Reading Recap 2025!

Reading Recap 2025!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful end to 2025 and a lovely new year! I’ve read a lot in 2025, reaching 101 books! Which, according to Goodreads, is actually one of my highest reading years ever! The last time I actually read this many books in a year was back in 2018 – which I was my first year of university!

I don’t usually set goals for myself in the new year (aside from reading ones) but after dabbling in different hobbies in 2025, it made me realise I want to set myself some creative goals for 2026.

  • Continue working with watercolour paints!
    • I picked up watercolour paints as an activity to do during the Summer Hours at work. (which is working extra hours in the week to have Friday afternoon off). I began painting the covers of the books I read and I ended the year having only painted 8 covers. I used a rather small sketchbook which made the painting process less daunting. I too was sucked in by those TikTok ads to buy acrylic marker pens and they’ve surprisingly come in handy for this! It was such a fun and relaxing way to unwind from all the screens I’m looking at constantly during the day for work and also for streaming.
  • Return to blogging (FOR REAL THIS TIME I SWEAR)
    • On the blog, I’ve only been posting my month rewinds for the last year or so. And it’s made me feel pretty guilty. 2025 was a bit lacking in the creative department. And this blog is where a lot of my creative endeavours first began. I do talk about the books I read on stream (twitch.tv/zaheerah) but I haven’t written a full review in sooo long. I swear my Netgalley TBR will be dealt with this year!

I’m not a goal setter as I find that I don’t end up following them so these two goals seem open enough that I will commit to them rather than abandoning them in the future.

My reading pattern for this year has been pretty consistent! I’ve found that I am much more picky with the books I read since I have less time to do so which means I didn’t dislike many of the books I read this year! (Don’t get me wrong, there was a few books I really, really hated but I don’t want to highlight them ahah) I’ve read a ton of fun books this year, especially webtoons!

Continue reading “Reading Recap 2025!”

Monthly Rewind: June 2025

Monthly Rewind: June 2025

A R T

Actually shame on me that I have no art to share with you this month. So I thought I would highlight some commissioned art instead! Here are two pieces from CarmenFFLV. The first one was actually a gift from my friend, Seth, who commissioned art of my OC (who I used as my png model when I’m streaming on Twitch.) I was so in love with the art that I commissioned the artist myself for a picture of myself! It’s SOO adorable and I just want to use it everywhere!

B O O K S

In June, I read 8 books!

For transparency, books marked with an asterisk (*) signify books I received through work at PRH.

Welcome to Glorious Tuga*

While to the residents of Tuga – the world’s most remote island – Charlotte Walker looks like a temporary resident, a researcher ready to study the island’s turtle population. For Charlotte, Tuga holds the secret to a past she never knew and can she find it amongst the people of glorious Tuga?

I feel like this book is a quintessential beach read – the kind of book that is low stakes, low energy and some thing that you can finish in a couple summer days. I thought it was cute, something quick to read. Personally, for me, it just felt SO empty. Nothing really happens except in the last few chapters and I actually almost forgot Charlotte was at Tuga to research turtles. I don’t think she actually did anything the entire time she was there? There is a sequel out now which judging by the synopsis sounds to be much better, but I don’t think I cared enough about Charlotte to think about picking it up.

Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: June 2025”