Alli the Book Giraffe

Hello readers and happy Monday! Today is my first day back for college. It was sooo nice getting the few weeks off that I did.

It’s time to talk about what I read in the final month of 2025. I managed to finish four books in December, and I enjoyed most of them.

I finally got around to reading Passengers. This book follows 8 people stuck in self-driving cars destined to die at the end. We also learn that all of them have a secret, and onlookers get to vote for who deserves to live.

I love that John Marrs always has plenty of turns and twists you won’t see coming in his books. He has a few things that get a bit repetitive once you’ve read a handful of his books, but I still enjoy them.

Passengers wasn’t my favorite of the mix, so I gave it a 4. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I had read it after The One. I only have one left to go in the Dark Future universe, so I’m going to make sure and get to it soon.

Of course, I loved Hollowpox. It’s not my favorite as Wundersmith still has that spot. But Hollowpox gave us a lot more backstory than we had before, especially about the Wundersmiths.

I forgot that in Australia, school starts in January, so I was initially confused about the timeline in this one. However, I am caught up.

In Hollowpox, Morrigan uses something akin to the Pensieve in Harry Potter to view memories from the villain in the story and other people. I really enjoyed that. The world-building in the Nevermoor series is really well done, and I hope everyone gives this series a chance.

Killers of a Certain Age follows a group of assassins who are about to retire when a hit is put on them.

I did enjoy this one, but not as much as I wanted to. It kind of had a cozy mystery vibe, which is not what I expected going into it. I wish we got more of the characters. Each one was so distinct, but really lacked depth.

I think that the idea was there, but not the execution. I’d love to read more books like this in the future. I really want to try that Golden Girls cozy-mystery series and see if I enjoy it next.

The last book I finished was my reread of Amari and the Night Brothers. I am so happy I did. I remember LOVING this book in 2021, but most of what happened left my brain.

Amari and the Night Brothers follows Amari. She goes to a magical school where she learns she has an illegal ability, and is also searching for her missing brother.

This book was just as phenomenal the second time, and I now have the ability to immediately read book two. The world-building could be better, but we have more books in the series to go. The strong point here is Amari’s character and the magic system.

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Happy blogging and bookish adventures! 📚🦒✨

This post was created by Allison Wolfe for www.allithebookgiraffe.com and is not permitted to be posted anywhere else.

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