2025 Reading Log | 50/200 yearly goal (+9 from last update)

I drafted this last week and then forgot to post it! So, rapid-fire book thoughts:

First up is the Tarot Sequence books 1-3 by K.D. Edwards (titles: The Last Sun, The Hanged Man, The Hourglass Throne) which is a queer paranormal/fantasy series with romance and a bit of mystery. I really enjoyed these books, as they all have a sort of found family quality to them that I love. The main plot is basically the MC gaining personal power back after a traumatic event as a teen (murder/SA), with magical shenanigans. The author is currently writing the next few books and I look forward to picking them up once they get released.

Then I read two books in the Tithenai Chronicles by Foz Meadows (titles: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and All the Hidden Paths), a queer fantasy romance which I LOVED! A whole lot! The first book is about an arranged marriage between two people from different cultures, so there’s fun cultural stuff to get through. Also political intrigue!

The second book (with the same people) has more political intrigue and also murder attempts, and while I enjoyed it as well I did think the personal developments sort of backslid from the first book just a bit. Also tbh I didn’t like side characters with the intense BDSM relationship. But overall I liked this series and I’m definitely going to be moving the other FM books up on my reading list.

Another banger: Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland. Oh my GOD I loved this book! Another queer fantasy romance, because it’s my fav genre, with an interesting fantasy setting. But the focus is on the characters and not necessarily the magic/setting.

Several scenes made me laugh so hard I had to take a break to recover. I really liked how the MC and his love interest were stupid in different ways, and how they worked through their problems together (sometimes by just screaming at each other).

Then I have a few books I read on long bus rides between cities (I’m in Ann Arbor now, btw!). I read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott on the bus between St. Paul and Milwaukee. It’s a sort of how-to writing book but I was more interested in the memoir bits.

Lamott is a funny writer without going over-the-top, and I enjoyed this book enough that I’m interested in reading her other memoirs. I’d gotten this book from a Little Free Library so I dropped it off at a hostel bookshelf to pass it on to another reader.

Then on the bus between Chicago and Ann Arbor I finished A girls’ guide to India by Louise Wates, a fun book that’s a mix of practical (and detailed) advice about traveling in India and travel memoir. I have a slightly older version so it may be a bit outdated by now, but I still really enjoyed it and I’m sure many of the tips will be useful when I visit India myself.

I paid slightly too much for this at a used bookstore in Milwaukee so I’m keeping it for my collection and will be dropping it off at storage when I visit it in the fall.

Oh, and I also read The Miracle of Morning Pages by Julia Cameron which is a sort of supplement to the Artist’s Way, which I’m trying (and already failing) to do. It’s basically a Q&A about her morning pages idea and it’s a little hilarious because in the main book she says there’s no rules, and then in this book she makes a bunch of rules. *shrug emoji*

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.