On the tenth day of Christmas my favorite book of October was Where the Forest Meets the Stars!
This book kind of had a little of everything I like. My friend Sara gave it to me and my sister made me get it off the TBR this year and read it. They knew!

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

I‘m so happy I squeezed in 2 more books before the end of the year! Thank you for the help @LiseWorks !

#Welcome2026Readathon
#bookly #booklyapp

On the ninth day of Christmas my favorite book of September was The Fireman. It was a scary and creative dystopian story!

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

My first hopeful stack of the year!

🦉The Lost Spells - for #naturalitsy with @AllDebooks
🚪Lock Every Door - for the #keywordreadingchallenge
🌊 A Girl is a Body of Water - for my book club

I read 42 books in 2025! My goal was 49 so I‘m pretty happy.

- only 1 book over 500 pages
- only 7 rated 3 or below
- 0 DNFs!
- 7 read with my book club
- 22 female authors
- 8 BIPOC authors
- 3 LGBT authors

2025 was another fabulous reading year!
My goal is 50 in 2026!
How many did you read? What is your goal?

#bookly #booklyapp

My goal is to read 226 pages for #26for26 !
This book is 545 pages long and I need to finish by the 17th for book club!

Thanks for the challenge @Bookwormjillk !

I got 7/10 done for #tenbeforetheend ! I most enjoyed finishing 2 series this month.

Thank you for hosting @ChaoticMissAdventures !

#serieslove2025
#bookly #booklyapp

On the eighth day of Christmas my favorite book of August was a narrative nonfiction about The Last Days of the Dinosaurs. To be fair this was the only book I finished in August but it was still good!
🦖Thank you @AllDebooks for hosting #naturalitsy !

#12daysof2025 @TheEllieMo

On the seventh day of Christmas my favorite book of July was The Book of Magic. I love this series and hope to wrap it up in 2026!

#12daysif2025 @TheEllieMo

I read 42 books in 2025 & I think you should read these too!

Horror/Magical Realism/Dystopian/Sci Fi
🐈‍⬛ We Have Always Lived in the Castle
📚 The Invisible Hour
👨🏼‍🚒 The Fireman
🌬️ Strange Weather
🌊 A Take for the Time Being
🦿Death of the Author

Fiction
🍎 North Woods
✡️ The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
⭐️ Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Beloved Series
👠 The Book of Magic
👰🏻 Four Aunties and a Wedding
📕Mind the Gap, Dash and Lily

The sixth day of Christmas is a cheat for me! This was a 5 star book for May and all my June books were 4 stars so I‘m choosing this as my next favorite!
Science fiction, a Black author, a story within a story - all put together made for an amazing story!

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

My friend and I just went to a TBR jar class at our local bookstore. Simple but fun!
I have one paper left. What should my last prompt be?

#LitsyCrafters

On the fifth day of Christmas my favorite book of May (and the whole year) is North Woods.
A story where the main character is a house!
🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

Thank you again @AllDebooks for hosting #naturalitsy this year!

On the fourth day of Christmas my favorite book of April is Strange Weather!
4 novellas - I liked them all!

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

On the third day of Christmas my favorite book of March was Parable of the Sower. The author's vision of the future 2025 made it difficult to read but the story remained compelling.

#12booksof2025

I used some of the gifts sent in my #winternaturecardswap cards to make a journal page for Winter Solstice! Thank you everyone! I still have some cards trickling in!

#LitsyCrafters

On the 2nd day of Christmas my favorite book of February was Heart-Shaped Box. It‘s also the only book I finished in February. 😅Good book, I gave it 4 stars, but it won‘t be on my favorites list at the end of the year.
It‘s about an arrogant rockstar who buys a haunted suit. Pretty scary and unique.

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

We had some rain this morning so I lured my little desert dogs out to the porch with blankets to do some reading. About 30 different kinds of birds were our soundtrack.

Hope everyone finds some beauty and peace today. Also wishing you a merry Christmas if you celebrate.

#DogsOfLitsy

On the first day of Christmas my favorite book of January is A Tale for the Time Being!
This was my first by her so I hope there‘s more Ozeki in 2026 for me!

Honorable mention for January goes to The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.
Thanks for asking @TheEllieMo !

#12booksof2025

Thank you @mcipher for my #JolabokaflodSwap gifts! I love that you got the edition of the book I wanted with sprayed edges! 😍 The card is also beautiful! Already had some candy and now for some late-night reading! ❤️💚📚🍫

Happy Jolabokaflod!

Thanks again for hosting @MaleficentBookDragon !

I never would have picked out this book for myself - the tale of a former getaway driver signing on for one last heist. But my book club picked it so I dutifully read it and liked it! I loved how the mc grappled with family issues and how to break the cycle. I didn‘t love the ending which my book club sort of disagreed with me about. Bonus points for a Black author and Black characters.
🚙🚙🚙🚙

1/10 #10beforetheend
@ChaoticMissAdventures

I got my #JolabokaflodSwap package!
Can't wait to open it!

@maleficentbookdragon

🌺 Last week I finished Hula by Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes. I started it on the way to Maui but had to take a break to read a book club book. Set mostly in Honolulu, it‘s the generational story of 3 women and their struggle with colonialism as it relates in different ways to identity. The more I read the more I liked it.
🌺🌺🌺🌺

📚 2/10 for #10BeforeTheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures
💙 Photo taken in Lahaina in November

I mailed my #JolabokaflodSwap package on Monday, but I‘ve been having trouble getting things to post on Litsy. I think I found a work around!
Anyway, it will be to my swap partner Friday!
Thank you for hosting again @MaleficentBookDragon !
📕🍫

📬 I mailed my #WinterNatureCardSwap cards on Friday @TheBookHippie !
I started working on them in November! Not sure how it took me so long but here we are. 😊
📪 Thank you to everyone who sent cards already! They are always a bright spot in my day! 💌

This is my first collage for a winter journal challenge I‘m participating in on Instagram this month.
The prompt was Sticker Soup and I coincidentally got some stickers for the #winternaturecardswap that day!

#LitsyCrafters

Thank you @LiseWorks for helping me finish Blacktop Wasteland in time for book club!

#SnowyDecemberReadathon
#Bookly #BooklyApp

I‘m joining all the fun things late!
#10BeforetheEnd
#BookspinBingo (I‘m going to use every book in the picture 2x, my Jolabokaflod gift & books in progress for the last row. ☺️)
I think I signed up for #MidWinterSolace too!

Just trying to finish all the challenges before the end of the year! Last year I read 7 books in December. 🤞🏼

Thank you
@ChaoticMissAdventures
@TheAromaofBooks
@AllDebooks
@TheBookHippie
@Chrissyreadit

November 2025 will now be known as the month I first read We Have Always Lived in the Castle!
🍄‍🟫🍄🍄‍🟫🍄🍄‍🟫

#Bookly #BooklyApp

I went to Maui Friends of the Library in Kīhei yesterday and came away with some fun stuff! They had tons of lovely Hawaiiana and I had to keep reminding myself how much space is left in my suitcase!
2 books, 2 cds (yes, I still listen to cds 👵🏻), and a set of cards made by a Maui artist named Shanti Rowley! +1 free bookmark
Very friendly staff as well. 🌺📚 Mahalo!

This book has a lot of succinct humpback whale information, + black and white and color photographs. It suited my purpose to prepare me for a whale watching tour perfectly. It was published in the 1990s so I don‘t know that I would necessarily recommend it as I‘m sure there are other books with more updated research.
I took this where we saw a mother and calf near Lahaina, intending to take it with whales, but living in the moment won!
🐋🐋🐋🐋

I‘m on vacation!

Getting ready for vacation! 💇🏼‍♀️📘

Here‘s another one I checked out from the library so I would remember to add it to the wishlist! 😅
It has a map! 🎡🎢🎠🫣

Gotta be ready for whale watching on Tuesday! Wish me luck! 🤞🏼🌺🐋

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

My husband wanted to go to the library last weekend so I checked out 2 books I‘m sure to return unread due to being short on time and long on end of year goals. But they‘re going on the wishlist! 💙🧜🏻‍♀️

I really enjoyed this witchy book! A family inherits a house from a great aunt they didn't know. Upon arrival things immediately get weird, but no one seems to remember anything except 1 of 5 daughters, teenage Josephine. We know from the start she has some type of mind reading capability & it‘s fun (and scary) to see how she uses her abilities. I recommend this haunting story if you don't mind leaving your lights on at night! 🧙🏻🧙🏻🧙🏻🧙🏻

I never gave credit to Bombadil for his invaluable help with my TBR stack photo for November!

#DogsofLitsy #TomBombadil

I had fun playing #ErasGhostBingo with @Charityann last month! I only got Bingo by using books for multiple prompts so I did not count them for #HauntedShelf.
I added stamps, stickers, and used an orange highlighter.
#LitsyCrafters

I have 2 long flights this month so hopefully I can make it through my stack!

🌺 Hula - I‘m going to Maui for my 50th birthday!
🫆 Blacktop Wasteland - for book club
🍄 We Have Always Lived in the Castle - currently reading and loving
🐋 tagged - we‘re going whale watching on my birthday! Gotta be prepared! Also Nonfiction November
🌊 The Cliffs - for #keywordreadingchallenge and my sister wants to read it with me

#nonfictionnovember #tbr

My final total is 756 points for #GrimReaders !

#HauntedShelf was so much fun @CSeydel and @PuddleJumper !

🧙🏻 My character costume on Halloween was Elphaba!

This weekend I started my second by Shirley Jackson! So far I‘m liking the buildup and definitely want to read more about the main characters.

🍁 Loving the fall background @rachelsbrittain !

#weekendreads

Thank you so much @Readergrrl ! I ripped open your package first thing yesterday morning & it was the perfect way to kick off Halloween!
I appreciate your thoughtfulness in selecting things I would love: a book from my wishlist, things with ravens or crows, and a wax seal kit for scrapbooking! And the perfect snack to eat while I read and scrap!
Thank you again!!
And thank you for hosting @BookwormAHN ! I love this swap!
#mws #modernwitchswap

October is always a fun reading month for me and this year was not an exception!
#HauntedShelf and the #GrimReaders helped me keep up the pace in a busy month!
Thanks again @CSeydel ! Now it‘s time to tally points…

#bookly #booklyapp

Thank you for hosting the #Spookyspots #Bingoboard @AllDebooks !
I didn‘t get a Bingo but I had fun trying!

#LitsyCrafters I used washi, a wooden stamp, and labels you can‘t quite see.

Boo @BookwormAHN ! 👻
I received my #ModernWitchSwap package!
Can‘t wait to open it! 🧙🏻
#MWS

I mailed my #ModernWitchSwap package today! It will be in my witch friend‘s hands on Saturday!

Thank you for hosting @BookwormAHN !

#MWS

👻 Late halfway point check-in!

I have 427 points so far and I‘m having a blast!
Thank you @CSeydel and @PuddleJumper !

#HauntedShelf #GrimReaders

🍂 Photo taken in Flagstaff, Arizona 2 weeks ago

I loved this creative story about a little girl who shows up at an ornithologist‘s study site and declares she‘s an alien. I spent most of the book going back and forth between deciding she‘s alien and then deciding she‘s a little girl which was part of the fun. The author also tackles mental health, and sprinkled in a little romance as well.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🌲Taken last week in the forest outside of Flagstaff, Arizona
#hauntedshelf #grimreaders

🚧 I read this for Banned Books Week!
🦗 It was a sweet science fiction story about our distant future. Most science fiction I read is dark and scary so this robot story was refreshing for a change.
Banned I‘m guessing for a non-gendered main character? Yet I remain a woman after reading it.
🤖 I‘ll definitely continue the Monk and Robot Series!

🤖🤖🤖🤖

#hauntedshelf #GrimReaders