August 2025 Wrap-Up

Happy end of September!

It’s finally autumn, aka my favorite season of the year! We built a greenhouse over the summer and I’m excited to read in it during fall with a cozy blanket and tea. I surprisingly got more reading done this month as well, so I’m hoping I can carry that through until the end of the year. I managed to finish 4 books: 2 ARCs and 2 audiobooks. I’m in the middle of quite a few reads, so if I finish them, then I’ll have quite a good reading month in September.

Editing Update: I got to work on a bunch of great projects this month! I’m pretty much fully booked until November, but if you have any spooky or dark romance manuscripts, I’d love to read a synopsis and get hyped for the spooky season ahead 👻

My Library

I had such a fun time with @justafellowreader attending Slow Burn’s indie author event! I got way more romance books for my now-full new bookcase. The books all look so great and I’m so excited to read everything!

Netgalley eARCs

Ew, It’s Beautiful by Joshua Barkman

Review:

I honestly don’t have much to say about this because it was just so fun and short. This was such an entertaining comic book. The humor was so wry and sarcastic at times. I liked how it was divided into four seasons, and how the comic situations fit each bird perfectly. If you need a funny coffee-table book, then I’d highly recommend this! Or as a gift for any bird-lover in your life.

5/5⭐

Other (e)ARCs

From Candlewick Press (MIT Kids Press)

Maker Girl and Professor Smarts Book 1 by Jasmine Florentine

Review:

Wow! This was such a fun graphic novel to read. I think children ages 7-10 would definitely enjoy this and learn lots from it. I didn’t expect this, but there were a couple of scientific activities to do throughout the book. They looked quite fun and the supplies consisted of things everyone would usually have in their house, so any reader can participate. At the end of the book, there’s a list of websites children can visit to learn more about science and find more activities to do. The characters in the story had such vibrant and engaging personalities, and I loved the dialogue between the villains and superheroes as well. The vocab level fits the age group well. I would totally gift this to a child in my life. I loved the minority rep as well. All the little details just fit seamlessly into the story. Overall, this is a spectacular graphic novel with lots of surprises, and I think children would definitely enjoy this!

6/5⭐

Audiobooks

The Dead Children’s Playground by James Kaine

Review:

I absolutely loved the beginning of this story but was a little disappointed with the ending. I initially picked this up because I love a good ghost story and it looked hella creepy. The beginning was eerie with the creepy little girl trope and the ghost playground, so I was really excited to see how the story would play out. I loved the main characters, but there were times in the audiobook where the POVs would switch and I wouldn’t know until a paragraph or so later, at which point I’d be a bit confused. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll try to keep the ending bit vague, but the ghost responsible for the illness sweeping the town was not what I expected at all. Kaine explains their choice at the end of the story (I liked that section) but I didn’t agree with it and felt like it took me out of the story because it felt so random for that entity to exist in that specific time period and section of the world. Kaine is writing more books based on American horror stories, so I’m curious to see what comes next. I did enjoy this story regardless of the ghost choice, so I would like to check out the next books in their haunted America series.

3.5/5⭐

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

Review:

This was one of the coziest books I’ve read this season. I think I liked this more than Mandanna’s first book. The characters all had such fun personalities and were all so quirky. Rooroo was such an entertaining addition and really helped to lighten the mood. The author did a really great job with how they discussed topics like mental health, autism, depression, having a clubbed foot, and self-love. There are so many great quotes that I’d just want to go through a physical copy and highlight them all. The kiss scene made me want to throw the book at the wall because it happens at the worst time plot-wise. It was still hella cute though. I skimmed over the sexy scene because it felt more like we had to have one for the sake of the romance arc, but it was nice that it was more of a fade-to-black scene. The betrayal at the end of the story was wild and totally unexpected, and the plot twist about the magic worked out so perfectly. The ending was so wholesome. This book is a great read if you want something cozy and heartwarming, filled with a beautiful found family. I hope there’ll be more in this vein of books from Mandanna cause I’ll read them all.

4.5/5⭐

If you’re starting to line up any spooky reads for fall, let me know what they are in the comments below! I’d love to find more cozy fall reads and spooky Halloween reads to add to my endless TBR!

Happy reading!