This was a little too much “dude bro“ for my tastes and the second half dragged on. There was definitely some humor but Kevin R. Free's narration was flawless and the only thing that kept me going.

I love a romance series where the main characters make each other better for having known each other. Cenric and Brynn this time go to the land where Cenric grew up where a foreign king is planning an invasion into their country. Lots of fun fantasy beasties and plenty of political and fighting action.

I'm terrible at actually remembering when my Litsyversary is so I'm glad there's always a post! I can't believe it's been six years since I found this wonderful community. Thank you to everyone that makes this place what it is!

I picked this up on the recommendation of an author I follow and I did enjoy it. This is a romance set in a fantasy world and I found the relationship believable even if it was on a romance novel timescale. I liked that in the end Brynn and Cenric strengthen each other and bring out their best selves.

On the surface this seems similar to Dungeon Crawler Carl but I think this has a less zany approach to existential threats and how to combat them. While this does comment on videogame culture there's less of the immersive LitRPG style of plot. Overall I read this in one day and thought that it had a nice balance of serious and humor.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. Pub Date 02/10/26

I totally forgot to post when I finished until i saw someone else mention theirs but I finished my 2025 book snake! I read 84 books in 2025 so this was a lot more work than i originally thought it would be. It was a lot of fun but there will be no 2026 book snake because I need a break lol. Genre key is in my initial post here https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2848107.
#CraftersOfLitsy

HAPPY #BOOKSPIN DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE!

I'm excited to get the New Year started by not falling behind on my bookspin draws! The tagged is my bookspin and my double is Way Station. I have high hopes for 2026 so fingers crossed life doesn't get in the way of finishing.

I may not have finished all the draws from 2025 but I'm looking forward to beating my record in 2026! #BookSpin is my favorite day of the month. For 2026 I've decided to go with the same listing scheme that I did in 2025. List is sorted by page count with smaller books at the top. Here's to the new BookSpin year!

As always thanks to @TheAromaofBooks for hosting!

I was entertained by reading this but it felt very mid. I think part of it is because I'm not very knowledgeable about late 90s Russian culture. I did like the idea of a treaty between Light and Dark and keeping the balance and the overall theme of Destiny.

I may finish one more book tonight before the clock strikes midnight but I can already tell it wouldn't have beaten this months top pick. My top read of 2025 was The Will of the Many so now I really need to get on and read the sequel to see if it can sustain the momentum of the first. Looking back at the year I think my weakest reading month was October but still definitely read some solid books in 2025.

I always enjoy a Jemisin book and this was no exception. This was an interesting world where gods are enslaved by mortals and an outsider must find a way to survive among the cutthroat political elite. I've seen some criticisms because this is one of Jemisin's earlier works but I enjoyed it anyways. The first in a trilogy but stands alone well.

I seem to have caught a winter cough so Rolo is helping me recover as I read in bed. This book is interesting and kind of gives me the urban fantasy equivalent of The Last Wish vibes.

I found most of this interesting except for the one part where it veered into fiction. It's amazing he survived the attack so I found the recovery and his thoughts on the whole incident fascinating. I probably would never have picked this up if it wasn't for work book club though.

Was really intrigued by the world and its peoples. Slight bit of a cliffhanger ending but I'm not mad at it. Definitely will read on in the trilogy.

Very 80s epic fantasy. Narration was excellent and eventually I want to see where the story goes but I just don't have it in my for another 30+ hour audiobook right now.

Good intro to a popcorn scifi trilogy. Found family and an intriguing set up for the future installments without a drastic cliffhanger.

HAPPY #BOOKSPIN DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE!
I'm actually quite excited about the draw this month. My BookSpin is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which is newer to the list than my DoubleSpin (the tagged) which has been on the list for almost two years now. I'm quite a bit behind with the previous picks this year so I may need to make a pages a day chart which always makes me feel accomplished even when I don't adhere to it lol.

I can't believe it's almost time for the last #BookSpin draw of 2025! Because I organize my list based on page count there are more than two new contenders this month. I'm so hype to find out what the final books of the year will be.

Big Brother US is one of my summer guilty pleasures so I had a great time reading this. Armstrong is a very well known figure to many in the livefeed watching community so I was interested to see what his take on the show was. This is part deep dive analysis of 24 seasons of game strategy and part memoir as he relates how Big Brother has impacted his life.

Despite the war and chaos this series is still somewhat of a comfort read for me and this installment kept the same vibe as the previous ones. Carl and Donut are forced to make terrible decisions and the horrors are not glossed over so there's definitely some emotional heft. I have no clue where this series is going but I'm definitely all in.

It‘s the start of my weekend and Sierra, Rolo, and I are taking time out to read and be cozy.

I had a good time with this one and of course the dragons stole the show. It was also fun watching stuffy Laurence loosen up a bit as his relationship with Temeraire grows.

This is only my second foray into the flintlock fantasy genre and despite my reservations I find I'm kind of enjoying it? The magic systems in this one are intriguing but a lot of this is taken up by worldbuilding. There's a political theme but I cared more about finding out how the magic systems worked. I am curious how the rest of this series will go but not in an I have to find out immediately sort of way.

I know a lot of people don't like this series because it's not a Murderbot clone but I really enjoy my time in this world with these characters. Once again this is a dual timeline narrative and both were compelling looks at Kai and the gang. There was a sense of closure for the narrative arcs but still left room for the story to grow.

It‘s finally the weekend so now I can binge this. I‘m also excited to use the bookmark one of the ladies at my work book club made.

I actually read this some time last month but just realized I hadn't tracked it on any of the sites I use for tracking. This was a selection for my work book club dealing with postpartum psychosis and of all things beloved children's author Margaret Wise Brown. One of the ladies in my club actually experienced post partum psychosis and said this was the closest she's come to anyone expressing what it feels like while you are going through it.

I think I found this as a suggested title on a list of books about AI characters. I found this to be a quick and light read about an interplanetary courier who trains baby AIs on the side. The stakes are kind of high but the vibe leaned more to the cozy side. I did feel like it ended abruptly but was still good.

There's just something so comforting about hanging out with the Cooper's Chase crew. I love that we get to see more of Joanna and her thoughts in this one. As well as the progress Ibrahim is making with Connie as his 'patient'

This book is not perfect but it got me through a few commutes to work where I absolutely when patron drama made me absolutely not want to be there. The audio was fantastic because it was narrated by Tim Curry.

Rolo and I are enjoying some outside air while I start the latest Thursday Murder Club. He‘s got his Halloween friends and a ghost costume and that will be most of our Halloween celebrating because we don‘t usually get trick or treaters.

I can't believe it's almost time for the November #BookSpin draw! Because I've arranged spreadsheet that I pull the list from by page number I have four new books on the list for this month. They include the tagged, Annie Bot, Dead Silence, and Buffalo Hunter Hunter. I'm excited to see what the numbers are!

I read a lot of reviews after this that thought it was halfassed but I had a good time with it. There is a bit of learning curve as there are no traditional chapter breaks and a fair bit of timeline jumping but once I settled into that I was engaged. I also really liked the Dwellers.

I'll be honest there was a large portion of this book that I was seriously questioning what I was even listening to and not just because I was trying to get used to driving a manual transmission car again. The world is so unique and while there is a lot of bodily fluids and borderline body horror I was fascinated and wanted to know more. Very hero's journey with an amnesia trope in a hard to wrap your head around environment. Glad I stuck with it.

As the third in the trilogy I think it really stuck the landing but the journey to get there was a tad too long in this installment. It‘s actually taken me a day or so to really sit with the fact that my time with this world and these characters is over.

Solid middle installment to the trilogy. I liked the first book more but this gave me the same vibes I get from The Empire Strikes Back and that's my favorite Star War lol.

In the beginning the world building kind of is a slow burn to understanding but I quickly became invested in the characters. I also did this in audio and the narrator was really good.

This series could easily have gone down the road into a gimmicky mess but there is a lot of depth to the characters that make you stick around for more despite the absolutely over the top world. We see more of the toll that the constant fight for survival is taking on Carl and his fellow crawlers. There's not a big cliffhanger on this one but it's still going to be hard to wait for the next installment.

This serious continues to be very comforting in a time of real world dumpster fires. Carl and Donut are on the sixth floor and we start to see the true emotional toll that fighting for survival is taking. I like that this could have been a cheesy video game book but instead goes for real character growth and emotional stakes.

This was another solid installment to the series. I think in this one we see more of just how hard it is to stick to your values in the fight against oppression. Carl and Donut are still fighting for their lives against absolutely insane challenges. I will say in this one the epilogue was interesting because it was not in Carl and Donut's perspective but rather dealt with things happening outside the dungeon. It led to an interesting cliffhanger.

I'm finding this strangely comforting in the dumpster fire of today's socio-political climate. Carl is fighting the system by staying true to his values and building community which is inspiring. Things are absolutely over the top and kind of gory but I'm having a good time seeing Carl, Donut and their team try to figure out how to survive the weird things that are thrown at them.

For a novella I feel like this really packs a punch. You just have to be able to get past the absolute brutal nature of the poaching scenes in the beginning. I found this a little confusing in the beginning due to not knowing exactly what time certain POVs were from. Definitely an interesting concept.

While this wasn't as good as the first book it still has the core things I loved about the first in it. I get the hype and why this is kind of an addictive series. And I still love the principal theme of sticking to your core values even when the world is a dumpster fire.

I've never read litRPG before so I wasn't sure what I was going to find in this but I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging I found this. Carl and Donut were great leads to follow and I liked that Carl continued to follow his values despite the outrageous circumstances he found himself in.

We‘re in the middle of another heatwave but the dog wants yard time so I grabbed my book, found the shade, and drank some tea. At least there was a nice breeze.
#DogsOfLitsy

I can't believe it's almost time for another #BookSpin draw! New to the list this month is the tagged and Severance. I still have a hefty backlog of this years picks to read but I've kind of been in a little reading slump this month. Hopefully the new draw will bring me reading inspiration and take me out of this slump!

I'll be the first to admit historical fiction is not really my thing. I did appreciate the story but it never really fully engaged me. I also found it hard to believe that identical twins would have such vastly different capabilities which took me out of the story. I'm sure people that love historical fiction would have a good time with this it's most likely a case of me not the book.

At times this was absolutely rage inducing but I still loved it overall. This is a story about collective trauma, coercive forgetting, and ultimately collective healing. Alex's story is tough and rage inducing but also one of hope and acceptance.

HAPPY #BOOKSPIN DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE!
I‘m excited by the draw but also my worst fear came true as both picks this month are the chonkiest on the list! It was the number one downside to organizing my list in order of page count lol. This month my bookspin is the tagged and my double is The Dragonbone Chair.

I use the #BookSpin list for titles from a long-term, ten-year plan challenge I'm doing. This month I had to kind of re-strategize the list because I'm running out of physical books to use and am having to switch to more digital titles. New to the list this month are three titles: the tagged, The Promise of Blood, and You Sexy Thing. I'm also still working on my backlog of this year's previous draws.

I did not expect to love this as much as I did. There's just something so special about watching found families form.