My First Book Haul of 2025 & Some Personal Oversharing Yada Yada…

As I always say, reading books and buying books are two different hobbies.

Typically, I read as much as I buy. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m reading owned books; in fact, I’m definitely not, but it’s the spirit of reading that counts, not where the books come from. But for the last year or so, I’ve been reading less and buying more. Like, way more. I was using book purchases for jolts of serotonin, my only source of happiness during the most stressful year of my life.

If life has taught me anything, it’s that shit can always get worse, so I need to maintain a high level of anxiety at all times, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yes, I am in therapy.

But certainly my response to 2024 could have been way worse. I could have gotten into heavy drugs. Maybe considered alcoholism, but I try to avoid swallowing as a general rule. That’s a weird thing to say, so more on that in a minute.

I guess there’s always a chance I totally lose it in 2025 with the way things are currently shaping up globally.

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My Top 24 Most Anticipated 2024 New Releases | July to December!

It’s like I always say, “Sorry, I’m late!”

I intended to get this out for the beginning of July, but then my cat died and everything felt terrible for a while. Then my in-laws visited for a month and, you know, I mentally shut down when my routine is threatened. And not to complain, though I love to, it doesn’t help that we went from July 1st to September in like five minutes?? The passage of time is nonsense.

I have been reading, even if I’m not talking about it. And actually focusing on books I already own! So that’s a positive. The physical TBR must have gotten smaller by now? Maybe? The problem is, to read books I own instead of chasing down the shiniest new thing, I obviously have to buy books. Right? Right. This is just basic logic. Math. You can’t argue with math.

So here are my top picks for new releases coming out in the second half of 2024.

You can find my list for the first half of the year here.

Get ready to add to cart, pre-order and plan a bookstore date!

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🌈#PrideMonth Book Recs from LGBTQ+ Bookstagrammers!

Happy Pride! Usually, for this most colourful and joyous time of the year, I would put up a list of queer-centred books or queer authors curated to help us all expand our TBRs just a bit more…

But this year I thought, let’s hear it straight (no pun intended) from the gay horse’s mouth (you know what I mean.) So I put out some totally nonsexual feelers to my bookish friends celebrating Pride to get their can’t-fail book recs, and they totally came through in spades. The queerest of spades!

So if you’re looking to add some rainbow colours to your June reading, this is the list for you!

Check them out — the books and the friends — and get that library card or your “add to cart” finger ready!

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My Top 24 Most Anticipated 2024 New Releases | January to June!

Look, I know I just posted about my Owned Books Challenge and how my physical TBR is out of control, and I should really just focus on reading books I already have instead of buying or borrowing more… but you know what? If I buy these books and then read them within the same year (LOL please) then what’s the problem? Right? RIGHT?

Get your “add to cart” finger ready! Here are my top picks for new releases for the first half of 2024!

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All the Books I Hated in 2022!

Oh hey, it’s me. It’s been a while.

Traditionally, I would have posted this list way back in January with a “Happy New Year” message, but it feels kind of awkward now since it’s so late and I have essentially been MIA for the last six months. All I can say is, shit on a cracker, what a fucking year 2023 has been so far, book friends!

I won’t get into it deeply, but there was a death in my family and I just wasn’t able to find the motivation to read, let alone write about reading. But I think I’m coming around and getting my shit together. And also, fuck cancer!

Anyway, hi!…

What can I say about 2022 now that it’s April and I smoke a lot of weed so my memory is questionable at best? Really nothing, I’ve moved on and forgotten almost everything. 2023 has been so emotionally fraught so far, that 2022 is like a distant, hazy dream. To be fair, that haze might be weed smoke.

It’s a good thing I keep my book logs organized even in the worst of times or this list may not even be happening, honestly.

I managed to read 80 books last year, which is a record for me, but it was all very so-so, very meh, very “why is everything I’m reading so average?” There actually isn’t a lot that I totally HATED. I think that’s a sign of improvement… Unfortunately.

So, while this list has traditionally been reserved for all the utterly disappointing, rage-inducing or straight-up garbage reads that passed by my eyeballs, for 2022 it looks like it’s going be a little less of that and a little more borderline garbage.

Of course, I have my favourite reads, but that’s a different post. Dark and light. Ebb and flow. Good and bad. If I’ve learned anything lately, it’s that everything can’t be good all the time. The universe just doesn’t let it happen. Give and take. It’s all about keeping that fucking balance.

Let’s check the scale, shall we?

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Fucking Notable Mystery/Thriller New Releases | April to June 2022

You may have noticed – and you may not have, which is totally valid – but I took an unplanned break from this space. What it came down to was just energy and my lack of it. Mostly mental. I won’t get into details but between a cancer diagnosis in my family and my basement flooding (for a second time,) March was a HELL of a month and I needed to get my shit together before I could be creative with shit reviews again.

With that, I know this new release list is late like a period after prom night, but I have some fresh wind under my ~~butt~~ wings and I’m ready to pop a Plan B and get caught up. (Better stock up on those Plan Bs while you can ladies, because the conservatives are coming for us yet again!)

I might not have read very much in the last few weeks, but I was still buying books like my very life depended on hitting “add to cart.” And in some ways it did. A therapist might call impulse buying books compensating for the emotions I’m not ready to deal with yet, but I’m calling it self-care.

What other books can I buy in the coming months to avoid the horrors of real life? Let’s find out!

As always this is not a comprehensive list, but it’s definitely a highlight.

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Fucking Notable Mystery/Thriller New Releases | January to March 2022!

While this is definitely going to be my year of reading the books I already own (and I own SO FUCKING MANY,) in my mind, reading books and buying books are two very separate hobbies.

If you’ve joined my #ReadWhatYouFuckingOwn challenge hosted on Insta, let me be clear – this isn’t a book-buying ban. I’m here to support you as you read what you own, but I’m also 100% here for you buying even more books. Go wild! Indulge your passions!

As we’ve learned over the last two years, life is short and crazy and there’s no sense in not enjoying the things you enjoy because you never know when this shit show is going to come to an end. Either by a comet or maybe a never-ending plague. Our options for obsoletion are endless!

Be Good GIF by Peloton

With Peleton bro’s words to live by and 2022 officially 12 days in, let’s check out some upcoming releases that definitely, maybe, probably should be on your buy list. Or at the very least, your library holds list.

And remember, buy list and read list – two different things!

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My Top Fucking Reads of 2021!

As promised from my previous cranky bitch post, here are my tippy-tappy tippy tip top-rated books for 2021. To be clear, these are books that I actually really liked and, in some cases, loved. It’s unlike me, but it does happen.

And actually, let me just say, that it happened ten times last year. That’s right, there are ten fucking books on this list. 10! Maybe that’s not a lot to you but for me and my reading history…

Growth Growing GIF by Insecure on HBO

But then, only one of them earned my elusive 5-star rating, so…

Im Not Crazy Tonight Show GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Who knows, maybe this time next year I’ll be writing my top reads post and I’ll have fifteen or even twenty books on it. Can you imagine? Me, liking that many books? Or giving more than one book 5 stars?

Roselyn Sanchez Hello GIF by FOX TV

This is my year of transformation after all – my health and my mind and my overall energy on this fucking shit planet. I’m laser-focused on evolving. It’s also my year to read what I already own and I’d like to believe I didn’t spend the disgusting amount of money that I have to fill my bookshelves on shitty reads.

So, could a convergence of those two things mean that I have my very own Grinch moment where my heart grows three times its normal size and I start giving out good reviews like I’m Oprah giving out cars? Or like my cat giving out poop on the carpet? Unlikely. But then, I would have guessed Trump and COVID were unlikely, too. And yet, here we are.

This simulation is fucked up.

Despite that, here are the ten books I read last year that made this *gestures broadly at everything* a little more worth it.

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All the Books I Hated in 2021!

And I’m back! Happy New Year!

50 Best 2022 Memes | Daily Funny Memes | Best Damn Photos

2021 has come & gone in the blink of an eye and a pile of books (that keeps getting bigger, please send help.) And let me tell you, some of the books I picked from that pile in 2021 were fucking shit. So, as is my tradition at Here’s The Fucking Twist, the first post of the new year is dedicated to all the books I read last year that were disappointing, rage-inducing or just straight-up garbage.

Before I write a new post for this particular series of posts, I always go back and read the one I wrote the previous year to see what I had to say – what was my mindset going into the new year?

Apparently, I had a lot more optimism at the start of 2021 than I ended with. It was a hard year, a stagnant year, another year of a global pandemic that really revealed to me how stupid people are and how much we all hate each other. So that’s fun and not at all depressing. But it’s one of the reasons I’m going into 2022 with trepidation. I’ll keep some optimism because I have to, but like… from a distance. I’m giving 2022 a wide berth. This year can stay over there and I’ll be over here, in my house. Again. Still. Forever. No one fucking talk to me unless you are definitively not an asshole.

Andy Samberg Beer GIF by The Lonely Island

While 2022 will certainly bring its fair share of shit books because I’m like a goddamn magnet for them, let’s get back to saying goodbye to all the terrible ones I read in 2021. Books that did nothing to distract me from the plague-ridden hellscape we call Earth. I wash my hands (for 30 seconds!!) of them!

I did, however, manage to read 75 books in total which is an improvement from what my trauma-response brain was capable of in 2020. Like, I traded Twitter doom-scrolling and mainlining American 24-hour news for Goosebump books and shitty ARCs.

That’s got to count for something. Do we consider it a step up? We’re going to.

So, cheers to all the truly shitty books out of 75! *Barry Manilow voice* Looks like we made ittttt!

I read them so you don’t have to, friends!

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“Yes, It’s a Christmas Movie!” Your Essential Holiday Horror Watchlist #Slashmas

If you’re like me, horror movies are a year-round staple, there for you in any situation.

Sad? Silence of the Lambs. In need of a comfort movie? The Conjuring. Feeling that itch once again for Vincent D’Onofrio to traumatize you? The Cell. Feeling nostalgic? Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Celebrating your Anniversary? The Exorcist. Just want to have a good time? Scream. Looking to reaffirm your decision to not have children? The Omen.

But two seasons do demand an inordinate amount of horror movies: Halloween, obviously, and Christmas/whatever you celebrate this time of year (personally, for me, it’s Yule.)

I feel like Christmas horror tends to get forgotten in the tidal wave that is traditional Christmas movies and all that Hallmark shit. Hey, if you love that Hallmark shit, no judgement. I’m just saying I would much rather watch someone get dismembered by a psychotic Santa than another single-career woman learning the true meaning of Christmas from some square-jawed local after she returns to her hometown.

And they lived happily ever after… no, I want chaos!

christmas horror GIF by Trent Shy Claymations

For me, there is no better way to get into my seasonal feels than a dark winter night with a decorated tree, cozy pyjamas and a sorority being terrorized on Christmas Eve by the calls coming from inside the house.

So, if you’re looking for a little blood & guts with your merry & bright, I’ve got all the recs you ho-ho-hoes are going to need this holiday season.

I’ve listed everything in alphabetical order to keep it simple but look for the 🔪 to know which ones I highly recommend. And follow me on Letterboxd!

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