#12booksof2025 : August

Everytime I read urban fantasy I wonder why I spend time in any other genre 🤩 I made good progress with Mercy & Co in 2025 - to the point where my series finishing avoidance is kicking in BUT this was a delightful entry - we got Adam‘s POV for the first time and just the way past storylines were built on, just some great character development.

#12booksof2025

July came with the option of buddy reading this horror mystery tale and I‘m so glad I took it up.

I love it when a book keeps me guessing and Uketsu had me bamboozled and I loved every minute of it!

#12booksof2025

Halfway through the year & my favourite book of June was a stunning West African inspired fantasy novel - which admittedly hooked me with a comparison to Howl‘s Moving Castle & an absolutely stunning cover BUT the story itself is absolutely glorious and I look forward to reading more by the author.

#12booksof2025

May bought me this book and I really needed it, life had derailed in ways I didn‘t see coming and I definitely processed some big feelings while I was listening to this on my walk to and from work.

It‘s one that‘s on my reread pile.

#12booksof2025

The Animorphs series in general has been a highlight for me this year - originally published in 1997, Little Me was too busy reading Baby Sitters Club books to even give these a second look 🤣 and I really missed out! Better late than never!

The storylines are often bonkers and the themes are BIG and often heavy but there‘s always some banter and great friends to soften the blow…

#12booksof2025

My favourite book from March was this debut fairytale from Australian author, Kell Woods. It‘s a blend of many tales but the central character is Greta and follows what happens to her, post gingerbread cottage.

#12booksof2025

My favourite read for February had Practical Magic vibes (sisters with unusual abilities) but YA and set in a small Appalachian town with a Winged Moth Man haunting the hollow and causing all sorts of problems and dragging many secrets (some years old) to the surface.

#12booksof2025

My favourite January read was this gothic fever dream of a novel (and I mean, it‘s also a contender for best cover 😍) this had me in a chokehold the entire time - from finding it at the library to reading the last page.

I love when the internet comes together to be obsessed with something.

(Art by Gabrielle Drolet, found via Instagram)

I got a little distracted by watching the new Taskmaster Champion of Champions episode - because some true icons were competing - I made myself a cup of tea and devoured the chocolate ⭐️

Thank you to my Santa @MrsMalaprop - everything is beautiful and I look forward to reading both books.

The Amber Owl & The Incandescent have both been looking forlornly at me all throughout the year, so now that I have them at home…

#aussiesecretsanta

Ok well, it took me a minute to remember where I stashed this (I yeeted it right to the back of bottom shelf of my pantry. Totally normal spot) AND now it‘s opening time!

Merry Christmas Eve to my fellow #AussieSecretSanta‘s

I read this book so slowly because I was so sure that it was going to hurt my feelings… and it did BUT it was worth it. All the threads of this story get woven in so beautifully, right down to the last overdue library book.

I got this book for my birthday and was lucky enough to buddy read it - and hating on Vivian Rolfe together was such a beautiful experience - as Vivian is one of the best written villains, I have ever read.

⬇️

Well WELL well

(Colour me unsurprised)

I almost returned this unread, as I could see there was quite a few people waiting on it - but happily, I pushed play - and ended up discovering one of my favourite books of the year.

Marisa is someone I found, somewhat uncomfortably, relatable. Her life looks good on paper but the reality doesn‘t quite match up. I empathised and laughed out loud on several occasions (especially the part with the out of office emails).

Now that I‘ve had my birthday - I can concentrate on Christmas…

We are a week out from #aussiesecretsanta opening day - so this is my last check in. I‘m hoping everything is either in transit or received…

Unrelated but I love this statue, and I couldn‘t resist taking a photo when I saw the Santa hat when I wandered past it on Wednesday.

Didn‘t land as well for me as the first book - but I still find the basic premise of astrology and cats offering to read your natal chart and give you life advice quite appealing 🤭 (it also kind of made me want to listen to Aquarius by Aqua and Aquarius/Let the sunshine in by The Fifth Dimension)

Birthday adventures!!!

I‘ve been looking forward to this exhibition ever since I found out about it - and it did not disappoint! I love planning a little birthday travel adventure - and was able to convince my Mum to come with me (she‘s the OG Ken Done lover in the family so it was only fitting!) - Sunshine Coast not having daylight savings confused us so bad 🤣 the sun set just after 6pm and we were like, what has happened?! lol

Prison Break : Penric will try basically anything to put a ring on Nikys‘s finger edition.

Putting Penric in situations is always a good time (and this was no exception as those situations just kept on coming)

A Christmas time reread - even though I remembered how the puzzle pieces went together, I really enjoyed revisiting.

Hey #AussieSecretSanta‘s I‘ve been a bit lax with checking in - my Nana passed out in the heat last week and ended up fracturing some neck vertebrae, things were pretty scary for a hot minute but have started to improve (although a neck brace for summer was not on her Christmas wish list) however my brain is still 🫠 (2025 has been traumatic)

How we all doing? Parcels starting to arrive? Mine arrived today and it does look super tempting 👀

If you take the library staff out of the library… the results is not going to be good.

If you are in Melbourne, there is a rally next weekend. If you are concerned about the general direction of this decision, there is a petition campaign being run by CPSU Victoria ⬇️

https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/hands-off-our-state-library?

This is an odd sort of book - from it‘s no frills cover to the transcript style that it‘s presented in.

I‘m not a true crime reader generally so I don‘t really have anything to compare this to. I think it‘s a bit lacking because it was initially conceived as a podcast and it has instead ended up as a book - but I found the discussion interesting as all the authors bring quite a lot of experience to the telling.

This book was a fascinating character study about someone who feels invisible in the world latching on to the life of a complete stranger and trying unsuccessfully and with mixed results to befriend them. Obviously it starts on shaky ground, and boy do things slowly but surely escalate.

Short, quirky and ultimately pretty unsettling.

That feeling when you wrap the presents, can‘t find the Christmas cards and then entirely forget to pick them up when you leave for work in the morning 🫣 (they were in a bag near the front door and everything)

#AussieSecretSanta - hopefully this will be coming to a post office tomorrow! And I know a couple are already in transit! Love that!

It‘s finally time to break this beauty out!

Day 1 was a book mail rubber postage stamp 😍 I‘m taking that to work with me (because that‘s my nearest stamp pad)

Thanks @LapReader - this was part of my #aussiesecretsanta gift from you ❤️

What is a power surge that knocks phones and internet out on a workday if not an opportunity to knock off early and go shopping?!

I took the opportunity to pop into my local indie bookstore and choose the books for my #aussiesecretsanta! And well, there was a shoe shop with a 25% sale on right next door 👀

Then a little salad haul from the green grocer and I‘m strolling home, happy that I‘m not navigating peak hour traffic!

I was super pumped to get a (digital) ARC for this and then promptly fell down into the depths of the dreaded reading slump and barely read anything for a month. This book helped me claw my way out of it.

I adored this, I love how CG puts sentences together,
I love gothic, I love botanical horror, I love reading the same book as my friend and texting unhinged theories… all in all just a good time!

I needed the shelf trophy, obviously 🤣

Today in libraryland, a kid felt compelled to infodump some “fun” facts from a history book that included that the hammer & sickle are a symbol known around the world AND that a picture of WW2 soldiers hanging out of train windows for last hugs was “weird and unsafe behaviour” at a loss for what to say, my reply was… well war isn‘t exactly safe either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ & then friends, I bailed (the Christmas fiction display wasn‘t going to refill itself)

My Ariana Grande obsessed sister has been disappointed with me for at least a year because I didn‘t see Wicked in cinema… I said I‘d wait for the second one to come out… which is how I‘ve found myself at a double feature 🤭 who wants to go to bed early on a Sunday? Leaving the cinema at midnight is way more fun!

There‘s insta love and there‘s whatever the heck happened in this book. It‘s not a bad read, it‘s just needed to be a novel to allow for character development and depth because otherwise it‘s very Girl, WHAT are you doing?

👀

It was all pretty cute and less chaotic than I expected! The cake looked amazing but you could tell which guests it was for once it started to get cut up.

It was Teddy Bears Picnjc themed which is why the birthday girl is wearing a lovely gingham bow and Teddy bear ears.

It‘s stormy weather today and instead of getting cozy and settling down with a book, I‘m off to a teddy bears picnic themed birthday party for my neighbours dog…

The millennials dilemma : do I spend my evening listening to West End Girl or The Princess Knight (which takes its inspiration from Legally Blonde)

A hauntingly claustrophobic read with an unreliable protagonist who has been living alone in a secluded area after a pandemic sweeps the nation, causing eye contact to drive people to into mindless homicidal rages. And then one day, Riley meets a man in the woods - a new neighbour - and things start to unravel or maybe the unraveling simply speeds up?

This was a short and snappy read because one just simply needed to know what was happening!!

Matches have been sent out #AussieSecretSanta‘s - please let me know if something doesn‘t look right or if nothing has come through.

The answer to the chocolate question appears in a bolder font.

Remember to send parcels out by the 6th December so that they arrive in time for a Christmas Eve opening.

Now‘s a good time to spruce up your Litsy TBR in case your Santa needs some inspiration.

An early birthday present from a friend who lives on the other side of the world who did get a bit stressed that the Australian release date for this would arrive before the book did (funnily enough it arrived day of). Genuinely hilarious getting a text suggesting that I stay out of bookshops 🤣 This is one of my most anticipated books of the year.

🐻🥣

An important and timely read - devastating that she‘s no longer here to see the impact this book will have and to see the tide finally turn on a certain British royal.

She mentions being at the Louvre and being particularly moved by this sculpture, The Winged Victory of Samothrace (or Niké of Samothrace) and buying a smaller version from the gift shop for her study - a small moment of joy amongst a sea of pretty harrowing depositions.

Online shopping is getting a little out of control 🫣

I can totally build this by myself…

It‘s a dangerous business, reading the emails Blackwell‘s sends me… especially when the book that snags my attention doesn‘t even come up with a “notify me” option on Libby… WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO?
(Obviously in this instance I went right ahead and ordered it since this is a #bookmail post, the photo does not do the gold foil justice, I‘ll have to wait for the sun to try again)

My Nana turned 90 this week, and we are having a little party for her this weekend. I think she‘d like people to stop saying 90 in general 🤣 she doesn‘t like being the centre of attention and she‘s requested no speeches or presents… so I‘ve gone for her favourite black tea and a willingness to elbow my grandpa if he stands up to make a speech…

It's that time of the year again! If you are wanting some bookish festive fun and live in Australia - this is it!

Fill out the form : https://forms.gle/7SEQ42n4MnoKGCnN7

Form closes : 14th November 2025, with matches sent out soon after

Tagging previous #AussieSecretSanta‘s but new Aussie Secret Santas would be very welcome!

On one hand, 👏 to Maria V. Snyder for having a book still be in print and being available in mainstream bookstores, 20 years after it was first published…

But on the other hand…. Wtf have they done to the cover?

I‘m not a coffee drinker, I don‘t like the taste of hot coffee… but iced coffee is a slightly different story… even though there is a reasonably high chance of heart palpitations 😅 let‘s go Monday!!

I‘ve already read a couple of chapters of an ARC at my desk before switching over to some actual work (boring, I know) and some audiobook.

Lunch and then it‘s time for my customer facing desk shift - understaffed!!! 😜

The book slump I‘ve been on the verge of for months has finally got the better of me… none of my audiobook options appeal, I‘m part way through 13 books and feel little incentive to pick them back up (even though they are all books I was quite enjoying). I am not having a good time right now.

Ended up being a bit of a dull list, imo.
I‘ve read 7.

List : https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books

Trent Dalton‘s Boy Swallows Universe coming in at #1 made me laugh - I haven‘t read any of his books but I have been the recipient of a passionate anti-Dalton rant from a librarian AND I think of the phrase “he is the definitive novelist of Scott Morrison‘s Australia” every time he comes up.

I love the gentle way that K. O‘Neill‘s stories unfold. In this one, two people with very different outlooks on life, gradually become friends and help each other reach their full potential through kindness and acceptance. I mean - there is also a flying horse called Kestral…

I was going through my rather neglected emails and saw one from Reactor which said that Alix‘s forthcoming novel, The Everlasting, tied in with this stunning short story, which I first read in 2023 and has haunted me ever since - so obviously needed to reread it immediately. If you need me, I‘ll be staring thoughtfully at the nearest wall.