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.

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 Storygraph might 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.

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.

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.

• A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey
• Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk
• The Showgirl by Nicola Harrison
• The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
• Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I have tried to write this post at least three or four times. Each time, I ended up abandoning the post altogether. One project I have been working on is editing my previous blog posts. Throughout this process, I have been taking note of things I wrote about several years ago. I used to write a lot about comics. There were posts where I was reviewing three or four different comic book series. To say that I’m in a comics-reading slump would be an understatement. It saddens me because reading comics brings me so much joy, yet I don’t feel compelled to pick up a comic to read. Why is that?

When I think about what started this reading slump, a few things come to mind. The first is the expense of reading comics. When my husband and I bought our house, we had to review our budget. One of the easiest ways for me to save money was to cut out going to the comic book store. While a single issue comic on its own isn’t all that expensive, I would end up buying several trade paperbacks on top of that. It wouldn’t be uncommon for me to spend $50 every time I go. That may not seem like a lot, but if it’s $50 every week or every other week, that can add up. As much as I want to go visit my local comic book store, I have so many graphic novels on my shelf that I want to read first. I’d rather prioritize my reading and then stock up on more comics when I’m ready.

The second reason for this comics reading slump is feeling out of the loop. Unlike other hobbies, with comics, I don’t have any good comic podcasts or YouTube channels to watch. I don’t know what’s being released or which comic series are ongoing. As a side note, I’d love any comics podcast or YouTube recommendations. I used to follow a few accounts, but they stopped posting regularly. Several years ago, I was a part of a local comics Facebook group. This was great! It felt like I had a place to talk about comics that I didn’t have in the past. I ended up leaving the group due to an increase in posts where people felt comics were getting “too woke”. Leaving a Facebook group isn’t an airport; there’s no need to announce your departure. I believe comics are for everyone, and diversity in comics is a great thing. I don’t want to be a part of a community that doesn’t echo that.

The final contributor to my comics reading slump is prioritizing my Goodreads TBR. While I have made substantial progress with reading books, comics got left behind. Once I finish my TBR, I’m going to approach reading differently in the future. I’ll write about that later, I’m sure, but this approach will be more focused on incorporating comics into my monthly TBRs.

Where do I go from here? One thing that has helped is to start over. I have thought about why I love comics so much and what series mean a lot to me. I pulled off all my old Calvin & Hobbes comics to re-read in the coming months. I have started digging into all the graphic novels I bought in April, and decided to re-read The Manhattan Projects. This is one of my favorite comic series, and I finally found the missing volumes I needed. It’s surprising how much I remember about the series since it’s been years since I last read them. To get out of this slump, I want to reconnect with why I got into comics to begin with.

It’s the last month of the year, and with that comes an ambitious TBR. One of the books I had on hold for weeks at my library suddenly became available. While that wasn’t planned, I wasn’t going to miss the chance to read it. This means that I will be attempting to read three books this month, which has either worked out or not. Two of the books I was planning to read are three hundred pages or less, so it could be doable. Two books are holiday-themed, and the book I had on hold is not. I think this will be a fun, somewhat seasonal TBR.

In November, I read three books, which are as follows:

• How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin 5/5 stars
• Told You So by Mayci Neeley Unrated
• Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca 3/5 stars

How to Seal Your Own Fate was an entertaining, cozy mystery. Told You So was difficult to read, but I ended up loving it more than I thought I would. For those who are unfamiliar, Mayci is a cast member on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Mayci writes about her unexpected pregnancy when she was nineteen, the abusive relationship she was in, and how important tennis was to her. As a note, I don’t rate memoirs. I think it’s odd to rate someone’s trauma, and it feels wrong to me. It’s not my place to tell someone how they should write their own story. Finally, I finished the month by reading Well Traveled and adding another completed book series to my list! Well Traveled was my least favorite book in the series, but it had to do with the male main character rather than the series itself.

These are the three books I’m reading this month. Wish me luck!

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Joan Goodwin is one of the few to join the NASA space shuttle program. She trains and becomes close friends with her team. Everything changed in December of 1984. Part of me thinks this is a potential retelling of the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster in 1986, but I could be wrong. This will be the second Taylor Jenkins Reid book I have read, with the first being The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I ended up loving that book, and I thought the premise for Atmosphere was too good to pass up. When my local library said this book was ready for pickup, I knew I had to read it.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Mona is a Wizard, but she isn’t a soldier. Her familiar is a sourdough starter, and her magic can be seen in the bakery. When Mona arrives at work, she sees a dead body on the floor. Mona is pulled into a conspiracy, and why is this assassin after her? This seems like a cute and cozy story. I haven’t read a T. Kingfisher book yet, and I thought this was the perfect book to start with.

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

Bowen Penhallow is asked to attend a wedding in the Welsh countryside, which he begrudgingly agrees to. Tamsyn Bligh sells magical wares and is aware of Bowen as an occasional customer. She also gets an invite to this wedding and hopes to steal an artifact while she’s there. Bowen and Tamsyn get up to some shenanigans and end up being transported to 1957. They must work together to get back to the present. This is the third book in the Ex Hex series, and this book is only 276 pages. That’s part of the reason why I decided to read three books since this book is considerably shorter.

I’m feeling really determined to read all these books. Out of all the months where I thought I would read three books and it didn’t happen, I feel like this month will be an exception.

I got this idea from Riley Marie, a YouTube book channel that I follow. She created a Book Series Tracker where she tracks which series she’s currently reading and how many books she has left. I thought this was such a great idea! I have been trying to finish more book series as I tend to read many first books in a series and then never read the rest. I recently reviewed all 805 books I have logged as read on Goodreads. My tracker is nothing fancy; I’m using a Google Sheet and created three different sheets: Series I’m Working Through, Series I’m Not Finishing, and Fully Completed Book Series.

I’m trying to read and finish eight book series. This may feel like a lot; however, two books I plan on reading by the end of the year will finish that series. This will leave me with six book series going into 2026. I think that’s doable. The second sheet I created, Series I’m Not Finishing, is exactly what it sounds like. I read the first book in a series, and either I felt that book could have been a standalone, I couldn’t get into reading the second book, or the first book didn’t generate enough interest for me to read the others. I created this sheet to be organized and remind myself why I discontinued that series. It’s not that these were books I didn’t like, not at all! I enjoyed reading these books, but I’m not feeling a pull to go back and continue with the rest of the series. The last sheet I created is Fully Completed Book Series. This sheet is again exactly what it sounds like. I went through all my books and listed which series I had read all the books in. In total, I have finished fourteen different book series. I thought this number would be lower, so I was surprised when this number was above ten. I don’t have a set goal for this, but I’d like to see more series added to this list.

This was a little time-consuming to put together, but I’m so happy that I took the time. This is going to help keep me organized with my reading goals. If I’m really feeling ambitious, I’d like to extend this to the graphic novels that I’m reading, as I want to finish more comic series, too.