August 2026 Reading Wrap Up

30 Sep 2026 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I finally felt like I was back to my normal reading pace for August, and it was also a month of spectacular reads! I’m also really enjoying the books I’m currently working through, although I couldn’t quite get them done for August.

If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on the book links in this post. You can also find my list of recommended reads (in different categories) over at Bookshop.org.

Book cover for 'The Strength of the Few' by James Islington, featuring a large black pyramid set in a desert landscape with ethereal figures in white robes
Cover of the book 'Sea of Charms' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a scenic view of a pathway leading to a tranquil sea with a sailboat, surrounded by vibrant flowers and greenery.
Cover of the book 'Alien Clay' by Adrian Tchaikovsky, featuring vibrant yellow alien plants and a blue background, with the tagline 'A hostile planet holds dangerous secrets.'

Books I read in August (1,529 pages):

  • The Strength of the Few by James Islington is the sequel to The Will of the Many and is set in an incredibly unique world with plenty of intrigue and deadly stakes – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst is the third book in a loosely connected cozy fantasy series and was a lighter read between these other heavier books – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky is the second book by this author that I have read and was a selection for a book club that wowed everyone. You can find my review at this link here – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book cover of 'Written in My Own Heart's Blood' by Diana Gabaldon, featuring a red wax seal and a beige background.
Book cover of 'The Tapestry of Fate' by Shannon Chakraborty, featuring intricate illustrations of mythical creatures and decorative elements in vibrant colors.
Cover of the book 'A Sorceress Comes to Call' by T. Kingfisher, featuring stylized trees and a dark background with stars.

Reading now:

  • Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon is the 8th book in the Outlander series. I’m making steady progress and anticipate finishing this one in September. I have less than an hour left of the 45 hour audiobook.
  • The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty is the second book in the Amina al-Sirafi series of adventures about a retired female pirate who can’t seem to stay out of trouble.
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a novel I picked up on sale and hadn’t intended to read this month. However, I was looking for something to start reading on my Kindle that wouldn’t involve buying a new book since I’ve been over my allowance of books lately.
A dark and atmospheric illustration featuring a figure in a red cloak standing before an ornate iron gate, leading into a shadowy, gothic landscape with towering buildings and a staircase.
Book cover of 'Steelborn' by Taylor J. Larue featuring a woman with long red hair and a sword, against a dark floral background.
Book cover of 'A Drop of Corruption' featuring a dark background with intricate floral designs, prominently displaying the title and author names.
Cover of the book 'Dungeon Crawler Carl' featuring a muscular man in a battle stance with a spiked weapon, a green goblin character behind him, and a small creature in the foreground, set in a dark dungeon environment.

Other books I had hoped to get to in August:

  • Alchemised by SenLinYu will just keep appearing on my lists until I have an excess of free time one month.
  • Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue is one that I’ve really been looking forward to starting, but there simply wasn’t time in August.
  • A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is the sequel to The Tainted Cup.
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman keeps coming up in book blogs and reviews and I’m curious to read it.
A whimsical book cover featuring a young girl in a flowing dress standing in a sunlit doorway, gazing at a white unicorn amidst a lush, colorful garden.
Cover of the novel 'The Frozen River' by Ariel Lawhon, featuring a snowy landscape with a person walking on a frozen path surrounded by trees.
Book cover for 'Murmuration' by TJ Klune featuring a whimsical illustration of a town with small shops, a bookstore named 'Bookworm,' and a flock of birds in the foreground.
Cover of the book 'A Drop of Corruption' by Robert Jackson Bennett, featuring a dark background with green succulent plants, intricate border designs, and bold white text.
Book cover of 'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil' by V.E. Schwab featuring dark floral imagery and bold yellow text.

Books I’m planning to read in September:

Illustration for the graphic novel 'Maya: Seed Takes Root', featuring a central figure with outstretched arms surrounded by intricate, organic patterns and various stylized creatures.
Book cover of 'Murmuration' by TJ Klune featuring a whimsical illustration of a small town with a bookstore named 'Bookworm' and numerous black birds in the foreground.
Book cover of 'Alien Clay' by Adrian Tchaikovsky featuring a vibrant blue and yellow alien landscape with unusual plants.
Book cover of 'Steelborn' by Taylor J. Larue, featuring a woman with long red hair and a sword against a dark floral background. The cover includes a quote praising the book.

New books acquired in August (1 allowed):

  • Seed Takes Root by Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon is a book that I obtained by supporting the Kickstarter almost a year ago.
  • Murmuration by T. J. Klune is the upcoming novel by the author and I received a copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
  • Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky was a book I purchased by a book club discussion.
  • Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue was this month’s Fairy Loot pick and shouldn’t really count here because I already had an e-book copy I had received for review.

What have been some of your favorite reads so far this year? Let me know in the comments.

That’s it for now – I have a book to finish reading!

July 2026 Reading Wrap Up

26 Aug 2026 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Next up is my summary of my worst reading month of the year so far. July found me struggling to find the time to read, and my focus for listening to audiobooks also faltered. Yet I did still manage to finish one book. This doesn’t tell my full July reading story, because I did read most of another lengthy book. However, I didn’t finish that one until August, so I can’t count it yet.

If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.

Book cover of 'Light from Uncommon Stars' by Ryka Aoki featuring a colorful fish swimming in a starry, cosmic background with a quote by Charlie Jane Anders.

Books I read in July (384 pages):

  • Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki was a book club selection and is a tale of music, aliens and donuts – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book cover for 'Light From Uncommon Stars' by Ryka Aoki, featuring a colorful fish against a starry space background with a quote by Charlie Jane Anders.
Book cover of 'The Best of All Possible Planets' by Alex Shvartsman, featuring a spaceship traveling through space surrounded by planets and stars.
Book cover for 'The Winged Game' by Sophie Kim featuring a purple background, a shield emblem with a winged creature, and the tagline 'When rivals collide, sparks will fly.'

New books acquired in July (1 allowed):

I went over my book allowance by two this month and I know I’m going to fail at this again for August. If I can get back on track with my reading then I should be able to do better with this for the rest of the year. I did recently pull some books off my shelves to donate to help thin out the collection. I don’t often re-read books, but there are favorites that I do like to hold on to, as well as all those still waiting to be read.

Since this is a shorter post than usual, I also wanted to include a few words here about my Bookshop.org shop. This site lets you purchase books through a designated local independent book store. If you follow this link to my shop, I have created a few lists to help you find your next favorite read! Here is one example of my lists:

Are you making progress on your summer reading list? If you could finish only one more book for the summer, which one would it be? Let me know in the comments.

May and June 2026 Reading Wrap Up

19 Aug 2026 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Wow, I have fallen so behind on my book blogging and reviews here, but it’s not too late to look back at what I read in the past few months (is it?). I was excited to get to a classic science fiction book that has been on my shelves for several years. I had one book (novella) to read for a book club, and if I had to pick an inadvertent theme for May, it would have been detectives in science fiction and fantasy.

My problems began in June and I’m not sure what happened, other than travel plans and escalating summer chaos at work. I still made progress for June with another book club read and then a new book courtesy of Net Galley.

If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.

Book cover for 'Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight' by Don Bassingthwaite featuring a vintage-style illustration of a man with a shocked expression against a colorful background.
Book cover for 'The Martian Chronicles' by Ray Bradbury featuring surreal art of two humanoid figures seated beside a pool on a red Martian landscape with towering structures in the background.
Cover of 'The Mimicking of Known Successes' by Malka Older, featuring two silhouetted figures against an orange and yellow abstract background with stars and shapes.
Book cover of 'Seveneves' by Neal Stephenson featuring an eye and a blue starburst design.

Books I read in May (1,450 pages):

  • Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite was received as a gift and is a short story collection of detective-esque fiction all involving fantasy and horror tropes – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is that classic science fiction book I mentioned above – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older was the book club pick and was a science fiction detective story – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is an exceedingly long science fiction novel that took me too long to finish – ⭐⭐⭐
Book cover of 'The Enchanted Greenhouse' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a mystical greenhouse surrounded by snow and vibrant colors, with a cat and an owl in the foreground.
Book cover for 'Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon' by Annie Mare, featuring whimsical typography and a colorful design with plants and furniture.

Books I read in June (759 pages):

Normally I’d follow this section with a list of the books I’m currently reading. However, since I’m writing this in August, I have already finished those books and will have those in my next post.

Book cover for 'Quicksilver' by Callie Hart featuring a young man in armor with a somber expression, surrounded by a mystical forest, and adorned with butterflies.
Book cover of 'Steelborn' by Taylor J. Larue featuring a young woman with flowing red hair and a sword, set against an ornate floral background.
A dark, atmospheric illustration featuring a figure in a red cloak standing in front of an ornate, skeletal gate leading to a gothic castle, with dramatic trees and a misty backdrop.
Book cover of 'The Tapestry of Fate' by Shannon Chakraborty, featuring intricate illustrations of mythical creatures, a compass, and ornate decorative elements.

Other books I had hoped to get to recently:

  • Quicksilver by Callie Hart keeps popping up on my list of books-to-read. I carried it around on a trip (in case my Kindle died), but didn’t start it.
  • Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue sounds like something I should love, but I didn’t have enough time to get to it.
  • Alchemised by SenLinYu will keep recurring on my list until I have time one month. This one is really long, but some friends have loved it.
  • The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty is the latest in The Adventures of Anima El-Sirafi series. This author is one who qualifies for my buy immediately short list, so I had to pick up a special edition of it.

New books acquired in May (4 allowed):

  • Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver is the much-needed sequel to Artifical Wisdom which I reviewed here. This one was also given to me by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
  • The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older was a novella I had to pick up for a book club discussion.
  • Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni (Fairy Loot) – I’ve heard mixed reviews about this one.
  • The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty – As noted already, I had to order a special edition from Waterstones to get the cover I preferred.
Book cover of 'Infinite Wisdom' by Thomas R. Weaver, featuring a statue with a skull and colorful paint drips, against a black background with the tagline 'Truth has a cost.'
Book cover for 'The Mimicking of Known Successes' by Malka Older, featuring two silhouetted figures against a vibrant orange background with abstract patterns and stars.
Book cover for 'Deathbringer' by Sonia Tagliajeni, featuring a golden phoenix and red roses against a dark background.
Book cover for 'The Tapestry of Fate' by Shannon Chakraborty, featuring intricate designs, mythical creatures, and vibrant colors.

New books acquired in June (3 allowed):

  • The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden (Fairy Loot) looks like a fascinating book and I’ve wanted to read something by this author for a while. I added it to an upcoming book club discussion.
  • The Strength of the Few by James Islington is the sequel to The Will of the Many which I read earlier this year and loved. Spoiler – this second book was also amazing! The final book is due out in about six months.
  • A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is the sequel to The Tainted Cup which I read in April and enjoyed a lot.
  • The Incandescent by Emily Tesh is a stand-alone fantasy academia novel told from the perspective of the teachers and I loved the other book I read by this author (Some Desperate Glory).
Book cover for 'The Unicorn Hunters' by Katherine Arden featuring a young girl standing in a sunlit, enchanted garden with a unicorn in the background.
Book cover of 'The Strength of the Few' by James Islington, featuring a dark pyramid in the background with abstract figures floating around it in a surreal landscape.
Cover of the book 'A Drop of Corruption' by Robert Jackson Bennett, featuring dark background with stylized plants and decorative elements.
Book cover of 'The Incandescent' by Emily Tesh, featuring a stylized phoenix design in gold and orange against a black background, with decorative celestial elements and a quote from Tasha Suri.

Ooops, I went out of my allowance! I blame this on my travel to Portland, Oregon where I had to visit Powell’s Books. How could I not buy more books at this amazing place? This is where I picked up A Drop of Corruption and The Incandescent.

A bookstore interior showcasing a wooden bookshelf filled with colorful book covers, while customers browse the aisles. A cart with books is visible in the foreground.
Entrance to the Rare Book Room in a bookstore, featuring a colorful sign above the door and wooden shelves displaying various books and items.
FAQ sign for Rare Book Room detailing what makes a book rare, the oldest book in the collection, care tips for rare books, and information about Powell's most expensive book.
Map of Powell's City of Books showing different levels and sections, including color-coded categories for various genres and areas like cashier, information, and café.

That wraps up this update and I hope to be more consistent with posts here as the summer wraps up.

What are you currently reading? Have you had more or less time to read over the summer than you would have liked? Let me know in the comments.

Book Review – The Kaiju Preservation Society

05 May 2026 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I have enjoyed a couple of other books by John Scalzi, so I was excited to start The Kaiju Preservation Society last year (paid link). I didn’t know much about the premise so I went into this read blind. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Wil Wheaton.

I previously reviewed Starter Villain by the author and you can find my review of it here, and a purchase link here.

A close-up image of a weathered identification tag displaying the title 'The Kaiju Preservation Society' by John Scalzi, with a quote from Joe Hill, set against a background of green foliage and pine needles.
I listened to the audiobook edition.

Here is the blurb:

When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization.” Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.

What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They’re the universe’s largest and most dangerous panda and they’re in trouble.

It’s not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that’s found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too–and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

⭐⭐⭐

Like other books by John Scalzi, this was an easy read (and listen) and started quickly by putting the protagonist in a tough situation and throwing him into a series of surprising events.

Jamie learns that the Kaiju Preservation Society (or KPS) takes care of gigantic Godzilla-esque creatures on an alternate Earth. His experience as a food delivery driver is ironically being put to use in his new role as a messenger with the KPS. He works hard and is excited to be able to help. Most of the story in the first part of this book shows Jamie experiencing the reveal of the secrets of Kaiju-Earth.

The biology of the kaiju was inventive and surprising, but also features in an important way as the plot develops. Even weapons training is a fun (which is synonymous with dangerous) excursion, at least for the trainers.

One of the weaknesses of this book was that all of the young scientists felt like the same character to me. Scalzi tries to give them quirks to set them apart, but this didn’t help enough. My favorite character was Martin, the helicopter pilot who takes Jamie and crew out to see one of the local kaiju, Bella. He becomes a pivotal character and his daring and skilled piloting is critical to the story.

While I enjoyed the ideas in this book, for most of the story it lacked conflict. Jamie visits Kaiju-Earth and sees the sights, but nothing goes wrong until very close to the end of the novel. The story generally lacks an antagonist and then rushes to fill that gap with a flurry of action in the final quarter of the book. I wish that the story had been more evenly paced.

Wil Wheaton as narrator is a hit, of course. He does the narration on many of Scalzi’s books, but I have also listened to him on Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (paid link).

Have you read other books that feature kaiju? Let me know about them in the comments.

You can find more of my reviews here.

March / April 2026 Reading Wrap Up

01 May 2026 3 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Somehow April got away from me and I didn’t have a chance to do my monthly summary post for March sooner. That means that I’m going to lump the two months together for one giant post. In total I did fairly well in my reading, with four books read in March and five for April. While I’m not meeting my goal of six books per month, I am making steady progress through my pile of books.

Also – if you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.

Book cover of 'Grievar's Blood' by Alexander Darwin, featuring a futuristic design with a silhouetted figure in combat, set against a blue background.
Cover of the book 'The Everlasting' by Alix E. Harrow featuring a floral design, a sword, and a face in the background.
Cover of the book 'The Faraway Inn' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a whimsical illustration of an inn surrounded by colorful flowers and magical elements.
Book cover of 'The Children of Húrin' by J.R.R. Tolkien featuring a figure in armor holding a sword, overlooking a landscape.

Read in March (1,375 pages):

  • Grievar’s Blood by Alexander Darwin is the second book in The Combat Codes series and I listened to this as an audiobook – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow is a stand-alone fantasy novel I had been looking forward to – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst is a YA cozy fantasy novel that I received courtesy of Net Galley for review – ⭐⭐⭐
  • The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien is a short novel that I started for Tolkien Reading Day this year – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cover of 'An Echo in the Bone' by Diana Gabaldon, featuring a dark blue background with a leaf design and text about the book and its author.
Book cover for 'The Tainted Cup' by Robert Jackson Bennett, featuring decorative gold illustrations of flowers and a cup, surrounded by a dark blue background and green vine accents.
Book cover for 'Dreadful' by Caitlin Rozakis featuring a gothic-style house, swirling tentacles, and stacks of books on display.
Cover image for 'The Time Traveler's Passport', featuring the title in bold colors and the tagline 'Six short stories. Infinite possibilities.' Listed authors include John Scalzi, R. F. Kuang, Peng Shepherd, Kaliane Bradley, Olivie Blake, and P. Djèlí Clark. 'Only from Audible' is highlighted in yellow.
Book cover of 'The Windup Girl' by Paolo Bacigalupi, featuring a dystopian cityscape with a blend of futuristic skyscrapers and a crowded marketplace. An elephant is depicted in the foreground, emphasizing a contrast between technology and nature.

Read in April (1,957+ pages):

  • An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon is the sixth book in the Outlander series and was a solid installment – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is a book I didn’t get to in time for a book club discussion but still wanted to read – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis was a fun stand-alone fantasy tale that I read for a book club discussion – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Time Traveler’s Passport Collection by John Scalzi and others is an audiobook-only collection of time travel themed stories – ⭐⭐⭐
  • The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi – I just finished this one last night for an upcoming book club discussion. This book had been on my list for quite a while. It is a book that required careful reading, but I enjoyed it a lot – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book cover of 'Seveneves' by Neal Stephenson featuring a close-up of an eye with a blue light reflection, and text indicating the author and title.
Book cover of 'Written in My Own Heart's Blood' by Diana Gabaldon featuring the title and author's name, with a wax seal design.

Reading now:

  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson – I’m having a hard time getting through this one with a lot of technological descriptions that don’t add a lot for me. I’m undecided if I’ll finish it. I’m almost halfway through a massive 872 pages.
  • Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon – This is book #8 in the series and I just started it within the past few days.

Another reading event that happened in the last two months was that I got a new Kindle! My old one went missing for a couple of weeks, and while it did eventually turn up, I was convinced that I had lost it. My husband picked the new one out for me because he saw that the Kindle Paperwhite was available in my favorite color – red! While I can’t find a link to that color to show you right now, there are some other pretty colors available (paid link).

Book cover of 'A Court of Frost and Starlight' by Sarah J. Maas, featuring a woman with long red hair, wearing a shimmering dress and intricate jewelry, with stylized decorative elements in the background.
Cover of the book 'The Path of Daggers' by Robert Jordan, featuring a king on horseback surrounded by soldiers carrying banners.

Other books I had hoped to get to in April:

  • A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas – I expect this to be a fast read, but I just couldn’t get to it this month.
  • The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan – This is book 8 in The Wheel of Time series, and at 685 pages, I couldn’t make myself start this until I finish Seveneves.
Book cover for 'Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight' by Don Bassingthwaite featuring a dramatic shadow and a stylized illustration of a man with an expressive face.
Book cover of 'The Martian Chronicles' by Ray Bradbury featuring two humanoid figures sitting near a body of water on a red Martian landscape with tall structures in the background.
Book cover of 'The Enchanted Greenhouse' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a whimsical, colorful greenhouse in a snowy landscape, with a black cat and magical elements.
Book cover for 'The Mimicking of Known Successes' by Malka Older, featuring two silhouettes walking against a gradient orange background with abstract shapes and stars.
Book cover of 'Steelborn' by Taylor J. Larue featuring a woman with long red hair and a sword against a floral patterned background.
Book cover for 'Quicksilver' by Callie Hart featuring a young man in a dark fantasy setting, wearing armor, with a solemn expression and a tear, surrounded by mystical butterflies and a moonlit backdrop.

Books I’m planning to read in May:

  • Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite – This book came to me as a gift from a friend and looks like fun!
  • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – Somehow I’ve never read this classic science fiction work, and it is an upcoming book club read.
  • The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst – This is the next book in the Spellshop series. I reviewed the first one here.
  • The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older – This book is another upcoming book club selection. I’ve never read anything by this author.
  • Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue – I picked this ARC e-book up as part of a giveaway. The premise sounds great!
  • Quicksilver by Callie Hart – Since I didn’t get to this book earlier in the year, I’m bringing it back into the queue for May.
Book cover of 'Weavingshaw' by Heba Al-Wasity, featuring a dark castle silhouette with a figure in the foreground and an ominous background.
Book cover for 'The Last Starborn Seer' by Venetia Constantine featuring a mystical female character with long hair, wearing a blue gown, holding a crystal staff, set against a starry blue background with planets.
Book cover of 'Steelborn' by Taylor J. Larue, featuring a woman with red hair holding a sword against a decorative floral background.
Cover art for 'Unidentified Funny Objects 10', featuring a whimsical scene of a girl in a hat being lifted by a spaceship, with aliens and a futuristic landscape in the background.
Book cover for 'Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight' by Don Bassingthwaite, featuring a vintage illustration of a man in a suit with a concerned expression, and a colorful shadowy figure in the background.
Book cover of 'Starside' by Alex Aster featuring a sword with a glowing background and the tagline 'Claim Your Sword, Claim Your Fate'.

New books acquired in March and April:

Uh oh – I ended up with six new books when my new rule for the year said that I can only acquire four! I suppose that the first one on here shouldn’t count because it was the delayed February order from Fairy Loot which I didn’t make up for with another book at that ime. I had forgotten that I backed UFO 10 on Kickstarter, and then when I clicked on Steelborn for the giveaway, I had thought that only gave me a chance to win the book rather than gifting me the book immediately. At least two of these are e-books and won’t take up room on my shelves.

Overall I think that my reading for the year is going well. I made some changes to my cell phone that limit how much time I can spend on social media and gaming apps, and I think that has really helped me to focus on more important things. Do you have tips or strategies that help you to read more? Let me know in the comments.

Book Review – The Spellshop

26 Mar 2026 2 Comments

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , ,

I listened to the audiobook edition of The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst last summer without knowing much about it going in (paid link). This book that is considered part of the new trend of “cozy fantasy” novels. I’ve enjoyed a few books like this already so read on below to see what I thought of this one.

A whimsical and colorful illustration of a magical cottage surrounded by lush greenery and flowers, with sunlight filtering through the trees, featuring the title 'the Spellshop' by Sarah Beth Durst.
I listened to the audiobook edition.

Here is the blurb:

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

I enjoyed this book a lot and finished it quickly. The protagonist instantly inspires sympathy as she flees from an empire under attack and steals saves several spellbooks to keep them safe. Who wouldn’t try to save the library books they’ve been caring for under such dire circumstances?

It is clear early on that this book is also a light romance, with a single and handsome merhorse wrangler appearing frequently to offer help to the new inhabitant of the island. Besides the romance aspect, this story also features found family, and a small community that stands up for its own people. The writing style was easy to read, although I did listen to the audiobook, and that format often makes for an easier experience for many books for me.

I also loved the sidekicks and humor in this story. Caz the sentient spider plant provides a way for Kiela to have someone else to speak with as she fights to stay isolated in her new home. This allows the author to minimize inner monologues but many still slip through and Kiela’s voice is a bit annoying at times.

Kiela’s baking and spellcraft overlapped and made for a fun combination that made me wish that I had some of her creations to snack on. Of course magic never quite works the way the user anticipates and this provides some intriguing effects that moved the plot forward.

This is the type of fantasy story that perhaps would not stand up to close inspection. The way that magic works is more arbitrary than in other genre series, and the politics that are crucial in driving Kiela to flee with her books initially don’t have a huge impact on her new home. Yet this novel fills a niche for someone looking for an escapist tale that is easy to follow and finds a happy ending. I also loved the cover — yes, there are winged cats.

The Spellshop is a stand-alone novel, although there are more books set in the same world that I have yet to read.

Have you read any cozy fantasy books? Which would you recommend? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my book reviews here.

Books to Read in 2026

10 Jan 2026 4 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Every year I feel like my Goodreads to-be-read list contains many of the same books as the previous year. I tend to roll over the ones that I didn’t get to, thus producing a constantly growing pile (mostly virtual, at least). For 2026, I mercilessly pruned that list to reach a (somewhat) reasonable number. I prioritized books that I already owned as well as some stand-alones and series that I’ve already started. I have included my book club picks for at least the beginning of the year.

I also try to set my Goodreads challenge to a number that is a stretch for me, since it IS a challenge, after all. For this year, I set that to 72 books. I reached that number by thinking about how many books I can read in a month. I’m planning to average one a week and two audiobooks a month – so that is 6 books a month, or 72 for the year.

To accompany that, I was able to narrow my Goodreads to-be-read shelf down to 83 books. I KNOW that’s more that the goal of 72 books, but since all of this is fluid throughout the year, it doesn’t matter all that much. You can see all of my current picks in the graphic below:

For series that are longer than trilogies, I’m continuing to read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and hopefully getting back to the rest of the Dune books by Frank Herbert (paid links).

Some of these are continuations of series that I’ve already started. A few are NetGalley ARCs that I’ve already received, and others are books I’ve recently acquired. That brings me to a new rule I’m making for 2026 in an attempt to further prune my to-be-read list: I cannot acquire more books than I have read in the previous month minus one. So if I read six books in January I am not allowed to buy, borrow, request, or otherwise acquire more than five in February. Ideally it will be even fewer than that.

What books am I most excited about reading in 2026?

  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow – I have read several reviews of this book where readers compared it to the author’s earlier work, The Ten Thousand Doors of January. I loved that book and expect this new release to be spectacular. You can pick up a copy here (paid links).
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – I was not aware of this series until the past few months, but people seem to love it. I already picked up a copy of the first book, and you can get one here (paid link).
  • Quicksilver by Callie Hart – This book was recommended to me by a couple of friends and they keep asking if I’ve read it yet. We usually like the same types of books, so I’m excited to start this one. You can get a copy here (paid link).
  • Alchemised by SenLinYu – I wasn’t aware of the phenomenon around this book until its release, but received a gorgeous copy through my FairyLoot subscription. This is a looooong book (1040 pages), but I often love the detail and intricate storylines in such a hefty novel. Pick up a copy here (paid link).
  • The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty – This is the sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi which was one of my favorite reads of 2023. You can find a review of that book here. The new book is due out May 12, 2026 and I ordered the prettier UK edition (cover featured above) from Waterstones, which you can also find here.
  • Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkis Reid – This is more of a mainstream book, but the main character is an astronaut, thus my interest. It has also hit the bestseller lists and I’ve never read anything by this popular author, so I figured this is a good one to jump into. You can find a copy here (paid link).
  • A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab – This is the next book in the Shades of Magic series. I recently finished the first book – A Darker Shade of Magic – and named it one of my favorites for 2025. You can get a copy of the first book here and the second one here (paid links).

What books am I reading in January?

I started Slow Gods by Claire North and An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon both in the last few days of December. Slow Gods is a science fiction stand-alone that I received for review courtesy of NetGalley, and An Echo in the Bone is the next for me in the Outlander series and is an audiobook.

I’ve been home sick all week this week and needed to jump into something lighter, so I read Swordheart by T. Kingfisher already, finishing it yesterday. Both The Will of the Many by James Islington and Exit Strategy by Martha Wells are for upcoming book club discussions. Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart is another NetGalley ARC which I need to get to since it releases in a few days.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the collection of George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg stories, which I have never read. The upcoming HBO series of the same name starts on January 18, 2026. I purchased a copy of this at New York Comic-Con because GRRM was doing a free signing and this is one of the shortest books on my list of the month.

The last two books for January are ones off my “most excited to read” list above. Somehow I ended up with nine books on this list for the month after trying to set a goal of six per month. I don’t expect I’ll get through all of them, but I’ll let you all know next month!

What reading goals do you have for 2026? Do you plan out your reading ahead of time? Or do you just start whatever book grabs you in the moment? Let me know in the comments!

2025 Reading Year in Review

27 Dec 2025 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

It’s the final day of 2025, and that means it’s time to look back on this year’s reading. I didn’t do too badly, finishing 47 books this year. I never seem to quite be able to hit 50, and despite my competitive nature, I’m not going to try to read 3 books today to hit that mark.

I also wanted to end the year by thanking all of you who read this blog! My audience here has been slowly growing, and 2025 marked the best year yet since starting this blog in 2012, with over 5,000 visitors and 7,000 views. December has been the busiest month of 2025, so I’m hoping that momentum will carry over into the new year as I post my backlog of book reviews.

Say what you will about Amazon, but I do always enjoy the statistics that Goodreads puts together with their Year in Books. From that, I discovered that the shortest book I read was The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal at 33 pages, while the longest was The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon at 1,443 pages (paid links).

Goodreads also tells me that the average book length that I read was 413 pages. This is a little shorter than last year’s average of 481 pages, but I did read more this year than in 2024. You can find my 2024 Reading Year in Review post here.

Books read in previous years:

  • 2024 = 36
  • 2023 = 48
  • 2022 = 39
  • 2021 = 43
  • 2020 = 39
  • 2019 = 43

I also looked back at my Books to Read in 2025 post to see how my reading for the year compared to what I had said I planned to read. Spoiler – it never matches up very well. Of the unrealistic list of 94 books, I read 22 of those. The remaining 25 books I finished in 2025 were added as the year went on. This happens because I have book club picks that come up, new releases I hadn’t thought about, Net Galley review ARCs, and plenty of spur of the moment reading decisions.

Without further rambling, here is a graphic of all the books I read in 2025 (in reverse chronological order):

Here are some additional statistics about what I read in 2025:

  • Science fiction or fantasy genre = 42
  • Historical fiction = 3
  • Mainstream = 2
  • Romantasy = 11
  • Cozy fantasy = 3
  • Non-fiction = 1
  • Classics = 0
  • Audiobooks = 9
  • Graphic novels = 0
  • Part of a series = 24*
  • Stand-alones (or could be read as one) = 23
  • Completed reading of a series OR kept up with the series as each book was published = 8*

* I counted individual books here.

What were the BEST books I read in 2025?

Here are my top three:

Two of these were very recent reads and I don’t know if that has left them at the forefront of my mind when I made these picks or not. They’re each different genres, with two being stand-alones and one the first book in a series.

  • The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong – COZY FANTASY / review here / purchase link here
  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – SCIENCE FICTION / review coming soon / purchase link here
  • A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab – FANTASY / review coming soon / purchase link here

It’s always so hard to pick my favorites, but here are all of my other 5 star reads from 2025 (in a random order):

  • The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence – FANTASY / review here / purchase link here
  • Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald – FANTASY / review here / purchase link here
  • Recursion by Blake Crouch – SCIENCE FICTION / review here / purchase link here
  • Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros – ROMANTASY / review here / purchase link here
  • Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead – HISTORICAL FICTION / review here / purchase link here
  • Grimm Curiosities by Sharon Lynn Fisher – ROMANTASY / review here / purchase link here
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – ROMANTASY / review coming soon / purchase link here
  • Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher – FANTASY / review coming soon / purchase link here
  • The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence – FANTASY / review coming soon / purchase link here
  • Orbital by Samantha Harvey – MAINSTREAM / review coming soon / purchase link here
  • The Feeding by Anthony Ryan – HORROR / review here / purchase link here
  • The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten – ROMANTASY / review here / purchase link here
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – FANTASY / review here / purchase link here

That’s it for 2025! Coming up in my next post, I’ll be looking ahead at my reading plans for 2026.

What are your favorite books you read in 2025? Let me know in the comments!

November, December 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

27 Dec 2025 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

As promised in my previous post, here is a summary of my reading for the last two months of the year. I made better progress in my reading by being more intentional about it and by also limiting my mindless screen time. Here are the books I read in November and December (paid links):

  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – I enjoyed this one a lot but it took me a little while to get into it. You can find my review of it here, and a purchase link here.
  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – this was a science fiction story that twisted my expectations and was maybe one of my favorite books I read this year. I’ll have a review up eventually (really!).
  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang – I had been looking forward to this book from the author of Babel and Yellowface. It wasn’t my favorite book by the author and I’m working on a review.
  • The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler – this was a novella that we read for one of my book clubs and recently won a Hugo Award. I enjoyed it but was surprised that it won the Hugo.
  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon – this was the sixth book in the Outlander series. I’ve been gradually making my way through these in audiobook format.
  • Twelve Months by Jim Butcher – this is the new book (#18) in The Dresden Files series and I was really excited to get this as an ARC from NetGalley. This will be one of my first reviews in 2026 and the book is out January 20th. You can pre-order it here.

I also expect to finish The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi before the end of the month (paid link). I’m listening to the audiobook and have less than an hour left to go, so I’m counting that one as finished for the purposes of this post.

I just started A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab yesterday (paid link). This book is a pick for an upcoming book club discussion. If I read it faster than I anticipate, then I might also count this one as read in 2025. We’ll see how much free time I have in the next few days.

I’ll definitely post more about my upcoming reading plans in my Books to Read in 2026 post that will be up just after New Year’s Day, but here is a sneak peek of my next few planned reads (paid links):

  • An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon – I plan to start the next (7th) book in the Outlander series as an audiobook once I finish The Kaiju Preservation Society.
  • Slow Gods by Claire North – this is a science fiction novel by an author that will be new to me and was sent to me courtesy of NetGalley.
  • Swordheart by T. Kingfisher – this book was so pretty that I had to buy it a few months ago. I should probably read it and not just stare at it.
  • Quicksilver by Callie Hart – I’ve been told by a few people that I need to read this romantasy book, and I believe there is a sequel out now as well.

I have a few other books on my list for January, but I don’t know exactly which ones I’ll read. I’m trying to narrow down my to-be-read list for 2026, but that means I have to either make hard choice OR just find more time to read!

What books have you read this year that surprised you? Did you try to squeeze in any quick reads by the end of the year? Let me know in the comments!

August, September, October 2025 Reading Wrap Up

09 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Every year I struggle with my reading and blogging when August or September comes around. While I thought I’d do better with reading in August since I’d be laid up after a surgery, the medications made me sleepier than I would have liked, so my reading suffered. Then September comes around and is always a busy month for some reason. So better late than never, here are the books I’ve been reading since August.

In August I did finish the four books shown below, although Rogue Protocol was technically a novella.

  • The Feeding by Anthony Ryan – You can find my review of this one here and a purchase link here.
  • Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver – My review is here and purchase link is here.
  • The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence – This was the third and final book in The Library Trilogy and was quite good. I hope to review it soon and you can find a purchase link here.
  • Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells – This was the third novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. I haven’t reviewed any of these books yet, but I did watch the recent Apple TV series. You can find the show here and a purchase link for this third book here.

For September, I read three books, but one was a struggle and I DNF’d (did not finish) it about 1/3 of the way through.

  • The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten – This was the anticipated finale in The Nightshade Crown series. My review of it is here and you can find a purchase link here.
  • What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller – I’ve read a couple of this author’s YA books (Warrior of the Wild, Blade of Secrets, Master of Iron) and this was her first adult novel (paid links). It is a stand-alone and I’ll have a review up soon. You can follow a purchase link here.
  • Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders – While I’ve enjoyed this author’s other books, with All the Birds in the Sky being one of my favorite books of 2019 (paid link), this is the book that I struggled with. I’ll have a review up soon with an explanation.

October should have been when I caught up, but the month continued to be crazy and I only finished two books:

  • The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong – This was a stand-alone novel as well. I recently reviewed the author’s first novel, The Teller of Small Fortunes, and found it to be surprisingly good (review here) for one of the first “cozy fantasy” novels I’ve read (paid link). This new book follows in the same vein and I’ll have a review here soon. This is a purchase link.
  • Crossroads of Ravens by Andrzej Sapkowski – This is the new prequel novel in The Witcher series about a young Geralt on one of his first adventures. I just finished the audiobook a few days ago and you can find a paid link for it here.

At the end of October I succumbed to the temptation to read six books at once. I’m still working on 5 of them (purchase links included below):

  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and I have about 50 pages left to go. It took some time to get into, but became more interesting about halfway through. I only need to find a dedicated hour to finish it.
  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang – I have been a fan of this author since I read Babel (review here / purchase link here) and her new novel is a stand-alone dark academia tale that reads like Dante’s Inferno so far.
  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – I was supposed to read this novel for a book club discussion, but didn’t finish it in time. It is a page-turner space opera tale that won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2024.
  • Twelve Months by Jim Butcher – This is the latest (book #18) installment in The Dresden Files, a well-known urban fantasy series, that I have early thanks to NetGalley. I was excited to start this book, but the beginning reminded me of the tragedy of the previous book, so it has been slow going to get into it so far.
  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon – This is the 6th book in the Outlander series and I’m more than halfway through it in audiobook format.

While it is only a short story, I just finished The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal (paid link) (technically this was read in November).

I’m trying to finish the year by reaching my goal of reading 50 books. I only have 11 left to go, so with two months remaining, I think I can do it! First I need to finish the current books above. Here are some of the other ones that I may read in November (purchase links):

Are there books on this post that you’ve read? What did you think? Which ones should I review here first?

What other books do you think I should try to squeeze in this year? Let me know in the comments!

Previous Older Entries

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 412 other subscribers