What I Read in February 2025

I'm running a little late with my February reading round-up, but since that's become the norm for me, I guess that makes me right on time!

I feel that I did okay with my reading progress in February, but I wish that I'd done better. I read 8 books, and almost finished 2 others, discovered a few new gems, and reread some old favourites.

My biggest setback was that I kept falling asleep reading, so I took a while to finish a couple of the longer books, but what I did read was top-tier, so it was a great month, overall.

Here's how I did:

February Reading Stats:

📖 8 books completed, 2 started.

📖 3 hardbacks.

🎧 5 audiobooks

📖 2,333 pages (including audiobooks).

🎧42 hours 53 minutes listened at 1.1x speed.

📖4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!

📖Average rating: 4.38 stars.

📖Average book length: 337 pages.

📖Average time to finish: 8 days.

I Read:

📖Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. 5⭐

📖Quicksilver by Callie Hart. 5⭐

📖Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver. 3.5⭐

🎧The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. 4.5⭐ (Reread).

🎧The Wicked King by Holly Black. 4⭐ (Reread).

🎧The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. 5⭐ (Reread).

🎧How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black. 5⭐ (Reread).

🎧The Lost Sisters by Holly Black. 3⭐ (Reread).

*The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King both lose points for annoying narration, but they're both 5 star reads in print.

And I Started:

📖The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver.

🎧The Stolen Heir by Holly Black. (Reread).

Favourite Reads: It's a hard call between Onyx Storm and Quicksilver; I enjoyed both of them so much. 

Onyx Storm really wasn't what I was expecting book three to be at all, but even though parts of it became a little repetitive at times, and I spent the entire book on edge waiting for something bad to happen to Xaden, I couldn't put it down. I especially loved sassy adolescent Andarna in this book, and Ridoc climbed higher up my list of favourites with how cute he was wanting to protect Violet. The last couple of chapters killed me, though, and the ending has left me with more questions than I started with! What even was that?!

I also became completely obsessed with Quicksilver, and I'm still thinking about it a few weeks later. It's a brilliant spicy enemies-to-lovers romantasy with fae and vampires, which I'd liken to Throne of Glass meets District 12 of The Hunger Games meets ACOTAR, with a little bit of The Maze Runner thrown in for good measure. It has all the usual romantasy ingredients- a badass FMC; an emotionally broken MMC; characters who hate each other... then don't; lots of swordplay; magic; a fox side-kick;, a bit of spice; and one hell of cliff-hanger ending. I loved the seven-foot-tall, messed-up morsal of a shadow daddy that was Kingfisher, and the sexual tension between him and Saeris as they got under each other's skin was perfect. I also loved Lorreth and Renfis, manly war braids an' all, but I think my favourite side character was probably Carrion, just because he was hilarious. 

The wait for the next book in both series is going to be torture!

Favourite Listens: I had so much fun working my way through a reread of The Folk of the Air series in February, but if I had to pick, I'd probably choose The Queen of Nothing. I almost forgot how great that book is! It has some of Cardan's best lines and some of the best scenes in the series, and it never gets old.

Least Favourites: Probably The Lost Sisters by Holly Black- but only because it's in Taryn's POV, and she is the worst. Seriously, I hate her. It's a short novella from The Folk of the Air series, written like an apology letter from Taryn to her twin sister, Jude, explaining her side of things from The Cruel Prince. Except, instead of actually apologising, she just justifies herself, and pushes the blame onto Jude, like the selfish brat she is. It did nothing to redeem her character, and only made me despise her even more.

So, that was what I read in February.

Have you read any good books lately?

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What I Read in January 2025

How are we already a week and a half into February? 

How is it already time to review what I read in January?

I suspect witchcraft. 

Or maybe it's just because time flies when you're reading great books? Who knows?

Anyway, my reading year is off to a good start. Despite falling asleep reading more times than I can count (from post-Christmas exhaustion), I still managed to finish eight books, and get three quarters of a ninth in January. I'm happy with that, especially considering a few of them were pretty chunky books, and six of them were so good that I rated them 4.5 stars or above!

Let's have a look at how I did:

January Reading Stats:

📖8 books completed, 1 started.

📖3 hardbacks.

🎧5 audiobooks

📖4277 pages (including audiobooks).

🎧 48 hours 52 minutes listened at 1.1x speed.

📖4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!

📖2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 reads!

📖Average rating: 4.31 stars.

📖Average book length: 446 pages.

📖Average time to finish: 8 days.

I Read:

📖Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. 5⭐ (Reread).

📖It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. 4.5⭐

📖Throne of Secrets by Kerri Maniscalco. 5⭐

🎧House of Flame and Shadow (Graphic Audio) part 1 by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐ (Reread).

🎧The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. 3⭐ (Reread).

🎧A Deal with the Elf King (Graphic Audio) by Elise Kova. 5⭐

🎧A Dance with the Fae Prince (Graphic Audio) by Elise Kova. 3⭐

🎧The Little Liar by Mitch Albom. 4.5⭐

And I Started:

📖Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. (384/525 pages).

Favourite Reads: My favourite read of the month had to Throne of Secrets by Kerri Maniscalco. I. Was. Obsessed. I enjoyed it so much, I immediately wanted to go back to the beginning and read it all over again. It's not often that I seriously consider doing that, but that's how addictive that book was. I kept waking in the night thinking about it, and it's still on my mind over two weeks later. It's a brilliant dark adult romantasy inspired by Cinderella, with enemies to lovers between a hot demon prince and his rival, some forced proximity, hidden identities, high stakes, killer ice dragons, a misdirected competition to find a bride, a manipulative step-mother, shock reveals, betrayals, lost memories, hexes, magic, witches, vampires, and hot demon princes with courts each powered by the Seven Sins. There's also several spicy scenes, death, and violence on the page, so check trigger warnings before reading. It's so good, though, and I'd highly recommend it. But it's part of a series, so read The Kingdom of the Wicked series and Throne of the Fallen first.

Favourite Listens: I listened to some great audiobooks in January. I'm torn between House of Flame and Shadow (part 1) by Sarah J. Maas, and A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova, which were both so fun to experience as graphic audios. I've wanted to try A Deal with the Elf King for years, and it had a similar vibe to ACOTAR. One of the characters was also voiced by Gabriel Michael, who does the voice of Lucien in ACOTAR and Xaden in Fourth Wing, which might have swayed my decision to read it, as I could listen to that man speak all day.

Another audiobook I highly rated was The Little Liar by Mitch Albom, a Holocaust novel about an innocent young Jewish boy who was manipulated by a Nazi into getting the Jewish people on the trains to Auschwitz, with the promise of jobs and new homes. He only realises the lie when he's separated from his family as they're forced aboard, and the Nazi reveals the truth, and it then follows the fallout of that lie for himself, his brother, their childhood friend, and the Nazi commandant during the war, and after liberation. It was really well done, and very moving, especially as Nico succumbed to his guilt by becoming a pathological liar, and the others suffered the horrors of Auschwitz. Even though it's a novel, it still highlighted so many atrocities that happened during the Holocaust in real life, and with everything that's been happening in Gaza, it certainly got me thinking about what people went through, how terrible humans can be, and how little progress we've made in the last eighty years.

Least Favourites: My least favourite read of the month was the Age of Miracles, which was surprising, as when I read it in print, around a decade ago, I rated it five stars. I thought it might be fun to reread as an audiobook, but I found the narrator's voices really irritating, so it made the reading experience far less enjoyable. It's still an interesting book about what happens to one Californian pre-teen girl's life when the rotation of the Earth slows, and causes the days and nights to lengthen- animals and people get sick, relationships become strained, people turn on their neighbours for adhering to real-time instead of clock-time- but it loses something as an audio. I wish I'd reread as a physical book. But you live and learn.

Overall, January wasn't a bad start to the year. I wish I'd read more pages, but I kept on track, read some great books, discovered a couple of new authors, and tried a good mix of genres.

Now, how do I top that in February??

How are your reading goals going so far this year? Have you read any good books lately?

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What I Read in December 2024

I'm here to catch up on last month's reads, like I'm not three weeks late...

In my defence, Christmas and New Year really took it out of me- so badly that I've needed a few weeks of rest to recover, and ride out some of the worst chronic pain flares I've ever had. I'm only just beginning to feel like myself again, but now that I can form coherent thoughts again, I'm ready to play catch up.

So, here's what I read in December:

Reading Stats:

📖11 books completed, 1 started.

📖2 hardbacks.

📖2 paperbacks.

🎧7 audiobooks

📖1167 pages (2736 pages including audiobooks).

🎧 50.9 hours listened at 1.1x speed.

📖2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads!

📖4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖Average rating: 3.7 stars.

📖Average book length: 260 pages.

📖Average time to finish: 5 days.

I read eleven books last month, and even though seven were audiobooks, and a few were fairly short, I think I did okay- especially considering that it was Christmas. With Christmas prep, and festive exhaustion making it harder to find the time or energy to read, I'm surprised I got through so many. I found that listening to festive reads while I wrapped presents, put up decorations, or worked on some Christmas crafts meant I could tackle my to-do-list, and still fit in some reading time, and that made a big difference. Audiobooks are a game changer!

I Read:

📖The Songbird and the Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent. 4⭐

📖Spectacular by Stephanie Garber. 3⭐

📖The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore. 2.5⭐

📖Letters from Father Christmas by Tolkien. 4⭐

🎧Iron Flame Dramatised Part 2 by Rebecca Yarros. 5⭐ (Reread).

🎧From Blood and Ash Dramatised Part 1 by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 3 ⭐ (Reread).

🎧From Blood and Ash Dramatised Part 2 by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 4⭐ (Reread)

🎧A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire Dramatised part 1 by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 5⭐ (Reread)

🎧Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. 4⭐

🎧A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. 3⭐ (Reread).

🎧Midnight in Everwood by M. A. Kuzniar. 3⭐ (Reread).

And I Started:

📖Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. (Reread) (370/777 pages).

Favourite Reads: My favourite physical read of December was the latest Crowns of Nyaxia book, The Songbird and the Heart of Stone. I'm a big fan of the series, so I'd been looking forward to reading it all year, and it didn't disappoint. I loved Mische's story, her chemistry with Asar, and getting to learn how she became an acolyte and a vampire, as they journeyed through the Underworld to revive a dead god. Her story was so heartbreaking, especially how Atroxus treated her, and I haven't quite recovered from the cliffhanger ending yet. I need the sequel to make it all better immediately! Why isn't it out until August?! *Cries.*

Favourite Listens: If we're talking new-to-me reads, I'd have to choose Skipping Christmas, because it was such a funny little read that delivered on the festive vibes, and helped get me in to the Christmas spirit. It's the book that the movie Christmas with the Kranks was adapted from, and surprisingly, little of the story had been changed, so most of the time, I was just imagining Jamie Lee Curtis and Tim Allen's scenes in my head and having a good giggle. If we're counting rereads, I also really enjoyed listening to the dramatised audiobooks of Iron Flame (part two), From Blood and Ash, and A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (part one). It was my first time listening to these books, and it was really fun to hear them all brought to life. Even if I couldn't get used to Casteel, Kieran, and the rest of the Atlantians / Wolven with posh English accents. For some reason, I'd always imagined them to sound like well-spoken Americans.

Least Favourites: There were a few books that didn't quite hit the spot in December; The Christmas Tree Farm (I felt like my IQ dropped 100 points while reading it, and I quickly remembered I hate contemporary romance); A Christmas Carol (I love the book, but Hugh Grant's narration was sending me to sleep); and Spectacular (loved the festive vibes and the beautiful illustrations, but Tella's storyline was ridiculous. It was such a bizarre writing choice for a Christmas story). It's a shame that they weren't as good as I'd hoped, but at least I hopped out of my fantasy rabbit hole, and visited some other genres for the first time in a while. I was getting far too comfortable in my fantasy burrow, and it was about time I mixed things up again. Plus, most of the books I read were great, so it was a strong reading month overall.

Here's hoping January fairs even better.

What about you?

Did you read any good books in December?

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Merry Christmas

I've just popped on to wish everyone who celebrates it a very Merry Christmas- and a very merry Wednesday / other holiday to those of you who don't!

I hope you have a wonderful day however you're spending it, and that the present gods are kind to you.

I'll just be spending the day at home, low-key celebrating with my family, and I can't wait to finally be able to relax after a busy month preparing for Christmas because I'm shattered and in so much pain from pushing myself too hard.

My day is basically going to involve stuffing my face with delicious food, watching a couple of Christmas movies, and maybe even playing a board game or two after Christmas dinner, because that's about as rock 'n' roll as my life gets these days! Haha! 

I'm also looking forward to opening presents with my dog, who is a furry toddler when it comes to presents, so Christmas morning with her is always fun, and one of my favourite parts of the day.

I'm sure I'll be posting photos to my Instagram Stories over the next few days if you want to see the highlights, and I'll be back soon to catch you guys up. Until then, I'm going to sign off and be present for a few hours, and hopefully not find myself wanting to throttle my family. 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Things Haul

I've picked up all kinds of things to help me prepare for Christmas over the last few months, so I thought it would be fun to put together a little haul post to show you the cute things I found. The only problem is, I've been flaring too badly to take pretty photos, so apologies for these truly atrocious, mismatched ones I've had to make do with. I'm hopeless.

I found the cutest kitschy Christmas wrapping paper, and gift boxes by an American brand called Clementine from T. K. Maxx. The gift wrap was only £2.99 a roll for 12m! The boxes are so beautiful. I might keep them to store Christmas decorations in because I didn't find a use for them this Christmas, and I'm not sure I can part with them.

I didn't intend to match my Christmas cards to my gift wrap, but that's exactly what's happened this year. I couldn't resist these pastel pink Nutcracker and Holiday Mug cards. They're so pretty, and a little bit different to what we usually get in the UK.

If you think I was done with the matchy-matchiness, you'd be wrong. I also snagged some paper plates and napkins in the Holiday Mug design for our Christmas Eve buffet, to take some of the strain off with washing up this Christmas. I know they're bad for the environment, but several of us are a bit worse for wear right now, so needs must.

Speaking of napkins, I also found some beautiful Christmas pudding embroidered napkins from Next that kinda work with my Mum's vintage Christmas tablecloth for Christmas dinner. She doesn't want to switch to a new set of table linens, but I was so tempted to get the rest of the set to use one day.

There weren't matching gift tags for the wrapping paper I chose, but I found these adorable present labels on Amazon, which work really well.

I decided to buy Christmas crackers this year, instead of completely making them from scratch, and picked these Scandi crackers on Amazon from a brand called Harvey & Mason. They're a little tacky, but I embellished them with nicer ribbons, and also added some Lindt chocolates, and scratch cards to them, too, and I think they turned out okay.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a little Christmas tree farm called the Appleton Christmas Barn, and came home with half a dozen new decorations. These starry frosted ones are my favourites. They shimmer in a rainbow of colours under the fairy lights.

In the summer, I bought a couple of cross stitch kits I've had my eye on for years while they were on sale from Cotton Clara. I got the Let It Snow wall hanging kit, and the It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year kit, and I've been having so much fun making them. They're so easy, and ideal for beginners, too. I blogged about the finished hoop here.

You'll be sooo shocked to hear that my purchases also include some new Erstwilder brooches and earrings. I mean, it's totally out of character for me, right? I recently blogged about the brooches here, and earrings here. They're gorgeous, and it's easily one of my favourite Erstwilder Christmas collections to date.

It wouldn't be Christmas without an Advent calendar (or two) to help me count down the days. I treated myself to the OPI Wicked 12 day Advent calendar this year, and I reviewed it- with spoilers- for you guys here.

My Mum also got me a basic Cadbury Advent calendar. It's one I like to get every year, as I sometimes had one when I was little, and the taste of the chocolate takes me right back to childhood Christmases.

I couldn't resist the Owlcrate edition of the new illustrated festive Caraval novella, Spectacular- despite already ordering the Waterstones exclusive. It's one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. The hidden cover, and illustrations are stunning, and I love how the dust jacket looks like a vintage Christmas card. I can't wait to post a proper review of it for you so you can see it for yourself. I had hoped to fit it in before Christmas, but I've been in too much pain to keep up. 

I'm not really a fan of contemporary romance, but everyone kept raving about The Pumpkin Spice Cafe books, so I picked up a paperback of The Christmas Tree Farm to try. I do enjoy cosy books now and again, so I was hoping I might enjoy this one, but holy crap, it was painful. It only took me a couple of paragraphs to confirm that romance novels aren't for me. It was cute, and I enjoyed parts of it, but I also feel like my IQ dropped a 100 points while reading it. But if you enjoy chick lit with some spice, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

My dog, Rosie, loves opening Christmas presents, so I can't help spoiling her with toys and treats at Christmas. I might have gotten a little carried away this year, but she's going to have so much fun tearing them all open. Most of them came from T. K. Maxx and Sainsbury's, who've both had some great bargains on pet toys lately. I had to get her a new Snow Dog, as it's one of her all time favourite toys, and one of the only soft toys she doesn't murder for its squeaker. I'm hoping that will remain true with her new one.

And, naturally, copious amounts of treats have been purchased for the holidays. Besides all the usual favourites, I've picked up some hot chocolate spoons, a caramel Kinder Santa, and Lindt chocolates to try, and had to buy a tin of the M&S Very Merry Munch. Have you tried it? I got a bag for my birthday, and it was amazing. It's basically a sugar-lovers' trail mix of chocolate covered popcorn, plain and chocolate pretzels, and chocolate almonds and peanuts, and it's soooo good. 10/10 would recommend to anyone without a nut allergy.

What's the best festive thing you've bought so far this Christmas?

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