December Wrap Up

I hope everyone had a safe Holiday Season and squeaked into the New Year safely as well. This was a hard reading month; I just had very little interest in picking up any books. The upside is that I did reach my reading goal for 2025. Woohoo! Small victories and all that. I also really liked the books I did manage to finish, also a plus. I'm sliding into January, currently reading two books. Hopefully, I crawl myself out of whatever reading slump I've slid into. 

Books Read: 5

Pages Read: 1078

 

No updates for 2025 because the year is over, and no I don't want to talk about it. What I do want to talk about is that the 2026 BINGO card is live, and the link is in my Quick Links section to the right! I'm also doing two other challenges this year. One is a second Horror BINGO on my Instagram (@bookish_whispers), and the second is the Beat the Backlist challenge. The latter will hopefully help me knock some of my physical books off my TBR. There is also going to be a January Challenge, but there be a whole post on that in a few days! 

I hope everyone had a safe New Year!

HAPPY READING!!

January Spotlight

 

Meet Alma Timperley. She
- Run a hotel
- Solve a mystery
- Talk to ghosts...?

December, 1914: After the death of her aunt, Alma Timperley is surprised when she suddenly finds herself the heiress to the Timperley Spiritualist Hotel in a pretty coastal town in Cornwall.

But not everything is as it seems... the hotel offers guests a very special chance to communicate with the dead.

When the body of one of the hotel's maids is found, it is considered a tragic wartime accident. But the more Alma and the local police try to fathom what happened, the more they begin to realise this is much more than just a death - there might be a German spy in Falmouth.

With the stakes higher than ever, Alma must grapple with her own extraordinary secret if she is going to have more than a ghost of a chance of solving the mystery.

Being able to talk with the dead is one thing; solving their murder is positively ghoulish...

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released, but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous folks at Breaking the Spine.

Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors’ affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world.

Fate intervenes when Harry’s mysterious neighbor Sue phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue’s house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry’s quaint condominium community—putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.

Why I'm Waiting: I do love a cozy murder mystery!

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

This was one of those books that the bookstore puts on a table by the checkout counter. You know, the one you always look at while you wait to check out. Well, I picked it up and immediately added it to the stack of books I was already buying. Best choice I made in November to add this to my TBR. This was hilarious and a whole lot of fun. I like that this started out as a fun Instagram page showing old photos forgotten by history, and because the author is really funny, it became a sensation.  This is a low-stakes book that's great for after work, or a nice filler after a book hangover. The latter is the reason I picked up after the Thanksgiving holiday. This was so much fun, and I'm so excited that there is going to be a second book. This one is based on Hot Tudors!

 

There are so many delicious recipes inside. Some I've made before, some I've wanted to try my hand at, and others I'd never heard of before. Easily one of my favorite gifts this Christmas. As soon as we were done opening things, I pulled out my tabs and dove into these recipes. I have a lot of treats to try out in 2026!

This was one of those manga that the cover catches your attention, and the title makes you pick it up. It's also the one where you stalk your library and local bookstores to see who gets it first. This was totally worth the wait. Though I could not for life me tell you what was happening. I mean, I can tell you things that happened, but the grand picture, no idea. Is Lewellyn a serial killer? A vampire? A stalker? As for the first two, I have no idea. As for the second, maybe... I have a theory on that. But what I want to know is, what was with the onions? We peeled so many. Ate so many... Why? Why Lewllyn, why? This book is weird, confusing, and really good. So much so, I returned the first book, then bought the second one. Because I need to know about the onions!

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

      

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes, the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

JAMES TYNION IV & DANI RESSURECT A HORROR ICON!
Jack Griffin has always been invisible to the people around him—at least in his own mind. But when an experimental breakthrough presents a path to make his dreams of invisibility a reality, no one—not even the woman he loves—will stand in his way.
Witness Griffin's legendary descent into madness as his humanity fades away and the monster inside is revealed, leaving only...THE INVISIBLE MAN!
The horror dream team of JAMES TYNION IV (SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN, EXQUISITE CORPSES) and DANI (The Low, Low Woods) reveal their vision for one of the most horrific monsters in cinematic history!

HAPPY READING!!

Happy Holidays

 

I hope everyone had a magical and safe Holiday Season! May there be nothing but books and cozy socks under your tree, and nothing but tasty foods. By some sort of grace, I managed to get the next couple of days off from work. So my plan is to curl up, maybe set a fire, and read! I hope everyone finds time to read whatever you're currently reading. And I hope everyone has a safe New Year!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Waiting on Wednesay

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released, but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous folks at Breaking the Spine.

No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy” too for good measure.

But goblins don't go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece.

Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures…a human being.

Why I'm Waiting: Because I'm a huge fan of T. Kingfisher, and her books are an instant addition to my TBR.

HAPPY READING!!

2026 Reading Goals

 

It's that time again, where it's nearly time to put a close on the 2025 Reading Goals and decide what 2026 Goals will look like. After looking back at this year, I decided it was time to adjust a few of my goals. For the last couple of years, 70 books have been my yearly goal, and I've hit it every single time. So, this year I'm going to up the challenge to 75 books. It's not unattainable, but it will push me to not fall into a slump around the holidays. However, on the other hand, I've lowered my page count goal. Since 2020, I have not hit that goal. So I dropped it by a thousand pages, and we'll see what 2026 brings me. 

I also added a more specific goal to 2026: to remove 10 books from my physical TBR. Last year, I read a lot of Kindle books and borrowed many from my library. While neither is a bad thing, it did not help my growing physical TBR. So, for 2026, the goal (and hope) is to remove at least ten of those books from my shelf. This can be either books I finish or books I DNF, but I need to remove some books to new homes. To help with that, a friend and I are going to return all of our library books, set our Kindles aside, and only read books we already own for the entire month of January. We'll see if that helps, or if I'll need to do it again.

Two of my goals I left the same. Always trying to hit at least 3 BINGOs and I want to go to at least 12 SBC events. It would be great if I could hit all 12 of the ones I help co-host, but this year I had a scheduling conflict. If that happens next year, well I'll just have to carve out time to go to another SBC event with another chapter!

Anyone else setting any reading goals for 2026?

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

      

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes, the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

Hazel Russon’s life in 1879 Utah territory is defined by three the Mormon church, polygamy, and the men who control both. She knows she’s supposed to suppress her sinful dreams of a monogamous life with her sweetheart, and her desire for the freedom to play her beloved piano. Every Mormon woman’s duty is to live obediently and meekly, devoted to her husband and her calling as a sister wife. Her eternal salvation depends upon it.

Commanded to become the fourth wife of a man she’s never met, Hazel is relieved that Jacob Manwaring is attentive and handsome. However, she is shocked to discover that instead of living separately as is custom, all of Jacob’s wives and children live in the same house—a large, dilapidated manor that inexplicably fills Hazel with dread. 

Despite Jacob’s tenderness, Hazel senses dark secrets and resentments among her sister wives. She hears strange music, sees blood oozing from the very walls, and glimpses apparitions that grow more terrifying every day. And as her nightmares worsen, Hazel can’t be sure if she has more to fear from the living—including her mysterious husband—or from a sinister presence that seems to animate the house itself . . .

Drawing on little-known Mormon folklore and the author’s own polygamous ancestors, this fascinating, suspense-filled historical novel debut is by turns darkly romantic, spine-tingling, and wholly unforgettable.

HAPPY READING!!

Night Worms Unboxing

December Theme: Black Magic

What's better than book mail? When that mail is from Night Worms! I've actually been really excited about this month's package because of the book "The Black Magic Murders." The friend I share this box with is familiar with this case, but I know absolutely nothing. So I'm really excited to curl up with this one (which I know is an odd thing to say considering it's a book on murder). I feel like it'll be perfect for January/February when it's too dark and cold to go out and do things. This book got a double bonus because it came with an evidence tag bookmark. We had a chuckle about that.

As for the other book, Dark Sisters, I've been on the fence about this since I first saw it on NetGalley. The cover is absolutely stunning, but based on the synopsis, I'm not sure if it's for me. But! I'm going to trust the two ladies who own Night Worms. If they say it's worth cracking open, I'm going to give it a shot!

I'm actually really excited for the coffee that came with this month's package. This company always puts out fun and pretty good coffee flavors. We're going to brew it over Christmas. Seems like the best and festive way to drink it. I also really like that it's only one serving. So I'm not left with this weird little bit of coffee, and I have to blend with something else, or toss. It's nice and usually doesn't let me down.

The stickers are also adorable! I'm bummed that at the moment I don't have anywhere to put them. I thought I had a spot for the smaller sticker, but I was lying to myself. So I'm back to hoarding my stickers until the perfect spot shows up. Until then, into the sticker drawer they went. Maybe I need to make magnets out of them again...

If anyone has read Dark Sisters, let me know what you thought. I'm setting a January challenge with a friend. Maybe this makes the list!

HAPPY READING!!

Edmonds Silent Book Club

A huge thank you to everyone who came out tonight and read with us. I know this is a hard time of the year to find the time to go and do one more thing. So I cannot begin to describe how thankful I was for the turnout last night. And so many new faces as well! I hope all of you can come read to us within January! 

If you couldn't make it to this month's SBC, don't worry. We'll be meeting again on January 21st, still at Leftcraft, and still kicking off reading at 7:30 pm. I will have the 2026 BINGO cards with me for those who want to participate! If you prefer a virtual card, you can screenshot the bigger card from my Instagram (@bookish_whispers) page. It's on my profile page in the highlights tab. 

Or, you can go click here for a smaller board. Just save that image. That is also the page I'll be updating throughout 2026. So if you want to see how I'm progressing, you can also save that page!

We'll also have the book swap basket back again. So if you have any books from 2025 you want to get out of tour space, we have the basket for you! 

I hope everyone has a magical and safe Holiday Season, and we'll see in the New Year!

HAPPY READING!!