Tag: dark fantasy

Sunday Summary – 4th January 2026

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The first weekend of 2026 is upon us! Welcome to my first Sunday Summary of the year, and I’m glad for the fresh start. I’ve gotten back into the habit of reading over the last few days, and I’ve enjoyed a fresh, shorter read to get me back into the swing of things. Before that though, what else have I been posting about? 

Well, it’s been a busy week! I started easily doors with posting my ideas for both non-traditional and traditional reading goals. Whilst I’ve written the posts to be timeless and something that can be gone back to year on year, maybe you can take inspiration from these posts for your 2026 reading goals, if you’ve yet to set one. Some of the ideas on these lists are part of MY resolutions, which will be released in the coming days. 

On Thursday I published my monthly wrap-up for December. I confess, I don’t have many ‘finishes’ to my name in the final month of the year, but I did read a good few books at least in part. As I’d completed my reading goal by the beginning of December, I found myself reading less as the month went on. Still, I enjoyed the break, achieved most of what I wanted to do and I’m back raring to go now. 

Finally, yesterday I shared my wrap-up of 2025 as a whole. In that post, I looked at progress against my 2025 resolutions and where I got to at the end of of the year. If you’ve yet to read that post, here’s a link so you can take a look for yourself. 

 

Books Read

 

The Doors of Midnight 

Progress with The Doors of Midnight is ongoing. You may recall in last week’s Sunday Summary update that I’ll be reading this over the next few weeks. It’s a long book and audiobook! I did make some progress this week, but admittedly not a whole lot. Still, an hour is better than nothing at all. Next week, things will be back to more normal routine. I’ll be going back the gym more, driving to work every day of the week etc. 

I’m still enjoying where this narrative is taking us and I think it’s about to take a turn I wasn’t expecting. That makes it more interesting though, and has me wanting to pick this up more over the next seven days. 

 

Orbital

At the start of the New Year, I took the decision to pick up a short, fresh read to get back into the reading groove with. Rather than starting the year with 2025’s reads that I was a little slow to get going with, starting with something new felt right. 

Although Orbital is short, I wouldn’t say it’s a light read. On the contrary, it asks a lot of existential and heavy questions, and covers everything from life and relationships to politics. Still, it was a great choice to start the year with. Picking up Orbital is also a bonus in that it starts the year ticking off some goals on my upcoming 2026 resolutions. 

As of this Sunday Summary update, I have just finished this book! It’s been a fun and thought-provoking read to start 2026 with, and definitely set me off to a great start. I love that although the page count is small, it’s a slow, thought-provoking and inspiring narrative. It proves we don’t need high-stakes action to drive a plot. Rather, slow, introspective musings make for entertaining reading as well. Orbital is quite different from the usual reads I pick up, but its a prize winner for a reason. It deserves the accolade. If you haven’t read this one and crave a change of pace, Orbital would be a great option. 

 

Books Discovered

 Somehow I’ve refrained from spending my book vouchers, and I’ve also been good and not added anything to my reading list in the meantime either. It’s got plenty enough on it without me adding more to it at this time anyway. 

I’ll take this as good news 🥳

 

Coming Up… 

I’ve got some exciting and slightly scary content coming out next week. Great, because I’m sharing my 2026 resolutions and my January 2026 monthly TBR. Why is that scary Well, I got myself in front of a camera earlier today to record videos for this content to share here and on YouTube for the very first time. Ahhh!

I’ll be posting here as well and if I can manage it, linking those videos into my blog so you can watch if you prefer to reading. Otherwise, I’ll be summarising those videos in written format. Of course, if you consume a lot of content on YouTube already, you can follow me there to keep up with my videos when they are released before I share them here. 

That’s all from me this week! I’m excited to get back into the swing of things and also enjoy putting myself out of my comfort zone and making new forms of content in 2026. 

Thanks for reading today’s Sunday Summary update. Have you started any new reads for 2026? 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – December 2025

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Happy New Year friends and welcome to my last monthly wrap-up of 2025! In today’s post I take a look at reading progress in December 2025. In summary, I didn’t touch much of my December TBR. Once my reading obligations were over and I’d completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge, my brain kinda switched off. 

Nevertheless, I have some progress to share and after a slow, steady festive period and end of the month I’m ready to get back into it! 

 

Books Read 

 

Death of a Billionaire 

Early in December I had a blog tour obligation to review Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May. With a number of ongoing books from the end of November, I had to pick up and finish this one pretty quickly. 

One light night and a review later, I safely ticked Death of a Billionaire off the list. It’s a fun, humorous murder mystery and I enjoyed the lighter tone. If you want to take a look at this for yourself, here’s a link to my review. 

 

Empire of the Dawn

A book I made slow progress with in December was Empire of the Dawn. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t working for me as I had hoped. It’s a chunky book, and I think having the limitation of a heavy, hardback copy is the primary reason I struggled to pick this up. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get an alternative copy of this book to carry on in another format without additional cost. After trying p persevere with it a little longer, I ultimately soft DNF’d it partway through the month. I love the series and where the story is going so far, so I WILL absolutely revisit this one in the near future! 

 

A Crucible of Souls

I wrapped up listening to A Crucible of Souls mid-month after starting the book in November. Overall, I enjoyed this fantasy book and it was a decent recommendation I picked up as part of a ChatGPT recommendations challenge I started a few months ago. 

However, I did finish this book a little disappointed. The book has a lot of detail and an engaging storyline. That said, the book is very light on explanation or backstory on Caldan so we finish the book with as many, if not more questions, than when we started. 

No doubt the rest of the series would catch up with this intel later. I, however, have decided not to continue with it.

 

Beyond Redemption 

The final book I have picked up towards my ChatGPT recommendations challenge is Beyond Redemption. Admittedly, progress on this book was also light in December. 

In total, I made it 15% into the book. I initially started reading it on my phone at the hairdressers during my appointment mid-month. However, I prefer to read digital books on my kindle and don’t get it charged up till much later in the month. Also, I’d hit my lull by this point despite enjoying what I’ve read to date. With my Goodreads Challenge for 2025 exceeded, my brain switched off from reading and turned to craft projects and downtime instead. 

So, Beyond Redemption will be carried forward into January. To get my reading mojo back I’ve started a short read today. Once that’s done though, I’m going to launch into Beyond Redemption full force. I’m excited to see where this grimdark fantasy takes us.

 

The Housemaid is Watching

Where progress with physical and digital books has been on the slow side this December, today’s monthly wrap-up features far better news on audiobook progress! 

After listening to The Housemaid’s Secret last month, I added The Housemaid is Watching to my December TBR as a contribution to completing my 2025 resolution of finishing 10 series. 

Thankfully, listening to The Housemaid is Watching proved as compulsive as its predecessor. I listened to the entirety of this audiobook in just a few days – a complete change from the lethargy that I have to hold my hands up to otherwise in this monthly wrap-up! 

 

The Doors of Midnight 

Another audiobook I made great progress with in December, but inevitably I’m carrying over into January, is The Doors of Midnight by R.R. Virdi. 

I listened to around 10 hours worth of audio in December (at x1.15 speed for this one, so about 8 1/2 hours of actual listening time). However, as of today, 1st January, I still have 35hrs and 8mins (30hrs 30mins at x1.15 speed) to go! This book is over 800 pages long, so I didn’t really expect completion by the end of December. Still, it was an attempt towards my series completion 2025 resolution. I can’t knock myself given I gave it a good go! 

Now that I’m immersed back into Ari’s life and escapades, I’m excited for this carryover to hopefully be one of my first highly-rated completions of 2026. 

 

Summary 

Audiobooks saved the day again! Whilst I expected this monthly wrap-up to be short (given a lack of reading progress in the second half of December), I haven’t got much to complain about. I picked up a good few, even if they didn’t result in a green, shiny tick before 31st December. 

What was your final read of December? Did you meet your 2025 reading resolutions? I’ll be deep-diving into my progress on last year’s reading resolutions in the next day or two. I hope you can stick around for that! ☺️

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Sunday Summary – 28th December 2025

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Happy Sunday readers! Today’s Sunday Summary post is a quiet kind of update. Christmas has been and gone, and we are now in the lull between Christmas and New Year. I never quite know what to do with myself in this last week of the year. Ultimately, I’ve enjoyed hobbies and some downtime, but not much in the way of reading, admittedly.

I have some small progress to share though, so let’s take a look! 

 

Books Read

The Doors of Midnight 

In last week’s Sunday Summary update, I shared that I had just started listening to The Doors of Midnight by R.R. Virdi. Over the course of this week, I have listened to just shy of seven hours of this audio. As much as I say I haven’t read much this week, this progress isn’t to be sniffed at! 

Whilst doing some errands, chores, and craft projects this week, I’ve coupled each of these with listening to The Doors of Midnight. Now that I’m a little further into this book, I can share that I’m now fully back in with the story after a long break from reading the first instalment, The First Binding. I’m also keen to see where this book takes us. It’s an interesting Silk Road, Asian-inspired fantasy with a protagonist who likes to stir up trouble. 

The narrative style of this book is the protagonist retelling his tale in hindsight. Regular readers will know this style really suits me, and I like this reflective type of narrative. The switching between timelines also helps keep the action interesting and has asked what has really happened for Ari to end up in the situation he’s in at the present day. 

As you can probably tell, I’m getting on pretty well with this audiobook, and progress will continue over the next few weeks. As of this update, I still have over 30 hours of audio time left in this book. It’s an epic… and definitely one that’ll get carried forward into next year! 

 

Beyond Redemption 

Although I’ve had a good degree of downtime in the last few days, I confess I haven’t spent much of it reading traditionally. I think I need a goal or target to work towards with my reading. Now that I’ve read 47 books out of my intended 45 target, my brain thinks I’m ‘done’ and has switched off prioritising reading 😂 

Nevertheless, in the last day or so, I have got myself to pick up my Kindle and make some progress with Beyond Redemption. This is the final book I’m reading towards my ChatGPT recommendations content that’s coming up, and the introduction of this book has me intrigued. We have morally grey characters (that’s a stretch on the generous side) and embodiments of delusion. Honestly, I have no idea where this narrative will take us, but the less than reputable characters and questionable actions have me intrigued as to how dark this narrative will be.

 

Books Discovered

 

I was fortunate enough to receive two books for Christmas. One of which is an illustrative and interactive copy of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It’ll be a fun way to revisit this book in the future! 

The second book I received is a copy of Margaret Atwood’s memoir, Book of Lives.  I very nearly bought this for myself recently, so that turned out well! 

 

Coming Up… 

Next week promises to be a busy one! With New Year goal setting in the pipeline, I’m sharing two posts in the next couple of days. Each of these posts aims to help with ideas of reading goals, whether you want to go down the route of traditional, numbers-based reading goals, or non-traditional ones. 

Personally, I’m planning a mix of resolutions this year. However, if you aren’t sure yet, hopefully some inspiration will follow. 

On Thursday, New Year’s Day, I’m coming in hot with my December monthly wrap-up. I’ve also got a 2025 wrap-up landing this week, but first I need to recap reading progress in December before looking back over the whole year. At least, in my head I do… 

That year-in-review post is planned for Saturday. In that post, I’ll recap my final thoughts on the year and also where I got to with my 2025 resolutions for the year. 

Finally, I’m back with another Sunday Summary this time next week. Fingers crossed I find my reading mojo again and I have plenty more to update you on. 

Have you got any last-minute reads you’re trying to finish before the end of 2025? 

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Sunday Summary – 14th December 2025

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Last week’s Sunday Summary post came to you from a wet and miserable day. Today isn’t any different. With yet another warning for rain in place, winter has truly taken hold. Not only that, but the winter lurgy is also doing the rounds, and it’s officially my turn. Please bear with me for this post. It may not be my best, but it will be the weekly update you expect!

So, what have I been up to? My first post of the week was a book review for Brandon Sanderson‘s second book in his Skyward series, Starsight. I really enjoyed this young adult series, so it was a pleasure to feature the second book and let you know just how much I enjoyed it.

On Friday, I featured a thriller on my TBR. I would not like to be in the shoes of the victims. Deprived of their senses, victims return to society mentally scarred by their experiences. Interested in hearing more about this book? Take a look at my Shelf Control post using this link.

 

Books Read

 

Empire of the Dawn 

I’m struggling to read Empire of the Dawn, and I don’t understand why.

This is the third week in a row in which I have very little reading progress to update you on. At this point, I’m putting this book down for now and trying again later in the month.

I don’t understand why this book isn’t doing it for me right now. I am enjoying it as when I’m reading it, the problem is I’m just not really picking it up to read it! Sometimes having a heavy physical hardback can be a bit off-putting. However, the reason I think I’m struggling with this book the most is that I don’t want to finish the book (and the series) yet. 

It’s silly, I know. However, for the sake of keeping up with reading progress, I’m going to put this down temporarily and pick up another physical read for now. 

 

A Crucible of Souls

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I had already listened to the vast majority of A Crucible of Souls. With just a short way left to go in the book, I finished this audio this week.

If I’m honest, the book didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I had hoped we will find out more about Caldan and his past. Instead, I finished this first book of the series knowing as much about him as I did at the beginning. A bit disappointing to say the least, because this book leaves a lot of questions unanswered. 

I don’t feel so strongly about this book to continue with the series. It was unacceptable lesson, but I wouldn’t say it was really engaging either. That’s just my experience, and a lot of people are of differing opinions. Don’t take mine as gospel if you want to try this on yourselves. 

 

The Housemaid is Watching 

Audiobooks have been a lot easier for me this weekend. I like to listen to them when I’m busy plotting along with household chores and the lake. However, I’ve also turned to audiobooks today because they are easier to listen to then they are to read physically. 

Over the course of this weekend, I’ve listened to over six hours of audio. In terms of p The Housemaid is Watching, I’m currently at around 60% as of this Sunday Summary update. As I found with each of the books in this series, they are pretty easy to listen to. The narrative is engaging and the plot keeps you gripped. What is happening, and are events as they are portrayed as they seem to be? Very often with these books, the answer is no. Whether that is the same for The Housemaid is Watching remains to be seen.

 

Beyond Redemption 

It barely feels worth a mention, but I have started Beyond Redemption this weekend. I initially started the book at the hairdressers yesterday, but given my decision to pause Empire of the Dawn, I’ve read a little more of this book tonight. I’m really intrigued by The narrative and emphasis on delusions shaping reality. 

It sounds like it’s going to be a very dark book, but I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes us. It’s specifically what I asked ChatGPT for in the final prompt I asked, so I hope it lives up to expectation. 

 

Books Discovered

Once again, I’ve behaved and not added any new books to the TBR, or purchased anything, this week. Well, Santa is nearly here right…?

 

Coming Up… 

My first blog post due next week will arrive in your inbox on Tuesday. A regular post I like to feature on this blog is a Top Ten Tuesday. I’ve also done this theme before. Once a quarter, one of the topics is about books on your next seasonal TBR. In this case, I’ll share which books are on my winter 2025/2026 TBR in a couple of days time. 

My next post is also a regular feature, although this week I am setting myself a festive challenge. For next week’s first lines Friday post, I have to feature something festive. Whether the book itself is festive or is set around Christmas time, anything goes. 

Finally, next week I’m back with my latest Sunday summary catch up. Fingers crossed, I’ll have better physical reading progress to share with you. Hopefully switching up my books will help get reading momentum back on track. I have a lot of books to try and pick up before the end of December, so I’m hoping for a miracle 🤞🏻 

That’s all for me and this Sunday summary update though! What have you read recently? Have you read anything worth recommending, or has a book you recently picked up disappointed you? 

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Sunday Summary – 7th December 2025

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It’s a soggy Sunday here, but that won’t put a dampener on today’s Sunday Summary catch-up! Whether the weather is as miserable where you are as it has been here, or if you’ve got off lightly, I hope you’ve had a great week.

This week I’ve posted more than average on the blog. With the timing of a blog tour coinciding with the beginning of the month, I’ve had an increase in post obligations. That said, I’ve managed the extra post pretty easily, and I hope you have enjoyed finding out what I’ve been up to.

My first post that went live was my monthly wrap-up for November. In the end, November was a great month of reading progress. If you have yet to check out that post, or are interested in the books I read last month so you can maybe pick up a recommendation or two, here’s a link so you can take a look for yourself.

Next, I shared my blog tour review for a book called Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May. If you are looking for a fun, lighthearted murder mystery, this would be a great pick for you. I read this book very quickly and the lighter tone was very much needed. I’ve been reading a lot of heavy fantasy. The change of genre and tone were much appreciated.

On Friday, I shared my last monthly TBR of the year. With final reading goals to meet, I’ve planned December‘s reading list around hitting those final milestones. Final books in series? Check. Books on the Goodreads Fall Challenge? Check.

 

Books Read

Empire of the Dawn 

I’ve still not really read much of Empire of the Dawn this week. However, with the conclusion of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! tonight, I’ll have less in the way of TV obligations to keep up with and hopefully more time to pick up a physical read. 

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a digital copy of this book from my local library. Sometimes, I think having a big heavy hardback can get in the way of me getting some reading done. However, I can’t borrow it that way, so I’ll persevere with my physical copy. 

 

A Crucible of Souls

Progress with my audiobook listen of A Crucible of Souls has gone much better. In fact, I have listened to several hours of the audiobook today whilst putting up Christmas decorations. That, and redecorating my Christmas tree every time the cats pull the ornaments off. I have a suspicion I’ll have ‘redecorated’ the tree about 50 times before the 1st of January… 

With progress at around the 75% mark, I’m now intrigued as to whether the narrative of this first instalment of the series will end. Caldan is doing pretty well for himself after his exile from the monastery he grew up in at the beginning of the book. Honestly, I think he’s having too good of a time at the moment and I’m wondering if it’s all going to come crashing down on him. He’s clearly an exceptional person who was undiscovered because of his cloistered circumstances. For a person of his naivety, I can’t help but think at some point somebody is going to take advantage.

Regardless of how the book pans out, with a little under five hours left of progress to make, I anticipate finishing A Crucible of Souls next week. Then, I can tell you more! 

 

Death of a Billionaire 

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I picked up at the beginning of the week with priority going to finishing the last 80% of Death of a Billionaire.

With a review deadline of Wednesday, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I pushed on with this book so I had plenty of time to write my thoughts before that post went live on Wednesday. Not that it was difficult to finish! On the contrary, the change of genre, pace and tone was exactly what I needed. After reading a lot of heavier and longer books of late, I appreciated something shorter and with plenty of humour laced throughout.

This Sunday Summary isn’t the place where I’m going to outline all my thoughts. I’ve done so already in my blog tour review post. If you want to find out more, that’s the place to go.

 

Books Discovered

With a couple of book acquisitions last week, I’ve behaved and have nothing new to add to my reading list. The only update in today’s Sunday Summary is that I actually took a couple of books off my list when looking ahead to an upcoming post next week. It may not be exciting news, but I have plenty enough of my reading list to be getting on with without forcing myself to pick up something I’m no longer interested in. 

 

Coming Up… 

It’s been nearly a month since I shared my last book review with you that wasn’t for a specific commitment. And everyone knows I have a backlist longer than my TBR. Okay, well not quite, but it’s significant! Next on my list of books to review is Starsight by Brandon Sanderson. If you know a fan of young adult sci-fi, you won’t go wrong with this series if you need some Christmas present inspiration 😉 It’s well documented I love Brandon Sanderson, so my review won’t come as a surprise. 

On Friday, I’ll share my next Shelf Control post. If you haven’t seen this before, it’s a series I have ongoing on my blog. In the series, I look at upcoming reads on my TBR to make sure what’s on there is still relevant. This week, I’ve got a sinister thriller lined up for you. 

Finally, this time next week I’m back again with another Sunday Summary. I’ve got plenty of books on my final TBR of the year, so hopefully I’ll have plenty more reading progress to share! 

That’s all from me right now though. Enjoy your week ahead! 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – November 2025

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I’m looking forward to sharing the books I read in the last 30 days in today’s monthly wrap-up for November! I put in some solid reading, and I have a lot of good books to recap and share with you. How many books did you read in November? I’m not even sure how many I read; let’s take a look, shall we? 

 

Books Read 

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping 

As of my last monthly wrap-up post, I had just 100 pages left of A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping. I got on so well with this book, I didn’t even feature it on November’s monthly TBR – I finished it on the first day of the month. 

I enjoyed this cozy, whimsical read. The message is great, and I was compelled to find out whether Sara’s life and circumstances changed after the book or not. The characters were great, and A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping was a well-received read, even if it’s not one I’d have picked myself. That’s what makes books clubs fun – and helps me meet me reading goal of reading outside of my comfort zone. 

 

Wizard of Ends: United Army

The beginning of the month was punctuated with reading deadlines. In a way, I actually think that helped me get some solid reading done. Sometimes, you need something like that to give you a kick up the bum, right? 

The added bonus is that Wizard of Ends: United Army was a shorter read. I read the book over the course of a day, and I published my review of the book on the 3rd November. No rest for the wicked, is there? In the interests of getting you to appreciate my efforts in writing down my thoughts, I’m going to point you to that review. I had fun with this short fantasy book. I also have a unique perspective in that unusually, I read this third instalment before picking up the earlier books. It’s not a habit of mine, but necessity struck. 

 

The Angel Prophecy

Just three days after my review of Wizard of Ends went live, I had another deadline to meet. When it rains, it pours, eh? It’s my own fault! I have a tendency to book myself on to a load of blog tours in one go, then not do any for a bit. Rinse and repeat. 

I wanted to pick up The Angel Prophecy after reading and reviewing The Atlantis Covenant as part of a blog tour back at the beginning of September. Honestly, it was as fun as I anticipated after reading that first instalment. Not only that, but I enjoyed getting to read some chapter perspectives from characters I liked from that first book, but maybe didn’t have a dominant enough role or personality to shine in The Atlantis Covenant. 

As with Wizard of Ends, if you want to read more on this book, you can check out my review. 

 

The God of the Woods

My final deadline was to read The God of the Woods ahead of our book club meet at work. I did have to put this meeting back a couple of weeks, as originally it was coinciding with my deadlines earlier in the month. 

Thankfully, events of this book were compulsively readable and I enjoyed this one thoroughly. So did Meg, who listened to the audiobook of this in just a matter of days after I announced the read to the club. If anything, I had to remind her of events as it had been a good while between her reading and our meet! 

We had a good discussion about the book too. The characters are interesting and I was doubting pretty much everyone at some point in the narrative. What’s real, and who could be trusted? It’s an interesting narrative. I’m glad I chose this book! 

 

The Shadow of What Was Lost 

Another book carried forward from October’s monthly wrap-up is my audiobook listen of The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington.  

Progress remained slow and steady throughout the month, until my time off work in the second half of the month. I was 30% into the audio as of the beginning of November, but rapidly made much more progress in the first week I had off and finished the audiobook on the 22nd. 

It’s a long audiobook, and I felt it in a way. However, it was a solid story and the ending really made the book for me. My decision to continue the series was made by the epilogue and by the epilogue alone! I had some suspicions that there was more to Kaden’s character. It wasn’t what I expected, but somehow, it was better… 

 

The Housemaid’s Secret

After listening to The Shadow of What Was Lost, I flew through The Housemaid’s Secret. The audiobook is about a third of the length of that first audiobook. That, and I was midway through kitchen renovations and both a crochet and cross-stitch project at the time. All are perfect opportunities to listen to audiobooks at the same time. 

I listened to the first book of the series, The Housemaid, earlier this year. To be consistent, I opted to continue the series in the same format. It was every bit as good as the first instalment. Given that I’d just listened to such a long audio, this one felt like it flew by! 

 

Empire of the Dawn

The last physical book I progressed with in November was Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff. Admittedly, I slowed down on physical reads towards the end of the month. On the one hand, I’d argue that it’s because I was doing more physical things and therefore listening to audio instead. However, that wouldn’t be a real answer. If I’m honest, I think I started holding out on reading the book because I’m scared and sad to get to the end. 

I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far, and I am having a good time with the book. As a result of not finishing it in November, this is one of my first reads of December – and I need completion to achieve my series goal. Is that motivation enough to get over my trepidation about finishing the book? 

 

A Crucible of Souls

Finally, the last book on this monthly wrap-up is A Crucible of Souls. I started listening to this audiobook right at the end of the month, but still succeeded in getting to 33% before the end of the month. Audiobooks have really been working for me, what can I say? 

So far, this audio is pretty interesting and I’m optimistic it’s only going to get better. Caldan is an intriguing character and I can’t wait to find out more. What really happened to his parents, and who is he? Is he going to be taken advantage of in the big wide world he’s not used to? I suspect so, but that remains to be seen. 

You’ll find out more in the near future as I report progress in my Sunday Summary updates. 

 

Death of a Billionaire

Finally, I picked up my e-reader for the first time in a while to start an ARC of a book you’ll be hearing more about soon. Sneaking on to today’s monthly wrap-up post is Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May. I started this book yesterday, the last day of the month, as I am due to review this in just a couple of days time as part of an ongoing blog tour.

I read the first 20% yesterday, with the rest to follow very shortly!

 

Summary 

I’ve made good reading progress this month, especially audiobooks! Circumstances have meant these have suited what I’ve been doing this month. It’s odd, because there are months I don’t read a lot on that format at all. Then, I get months like this where I listen to several. 

I’ve enjoyed this month, and I also have the great news to share that I met my Goodreads Challenge of 45 books this month. I’m a happy bunny, so any reading above and beyond this is a bonus. Naturally, in December’s monthly TBR I’m going to focus on reading towards my other reading goals. 

Thanks for checking out today’s monthly wrap-up! How many books have you read so far this year? 

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Sunday Summary – 30th November 2025

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This week’s Sunday Summary follows another week off work. Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not rubbing it in. If you feel that way, you can laugh at me because I’m back tomorrow. Bag packed? Check. Lunch organised? Yup. Jokes aside, it’ll be nice to get back into my normal routine.

The routine that hasn’t really changed is my blog schedule for this week. Whilst I’ve been off, I’ve kept up with posting online as usual. This week, my first post was a final review of my 2025 resolutions and a list of books I could pick up in December to meet my outstanding goals. As of that post, I have actually already completed one of my goals due by the end of the year! If you haven’t read that post and you want to find out what’s coming up in the very near future, you can check that out now.

On Friday, I set myself a challenge to feature a young adult novel in my First Lines Friday feature. In the end, I featured the first book of a series loved and plan to re-read in future. Whilst young adult isn’t a genre I gravitate to very often, I did enjoy this one. I even confess in that post that I could get behind the relationship between the protagonists – that’s not something I say lightly! 

 

Books Read

Empire of the Dawn 

Progress with Empire of the Dawn has admittedly been slow. I’ve enjoyed picking up this book in the couple of instalments I have, but honestly, I think I’m holding myself back. Empire of the Dawn is the final instalment of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire trilogy. The only reason I can give for my resistance picking up this book is that I’m not looking forward to finishing it and the series being over. 

I’ve enjoyed every aspect of the book I’ve read so far and to continuing with it. I’ll have to put my big girl pants on and just accept that it’s the final book and I won’t find out what happens unless I read it! Even when it’s over, I can always re-read it… 

 

The Housemaid’s Secret

You may recall in last week’s Sunday Summary post, I shared that I’d listened to just over 25% of The Housemaid’s Secret. Well, it’s fair to say I made pretty light work of that book! Having listened to such a long audiobook before picking up this one, finishing Freida McFadden‘s second instalment in her housemaid’s trilogy was a breeze! 

As I mentioned in last week’s post, whilst I’ve been off work, I’ve been doing some work around the house. More specifically, I’m updating my kitchen. Because I’ve been doing physical work, I’ve been occupying myself with audio to keep myself entertained. I’ve also been doing a lot of crafty projects in my downtime, and listening to audio works really well for me at the same time. 

As a result, I devoured The Housemaid’s Secret. The plot and characters in the book really helped this along. It was an easier read because it was a lot shorter, but it is also engaging and an interesting story to listen to. Truthfully, I expected nothing less. I felt the same about the first instalment of the series, The Housemaid. If you read or checked out my 2025 resolutions review post earlier this week, you may have spotted the sequel to the series on that list as a potential December read.

Watch this space… 

 

A Crucible of Souls

After devouring The Housemaid’s Secret, I started A Crucible of Souls by Mitchell Hogan. This is the second book I’m reading as part of a ChatGPT recommendations challenge I’ve set myself. 

So far, I’m getting on pretty well with the book. For a debut, it reads really well and I’m hoping the action in the book starts to pick up pace very shortly. As of this Sunday Summary post, I am a third of the way through this audiobook. It’s interesting, and there are elements of the plot that have us intrigued because they are unresolved at the moment. The main character Caldan is also a little bit of a mystery. Who is he, and is he going to draw unwanted attention by his abilities? Time will only tell. 

 

Death of a Billionaire 

Finally, I picked up Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May today. I am reviewing this book as part of a blog tour which kicked off earlier this week. My review is due on Wednesday, so naturally this book is taking priority in the immediate future. 

As things stand, it’s a pretty short and easy read. I’m enjoying the humour and I’m intrigued as to who the mystery narrator is. Their overt opinions and distain for a lot of people, the reader included, has me asking questions as to who it is and why they presenting themselves that way. It’s not the sort of thing you see in a lot of books, but it has me intrigued! I have a suspicion already, but it remains to be seen whether that turns out to be the case! 

As of this Sunday Summary update, I’m 20% into Death of a Billionaire. Naturally, I’ll be sharing more about this book on Wednesday, so I hope you can check in with me then. 

 

Books Discovered

I popped into town on Friday to do some Christmas shopping, and of course I had to take a look in our local Waterstones. Armed with some vouchers, I picked up Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad and Come to This Court and Cry. 

No prizes for guessing I combed through the history section… as sad as it is, I love reading about World War II and the associated events, history and people affected. I’m looking forward to reading these books in this category. 

 

Coming Up… 

I may be back to work next week, but there is no rest for the wicked here! I have a full week of content planned, and I’m excited to share each of these posts with you 😊

My first post will go live tomorrow as it will officially be the beginning of December. I can no longer complain about premature Christmas music or mince pies being on sale. With it being the end of the month, I’m looking forward to sharing my monthly wrap-up for November and sharing the books I’ve read over these last few weeks. Progress has felt really good, so I hope to have plenty of content in that post for you.

Next, on Wednesday I’ll be sharing my review for Death of a Billionaire, as I’ve previously alluded to. December 3rd is my official stop date, so that’s a hard deadline to meet.

On Friday, I’ll share my December reading list in my usual monthly TBR format. I’ve already got several books planned which has been shaped from my 2025 resolutions review post. I’ve got some cracking books to finish up the year with. If you are intrigued to see what those will be, I hope you can check in with me later this week.

Finally, this time next week I’ll be back with my next Sunday Summary instalment. No doubt I’ll be a little bit tired and fed up because I’m planning to put up my Christmas decorations. Good luck to me – I have no idea how the cats are going to react to the Christmas tree. However, I have my suspicions and it may not be pretty 😂 

Like I said, no rest for the wicked! 

What have you been up to this weekend?

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First Lines Friday – 28/11/2025

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What’s fun about today’s First Lines Friday is that I set myself a challenge for this post. And, for today’s post, I’ve succeeded in finding a young adult book I’m delighted to feature. 

I started this series back in 2019, of all places, in some Spanish sunshine – quite a contrast from the setting outlined in today’s intro! If you’ve read young adult books, maybe you can work out today’s book from the protagonists name. Also, a fun fact for you. I was inspired to dye my hair blue because of this character. 

Do you recognise who or what I’m referring to in this First Lines Friday? If so, let me know in the comments! Otherwise, take a look at the opening below and I’ll share more on the book after! 

 

Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day. It seemed like just another Monday, innocent but for its essential Mondayness, not to mention its Januaryness. It was cold, and it was dark – in the dead of winter the sun didn’t rise until eight – but it was also lovely. The falling snow and the early hour conspired to paint Prague ghostly, like a tintype photograph, all silver and haze. 

On the riverfront thoroughfare, trams and buses roared past, grounding the day in the twenty-first century, but on the quieter lanes, the wintry peace might have hailed from another time. Snow and stone and ghostlight, Karou’s own footsteps and the feather of steam from her coffee mug, and she was alone and adrift in mundane thoughts: school, errands.

 

 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor

Genre: Fantasy 

Pages: 418

Audience: Young Adult

Publisher: Little Brown Books

Publication Date: 27 Sept 2011

Goodreads – Daughter of Smoke and Bone

 

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

 

My Thoughts…

I’m not going to go too far into Daughter of Smoke and Bone in this First Lines Friday post. I have reviews for every book in the trilogy on my blog if you want find out more: –

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Days of Blood and Starlight

Dreams of Gods and Monsters

More meaningfully perhaps, is that I’ve featured this book on lists of books I want to re-read, must-read fantasies and books guaranteed to put an end to your book slump. I’ve got physical copies of the books and I’m keeping them to re-read in future! 

What I really got behind in this series, and I don’t say it everyday, is the relationship between Karou and Akiva. I’m not a romance girly, but these star-crossed lovers stole my heart. If Laini Taylor can defrost my heart, I believe anyone can root for this ‘ship. 

Have you read Daughter of Smoke and Bone? Is it in your reading list after today’s First Lines Friday?

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Sunday Summary – 23rd November 2025

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Today’s Sunday Summary brings plenty of reading progress. I’ve enjoyed the week off work, and the good news is, I’ve got another one next week! I’ve enjoyed doing some jobs round the house, and reading… of course! 

On the blog, I shared a book review for Stephen King’s The Waste Lands. I’ve enjoyed reading this series so far, and The Waste Lands is probably my favourite book so far! 

On Friday, I shared a Shelf Control post. In this series, I look at upcoming books on my TBR. Friday’s feature was a historical fiction classic that’s nearly 1000 pages long. 

 

Books Read

 

The Shadow of What Was Lost

Last week, I shared in my Sunday Summary that I was about 50% through the book. It’s a long audiobook, and I had approximately 14hrs audio left. I wasn’t sure if I’d manage to listen to it all this week. Progress so far was pretty slow. However, I shouldn’t have doubted myself! 

I’ve spent a good portion of the week doing household jobs that allow me to listen to audio as well. That, and working on a large cross-stitch project! I love listening to audiobooks at the same time. Thankfully I’m not having to wrestle kittens off my work too frequently anymore and the two hobbies go side-by-side very well 😂

I finished The Shadow of What Was Lost yesterday and I have lots of thoughts! The epilogue did so much for convincing me to pick up the sequel. I’m looking forward to documenting my thoughts on this one properly. 

 

Empire of the Dawn 

Another finish I was hoping for this week, but didn’t quite get to, was Empire of the Dawn. 

I’ve read the book spasmodically over the week. And I’m enjoying it! However, with the jobs I’m doing at home at the moment, I’ve not done much in the way of conventional reading. I was also out watching Wicked: For Good last night. 

My focus will be to finish Empire of the Dawn next week. As of this Sunday Summary, I’m about 20% through. I’m intrigued where the story is going to take us. 

 

The Housemaid’s Secret

The final book I’ve progressed with this week is one I started today – The Housemaid’s Secret. Just as I was settling down to read Empire of the Dawn, one of the kittens decided to fall asleep on my arm and rendered holding a hardback book impossible. 

So, I started my next audiobook instead! It’s been a good few months since I listened to The Housemaid earlier this year. My efforts to continue series whilst they’re still fresh in my mind motivated me to start The Housemaid’s Secret. 

Already, I have listened to 2 hours and 30 minutes of the housemaid secret so far. If you are a stats boffin, that puts me at 26% progress in one sitting. Not bad, eh? I always feel like progress goes really quickly when I pick up a short audiobook straight after a lengthy one 😂 When you consider this audiobook is just under 10 hours long, it’s only a fraction over a third of The Shadow of What Was Lost in terms of page count. Big difference! 

I’m actually enjoying the shorter and more faster post read. I do enjoy a lengthy epic, but sometimes something short and sweet (and a thriller to boot) helps pick up the pace.

 

Books Discovered

It’s another quiet week here in terms of new additions to my monthly TBR. I actually took a book off my reading list when prepping for Friday’s Shelf Control post. It’s fair to say things are moving in the right direction… 

 

Coming Up… 

Next week is the last week of November. Please tell me where that’s gone! I’ll have to start mentioning the C word before long 😂 

Before that though, I’ve got plenty of non-festive related content to share with you. I’m pointedly avoiding this week’s Top Ten Tuesday post theme to get away from the festivities – how bad is that? 

My first post of the week will be a recap on where I’m up to with my reading goals this year and an opportunity to set my final intentions for the last month of the year. How close am I to my reading goals? Is there anything I can do to get myself over the finish line with some of these before the end of the year? That post is all about setting out my intentions. I hope you can check in with me and celebrate my progress so far. 

On Friday, I’ll return with a First Lines Friday feature post. I’m in the mood to set myself a challenge for next week’s post. Sometimes I like to make my life difficult, okay? 😆 For next week’s First Lines Friday, I’m challenging myself to feature a book that is either for a young adult or new adult audience. Most of my reading list falls outside of these two genres, so I’ve got my work cut out for me to feature something interesting that meets these criteria.

Last, but certainly by no means least, I’ll be back the same time next week with another Sunday Summary. Fingers crossed, I’m able to use my time off work to get a lot more reading done before I’m back to the daily grind. 

That’s all for me in this Sunday Summary update, however. How have you spent your weekend? What projects do you have ongoing at the moment, bookish or otherwise? 

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Sunday Summary – 16th November 2025

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This Sunday Summary is one I’ve been looking forward to writing. Why? Because it finally coming around means I’m now off work for Two. Whole. Weeks! Yes! I’ve got all the time for reading, crafting, doing some random jobs round the house and generally enjoying a slower pace. 

But, before I get too hot on what’s happening next week, I suppose I should update you on my news from the week just gone, right? That’s the point of my Sunday Summary after all! 

In terms of content, this week I shared a Top Ten Tuesday of books I enjoyed that were out of my comfort zone. This is a fun one if you’re looking for a diverse list of reads and need some inspiration. On Friday, I shared a First Lines Friday and the opening lines to my current read. 

 

Books Read

 

The Shadow of What Was Lost

Progress has been a little slow with The Shadow of What Was Lost up until now. This week though, I’ve tripled last week’s meagre hours progress. And, as I’ll be spending a good chunk of time home in the next couple of weeks, it’s prime time for audiobook listening! 

Events I’ve listened to today have taken the story in a direction I wasn’t expecting. However, I’m keen to see where it leads. Naturally, I expect to make a lot more progress in the next seven days. I’m coming up 50% through, with under 14 hours left. Can I do it in a week? We’ll see! 

 

The God of the Woods 

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I shared that I was pushing for completion of The God of the Woods ahead of book club. 

Thankfully, I finished The God of the Woods the night before and it was a great read. It was also well received at the club, so it was a good choice all round. 

The mystery was twisty yet somewhat resolved how I wanted it to. The narrative was cleverly written and I was engaged all the way through! 

 

Empire of the Dawn 

The final book to share progress with in today’s Sunday Summary is my current read, Empire of the Dawn. I’m looking forward to reading more of this book. With a bit of a rush to finishing the God of the woods, I stepped back a little from reading in the last couple of days. That’s no reflection on this book though! 

At 50 pages in, I am back up to speed with what has happened to date and I can’t wait to see where his final book takes us in Gabriel’s story. 

Needless to say, I’m excited picking this up coincides with my time off work. It’s a hefty book over 750 pages. Will I get it finished next week? I sincerely hope so! 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve not added any more books to my reading pile this week. Whilst that’s not the most exciting news for you, it’s not a bad thing for me 😅 

 

Coming Up… 

I feel like I’m overdue a backlist review. With that in mind, my plan is to share my thoughts on a classic fantasy horror from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The Waste Lands is the third book of the series and I hope you like reading my review. 

On Friday I return with a Shelf Control post. In this series, I feature upcoming books on my reading list and why I’m looking forward to reading them. I’m excited to look forward at what is coming up on my TBR – fingers crossed you are too! 

Finally, I’m back with another Sunday Summary post at the end of next week. I’ve got no excuse for a lack of reading progress, although I don’t expect that to happen in the slightest! 

What is the name of the book you last finished? How do you rate it? 

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