Category: Reviews

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.

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

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

April TBR (hopefully)

I’ve been holding pretty steady this year with the books per month that I read, and I’m hoping to continue that for April (but as always, we’ll just have to see). I have 6 books on my TBR pile for this month. The very first one is my BBBC book read for the month, “Strange Beasts” by Susan J. Morris. Two of the books are audiobooks (one from the library, one I’ve purchased) which include The Butcher’s Masquerade and The Third Gilmore Girl. The Prisoner’s Throne is one that I was finishing up from March, and the other two books were random recommendations I threw in. I can’t wait to read them and explore these new worlds. What are you working on for April? Have any book recommendations? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy reading!

March 2025 Wrap-Up

The awesome March calendar graphic comes from The Storygraph, which I’ve been using almost exclusively this year. You can see that I read 7 books – was currently still reading one (I just finished it, but that will get added to April), and I DNF one book (let me state how much I love these statistics, I appreciate that The Storygraph lets me track DNF and even how many pages I read).

No 5 star reads this month, but there were still some great books covered. I’ve been getting the reviews added to my physical reading journal, which I (at the time of this post) still have not updated for April, but I hope to, soon. The calendar also shows me where I focused on reading vs. audio books, and I appreciate that. I’ve got a great line up of books to read in April, and I might actually get a blog post or two done about that, too.

Up next? I’m currently reading When the Moon Hatched, by Sarah A. Parker, and my audiobook of choice is The Butcher’s Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl #5) by Matt Dinniman.

4/5 Star Review: The Gate of the Feral Gods

This book was amazing. Princess Donut makes the book, as always. I listened to it as an audio book – HIGHLY recommended for all of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Rough story about Maggie & Chris. Frank. I wonder how Agnes manages each floor. I’m excited to start the next book and it’s probably the only book that I suggest people listen to the audio instead of reading it.

4/5 stars

3.5/5 Star Review: I’m Glad my Mom Died

This book left me exhausted after. The years of abuse Jennette went through as a child actor just blew my mind. Her mom was incredibly abusive and horrible, and a lot of different aspects resonated with me about her Mom’s behaviour. It was a very heavy read. The fact that her Dad did basically nothing really made me angry. I truly hope she’s able to continue to get the help she needs so she can keep working on herself.

3.5/5 stars