Top 10 Tuesday: Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025

Welcome back to Top 10 Tuesday, following the list from That Artsy Reader Girl! (Yes I am now going to try to pull 10 for every week).

This week's prompt is..... bookish discoveries I made in 2025 

These are in no particular order

1. Much more understanding of my niche in terms of books I'll enjoy (I have lowered my tolerance for finishing books I am not loving)
2. Many wonderful indie authors! (including Ariana St. Claire and Rebecca Kinkade)
3. That there are non-fiction books I enjoy (including some celebrity memoirs, psychology books, and random quandaries I have)
4. It is super easy for me to drop off a book in an LFL when done (seriously, I do not need to keep a book I'm not gonna reread, there's an LFL in my neighborhood. There is literally no reason to not let someone else have the chance to enjoy a book too)
5. Quality of reads over quantity is what keeps me out of slumps (if anyone would like, I can do a whole advice post about reading slumps)
6. Fun bookish challenges (like the Summer Reading Challenge or Magical Readathon. They are fun and add a deadline that can really help me finish non-ARCs)
7. Silly little prompts really motivate my reading
8. The power of audiobooks for me to reach my reading goals (I can read an audiobook at 3x speed, which is infinitely faster than eyeball reading for me. It also allows me to keep reading when I have a migraine)
9. Simpler bookish tracking is more sustainable (a fancy Notion setup is simply a headache for me to keep up with. My notes app and StoryGraph is all I need)
10. A tiny shoutout can help an author so much! (especially indie authors!)

What have you discovered in 2025? Any lessons we can all learn from? Lately I have been so picky with my reads, so I will be sticking with authors I already know I love for a little while. Let's all be proud I can do this with my ARC schedule (and the power of a DNF).

Here it all is in a pretty lil' graphic as always

The weather is quite nuts here, so we shall see if this gets uploaded on time if at all! Please forgive me if it is not Tuesday! Also how is this already the final T10T of January?? I feel like this month has dissolved in front of my eyes.

Top 5 Tuesday: Satisfying Book Series

Welcome back to Top 5 Tuesday, now following the list from That Artsy Reader Girl! As always, I do a top 5 instead of a top 10 because I tend to struggle to find 10 books for prompts.

This week's prompt is..... satisfying book series

These are in no particular order

1. The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
2. Wolf Mountain Ranchers series by Erin FitzGerald
3. Orleans University series by Maren Moore
4. So Not My... series by Evie Sterling
5. Streams and Schemes series by Rebecca Kinkade

I am admittedly not the best at finishing series, but here are a few that I did finish that I feel like were bangers all the way through. All are romance series apart from The Naturals. I know there are a lot of series currently in progress that I am reading and loving. I would be happy to include those if a similar prompts comes up again when those series are concluded.

Here it all is in a pretty lil' graphic 😁

It took me a minute to find all completed series, but I did it! All of these have different vibes, but all are ones I loved. Have any of y'all finished any of these series? See you tomorrow!

January 2025 Reads

 January 2025 Reads

This month I read 15 books 

These books were 80 % fiction (my lowest ever)

They were 0% physical, 33% digital, and 67% audio

The most popular genres were romance, contemporary, and LGBTQ+

My average rating was 4.1 stars

My longest reading day was January 3rd

The Books

➽ Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

➽  The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas

➽ Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

➽ Good Lookin' Cookin' by Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George

➽ Streams and Schemes by Rebecca Kinkade

➽ When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao

➽ Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

➽ Recommended Reading by Paul Coccia

➽ So You Want a #BOOKBOYFRIEND? by Ariana St. Claire

➽ The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

➽ Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeny

➽ Unapologetically ADHD by Peter D. Wright & Nikki Kinzer

➽ Bunny Season by Bindi Kennedy

➽ The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu

➽ Conflict Mediation by D.C. Emerson

Tips and Trysts by Rebecca Kinkade Review

 

* This review is spoiler-free *

5/5 ⭐

Tropes

➮ Definitely spicy (it's how it sends its message)

➮ So many piercings

➮ Old money politician MMC

➮ Sneaking around

➮ BIPOC author and FMC

Synopsis

Best Quote From the Book

“If I could suck my own d*ck, do you think I would be here right now?"

LGBTQ+ Representation

2/5 🌈

While the MCs are not queer overtly, they have all explored queerness in different ways. I can also almost guarantee they would all be very chill with it. 

My Thoughts

I truly never could've imagined how much I could enjoy a book with as much spice as this one has. Kinkade really puts the spicy scenes to use and uses them to tell a story with an important message. It really brings about discussions about racism, racial fetishization, bodily autonomy, privilege, and discrimination as a whole. The message was powerful and clear throughout. To blend that with such an entertaining story takes an incredible amount of skill I absolutely admire. 

The dialogue was so expertly employed. It was a perfect mix of sarcasm, directness, and funny moments. I have so many little notes of me just having a ball while reading. There were definitely had me quite literally clutching my non-existent pearls so prepare yourself for a wild ride if you decide to pick this one up. 

I am absolutely in love with Cora and Everett. Not gonna lie, they have definitely played a part in increasing my standards for people. They are both such dynamic and fascinating characters. At this point I find myself going about my day thinking "Cora would hate that" or "Everett would totally do that for her" etc. They live in my head! Honestly, for that reason alone this could definitely be called a 6-star. I can't wait to go back and read the first book in the series! 

My only complaint about this one is how often I had to bust out a dictionary. I would consider myself familiar with a variety of vocabulary, but this one threw me for a loop. If it were part of the dialogue it would make a bit more sense for the characters. As it stands as part of the descriptions. My consistent research took me out of the amazing story a bit. That said, I am always happy to learn new words so thank you for introducing them to me!

If the title and literally everything else about it didn't give it away this book is absolutely positively quite spicy. Unless you are a bit... special like I am, this is not the one to try if you are not a fan of spice. (I deal with spice for the sake of you all). 

I received this book as an arc from the author. My review is honest and voluntary.