I tried to finish off the year strong after some major slumpy months in October and November and whilst I squeezed in 12 books (a few were short stories but they count!) my overall rating wasn't amazing. There were far too many 2 star reads for my liking. I'm so looking forward to January though as my reading always picks up at the start of a new year!
Stats
Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin
This book suffered from the fact that I was still in the throes of a reading slump and therefore it took me too long to actually read it (almost three weeks!) so my thoughts on it are kind of all over the place. I originally thought this was a middle grade book, sort of like Kiki's Delivery Service, but it's definitely more YA in terms of themes and relationships. It's about a girl called Verity Vox who is a witch in training and who is called to a mysterious town cut off from the outside world to aid with them with breaking a curse.
I thought the vibes in this would be perfect for the time of year and it definitely had a strong autumnal, supernatural feel that improved the overall atmosphere. I enjoyed the characters for the most part especially Jack, Verity's familiar who can morph his appearance. I think the plot kind of meanders along though, you can feel it slowly building up to something but once it got there it felt a little lacklustre. It had beautiful writing though and a sweet sapphic romance that emerges in the second half.
The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager
I think this one might be my biggest disappointment of the year cause I was so looking forward to it from the premise alone. I mean an art gallery employee who can enter a painting and falls in love with the subject of said painting sounded magical and romantic. Unfortunately, this was a slog to get through.
I was so unimpressed by the characters and the romance fell completely flat for me, I could not have been less bothered by Jean and Claire honestly! It had so much potential as well so the fact that we spent most of the first half of the book having the characters have the same conversations every night was boring. And then the second half focused entirely too much on the pandemic and some random heist. The ending was valid but a cop out. The only thing it had going for it was that it was easy to get through.
The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson
This was such a fun, festive mystery novella inspired by the creators of the board game Cluedo (or Clue depending on where you live). I do love a good murder mystery and this was clever and entertaining, the author managed to squeeze in a lot of plot for under 150 pages. I loved the little references to the game too. Will definitely be seeking out more from this author.
Ravenguard (Ravenfall #4) by Kalyn Josephson
I was determined to finish this series this year with the recent release of the fourth and final book and the fact it's set at Christmas felt perfect. In the end though, this is definitely the weakest and my least favourite out of them all. Without giving too much away, Anna and her friend Colin live at Anna's magical family inn and navigate their way through Anna's burgeoning witch powers and Colin's role as a Raven aka one who battles dark forces to protect the magic realm. The final book revolves around Anna's family investigating a mysterious creature that is draining magic.
I just felt that this one wasn't as well plotted as the previous three. It felt very rushed and also like a whole lot of nothing happened at the same time. It didn't feel like much of a conclusion for the characters and their journey together. It still had fun, magical vibes though and I love the overall world Josephson built!
The Kill Clause by Lisa Unger
I wanted another short read but make it festive so settled on the newest Amazon Originals story that I got free at the beginning of December. This is a crime/thriller novella about a contract killer who is having second thoughts about her life and the job she's been assigned. I don't have too much to say about this one, I liked the writing and thought the premise was interesting but it wasn't big on the holiday vibes tbh.
Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale
I think this is my only reread of the year, I wanted something familiar and magical and settled on a childhood favourite. This book is about a young boy sent to his Mum's for Christmas, he ends up entangled with a coven of Witches and gets caught up in a puzzling mystery.
This still holds up nearly 20 years after I first read it, it has such an engaging plot and wonderful characters. It's definitely one of my favourite middle grade books of all time and one I'll be passing on to my niece very soon!
Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6) by Seanan McGuire
I started this series of novellas early in 2025 and loved it so much that I managed to read the first six by the end of it which for me is huge as I'm awful at continuing series in a timely manner! This one is definitely up there in terms of overall ranking. I loved that this was set in a world populated by centaurs and unicorns and other fairytale-esque animals, I would have happily read an entire novel with these characters. This was really well paced and I really enjoyed seeing Reagan grow up in this world and her journey through it.
Wishyouwas by Alexandra Page
This was my Christmas read as I read it over Christmas day and the days that followed as I wanted a fun, festive middle grade that would be an easy read. This was a really sweet historical mystery/fantasy that I had fun with. It's set in early 50's London during Christmas where Penny discovers a secret underground world of creatures who sort and deliver lost mail.
This was a quick, fun read. I had a lot of fun with the setting and all the references to the postal service with clever character names. I enjoyed learning more about the real life underground postal railway that was active at the time. It didn't always feel fleshed out enough though, I think more time was needed to expand the sorters and their world as well as the overall plot.
Signal Moon by Kate Quinn
It was getting to the point now where I was trying to complete as many prompts from Beat the Backlist as possible cause I read a few short stories in the last few days of December including this one! I really enjoyed Kate Quinn's The Briar Club when I read it in 2024 so I chose this one mostly cause of that but I ended up really enjoying this.
This novella is set during World War II and follows a young code breaker who comes across an impossible radio message that transcends time. I don't want to say much more but it was a really good short story with great characters and writing.
The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
I was desperate to reach my goal of 100 books so was trying to get to some shorter books and this Agatha Christie had been on my radar cause of the upcoming Netflix adaptation. Set in the 1920's, this is a classic murder mystery of a mysterious death occurring at a country manor house but with this one we get a young amateur sleuth investigating in the form of Eileen "Bundle" Brent. Unfortunately, I thought this mystery was a little boring... I just wasn't really invested in the characters and I felt that conclusion wasn't for me. The Netflix series looks like it changes a fair bit though so I'm definitely going to give it a watch.
Shine, Pamela! Shine! by Kate Atkinson
This was a really bizarre short story that I just didn't really vibe with. It started off OK as we're introduced to a retired teacher reflecting on the end of her marriage and her ungrateful children and then it just takes a weird turn at the end that confused me. The writing was ok but because it was only 20 pages the author just didn't have a lot of time to do much and just decided to throw in the curveball at the end.
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
How annoying to end the year on a 2 star read but I did complete 100 books for the year! I read this on NYE and literally finished it at 11.30 at night cause I was determined! This is billed as a children's classic that was published in the 60's and is about three teenagers who are staying at a house in Wales and discover a strange dinner service in the attic which leads to more bizarre events and mysteries from the past coming to light.
I mostly struggled with the writing style with this one, I just didn't find it particularly engaging or exciting. The characters were kind of bland and the plot was confusing and a bit boring unfortunately. I just wanted more than I got although I appreciated the Welsh folklore and the focus on the class divide between characters.
Reading Challenge Update
I came so close to completing Beat the Backlist again but I just missed out by four prompts! I blame my massive slump in October and November for that 😂 I also came pretty close with PopSugar and Alphabet Challenge as well so overall pretty good. (We just won't talk about Reads the World 😬)
Beat the Backlist - A Title Written in the Stars (Signal Moon)
Name of the Game (Shine, Pamela! Shine!)
That's Not Supposed to Talk (Wishyouwas)
Year of the Snake (The Seven Dials Mystery)
PopSugar - A Book Mentioned in Another Book (The Seven Dials Mystery)
A Book Set a Luxury Resort (The Christmas Clue)
Alphabet Challenge - R (Ravenguard)
What did you read in December? Have you read any of these? I hope you had a great reading year in 2025! Leave a comment below. Happy Reading!
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