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10 Before the End (A hodgepodge of stories)

With the end of 2025 quickly approaching, I can’t help but be disappointed by my reading performance this year. After a stellar year in 2024, I thought I was going to be able to keep that momentum going into 2025. And oh was I wrong…

To inspire me to complete my Goodreads challenge, I have decided to participate in 10 Before the End, where I try to read 10 of my most anticipated reads before the end of 2025.

The Martian

Since The Martian became my favourite movie of 2025, it seems only right that I end the year by Finally experiencing the full mars experience with the true Mark Watney (not just Matt Damon’s Watney).

After a windstorm left him presumed dead on Mars, astronaut Mark Watney must survive alone on Mars until a recuse mission can reach him. On a planet with no life, no water and no breathable oxygen, everything is working against Mark and those working to rescue him.

Project Hail Mary

Another Andy Weir book, but this time with an upcoming movie staring Ryan Gosling. Since my love for his other film adaptation is so strong, I wanted to get to experience this story without any biases (did I mention I’ve loved Matt Damon since I watched the Bourne Ultimatum back in 2007 when I understood nothing)?

Since I have a similar love for Just Ken– Gosling– I feel I must read the book first. Another astronaut alone in space, this time on a mission to save humanity.

A Christmas Carol

At this point, reading Charles Dickens’ holiday classic is a tradition, as is watching the 1951 film staring Alastair Sim.

Ebenezer Scrooge is the equivalent of modern day millionaires: “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Sound familiar?

But can being visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future help Scrooge to see the error of his ways before it is too late?

Good Spirits

Thought I have never read a B.K. Borison book, I thought a holiday story a good place to start. Seeing as the book before this on my list is A Christmas Carol, I am excited to see how this romance between a woman and the ghost of Christmas Past holds up to the original (the themes… not the romance obviously…)

Skin of the Sea

It has been a few years, but I can’t stop thinking about how I accidentally abandoned this book. In my defence, I was reading it during my first work placement in university and reading wasn’t a priority for me, but what I did read has always kept the story actively on my TBR.

Simi is a mermaid tasked with collecting the souls of those who die at sea. When Simi intervenes by saving the life of a boy thrown from a slave ship, she breaks the laws of her kind, putting her at risk of the vengeance of the gods.

Taken by the Horde King

I told you this list lacked cohesion. This is the fifth book in Zoey Draven’s Horde Kings of Dakkar series. Each story follows a different couple, the the events in the world keep the story interconnected. Each story follows a horde king– think nomadic warrior king– and the human he falls madly in love with. In this story, the human is sent as a spy to lure him (to his death I presume?) but he ultimately discovers his plan and decides to wife her. (I didn’t say this was a realistic plot.) As with all of Zoey Draven’s other MMCs, I’m expecting moody, broody, obsessed man.

Little Women

Though I have only watched the 2019 version of little women, something about the story is undeniably cozy. Be it the nostalgia of childhood, the memory of a simpler time, or the connection of womanhood, but Little Women is somehow a holiday story. Strangely enough, this is how I feel about Anne of Green Gables as well. Since Little Women was a well known favourite of LM Montgomery, if it is good enough for the Maritime queen herself, it is good enough for me.

An Enchantment of Ravens

Since March when I said goodbye to Emily Wilde, I have been craving something fae (like real true fae with cunning and mischief and danger). On my TBR for the last 7 years, I somehow didn’t realize it was about the fae during my obsession with the Cruel Prince series of the time.

When the main character, Isobel, is commissioned to paint a portrait of the autumn prince, she accidentally gives him human emotions in his eyes– a sign of weakness for the fae. The two then have to team up to fight against the dangers that arise from Isobel’s mistake. Cruel Prince adjacent? Sign me up.

Along Came Holly

The final book in the Mistletoe Romance series by Cody Hall. I’ve been picking away at these over various holiday seasons and would like to finally be able to lay the series to rest and move onto her other holiday stories. So far, I have enjoyed the stories of the other Winters children, so it will be nice to finally hear the story of the youngest and cheeriest of the Winters children.

Twilight & Midnight Sun

Last but not least, I would like to finish the Twilight/Midnight Sun tandem read that I began in August. While I was enjoying seeing the two perspectives, Edward’s self loathing does get old after a while. Thankfully, Bella is still as fun as ever. I always enjoy revisiting and reminding myself of how much they destroyed most things that made Bella interesting when they made the movie franchise.

While I feel this list may be a bit ambitious, especially given my tendency to mood read, I hope that my strange mix of stories will help me to stay on track because of the options I’ve provided myself. And if not… there’s always next year.

Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas (Review)

*3/5 Stars

            Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas is about a university student, Jordan, who is living with her boyfriend Cole, who is a deadbeat and is constantly making messes that Jordan has to clean up. One night, after getting off work early and being unable to contact Cole to pick her up, Jordan attends a special showing of an 80s movie. At the movie, she meets the charming Pike, who she has an almost immediate connection with. But that connection is challenged when Jordan and Pike realize that the boyfriend she speaks of is actually his son, Cole. 

Birthday Girl started off strong. Like any good romance, there were high levels of angst, grovel and drama. The problem with this novel, was a matter of taste for me. I am not a fan of large age gap romance. This romance has a age gap of like 18+ years, and 10 years is about the highest age gap that I can get behind. Anything greater becomes ingenuine to me, mostly because authors struggle to write characters of a large age gap in a believable way. This is what happened in Birthday Girl. Pike felt immature and much younger than 40 (or whatever his exact age was). He has been supporting himself since he was 18, runs a successful business, and has raised a son, but Pike felt more like a 25–30-year-old eternal bachelor than a 40 year old father. 

Jordan, surprisingly, I liked. She was heavily flawed, highly insecure and quick tempered. But I found her refreshing because she remained this way throughout the entire novel. Often when writing young, edgy characters, writers of all genres lose their character 30-50% through the novel. We are told that she is all these things, but we are never really shown it through her actions. Jordan remained consistent in her character throughout the novel. While I found her infuriating and immature at times, that was her character, and I appreciated that it remained the same. It would have been a good contrast to portray the differences between her and Pike had he actually been written with the maturity of his age. 

Cole and Pike felt more like brothers than son and father, and that was a problem with me. I think it could have been an interesting story if they were brothers instead of father son. Pike could have been his guardian in a Party of Five style, and I think it would have had the same effect, but Pike’s immaturity wouldn’t have been so apparent. 

Plot wise I found the story a lot of fun. It was dramatic and everything you want from a soap-opera type romance. It was full of misunderstandings and people blowing words and actions out of proportion. At about 80% I did begin to lose interest because the story felt like it was going in circles a little bit, and I did find that the main conflict fell a bit flat for me. Lack of communication and people leaving without having conversations about what happened bothers me. I understand that it propels the plot, however it just seemed like Jordan never solved her issues and insecurities, she just ran from them and never worked to better herself for her own purposes. Jordan was ambitious and driven, so it felt ingenuine to me. 

All that said, this was a fun read, and I would recommend you check it out if you want a fun and angsty age gap romance! But beware if you have problems with imbalances of power (at least the perception by one character of a power imbalance), and thoughts about cheating.

The Reading Rush 2019 TBR

With the Reading Rush (formerly known as Booktubeathon) beginning on Monday, I thought I would post a tentative list of the books I’m going to try to cram into the next week. I’d like to at least complete all of the challenges, even if I don’t get to finishing 7 books within the week. Because of this, I have decided to double up on some of the challenges, this means that for the remaining amounts of books to complete the 7 book goal, I can be more flexible in what I read.

Read a book with purple on the cover: For this challenge, I think I’m going to double up and combine it with the challenge of reading the book and watching the movie. The book I am going to do for this is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. The cover version I have has a bit of purple on the cover, and to be honest I am in a Harry Potter mood currently and the book is so short I can most likely finish in an afternoon. Then I can watch the movie and knock these two challenges out on the first day! This can also be used for the challenge read an author’s debut novel, now that I think about it… So I guess I’m tripling up on this one.

Read an entire book in one spot: I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with this one yet… I’m thinking of doubling up on this one again and reading a volume of the graphic novel Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. This would work for the challenge of read a book with a non-human main character.

Read a book from last year’s TBR: for this challenge, I think I am going to read City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. I had planned to finish the series last summer but that just didn’t happen. Maybe I will be able to get the motivation I need from the readathon to finish it this summer.

Read a book with a five word title: I’m less sure about this challenge than I am the other ones… Looking through my TBR, I am thinking about reading My Favourite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren (I’m going to count it as 5 whole words…) or maybe I’ll pick up Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane.

Since I have combined so many challenges, I still have three spots free on my TBR for the readathon. The books I am keeping on standby to finish the 7 book challenge are:

Please Send Help by Allison Raskin and Gaby Dunn

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

The Perfect Date by Evelyn Lozada

Intercepted by Alexa Martin

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Mid Year Book Freakout Tag

The purpose of this tag is to discuss the books you have read so far in the year. So far, I have completed 35 books this year:

1. best book so far:

The best book I had read so far this year was Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by the author duo Christina Lauren. I won’t say much about this since I’m going to talk about it in a couple of the other categories.

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2. best sequel so far:

Since I have only read a few sequels so far, I am going to choose Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. This really stands out to me because of how much better I was able to enjoy it compared to when I tried to read the series back in middle school. I understood the characters much better and I loved every minute with them.

3. new release you have yet to read but want to:
Again, but Better by Christine Riccio. I picked this book up on the day it came out, but I just wasn’t in the right place to read it despite my excitement. Because of my love for Christine and her content, I really want to wait until the right time to read this book.

4. most anticipated release for the 2nd half of the year:
Twice in a Blue Moon by Christine Lauren. I am dying to read all of their books with the fun new adult covers.

5. biggest disappointment:
The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines. The book was just total garbage. I’m all for romance, it’s really all I’ve read this summer. But I want romance with a bit of plot. The characters need to have drive and have some kind of life outside of the love interest. This was just a whole lot of trashy scenes… but I finished it because I had already spent the money.

6. biggest surprise:

I didn’t actually mean to read Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card. I haven’t read Ender’s Game but my brother has, and he began listening to it with me in the car so I just listened too. And by the time we got home I was hooked and listened to the rest of the book with him. The world gave me the same feeling that I got back when I was first starting to read and I was unfamiliar with any tropes. It was mysterious and new, and I am so glad I read it. I enjoyed feeling like a new reader again. It definitely took me out of my reading comfort zone and into the unknown territory of SciFi.

7. favourite new author:
Christina Lauren hands down. There is something about the way they can write dialogue and human interaction. While all characters need to be exaggerated, their characters feel like they could be real people. I am even able to spot them in people that I know.

8. newest fictional crush:
Josh from Josh and Hazel’s. He’s just a really nice guy and such a good foil for Hazel’s awesomeness.

9. new favourite character:
Hazel from Josh and Hazel’s, duh. Josh would be nothing without Hazel, so I couldn’t make him a favourite without making her one. Hazel is eccentric and a bit crazy, but it’s a kind of crazy I can relate to and see in myself. It’s the kind of crazy that comes with being yourself. I loved every second with Hazel.

10. book that made you cry:
Roomies by Christina Lauren. More Christine Lauren?? It’s the last one, I swear. Another relationship that I really enjoyed. But they were more like happy tears.

11. book that made you happy:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman in general just makes me happy. I could read his grocery list and it would probably make me happy… But the story was just wholesome and sweet and it left me with that feeling in my stomach like something good had been accomplished that day.

12. favourite book to movie adaptation:

I actually haven’t watched any movies based on books I have read… But I did watch Crazy Rich Asians based on the book of the same name by Kevin Kwan which made me sob something terrible, so I would count it as a favourite, I think.

13. favourite review you’ve written:

I really like my review of The Vincent Boys on my Goodreads. Short and sweet, I wrote it while very angry about the book in the shower after finishing it.

14. most beautiful book you bought this year:
Stain by A.G. Howard. I’m not usually a fan of purple but the cover is so harmonious.

15. a book that I need to read by the end of the year:

So many… too many… but one that comes to mind is Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. I have just put off the series for too long and it’s time for me to finally have my heart broken just like the rest of the reading world.