Always Me

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my wrap up and mini reviews for the Autumn Equinox 2026 classes at Orilium for the Magical Readathon , hosted by G. @ Book Roast .  This challenge ran all of September and I took 4 courses: getting an O in Elemental Studies, a Q in Astronomy, a Q in Restoration, and and O in Spells & Incantations (that's 6 books in total).  Check out my original tbr here .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read for this challenge: Elemental Studies O - Enchanted Forestry: Forest ❋ ❋ ❋  ❋ ❋ Hunted by Darcy Coates  is a new favorite from the author!  This novel doesn't really have the supernatural horror elements, but it is a very effective survival thriller.  I wasn't expecting the cast to be as much of an ensemble that rotates around several characters, but the format really worked for me.  What a ride! My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . Astronomy O - Birthchart Numerology: Pop...

  Happy Sunday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my my ninth update for my progress for the year long reading challenge called the 2026 Popsugar Reading Challenge .  In September, I completed 6 books for a total of 50 read so far out of 50 total books on my tbr.  I'm so happy I finished this challenge up early! You can see my original tbr here .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in September for this challenge: 28. A book about debt ❋ ❋  ❋ ❋  ❋  The Blacktongue Thief ( Blacktongue #1) by Christopher Buehlman  is a new favorite dark epic fantasy.  I'm glad I decided to listen to the audiobook production of this because the narrator is amazing.  I was genuinely surprised to learn that the author himself performed it himself.   The story itself and the world-building are great, but the production makes this one of the best audiobooks I've listened to.  I can't wait to read the prequel and also the upcoming ...

Happy Sunday Funday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing some of the horror tv shows I want to watch this month.  I've picked out six different series to get ready for Halloween!  Who knows how much of these I'll actually watch and/ or complete, but either way I think I've got a pretty great watchlist made up for myself.  I'm also participating in this year's round of Hooptober over on Letterboxd (which started back on September 15th) - you can check out my watchlist here . Without further ado, let's get to my tv watchlist: Below (2026, Limited Series) - Josh Hartnett is always fun in horror and thriller and the preview for this looked very enticing.  I can't wait to see what it's all about when it is released on Netflix on October 8th. Carrie (2026, Season 1) - As soon as I heard Mike Flanagan was involved with adapting this Stephen King story, I was very interested to see where it would go.  I don't have long to wait because it starts on Prime Vide...

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I'm sharing my September progress for both the year long reading challenge called The 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge  and Read Queerly 2026 which is hosted by Alexx @ Enthralled Bookworm .  You can see my original tbrs  here  and  here .  In September, I completed 2 books for a total of 48 read so far out of 52 total books on my tbr for my The 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge and 1 book for a total of 15 out of 16 on my tbr for Read Queerly.  I would usually share these updates separately, but one book I read for both of these challenges (To Ride A Rising Storm) was a book I read for both challenges, so I thought I'd combine these two.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in September: ❋ ❋ ❋  ❋ ❋ To Ride A Rising Storm ( Nampeshiweisit #2) by Moniquill Blackgoose  was easily one of my most anticipated reads and the year given how much I loved the first book in the series.  L...

Happy Friday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my ninth update for my September progress for the year long Beat The Backlist 2026 reading challenge, hosted by Austine Decker.  You can see my original tbr here .  In September, I completed 1 book for a total of 19 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  5 to go!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the book I read in September: 21. the most beautiful cover: the art on this book cover stands above the rest to you ❋ The original book, The Phantom of the Opera novel, the movies, and the musical are some of my favorite things. That said, this YA reimagining,  Phantom Heart ( Phantom Heart #1) by Kelly Creagh , did not work at all for me for a lot of different reasons but the main reason is that the characters don't have any chemistry in any way and are hard to keep separate. I feel like I should rewatch the musical adaptation or another one soon to recover. My review is also on Goodreads ...

Happy Friday everyone! I'm sharing my third update for the r/Fantasy 2026 Book Bingo Challenge .  The challenge officially started on April 1st, 2026 and it will run through March 31st, 2027.  I'm hoping to complete the full board of 25 squares for the challenge. Since my last update, I read 3 books for a total of 9 read out of 25 books on my original tbr .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I've read so far for this challenge: 5. Unusual Transportation - Story includes a surprising method of moving from place to place. By “unusual” we mean that it is out of the ordinary in real life AND uncommon to the book’s broader genre. This can include a highly unique take on a genre staple (spaceships with FTL wouldn’t normally count but the Infinite Improbability Drive from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would) or be a completely original mode of transit (autoducks in The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy). HARD MODE: Transportation is NOT combustion-powered or steam-po...

Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read in September for Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Adelia 2026, 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: September - 9B - Inspect frost (the mountain walls glimmer with an odd frost that is illuminated by your Truelight.  It's a very peculiar type of frost, you've never seen anything like this, it seems to dance and move with you... how odd.  You must collect some investigate later.) - read a book with a light blue cover  ❋ ❋ Celtika ( The Merlin Codex #1) by Robert Holdstock  is my first book by this author based on my experience with this, I doubt I'll be back for more. This sounded like it would be right up my alley, but it was incredibly underwhelming. I realized fairly early on that I wasn't interested in the characters or the world. It had its moments, bu...

  On Fridays, I participate in the weekly linkup called Friday Book Snippets, co-hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Olivia @ Bemused and Bookish .  The directions for are pretty simple.  Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a. the book's beginning and b. page 56 (or another page) in the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. Join the fun every Friday.  Previously, this was The Friday 56 hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Rose City Reader . Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my SeasonAthon Academy Semester Five books,  Dead Iron ( Age of Steam #1) by Devon Monk .  It's been awhile since I've read any steampunk westerns and I've missed it.  This might be a fun series opener. Beginning: Cedar had stared straight into the killing eyes of rabid wolves, hungry bears, and charging bull elk, but Mrs. Horace Small had them all topped. 56: She didn't look a thing like her mother or father. Are...

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my tbr for my Halloween Book Bingo 2026 hosted by TheBrightSideGirl .  This was initially a Fall/ Halloween challenge running for both the months of September and October, but instead I'm just doing this for the month of October and am aiming for one bingo by completing the column right in the center with the squares Orange Book, Witchy Read, Murder Mystery, Ghost Book, and Gothic Read.  I think I've picked out some pretty good books for my challenge.  Keep reading to see what I plan to read to earn my bingo: Orange Book My choice:  Managing Death ( Death Works Trilogy #2) by Trent Jamieson  - This sounds really cool.  It's the second book in the series and book one isn't available at my library.  I'll give this a try and see if I want to buy the rest of the books. Witchy Read My choice: Cackle by Rachel Harrison - You know what, I think this sounds perfect for the season! Murder Mystery My choice: ...

On Fridays, I participate in the weekly linkup called Friday Book Snippets, co-hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Olivia @ Bemused and Bookish .  The directions for are pretty simple.  Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a. the book's beginning and b. page 56 (or another page) in the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. Join the fun every Friday.  Previously, this was The Friday 56 hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Rose City Reader . Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my SeasonAthon Academy Semester Five books,  The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle .  This YA mystery thriller sounds like it will be something else. Beginning: "It's time," said Oscar, flinging off his comforter. 56: Lights out was actually being enforced. Are you participating in this challenge?  Have you read this book?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting below!

On Fridays, I participate in the weekly linkup called Friday Book Snippets, co-hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Olivia @ Bemused and Bookish .  The directions for are pretty simple.  Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a. the book's beginning and b. page 56 (or another page) in the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. Join the fun every Friday.  Previously, this was The Friday 56 hosted by  Anne @ HeadFullofBooks  and  Rose City Reader . Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my SeasonAthon Academy Semester Five books,  The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton .  It's been awhile since I've read a Michael Crichton book, but this does sound intriguing. Beginning: Forty minutes out of London, passing through the rolling green fields and cherry orchards of Kent, the morning train of the South Eastern Railway attained its maximum speed of fifty-four miles an hour. 56: Even less comm...

Happy Saturday everyone!  I know it's only the first week of September, but my books came in really early and I got to them first thing this month.  I've now completed 18 tasks for Book Riot's 2026 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed in September required me to r ead a   nonfiction book about AI or social media  and a  book by an intersex author.   I selected  Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater  and  Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month:   ❋ ❋ ❋ Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater  is an important work of social justice nonfiction for teens.  There is quite a bit of important information and narratives that help make the work of nonfiction more accessible....