One of my reading goals in 2025, was to finish more books I already own before purchasing new books. This decision was not part of some buy nothing rebellion or book buying ban, but simply because I literally ran out of space on my bookshelves and the stacks of books piling up in other areas of the house — which were not shelves — was getting . . . concerning.

Couple this with the realization that most of the books I own are books I’ve never read, or books I read so long ago that I could hardly remember what they were about or why I was holding on to them, and I decided I should get to weeding.

But I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them out, so I decided to resurrect an old challenge I did back in 2021, and unhaul some books!

So far as I can tell, the original prompts were written by BooksAndLala on Youtube. I first saw the challenge on a video posted by Portable Magic, and I looked at Merline Reads to see what it might look like on a blog.

A lot of the prompts I used in my original unhaul challenge didn’t really lend themselves to having actually read the books before getting rid of them, so I made up some of my own prompts and got rid of the ones that didn’t work for me.

Which means I’m down to eight instead of ten prompts, but I doubled up on a few, and still managed to get rid of ten books! (only like a hundred more to go! lol)

Let’s get started!

A Book I rated Low

This one I just didn’t like.

In some ways How to Solve Your Own Murder seems to miss the premise implied by its own title, and unfortunately the reader can never really let go of that throughout the story (at least I couldn’t). Now mysteries in general are a little outside my normal diet; however, I do feel I’ve read enough to know the major tropes and broad-stroke tools authors use, and while this book does hit a lot of those buttons, it does not subvert them or push beyond them in any way.

It may be a comforting read for diehard fans of the genre, but it does little to convert you into a fan if you’re not already in that group.

A Book I changed My Mind About

My initial read of A Deadly Education was an extremely positive experience and even inspired a second post comparing the Scholomance to David Dewane’s Eudaimonia Machine.

However, as I researched a little further — comparing it to other Lodestar nominees in 2021, and uncovering a bit of controversy surrounding the book’s themes and execution — I could not help but feel some of the magic fade. Nearly five years later and I’ve made exactly zero attempts to finish reading the series, and do not see myself returning to this volume anytime soon.

Perhaps it’s simply time to let this one go.

A Series I Won’t Be Completing

Anji Kills a King, the first installment of the Rising Tide series, felt like it SHOULD have been everything I wanted in a fantasy book — subversive premise (story-after-the-story), a secondary world, “Tenets” (similar to the “Ideals” in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive), and loads of fighting and action — yet somehow even with all of these ‘likes’, I really struggled to finish this book.

I’ve followed the author, Evan Leikam, on Tik Tok for what feels like ages, and enjoy hearing his thoughts and opinions on other books (his book reviews were how I discovered his account, I did not know he was an author until he announced his book deal with Tor). I will definitely continue to follow that account, and would even try a second series once he’s finished with The Rising Tide, but I won’t be pursuing Anji along any further adventures.

Only Mostly Dead is actually a pretty great book. It’s humorous, but also includes some heavy topics (trigger warning) — specifically assisted suicide, and living with terminal illness — in a way that it sort of normalizes them, and does not really encourage debate. I’d also say it’s pretty LGBTQ+ friendly with one of the primary romance dynamics happening between a woman and a kind of grim reaper / angel which can (and does) go by whatever pronouns suit them in the moment.

Despite all it has going for it, the story didn’t quite get its claws in me the way some other books have. I didn’t feel strongly compelled to await the sequel. But for any who have read this short review (or my full post), and are interested? Give. It. A Shot!

A Book I Didn’t Buy

If I remember correctly, I discovered Unholy Child while helping my parents move. From the title, and the cover — which shows a very pregnant nun looking quite shamed and repentant — it would be easy to mistake this book as some kind of contemporary of Rosemary’s Baby or The Omen; however, there are no supernatural elements at all.

This story is fiction, but with a thin thread of reality woven throughout. Author Catherine Breslin was a real journalist before writing novels, and had written a story about a nun killing her child. Though there are many POVs throughout the book, it quickly becomes clear that the character Breslin is best able to write, is Meg Gavin, also a reporter, working on the story of a nun who arrives at the hospital having clearly just experienced a traumatic homebirth, but has no memory of it, or even of having been pregnant (the baby is later found dead in a waste basket).

It seems like this should make for some pretty intriguing drama, supernatural or otherwise. However, the book quickly gets bogged down with an excess of POVs, and perhaps overly ‘realistic’ (read flat) character arcs which leave the reader wondering why they have committed so much time to a book with no real sense of catharsis (positive or negative).

Unhaul it lol.

Books From Childhood I’m Finally Getting Rid Of

The Amulet of Samarkand and The Golem’s Eye are probably the most recently read books in my unhaul pile. I only just reviewed Golem last week, and Amulet only a scarce two weeks before that. Goodreads wasn’t around when I originally read these (assumedly) around when they came out in 2003 and 2004, but when I finally did shelve them, I rated Amulet quite low, and never even shelved Golem.

Rereading them in 2025/2026, I feel as if I may have judged them a bit harshly. Of the two, I enjoyed Amulet more, intrigued by the mystery of just who Bartimaeus was and what real figures from myth and legend he may have been based on. I also found the Djinn to be quite humorous, though I didn’t much like his master, a 14 year-old boy named Nathaniel.

Bartimaeus fell in my esteem during Golem, as the sort of combative dynamic between him and Nathaniel never really changed, and I felt the Djinn let his worst qualities rule the story. The true hero of the story seemed to be Kitty Jones, a (kinda) villain in the first book, who gets a lot more screen time in the second. Unfortunately, in order to set up this more heroic storyline, author Jonathan Stroud had to work in huge sections of backstory through flashbacks and anecdotes etc. Which meant the main story seemed to sag a bit throughout.

Ultimately, I did enjoy both of these titles (Amulet slightly more) and I hope I have the chance to read the other two books in the series; however, I don’t see myself returning to either one once I’ve finished the series.

It was time to let em go.

A Book Club Pick I Didn’t Vibe With

The Night of Baba Yaga is a somewhat ironic choice for this category, because I’M the one who picked it for my book club to read.

Quick content warning: Two different characters in this book each experience attempted sexual assault through the course of the story. Violence of all kinds (but especially against women) is a major element of the story, and is often described in explicit detail.

I’m mostly glad I read this one, but I’ll admit it didn’t really vibe the way I was hoping. There’s obviously the elements I mentioned in the content warning, which I understand including but don’t necessarily enjoy reading, and then there was some story-structure things happening with split timelines and the like which I felt was poorly executed. But the biggest blow was probably that this book had really very little to do with Baba Yaga, despite that most infamous Russian Folk legend taking up prime residence in the tile.

What the story ends up being is a kind of John Wick style Yakuza beat down featuring a lesbian power couple. THAT part is pretty badass, but I guess I was just hoping for a little more of something . . .

A Series I’ll Have to Come Back To

It hurts my heart that Naomi Novik is on this list twice! Generally I really like her books, and His Majesty’s Dragon is actually pretty incredible. However, the Temeraire series is like nine books long, and I just don’t have the bandwidth for something that robust right now.

So I’ll come back to it later.

The things I did enjoy about the book were Novik’s take on dragons which are uniquely MASSIVE (basically flying frigate ships), and the organic way which Temeraire and his rider Laurence bond over the course of the book. There’s no spells, curses, fates, or other story mechanic gimmicks forcing these two characters together. They just like each other, and that’s enough. I think I’m starting to cry a bit . . .

My only mild struggle with the book came from the sort of regency era language in which it’s written. Not bad or poorly done, just not really my style.

His Majesty’s Dragon is a great book, and a promising start to the Temeraire series . . . which I’ll have to work my way through another time.

A book I Enjoyed but Probably Won’t Read a Second Time

As I imagine the bad boy shadow daddies sit at the back of the class/bus, books about bad boy shadow daddies are for the end of the list hahah.

Jokes aside Dark Lord’s Guide To Dating is a pretty fun read. Hunt’s prose are easy going, and there’s an undeniable allure to the book’s premise (dating advice for the “Dark Lord”), but I think where the book really sets itself apart was in the growth of its two main characters and how — despite a rocky start — they really end up being perfect for each other.

Where I struggled with this one was with its setting and worldbuilding. Hunt is clearly well read in the fantasy and romance genres, making plenty of references and allusions to other great works; however, I wanted to see something truly unique from THIS world, and I just never quite found it.

So while I’m happy I got to read this one, I don’t feel any particularly strong desire to hold on to it.

(For any wondering about the level of spice, I’d say this is the horniest book I’ve read yet!)

I DID IT!!

Dang look at me. Actually managing to get rid of ten books. And I only came home with five new ones. Hey I really tried ok . . .

That’s all I have for this week! What did y’all think of the list? Were there any on there that you had read before? Any you want to read? Any I should have kept?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section! Looking forward to talking about these!