All of the books I read in 2025:
I refuse to edit this beginning because I have been in the thick of a reading slump combined with writers block and a month long migraine, so I would not like a single piece of negative feedback.
January was a rough month. It was mostly midyears, but school has actually been hell. I shed many tears and watched exactly 2 movies (compared to last year's 20), but I didn't get COVID unlike last year!! Idk why I'm celebrating this my brain is fried, it is midnight, and I cannot find my glasses so if this is the least coherent thing you've ever read then I'm not surprised.
1. The Yellow Wall-Paper
I enjoyed this book, as I do with much feminist literature, but it wasn't my favorite. I enjoyed the depiction of the domestic struggles of women, but as with much of CPG's work it was based entirely on the experiences of white women, which although I fall into that category, it feels bland and uninspired. A deranged woman is fun, but I regularly forget that I read this book.
2. Macbeth
I'm not sure what possessed me to read this on a random Saturday, but I am grateful for it because I really did love this book. It's a stereotypical high school read, and I only wanted to read it because it is referenced so often I kept getting FOMO. So I read it. And it was wonderful. Expect a review of Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid in the near future.
3. A Winter's Promise
I actually started this book in August before putting it down for the school year. I bought it exclusively because the notecard at Barnes and Noble said that it had Howl's Moving Castle vibes, and because it has a stunning cover. The book was interesting, but it dragged on and on in many places. This was why I put it down, because I felt as though the book did not move, and a slow-paced mystical fantasy was not what I needed at the moment. But when I picked it back up, I really did enjoy it. I fell easily into the world, and this time I was not frustrated that she wasn't using her powers. I want to read the second book so badly, but I have only ever seen people talk about the first.
4. My Mechanical Romance
Yikes. I knew this would be bad going into it, and it was somehow worse than I imagined. I never would have thought that torque would turn someone on, but apparently it does. All it did was make me crash out at 1am a few weeks ago because I realized that I did not understand a lick of it the night before my test. I get that this book was meant to encourage STEM fields through a female-based medium of romance books, but it felt dumbed down and bad. Women are capable of understanding science without a dumbass FMC who thinks she can get into MIT without taking calculus. It's a bad look.
5. The Wood at Midwinter
I read it! That's about all I can tell you. It felt like it lacked substance? I think? It was even shorter than I expected, and I read it on my phone, but it was a nice little fairytale for a Thursday afternoon, but don't expect anything more than that. A little disappointed in myself that this was my first Susanna Clarke.
6. None Shall Sleep
This book was just a worse version of the Naturals. I missed Lia Zhang and hoped that this might fill the void, but it did not. The two main characters were older than the Naturals, so it almost defeated the point. Also, they were infinitely more insufferable than even the Naturals were. Cassie was annoying, but Emma was so so so much worse, and they didn't have a Lia to humble them. Just an overall poorly written book with no importance or interest.
7. Between the World and Me
I won't say much about this book, because judging how our SLD on this book went, white people should not be discussing it. I enjoyed it and felt as though it had some important truths about modern society, but there were many points where it lost me a little. Particularly when he blamed the firefighters in 9/11 for police brutality. That was taken very out of context, so please take everything I said with more salt than Utah, but there were some points where I felt as though the narrator took radical beliefs about racism (whether or not they should be radical) and drew them a little bit too far, but I am not the one to police black people about how they should express their disdain for American Society.
8. The Hollow Boy
Locklyle for life. I read this book because I got a recommendation from a TikTok comment and binged the show, only to find out that it was cancelled for no apparent reason. I, like any normal person going through withdrawals, immediately downloaded the books onto my Kindle and started them. Were they copy and pasted from Percy Jackson but with slightly different opponents? Yes. Do I care? No, because when I say that I will take any percabeth crumbs I mean it. However, Holly Munro and Rachel Elizabeth Dare can both get behind me, because although Holly's comment about how it would only take her about 30 seconds to make Lucy unattractive, I will forever defend the "home-wrecker" third book introduced characters.
9. Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
I made an entire post about this one, but I really enjoyed it! It talked about the nuances of living as a woman in today's society. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction to feminist theory, or someone who does not understand the modern effects of the patriarchy. For more information, look at my last post!
10. The Creeping Shadow
Another Locklyle book that highkey destroyed me. I enjoyed this one more than the last, and I thought the development of Lucy's character, and the ability for each character to grow outside of each other was really impressive. It was a wonderful transition into the finale, and it felt very natural. I compared these books to Percy Jackson in the Hollow Boy review, and I would definitely say that the formula stays with this book. The story most definitely evolved, and it especially evolved the relationship dynamic between the characters, just like Battle of the Labyrinth. Additionally, I thought it was a really great metaphor for the abuse and privilege of mining companies and the control they had over their underprivileged workers in the 1900s and earlier. This book took it a step further and became much more fantastical, but it was still incredibly enjoyable.
11. The Catcher in the Rye
I am a woman so anything I say about this book obviously cannot be misogynistic. Moving on, I enjoyed this book. People do not lie when they say it is full of teenage angst, and it is palpable. Holden is not a likable character, but he is so easy to relate to because he is so flawed and human. It is an impeccable portrayal of the struggles of teenage life, and how difficult it is to navigate the world in the between phases of childhood and adulthood. While Holden has many moments where he acts like an adult or is expected to act like an adult, he also has many moments where he really is just a kid. I am so grateful I was able to read this book at 16 because I could really apply Holden's character and his mindset to my own, and compare how we thought about different things. Despite the problematic undertones of this book, it is a wonderful read because the reader's job is to criticize the underdeveloped mine of Holden, and that was the real treasure of this book.
12. I Am Not Jessica Chen
This book was not my favorite from Ann Liang. She has her ups and downs, and this fell a little flat for me. It is meant to be a commentary on perfectionism and individualism, combining the struggle for academic success and individuality in a Oscar Wilde-esque novel about a girl who trades bodies with her cousin, but it ended up very surface level and rudimentary. It did not feel like the book went much further than the typical "be you" message, so I could not take away much from it. Additionally, in such a short book, the characters felt extremely underdeveloped. I did not feel like I fully understood Jenna by the end, and the dynamic between her and the love interest's name that I have already forgotten felt thrown together. Their relationship felt like more of a selling point of the book than an actual plot point. Overall, this book was extremely forgettable, and it did not have much substance in the end, no matter how much I wanted it to. It has a pretty cover though!
13. The Woman Warrior
Another AP Lang school book, except this time I had absolutely no idea what was happening. This book is not just postmodernist, it is the most mind-boggling confusing novel I have ever read (aside from Kafka on the Shore). It was a pain to get through, but overall it was important. I'm glad I read it, even though I have read books in French that I have comprehended more. This is essentially me admitting that I am stupid, but I do not mind. I would rather write an honest review of a book that I only half understood than lie about the genius of a book's storytelling that I could not follow.
14. The Empty Grave
The conclusion to the Lockwood and Co. was a bittersweet end, especially because this book catalyzed my reading slump. Even so, I enjoyed this book. It got wilder and wilder as it moved on, but it was easy to follow, entertaining, and had a lot of character development. This book also followed the PJO formula, but it was incredible nonetheless. I am going to leave this at that because I am scared of spoiling anything more, but I really would recommend this series to anyone in middle school/early high school.
15. Yellowface
I don't think I can do R.F. Kuang justice in a mere few sentences, but I will surely try. Kuang not only perfectly portrayed the victim syndrome of many white women today, but she wrote about it in the most annoying yet enticing voice possible. As much as I wanted to slam this book into a wall, drown it, and rip out every page one by one, I kept reading because of the addictive writing. Athena and June's relationship will stick with me for a long while. I enjoyed this book so much because it was so relevant, however. There are many modern aspects of racism and asian hate that do not get addressed, and while I am most certainly the wrong person to explain this, I thought this book expertly displayed the way that subtle racism plays into many women's mindsets today, and the way that affects their decisions and personalities. I would recommend his book to anyone and everyone!
16. A Gathering of Shadows
This book was not very great. I'm sorry but there was absolutely no reason that it should have been 500 pages, and it added essentially nothing to the storyline. I cannot tell you a single significant detail of this book other than Lila can do magic and Holland is still alive. Both spoilers, but spoilers from the first 20 pages of the book. The last 480 felt like TikTok trope central, where the author wanted to play into the typical aspects of TikTok romantasy books, so she added elements like trials and balls to make it interesting, but it felt like V.E. Schwab lost all of the uniqueness the series had in its original installment. I will be reading the third book because I own it, but I was very disappointed by this book.
