April reads, 2026

MarilkaLeave a comment

Spring started properly early here, but then it slowed down into a stall. What’s that got to do with reading, you ask? Well, only that while we did go on a couple longer strolls with the dogs on some particularly nice days, the outdoors didn’t entice us out and about too much, thus keeping me indoors, reading. I did spend an hour or so maybe twice on our deck, reading in the sun, where my hanging egg-chair is sheltered from the wind.

So anyhow, 18 books, 6125 pages, average book length 340 pages – a mix of quite long ones, a couple of 120-150 page snack books, and everything in between.

  • Kingdom of the Cursed and Kingdom of the Feared (Kingdom of the Wicked 2 and 3), by Kerri Maniscalco – Love, family, demons, witches, and goddesses, a plot twist or two, and every story has two sides, as usual. Delicious, dark, and spicy, but love wins in the battle of power over the circles of Hell. Satisfying reading, great trilogy!
  • Lumenlaulaja, by Emmi Itäranta – A bit of Finnish mythology, the story of the great witch Louhi from Kalevala, told from her point of view, sort of capsizing the entire male-centric pov of Kalevala. Here the female witch is not an evil to be controlled and slain (well, she IS), but rather a strong woman trying to protect her own. And what could be more threatening to men than a woman not in need of one? Fascinating book.
  • Pohjolan jumalattaret, by Karolina Kouvola – Bit of a snack book after Lumenlaulaja, with a short article about the old deities of Finnish mythology. They are legion, many of them overlapping each other, variations of the same in different areas.
  • Adenashire books 1-5, by J. Penner – Five cozy feel-good fantasy romance books, a sixth one will be out in March next year. The books:
    • A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic – Where it all begins, with Arleta and the baking contest that leads her to Theo (or rather, Theo leads her to the contest, but you know), and new friends who all follow her back to Adenashire, each for their own reasons.
    • A Fellowship of Librarians & Dragons – Doli, the Dwarf with a huge heart, the one who originally pulled both Arleta and the reluctant Fennex Jez into their fellowship of hearts, finds her own happy romance in Adenashire.
    • A Fellowship of Games & Fables – When Jez inadvertedly throws herself and the High Elf baker-and-fellow Taenya into a whirlwind of winter games and fake-dating, the world may be frozen by mid-winter, but that doesn’t keep hearts from melting.
    • A Fellowship of Curses & Cats – Theo gets his own book. He has some issues and fears that surface when he’s about to become a father, and then his mother shows up, not helping anything at all. Or… is it, actually? At least Theo has Arleta and the rest of the fellowship for comfort, and don’t forget all them cats!
    • A Fellowship of Academics & Arts – It’s a tense night at the bakery, where the fellowship is waiting for word while Arleta is at the midwife’s, giving birth to her and Theo’s baby. What better way to while away the time than with a story? So, Verdreth is coaxed into recounting the story of how he and Ervash found their love and ended up in Adenashire with Arleta’s family.
  • David Bowie, by Marc Spitz – The life and music of David Bowie, extremely detailed but not. Seemingly crammed with everything the author managed to dig up, but only as far as they interested him, I think, what with skimming through some events and collaborations with barely a mention. Not that good of a bio, imo.
  • The Fox and the Devil, by Kiersten White – The daughter of Van Helsing chasing the woman she believes killed her dad, only to get obsessed and entangled with her and find out the world is full of monsters – but what makes a monster, after all?
  • Love and Friendship, by Jane Austen – A shortie with short stories from Austen’s youth, most of the stories incomplete. Satire and downright farce, I tell you! She was sharp and observant of the society, pouring it into these outlandish stories at first, it seems, then honing her storytelling into what we then have come to know as the style of Jane Austen. Fun snack book!
  • The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne, by Summer N. England – What happens when a kid is unloved and abused, and what happens when they finally let themself to love and be loved. A story of magic and evil and love being the strongest power of them all. Queer romantacy, loved it!
  • Storm Over Camelot (Morgan le Fay 3), by Sophie Keetch – The conclusion of the saga of Morgan and Arthur, and all those close to them. The entire trilogy is an intense, excellent retelling, from the pov of a(nother) woman deemed an evil witch simply because she would not succumb to the control of men. Long live the once and future king!
  • Trappin perhe (orig. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers), by Maria Augusta von Trapp – The real story of the family von Trapp, written in 1949 by Maria von Trapp herself. Amazing resilience, amazing resourcefulness, just a rather amazing family all in all!
  • The Auction, by Sadie Kincaid – Dark mafia romance that left me with conflicted feelings. I liked (maybe even loved?) it per se, but got annoyed by the amount and extent of sex – felt like the middle third of the book was nothing but. Don’t get me wrong, the smut doesn’t bother me, it just kinda bores me… I want action that takes the stroy forward, not only into the bedroom (or whatever room or not-room, but you get the drift). Still, preordered book 2, for I do need to see the story to its end.
  • The Book Witch, by Meg Shaffer – Sweet and wonderful twisty kind of tale where we get to zip in and out of books with Rainy March and the Duke, where fiction and the real world mix in unexptected ways. I don’t cry with books too easily, but this one had me in tears with this beautiful scene in a library (no, won’t tell you more, read and figure it out for yourself!).
  • The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire (Love’s Academic 3), by India Holton – Ah, Amelia and Caleb and the fake-hating scheme of life-long best friends in this friends to lovers (or is it fake-enemies to lovers?) romance where things literally explode around when emotions run amock. Quirky, witty, funny, trademark Holton. Superb!

April 10, Finished (speed-)reading the bio of David Bowie (by Marc Spitz) today. It’s a highly detailed bio, at least about the parts that interested the author, while skating past many other events with barely a mention. Too much detail about a lot, detours and side-quests to the lives of some related people, barely a mention of others.

The whole book felt like it was as much about the author and their obsession as it was about Bowie himself. Like the author focused all interviews and research on what was meaningful and interesting to them, but didn’t bother with whatever wasn’t. So no, not one of the best bios I’ve ever read, not by far.

April 19, Snack book: Jane Austen’s Love and Friendship, ie. a collection of her unfinished writings from early years (teens, I think). In a very familiar kind of teeny way, she tried her hand at full-blown farce writing before settling on the style that later got her published. Outlandish stuff, quite fun reading 😄

April 25, I have loved The Sound of Music ever since I first saw it as a kid, though back then I always could’ve stopped watching at the point of the wedding – the romantic in me felt like that was the high point, the climax of the story so why bother with the disruptive war stuff, you know, just let them live happily ever after.

Of course I knew even then the story was based on a true one. I’ve had the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (in Finnish, “Trapping perhe”) by the mom, Maria Augusta von Trapp, in my library for years (and have no idea where it came from, maybe my grandparents’ library?) but never have I gotten around to reading it, until now.

How much more there is to the von Trapps! I really enjoyed getting to know the real von Trapp family and what their storied life actually was like, especially their time after they left Austria, ie. where the movie left off. I mean, just those ten years or so that the book covers, are full of adventures and escapades and humorous moments, paired with resilient labor to make a life, a good life at that, and not just their own life, but others too, by ways of music and post-war charity and whatnot. What a family!

April 25, The beautiful cover (of the special edition I saw) and intriguing RuNyx-y kind of plot description lead me a bit astray with The Auction (by Sadie Kincaid). It even started promisingly, and held it for almost half the book, but then the plot just kinda became secondary in the storytelling, fading into the background of sex and obsession and violence, but mostly descriptive sex. I mean, I’m not disturbed by descriptive sex and/or violence per se, but when one or the other or both become the main event, eclipsing the plot, I get bored. Obsession isn’t my favorite trope either, really.

So I got a bit annoyed and disappointed. And then everything just had to turn upside down in the last 50 pages or so and end with a crash bang cliffhanger. I had already decided not to continue the series (or rather, duology, as it is), but, hunh. I’m undecided now.

March reads, 2026

MarilkaLeave a comment

March was a mix of classics and fantasy, mostly. 15 books, 5705 pages of happy reading. Somehow I felt like it was a month of long books, books > 400 pages, but while there were many of those too, apparently there were quite a few rather short ones as well. Funny how these biases go 😄

  • The Herbalist’s Apprentice, by Mabel Maplewood – A sweet cozy mystery in the lines of forgiving yourself and getting past mistakes.
  • A Ghastly Catasrophe (Veronica Speedwell 10), by Deanna Raybourn – Ah, Veronica and Stoker! Danger and drama and danger of drama, and the treat of the guest-starring Lady Julia and Nick Brisbane!
  • Turms kuolematon (Eng. The Etruscan), by Mika Waltari – One of the historical tomes of Waltari, very much classics of Finnish literature. Intriguing read, though a bit long-winded.
  • The Ornithologists Field Guide to Love (Love’s Academic 1), by India Holton – Whimsical and magical as Holton’s books are ever. Full of magical birds and somehow villainy and heroism aren’t exactly clear 😄
  • Villette, by Charlotte Brontë – I guess there’s something akin to Jane Eyre in this story about the teacher and a curmudgeon, and still I liked this one better.
  • The Sun and the Starmaker, by Rachel Griffin – Starcrossed lovers, a fate to be challenged. Romantacy like a Chinese myth.
  • The Geographer’s Map to Romance (Love’s Academic 2), by India Holton – No more birds, now it’s earth rumbling with magic as fey lines fail. And the walls built by our married(!) protagonist couple crumble down too. What a fate – to fall in love with your spouse! Though more like allow them to find out you fell in love long ago.
  • The Violin Maker’s Secret, by Evie Woods – Magical realism. A violin born from love and tragedy, singing the sorrow of the soul bound to it. Coveted by many. Too many.
  • Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel, by Elizabeth Everett – Romantacy in a sentient “hotel” that’s stuck on earth with a guest list including a vampire, the Fate sisters, fairies, a bloodthirsty gnome and whatnot, even a god or two in the mix. And there’s more to come \o/
  • Lady Susan / The Watsons / Sanditon, by Jane Austen – Some less known novellas/short stories by Austen. Lady Susan was a bit meh but obviously completed, whereas The Watsons really should have become a novel, same as Sanditon (which has been completed into one or maybe few versions, one of which I’ve read; probably there’s completed Watsons around too, hmm).
  • Mayhem and the Mortal, by Shanora Williams – D&D meets Wizard of Oz, enemies to lovers romantacy adventure, a wild goose chase with an unexpected ending (and honestly, there NEEDS to be a sequel for this!)
  • The Astral Library, by Kate Quinn – Who wouldn’t want to roam through their favorite (public domain) books? Or live in one for good? As long as the ignorant forces stay away.
  • Get Over It, April Evans (Clover Lake 2), by Ashley Herring Blake – LGBTQ romance, enjoyable read .💜
  • Wayward Souls (Harker & Moriarty 2), by Susan J. Morris – So, Ireland, and Samhain is nigh. Sam and Hel save the day, but Professor Moriarty is still on the loose, so expecting a book 3.
  • Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked 1), by Kerri Maniscalco – First in a wicked enemies to lovers trilogy. Someone is murdering youn witches, but is it the demons, or is it your neighbor?

Mar 11, Reading India Holton’s next series (Love’s Academic) now, and I mean, her satire of every (romance) trope! Now inns don’t necessarily have even just one room left (unless such is specifically orchestrated, in which case it is the honeymoon suite), and never mind the matter of a bed. There may be a storage room with seven beds – but they’re all stacked on top of each other. Then again, the innkeeper just might surrender his kids’ rooms with sufficient bribary. And, well, you can’t have sex in a kid’s bed, now can you?

And lo and behold, the issue of holding (or inhaling) your breath! “…releasing a breath she’d not only been holding but had tied up and gagged too.” Take that unconscious breath-holders!

Mar 12, Finished Villette (by Charlotte Brontë) today and I don’t know if I really liked it better than Jane Eyre, or if the latter simply was colored in my eyes by hype (which makes me shy away from even things I might like), but I do claim to have enjoyed it (more? unlike?). I mean it is overly long, and at times boring and boorish, and it reads like a spoken narrative, with narrational styles flipping back and forth sometimes rather annoyingly, and it happily mixes in untranslated French in dialogues (though I do read that to an extent so not entirely lost on me), but the story is quite an agreeable one.

February reads, 2026

MarilkaLeave a comment

There’s still too much going on in my life, too much stress, too many things. I escape into books as much as I can, and my one week vacation obviously offered much opportunity for that, though there was a lot going on during that time too. So anyhow, 18 books, 6604 pages, a lot of excellent books in Febuary💜

  • Cat Dragon (Tangleroot Valley book 1), by Samantha Birch – A truly delightful whimsy cozy mystery romantacy adventure with witches and wizards and magical beasts, especially the awesome cat dragons, those designated familiars of the magic users. Eagerly waiting for book 2 (which won’t be until November).
  • Enchanting the Fae Queen (Queens of Villainy 2), by Stephainie Burgis – Enchanting second book of the whimsical, magical trilogy where magical queens battle against the emperor who wants to sweep magic and magical beings out of the realm and rule over everyone.
  • The Chatelaine, by Kate Heartfield – Magical historical realism, or historical fantasy or something. but we plunge straight into the middle ages of Europe, where the king of France is conniving with the chatelaine of Hell (which is a beast more than a place), but a slighted widow (or is she?) has other ideas.
  • The Murder at World’s End (Stockinham & Pike 1), by Ross Montgomery – Fun, witty, twisty, the mystery keeps you guessing till the very end. Excellent detective story, entertaining characters, a totally enjoyable read.
  • The Valkyrie, by Kate Heartfield – A retelling of a Nordic/European mythology story with the expected love, deception, greed, trickery of wicked gods and goddesses, wars, and persistance. Good reading.
  • Dangerous Damsels trilogy (The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, The League of Gentlewomen Witches, The Sercret Service of Tea and Treason), by India Holton – Whimsical satire of the Victorian society, literature, and clichés. Three different romances, with separate mysteries, but never fear – the characters move through the trilogy, so you’ll be among friends (and known foes) the entire ride. And what a wild ride it is!
  • Orphia and Eurydicius, by Elyse John – More mythology retelling, Greek this time. A compelling weaving of Orphia’s journey and the uncinditional love of Eurydicius, of prophesies and gods, and how it is our choices that make our life and death. In the end, prophesies only show the result of those choices, but the journey to those results is our own.
  • The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë – Finally a Brontë book I actually enjoyed. More Austeny than the other books (that I’ve read), with actual action and characters more regular and relatable. I guess, less Gothic.
  • Into the Midnight Wood, by Alexandra McCollum – Absolutely wonderful, sweet, loveable 💜 Finding oneself, one’s worth, and a love so hidden you didn’t realize it until it bit you in the ass. Queer characters, and the struggle against boxes and labels.
  • The Baby Dragon Bookshop (The Baby Dragon 3), by Aamna Qureshi – Enemies to lovers, romance with (baby) dragons and chimeras, competition and undeniable passion, family messiness and love that is both healthy and not. I quite enjoy the world and the characters, and while I might not label these as excellent, I know I will return to these friends again in the opening story of the Dragon Racers trilogy (coming out in August).
  • Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett – Excellent magical realism/fantasy in historical Montreal, heartwarming and fully enjoyable story about prejudices and surprises, a bit of magical warfare and war against magic users, of cats and love.
  • Moonlight Inn (Moonlight Springs 5), by Lula Ward – The writing of this series is getting better, though the storylines remain a bit thin, but I enjoy these enough to want to see all stones united and Moonlight Springs saved and finally rid of its nasty enemy. Book 6 will be out in May; I’m pretty sure these are quite AI generated, or at least written with a lot of AI assistance.
  • An Arcane Inheritance, by Kamilah Cole – Another excellent read, this dark academy story where nothing is as it seems, magic is hoarded while hidden, and love is strong enough to conquer the evil. Loved this book!
  • Hiiriä ja ihmisiä (Of Mice and Men), by John Steinbeck – A snack of a book, read in Finnish as I happen to have this in Finnish. I remember loving East of Eden as teen, but haven’t read any other Steinbeck since, and won’t really after this again. Not my cuppa. Crude and brutish, realism at its worst 😄
  • The Sea Witch (Salt & Sorcery 1), by Eva Leigh – Oh, when will book 2 be out, when?! The piratees of the Caribbean – a ship full of women, some of who are witches, some not – who aren’t exactly like all other pirates. The British Navy officer caught in the middle of things, finding that true nobility lies not where he thought it did. And of course there’s the fated love. And the cliffhanger ending!
  • Mika Waltari – Mielikuvituksen jättiläinen, by Ritva Haavikko – an academicy collection of analyses, articles and essays about Mika Waltari’s (one of the greatest Finnish authors of all time) works and of him as an author and play/screen play writer, dissecting his career and author person from multiple points of view.

Feb 14, Victorian England. Society ladies, just not that society. I mean, yes, that society, but not. Because while pirates, witches and suches may enjoy their afternoon tea like any civilized people, they don’t exactly have the time nor the interest in balls and marrying their daughters off. Well, except for relieving the hosts of their valuables and encouraging their daughters to NOT do the right thing – I mean, doing the right thing would totally ruin the family reputation!

It’s a world where wrong is right, up is down, every statement is an oxymoron, and what I say is definately not what I mean, but God forbid you go out without a parasol and get freckles! A satire of the Victorian society, where trading barbs concealed as polite conversation is down to art and being set as the target for assassination (by an honorary aunt) is the height of accomplishment.

Oh, but did I even mention? Of course there’s magic! I mean, how else would the pirate battle houses fly around and about? But withches certainly DO NOT exist, but if they did, they would be the sworn enemies of those scoundrel pirates, duh! But we all know animosity is the best breeding ground for romance, and an inn ALWAYS has only one room left.

Add the regency romance twist – of COURSE our heroins are obsessed with literature; after all, one of them is most certainly the granddaughter of Branwell Brontë (or it might’ve been Darwin, but brooding poets ARE more romantic). And what can cause more delightful friction between people than differing opinions about Wordsworth and Byron?

Hilarious, delightful, just a touch steamy! Let me introduce my latest find of absolute joy: the Dangerous Damsels series, by India Holton.

“He drew in a breath he hadn’t known he’d been inhaling”

Feb 17, Out of anything (by any) Brontë I’ve read, I have enjoyed The Tenant of Wildfell (by Anne Brontë) Hall the best. By which I mean, of course, this is the first book of theirs I’ve enjoyed reading, to begin with. It’s not boring, nor outrageous or insane, but more like austenish, I suppose. Though still dwelling more on the ugly side of life than Austen, but still.

I can understand why it didn’t catch the same fame as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, in their outrageous insanity (latter) and miserable peculiarity (former), it being simply a story of rather ordinary life and love. I can relate to Helen, I can be outraged by the cruelty of Arthur, I can root for Helen’s happy ending and for Arthur’s demise. I’m not dusgusted or bored, I see a life, a story with possibilities.

And I do so like a happy ending,

January reads, 2026

MarilkaLeave a comment

So much going on this January, didn’t have as much time to read as I would’ve liked. Still, I ended up finishing 12 books. You can see from the format chart that I read way more digital than print, implicating that I had more time to read on the go than at home (usually those are pretty balanced out). I hope life slows down a bit again – reading time is not only desired for the reason of reading, but it’s my highly important me-time, downtime, battery charging time. Anyway, this is what my reading year began with:

  • The Burning Witch 3, by Delemhach – the (latter half of the) final book of Kat’s adventures, but hey! The saga continues in…
  • …The Ether Witch trilogy books 1 & 2, by Delemhach – where we get to travel with Tam into new adventures with danger and love, and Tam finding his true power. I absolutely love the Ashowan family and can’t wait to get my hands on book 3 (but haven’t seen any release date estimates yet, unfortunately)
  • Kraken’s Guide to the House Witch, by Delemhach – the bonus materials book I got mainly for the sake of the map, but I also enjoyed the short stories in it. Just a booklet really, but a delightful one!
  • Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2), by Emma MacDonald – this one started off rather blah, but the second half was quite enjoyable, especially with the polyamory that is so rare in lit
  • Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page, by Brad Tolinsky – a rather intriguing and well-constructed book about the legendary musician, concentrating on the rock star side of things
  • Postmortem of a Poem (Autopsy of a Fairytale 6), by Nicole Scarano – another supernatural murder mystery with Bel and Eamon et al. I really do love it how the personal relationships with their highs and lows are such a natural and important part of the stories. And, there’s more books to come (at the end of this year)
  • Witches of Dubious Origin, by Jenn McKinley – I loved the story, though it had it’s draggy moments before the action really caught up.
  • Fear the Flames (Fear the Flames 1), by Olivia Rose Darling – an excellent romantacy with magic and dragons, and love and deception, and taking back what’s yours.
  • Dream On, Ramona Riley, by Ashely Herring Blake – LGBT romance for a change, with all the necessary improbabilities and misunderstandings and all that. Sweet story.
  • My Friends, by Fredrik Backman – people from the underbelly of society, neurodivergence and trauma, violent childhoods and abusive adults, but most of all friendship and love. Backman totally gets what it is to be human.
  • Wrath of the Dragons (Fear the Flames 2), by Olivia Rose Darling – Ellowen and Cayden prepare for war, determined to put the world to its rights

Jan 6, Yesterday I was reading The Ether Witch 1 (Delemhach) when once again I thought I’d love to have a map of that world, so I went to search online. What I found was a companion book: Kraken’s Guide to the House Witch, with short stories, portraits and other imagery, little details, and those maps.

Not available in Kindle, though, only in Campfire, and had a bit of a hassle to get it all sorted out (I mean, just my own hassle, nothing complicated about it really), and it was well worth it and the few bucks for the booklet 💜 Didn’t read the stories yet, though, but I’ll get to them once I’m done with the Ether Witches.

Jan 6, Trial books aren’t really my thing, though at least the actual trials played a relatively small part in Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2), by Emma MacDonald. Still, the first half of the book almost had me DNF:ing it, until it redeemed itself when the tormented martyr of a protagonist finally caved in and stopped pushing everyone away and I actually enjoyed the second half – especially the polyamory bit. Such a rarity in literature.

Jan 25, I’m half-way through Fredrik Backman’s My Friends, and while the language stuffs (where do these people live where even the police asks people if they speak the language?), I’m loving it, like I’ve loved all of his books.  It’s just so sweet, so lovely 💜 Not your action and adventure book, but a book about humans, humanity, friendship, loss and grief – the big feelings. The thing is that Backman really GETS human emotions. So relatable.

Book wrap-up 2025

MarilkaLeave a comment

I have to say, with a total of 163 books (60 137 pages), I’m too overwhelmed to make any top picks, but I’ll try to compile some top lists. First, though, let’s look at the stats a bit:

It’s all StoryGraph this time since it’s more accurate than Goodreads, but feel free to look at my Goodreads Year in Books 2025, if you like.

Now, for some top picks then. I did do a “book of the month” pick for my general Year 2025 review (post in Finnish), so that’s a good place to start, I guess. Though it IS a bit random, picking one of many excellent reads per month, but here you go, my Book of the Month picks:

Perhaps next up could be another round of picks throughout the year, 20 books along the way that I feel I want to highlight here. Some of them (well, quite many, actually) are part of a series, but since I they were separate reads instead of entire series in a binge (you know, starting a new series, latest published book in one, that kind of thing), they’re mentioned here, not in the favorite series list.

So, on to the top series then, ie. series with more than one book published, and that I read in their (current) entirety during last year (or as far as I had time to). So many series! I picked 11 favorites – no number in mind, just took the ones that stood out, even if only a little bit – which left at least a few good series unmentioned, but, you know.

I’m generally quite good at choosing my books and love or at least enjoy almost everything I read quite a bit, but there’s always bound to be some I thought and wanted to love but just didn’t, some I just didn’t like as well as I imagined I would, that simply aren’t my cuppa, and the sequels that simply do not live up to the expectations set by the preceding books in the series. I mean, I didn’t even DNF one single book, so even these 13 least liked books were by no means bad, just the ones I liked least or was disappointed with.

Well, that wraps it up rather neatly – though it DOES pain me not to be able to list all those other awesome books I read that didn’t make it on any of the top pick lists. So I’ll just add here the full set as a pic collage from the Goodreads Year in Books – and don’t forget my monthly reading wrap-ups! They include a bit of an intro to every book I read, too.

On to a new reading year! Starting with Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2) by Emma MacDonald (print), and The Burning Witch book 3 by Delemhach (Kindle), which, as mentioned, I’ve already read halfway.