Yearly Wrap-Up: Reading

Hello, dear readers! ICYMI, welcome to the series of newsletters for December, as part of my end-of-the-year wrap-up. I know not everyone is into looking at the past year and reflecting upon it, but I eat that shit up. It’s one of my favorite rituals, spending part of December reflecting on my past year and then preparing my intentions for the year to come. So, the months of Deecmber and January will be more newsletter-heavy than usual (3-4 posts each, over the usual 1-2). I appreciate everyone giving me that space to reflect on the year in a way I love. 🖤

For this year, the wrap-ups you can expect are:

• Freelancing Wrap-Up: first one!

• Video Game Wrap-up: previous one!

• Reading Wrap-Up: this one!

• Yearly Wrap-Up: last one!

So, let’s dive into stats, reflections, sap and more in the today’s yearly wrap-up: how reading went, mini-reviews and reflections!

Goal Recap

So, after having the best reading year I’d had in a while in 2024 (reading 66 books), I was feeling really ambitious about carrying that momentum into 2025. So, at the end of last year, I set some goals, including:

• Read 52 books (i.e., a book a week)

• Read mainly the books I own

• Continue to prioritize marginalized writers

• Support more indie authors

Spoiler: I failed at most of these goals 💀. As of today, December 27th, I’ve read:

• 31 books

• 8 of those books were books I owned (so a fouth of my reading was from my books, while 75% was from my local library)

• I read a total of 21 different authors. Out of those authors:

  • 28% were authors of color and 30% were queer; 54% of the books I read were supporting marginalized writers

  • 12% were by indie or self-published authors

So, lots of room to improve! But, considering I also read/worked on over 40 projects (ranging from novellas to novels) for my first year full-time freelancing (which was over 90% indie authors), I didn’t anticipate how much growing that business (and spending so much time analytically and critically reading books) would make me not want to read as much, instead pouring in most of my free time playing video games.

Despite not figuring out how to balance editing and reading for fun (yet), I did fall in love with two genres that surprised me this year: sci-fi horror and dark romance! Sci-fi horror I’ve been slowly falling more and more in love with over the past two years or so, but I went on a deep dive and read even more this year (and might explore ocean horror, next year?).

Then, I fell into the hype around Lights Out and discovered that I actually really enjoy dark romance?!? So my library came in clutch to allow me to fall into both of those hyperfixations, which I want to grow and continue reading into 2026!

If you’re curious on my thoughts for the books I did manage to read in 2025, check out my mini reviews below!

Books Plus Mini Reviews

• This World is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: Properly creepy, extremely well-written, very intriguing, didn't pull punches, often felt like I wasn't quite smart enough to grasp it. 😅

• Isabel and the Rogue by Liana de la Rosa: Isabel's bookishness and cleverness, the kind and sexy romance, the political importance to the main and romantic plot. That third act break-up trope did not have to go so hard 😭

• I Got Abducted By Alies and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming: NEW KIMBERLY LEMMING! You all know that I absolutely love these hilarious, sexy tales. And it was a why choose this time! With so many hilarious references and moments (these birds do not understand people), you can tell Lemming was having a fantastic time with this one. And so did I! I can't wait for the next one in the series (and any book she writes, she’s an autobuy author for me).

• Mercenary Librarians trilogy by Kit Rocha: Absolutely loved these books. Fantastic characters, great spice, big fuck capitalism vibes. My favorite was The Devil You Know. Maya and Gray might be one of my new favorite couples of all time, honestly. I rec this series all the time now and hope to own physical copies, one day!

• The Good Girls’s Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh: Plot of "breaking reputation" that leads to discovering true selves that mirrored in both characters, romance was fantastic, as always, great spice, loved the chemistry between both of them. Always have a great time with an Eva Leigh read and hoping to continue working through her catalog!

• Music of the Night by Angela J. Ford: Ironic to read a book based off Phanton of the Opera when I haven't seen the opera. Or the cinematic adaptation. (I know, I know.) Yet I've really wanted to read something by Ford and my library was kind enough to purchase this one! I enjoyed it, but some of the writing wasn't my favorite. Yet, it wasn't to the point where I won't read another by this author again!

• Grimspace by Ann Aguirre: This book got on my radar from my great friend Olivia, who is one of the few who I'll actually trust a book rec fun. She was right. This sci-fi is ridiculously fast-paced, absolutely intriguing and the romance, while not heavy enough for me to consider this a sci-fi romance, per say, was one I definitely enjoyed. Excited to continue the series!

• The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks: Y'all, this was my top read of the year. I loved the cover and found this during my sci-fi horror streak. I was lucky enough to be the first one to have this on hold at my library and holy shit! The way I binged this. It's so uncomfortably accurate in how I think we would response to a random tower showing up in the sky, with a cast of characters who range from loveable and heartbreaking to absolutely face-punchable (I'm looking at you, Dirk). I'm going to be (and have been relentlessly) recommending this to anyone who wants some mind-bending sci-fi.

• The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown: Ness Brown's novella was delightfully creepy and also absolutely frustrating (why Jack has to take on so much alone is infuriating!). I would definitely read more from this author, though!

• The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling: When I talked about wanting to read more sci-fi horror, Starling's The Luminous Dead was the most recommended. And holy shit, I can see why. Absolutely suffocating, mysterious and tense, it's a book I couldn't read with the lights off. I kinda wanted a different ending, storywise, but I did think the author pulled off their ending well! Also, this book just pops up in my brain randomly, like all the time, so it’s obviously had an impact. 😅

• Blood Moon by Jillian Graves: I 110% picked up this book because I absolutely love the cover. Plus, more fat girl rep! 😍 I thought it was just...okay. Obviously as a novella, you gotta cram a lot in, but I definitely wanted more development between our couple. Sex scenes were fire, though.

• Her Husband’s Harlot by Grace Callaway: I finally read a Grace Callaway book! I loved how sexually charged this was and the very unique premise between our couple. Some of the writing/descriptions left me a little "meh" but I'm excited to read another book by Callaway at some point!

• The Outside by Ada Hoffman: Absolutely a new favorite. Twisty, creative, creepy, high-stakes, fantastic mental health rep (even if it's hard to read sometimes). Absolutely contining the series (I actually started reading The Fallen but had to turn it back into the library so need to check it out again).

• Dead Space by Kali Wallace: Give me more sci-fi horror murder mysteries, yes please! So creepy. Cannot wait to read Salvation Day by Wallace.

• The Edge of a World by JD Rivers: Creative, immersive, and a fantastic character study while blending the genres of fantasy and sci-fi. I am also honored to be their editor for the rest of the books in this series!

• Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase: Gutting, poignant, heartwrenching, timely. I don’t think any book by Ereworn Books misses.

• Lights Out and Caught Up by Navessa Allen: Listen, I didn’t expect Lights Out to be as incredible of a read as this one was. I loved this book. I reread it nearly a month later via audiobook. It made me cry and laugh! Caught Up, in comparison, was good, but Lights Out was 110% better imo. Very excited for book three!

• Wraith and Wanderings by EK Earle: Fun, witty, at-time grotesque romp of witchy urban fantasy horror! A must read series for anyone who wants a little more gothic humor about queer disaster babes in their lives.

• The Ruinous Love trilogy by Brynne Weaver: I didn’t realize I needed a romance series about serial killers in my life, but goddamn did this series have me in a chokehold. I absolutely loved it. Can’t wait to read the next trilogy!

• Souls trilogy (1 & 2) by Harley LaRoux: Harley LaRoux is one of my new favorite writers, as you can see, I read almost their entire back catalog (and only haven’t read book three in this trilogy yet because I needed the library to buy a copy—and they did!—but then it came in when I was swamped so had to return it unread; 2026!). Her Soul to Take is one of my new favorite romance books. Mind the trigger warnings!

• Losers by Harley Laroux: Losers was unlike anything I’d ever read, but I also can’t stop thinking about it. Such a fantastic story.

• Phantasma and Enchantra by Kaylie Smith: Omg were these books so fun. I absolutely ADORED Phantasma (and it’s one of the only reads in recent memory where I started playing video games and then stopped so I could pick it back up). I enjoyed the sequel, too, and I am SO excited for book three!!!!

In Sum

You know, I was beating myself up for not reading a ton this year (and I definitely read in spurts, where I’d read nothing for fun for months and then read eight books in two weeks lol). Though I didn’t meet my goals I initially set, I am really thrilled that I grew my interests and genres. And my average rating was 4.5 and my lowest 3.5 so you know I’ve really honed what I enjoy, which is fantastic.

I’m still going to set some reading goals for 2026, but perhaps they’ll be a bit more realistic now that I realize how my work impacts my reading. Tune in soon for some reading goals!

Until next,
Nicole 🖤

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