I have been having some bookish problems, the first being that I keep forgetting to log books on Goodreads, so by the end of the month, I look and see, man, I read so little this month, when in reality that’s not the case. Issue number two is that I have been reading some self-published works, and on the whole, I haven’t been enjoying them, which makes me feel guilty since I know what it is like. The worst part is when you are the first one rating the book, and your rating isn’t great. Anyways, I’m using Quarter-Year Crisis, Book Tag, which was created by Rosin’s Reading.
Have you already found a book you think might be a 2026 favourite? If not, what was your favourite book you read that wasn’t quite five stars?
I haven’t had much luck with 5 stars so far, but here’s a novel in verse that was five stars for me.
Goodreads Blurb:
For eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, home is the lush, humid jungles and highlands of Laos. Home is where she can roll down the grassy hill with her younger siblings after her chores, walk to school, and pick ripe peaches from her family’s trees.
But home becomes impossible to hold onto when U.S. troops pull out of the Vietnam War. The communists will be searching for any American allies, like Gao Sheng’s father, a Hmong captain in the Royal Lao Army who fought alongside the Americans against the Vietnamese. If he’s caught, he’ll be killed.
As the adults frantically make plans – contacting family, preparing a route, and bundling up their silver and gold, Gao Sheng wonders if she will ever return to her beloved Laos and what’s to become of her family now. Gao Sheng only knows that a good daughter doesn’t ask questions or complain. A good daughter doesn’t let her family down. Even though sometimes, she wishes she could be just a kid rolling down a grassy hill again.
On foot, by taxi and finally in a canoe, Gao Sheng and her family make haste from the mountains to the capitol Vientiane and across the rushing Mekong River, to finally arrive at an overcrowded refugee camp in Thailand. As a year passes at the camp, Gao Sheng discovers how to rebuild home no matter where she is and finally find her voice.
I haven’t had much luck with 5 stars so far, but here’s a novel in verse that was five stars for me.
Any 1-star books/least favourite book of the year?
Goodreads Blurb:
Tad Millard was one of the best detectives around. Unshakably honest, hard-working, and a true professional. When he was assigned a case with three seemingly unrelated murders, would he have what it takes to solve the mystery? Adding to the intrigue is a strange connection to a prominent writer. Is this author giving sinister directions to his readers through his stories? Tad Millard is determined to find out.
To me, the 14 pages in here don’t make sense, and I got it thinking it was free, but no, I was wrong, due to being the first one to rate it, I gave it two stars.
Most read genre so far:
Sadly, I think it is contemporary. I wanted to read more of a variety, but I have been quite a mood reader lately.
A book that surprised you:
Goodreads Blurb:
Sometimes, the most powerful form of healing is simply staying.
When Bee, a vibrant soul and educator, is diagnosed with aggressive sarcoma cancer, her world, and the world of those who love her, is turned upside down. After losing her leg to the disease and waking from a coma, Bee makes one unexpected she wants a female Golden Retriever puppy.
Enter Audi.
Audi isn’t a professionally trained service dog, but she becomes a “guardian of the heart.” In a home reshaped by the “long dry season” of chronic illness, Audi learns to speak the language of silence. From lying patiently beneath wheelchairs to keeping watch during the loneliest hours of the night, Audi’s steady presence becomes the anchor that keeps Bee and her caregiver grounded when the storm of grief hits.
I never thought this story would make me cry and smile at the same time.
Book that’s come out in 2026 already that you want to read but haven’t yet:
Goodreads Blurb:
From the author of Partners in Crime, comes a sparkling new adventure rom-com where a con woman and a lawman team up on an epic cross-country road trip to save their families…and each other.
Sejal Chaudhary inherited her mama’s calculating brain, her daddy’s quick fingers, and the boatload of trauma that comes with being the eldest daughter of criminals. Although Sejal has never claimed to be a good girl, she’s spent the last couple years laying low and going (mostly) straight. That is, until a con gone wrong sends her into the arms of a handsome stranger who’s set on dragging her back into her messy family drama.
Krish Anand never mastered the fine art of being a bad boy…he would take a book over bullets any day. But when his FBI agent brother goes missing, he has no choice but to suit up for the adventure of a lifetime. Certain that someone in Sejal’s little crime family is behind the disappearance, a desperate Krish manages to convince the beautiful thief that his brother’s badge is actually his.
The deal is simple: help him find his brother, and Krish and the law will leave Sejal be. With an up-to-no-good ex also hot on her trail, Sejal reluctantly agrees. As they wind their way across the country on planes, buses, and automobiles, sparks ignite, and what began as a fragile temporary truce starts to look more and more like a partnership.
One goal you made that you’re succeeding at:
This is an easy one since it’s the only one I kept out of all: reading more than a hundred Kindle books.
One goal you made, you need to focus on:
I need help with reading 2026 releases and queer books since I’m not where I like to be.
New-to-you booktubers/bookstagrammer/booktokers for 2026 you recommend:
Books with Meg and At Boundary’s Edge, they aren’t new to me, but I like their book review.
Mybookworld24 