Welcome to 2025! I think this might be the earliest that I’ve ever thrown together a monthly/year-end wrap up post, but I was able to stay on top of my reading and reviewing so that I didn’t have to wait so long to create this post. I started the month in Florida, and ended it with a nice, safe, relaxing New Year’s Eve at home, with a small Chanukah gathering in between. It was supposed to be a larger gathering, but one of my brothers got COVID and he was self-isolating. Hopefully he and his wife will get better soon, because there’s a small pile of gifts waiting for them. 

I hope that you all had as nice of a December as I did. I really enjoy birthdays and holidays, because I really love to buy the perfect gift for people and see their reaction. This year’s gifts nailed it. It helps that I started my holiday shopping super early, so I wasn’t scrambling around last minute. A few years ago I wound up doing last minute shopping, and swore I’d never do that again. And since then, I haven’t had that same stress over the holiday season.

Over the course of 2024, we had some ups and downs. Some of my high points of the year was visiting with my great-nieces and great-nephews and spending enough time with them to really get to know them all; having a lot of laughs with my mother; building closer friendships with some seriously amazing women; starting my Sunday feature post facilitating a bookish discussion that’s gone over really well; and finally getting over my borderline reading slump that I’ve been in for most of the past year. While I’m not reading nearly as many books as I have in previous years, I am getting back on track and not losing focus every five minutes anymore. 

I read tarot cards, and according to my New Year’s reading, 2025 is going to be the year that I prioritize self-care and boundaries. I’m going to follow this up with action, setting a little time aside daily to journal, take care of my skin, doing some gentle cardio on a regular basis, and working hard to manage my multiple health conditions. Blogwise, I’m planning to continue working on consistency and continuing the relationships I’ve built in the blogging community. Here’s some of the highlights from December:

• I gained 12 followers in December, closing out the year with 990 followers. I was hoping to reach 1k, but I’m still really happy with this progress. Unfortunately, I lost someone, so I’m no longer at 990.
• Nearly all of the books I read in December were ARCs, but I plan to focus on incorporating more fun reads to keep things on track.
• I DNFd one book in December, but I’m planning to get back to it when I have more time.
• I didn’t read any nonfiction in December.
• I intentionally set my reading goal at 52 books—a minimum of 1 per week, and I blew past that, so I wasn’t fixated on hitting a goal number that was super high (like in 2023 where I read 504 books).

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for December: 

December Totals:

• Books read: 13
• Books DNF’d: 1
• Pages read: 2,387
• Hours listened: 69.28 hours
• Average pages: 77
• Average hours listened: 2.23 hours

Genres Read in December:

• Fantasy: 5
• Historical Fiction: 4
• Mystery: 2
• Romance: 2

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 2
• 2024 releases: 10
• 2025 releases: 1

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 13
• Nonfiction: 0

Format Read:

• Print: 3
• Digital: 4
• Audio: 6

Age Range:

• Adult: 10
• YA: 3
• MG: 0

My favorite book of the month was: Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee.

Here’s what I read in December:

1. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker (Women of Troy #3) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. Relics of Ruin by Erin M. Evans (Books of the Usurper #2) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. The Shadowed Land by Signe Pike (The Lost Queen #3) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. You Feta Watch Out by Linda Reilly (Grilled Cheese Mysteries #5) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee (Breathmarked #1) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
6. A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan (Age of Wrath #1) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. Murder at the Lemonberry Tea by Darci Hannah (Beacon Bakeshop #6) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon 
2. Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon 
3. The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna Rasche (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. Wuhan: A Documentary Novel by Liao Yiwu (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. Grave Importance by Vivian Shaw (Dr. Greta Helsing #3) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. Butterflies in the End Zone by Jacob Gelman (Author Read for Review) | Goodreads | Amazon

• Teutonic Magic: A Guide to Germanic Divination, Lore and Magic by Kveldúlf Gundarsson

2024 was a much slower paced reading year than the previous year, but according to Storygraph, “You traversed landscapes of the heart, followed cryptic trails of secrets, and set off on thrilling quests.” Sounds like a fun year, doesn’t it? Here’s a breakdown of my year.

Yearly Totals:

• Books read: 191
• Books DNF’d: 7
• Pages read: 40,463
• Hours listened: 848 hours, 13 minutes, 0 seconds

Format Read:

• Print: 84
• Digital: 28
• Audio: 79

Fiction vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 166
• Nonfiction: 22

Age Range:

• Adult: 166
• YA: 23
• MG: 2
• Children: 0

Genres:

• Biography/Memoir: 4
• Contemporary: 6
• Cookbooks: 2
• Crafts/Hobbies: 1
• Fantasy: 73
• Folklore/Fairy Tales: 1
• Historical Fiction: 21
• History/War: 3
• Horror: 7
• Literary Fiction: 5
• Mystery/Thriller: 38
• Nonfiction: 1
• Paranormal/New Age: 1
• Philosophy: 1
• Politics: 2
• Psychology: 1
• Religion/Spirituality: 4
• Romance: 12
• Science/Nature: 1
• Short Stories: 1
• Social Sciences: 2
• Travel/Food: 3

I hope 2024 was a good reading year for you too, drop a link to your monthly/yearly wrap up so I can check it out!