2026 reads (includes spoilers, be aware!):
 |
title: alchemised author: senlinyu dates read: 12/28/2025-1/7/2026 rating: 3.5★ review: this was a loooong guy. i really didn't know what i was going into with this one, just that a friend had recommended it to me (in the loosest of ways - she basically said, "have you read this? i heard it was f*cked up." and i said, "no, but adding to the tbr immediately." this led me to a wild ride of a book. starts out with our fmc (helena) waking up from a coma and finding out she's living with this absolutely awful warlord (mmc, caine (sp? i listened to this one)). she is tortured constantly, by him literally tapping into her head trying to get her memories out, and the regime who is just trying to break her down. the entire first third of the book (part one) is her being so scared and confused and in fear for her life. then one day, while her thoughts are being extracted, she remembers everything, bringing us to part two where we learn more about the events leading up to her being trapped in this man's house. which are crazy. she did so much for the resistance and they failed her in every way. so much happened, and i've lost most of the plot at this point. only that it was bonkers. and in part three, we learn that they have basically erased her work from the annals of history, reducing her to a lowly healer who didn't do much. and that broke my heart. the whole book is heartbreaking in itself, being about a war and stockholm syndrome and crazy things happening. i kinda hated it at the same time though. idk, the longer i think about it, the more i want to take the rating down to a 3. did i mention it's draco-hermione fanfiction that originally appeared on ao3?? |
|---|---|
 |
title: read between the lies author: jesse q. sutano dates read: 1/6/2026-1/9/2026 rating: 4★ review: aka, me trying to get better about reading my kindle first picks books each month vs. letting them pile up and forgetting they exist. amazon sucks, but i will benefit from this. this was the story of a girl (lol) whose dream is to be a published author. when fern (fmc) finally gets her break (riiight before covid), she finds out her childhood enemy, haven, has also gotten a book deal, and a much better one at that. fern struggles to come to terms with this, because they have such a tumultuous history and she knows that haven does not deserve this, and is not who she says she is. she is an evil troll cosplaying as a sweet girl, and needs to be put to a stop. when fern does decide to fight back, it all comes tumbling back on her (as it has her whole life!) the ending was pretty cathartic though. i did enjoy this one. |
 |
title: when the wolf comes home author: nat cassidy dates read: 1/12/2026-1/15/2026 rating: 4.75★ review: what a crazy. fuckin'. book. it starts off with our fmc, jess, having a really bad day at work. she goes to clean the bathroom before she clocks out and ends up getting pricked by a needle. not knowing what the fuck is in this needle, she immediately leaves work and tries to get help for herself. but when she gets home, chaos arrives in the form of the big bad wolf. a child is quivering outside of her balcony door and with all of the bad things happening outside, she brings him in. and the wolf fights back. she eventually gets her and the kid out, and they're on the run. the whole time, i thought this was some sort of hallucination brought on by her being pricked with this unknown needle, but it turns out to be so much crazier than that.basically, the military did some dodgy shit with this kid's dad and didn't expect him to have a kid, and when he did, this kid inherited the power to make real any of the things that scared him the most. so when his dad got mad at him, he imagined him as the big bad wolf, and it became real. when he watched a weird tv show and got scared of the characters, they became real. when he got scared of the mannequins at target, they became real and started terrorizing the customers. it was absolutely insane. the craziest part was him yelling at the detective that he wished he never existed and basically vaporized the man. that scene will stay with me!! there was also a crazy twist at the end that i didn't see coming and left me staring at the wall for a few minutes afterwards (basically, jess was doing the heavy lifting on the scary stuff towards the end. what the frick.) reeeeeally enjoyed this one! |
 |
title: the way of kings author: brandon sanderson dates read: 7/31/2025-1/20/2026 rating: 4.75★ review: gah, my first foray into the stormlight archive!!! i started this one mid/late-2025 and put it down for some reason (i think i was letting my husband catch up to me, bc we're buddy-reading the series together.) i put it down at the absolute worst time though! dalinar, the king's uncle, has visions. most of the army thinks he's losing it in his old age. but the visions start getting stronger, and at the point i decided to stop reading, he was going into one of the visions. i put the fucking book down, and when i picked it back up in january, he was in a vision, and i was so confused on what i was reading. i really thought i missed something massive. this was such an incredible read though, even with taking a couple months off. these are chuuuunky bois though, so you really gotta settle in with them. no quick read here with a book 1000+ pages! totally and completely worth it though. |
 |
title: project hail mary author: andy weir dates read: 2/25/2025-1/26/2026 rating: 100★ lol review: i do not have enough good things to say about this book, i love it so much, it is perfect, and i will rave about it til the end of time. i initially read this back in 2023, and i looooved it. it was my favorite book of the year. and i started seeing online that the audiobook was even better. so i picked it up on audible (forgot to cancel my membership and had an extra credit) and started listening to it slowly. and it did not, could not, disappoint. if you're familiar with the book, you'll know that ryland encounters alien life on his spaceship. and this character (rocky) speaks in tones. in the book, it's just little notes put together to simulate speech. but in the audiobook, they actually put tones over the words and it adds so much to the story!! i love this book so much, and i can't wait to see how the movie does it justice (i hope i am not disappointed.) |
 |
title: rouge author: mona awad dates read: 1/21/2026-1/27/2026 rating: 4.25★ review: picked this one up on a bday trip to barnes and noble last year, and finally picked it up last month. our fmc, belle, is living in the shadow of her mother's beauty. she is desperate to maintain her own beauty, going through layers upon layers of skincare, trying to remain gorgeous. then her mom dies, and she's left to pick up the pieces, when she comes across this "spa" (read: cult) in a mansion on the hill. they do really weird shit to her, including bringing her in for a treatment that basically sucks her memories from her and leaves her as a husk and unable to string together a sentence. her hold on reality also slips away. i guess they're also putting these memories into jellyfish, because at the end, we see these rich people asking the patrons of the spa to catch a jellyfish and eat it (and the people are somehow linked with the jellies.) when it's belle's turn to pick her jelly, another appears. it turns out to be the spirit of her mother and ultimately saves her. while i knew this book would be about a mother and daughter, and i could prepare myself for that sob story, i didn't expect it to hit me so hard. but it was kinda gorgeous, and i loved it. |
 |
title: words of radiance author: brandon sanderson dates read: 1/21/2026-2/12/2026 rating: 5★ review: even better than way of kings somehow!! in this second book of the stormlight archive, we start seeing the characters come together and interact with each other. and it is incredible. we get more worldbuilding and find out more of what's happening on the shattered plains, with the parshendi, with these people's powers... gah. i am so stoked to read oathbringer (though i've heard book 2 is the best one of the series!) |
 |
title: so very lucky author: caitlin devlin dates read: 2/2/2026-2/13/2026 rating: 3★ review: blah blah blah. |
 |
title: not another love song author: julie soto dates read: 2/13/2026 (yes one day lol) rating: 5★ review: blah blah blah. |
 |
title: daggermouth author: h.m. wolfe dates read: 2/15/2026-2/18/2026 rating: 4.5★ review: blah blah blah. |
 |
title: the eyes are the best part author: monika kim dates read: 2/18/2026-2/20/2026 rating: 4★ review: blah blah blah. |
