Books I read during the months of March, April, and May 2025

---

This might be one of my favorite bunches of books I’ve read, overall. Flippity’s Cottage, Seashells and Other Souvenirs, Song of the Solas books 1 and 2, Almost the Chosen One, a Frugral Wizard reread—it’s been fun season of reading! Let’s get to the books!

---

I read 11 books this season. Here they are in the order I read them:

• Flippity Gilbert’s Cottage of Quirks by Emily Barnett (2025)
• Eldest (Inheritance Cycle, Book Two) by Christopher Paolini (2005)
• Not Nothing by Gayle Forman (2024)
• The Secret Zoo (The Secret Zoo #1) by Bryan Chick (2010)
• Seashells and Other Souvenirs by Rachel Lawrence, coming JUNE 2025
• where darkness dwells (Song of the Solas #1) by Andrea Renae (2023)
• there bleeds the light (Song of the Solas #2) by Andrea Renae (2024)
• Almost the Chosen One: Season 1 by Paul Regnier (2024/2025)
• The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson (2023)
• Taking Charge of Your Fertility 20^th Anniversary: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health by Toni Weschler, MPH (2015)
• Brisingr, Or the Brisingr, Or The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjarskular (Inheritance Cycle, Book Three) by Christopher Paolini (YEAR)

Of the 11:

• Completed: 9
• Still Reading: 2
• Did Not Finish (DNF): N/A

Books by the numbers:

• Own: 6
• Library Books: 1
• Borrowed elsewhere: 1
• Books published in 2024/2025: 5
• Ant’s Shelves: 0
• Rereads: 4
• eBooks: 1
• Audio: 0
• ARCs: 1
• Serials/Substack: 2

By Readership and Genre*:

• Fiction: 10
• Non-fiction: 1
• Contemporary: 6
• Anthologies: N/A
• Poetry: N/A
• Fantasy: 8
• YA: 8
• MG: 2
• New Adult: 1
• Thriller: 0
• Writing: 0
• Memoir/Biography: 0

*Some of these may be double counted

My favorites of the season:

• Seashells and Other Souvenirs
• Where darkness dwells and there bleeds the light

Spoiler warning: There could be spoilers! It’s on my list of things to learn how to hide spoilers, but until then, you’ve been warned 🙂

---

#7/35 // Flippity Gilbert’s Cottage of Quirks by Emily Barnett

You guys! This was the coolest story! This is a complete story on Substack. Here’s the official blurb:

“When Flippity Gilbert inherits a quaint cottage from a mysterious uncle, he is happy to leave his failed life behind. However, the cottage is more opinionated (and alive) than he bargained for. The only way worry-wart Flip can have any peace is to find the lost magical pieces the house demands. But in a cottage where every doorway, window, picture frame, and light-switch holds a portal, Flippity has no idea where he will end up next. Or what will happen if what he and the cottage are searching for can never be found.”

There’s a delightful cast of characters, including Flip’s persnickety and sassy feline friend Mildred. The story is magical and whimsical and endearing with a delightful cast of characters to help make it so. It can be enjoyed be grownups and kids alike!

Content Courtesies: Possible peril

Read the Story on Substack | Meet the Author | Also by Emily

---

#8/35 // Eldest (Inheritance Cycle, Book Two) by Christopher Paolini

Wow. I remember very little of this book. This book picks up just weeks after the big battle at/in Tronjheim at the end of Eragon. And then Eragon, Saphira, Arya, and ORIK head to Ellesmera for Eragon and Saphira to start their Dragon Rider training. This book felt like a bridge to Book 3. There were some cool moments—seeing Ellesmera and the battle (and reveal!) at the end, Roran’s and Nasuada’s points of view. I do wish the timeline of everything had been clearer: how long it did take Eragon and party to travel to Ellesmera and how long were they there? How long did it take Nasuada and the Varden to get to Surda? How long does it take Roran and the people of Carvahall to travel to Surda? It just felt all vague and weird. (“Time is a weird soup.”)

Content Courtesies: Wartime violence

Buy the Book | Meet the Author

---

#9/35 // Not Nothing by Gayle Forman

I loved so much about this book—the different generations being main characters—Alex is in middle school and Josey is 107, that it takes place in an assisted living home, that Alex connects with Josey over his story of surviving the Holocaust and can apply it to his life in a very kid-appropriate way. The writing is very Gayle Forman (a huge fan of if I stay and where she went) and the characters are endearing.

I struggled with the end of the book. I’m not undermining the seriousness of what Alex did to get the community service sentence. My frustration is in Alex’s feelings and why he lashed out the way did—it didn’t like it was fleshed out enough or that any grownup involved  didn’t get to the bottom of Alex’s anger that had been building and then was released in that moment.

Content Courtesies: hate crimes, Holocaust stories

Buy the Book | Meet the Author

---

#10/35 // The Secret Zoo (The Secret Zoo #1) by Bryan Chick

I don’t read a ton of middle grade books, but this has floated around my 9-year-old niece’s room for a while and a kid riding a polar bear got me to cave; she told me I could borrow it. It’s a great family-friendly adventure story!

Buy the Book | Meet the Author

---

#11/35 // Seashells and Other Souvenirs by Rachel Lawrence

Bonus favorite line: “I’m not going to tell you to night be afraid. Because I know that’s not how it works. Just don’t let the beautiful moments be choked out by your need to hang onto them” (176-177). – Jude to Alex

Two quotes because there’s so many good ones, and I want to showcase both the humor and the depth.

This book, you guys. I read it as an ARC, that is now, at the time of publishing this, available to purchase. It is a sweet, clean New Adult (NA) RomCom novel. It’s delightful. Alex and Jude, the main characters, are well-developed and likeable. I teared up in spots, I laughed, I was right there on the beach, I heard the ocean, I participated in every tradition that happened in this book. Our female main character, Alex, runs away to the beach her extended family rents every summer, to get away from blind dates and write her poetry book. She runs into one of the boys-next-door, the younger Alford brother, Jude, who still lives in the house next door and lives in this beach town working multiple part-time jobs. Alex is wrestling with her practically perfect childhood coming to an end and how to live in the present. Her and Jude recreate her family traditions in the weeks leading up to when her family will arrive at the beach house. It’s summer and family, cousin love and traditions, nostalgia and love, and humor wrapped up in a cozy summer blanket. There’s also a faith element to it as well. It’s delightful.

When I’m ready to write a Contemporary NA I knew this book will serve as a reference.

Buy the Book | Meet the Author

---

#12/35 // where darkness dwells (Song of the Solas #1) by Andrea Renae

I have waited forever to read this book and when I received an Amazon gift card for my birthday, I bought Book 1 and Book 2. It was worth the wait. The writing, the characters, the setting of Utsanek (yes, even an angry, scared town shrouded in darkness), the hope that shines through it all—it’ll make you die of reader and writer beauty. And then obviously you come back to read Book 2.

This book is broken up into three parts, with a poem introducing each one, and it’s told between alternating perspectives between the main female and male main characters Amyrah and Belwyn respectively, with some added perspectives from some other key characters. I’ve come to pay attention to Fantasy books that weave religion into their stories—like Sanderson’s Mistborn Era 1 trilogy and Legacy of Orïsha series—and Andrea Renae does this so well. I’ve always admired how gods and God and faith can be included in Fantasy stories, since that’s an important part of my personal life, I’m soaking up how authors do it.

It is a beautifully designed book. Included in the back is part of a song, art, pronunciation guides (which I referred to often), days of the week and season names, a recipe, and sheet music.

Buy the Book

---

#13/35 // there bleeds the light (Song of the Solas #2) by Andrea Renae

Whereas Book 1 takes place mostly in the town of Utsanek, Book 2 broadens the world a bit crossing Loch Skythe southwest into Tarriv and north-ish through the Askonnet Mountains.

Another beautifully designed book that’s a bit heftier than Book 1—it picks up right where where darkness dwells ends. It address topics of faith (having it and struggling with it), darkness and light, how true darkness and light can be/are within each person. It’s beautiful.

Buy the Book | Meet the Author

---

#14/35 // Almost the Chosen One: Season 1 by Paul Regnier

You may recognize this author’s name from his other novels I’ve shared here: Bard Tidings and Monster Therapist. Paul wrote and released Almost the Chosen One: Season 1 on Substack. It’s a grand adventure! At the time of writing and publishing this, Season 2 will start being released.

Two friends, Carter and Steve, are playing DnD after hours in the city library where Steve works when they stumble upon an old book that leads them into a very real DnD-like Fantasy world. Shenanigans ensue, of course. Lots of twists and turns, all with laughs to keep you going. It’s a great read!

Read it on Substack | Meet the Author | Season 2: Episode 1

---

#15/35 // The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

We read this as part of our second book club with two of our Tennessee friends, Ryan and Britney. It was so fun to read again, and everyone enjoyed it! Ryan and Brit listened to a dramatized audio version; Ant and I read the fancy Secret Novel Kickstarter Edition. This was my second reread and I enjoyed it even more this time around =D Can’t wait to do this again with our friends!

Buy the Book | Meet the Author | Where to Start Reading

---

What I’m looking forward to reading next season

Closing question(s):

• How was your Spring?
• Favorite book you read?
• What are you looking forward to reading this Summer?

---

See what else I’ve read this season?

• Winter 2024/2025
• Check out all the posts I’ve written on books and reading