Tag: Book blogger

January 2026 Wrap Up

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January Wrap Up graphic on a snowy background

Alexis: 

I’m happy to say that I read 7 books in January! What a way to start off the year.

January felt like it was 10,000 years long. After being exposed to Covid, I quarantined for a week, though I’m grateful I never caught it. And then we got a bad snowstorm and I was stuck inside for another week. Needless to say, I had a lot of time on my hands.

One of my goals for this year is to actually watch more TV and read slightly less (I know, a crazy goal). On top of the books I read, I also watched Heated Rivalry (and Reheated Rivalry; if you get it, you get it) People We Meet on Vacation, and the first half of Bridgerton Season 4. It was definitely a good month for TV adaptations—I loved all of them.

I’m planning on writing longer reviews of The Everlasting and The Poet Empress, so look out for those!

  1. The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow: Time travel isn’t usually my jam, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this book. Harrow crafts a beautiful, moving story in a historical, WWI-esque fantasy world with a knight and a scholar who get tangled up in time—and love.
  2. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid: I read this after watching the show, of course. My library happened to have an e-book copy available (I’m not sure how, but I grabbed it). The dialogue is almost exactly the same, so I could hear the actors’ voices in my head as I read this. 
  3. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center: This was a reread. It’s Center’s Covid project, so it felt right to read it during my quarantine. It’s a hilarious, ridiculous kind of rom-com that I really needed. It’s also being adapted into a movie!
  4. What Wakes the Bells by Elle Tesch: This is very atmospheric YA fantasy that I just wanted more from, but I enjoyed the vibes.
  5. The Poet Empress by Shen Tao: What a debut! This is a dark, brutal historical fantasy with poetry magic and plenty of political/court intrigue. 
  6. The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten: I finished a trilogy! This is the final book in The Nightshade Crown series. 
  7. The Long Game by Rachel Reid: This is the sequel to Heated Rivalry. It’s definitely deeper than the first book, and I enjoyed learning what happens to Shane and Ilya (though I’m banking on the show improving the wedding scene in Season 2).

I hope you all had a good reading start to the year and have some great reads planned!

Alexis’ Top 10 Reads Of 2025

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Alexis' top 10 of 2025

Alexis:

I hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve! I made Earl Grey hot chocolate and watched While You Were Sleeping, so it was a nice and cozy way to ring in the new year. 

I read 60 books and 24,365 pages in 2025. While I rated more books 5 stars than just the ones listed below, here are my top 10 reads of 2025 (in no particular order). If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve written reviews for most of them! Here’s to a great 2026, and I hope you all read some great books!

  1. Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross
  2. The Summers Between Us Noreen Nanja
  3. The Floating World by Axie Oh
  4. The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh
  5. Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue 
  6. Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat  
  7. Red City by Marie Lu
  8. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 
  9. First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison  
  10. Harvest of Hearts by Andrea Eames

Review: The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers

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The Bookshop Below with a holiday mug

Alexis: 

Welcome to my last book review of the year! The Bookshop Below was also my last read of 2025. This year felt like the longest year ever, yet somehow December is already coming to a close. Time is weird that way.

Look out for my top 10 books of the year, and Anna’s, as well! My nephew is 9 months old now, and I know Anna is hoping to write more book reviews next year.

When I read The City of Stardust, Georgia Summers’ debut, I remembered being shocked at how low of a rating it has on Goodreads. This is a reminder that if a book sounds interesting to you, pick it up and try it! Some of the most underrated books I’ve read have 3.50-3.70 star ratings on Goodreads and Storygraph. Sitting at 3.62 stars, The Bookshop Below is similar. 

It starts off with a bang, and I immediately thought that this was a story right up my alley.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it’s a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.

For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors.

Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s this: the bookshop must always have an owner.

The Bookshop Below has:

  • Magical bookshops
  • Unique ink/reading magic
  • Feuding bookshop owners
  • A morally grey main character with a history of thieving
  • A magical cat
  • A murder mystery
  • A romantic subplot 

Summers’ writing style is gorgeously lyrical and literary. I love her descriptions, and the cozy atmosphere of Chiron’s bookshop is perfect. The overall atmosphere of the story leans more on the dreamy, mysterious side and turns a little more sinister with the murder mystery and feuding bookshop owners. 

Cassandra is a fascinating character, and I enjoyed her character arc and watching her backstory unfold and come back to haunt her. Likewise, a bookseller named Lowell was an interesting side character with a compelling character arc. (Did I mention there’s a magical cat?)

While this story isn’t perfect, no story is. The middle of this book dragged a little. Summers’ writing works best when character-driven, so the plot suffered for a bit.

I saw a few reviews mentioning that the magic system was confusing. However, the magic system is definitely a soft and not hard magic system, and I enjoyed the way Summers’ integrated it into the story without chunks of exposition. I figured it out with context clues, and I think that worked best with the mysterious vibes of the book.

In conclusion, I love Summers’ writing. The beginning and ending of this book packed a punch. And I’m still thinking about it. If you’re looking for a story with plenty of book magic and don’t mind a slower, more mysterious story, then this one might be up your alley, too.

VERDICT: 📚📚📚📚/5

Review: Blue Willow by Ki Stephens

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Blue Willow rests on a bookshelf next to a pumpkin

Alexis:

I’m happy that I got to read a digital ARC of Blue Willow, a magical realism romance that arrives on December 5, 2025.

Synopsis:

Coming home was never part of the plan.

Leaving again might be even harder.

When Elsie Hart returns to Blue Willow for the first time in eight years, it’s only to settle her grandmother’s estate—not to rekindle old memories or untangle the magic she’s worked hard to forget. But the inn she once loved is more stubborn than it looks. So is the man who’s been keeping it alive.

Wells Rourke never wants to leave. He’s spent the last few years patching the inn back together with his own two hands and the quiet certainty that Elspeth Hart didn’t just pour her heart into the walls; she left something behind. Something that’s worth keeping alive.

Elsie wants a clean break and a fast sale. Wells wants her gone before she can rip apart what’s left. But the house has other plans. As winter deepens and long-dormant feelings surface, the two of them are drawn into a tug-of-war not just over the keys to the inn, but over the pieces of themselves they thought they’d long buried.

In a town where quiet magic lingers, some people—and some places—will never stop waiting for you to come home.

Review:

Blue Willow is steeped in winter imagery and winter vibes. The setting perfectly captures the cold yet coziness of many winter nights, and it made me look forward to the holidays.

And a magic inn? I’m a sucker for semi-sentient houses. The magic of the inn was cozy and present without being over the top, and I really enjoyed it. While I wish we almost got even more about the magical town itself, I really loved what we did learn about the setting (can you tell I’m a sucker for small town romances and a sprinkle of magic?).

The story is told in dual POVs and switches between Elsie and Wells. I enjoyed both of their perspectives, and the romance between them was sweet. I also appreciated how they’re both dealing with realistic situations and feelings. 

While I was reading this, my own grandma passed away. The theme of grief, as Elsie deals with the death of her grandma, ended up being very personal and poignant, so this book hit me a little harder than it would’ve otherwise. 

VERDICT: ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️/5

Thanks so much to author Ki Stephens for my ARC in exchange for a review!

Review: Exo by Colin Brush

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Exo with a coffee cup in a car

Alexis:

Exo comes out on November 18th, 2025!

A debut sci-fi mystery set on an abandoned future Earth, featuring a twisty mystery straight out of a John le Carré novel, a group of larger-than-life characters who’d be at home in the work of John Scalzi, and a deeply weird and dangerous hyperdimensional entity to haunt the dreams of any reader of Kim Stanley Robinson.

Humanity is dying. Banished from the Earth, our descendants eke out lives in orbital habitats and moon colonies–and look with longing on our former home.

But Earth is uninhabitable. Over hundreds of years, its oceans have transformed into an annihilating liquid entity––the Caul. Every living creature approaching its shores is irresistibly compelled to enter. . . and is never seen again.

Scientists working in facilities seek to understand and stop the Caul. And scavenging the shores are the penitents––those who resist its siren lure.

In Exo, Brush explores a myriad of classic sci-fi themes, including environmentalism and what it means to be human. 

The Caul itself was almost impossible to picture, yet Brush’s descriptions mirror the alien vastness of the invading substance. I’ve read sci-fi books with post-apocalyptic Earths before, but the Caul was a very unique and fascinating entity. 

The story goes back and forth in timelines. In the present timeline, Mae, an old woman and ex-policewoman, finds rogue scientist Carl dead—murdered—and his daughter, Sofria, on her own. In the past timeline, we’re reading Carl’s scientific and personal diary entries about his arrival on Earth and study of the Caul. 

I did enjoy this book as a whole; however, it’s not really a twisty murder mystery. Exo is a scientific, mathematical kind of sci-fi book. While it is gritty, it’s a haunting, slow moving book that you have to read slowly to ponder over. The murder mystery and investigation take a backseat to the Caul and Mae trying to help Sofria, and nothing really gets solved until the very end of the book. Yet I enjoyed learning about the Caul, Mae and Sofria, and Brush’s prose, and the ending was satisfying!

Thanks so much to Diversion Books for my ARC in exchange for a review! ⁣

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐.5 /5 

Review: The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh

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The Demon and the LIght on a Kindle and a matcha latte rest on a marble table

Alexis:

Happy Pub Day! 

Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in The Demon and the Light, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Axie Oh’s The Floating World.

The battle is over, but the war is just beginning…

The Demon and the Light is the sequel to The Floating World, which I read an ARC of in early 2025 and really enjoyed. I’m happy to say that The Demon and the Light was an explosive sequel. 

It has plenty of light vs darkness imagery. It explores themes of love, grief, responsibility, and more. Its main plot twist threw me for a loop. At first, I wasn’t sure if it would work, but Oh did a great job of making it believable and fit into the world.

This is an action-packed sequel, and the vibes were immaculate. There’s a lot of flying. There are sword fights. There are battles. There are demons and monsters. I flew through the story (quite literally, too, because I read it on a plane).

What I especially loved were the characters. While I liked the characters in the first book, I grew to love them even more—and it helped that their character ARCs were done perfectly. Ren and Sunho, the main characters, are often perfect foils for each other and complement each other so well. 

Jaeil, a side character in the first book, plays a more important role in the sequel, and I loved his character progression, as well. The characters definitely give me found family and Six of Crows vibes. 

My only main con was the same issue I had with the first book: the pacing in some of the critical scenes was a little off, and I think Oh could’ve lingered longer on them a lot more, especially the climatic final battle. 

Overall, without giving anything away, I definitely recommend this duology if you’re looking for a fast-paced, action-filled YA fantasy with dynamic characters, Korean mythology/steampunk worldbuilding, romance, and magic. 

Check out my review of The Floating World here!

VERDICT: ⛰️⛰️⛰️⛰️⛰️/5 

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Macmillian for my ARC in exchange for a review. 

Review: Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross

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Alexis holds Wild Reverence next to a pumpkin and a cat

Alexis:

Rebecca Ross’ lyrical writing style is my favorite, so it’s no surprise that I really enjoyed Wild Reverence. At no point did I know where this story was going, which I found really refreshing! ⁣⁣

Wild Reverence is set in the same world as Divine Rivals, which I was lucky enough to get an ARC of years ago and loved.

⁣⁣The story feels like a mix between Circe and A River Enchanted. It’s a beautiful, romantic mythology book. Just know that Rebecca Ross really loves keeping her love interests apart as often as possible 😂⁣⁣

It follows Matilda, a young messenger goddess, and Vincent, who wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life—begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. 

⁣⁣While this isn’t a perfect book, it has Ross’ beautiful descriptions and interesting worldbuilding, and the story tugs at the heartstrings. The first half took its time really establishing the world, the gods, and the characters, leaving a more action-packed second half. ⁣⁣

⁣⁣It’s part mythology, part revenge story, and a great prequel to Divine Rivals.

⁣⁣VERDICT: ⁣⁣🪽🪽🪽🪽🪽/5 

Review: Red Demon by Sill Bihagia

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An ARC package of Red Demon sits on a wall

Alexis:

Happy October 1st! 🎃

Thanks so much to author Sill Bihagia for sending me this beautiful ARC package.

Red Demon was released on September 16th! It’s a science fiction/fantasy book with found family and themes of coming of age, resilience, and redemption. It has a mystery woven throughout and some really interesting worldbuilding.⁣ The bioengineering concept was fascinating. 

Overall, I enjoyed this one and appreciated Jesse’s resilience and will to survive. I liked reading from his POV, and my favorite part of the story was him forming a connection to his adopted brother, Asher. 

My main critique is that the pacing in the first half dragged, as Jesse growing up and finding his new family took up a large part of the book. I love a good coming of age story, but since this was advertised as a fast paced book, I expected just a little more action and for the plot to move along faster; the actual plot didn’t start until the second half of the story. Additionally, the ending felt too abrupt.  

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐/5

I have several more ARCs to read, and I look forward to digging into them this fall!

If you want to learn more about Red Demon, check out the synopsis below.

Synopsis:

On an isolated planet where unity is as engineered as its people, Jesse seeks the truth behind the slaughter of his family-starting with the immortal who spared him.

A century ago, two human lines nearly wiped each other out rather than acknowledge their shared humanity. But when Jesse’s mining town is slaughtered under mysterious circumstances, it’s clear ancient bigotries are still alive, and rebels have access to some magic or tech capable of wide-scale genocide.

The Red Demon bloodied her swords in that massacre-a bioengineered immortal left over from that century old war. Jesse expected her to be upholding his empire’s fragile peace, not killing her own. But Jesse is too optimistic and stubborn to break. Better days are coming, and he’s willing to take on an immortal to protect the life he’s rebuilt among the ashes.

Faruhar, the so-called Red Demon, is not the mastermind Jesse expects. Her fragmented mind is ravaged by guilt over crimes she cannot remember committing, and a code impressed on her by a few kind people she cannot forget.

Review: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

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Katabasis rests on a table next to an iced chai latte and a half-eaten cardamom bun

Alexis: Happy September🍂 It’s the perfect time of year for dark academia! 

Katabasis: The Greek word for the journey into the underworld. 

Katabasis is R.F. Kuang’s newest novel. It follows two rival magick academics from Cambridge, Alice and Peter, who venture into Hell to save their academic advisor, Professor Grimes—after all, his accidental death may have been Alice’s fault. 

The Writing

If you’ve read Kuang’s books before, I would describe the tone of this one as a mix between Babel and Yellowface. It’s academic, yes, but it’s also funny. While I read Katabasis, I was often struck by how often I was laughing. Her actual writing is witty and smart yet—you guessed it—full of humor.

The References

I sped through this book. It was exactly what I was in the mood to read. I appreciated Kuang’s intense take and criticism of academia. And, listen, I have a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing, and, once upon a time, I took Latin for 3 years and learned a lot about Roman and Greek mythology. So you can be sure that I was nerding out over all of the literature and mythology references.

I will say, though, I feel like they make total sense in this book. The way Kuang delves into literature, mythology, and even magick theory echoes the way that Alice and Peter think and solve problems. And, without giving too much away, since Hell mimics Cambridge, it perfectly fits into both the above and below worlds. 

The Characters

As for the main characters, I thought Alice and Peter were both well-rounded. Did I root for them to find Grimes and get the hell out of, well, Hell? Yes. Did I find their flaws frustrating at times? Yes. Did I understand them, though? Also yes. They’re the perfect academics to venture into Hell, and when we finally get their backstories halfway through, they feel earned, and they really worked well for their character arcs.

The Romance

While I think the marketing of this book sometimes focused too much on the romance, I can honestly say that the romance is a subplot of a subplot, so if you’re more of a dark academia person vs. a romance person, you’ll still enjoy the story. However, if you’re more of a romantasy reader, you’ll still appreciate the rivals to lovers trope. 

The Story

While I wouldn’t call Babel a fantasy book, but more a historical alternate history with fantastical elements, I appreciated that Katabasis was both a dark academia and a fantasy book. The magick system uses chalk and pentagrams, and I found it fascinating as a whole. I love a good classic hero’s journey, and I was interested in all of the side characters and side quests we met along the way.

Oh, and also, there’s a cat named Archimedes. 

VERDICT: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5 

Review: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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The Raven Scholar on a marble table with a pen, notebook, and perfume bottle

Alexis:

I can’t believe it’s almost September! August flew by.

I’ve unfortunately been in a bit of a reading slump lately; I haven’t been in the right mood to read anything. But the last book I really enjoyed was The Raven Scholar.

The Raven Scholar is part dark academia, part trial to become the next emperor, and part murder mystery. Honestly, it has something for every type of fantasy reader—as long as you don’t mind reading 650 pages!

This was just such a different and unique read, which I was craving. The story follows Neema, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, who is tasked to find the killer of one of the contestants in the trials. Yet, without spoiling anything for you, this book ends up having a unique POV, as well, and jumps back and forth in perspectives.

The story has humor and snark but with enough action and political/court intrigue to add tension to the plot. It has several (yes, several) killer plot twists. On top of that, it has:

  • A chameleon named Pink-Pink
  • Scholars and a talking magical book
  • Eight chaotic gods
  • Talking ravens
  • A cast of quirky, morally grey characters
  • LGBTQ friendly world

It’s weird, sometimes absurdist, and sometimes a little slow in its pacing, yet it kept my attention for all of its almost 700 pages. These days, I’ve had a bit of a hard time rating every book I read by a star rating, but just know that I enjoyed The Raven Scholar. 

Next up: I’m currently reading a sci-fi ARC that I’m enjoying, so look out for a review of it soon! My preorder of Katabasis by R.F. Kuang is also on its way, so I’m looking forward to reading that one, as well.