Welcome back!

One of the things I want to be better about in 2025 is to live in the moment. I’m very goal oriented, and sometimes thats not so nice for my mental health. I’m always “once this is done” and that isn’t leaving any time to enjoy life as it comes. So here’s a small list of whats currently going on with me.

I’m currently 21% into a buddy read with my friend Sarah, and we’re reading Strange Beasts By Susan J. Morris and I am loving it. It’s fantasy is heavier than what I normally find myself reading, but I’m really enjoying it! We’re following The Lady M and Ms. Harker as they hunt down a beast killing Men in france.

I’m 60% in and devouring a dark Ya Arc called Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell. I wasn’t sure what to make of this novel at first, because it was taking a bit to get to what the synopsis is supposed to be happening. Its so intellectually stimulating, I’m not sure if its an intentional choice to have the intelligence and philosophical conversations to be so erotically charged, but it’s really doing something for me.

I’m 34% into Playing the Fool by Lina Chern, the first in a new detective series, Katie True, I’m loving her so far. Using the tarot cards to help guide her through her mystery is such a fascinating idea.

I received my first physical arc, and I’m so excited about it. Bearer of Bad News by Elisabeth Dini published by Simon and Scheuster. I nearly lost my voice screaming when I opened it, my very first physical arc! I’m all set to read it, since it releases on the 29th of April.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to dip my toe into annotation! I annotate a lot digitially but never in my physical books so this is a first! I chose sticky tabs color, read three pages and had to grab a new sticky note color for audacity. I’m 22 pages in and all the tabs are for audacity. It’s pretty funny too which is rare, my books don’t usually have a lot of humor in them.

Bearer of Bad News is about a woman down on her luck who gets this wild and well paid job opportunity. All she has to do is deliver news to someone. But it looks like the news is dangerous and someone is after her to make sure the message never arrives. It seems like it will be full of hijinks and cockamamie schemes so I’m excited to be along for the ride.

I was also accepted to be part of two different arc street teams! This is my first time being part of a street team but it seems like 2025 is going to be the year for new things! Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause which will release in September this year, and is a dark royalcore fantasy about a princess who is out to kill the prince. Hacket Creek by Raelle Lowe which is currently in its beta stage about a horror in the woods, what more could I ask for right?! This is going to be right up my alley!

What have you been reading lately? Anything good?

Until Next time,

Gabs

Storygraph | Facebook | Bookstagram | Youtube | Bookstore | Bookclub