I went to my local indie for a little bit of dopamine and the tagged book fell into my hands. It‘s totally the fault of @vivastory (that‘s my story and I‘m sticking to it).
Also, I need someone(s) to read House of Day, House of Night with me. I miss having an IRL book club sometimes. 😩

December‘s #bookspin bingo board and potential TBR (primary and a couple mini add-ons). I‘m going to try to be slow and relaxed about reading this month, but there‘s a lot I want to read and am excited about, so we‘ll see how things go.

I was disappointed with this month‘s Aardvark selections and was going to skip. Tracy‘s review of the tagged book had me curious, but leery. Then I saw that Scott said it was one of his favorites this year and how am I supposed to resist that? I added a book that I didn‘t pick up in July (you know, when I was trying to be good and only pick one).

Slowing down and doing other things is working well for me. I only finished 6, which is about half of what I averaged earlier in the year, but I loved almost everything I finished. They‘re all so different that I can‘t pick a favorite. I‘ll definitely take quality over quantity.

Every time I finish one of these I‘m reminded of why I did not like them as a child. Even as an adult, I fail to solve more than half. 🤣🤣 While we don‘t have the random teeth collection, this one gives us recovered false teeth for reward money (eew), plenty of Bugs Meany and friends, and more Sally sass than ever. Love to see her.
#ebbr

This is well-written and grabbed my attention early on. I found it to be freezer-worthy and only read it at night when I got near the end and had to know whodunnit and which of the residents (if any) make it out alive. I switched between print and audio so I could work on a new blanket, and January LaVoy‘s narration is excellent. This is also my November #bookspin.

I can‘t believe it‘s almost December and this is the last #bookspin of 2025. Categories worked well for November, so I‘m going with a slightly modified list, heavy on the categories.

I look forward to this every year. Thank you for hosting this again @monalyisha
It‘s such a bright spot on the year. 💖💖
#auldlangspine2026

I wanted something light to crochet by and this Hoopla find was perfect. It‘s a great small English murder village cozy mystery featuring older, female protagonists. There‘s rivalry between charity shops (one for dogs, one for cats), charming side characters, and a decent mystery. Fans of The Thursday Murder Club and The Marlow Murder Club will probably like this, too. OH! Zara Ramm narrates the audio. She‘s one of my faves.

I‘m on a roll this weekend. This was a fun fake-dating holiday rom-com. It‘s spicy, and more importantly, filled with great characters and solid writing. I don‘t think anything billionaire romance truly feels believable, but the fantasy is fun and you can‘t help but root for Fable and Wilder. This is all the NetGalley backlist title I chose for #doublespin

I think this is my favorite one to date! We had at least one off-page #NNK, kidnappings, near-drownings, ghosts, mediums, and QUICKSAND!!!!!!! Seriously, this was absolutely DELIGHTFUL. Ned and Carson both had a lot more page time. Bess, George, Hannah, and even Nancy‘s dog got in on the action. There was the obligatory fat-shaming of Bess early on, but no harmful racist language or stereotypes. So 👏🏻Much 👏🏻Fun!
#nancydrewbr

QUICKSAND!! 🤣🤣🤣

#nancydrewbr

I didn‘t find this one quite as immersive and difficult to put down as the first, but Wells is an incredibly gifted storyteller. There‘s plenty of action and deep history of the world Wells created. If the real world wasn‘t such a mess, I probably would have loved this more and finished it faster. Kudos to Wells for keeping me coming back.

I‘ve had tears in my eyes and a grin on my face all day. #wdncw This is resistance and hope. F*** trump and MAGA and billionaires and patriarchy and capitalism. I‘m so proud of NYC and all of the other cities and states that voted against fascism.

November‘s #bookspin is a title on my bookshelf that starts with A-M and #doublespin is a 2025 NetGalley backlist title. Hopefully this is flexible enough for success. 🤞🏻Thanks for making this such a flexible challenge, Sarah!

I have struggled to read anything this month, so I‘m making my November #bookspin list almost nothing but categories. It feels like cheating, but I‘m hoping this will be more successful for me since the country is still burning. 😭

I‘m late to everything this month. 😩 I managed to solve only one case, but in my defense (do I need one?) some of the solutions relied on inaccuracies, and some relied on selective clues. The Case of the Growling Dog irritated me, and The Case of the Tooth Puller made me queasy. But, half-assed solves aside, this has some of the fun analogies that always make me laugh, so it wasn‘t a total waste of an hour. 🤪 #ebbr

Annual reread complete. I‘ve read this every year since 2019 and it still makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I adore this graphic novel. I hope it never feels old or stale.

I‘m late finishing this one for #nancydrewbr and I think I have another potentially #unpopularopinion. 😂 I was surprised to see this with a 33% rating and I enjoyed it for exactly the reasons many hated it. While I have major objections to the Romany stereotypes and the pejorative used to name them, I liked that the mystery didn‘t involve a lot of secret rooms and exploding oranges. The side characters were awful, but that was part of the charm.

Rounding out my #bannedbooksweek reading with this illustrated overview of Palestinian history and culture. There‘s a lot of great info here, in bite sized pieces, from geography to cultural symbols, food, arts, history, and well-known poets, authors, and journalists. It‘s a really important book that showcases the rich history and culture of a people being othered and erased.

I feel rather shamed by all of the Threads posts about how we “should” be reading banned books by living, marginalized authors, instead of the “classics”. I‘ve ditched my original list for books by Black and Palestinian authors actively being banned/challenged. I‘ve only got bandwidth for picture books, but this was a great one about belonging and finding a place in the world. The illustrations are beautiful.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, and inspiring poems set to gorgeous illustrations. There‘s pain here, but also strength and hope. I haven‘t read the adult version of the 1619 Project, yet, but it‘s on my TBR.

I‘m not sure how this got on my radar, but it‘s a cute, quick MG graphic novel. Ellie is orphaned and sent to live with aunts she doesn‘t know it turns out her aunts are witches and living with them awakens her powers. The story is a little choppy, but it‘s a debut, so I imagine the future issues are more polished, have better flow. The artwork is good, though, and I like the coloring as well.

#wdncw (on a Saturday)

I‘m in a mood. What can I say? I had the worst migraine I‘ve had in more than a month yesterday and it broke my cup of care. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The second half of 2025 is turning into the year of disappointments. I loved Volume 8. This one is just okay. Ish. The story feels incredibly disjointed and there‘s something wrong with the artwork that I can‘t put my finger on. It‘s like the character appearances keep changing or different artists are drawing their own sections. It‘s still Lore Olympus, so yay for Persephone and Hades, but it‘s just blah. 😭

After a rotten couple of days, I went to my happy place for some self-soothing. I have two preorders coming Tuesday, but I wanted the journal today. This edition of Hekate is gorgeous. The top two are Banned Books Week potentials I don‘t already own. Witchcraft is my Indie‘s challenge book for October, the Osman is self-explanatory, and This Princess was a bookseller recommendation. I‘m still sad, but now I‘m sad with new books, which is a win.

This is a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form. Cute, a little spicy (open door but not explicit), with a sweet HFN. It gets bonus points for Elf, the MMC‘s dog. Big points for Elf. I adored Clara, the FMC and all of the townspeople are precious. If you like grumpy/sunshine or the softness of Hallmark Christmas movie, you‘ll probably enjoy this one. It was the book hug I needed.

TFW you‘ve had a shitty couple of days at a work conference and your current read, a rom-com, slaps you in the face with how you feel.

Rude.

My October “should read” TBR is excessive. This is a pared down version with Banned Books Week, bookspin/double spin, LTER ARCs, Nancy Drew & Encyclopedia Brown buddy reads, and my two annual October reads. We‘ll see how much I get through. I have two library books due back in less than a week and there‘s still 150+ people waiting on that Slaughter, so that one feels “now or never”, but I have 3 more books currently in progress. 😮‍💨

A little late posting my board by here it is. My #bookspin is a NetGalley ARC and #doublespin is a much anticipated October new release. The board looks very kind, so maybe I‘ll manage a #bookspinbingo even if I don‘t read a ton this month. 🤞🏻

I‘ve been at a work conference in Wrightsville Beach for the last three days, so I‘m a bit behind with turn-of-the-month. I intentionally read slower, released any stress over pub dates, and allowed myself to bail on things I wasn‘t enjoying, for the most part. So, I only finished 6 books. I‘m not sure how I feel about it, since I usually get through twice that, but it was really nice to be able to do other things without stressing over my TBR.

DELIGHTFUL! (Is that a bad thing to say about a book with a senior serial killer and a high body count?)

Fast-paced, clever, and surprisingly charming. I‘m so glad this was an Aardvark selection and even happier that I took a chance on it.

A little blah. None of these were particularly fun and a couple required more specialized knowledge, which I find unfair in a children‘s mystery collection. Adult me doesn‘t know some of this. Little me definitely would not have. Other than the drunk birds, which I found cruel, this was…fine? I don‘t mind being wrong or unable to guess the solution as long as the cases are fun. This was missing the lighthearted fun I‘ve come to expect. #ebbr

October‘s #bookspin list is complete. I‘ve opted to just do one list this year, instead of the extra Spooky Season “bonus” board I had last year. I‘ve been trying to intentionally slow my reading this month, and I‘m not sure if I want to continue the slow, less pressured pace, or if I want to get more books read. 🤔

I guess it‘s a good thing I haven‘t finished my #bookspin list for October, since I now have three more books to add. 😳

We do not care about Jimmy Kimmel. Disney is still canceled. We will be binge watching GBBO and British Sewing Bee, pretending 2025 does not exist. #wdncw

Mine is an unpopular opinion, but this did not work for me at all. The prose was tedious, repetitive, and cold. It did not pull me into the story at all. I never felt any reason to care for the characters or their romance and I could not buy into the insta-love of it all. I was hoping for a light holiday romance, and was disappointed. At least I didn‘t pay for it.

This was a delightful random pick from Libby. Mrs. Mandelbaum is a fascinating character and I appreciated not just her history, but the early history of criminal networks and law enforcement in 1800s New York. It‘s a short, easy listen, with a good narrator.

This is impossible for me to fairly rate, as I know I‘m the problem. It‘s definitely one of the more believable episodes, so I‘ll give it points for that, but I fell asleep twice. There was a lot of conveniently timed Ned intervention, and plenty of danger for all of the girls. Carson finds himself in trouble, too. George is exceptionally mean to Bess re: food at the very beginning, and I think that soured me on the whole thing. #nancydrewbr

I don‘t know which goddess Ava Morgyn struck a bargain with, but she has A Gift. This is dark and delicious, filled with magic, secrets, generational curses, and primordial goddesses. Morgyn‘s prose is sleek and sinuous, wrapping itself around you and dragging you into the depths of the story. In a dumpster fire of a world, it‘s almost a relief to be so absorbed in a book that reality ceases to exist, even if that world is dark and scary.

September‘s #bookspin bingo board. Creating these really is a bright spot in my month. Thank you Sarah!

Excited for both my #bookspin and #doublespin titles this month. I‘ve been trying to get to Poetry as Spellcasting for months and now have an excuse to make it a priority. The Ravenmaster is a book from @Mollyanna #auldlangspine2025 list and counts for my local indie‘s reading challenge prompt of nonfiction I know little about.

I only managed to finish 11 books this month. I bailed on 5, paused 2, and have 3 active current reads. On the bright side, I cleared 5 books of my NetGalley queue. The books that were good were really good, but that ones that were bad, were awful. 😭

If you‘re looking for an ego-filled memoir of an FBI agent‘s 25 year law enforcement career, along with his discovery of the usefulness of psychics and tuning into his own guides and intuition, you may enjoy this. I wanted and expected a book on the hunt for a serial killer, psychics included, not bits of that interspersed with other cases, like Michael Vick. Now I can‘t get The Lost Dogs book out of my head. Skip chapter 23 here. I skimmed it.

I cannot believe it‘s already time for a new #bookspin list. I‘m considering this a tentative list as there are a couple of titles I‘d like to get to this weekend. If I read anything from the list, I‘ll replace it with a category, either “libro fm challenge” or “feels like fall”. I‘m in the mood for a good autumnal read and I‘m open to suggestions/recommendations.
(Edited to replace book I started yesterday.)

This was a disappointing friends-to-lovers adventure. It has a The Lost City vibe, with cinematic prose, but it was predictable (and not in a good way), filled with profanity that felt forced and awkward, with characters that made irrational decisions. The MMC was also a jerk, who belittled the FMC when she called him out, so she doubts herself and excuses his behavior. The book isn‘t terrible, but it didn‘t work for me. #netgalley

Today has been a #terribletuesday (it‘s totally an Alexander Day and I‘m ready to move to Australia-IYKYK). To get me through the rest of this day, I‘m turning to a much beloved author and a favorite audiobook narrator (Simon Vance). My favorite thing about this one is all the time we get with “Mother Russia” Connie Sachs. I love Connie so much. So. Much.

With a 40% Litsy rating, I‘m clearly in the minority here but GAH! I adored this book and the characters, both the primary couple and their friends. The only people I didn‘t like are the ones I‘m not supposed to like. I laughed (so much so that I got side eye from Tash) and I cried. I identified with a lot of Eva‘s insecurities and I loved watching her and Rylie work towards their HEA. *happy sigh*

A cute cozy fantasy about a witch who works in a bookshop and who must undergo a month of heavy training to retake trials to retain her magic. It‘s got fun characters, some you love, some you love to hate. While not written with quite the same skill, if you like Sangu Mandanna‘s books, it‘s worth trying this one. Loved the audiobook narrator.

I can‘t believe I‘m saying this, but this is borderline so-so for me and I expected it to blow away the #CampLitsy competition. I‘m giving Cosby some grace to compensate for my mental state, but I‘m disappointed. It‘s dark, violent, and gritty, but unlike Blacktop Wasteland, ALL of the characters just annoy me endlessly. I wasn‘t surprised by any of the elements of the ending. They were all inevitable, not just predictable.