Book Roundup - August, September, October 2025

In which I share my quick insights about the books I read/listened to the last couple months...

Nov 02, 2025

August 2025

I read a total of 12 books in August, though 7 of those were a re-read of the Bergman Brothers series from Chloe Liese. I won’t go into those, though know they’re all a solid 4 to 4.5, depending on a the book. They’re cozy, emotional, and decent amount of heat. You’ll wish you could be a Bergman or at least be a friend of theirs. All of these books were enjoyed via audio and most were library books.

Passion Project (4.25 stars): The couple decides to try to figure out what their life passion is so go on a series of outings to try and figure it out. Takes place in New York.
Chloe Liese books - Wilmot Sisters (both 4.25 stars): These are the first two of the trio on the Wilmot sisters, two of which are twins. Usual mis for her books, great bantor, good spice, and a biological and chosen family you want to be a part of.
Great Big Beautiful Life (4.5 stars): I have feelings here. I should have figured out the twist as all of the clues were there, but I didn’t. Also, it wraps up a bit too quickly. That said, I liked both of the main characters but loved the secondary ones even more.

September 2025

Big book month for me, with 18 total books finished though many of them were on the shorter side. I read sort of all over the place, though a couple of sets of books on the same theme.

Omegaverse

After reading an omegaverse-adjacent book in The Fake Mate, I decided to jump full in with these other three which were all in the same universe. They’re odd, I’m not going to pretend they aren’t and probably aren’t for most folks, but it was nice to step into it for a little while. I liked Fake Mate a bit more (4.25 stars) than the other three here (4.25 for Slow Heat, 4.0 for the other two).

Inked Fort Collins

I think one of these books was a recommendation I got on Kobo. The author has a ton of different series which are connected loosely, featuring the Montgomery family and their various companies. These are all 4.0 star reads for me.

Everything Else

Like the other Wilmot sisters books, the last one in the series was a 4.25. Accomplice to the Villagin was a 4.25, as well. Love the goofy and silly while a touch of dark of these books. Only Was Kiss was my chance to try out a new author and found it to be decent enough, though none of her other books are on Kobo Plus (boo). That was a 4 star book for me.

I’ve always loved any book that Natalie Goldberg writes, so no surprise I found this to be a 4.0 read. It’s an interesting look at how a normally prolific author found herself with writer’s block and managed to get herself unstuck form it.

R.F. Kuang is the queen of dark academia for me. This was my only pre-order of the month and I really enjoyed it. 5.0 stars. Minor spoiler: I’ve got the same disease as of the main characters and this book made me really, really happy mine’s much more well-controlled with taking a couple pills a day.

The Roald Dahl book was a quick read. It came in a box of middle grade books though it’s not middle grade, at all. It’s quirky and amusing. 3.75 stars.

Shomance has the Big Star (Broadway writer) going back home to a small town where he’s convinced to stage his own musical that just flopped. And, yes, falls in love with a guy from back home. 4.25 stars for me

Last but not least was I See You’ve Called in Dead which was rather different than the rest. An obituary writer accidentally publishes his own obit in a drunken haze. He then starts to attend the funeral services of strangers to try to figure out what makes a good life. Lots of heart in this one (4.5 stars).

October 2025

I started off the month with a book I got free or cheap from a Libro.FM sale. Keep Me has all sorts of warnings you barely need to head when reading it. While I usually enjoy a grumpy-but-rich stranger who falls for a girl from out of town, this fell pretty flat for me 3.5 stars.

You Between the Lines made me want to go get an MFA or start writing poetry. The characters grew up together and distanced themselves over something pretty trivial but are now stuck in the same MFA program at Oxford. While William was a bit flat for me I enjoyed this enough to give it 4.0 stars.

A pair of books from the same series about the Wright family were amusing enough, though I don’t remember a ton of any one of them. 4.0 stars for each.

Ethan, I wanted to like. It was enjoyable enough and I finished in a day. Some weird plot holes and too much focus on how to train a working dog I could have overlooked, but there’s little feeling and the spice was so very awkward. Only a 3.5 stars for me and I didn’t feel the need to even seek out the other books by the author, even though they’re almost all on Kobo Plus.

Mate is the sequel to Bride by Ali Hazelwood. I enjoyed going back to the Bridge universe and learning more about the previous FMC’s best friend/keeper. Little bit too growly of a MMC for me, but very good at 4.5 stars.

I read Shield of Sparrows because the audiobook narrator was much praised and I enjoy the occasional romantic fantasy, assuming it’s got a solid world and good plot. This was excellent and I can’t wait for the next in the series to come out in April. Most of the book is narrated by the female author, with the exception of the very last chapter. 4.75 stars.

Next of Kin was a return to the very cozy writing of Hannah Bonam-Young who wrote Out on a Limp which I recommend as a first foray into romance. This was equally cozy and made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I was annoyed by the MMC going out with an almost-dead cell phone and no charger but I get it was needed for the plot. 4.5 stars and have the next book in the series in my library queue.

Revelle was one of those books I’ve been hearing about for awhile. It’s stand-alone romance with fantasy/magical realism thrown in. It’s inspired by Moulan Rouge in terms of setting and time period. Very enjoyable. Closed door spice. 4.25 stars

Last read of the month was the first in what seems to be a very large series of books. Flame has some rather shallow drama but the writing is decent so I gave it 4.0 stars. (No cover pic below as I was at the maximum of 9 for the gallery already. Just imagine a cover model from the neck down, lots of tattoos.)