yapping about 2025 so far 🐝

And then The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Muhammad is like a little horror-tinged fantasy where a woman goes into a forest and has to save some children and I don't know learn some things. Beautifully written. Want to read more from this author.

the best thing that I read, I guess, is the Magnolia Parks and Daisy Hates book series. Both of these were four stars, so I guess we're currently hunting for a five star in the buzzword reading challenge videos.

I do think you just need to enjoy general fiction to enjoy this. Factually, that's what I would say. So, I still do recommend it to like the sci-fi weird girl readers, too.

And the best things that I read in this video series ended up being Elegy for the Undead, which I gave a high four.

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales, I did a live show for my channel besties cuz it was our book club read. And my book club reads are going good this year. I gave both of those four stars.

The five star remained for I'll Give You the Sun, which I definitely needed because then I also did a 10 Years on My TBR video.

I have been campaigning for Knock Open Wide. It was one of my favorites of last year. I'm going to re-read the book. I'm going to listen to the audiobook. I cannot wait.

the best thing that I read, I guess, is the Magnolia Parks and Daisy Hates book series. Both of these were four stars, so I guess we're currently hunting for a five star in the buzzword reading challenge videos.

Martyr is about a man who is grappling with what his if his life has meaning and how he can make meaning out of his death, and he goes on a series of interviews and learnings from various people who are martyrs in their own right or doing research on them. The big reveal like wasn't my favorite thing, but I understand the purpose of it.

In the fifth spot, I'm going to put No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall. This was just a really disappointing mystery. I felt like everything was really simplistic, really predictable.

My favorite thing that I read, not specifically for videos, was One Day Everyone Will Have to Lie Down Against This by Omar El Akkad, though the Butcher of the Forest.

My favorite thing that I read from here is Sky Daddy, though no five stars.

In fact, there were no five stars in that video, but Sloppy Firsts definitely pleasantly surprised me.

The Favorites by Elaine Fargo, I think I gave a four, but it feels more like a 4.25, so I'm bumping it up right now.

So, the brief rundown of my favorites is my two favorite nonfictions were right here. They both had to do with the authors' like real life and opinions on the world... And the other nonfiction, The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Then The Will of the Many by James Islington, which of course is the one that I read the longest ago, so I do remember the least about. So, it's an academy book. There is murder, there's magic.

This is going to be my least favorite book of the year, for sure. The actual prose in here, the writing of the book itself, I struggled with so much... the character at the focus of the book didn't learn any lessons.

In that third position, I'm going to put Water Moon by Samantha Soto Gamboa. I did a live show with my channel besties about this, and a lot of us really disliked it... It's frustrating that I didn't like it, but the idea of this pawn shop is so much more interesting than the actual book itself.

I think my number one favorite of the season is Wilder Shore because made me cry. That's like automatically five stars. I was really worried because like there is a chance that I read something from a beloved author and then it just flops, but this was perfect.

Speaking of live shows, I also ended up doing one for Witchcrafter Weed Girls by Greedy Hendrix because this was the book club pick, Literally Dead Book Club, for February. And my book club reads are going good this year. I gave both of those four stars.

I gave a two, I think, to The Wood at Midwinter just because like this is beautiful in so many ways, like the illustrations, but it's not what I thought it was. Like there is very little content and substance.