Hello, everyone! I’ve done this tag for the last few years (2023, 2024, 2025) and always have a lot of fun with it. So, I’m back again to talk about my firsts of 2026. It seemed like the right time since we are approaching the end of the first quarter of the year. This book tag was originally created by Tanya @girlxoxo.
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Today I’m participating in Top Ten Tuesday. This meme was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week there is a new theme/topic, and participants choose ten books that fit it.
This week’s theme is Books on My Spring 2026 to-Read List. I never got around to making a list for winter, but I actually did okay with my fall list. I read 8 out of the 10 books that I chose. Hopefully, this spring will be just as successful (or more). I’ve tried to make it a mix of older, recent, and upcoming releases. Let’s take a look at what I hope to read before spring is over… The covers link to the Goodreads page of each book in case something catches your eye!
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Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White. I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this one. A detective investigating a serial killer in late 1800’s Europe only to become obsessed with the prime suspect? Sign me up, especially since it includes fantasy elements. lol. Did I love this book as much as I expected to? Read on to find out!
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Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose, the second installment of the Nampeshiweisit series. While I didn’t adore the first book, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, I did enjoy it enough to want to see where the story went next. Did I like the direction in this sequel? Read on to find out!
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Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing The Witch Without Memory by Maithree Wijesekara, the second book in the Obsidian Throne series. I was excited to give this one a try despite not totally loving the first book. Did this sequel redeem the series for me? Read on to find out!
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Hello, everyone! Today marks a pretty special day for me, my 5th blogging anniversary. It’s been exactly five years since I published my first post on this blog! If you’d asked me then if I’d still be blogging in half a decade, I don’t think I would have said yes. lol. I started the site on a whim after getting back into reading. I’d experienced a lot of major life changes in a short period of time, and reading and blogging helped provide some structure and consistency to my life in those early days. Since then, I’ve written over 400 reviews, built a home library of well over 1000 books, and gotten to know so many great people in this blogging community. I’m eternally grateful for all of the joy blogging has brought into my life, even on the days where I have little to no motivation to write. 😊
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’ve decided to take a look back at my blogging journey so far. From some of the most popular posts and my most underrated reads to the posts that deserve more love and some disappointing books, let’s take a look at some highlights from the last five years.
Let’s start out with an easy one! My first post was a review of Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. When I first started blogging, most of my reading was Star Wars or Doctor Who books. So, it tracks that my first review would be from one of those two franchises. My last post was a review of Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead by K. J. Parker. As you can see, reviews have been a major focus of my blog from the very beginning and continue to be so. I’m also super happy to report that blogging has seriously expanded the types of books I read and review. While Star Wars and Doctor Who are still important to me, they make up a pretty small portion of my reading these days.
I’ve read A LOT of books in the last five years, 869 to be exact. So, it was a herculean task to pick one underrated book from each year. I managed it though! So, here they are:
My pick from 2021 is A TOUCH OF DEATH by Rebecca Crunden. This book was the start of a fantastic dystopian series, and the fact that it only has 237 ratings on Goodreads is absolutely criminal.
My pick from 2022 is YMIR by Rich Larson. This was a sci-fi retelling of Beowulf. The whole thing was so inventive and interesting, and the prose was a work of art. It deserves so much more love.
My pick from 2023 is CHARMING YOUNG MAN by Eliot Schrefer. This historical coming-of-age queer YA story was fantastic. It made me a bit obsessed with Proust, who was a notable side character in this story.
My pick from 2024 is a book I talk about any chance I get, THE PHOENIX BRIDE by Natasha Siegel. I adored this historical romance, and it deserves way more attention.
My pick from 2025 is THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS by Rowena Miller. The story did have some pacing problems and contrivances in the plot, but I adored the unique premise and how the setting was executed. It is worth the read alone for the setting of 1900 Paris at the World’s Fair.
I’ve written over 1,000 blog posts in the last five years. From book reviews and anticipated releases lists to weekly memes and bookish tags, I’ve done all sorts of posts. Some do a lot better than others. So, I thought it’d be fun to share some of my most view posts and others that I wish had gotten a bit more love.
I debated whether to include this section in the post because I didn’t want to be too negative. However, disappointment has obviously been a part of my journey over the last five years, and it felt a bit disingenuous to ignore it completely. So, here are five books that let me down in some way.
Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibanez, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley, The Lure of Their Graves by Laura R. Samotin, Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao, Half Lost by Sally Green
The scope of my reading was rather limited before I started blogging. I’ve been lucky to find so many new to me authors over the last five years, but some of them stand out above the others. Here’s a look at five favorite authors/books that I might never have read if not for being introduced to them through blogging/ARCs. These are all pretty much auto-buy authors for me at this point.
Jade City by Fonda Lee, A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, Babel by R.F. Kuang, The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton
Let’s wrap things up with one of the best parts of the blogging experience. I’ve been around long enough to see blogs be born and die out. lol. However, there are also some amazing blogs written by awesome people who’ve been in my corner consistently for a really long time. I don’t bounce around to visit other blogs as often as I’d like, but these five (actually six because I couldn’t narrow it down… lol) are ones I constantly gravitate toward when I’m in the mood to blog hop. So, go visit them and give them some love!
There you have it! My celebration of my 5th blogging anniversary. I still can’t quite believe it has been five years, but I hope to make it five more. I definitely have enough books on my shelves to last that long…😊
Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead by K. J. Parker, which was published back in January. I’ve been wanting to try Parker’s work for a while now. So, I couldn’t resist snapping up this ARC when it became available. What did I think of my first K. J. Parker book? Read on to find out!
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I’m a few days late with this post because I’ve been traveling. I’ve finally made it home and had a chance to sit down and think about what I want to read this month. Without further ado, let’s dive into my March 2026 hopefuls and a brief recap of my reading from last month!
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It’s the end of the month, which means it’s once again time to look ahead to some great upcoming book releases. I apologize in advance for the length of this post because March is absolutely stacked with books that I’m so excited to pick up. If you missed my list of February 2026 releases, you can find it HERE. Without further ado, here are 31 of my most anticipated March 2026 book releases (covers link to Goodreads):
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Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan, a new historical fantasy released on February 24, 2026. I was so excited to be approved for this ARC because the synopsis sounded brilliant. Read on to see if it lived up to the hype in my head. lol.
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