with no hooks to keep me interested. I borrowed it from the library on a whim as it was promoted to me (and now I see it everywhere, go figure) and at least it was a fast read, so nothing lost. The characters were bland, the situation unrealistic. I forgot it was on my library list.

2/5 stars

5/5 Star Review: The Last Hour Between Worlds, by Melissa Caruso

I’ve read Melissa Caruso before, and I am familiar with her style even though it was a fantasy series, so I was pretty sure I would enjoy this one. Zero regrets. I loved the world building, and the characters. I loved how messed up each echo got the further they fell. It was a unique (to me) setting, with a pretty unique world of Hounds, and Cats. The main character was a new mother, and the God characters were amazing. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the series right away, but I will eventually stumble back to it (there’s just so many other books to read right now).

5/5 Stars