A Cuppa Cosy Reads – First Quarter 2026

We are doing book reviews a little bit differently this year! Mostly because I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write my thoughts out on all the books, but also partly because I feel like sometimes it’s good to switch things up a bit. I’ve found lately that I don’t always have a lot to say about a book- sometimes that’s because I find it’s just average and I don’t have a lot of thoughts (a lot of this was fine- which I don’t feel like I should really waste your reading time on that) OR it’s because my thoughts are conflicted (which lends itself to a whole other situation). 

So, this year we are going to look at my reading wraps up in a quarterly perspective. I’m going to rapid fire list the books that I’ve read along with my rating and then I’ll review the one’s that I have the most to say about at the end (I’m trying to do a couple I love, a couple I didn’t particularly care for…). I read a total of 19 books with an average 3.27 rating.

Alright, let’s give this a go and see what happens… 

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn 4 Stars

You Wanna Be on Top? A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America’s Next Top Model by Sarah Hartshorne NR

Before We Came by Sloane St. James 2 Stars

Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry 3 Stars

Valentine’s Slay by Navessa Allen 2 Stars

Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel 3 Stars

Bonds of Hercules by Jasmine Mas 3 Stars

Wolf.e by Paisley Hope 3 Stars

Brutal Billionaire by Laurelin Paige 3 Stars

The Influencers by Anna-Marie McLemore 3 Stars

Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanaugh 4 Stars

Body Check by Elle Kennedy 3 Stars

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman 5 Stars

Savage Hearts by J.T. Geissinger 3 Stars

A Tongue So Sweet and Deadly by Sophie St. Germain 2 Stars

Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score 4 Stars

A Tongue So Sweet and Deadly by Sophie St. Germain 2 Stars We will start with my least favorite of the quarter. It wasn’t that this was bad, it was just that it didn’t do…anything. It wasn’t original, there wasn’t depth, and when there was the potential to do…well anything, it shirked away from the hard choice and just went easy. I wished the author had taken a chance to really do some things that were out of the ordinary options, but she stuck with a copy/paste formula that was very disappointing. 

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage 5 Stars I loved this book. We are looking at royalty and aristocracy, but from a…unique viewpoint. We are following someone forced back into the fold, trying to decide if she wants this life, this responsible, if she can handle it, OR if she wants to renounce it all and live a quieter life. I highly recommend this one, even if it’s not in your normal wheelhouse. 

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman 5 Stars If I had to pick a standout favorite of the quarter, hell probably of the year, it’s this book and series right here. This is just downright good fun. There is never a dull moment and the number of times I laughed while reading was too many to count. I highly recommend- in fact I’ve been pushing it on everyone I know, and I really hope we will one day see a TV adaptation. Read it!!!!!

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A Cuppa Cosy Reads – September 2025

Boy oh boy, September came in with a bang and left with a bang…and I still don’t know what happened during the month. Whew. 

We had family visit at the beginning, my husband was in and out throughout the month, I started working. And volunteering and community events started ramping up. I feel a bit all over the place to be honest, so here I am, sitting down to write some posts in the hopes that it’ll ground me before I have to move on to the next thing. 


With all of that- I somehow read 8 books this month! While I had some average reads in there, I also had some absolute winners and new favorites. I gave an average rating of 3.857, which might be the highest average in a while! I’m really hopeful about October too as I’ve picked some real good ones out, I think.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy NR One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was how frank she was. We share a semi similar history with traumatic childhoods through our mothers and it was nice to hear someone else discuss it with such frankness. You can tell she has been in therapy and is working through a lot of issues (which I love for her!) and therefore is able to now recognize certain issues or patterns. As someone who went through a lot of therapy, I can speak about certain life experiences with such frankness that it throws people off. This was a breath of fresh air in that sense. 

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 5 Stars Boy does this live up to all of the hype! It was such a slow but beautiful story, and you can’t help but just fall in love with what exists between the covers. I will say, I recognize some people have some issues with the ending (and I’d love to talk them through with you if you do), but I found it to be exactly as I’d imagined and there is only one thing I’d change if anything. 

Beautiful Things by Emily Rath 4 Stars Mia- you have a why choose book on this wrap up AND you gave it 4 stars?! Yes- I really loved this book. It has the best mix of social society and dynamics in regency England with smut. The fact that this worked for me (or at least this book) is fantastic and I cannot wait to read the second one. 

Fall I Want by Lyra Parish 3 Stars This was “fine”. I learned that I really like to have that 3rd act breakup, even as ridiculous as it can be, it progresses things and gives a little drama. I found that things went a little too easy (and not because everyone was emotionally mature, but because it just went easy). I don’t have too much more to add to it. 

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang 5 Stars When I tell you that I loved this book- I mean it. This was great, a mix between social commentary, social media, thriller, a hint of the horror…it had it all. This was such a great ride to read, and I would highly recommend it. 

Spookily Yours by Jennifer Chipman 3 Stars Again, another OK book. This is actually a novella and a very cheesy one at that (which I expected based on the cover), but I wish there had been a bit more to it. Give me a bit more struggle, a bit more development and I might have rated it higher.

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols 3 Stars I think the word that I can best use to describe my issues with this book is “lazy”. There was so much about this book that was lazy- from the character development to the actual makeup and twist to the story. There was also a bit too much performative diversity that ended up detracting from the story as a whole. I didn’t hate the story or book, but I definitely found some issues that could have been handled before publishing. 

Love Arranged by Lauren Asher 4 Stars This was the third book in this sister series, and I really enjoyed this one! I loved the dynamic between our two main characters and the fact that they didn’t waste time. This was the first series of hers that I have read start to finish and I’m glad I did! 

So, that was September! I’m really happy with the reading I did and the books I chose. What was your favorite book in the past month?

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