June is the 2025 JIAM Audiobook Challenge hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer & That’s What I’m Talking About.
There was a few challenges to choose from but I went for….
• Tackle your Audiobook TBR Pile (listen to 3 audiobooks you already own)
I actually wanted to listen to 5 TBR books, so let’s see how I did!
I’m an overachiever, so listened to 6!!!!
GlowThe Warbler Teller of Small Fortunes Sorcery and Small Magics
The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy Glow by Raven Kennedy Gold by Raven Kennedy Goldfinch by Raven Kennedy
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.
I hope you had a great week!
Here we are coming to the end of June and the hot weather is back *cries* and my hayfever has started with a vengeance!
Work seems to be calming down, I’m beginning to see the woods through the trees as they say!
My son has work experience this coming week at my place so I have to go into the office every day – just vile!!!!!
Thorns and Fire by Helen Scheuerer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Elancer by Jane Washington ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Look out for my reviews soon!
Feature – Best Books – halfway update! Challenge – Beat the Backlist – 2nd update
Challenge – JIAM Audio close! Calendar – Hello July! Review – Elancer by Jane Washington
You can still join in – see the new BTB site here.
The challenge runs from 1st January and ends on 31st December, and you can only count a book as applicable if it was published before 1st January 2024.
I didn’t set a goal but said I had 87 books on my tbr….let’s see how I did in the first half of the year – did I show my tbr who’s boss?!
Sort of……but there’s more work to be done!
My first update is here and, since my last update, I’ve read another 9 tbr books bringing my total up to 14 this year so far!
Here’s a few that I read:
Glow Half King Tribute of Fire Rebel Witch Teller of Small Fortunes Sorcery and Small Magics
Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli (arc rec in 24) Tribute of Fire by Sariah Wilson Blood and Steel by Helen Scheuerer The Half King by Melissa Landers Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Glow by Raven Kennedy The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy Gold by Raven Kennedy
I love it when a book completely hooks you in, you fall in love with the story, and when you’ve finished, you feel exhilarated!
So I decided to make a list of them! I’ve read 45 books so far this year, and these are the ones I’ve loved (not necessarily released this year, I read then!)
Iron and Embers Blood and Steel Traumaland Bones Beneath My Skin Sorcery and Small Magics
Iron and Embers by Helen Scheuerer Blood and Steel by Helen Scheuerer The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy Traumaland by Josh Silver
What have been your best books of the year so far?
Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Topic: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025
There are so many but I’ve narrowed it down to 10!!!!
Brigands and BreadknivesScar in the BoneHollyFallen and Kiss of Dusk
Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree A Scar in the Bone by Sophie Jordan The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent Fallen City by Adrienne Young Holly by Adalyn Grace
Wild Reverence MateHollowBonds of Hercules
Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross Mate by Ali Hazelwood Hollow by Caroline Peckham Bonds of Hercules by Jasmine Mas Silver and Smoke (Ashes of Thezmarr #3) by Helen Scheuerer
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.
I hope you had a great week!
I had my hospital appointment this week and I definitely need an operation on my eye as I have torn my retina 😭 and to make it worse, the date they have given me is when I’m on holiday, so I’ve had to cancel it 😭
Other than that, it’s been a normal week with work for me and my son carrying on with his mock exams.
We’ve had a few days with temps over 30 degrees, and it’s been vile!
We Were Liars by E Lockhart (reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Look out for my reviews soon!
ARC Review – Thorns and Fire by Helen Scheuerer Review – Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Review – The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst
Feature – Best Books – halfway update! Challenge – Beat the Backlist – 2nd update
Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.
But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts where mysterious forces make it impossible for the residents to leave, she hopes she can change her fate.
As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want. Now she believes she’s stuck, too—is that a patch of bark on her arm? But her neighbor’s collection of pet birds sings secrets that Elisa can almost understand—secrets she must unravel in order to be truly alive.
‘My mother is a willow. She stands by a stream that burbles like a toddler’s kisses, and her leaves dip into the water whenever the wind blows, to be nibbled by fish who don’t know any better.’
What an opening paragraph!
Oh this book was stunning, beautiful and so imaginative!
If you like small towns, curses, a bookshop cat and going back in time to meet members of a family then this is the book for you.
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.
Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.
But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.
Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
Back in Basgaith with Violet, Xaden and the rest of the gang from Fourth Wing.
Xaden is stationed away from the college, we have a new teacher, old flames turn up, Dain tries at redemption and there are more secrets and revalations than you can shake a stick at!
Whilst I gobbled up every word, sentence, and paragraph, I also found the secrets and the trust issues between Xaden and Violet became grating. There were so many and it got….old. I really hope it’s the end of all that now!
There are a few stand-out parts for me:
The torture bit. The person who is there throughout with Vi……heartbreaking.
The throne part = FIRE!
‘You’re my gravity. Nothing in my world works without you.’ (gasps in quote delight!)
Andarna and Tairn are just my utter faves! A grumpy, sarcastic old man and a gobby teenager – fabulous!
But that ending. You know I’m going straight into Onyx Storm….but then how long a wait for the next book?!
Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Topic: Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List
I’m not 100% saying I’ll read all these….but maybe!!!
Fallen and Kiss of DuskSteeping of BloodThorns and FireExecutioners 3Irresistible Urge
The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent A Steeping of Blood by Hafsah Faizal Thorns and Fire by Helen Scheuerer The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard The Irresistible Urge to Fall for your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
GlowEnchanted Greenhouse Rose in ChainsWarrior Princess Assassin Katabasis
Glow by Raven Kennedy The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst Rose in Chains by Julie Soto Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer Katabasis by RF Kuang
CJRTB Books 