I used to believe that gaming meant only using a console, handheld, or using a PC. This summer, when I stayed in Winona, I discovered a cute little gaming store called River Quest.
My roommate got a job working there, so I was in the store at least once a week or every other week. I got to know the owner, who is one of the coolest guys in the Winona area. I was opened up to a world of a different type of gaming.
I’m creating a Bucket List of Board Games that I haven’t played yet, but I intend to. I will sticky this to the front page of the Gaming Section and I plan to update it as I play new games. Also, I hope to post a review on some of these board games especially the ones with the strikeout through the name. In the meantime, enjoy my bucket list! Also, feel free to comment with various board games that I can add to the list.
The Songbird & the Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent is the third book in the Crown of Nyaxia series. What’s interesting is that each portion of the series is categorized on Goodreads as a duet, meaning two books complete that story. Each duet is centered on one of three vampire houses: the House of Night, the House of Shadow, and the House of Blood. Oraya and Raihn’s story was the first duet taking place in the House of Night, while The Songbird & the Heart of Stone begins the story from the House of Shadow. The Songbird & the Heart of Stone follows Mische, who was a standout character from the first two books. I’m happy to say this book lived up to the hype and might be my favorite in this series so far.
Potential Spoilers for The Previous Crown of Nyaxia Books & The Songbird & the Heart of Stone
Mishe’s life changed when she was forcibly turned into a vampire. Now at odds with the god she devoted her life to, she still tried to appease him whenever possible. When revenge fell into her lap, she took it. She was eventually captured by the House of Shadow, and when she was about to be executed, she was rescued by Asar. Asar needs Mishe’s help with a secret mission, which involves undergoing the trek to Morthryn, the journey into the Underworld. The Underworld is not a kind place, and as Mishe and Asar journey through Morthryn’s depths, they start to care for one another.
Ride or die for Luce, Asar’s necromantic dog companion. She’s the best girl. If something happens to her in the next book, I’m going to be livid. I love how much this book feels like Mishe’s story. Asar is there, but the focus is clearly on Mische, which is what she deserves. She was always this ray of sunshine, evident in her friendships with Oraya and Raihn, and that’s clearly continued in this book. I like how the power dynamic is illustrated through Atroxus, the god that Mishe worships, and Mishe’s devotion to him. It’s incredibly toxic and shows how religious trauma is a core theme of Mishe’s story. At times, I felt so angry on Mishe’s behalf with the way Atroxus treats her. It wasn’t her fault that she was forcibly turned against her will, and Atroxus blames her at times, despite Mishe wanting to support him. Karma comes full circle for Atroxus, though, and it was so satisfying to read, go Mishe.
Asar, what a gem. I didn’t mind Raihn, but I am all in for Asar. I thought Asar’s story was interesting, especially with his ties to necromancy. I like how he also hated Malach because Malach sucked. Malach was the one who forcibly turned Mishe. This mutual hatred was what brought both Asar and Mishe together in the first place. Asar and Mishe’s relationship was slowly built and didn’t feel rushed to me. I don’t think they even got together until the last 100 pages, which I thought was perfect.
I loved reading about the Underworld. This book reminded me of Persephone and Hades in the best way. I’m sure that was intentional by Carissa when she wrote this. I liked reading about all the creatures, like the undead wraiths who aren’t put to rest. Mishe sees that one of her friends, Eomin, was one of the wraiths she saw. Asar, feeling bad about it, takes the time to put his soul to rest, so Mishe doesn’t have to be constantly tormented by him, and Eomin can be at peace. I thought each layer in Morthryn was fascinating, like how one layer would focus on memories while the other showed various individuals from both Mishe and Asar’s pasts. It was all interesting to read about.
There are so many cliffhangers at the end of this book. I felt like this book didn’t go in the direction that I had thought, which left me wanting more. I knew this would probably be the case, so when I started reading The Songbird & the Heart of Stone, I ordered the other two books I haven’t read yet. I’m planning on reading those in March, so I’m fully caught up on the series. The Songbird & the Heart of Stone is the epitome of why I love reading, and I’m curious to see how everything unfolds in the next book. I rated The Songbird & the Heart of Stone five stars on both Goodreads and Storygraph.
In my bedroom, there’s a tall white shelf. On the shelf are all my favorite video games from all different consoles. These are games I loved or games that mean a lot to me. I didn’t realize this, but my husband told me that the Xbox Series X can play Xbox 360 games. Once I realized that, I went to my shelf to figure out what I wanted to play first. My eyes immediately went to BioShock, and without any hesitation, I pulled it off my shelf. This is the year that I will spend replaying games that carry sentimental value for me.
I treated video games like I treated books, where once I finished playing the game, I’d move on to something else. It was rare for me to replay a video game or re-read a book. I want to be better about this. If I loved something, why would I only experience it once? BioShock is an exception to the rule, as I have replayed this game several times, although it’s been a while since my last play-through.
I’m looking forward to continuing to replay games I enjoy. I will still buy new games and play new releases if something suits my fancy, but for now, I’m going back to reliving the games that brought me joy many years ago.
I have been using Goodreads for a long time. It’s been an excellent way for me to track my reading, set goals, and write reviews on the books I have read. With that said, Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and there has been a lot of discussion about moving away from Goodreads because of this. The challenge is that I have been using Goodreads since 2014, and that’s a lot of book information to re-enter somewhere else. There would need to be something equitable in size, and have the online book library Goodreads has. With that said, The Storygraphmight be a suitable option to switch to.
I have been using Storygraph on and off, and I think there are vast improvements over Goodreads. The first one is the ability to rate books in half or partial stars, where Goodreads only offers one through five stars in its reviews. The spoiler tag in Storygraph actually works. To hide notes under spoilers, you would add <spoiler> include the text that’s a spoiler and end it with </spoiler>. It wasn’t brought to my attention until a few years ago that spoiler tags don’t work on the mobile app version of Goodreads. All this time, the reviews I thought were hidden from spoilers weren’t. I have now been hiding my entire reviews on Goodreads for this reason. In Storygraph, my content is hidden where it needs to be. Storygraph also offers more stats on the books you read. It shows the pages you read in the year, genres you read from, and what books you gravitate to on average. I didn’t think I would be as interested in the stats as I thought I would, but I find them intriguing to read.
One thing I recently completed was transferring my Goodreads books to Storygraph. I didn’t realize this, but you can go into Goodreads and export your library. Storygraph allows you to upload this file and adds your books from Goodreads into Storygraph. I had a large upload as I have over 800 books that I have read. The file took a few days to process, but sure enough, I received an email from Storygraph once this was completed. For the most part, everything was accurate. There were about seventy books where I had to manually add in dates read and copy and paste a review. It didn’t take long, as I would work on this when I came home from work, editing a few books at a time. It’s really slick.
Will I ever move away from Goodreads? I don’t know. I feel similarly to Goodreads as I do to Facebook. I never post on Facebook, yet it’s one of the ways that I keep in touch with relatives I don’t see often. I deleted Facebook from my phone, so I’m barely there anymore. Goodreads, I feel more nostalgia for because I’d attribute Goodreads as one way I was able to get back into reading after not reading for a few consecutive years. With that said, I think Storygraph has a ton of potential, and I’m looking forward to utilizing it more going forward.
Steam had a major sale for their event called Steam Detective Fest. All detective, noir, or puzzle games were on sale. I played several game demos, and oddly enough, the demo I liked the most wasn’t a detective game at all. As I browsed through their sale, I saw almost every single Nancy Drew PC game was over 40% off. I purchased eight games that I don’t own yet. This should keep me busy for a bit. I decided to play Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice first. Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice was one of my favorite Nancy Drew games that I played.
Nice cosplay Nancy! Screenshot taken by me in-game.
Nancy is sent to Venice to investigate a series of art thefts. The art thefts are linked to a person called The Phantom of Venice, who wears a mask and a cape during the heists. The Italian Police tell Nancy of a potential suspect, so she spies on them from a nearby building. From there, Nancy is sent all around Venice and even has to perform a heist herself!
I’m biased, as someone who went to Italy last year, I like the setting of the game. While I haven’t been to Venice myself, I thought the game captured the city well. Nancy takes the gondolas to get from place to place and will often walk to the various Piazzas that she needs to get to. Speaking of navigation, I thought this was straightforward. There’s a map of the sites in Venice, and Nancy needs to click on a location that’s adjacent to her. Depending on the location, she may walk, take public transit, or take a gondola to get places. I liked being able to explore multiple locations, unlike some Nancy Drew games, where she’s stuck in one place for the game’s entirety.
Speaking of straightforward, I think this Nancy Drew game was one of the easier games to follow. There are some Nancy Drew games where I spend an hour talking to people, calling Ned, or trying to advance the plot because the next thing I need to do hasn’t been unlocked. I like how this game sends Nancy exactly where she has to go, and each to-do list in her notebook leads exactly where it should. It makes for an easier gameplay experience.
Scopa! Screenshot taken by me in-game
It’s not a Nancy Drew game without mini-games and puzzles. One of my favorite games is a card game that Nancy plays in a nightclub called Scopa. The game itself is pretty straightforward, and while I lost the first game, I was able to win the second fairly easily. There are two instances in the game where you have to play Scopa to get information. I looked this up, and the rules in the game appear to be accurate representations of how Scopa is played. I could have spent multiple rounds playing Scopa for no other reason than I enjoyed the game. The puzzles in this game were also interesting. It’s funny, there’s a locked door in the lobby where Nancy stays. I took the time to pick the lock because if I have learned anything from a Nancy Drew game, if there’s something locked, it’s probably important. Oh, there was nothing. I ended up getting a chicken egg for my efforts and an award at the end of the game. I think that’s the one time I have ever experienced that in a Nancy Drew game.
After I complete a Nancy Drew game, I sort it into one of three Steam folders: Games Completed, Games I Love, and Not Super Interested in Playing. I’d list Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice in the Games I Love folder. This was one of the easier Nancy Drew games to follow. I loved the location, and the mini-games kept me entertained. The next Nancy Drew game I will play will either be Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand or Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch.
CW: Torture, Rape, Dark Web, Snuff Films, Animal Cruelty (The dog does not die!)
Spoilers for Killman Creek below
I recently finished reading Killman Creek by Rachel Caine. This is the second book in the Stillhouse Lake series. I went into reading this book expecting I would love it. I loved the first book, and I felt this was a series I would complete. This changed when I finished Killman Creek. It’s not that I hated this book, but I felt this book was so dark to the point where it felt like a chore to finish. I like reading thrillers and mysteries, but occasionally, I will read a book that goes to those places where it feels like it’s a bit too much for me. How dark is too dark in thrillers?
I will be spoiling Killman Creek and touching on some of these darker themes in the book. If any of the content warnings are upsetting, this might be a blog post to skip. As mentioned, Killman Creek was dark. The premise of the book is that Gwen is raising her two kids from the aftermath of her husband, Melvin, being a serial killer. At the end of the first book, Melvin breaks out of prison, so in Killman Creek, Gwen is going to face her ex-husband. Gwen uncovers a fake video created on the dark web where she is shown as an accomplice to Melvin’s crimes. This fake video is seen by someone close to Gwen and the FBI. If that wasn’t gross enough, this video was sent to her two children, so now they think Gwen is a murderer. If you’re like, wow there’s no way this book can get any darker, you would be incorrect. At the final climax of the book, Gwen is kidnapped, held captive, and is going to be tortured on video on the dark web by Melvin.
Listen, I’m all for the protagonist of a story of any genre to go through their perils. I expect Gwen to face an uphill battle while going after her ex-husband, but this? I would have been fine if the fake video existed, and Gwen fights Melvin to be exonerated in the end. I think where this book went further than I would have wanted was to send it to her children, so they are exposed to the violence of it all, and the ending. When I think about this topic, it boils down to one thing: if there is no way for the protagonist to win, or the protagonist wins, but at a cost to their humanity or sanity, why am I reading this series?
With that said, Gwen is successful and kills Melvin. My thought after finishing Killman Creek was, well, maybe this is a blip. Gwen can finally start over. I read through the other plot summaries of the books remaining in this series. One plot summary mentions how her town turns on Gwen, and another mentions how her kids are put in danger. I’m out. I already read about Gwen overcoming this massive event from her past, and she is put through so much.
It saddens me to not continue with this series, but it’s for the best. I know I wouldn’t be able to read these books without thinking negatively about them, and I have so many other series I want to read. There’s nothing wrong with thrillers and mysteries having dark themes, but when it comes to continually putting the protagonist in several awful situations with little to no hope of seeing them win, then I have to ask myself why I’m bothering to continue with their story.
The Minnesota Vikings are not in the playoffs this year. As a result, the last few Vikings games of the season had cheaper ticket prices. My husband had seen a news clip advertising that Vikings tickets were cheaper. One of the last games of the season was the Vikings playing the Green Bay Packers, and on average, tickets were $70 each. We decided to go to the game at U.S Bank Stadium, and it was a blast.
This is my second Vikings game I have been to. This time, we decided to park at a parking ramp that was farther away and take the Skyway over to the game. For those unfamiliar with downtown Minneapolis, there’s a Skyway system, or walkways connecting several buildings together above the roads. The Skyways connect the Convention Center to Target Field to U.S Bank Stadium. Walking farther away and taking the Skyways was the best way to attend the game. The first Vikings game we went to, we parked close to the stadium, so by the time we left, we were stuck in the parking garage for a lot longer. This time, when the game was over, we were able to walk back to our car and drive out of the ramp at a reasonable time.
It was fun to see the Vikings and Packers play. The Vikings ended up winning, which is funny because the Vikings didn’t need to win since they weren’t in the running to move into the playoffs. It was more important for the Packers to win. Unfortunately, the Packers’ season is now over since they lost to the Bears. As a side note, who would have predicted the Bears to be the team that won the NFC North? Good for them, since they haven’t been good in a while.
Happy New Year! Every year, I like to make New Year’s Resolutions that are specifically centered around my hobbies. I think it makes setting New Year’s Resolutions more fun. This is my fifth consecutive post where I have set resolutions for the year. With that said, here is everything I hoped to accomplish in 2025, as well as what I aim to do in 2026.
2025 New Year’s Resolutions
Finish The Mighty Nein – Complete! I finished The Mighty Nein last year. This was an achievement, considering there are 141 episodes to watch. I’m glad I took the time because The Mighty Nein was a wild ride from start to finish. I’m getting closer to saying that I’m caught up on Critical Role.
Golf at least 3 times This Summer – Nope. I didn’t golf once last year. Golfing is a hobby I have started thanks to my husband. I didn’t think I would ever enjoy golfing, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I like golf because it’s a great way to be physically active, and I like being outside as much as possible during the summer. Unfortunately, we were busy most weekends in summer and didn’t find the time last year.
Travel to 1 State or Country I haven’t been to before – Complete! I went to Italy last May, and it was a great vacation. I didn’t travel to any new US states, but I did go to South Dakota and the Black Hills, which I had never been to before.
Play 4 Different Console or PC Games – Complete! I played three different PS5 games and several Nancy Drew games last year.
Here are my resolutions for 2026.
Finish my Goodreads TBR
As of this post, I have one book left on my TBR that I plan on reading next month. It’s taken me several years to reach this point, so it will be rewarding once I have achieved it. Once I finish my TBR, I will share how I plan to approach reading differently in the future. I never want to get back to the point where I have hundreds of books on my TBR at once.
Finish the First Season of Fantasy High
I have an annual subscription to Dropout, so in addition to watching the comedy shows, I want to start watching Dimension 20. I decided to start at the beginning with Fantasy High and am a few episodes in to their first season. I have been enjoying it so far! It’s been a nice contrast to Critical Role, as the episodes for Fantasy High are two hours or less on average. I like to watch Fantasy High while I walk on my walking pad after work. I’d like to finish the first season this year, but realistically, I’d love to finish Fantasy High by the end of the year and move to another Dimension 20 series by the end of the year.
Get Halfway Through Bells Hells
I originally wanted to say that I would finish Bells Hells by the end of the year, but I’m only on episode #28, and there are 122 episodes (technically 121, but 121 is split into two parts, so I’m counting it as 122) so I think it’s unrealistic to say I will finish this campaign by the end of the year. Instead, I’m going to try to get halfway through the campaign, so get to episode #61 by the end of the year.
Replay at least One Video Game
This resolution is one I’m particularly excited for. When I play video games, I tend to only play them once. I think it’s a shame, considering that a lot of the video games I play, I love. I recently discovered that the Xbox Series X can play Xbox 360 games, so I decided to go through my collection and replay some of my favorites. I decided to start with Bioshock. I am also replaying Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 as well to unlock some additional trophies.
Happy New Year! Looking back, 2025 was a busy year. There were multiple trips, including both Italy and a family vacation to South Dakota. The Critical Role live show was another fun mini-trip that I took last year. Lots of traveling, reading, and devoting time to my hobbies, which is always a good thing. 2025 was a great year.
Movies I Watched
Blue Beetle
Captain America: Brave New World
The Amateur
Thunderbolts*
Superman (2025)
The Fantastic Four First Steps (2025)
My favorite movie I saw last year was Superman. I picked Superman over Fantastic Four because DC really needed this movie to be good. I didn’t doubt James Gunn and if he could do it, but there was a lot riding on this movie. Krypto was the star of the movie. I think we could all agree with that. It makes me excited for James Gunn’s extended movie universe for DC.
My least favorite movie I watched last year was Captain America: Brave New World. It’s not that I hated it; I simply think it wasn’t as good as the rest of the movies on my list.
When writing this post, it made me think about how I don’t go to the movie theater anymore. When I think about why, I think about two things. The first is the cost. For my husband and I to go to a movie in theaters, it’s anywhere between $30 – $35. That’s a lot. The second is how quickly movies go to streaming. If I miss a movie, I know I can watch it within a month. Remember the days of waiting six months for a movie to come out on DVD? That seems unheard of now.
TV Shows I Watched
Creature Commandos
Legend of Vox Machina
The Fox Hollow Murders
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Peacemaker Season #2
Only Murders in the Building
The Mighty Nein
I watched more TV this year than I thought I would. Starting with Creature Commandos, the Weasel episode emotionally wrecked me. I don’t think I have cried harder while watching a TV show in my life. My husband encouraged me to watch the episode, but boy, it was tough to watch. Creature Commandos is a show that has stuck with me, which is surprising. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is my reality TV show guilty pleasure watch. Only Murders in the Building is a show that I recently discovered and like to put on when I need something easy to watch. I hope to finish the series going into 2026.
Video Games I Played
Screenshot taken by me
Star Wars Outlaws
Life is Strange Double Exposure
Date Everything
Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
My favorite game I played was Star Wars: Outlaws. This game surprised me because it was better than I thought it would be. Nix is adorable. I laugh because I left Star Wars Outlaws with the lowest approval rating with the Hutt crime syndicate, and rightfully so. Date Everything was cute, but it reminds me that with dating sims, I get bored easily. I’m not over the way that I was rejected by the vacuum cleaner.
Gaming in 2025
Arkham Horror
Dungeons & Dragons campaign
Vampire: The Masquerade campaign
Candela Obscura mini-series
Forbidden Jungle
Monster of the Week at CONvergence
Call of Cthulhu one-shot
I’m in a lot of TTRPG groups! This past year, our two year Dungeons & Dragons campaign wrapped at Badwolf Adventure Studios. Cue all the emotions that came with that. It was bittersweet! Playing the same character for two years and her story finally ends. With that said, I’m in a new campaign and I have been loving it thus far. I’m still in a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign every other Friday also at Badwolf Adventure Studios. This group has been meeting for over a year now and it’s the longest VTM campaign that I have been in. In 2025, I played less board games it feels like, but I have been playing a lot of roleplaying games which is fun to see.
My favorite new podcast I discovered in 2025 was A Little Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein. Matt is able to handle a variety of complex topics. The latest episode I’m listening to is about Nicki Minaj becoming more conservative and the history of that. Matt always has a variety of different guests and I look forward to each episode. The two podcasts that I’m listening to currently that I’m not caught up on are BlackwaterDnD and Worlds Beyond Number. With Critical Role, everything is so lore heavy and I like that BlackwaterDnD, I can listen and if I miss something, it’s not a huge deal because it gets recapped later. I also like the chemistry that the cast has. Finally, Worlds Beyond Number has been another highlight to listen to as it’s DMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan.
Catchiest Song in 2025
My most played song in 2025 was “Nancy Mulligan” by The Wellermen, Malinda, and Cullen Vance. I have a playlist called Ren Fest Vibes where I listen to a lot of bagpipes. What genre of music is that considered?
Conventions I Attended in 2025
Planet Comic Con
Spring Con
CONvergence
Twin Cities Con
I went to four conventions in 2025. No Gen Con for me this year and while I had a little FOMO, I was okay with taking a year off. Gen Con is usually a cheaper vacation for me, but the convention itself is a lot. I ended up sticking to conventions mostly in my area which is nice! It’s always more convenient to attend conventions in state than to travel. While I love traveling for conventions, it can be exhausting.
Personal Memories
Top Three Memories of 2025
Critical Role Live Show
Italy
Taking my Family to the State Fair for the First Time
It’s that time of year again, another reading year has come and gone. I felt this was a successful reading year. I’m getting closer to finally finishing my TBR. At the time that this post is scheduled, I have three books left. Looking ahead to 2026, I want to read more comics, finish my TBR, and approach reading differently than I have in the past. For this post, I utilize Perpetual Page Turner’s End of Year Book Survey. Here are my answers to the questions.
2025 Reading Stats:
Number of Books Read: 62
Number of Re-Reads: 3 – (The Kiss Quotient, Geekerella, and Volume #1 of Manhattan Projects)
Genre You Read The Most From: Romance
Library Savings: $480
I read 62 books in 2025, which is less than what I read last year. Last year, I would average two, sometimes three books a month. This year, I focused on reading two physical books every month. While I love to read, I have other hobbies, and I wanted to dedicate time to them. I didn’t want reading to become a chore. I re-read more books this year than I did last year. When I finish my TBR next year, I want to prioritize re-reading books I own. As far as the genre I read from the most, I quickly scrolled through all my books, and I feel romance is the correct answer. Finally, my library savings. $480!??!!? That’s a lot. I calculate this by reviewing the books I read and counting how many of them I rented from the library, whether as a physical book or through Libby. The number was 32. I multiply 32 by $15 as I feel the cost of a book varies between $10 – $18. This was way higher than last year, which is a good thing! I want to continue utilizing my local library.
Best in Books
Best Book You Read in 2025?
I had two books in mind for this. The first was A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher, and the second was Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent. It’s a tough call, but ultimately I decided to give it to Six Scorched Roses. I LOVED this book. I like how some romantasy series have these short novellas in between stories. This book was less than 200 pages, and I was invested from start to finish. It’s nice to have shorter books in between the longer books I read.
Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More, But Didn’t?
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley. I have talked about Lucy Foley a lot, as I have enjoyed every book she has written. The Midnight Feast, I rated one star on Goodreads. I was shocked; this didn’t feel like a book she wrote. This felt like a one-off.
Most Surprising (In a Good Way or Bad Way) Book You Read?
Told You So by Mayci Neeley. Mayci is one of the women on the show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, so I think it would be easy to discount this book because of that. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought. Mayci goes into detail about her abusive relationship, finding out that she was pregnant and losing her baby’s father. That’s a lot for anyone to go through. This book reads more like Mayci’s private diary, so it felt personal while I listened to the audiobook. I am glad I read this and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.
Favorite New Author You Discovered in 2025?
T. Kingfisher. I have seen her books pop up, and every reader raves about her. I bought A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, and it was so good. It was a cozy fantasy about a young girl who’s a wizard, and her familiar is a sourdough starter. This lived up to all my expectations, and once I’m finished with my TBR, I will go through the rest of T. Kingfisher’s books and pick out the one I want to read next.
Most Action-Packed/Thrilling/Unputdownable Book of the Year?
Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates. I tried to read another Darcy Coates book a few years ago, and ended up DNFing it. I had this book on my TBR and listened to the audiobook. This book, shit really hits the fan. It’s a thriller where a group of people are stuck in a blizzard. They arrive at a cabin and see a severed head on a stick. After that, people start dying, and everyone’s messy secrets are revealed. If an audiobook entices me to want to clean my house, you know it’s going to be good. I used every excuse I could to listen to this. Darcy Coates may be an author whom I listen to rather than read as physical books, and I’m okay with that.
Favorite Cover of a Book You Read in 2025?
The books in the Castle Knoll mystery series by Kristen Perrin are so aesthetically pleasing. The first book in the series was sky blue and orange, while How to Seal Your Own Fate is green and yellow. These are books I own because I like the series, but also, the covers are gorgeous.
Most Memorable Character in 2025?
I’d like to nominate Veronica Speedwell from the Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn. These books don’t end up nominated for awards in this survey, but I always look forward to reading them. Veronica is such a fun character to follow, and she’s so quick with her clapbacks. She could be the permanent answer for this question, and I’d be fine with that.
Book You Can’t Believe You Waited Until 2025 to Read?
The World of Critical Role by Liz Marsham. I received this book as a gift in 2022, but didn’t read it until this year because I wanted to wait until I finished The Mighty Nein campaign, which I did. This book is a love letter to TTRPGs, but also to Critical Role and how the show came to be. This is a book I’d page through again in the future.
OTP Of The Year?
I have so many choices since I read a lot of romance. I decided to go with Hallie and Hayden from Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe. This book was so stinking cute. Hallie and Hayden were a great couple, and I wish their supernatural show were real. I’d watch it. I have Mallory’s second book on my TBR to read next year.
Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
I’m going to nominate Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for this. Fourth Wing is popular, and as such, I wanted to see what the hype was all about. Fourth Wing blew me away. I had originally rented this from the library, loved it so much that I bought my own copy, along with Iron Flame, the second book in the series. I don’t really care for Xander much as a character, but the dragons are the real stars of this book. I liked reading about Basgiath and how Violet’s family is intertwined with the college. I have heard mixed feelings about the other books in the series, but I’m committed to finishing the series.
Book That Was The Most Fun To Read?
Vox Machina: Stories Untold was a highlight of my reading year. This is a book of short stories featuring some of the NPCs from Critical Role’s first campaign, Vox Machina. The Trinket story had me close to tears in the best way. It’s a bear protecting children, of course, I’m going to get weepy about it. The Mighty Nein short story book comes out next year, and I already have it tagged on Libby.
Your Blogging/Bookish Life
New Favorite Book Blog?
I discovered Thtgrlreads on Instagram first and then subscribed to her YouTube channel shortly thereafter. She focuses primarily on romantasy and dark romance, with the latter being a sub-genre I’m not normally into. Some of her book recommendations I have saved because they sound interesting. One book she recommended was A Wrecking of Salt and Fire by E.K. Condos, which features pirates and an enemies-to-lovers romance. Sign me up. I was obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean, so this seems like something I’d like. If you see me reading more romantasy in my future, it’s probably because of Thtgrlreads.
Best Bookish Event That You Participated In?
I went to two adult book fairs, one in winter and one in summer. While both events were packed and I didn’t buy anything, it was cool to go. Minnesota has a strong book community and a ton of small bookstores to support. I am glad that I was a part of it, and I hope that more book fairs pop up in the future.
Looking Ahead
One Thing You Hope to Accomplish in 2026?
Finish my TBR!
To end this post, there were a few books that I read that I loved, but I couldn’t find the perfect award to nominate them for. I decided to list them out below because I wanted them to get mentioned at least once.
There’s nothing quite like a snowstorm to keep someone sequestered for a weekend. It ended up being the perfect time to sit down and complete Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2. I have been playing this game for a few months now. When I play video games, I like to take my time. I don’t want to rush the story; instead, I like to complete a few story missions, then switch gears and focus on the side quests. I spent time feeding on the citizens of Seattle, which allowed me to unlock perks from the other vampire clans. There are many opinions about Bloodlines 2. Some say the game isn’t bad, while others claim it’s horrible. I enjoyed playing Bloodlines 2, although I can’t help but feel disappointed with certain parts of the game.
Screenshot taken by me
Spoilers for Bloodlines 2 Below
Bloodlines 2 opens with Phyre, who awakens from Torpor. As Phyre comes to their senses, they hear a voice in their head belonging to Fabien, a Malkavian Detective who’s a Kindred local to Seattle. Phyre questions him, and Fabien struggles to recover his memories. As the two investigate further, they realize Fabien was killed by Phyre after he opened the box Phyre was resting in. If that wasn’t enough, Phyre sees a strange mark on their hand. Phyre feels weaker than they should, and they believe this mark is responsible. Fabien encourages Phyre to seek out the Camarilla for permission to wander Seattle and to figure out how to remove the mark.
I have so many thoughts about this game, so I’m going to list all the things I liked and disliked, then break them down point by point. Starting with the things I liked about Bloodlines 2:
The Story
Characters & Contacts within The Camarilla
Environment
Customization
Playing Bloodlines 2, the story was engaging. I am fortunate that none of the game was spoiled for me, so I went into it not knowing what to expect. I was curious as to who the Rebar Killer was both in the 1920s and the present day. I liked how Fabien’s story interwove with Phyre. Fabien’s missions were more story-based with no combat, while Phyre was often taking on several enemies at once. I think it was a nice breather to play as Fabien. For any Vampire: The Masquerade (VTM) game, whether it’s Bloodlines 2 or the tabletop game, the Camarilla contacts are the backbone of the story, whether you like them or not. I liked interacting with the local Primogen. Safia was my favorite contact. If there were any flirtatious dialogue options for Safia, I always picked them. She was the one I was trying to romance, which is ironic because of how the story unfolds later. Tolly grew on me, too.
The environment of Bloodlines 2 is arguably the strongest part of the game. VTM is a darker game, and Bloodlines 2 captured this perfectly. Every alleyway feels darker than it should; the neon lights of the city are brighter in a gothic way. It felt like I was playing a VTM video game. I like how Bloodlines 2 allows players to choose the clan powers they want. In the VTM tabletop game, you can learn powers outside your clan from a clan contact who has that ability. This is how Bloodlines 2 is set up, too. While I committed to playing Ventrue, I could still pick abilities from other clans.
Now onto the things that I didn’t like about the game, or things that I felt could be improved in a future update.
Keeping Bloodlines 2 as the title of the game. One option could have been: Vampire: The Masquerade Seattle by Night.
Where are Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Malkavian playable clans??????
Creating my own character vs. playing as pre-made characters
No custom waypoints
Autosaving is only for story missions, not side quests.
Open-Ended Story
Let’s start with what I think is the most obvious: the name of the game. Bloodlines 2 references that this was supposed to be a sequel to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a VTM game released in the 2000s. This game is a cult classic and is brought up in VTM fan spaces. I think it was a mistake to call this game a sequel when it feels different than the first game. I genuinely believe that if this game were named something else, it would have decreased the negative press surrounding the game. Something as simple as Vampire: The Masquerade Seattle by Night would have been perfect, or Seattle by Night would have sufficed.
While Bloodlines 2 unlocked a few clans from a paywall before release, the game is still missing clans. I have used this analogy before, but it’s as if Baldur’s Gate 3 came out missing some classes like Barbarian, Wizard, or Rogue. Fans would be pissed, rightfully so. In Bloodlines 2, I’m specifically citing that Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Malkavian are missing as playable clan options. Gangrel is a core clan, so why weren’t they included? There was exactly one Gangrel contact, but they were barely in the game, and they were murdered. Cool. For Nosferatu, you might be thinking, “How would this game incorporate a Nosferatu playable clan when they are often deformed? Wouldn’t this break the masquerade?” Excuse me, but Tolly is in the game and gets around perfectly fine. There is no excuse for not being able to play as a Nosferatu. While Fabien is a Malkavian, I don’t think that counts. It would have been interesting to see Phyre and Fabien play off each other had Malkavian been included in the game. It’s a missed opportunity to leave out some of the clans that people love to play.
Grouping a few minor criticisms I had, starting with being able to create a character. Since Bloodlines 2 is based on a TTRPG, I’d expect that I could create my own character instead of playing as pre-generated characters. This didn’t bother me as much, but I’d like to see a true VTM game where I create my character from scratch. Another minor annoyance is that you can’t set a custom waypoint. This would have been helpful while completing the side quests. Speaking of side quests, the autosave feature of the game doesn’t save progress on side quests. This is silly. In one instance, my game froze, and I lost progress on the items I collected. If this could be included in a future game update, it would make the game better.
The final item on my dislike list is the open-ended story. I know I said I like the story, and overall, I do. However, I disliked how the Rebar Killer plot line was open to interpretation. In the game, Fabien investigates a serial killer who takes out several Camarilla contacts (including Rosalind, the other Prince). Fabien finds out that Lou and her ghoul, JJ Campbell, were responsible. In the present day, the killings are repeated, and Fabien is sent to look into it. When Fabien realizes Lou and Campbell’s involvement, his memories are wiped, and as such, this part of the story is unresolved. Was Fabien behind the killings because his subconscious wanted him to remember? Was it Safia using the killings as a distraction for her plan? It feels like a bit of a letdown considering this was a major part of the story, and yet we don’t find out what happens.
Speaking of Safia, I’m so bummed that she ended up being the one responsible. She was my favorite. If it were an option, I would have gladly been under Safia’s mark to take out Lou Graham. Lou Graham sucked, and karma needed to come back for her. If there were a DLC created focusing on Safia’s story and how she got involved with the Sabbat, I’d play it.
This review is going to end, I promise, but I want to talk about the ending of Bloodlines 2.Bloodlines 2 has five, potentially six, endings depending on the choices made. I won’t spoil all the endings, only the one I unlocked. In my ending, Katsumi takes over, and Lou Graham is hinted at being thrown from a balcony to her death. Phyre remains as the Sheriff and works with Katsumi directly. Seattle becomes an Anarch city. Good riddance. The Camarilla was corrupt and needed to be dethroned. While I wish Lou’s death was something that Phyre could witness, it was still satisfying. I read the other endings, and I felt this ending was the one I wanted.
Is Bloodlines 2 a bad game? I don’t think so. I’m glad I got to play it, rather than if the game had been permanently shelved. I would have loved it if Bloodlines 2 were an excellent game; it could have led to people wanting to learn and play the tabletop game. The reception around Bloodlines 2 wasn’t enough to generate interest, and it’s a shame. I’m disappointed because I think this game could have been so much better than it was.
Bizarre Brunette 