My Monthly Wrap-Up: August 2025

I have learned my lesson with too many ARCs. Gosh that was hard to get them all done. Luckily they were all good ones. The hard part now is trying to decide which were my favorites. Because of all the ARCs I did manage to finish 20 books this month, which is a record for this year. The break down is eight ARCs, five audiobooks, and seven books. Here is my Storygraph graphic for the month.

With so many ARCs to write reviews for, I didn’t write many for my other books. But that is ok. Titles with asterisks next to them link to my reviews, otherwise the titles link to their Goodreads pages.

Favorite ARCs

*Summer War was beautiful and so much was packed into this novella. Would love to see another story set in this fabulous world.

*Thief of Night was a great way to end this duology. I really enjoyed this one and loved the ending.

*The Impossible Fortune was just as much fun as the other books in the series. I really enjoyed the mystery and the addition of two new characters.

*To Clutch a Razor was also a great novella. I loved the continuation of this story and look forward to reading the next book when it is released.

Reading Challenge Books

*TreeNotes was my nonfiction book for this month. I enjoyed this quick read all about trees. But it would have been nice if there were some illustrations.

The Road Trip was a book I read for the Buzzword Cover Challenge. The prompt was transportation. The book was ok, but way too long.

The Seven Dials Mystery was for the 52 Book Club Challenge. The prompt was for a book in the public domain. This pretty much confirmed that reading Christie just isn’t for me.

Favorite Reads

*Vice and Virtue was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I really enjoyed the characters and the story. This is the first in hopefully a long series of cozy mysteries.

*The Unkillable Frank Lightning was not so much a horror book as that cover makes you think. I really enjoyed this reimagined Frankenstein set in the Old Wild West.

*Book of Night was just as good as the first time I read it. I love the world the author has created here and hope to see more books set in it.

Favorite Audiobooks

*Accomplice to the Villain was so fun and a joy to listen to. I love that we finally heard from Kingsley. So looking forward to the next book.

*Beautiful Ugly was so dark and deeply disturbing. What a great read though. Really thought provoking and a great ending.

*Moonleapers was a fun and different take on time travel and the many worlds theory. I really enjoyed this middle grade novel from one of the greats in this genre.

I’m pretty sure I won’t get as many books read this month. I plan on being a bit more relaxed with my reading at least to start the month. I am looking forward to all of the books I have picked out to read this month, as I think I have some good ones. Check out my September TBR here. I hope your month is off to a good start. Until next time…

Happy Reading!