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2025 READING, WATCHING & BLOGGING RECAP // last year in review ft all the books i read, failed reading goal, all the charts & 2026 goals
Here is my formal plea for you to act very kindly towards an extremely delicate Ruby, who is writing this post right now. She is not feeling super proud, but also can’t resist making these, so maybe we can just ignore the low amount of books read, lack of posts appearing in a month etc. That will be all at this time,,, 2025 RECAP: READING Okay, so books… very low. But apparently, I read 11k pages last year, so at least I read big books, and for that,t I won’t feel bad. I’m also ~very~ chuffed with 3 books I finally read last year, which we’ll get into RIGHT NOW ALL THE BOOKS I READ IN 2025 Decided to be trendy AND update you on the small amount of books this year because on top of reading not a lot, I also threw monthly recaps out the window ̄_(ツ)_/ ̄ ̄ Yay me for reading SO MUCH YA, I went back to my roots in the limited amount of time I did spend reading and no regrets tbh. I mentioned just now, but Storygraph says the majority of books were over 300 pages, so one could say I was LOCKED…
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THE BEST OF 2025: BOOKS, MOVIES & SHOWS // ranking my top 10 of last year ft. honourable mentions
Oop long time yet again. I’ll talk about my big goals and regrets in my recap post but I do think it’s pertinent to mention that Ruby is really trying to be more active,,, cross your fingers for me!!! In any case, I shall be spending my days churning out all the content for you guys, as I catch up with my favourite posts to put together every year. Still crying tears that I never got around to the mid-year tag last year, so I hope the next few posts make up for that tragedy. As is becoming my tradition, may I present you with my favourite books, films and shows of 2025, all told in journal spreads <3<3<3 best of 2025: shows In order: Stranger Things S5, True Detective S4; The Empress S1 & S2;The Summer I Turned Pretty S3; Adolesence; Heated Rivalry S1 best of 2025: movies honourable mentions: Sabrina (1955); Sabrina (1995); Jane Eyre (2010); Heat (1995); The Fugitive (1993); Se7en (1995); Primal Fear (1996); Inception (2010); Frankie and Johnny (1991) ; Groundhog Day (1993); Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023) In order: The Life List (2025); The Gorge (2025); Mom Jayne (2025); Mickey 17 (2025);A Real Pain…
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AUDREY LANE STIRS THE POT BY ALEXIS HALL // blog tour book feature: it’s been a while and i need to read more from this author!!!
Hi hello friends to those who still remember me because tbh I certainly wouldn’t! I act as if I’m going to be sticking around with a life update but in all honestly it’s the first week of December and I have -100% battery so you’ll see me another day. I also want to screech about how excited am I for this book so let’s do that instead <3<3<3 Big thanks to Colored Pages for having me on the blog tour for Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot xxxx Title: Audrey Lane Stirs The PotSeries: Winner Bakes All book #3Author: Alexis HallPage count: 448Date published: 9 December 2025Genre: Adult contemporary romance 🧁 Synopsis: Audrey Lane is perfectly fine. Really. So what if she left her high-powered job as a Very Important Journalist—and her even higher-powered long-term girlfriend—to live a quiet life as a reporter for the second-biggest newspaper in Shropshire? And so what if she keeps hearing the voice of that same higher-powered long-term now-ex-girlfriend in her head night and day, constantly judging just how small Audrey’s allowed her life to become? She’s fine. She’s happy. She’s perfectly within her groove. Do not-in-their-groove people get weekday drunk and impulsively apply for the…
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH A.Y. CHAN // chatting to the author of The Legendary Mo Seto series about middle grade adventures & martial arts!! [ad]
When I tell you I have been excited for this post for literally a year, I do not kid and I am so excited to chat with this adorable author and her adorable series!!!! I’m too excited so let’s get right into it <3<3<3 Book #1: The Legendary Mo SetoBook #2: Martial Arts StarSeries: The Legendary Mo SetoAuthor: A.Y. ChanPage count: 320Date published: 4 June 2024 / 6 May 2025Genre: Middle grade 🥋 Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Modesty “Mo” Seto dreams of being a Taekwondo champion. Even though her mom disapproves, Mo can always count on her dad, who is her number one fan and biggest supporter. Lately, Mo has been on a losing streak, and it doesn’t help that she keeps losing to her archnemesis, Dax, who’s much bigger than her. If only she were faster, stronger, not so petite. Mo can’t even lean on her dad like usual with how distracted he’s been lately. When Mo learns about the chance to audition to star alongside her idol and legendary martial artist and movie star Cody Kwok, she knows this her chance to prove to her dad, to the world, and to herself that she can compete with anyone, no matter…
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IMMORTAL CONSEQUENCES BY I.V. MARIE // blog tour book feature: i am far too excited for this ya rivals to lovers dark academia set at a boarding school for the afterlife!!!
Gah, sucks to have grown up responsibilites or else I might have read this book on time… she says as they drag her away. I’m being honest I swear! Okay okay okay I’ll shut up and welcome you all to my spot on the Immortal Consequences Blog Tour <3<3<3 Title: Immortal ConsequencesSeries: The Souls of Blackwood Academy book #1Author: I.V. MariePage count: 512Date published: 29 July 2025Genre: Young adult fantasy 🥀 Synopsis: Six students at Blackwood Academy, an enigmatic boarding school located at the edge of the afterlife, must compete for the once-in-eternity chance to change their fate—or risk remaining stuck in purgatory forever. An unputdownable debut full of hairpin twists, shock betrayals and world-defying love, for fans of The Atlas Six. Welcome to Blackwood Academy: the legendary school located at the fringes of the afterlife, where students are fated to spend the rest of eternity shepherding lost souls. Once a pupil enters the school’s arched gates, there is no way out…except for the Decennial, a once-in-a-decade celebration that rewards nominees who pass its trials with a choice: formally graduate and join Blackwood’s magical elite, or venture into the unknown and cross over to the mysterious Other Side. Wren…
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BETTER HATE THAN NEVER BY CHLOE LIESE // spoiler-free book review: the feisty childhood enemies to lovers romance you didn’t know you needed in your life!!!
This one definitely *wasn’t* read some time ago,,, no idea what you’re talking about! Here let me divert your attention to THESE Moving on and into this scrumptious little book gem that I have been waiting a while to shove in your faces <3<3<3 Title: Better Hate Than NeverSeries: Chloe LieseAuthor: Chloe LiesePage count: 336Date published: 10 October 2023Genre: Adult contemporary romance ❤️🔥 Synopsis: Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Katerina Wilmot and Christopher Petruchio shared backyards as kids, but as adults they won’t even share the same hemisphere. That is, until Kate makes a rare visit home, and their fiery animosity rekindles into a raging inferno. Despite their friends’ and families’ pleas for peace, Christopher is unconvinced Kate would willingly douse the flames of their enmity. But when a drunken Kate confesses she’s only been hostile because she thought he hated her, Christopher vows to make peace with Kate once and for all. Tempting as it is to be swept away by her nemesis-turned-gentleman, Kate isn’t sure she can trust his charming good-guy act. When Christopher’s persistence and Kate’s curiosity lead to an impassioned…
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LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT BY JO WATSON // spoiler-free book review: the fake dating rom-com that will literally fly you away!
Took me only like 3 months to get this post up but I simply cannot be gatekeeping this book for any longer? IM IN LOVE!!!! Let’s fly right in! No I will not stop using this word, Pippa needs to give me another synonym *hides* Title: Love at First FlightAuthor: Jo WatsonPage count: 368Date published: 18 January 2024Genre: Adult contemporary romance ✈️ Synopsis: Things Pippa her job, airplanes, synonyms and tropical fish. Things Pippa does not enjoy: repeating patterns, tight clothes, people asking why she’s single and school reunions. After four months of only speaking over intercom, when air-traffic controller Pippa Edwards finally meets pilot Andrew Boyce-Jones face-to-face, they discover they’ve got much more in common than simply working at the same airport. In fact . . . they both need a date. Tired of every relationship ending before it’s even begun, Pippa wants to evade the inevitable questions at her dreaded ten-year school reunion in Cape Town. And Andrew needs to get his well-meaning family off his back about settling down. The solution seems simple. A pact – a fake dating pact – for as long as it’s mutually beneficial. It’s perfect. Or at least it would be if…
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YOU BELONG HERE BY SARA PHOEBE MILLER & MORGAN BEEM // blog tour book feature: a gorgeous ya graphic novel that’ll punch you in the gut!
I’m on fire just a little bit and I kinda like it? Anyways, very excitied for my stop and the final stop of the tour celebrating You Belong Here! Let’s get into it 🙂 Title: You Belong HereAuthor: Sara Phoebe MillerIllustrator: Morgan BeemPage count: 256Date published: 4 March 2025Genre: Young Adult contemporary 💜 Synopsis: A young adult graphic novel following Essie through heartbreak, star-crossed romance, teen drama, and the question on every high-school senior’s lips: where do I belong? It’s the first day of senior year and seventeen-year-old Essie Rosen is already over it. Her best friend went off to college and barely responds to her texts, her brother’s on the other side of the country in rehab, every conversation with her mom becomes a fight, and her long-term boyfriend, Bruno, feels weirdly distant. Essie’s counting down the days until she can escape her Long Island hometown and join her bff at NYU, where she’s SURE she’ll get into the acting program she’s dreamed about for years. But when Essie gets dumped AND botches her college audition, her entire trajectory changes. Instead of doing community theater, she ends up slumming it in the school play, where she’s cast opposite the…
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WHILE WE’RE YOUNG BY K.L. WALTHER // blog tour spotlight: i NEED to read this ferris bueller inspired ya rom-com!
Hi hello! Today I’m coming at you with yet another book I’m excited about but need to read,,, what else is new. But I’m very happy to be chatting about this cutesy book here as my stop on the blog tour for While We’re Young! Title: While We’re YoungAuthor: K.L. WaltherPage count: 384Date published: 4 March 2025Genre: Young Adult contemporary romance 💗 Synopsis: A whirlwind romance inspired by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off about four friends whose hearts are broken and mended over the course of an epic senior skip day—from the bestselling author of The Summer of Broken Rules! Grace, Isa, and Everett used to be an inseparable trio before their love lives became a tangled mess. For starters, Grace is secretly in love with Everett, who used to go out with Isa before breaking her heart in the infamous Freshman Year Fracture. And, oh yeah, no one knows that Isa has been hanging out with James, Grace’s brother—and if Grace finds out, it could ruin their friendship. With graduation fast approaching, Grace decides an unsanctioned senior skip day in Philadelphia might be just what they need to fix things. All she has to do is convince Isa to help…
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A TEMPEST OF TEA BY HAFSAH FAIZAL // blog tour book feature: yell at me to read this vampire heist fantasy book, now out in paperback
My ambitions bested me once again but I did need a bump on the head to remind myself about this book. So let’s say everything happens for a reason and be excited about this book together why don’t we? No more focusing on the negatives! Welcome to my stop on the very last day of this tour celebrating the paperback release of A Tempest of Tea ~ keep reading to find out why I’m frothing at the mouth! Title: A Tempest of TeaSeries: Blood & Tea book #1Author: Hafsah FaizalPage count: 336Date published: 25 February 2025 // original 20 February 2024Genre: Young Adult historical fantasy ☕️ Synopsis: Why save the world when you can have tea? On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone. Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum.…
