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What to Read for the 2025 SFF Title Challenge: Possible Choices

What to Read for the 2025 SFF Title Challenge: Possible Choices

Posted by By Veronica February 24, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! As mentioned in my Bookish Goals for 2025, one of the challenges I'm participating in is the SFF Title Challenge. Charlotte from Bewitching Books, Ravenous Reads posted…
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Reading Goals
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2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Veros has read 17 books toward their goal of 80 books.
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17 of 80 (21%)
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Veros's bookshelf: currently-reading

The Bane Chronicles
The Bane Chronicles
by Cassandra Clare
tagged: favorites, ya-fiction, short-story-collection, fantasy, and current...
Assassin's Apprentice
Assassin's Apprentice
by Robin Hobb
tagged: currently-reading
World of Warcraft Chronicle: Volume 1
World of Warcraft Chronicle: Volume 1
by Blizzard Entertainment
tagged: currently-reading
A Brief History of the Druids
A Brief History of the Druids
by Peter Berresford Ellis
tagged: currently-reading

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Veros

dark.shelf.of.wonders

🖤Fantasy is my go-to genre
-Doing my best to read diversely🌻
What I read in January & February 2025 📚 I hav What I read in January & February 2025 📚 I haven't made wrap-ups in a while but I've been reading a good amount this year so far! ❓ What book (s) have you fallen in love with recently? ❤️‍🔥 The Books: •Miss Amelia's List, Mercedes Lackey - 3⭐📱 •Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear, Seanan McGuire - 4.5⭐ 🎧 •Dreams Lie Beneath, Rebecca Ross - 4⭐🎧 •Clockwork Prince, Cassandra Clare - Reread 5⭐📖 •Leaf, Daishu Ma - 2.75⭐📖 •The Fright Before Christmas: Surviving Krampus and other Yuletide Monsters, Witches, and Ghosts, Jeff Belanger, 4.5⭐📱 •The Arrival, Shaun Tan - 5⭐📖 •Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld - Reread 4⭐📖 •Phoenix Heart: Season 2, Sarah K. L. Wilson - 4⭐🎧 •Morning Glory Milking Farm, C. M. Nascosta - 4.5⭐📱 •Death's Obsession, Avina St. Graves - 2⭐📱 •An Outbreak of Witchcraft: A Graphic Novel of the Salem Witch Trials, Deborah Noyes & M. Duffy - 3⭐📖 •Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde - 3.5⭐🎧 •Upon A Starlit Tide, Kell Woods - 5⭐📱 •Robot Dreams, Sara Varon - 3.5⭐📖
I'm so excited to share that this year I'll be a p I'm so excited to share that this year I'll be a panelist for The Book Blogger's Novel of the Year Award!! BBNYA is a competition for Indie Authors of all genres and it's judged by a large panel of book bloggers from around the world. If you're an Indie Author and would like to enter into the competition, submissions close on the 27th of April! If you're a book blogger and you want to join the panel, there's still time and please do! Panelist sign-ups close on May 4th. Go check out the official @bbnyaofficial website to learn more. I could not be more excited and I'm looking forward to potentially finding new favourite Indie books this year 🖤🖤 #BBNYA2025
🖤 What Started My Lore 🍿 Thanks to @to.kind 🖤 What Started My Lore 🍿 Thanks to @to.kindle.a.fire for the tag! I have such a soft spot for nostalgia posts so I couldn't resist jumping into this tag headfirst. I could have spent a week and a half thinking of more things but I decided to stick to mostly TV & movies. Here's a small list of my childhood and teenage obsessions. Also, my reading Lore started with French and Spanish books for children. Did anyone else grow up with these too? The Ernie & Bert was my very first English book that I got as a baby and it was my favourite although it wasn't until years later that I could read it myself (who needs words am I right? She says, to all of bookstagram 😂) Madeline Lizzie McGuire Boy Meets World The Nightmare Before Christmas She's the Man The Emperor's New Groove & Kronk's New Groove Bring it On The Mummy The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Moulin Rouge Phantom of the Opera Buffy The Vampire Slayer ❓Do we have any in common?
I'm obsessed with my new #FreedomToRead tote from I'm obsessed with my new #FreedomToRead tote from Toronto Public Library 🔥🔥 If you're in Toronto, go visit a branch and get a tote while they last (they have three different powerful statements but I resonated the most with 'ignite minds not books'). Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to reaffirm their commitment to Intellectual Freedom. Protect your freedom to read by learning about challenged books. As a lifelong supporter of public libraries I'm proud of the work they do to keep access to ideas open for everyone!🖤 Go show your library some love and this goes for anyone and everyone who has access to them. In celebration of #FreedomToReadWeek let's take a look at my current library haul: -Robot Dreams by Sara Varon -Goliath by Scott Westerfeld -Park Bench by Chabouté -An a Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn (🎧 on Libby) ❓What do you currently have borrowed from the library? Or, tell me about a banned book you loved! 🖤 #FTRW25
I recently borrowed The Arrival by Shaun Tan from I recently borrowed The Arrival by Shaun Tan from my library but before I return it, I had to take a few pictures of it because adored it! The Arrival is a wordless graphic novel and an absolute masterpiece. If you love art or graphic novels do yourself a favour and spend some time soaking up this story! It's the story of a man who needs to travel to another city to start a better life for his family. He arrives at this technologically advanced, shining city where he can't speak the language. We follow him as he searches for a job, explores the city, and makes new connections. He's not entirely alone, as the people coexist with a variety of adorable creatures in the city, and one of them seems to adopt him. For a story told only with pictures, the narrative is seamless and the art is gorgeous! The illustrations are all the somber brownish colour of old family photographs which grounds the story, but also contrasts beautifully with the whimsical and fantastical nature of this new city. The themes of immigration, family, language barriers, and community shine so bright that by the end I was so invested in this family's happiness and teary eyed! I will be exploring more of @shauncytan 's books and I can see him easily joining the ranks of my favourite illustrators. ❓Do you have any other wordless graphic novel or picture book recommendations? Or, what are you reading today?
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGui Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire -Review. The 10th Installment of the Wayward Children, starring all the turtles you could possibly want!🐢 Last year I devoured the entirety of this series, short stories included, so when I saw it on Netgalley, I knew I had to request it. It was a bit strange to not be reading this on audio like I did for the rest of the novellas but McGuire’s prose is so delightful that it was a treat to read it physically! I read it slowly to soak up every line. Adrift In Currents Clean and Clear focuses on the life of Nadya who we first meet in Beneath the Sugar Skies. This is the story of how she is born with one arm, grows up in an orphanage in Russia, and eventually gets adopted by an American family, who fits her with a prosthetic arm despite her wishes. But mostly it’s the story about all the ways she belongs in Belyyreka (the Land Beyond the Lake) who one day calls her home. The first part is hardest to read because it takes place in the world of the main character’s birth. Which means that it’s the place of the source of their trauma, neglect, and mistreatment. The author excells at making the reader feel incandescent rage at the parents and systems that fail these children and this case was no different. We follow Nadya as she’s forcibly removed from her culture and expected to conform to her adoptive parents’ ableist ideas of a picture perfect daughter. I don’t think many readers of this series will disagree that one of its strengths is diversity of all kinds. The commentary about ableism was easily my favourite aspect of this short novella. Belyyreka is a world of rivers under a lake, of different types of water (some water is heavier than other water and they each have their own physics). It was so much fun to watch Nadya learn the rules of this new world and make friends both with people and turtles! After reading this book I’d be shocked if you don’t want a turtle companion for yourself, I mean how adorable!! Since we had already met Nadya before, the ending isn't exactly a surprise. Yet, McGuire still finds a way to create tension and deliver an emotional blow all at once!
For this Menagerie Monday I'm featuring Leviathan For this Menagerie Monday I'm featuring Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. I am re-reading this series with @jonesandthebooks & @buchstabenhorde in anticipation of the anime adaptation! What a fun reading experience to finish last year with, thanks friends! 🥰 How is this a fit for Menagerie Monday? Leviathan is a YA steampunk alternate history of WW1 except imagine that the Central Powers fought using giant mechs. And then imagine that the Allied Powers fought with giant fabricated beasties. The alternate history of this world includes Darwin cracking the code of DNA and thus being able to fabricate all manner of animals that were ubiquitous in every facet of life if you're a Darwinist (England, France...). But the Clankers (Austria-Hungary, Germany...) fear and hate the fabricated beasts. As you read on you get to meet all sorts of really strange creatures but some of my favourites were the adorable message lizards as well as the Leviathan itself: an airship that's a giant whale but also a whole ecosystem onto itself! The worldbuilding is fascinating but I wish the ethics of creating animals was more thoroughly explored. But the focus of this book is on the politics of WW1 in the context of this world; the bare bones are historically accurate but various characters and motivations are inventions of the author. It's a heart-pounding book with many bombastic action scenes and stunning in-text illustrations by Keith Thompson. I can see why it's begging to be adapted and I can't wait to continue the reread because I never read the ending! #wrwsocialclub #wrwmenagerie
Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey -Review The Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey -Review The magical Regency vibes are vibing but unfortunately, the plot is nowhere to be found. Thanks to #Netgalley & DAW Books for the ARC. All opinions are mine. It’s 1815 and two young American lady mages, Amelia and Serena, arrive in England armed with a list of tasks. They’re here to help set up their family business and to do so they’ll need to find a property, get to know the neighbours, purchase a whole new wardrobe, and hire staff. Oh, and potentially find husbands all while dodging fortune hunters and hiding their magical prowess from the non-mages in town. It's the 17th installment in the Elemental Masters series but the publisher informed me it stands well on its own. As the name of the series implies, the story is set in a world with Elemental magic—Amelia is an Earth Master and Serena is a Fire Mage and a shapeshifter. There’s something really cozy about Lackey’s writing style where she goes into the minute details of the everyday life of her characters. We spent a long time going dress shopping, to assemblies, balls, and on morning calls but I didn’t mind as I was awash in visions of Regency gowns! I was especially enjoying that Lackey took care to dive into how the magical community operates and the certain duties that come with the cousin’s different powers. Meeting the house Elementals and watching Serena Shapeshift were both memorable moments. However, more than halfway through the book they hadn’t even begun to deal with most of the items on their oh-so-important list. Instead, the story introduces two new external issues that seem like they would lead in intriguing directions only to be irrelevant in the end as the author never followed them to a conclusion. Eventually, the plot dragged, and despite all the moving to new cities (London then Axminster), it felt like we were going nowhere very slowly. Then, with about 10 pages left, Lackey suddenly remembered to include some action! Within one bizarre action scene, everything wrapped up super conveniently 🙄. This "standalone" made me wish it had a part 2 to do it more justice. I do want to find book #1 & give the series another chance!
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