Always Me

 Happy Monday!  Today, I'm sharing my March update for my  12 Challenge 2025 .  This month I managed to complete 2 books for a total of 7 completed of the 12 books recommended to me.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on what I've read for this challenge in March: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  I'm so glad that  Les Normaux  by Janine Janssen  was recommended to me for the 12 Challenge 2025 because this is a new favorite. I went into this basically blind but absolutely loved it. The representation in this fantasy is so refreshing and the characters are all delightful. I have a feeling it will be on my best of 2025 list! I am eagerly awaiting Volume 2! My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . ❋  The Book of Ebenezer Le Page  by G.B. Edwards  is a classic piece of fiction that I pretty quickly realized wasn't for me. I was bored out of my mind and the formatting of it didn't help me focus. I'm interested in the idea...

  Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Welcome back again!  Today, I'm featuring a couple more favorite playlists from  Regnum Umbrae .  If you like, you can check out my previous post here .  Give a listen to You're in Academy of Ghosts and You're a Detective in 19th Century : You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Happy Saturday everyone!  I hope everyone's been doing well this month.  I've completed 6 total tasks for  Book Riot's 2025 Read Harder Challenge .  The two tasks I completed in March required me to read a   wordless comic  and to p ick a 2015 Read Harder Challenge task to complete  - the  2015 task  I've selected is to read a book written by someone when they were under the age of 25.    I selected  Here  by Richard McGuire  and  Night Life  ( Nocturne City  #1) by Caitlin Kittredge  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋ I like the idea of  Here  by Richard McGuire  , but I wish there was more of a story, characters, and voice to this. I'm surprised to say this, but I would stick with the 2024 movie adaptation with Tom Hanks . At least there were characters to follow along with in that slice of life story. My review is also ...

Happy Friday everyone and welcome to my third  2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge  update with mini reviews!   In March, I read 4 books for a total of 21 completed out of 50.  I'd say I'm doing pretty well so far.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in March: ❋   ❋ The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches  by Sangu Mandanna  is a somewhat disappointing cozy fantasy. It's definitely aiming for The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, but it never quite manages it at all. None of the characters are nearly as memorable, it's feels like it's trying to hard to be twee/ cute/ cozy, it's much too long, and the reveal towards the end was more off putting than anything. Also, I felt like I must have missed something in terms of the romance between Mika and Jamie. After all that I will say that I was interested in the world of the witches, but in the end I was just left wanting more. If anything, I was hoping for more answers...

      On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, currently hosted by  Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.  Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Beat The Backlist 2025  books,  House of Marionne  ( House of Marionne  #1)   by J. Elle .  I remember seeing this all over social media last year.  I hope this will be as good as i...

Happy Thursday everyone! Welcome back to  Books from the Backlog , the weekly linkup I'm taking part of which is hosted by  Carole's Random Life in Books .  This is a great way to put a spotlight on books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I don't know when I'll get to my weekly featured book, but I hope to some time hopefully soon. This Week's Neglected Book: The Poison Season  by Mara Rutherford Published: December 6th, 2022 Genre: YA Fantasy Romance My Copy: Format: Trade Paperback Pages: 390 Where I Acquired It: Ollie's Bargain Outlet Summary (From Goodreads): Outsiders are always given a choice: the Forest or the lake. Either way, they're never heard from again. Leelo has spent her entire life on Endla, coexisting with the bloodthirsty Forest and respecting the poisonous lake that protects her island from outsiders who seek to destroy it. But as much as Leelo cares for her community, she struggles to accept that her younger brother wi...

                Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books I DNF'D.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title: The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America: The Missing Skeletons and the Great Smithsonian Cover-Up by Richard J. Dewhurst - For some reason, this seems to have become kind of a thing in my area and I decided to give this a try since it was so highly recommended.  I literally only made it through 12 pages of this insanity before I just couldn't put up with it any more. The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey - The idea sounded cool, but I just couldn't get into it and decided to move on to something else. Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt - I like horror, but this one wasn't just my style. The Company of Glass ( Everien #1) by Leith Valery - I couldn't get into this and just decided to move on to som...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Welcome back again!  Today, I'm featuring some more favorites from  Fantasy Meditations .  If you like, you can check out when I featured them last year here .  Give a listen to Cyprus , Petra , and Stonehenge : You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

    Happy Sunday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read in March for  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Adelia, The Boardgame , an additional challenge to  G. @ Book Roast 's  Magical Readathon .  You can see my full tbr  here .  Without further ado, check out my mini review below: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ The Empress of Time  ( The Keeper of Night  #2) by Kylie Lee Baker  is a fantastic finale to this YA fantasy duology. I enjoyed book one, but it just got better from there. If you're a fan of mythology retellings, historical fantasy, morally gray leads, you'll have to give this duology a try.  This hasn't gotten nearly enough love as it should have, especially this finale.  I can't wait to read more from Kylie Lee Baker in the future. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . Next Month: April  - April's   book can be part of your Sprint Equinox TBR if you’re participati...

Happy Saturday everyone!  It's now that time to start my Spring Equinox 2025 classes at Orilium  for the  Magical Readathon , hosted by  G. @ Book Roast .  I've followed the  Novice Path , completed the  Traveller's Key , have  Geared Up , completed the  Spring Equinox 2022  and  August Equinox 2022 , visited  Old Favour Pass in 2022 , completed the  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia 2023 , completed the  Spring Equinox 2023  and  Autumn Equinox 2023 , and visited  Old Favour Pass in 2023 .  I completed the Spring Equinox 2024 , Autumn Equinox 2024 ,  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia 2024 , and Old Favour Pass 2024 .  I'm currently working my way through Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia 2025, The Boardgame .  Anyway, as usual, this Spring Equinox semester runs all of April.  I've decided to continue studying for the Calling of a Scribe as I ha...

      On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, currently hosted by  Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.  Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Beat The Backlist 2025  books,  Clytemmestra  by Costanza Casati .  It's been a long time since I've read this author, but I remember enjoying his style of fantasy. Beginning: Clytemnestra looks d...

Happy Thursday everyone! Welcome back to  Books from the Backlog , the weekly linkup I'm taking part of which is hosted by  Carole's Random Life in Books .  This is a great way to put a spotlight on books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I don't know when I'll get to my weekly featured book, but I hope to some time hopefully soon. This Week's Neglected Book: The Hidden Stars  ( Rune of Unmaking  #1)   by Madeline Howard Published: 2004 Genre: Epic Fantasy Adventure My Copy: Format: Mass Market Paperback Pages: 391 Where I Acquired It: Thrift store Summary (From Goodreads): In a world devastated by the cataclysmic war between wizards and mages, the Empress Ouriána seized the throne, proclaiming herself the Divine Incarnation of the Devouring Moon. Appointing twelve priests to perform her rites, she rules with a tight rein of dark sorcery. The priests, once men, became twisted with magic, making them monstrous—mutated. Wherever th...

              Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books On My Spring 2025 TBR.  I'm featuring books I'm planning on reading for Book Riot's 2025 Read Harder Challenge from March through June and a couple of upcoming releases.  Here we go in order by months: March Here  by Richard McGuire  - I saw the  movie adaptation  which was pretty ambitious and a decent slice of life across different time periods.  I'd like to see what the original story looks like.  It fulfills the task to read a wordless comic. Night Life  ( Nocturne City  #1) by Caitlin Kittredge  - The  2015 task  I've selected is to read a book written by someone when they were under the age of 25.  This urban fantasy sounds series opener sounds like it has potential. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi - T...