Hey bookworm friends. It might technically be 2026 now but I’m still in holiday mode for another week! Luckily the normal routine doesn’t start for us until the 12th (thanks to a late start of the winter semester😲). I’ve been enjoying my extra break by playing games, reading, and jigsaw puzzling. Today I went to a make-your-own Hot Pot restaurant that was delicious and so much fun! So I hope you don’t mind that my end of year posts will be late, and on that note here’s my Q4 Check-In. The more the year moved along, the more my energy drained and my reading challenges suffered—oh well, better luck next time!
Q4 Reading Check-In Stats
Books Read in Q4: 27
| Format Read |
|---|
| 📱E-Books: 11 |
| 📚 Physical: 8 |
| 🎧 Audiobooks: 6 |
| 📖+🎧Immersive: 2 |
| Genre * |
|---|
 🐲Fantasy: 10 |
| 💥Humour: 8 |
| 🚀Science Fiction: 1 |
| 💞Romance: 2 |
| 🚀🐲Sci-Fantasy: 1 |
| 😱Horror: 2 |
| 🖍️Children’s Fiction: 2 |
| 🌐N0n-Fiction: 1 |
| Book Format |
|---|
| Graphic Novel: 3 |
| Comics: 8 |
| Picture Books: 2 |
| Epistolary/Mixed-Media: 1 |
| Target Audience |
|---|
| Adult: 16 |
| Young Adult: 7 |
| Middle Grade: 2 |
| Young Children: 2 |
| Source |
|---|
| Library Borrow: 20 |
| Owned: 2 |
| ARC: 1 |
| BBNYA Reads: 3 |
| Misc |
|---|
| 🔁Re-Reads: 1 |
| 🧑🤝🧑Buddy Reads: 4 |
* Since there’s often a lot of cross-over in terms of genre, I’ll just list each book under the genre I feel describes it best.
What I Read
My reading in Q4 went in a couple of unexpected directions. First, I read couple of picture books because I miss checking out picture books (I used to do that when I worked at a library years ago)! Secondly, I read a lot more comics because I love reading them before bed on Hoopla. My top reads will be marked with🏆and the flops with👎.
📚The Physical Books📚
💥 Men to Avoid in Art and Life by Nicole Tersigni│Adult│Library Borrow │Comics
🐲 Over the Garden Wall: Vol. 3 by Pat McHale with Jim Campbell et. al│MG│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel
🐲 The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan│Adult│Owned│🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read -🏆
🖍️ A Map for Falasteen by Maysa Odeh, Illustrations by Aliaa Betawi │Children│Library Borrow│Picture Book
🐲 Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell │Adult│Library Borrow
🖍️ Olive Harvest in Palestine by Wafa Shami, Illustrations by Shaima Farouki│Children│Library Borrow│Picture Book
🐲 Over The Garden Wall, Vol. 4 by Patrick McHale, Kiernan Sjursen-Lien│MG│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel –👎
🌐 The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega, Illustations by Neil Max Emmanuel│YA│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel
📱The E-Books📱
😱 Human Scars on Planet Skin by Effie Joe Stock & Nathaniel Luscombe│Adult│ARC│Review
💥 Mochi’s Pugpyhood by Gemma Gené│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics – 🏆
💥 All Are Welcome (Cat Cafe #3) by Gwen Tarpley│YA│Library Borrow│Comics
💥 One Cup at a Time (Cat’s Cafe #2) by Gwen Tarpley│YA│Library Borrow│Comics
💥 Cat’s Cafe (Cat’s Cafe #1) by Gwen Tarpley│YA│Library Borrow│Comics
💥 The Book of Purrs: Everyday Thoughts from Your Feline Friends by Luís Coelho│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics
🐲 The Revenge of Captain Vessia by Leslie Allen│Adult│BBNYA 2025
🐲 Soul Fraud by Andrew Givler│Adult│BBNYA 2025
🐲 Miss Bennet’s Dragon by M. Verant│Adult│BBNYA 2025
💥Cryptid Club by Sarah Andersen│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics –🏆
💥Sad Nuggie: Life Is Sweet and Sour by Sad Nuggie, Anastasia Sevastynova│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics –👎
🎧The Audiobooks🎧
🚀🐲 Spellhacker by M. K. England│Narrator: Marisol Ramirez│YA│Library Borrow │🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read – 👎
🐲 The Adventure of the Demonic Ox by Lois McMaster Bujold│Narrator: Grover Gardner│Adult│Library Borrow – 🏆
😱 Cackle by Rachel Harrison│Narrator: Dylan Moore│Adult│Library Borrow – 🏆
🐲 The First Yule by T. J. Green│Narrator: Diana Croft│Adult│Library Borrow
💞 Highland Hearts Holiday Bookshop by Tricia O’Malley│Narrator: Amy Landoon & Will Watt│Adult│Library Borrow – 🏆
💞 If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia│Narrator: Blair Young, Emily Eiden, Alex Raby, Sean Patrick Hopkins│Adult│Library Borrow
📖The Immersive Reads🎧
🐲Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr│Narrator: Nick Landrum │YA│Owned │🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read│🔁Re-Read
🚀Illuminae by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman│Narrator: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lincoln Hoppe, Johnathan McClain (Full Cast)│YA│Library Borrow│Mixed-Media│🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read –🏆
Reading Challenges Report
2025 Finishing The Series Challege: The level I targetted for the series challenge is “5-8 series” and I finished 7 series by the end of the year so I call that a success! Thanks to Carla @Carla Loves to Read & Jonetta @Blue Mood Café for hosting it.
The 2025 SFF Title Challenge: In the end I only completed 5/16 of the prompts so I didn’t do well on that one. Thanks to Annemieke @A Dance With Books for hosting!
The Sound of Madness 2025: By the end of the year I completed 13/25 prompts which is much better than I expected so I could have done worse! Thanks to Timy @Queen’s Book Asylum for hosting!
Let’s chat in the comments!
What are you currently reading? Or, have you read any of these and what did you think?
I love how neat your graphic for this post is!! *_*
And I am glad you are still relaxing! The Hot Pot restaurant sounds like fun (and delicious, too!)
All the comics and illustrated books you showcased here seem adorable!! *_*
Thanks so much, Susy I’m glad you like the way I set up this post because I had a lot of fun making it!
Hot Pot was so good, I’m still thinking about it 🤤! Thanks, yes most of the comics were adorable, some less than others but I enjoy reading them before bed and hope to find more 🙂
Over the Garden Wall looks fun! Would you say it’s appropriate for a middle schooler? I’ve been looking for more books for my son.
Hi Lindsi! Yes, Over the Garden Wall is a Middle Grade series (& mini series on Cartoon Network is aimed at children but is excellent for any age if you like whimsy). I re-watch it yearly around Halloween time and so that’s why I was interested in reading this series (it continues on from after the show’s events)