Hey bookworm friends. I hope that you’re all staying safe and enjoying a good book or two or fifteen. Not to act astonished at the passage of time, but how is it already mid-October?! I suppose that means it’s long past Q3 Reading Check-In time! Let’s take a look at what I read during July, August, and September and I can already tell you I didn’t do well at my reading challenges.
Q3 Reading Check-In Stats
Books Read in Q3: 25
| Format Read |
|---|
| 📱E-Books: 9 |
| 📚 Physical: 7 |
| 🎧 Audiobooks: 6 |
| 📖+🎧Immersive: 3 |
| Genre * |
|---|
| 🚀Science Fiction: 1 |
| 💞Romance: 6 |
| 🚀🐲Sci-Fantasy: 2 |
| ⏳Historical Fiction: 1 |
| 🌐N0n-Fiction: 2 |
| Book Format |
|---|
| Graphic Novel: 7 |
| Comics: 5 |
| Target Audience |
|---|
| Adult: 19 |
| Young Adult: 4 |
| Middle Grade: 2 |
| Source |
|---|
| Library Borrow: 20 |
| Owned: 3 |
| ARC: 2 |
| Misc |
|---|
| 🔁Re-Reads: 2 |
| 🧑🤝🧑Buddy Reads: 5 |
* 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
This quarter I read almost as many romances as fantasies, granted they were mostly fantasy-romances, but still, that’s very unlike me! And I rarely ventured into YA or middle grade this quarter. I guess that makes sense since I don’t typically lean towards YA romances. My top reads will be marked with🏆and the flops with👎.
📚The Physical Books📚







😱 Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey│Adult│ARC -🏆- Review
🌐Woman, Life, Freedom by Marjane Satrapi│Adult│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel│🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read
🐲A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan│Adult│Owned│🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read -🏆
🚀🐲Costumes for Time Travelers by A. R. Capetta│YA│Library Borrow
🐲Over The Garden Wall, Vol. 1 by Amalia Levari, Jim Campbell with Cara McGee│MG│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel
🐲Over The Garden Wall, Vol. 2 by Jim Campbell │MG│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel
⏳Rebis: Born and Reborn by Irene Marchesini│YA│Library Borrow │Graphic Novel – 🏆
📱The E-Books📱









💥Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics
💥Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics
💥Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics
💥Oddball by Sarah Andersen│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics
💥Adulthood is a Gift by Sarah Andersen│Adult│Library Borrow│Comics
💞 Sweet Paprika, Vol. 1 by Mirka Andolfo│Adult│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel
💞 Sweet Paprika, Vol. 2 by Mirka Andolfo│Adult│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel
🚀 Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz│Adult│ARC – 🏆- Review
🚀🐲The Sequels by Norm Harper │Adult│Library Borrow│Graphic Novel – 👎
🎧The Audiobooks🎧






🐲Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree│Narrator: Travis Baldree│Adult│Library Borrow
💞That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Human by Kimberly Lemming│Narrator: Hazel Addison│Adult│Library Borrow
🐲A Matter of Execution by Olivia and Nicholas Atwater│Narrator: Nicholas Atwater│Adult│Library Borrow – 🏆
💞Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist by Ali K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison│Narrator: Bridget Bordeaux & Nikki Grey│Adult│Library Borrow
💞Breeze Spells & Bridegrooms by Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan │Narrator: Matt Simpson│YA│Library Borrow│🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read – 👎
💞The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore │Narrator: Regina Reagan│Adult│Library Borrow
📖The Immersive Reads🎧
I’ve been having a blast doing immersion reading for my re-reads of old favs! I also found the audiobook for OMFG, Bees and realized it came with illustrations. I refuse to miss out on bee-related illustrations so I borrowed the e-book as well. Turns out it was worth it, there’s even a whole section dedicated to adding bees to random existing paintings.



🐲Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr│Narrator: Nick Landrum │YA│Owned │🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read
🐲Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare│Narrator: Daniel Sharman│YA│Owned│🧑🤝🧑Buddy Read
🌐OMFG, BEES! by Matt Kracht│Narrator: Patrick Lawlor│Adult│Library Borrow
Reading Challenges Progress
2025 Finishing The Series Challenge
Hosted by Carla @Carla Loves to Read & Jonetta @Blue Mood Café. Learn more here.
The level I’m targeting for this challenge is “Mini Series” which means I will hopefully finish 5-8 series by the end of the year. In the first half of the year I had finished or caught up with 7 series. Any new progress I made in Q3 will be highlighted in blue. I was previously caught up with Penric & Desdemona but a new book has been published since then so now I have to catch up to it again. Also, if I DNF a series I’m counting that as progress because I’m finished with it so I can check it off my list.
- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – Read Books 2 & 3. Status: FINISHED ✅
- Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire – Read Book 10. Status: CAUGHT UP TO MOST RECENT. 😊
- Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama – Read Volume 13. Status: CAUGHT UP TO MOST RECENT. 😊
- Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn – Read Book 9. Status: CAUGHT UP TO MOST RECENT.😊
- The Darkness Outside Us Duology by Eliot Schrefer – Read Book 2. Status: FINISHED ✅
- Phoenix Heart by Sarah K. L. Wilson – Read Season 3. Status: DNF ❌
- Penric & Desdemona by Lois McMaster Bujold – Read 13/14. Status: BEHIND BY 1 BOOK ⬅️
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree – Read Book 0. Status: WORKING ON IT 🔨
- Mead Mishaps by Kimberly Lemming – DNF’d Book 2, Read Book 3. Status: FINISHED ✅
- Dream Harbor by Laurie Gilmore – Read Book 2. Status: WORKING ON IT 🔨
Total # Of Series Finished / Caught Up: 7 (Still)
I didn’t make any progress with The Sound of Madness 2025 Challenge so I’m hoping to match up more books to the remaining songs at the end of the year🤞🏼. As for the SFF Title Challenge, I made a tiny amount of progress.
The 2025 SFF Title Challenge
Hosted by Annemieke @A Dance With Books

Black Titles Read in Q2
Blue Titles Read in Q3
Prompts Completed:
- Wicked Lovely
- Don’t Let The Forest In
- The Black God’s Drum
- The Ghostkeeper
- A Natural History of Dragons
Let’s chat in the comments!
What’s your most recent 5 star read? Or, have you given up on some of your reading goals or challenges this year?

Looks like a very good quarter, with only a couple of thumbs down😁 And I’m glad Once Was Willem was a favorite!
Yeah only a couple Thumbs down is not bad at all. Yes, I will be thinking about that one for a very long time.
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Looks like you’re doing well! I had no idea Over the Garden Wall had a graphic novel adaptation! I love the series, so I’ll have to check it out 🥰
Thank you, Caro 🙂 Yeah I’m not doing too badly that’s for sure 🙂 Yes it actually has a couple of different graphic novels I’m not sure what they all are but I’ve quite a few different ones!
I had some authors or books that I really wanted to read this year, but a lot of them will be in my list for next year too, because I have lost all the hopes of reading them on 2025. But at least I am doing well with all the other goals so… I am not really complaining!
And you read a lot of interesting books!!!
I need to check out Sweet Paprika because the art is lovely! And I love Sarah Andersen comics! They are so relatable and fun!! *_*
Ahaha I totally feel you, that happened to me too which I guess only makes sense since there’s so much we want to read it always crosses over to the next year lol. Good luck! 😀 Yay for doing well on other goals that’s awesome 🔥.
Sweet Paprika was really fun and I enjoyed the illustrations a lot! & Yes those Sarah Andersen comics were the perfect thing to read right before bed and have a giggle!:D