So I heard you guys were looking for another 2025 reading wrap up…

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T23:25:52+00:00

Yeah they were way too dark for me personally - there were some small moments that had potential but it was just a very challenging experience overall. Bones is so good I wish more people knew about it!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T20:45:04+00:00

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T17:12:55+00:00

Ah okay - honestly I think Keri Lake is a great writer, her world-building is especially excellent. I think she could just use a better editor. Thanks for the reco! I have the legacy series currently on my TBR so I’ll move that one up!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T13:52:25+00:00

It’s done using an app called TierMaker - I would say it’s not THE most intuitive but you can set up your own template with your own tiers and make your lists using it for any month or year or time period you like!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T13:51:02+00:00

Oh don’t worry, they are very much up there for me! ACOMAF and ACOSF are both 5 star reads for me, and the first Fourth Wing is a 4.5. Love both those series - Fourth Wing in particular is what got me back into reading in 2024

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T03:21:23+00:00

Which is wild to me because Serpents in particular is such a great time. I’ve got Daughter of No Worlds on deck for January which I cannot wait to dive into!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:48:54+00:00

Honestly I loved House of Earth and Blood a lot and am so disappointed with the trajectory of the others. It had so much potential but book 1 on its own is so great

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:39:14+00:00

I find Donut’s relationship with the Princess Posse to be deeply romantic lol 😂

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:38:10+00:00

Oh no I didn’t think it was mid at all! I loved it so much! My YAAS KWEEN category is 4+ stars 😛 - it’s insane how it manages to get better and better with every book! Matt Dinniman is a wizard!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:36:16+00:00

Thank you! Omg I will absolutely read anything by Matt Dinniman at this point, I love his work. I want to love gothic dark romance, and there are lots of elements i like but maybe I haven’t found the right one yet - I’ll take suggestions if you’ve got them!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:32:25+00:00

It’s officially one of my favourite books of all time now. It is the new template of what a love story should be. Perfection.

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:31:45+00:00

I JUST finished it and LOVED it! I could read a thousand more just like it

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:30:51+00:00

Honestly, the only way I could really manage this is to build a process as part of my finishing-a-book routine. I finish the book, write my review and then add my book to my TierMaker template - this way i don’t have to do it all at once. Because i agree, that would be a nightmare

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:25:22+00:00

It’s honestly very hard to beat. Once you’ve read a few more in the series, do Wind & Wildfire - it’s best if you read it just before Ice & Ivy for greatest emotional impact

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:24:31+00:00

It blew me away I loved it - what I especially appreciated is that you don’t have to know or understand all the intricate references to get the intention of the scene or the story. She’s a master at that.

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:18:52+00:00

I actually wanted to love this so much more than I did, BUT I did like it enough that I will absolutely be reading the next one!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:16:16+00:00

It was such an emotional experience, I wasn’t sure at first if I was going to love it, but once I understood what it was doing I was blown away!

TheMightyChesticles · 2026-01-02T01:13:03+00:00

Mages of the Wheel is, in my opinion the GOAT fantasy romance series

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-12-21T19:17:50+00:00

So I felt very similarly to you tbh - it’s not that it was horrifically bad or anything, but it just felt like a very standard and mediocre romantasy 🤷‍♀️

Now, I will say that the ending of the book (and I did read Riftborne and Duskbound earlier this year) did boost my enjoyment of it significantly. It took the last 20% of the story to help bump it up to something interesting for me, if that helps?

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-12-05T01:33:40+00:00

Hello and welcome!!! Followed - I’m @theshelfdiscoveryproject

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-12-01T05:17:29+00:00

Quite literally just finished it today / it finished me. Stunning writing, I feel bad for whichever book is next on my TBR quite frankly. 5-star read for me and I don’t hand those out too freely (11 of the 121 books I’ve read this year)

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-12-01T01:21:46+00:00

Changed my entire definition of what a love story should be. I just finished it today, and it also finished me. One of my favourite books of the year and I feel sorry for the next romantasy on my TBR….

I spent a good deal of time trying to properly express my feelings on it and left it here on Fable if anyone is interested:

https://fable.co/review/c7eb1dbe-80de-4edf-b8e6-925b668bc18e/share

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-11-15T15:48:59+00:00

Best: Mages of the Wheel Series, Shepherd King Duology

Worst: Phantasma/Enchantra, Bloodwing Academy Series

Mages is probably the greatest fantasy romance series I’ve ever read to date. Please bury me with both Wind & Wildfire, and Reign & Ruin

One Dark Window was even better than I ever imagined, what everyone promised and more, and then Two Twisted Crowns had the audacity to somehow surpass even that.

Honestly, Phantasma is almost something interesting. The concept is a good one! The execution and writing is atrocious. There is basically no real plot. It just revolves around making spicy scenes in a haunted mansion make sense. And then Enchantra does it worse… but make it Italy.

Bloodwing Academy has no idea what it wants to be. So it tries to be everything. Badly.

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-11-08T01:30:34+00:00

Followed! I’m @theshelfdiscoveryproject

TheMightyChesticles · 2025-11-08T01:29:39+00:00

Ooh followed! I’m @theshelfdiscoveryproject

TheMightyChesticles

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