I’ve read Abby Jimenez, BK Borison, Emily Henry, and Sarah Adams’ books on here but curious if any of the other books don’t have spice or are low spice? (Asking because I prefer to skip those scenes in books and find it easier if there’s less)

Hey guys. So we're nearing the end of the year. So I thought I'd do an end of the year book tag and ask you guys to participate as well! I know it's just November, but the chances of us finding a different answer to these questions is very unlikely. But if you think your answers might change, save this post and then come back later and edit it! I would highly suggest you exclude re-reads but that's just optional! And it's okay if some answers are the same for different questions!

Okay some questions I'd like you to answer are:

1. What's the best book you've read in 2025? 2. What's the worst book you read in 2025 (please exclude DNFs!) 3. A book that you were looking forward to and ended up being disappointed by? 4. Which book surprised you this year? 5. What are some books you'd like to read before this year ends?! 6. Which new author did you discover this year and did you love them? 7. Which book made you laugh and which book made you cry? 8. Favourite book cover of 2025? 9. A quote that has stuck with you? 10. Which character became your favourite? 11. Best series you've read this year?

Okay I'll go first!

1. It's hard to pick one, but gun to my head, a standalone that I would choose would be Watermoon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
2. The worst book I've read this year? There are two: My Vampire Plus One by Jenna levine and A Summer of Broken rules by KL walthers
3. I was most disappointed by Alchemy of secrets by Stephanie Garber. She's an author that I'd actually quite enjoyed but I was left wanting with this one.
4. The flatshare by Beth O'leary surprised me so fucking much. I did not expect to love a contemporary romance novel that much.
5. I would love to finish lightbreakers by Aja Gabel before this year ends!
6. I discovered A.B poranek and Antonia Hodgson (The Raven Scholar) this year and I have been absolutely in love with their writing. I can't wait to read their other novels as well!
7. I did not expect to laugh that much in You deserve each other by Sarah Hogle and I cried multiple times reading The Passion Project by London Sperry
8. I think A dark and drowning tide by Alison Saft has an incredibly gorgeous cover. Both the cover and the book are beautiful.
9. A quote that has stuck with me would probably be "I flew to my feet, but it was the gargoyle who spoke. “That is unkind and unworthy, Bartholomew.” He’d been quietly crying in the corner of the room, and now appeared the spirit of righteous anger. “If you value your friend when he fights your battles for you—when he is rogue and ruthless—you must value him when he is gentle, too. Otherwise you do not value him at all.”

• from The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig. I keep thinking about this quote because I love the way it makes us think about friendships and the way we see our friends.

10. Cain and The Gargoyle from The Raven Scholar and The knight and the moth respectively.
11. You know what my answer will be. The scorched throne series by Sara Hashem most definitely.

I can't wait to see your answers!

Since [Redacted] is doing voting right now on the [Redacted] Choice Awards, I thought we could do our own end-of-the-year genre awards!! If you're feeling like a purist you could keep it to books published in 2025, but do whatever your heart desires. Please feel free to invent categories at your discretion.

Here are my award winners among the books I read this year:

2025 Fantasy Romance 🏆 The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (2025) 🥈 The Ascended by Bree Grenwich & Parker Lennox (2025) 🥉 Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen (2025)

2025 Fantasy 🏆 Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (2025) 🥈 The Strength of the Few by James Islington (2025)

2022 Book Where The Main Character Speaks in Deeply Haunting Rhymes and Riddles 🏆 One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (2022)

Pre-2025 Science Fiction Book That Became My Entire (!!!) Personality 🏆 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (2020)

The 2024 Fantasy Book I Adored But Haven't Met A Single Other Person Who Has Read It 🏆 Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan (2024)

The Book That Would've Won This Year's Hugo Award if I Were in Charge 🏆 The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (2024)

Cutest Friendship Between Authors as Witnessed on Instagram 🏆 Rachel Gillig & Kalie Cassidy

long story short: i’ve been reading so much Kindle Unlimited stuff (edit: cozy fantasy novels) that i really think that it’s affected my ability to read other genres of novels. i hope to change this tide but thinking about approaching it by reading shortlist books for awards.

do you? do you feel like “correcting” any reading habits?

I'm looking for a SPOILER-FREE map of the city of Duat/Obiteum because I think it would really help my comprehension of that storyline. However, I am afraid to look it up because I don't want to see any accidental spoilers. Don't know if this exists yet since the book just came out a few days ago, but if anyone has any leads please help a girl out!