Posted on by hrchow12

Top Ten Books of 2025

So this year, I DNF’d early and often, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better reading year. If a book wasn’t absolutely HOOKING me by the 20%, I left it behind. I’m sure I probably missed some 4-stars books, but my percentage of 5-star reads was so much higher. There were some books I stayed up late reading, and this was the first year in many I’ve done that. It was so hard to come up with a Top Ten, but I tried my best. Ordering them 1-10 is a step too far, but the first five went onto my “all-time favs” Goodreads shelf, which has a grand total of 29 books, so yeah, like I said… it was a good reading year. Without further ado:

1. Best Fiction that resonated in my bones

Fredrik Backman officially takes a place as one of my favorite authors, handling heavy topics with humor and packed with so much truth, you can feel the words vibrate through you. Literally recommend this one to everyone.

2. Favorite Cozy Mystery

Cozy, heartfelt, and unique. A book that melts you and puts you back together again, bringing a hint of mystery and all the warm fuzzies. Also recommended to everyone, and I will absolutely be on the lookout for Shelby Van Pelt’s next book.

3. Most Addictive Thriller Series

Possibly the best surprise of 2025 for me. I picked them up because it was available on Libby when I needed an audiobook in the middle of a roadtrip, and then I could NOT put it back down. Dexter + Count of Monte Cristo + A splash of spicy romance. If that sounds like your thing, this cathartic breakneck series is for you.

4. Most Addictive Paranormal Series

Ilona Andrews’ The Innkeeper Chronicles is one of my favorite series of all time, so I’m so glad I checked into her other paranormal series, The Hidden Legacy. This one had me staying up late to read, and I absolutely adored it. If you’re looking for fast-paced action, fun banter, loveable characters, an X-men vibe, and a little spicy romance, this one’s for you.

5. Best Cozy Paranormal

The found family in this one, soft magic, emotional growth, and slowburn romance was absolutely pitch perfect. It felt like a nice hot bath of a novel with a few fun twists, and I’d recommend this one to anyone looking for a cozy read they can sink into.

6. Best Nonfiction

So John Green was one of my favorite authors as a teenager, so I guess it should surprise me not at all that I love his nonfiction as an adult. I’m extremely picky about nonfiction, but I first read Everything is Tuberculosis which I enjoyed, and then was doubly surprised to enjoy this one even more. The voice, honesty, emotion, and humor just hit on every poignant level, and even my 9-year-old enjoyed listening in on our way to basketball practice. At one point, my eyes got all glassy and let me tell you, that is *not* an easy thing to do. I literally cannot remember the last time I actually spilled a tear for a book, and this one brought me close. So yeah, this is another one I would recommend to everyone.

7. Best Middle Grade

Excellent middle-grade is criminally underrated, I read some quite a few incredible ones this year, and discovered that Gary D. Schmidt is friggin’ brilliant. The subtlety he brings to the hardest subjects to both destroy and put you back together is just incredible. I would *love* to talk about this one with my middle-grade book-dragon club, and I definitely recommend it to everyone.

8. Best YA Fantasy

This genre is near and dear to my heart, and I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve gotten my hands on one I could really sink my teeth into, but this was such a fabulous surprise. The world building was absolutely on point, I was intrigued throughout, and I’m very much looking forward to diving into the sequel. Recommended for anyone looking for a YA Fantasy with complex characters and a unique world.

9. Best holiday romance

Holiday romances usually aren’t my thing, so this was a great surprise (courtesy of book club.) The premise was fantastic and executed brilliantly, with lovable characters, and great banter. Like honestly, bring me the movie already. (And the sequel!)

10. Best Fantasy Romance

This was another book-club-responsible find, though not the pick of the month, which was a crying shame because this was a delightfully strange reimagination of You’ve Got Mail. Unique magical world, quirky characters, excellent banter, and simmering romance – I’d definitely recommend this to people looking for something a little off the beaten path with equal parts quirky fantasy and romance.

And that’s a wrap on 2025!

And that’s a wrap on my reading year! I’ve got 13 reviews from 2025 reads that’ll be posting in January to catch up, but if you ever have any specific reader-y, or writer-y topics you’d like me to jump into, just let me know!

Wishing you guys so many good reads in 2026!

Posted on by hrchow12

Giving back to the writing community

So, this year marks a new chapter for me as an author. Though still battling imposter syndrome (as I think most authors do to some extent), I’m making a conscious effort to give back to the writing community this year.

As such, I’m officially a judge for the WriteHive Indie Ink Awards! As a judge, I’ll be reading six books in the next six months, scoring them in a rubric and rating them in the categories they were nominated. Out of the nominees, I’ve actually already selected the six I intend to read and downloaded my first read. Best Audio Narration & Best Light Read are the two categories I’m feeling in this season of life, so that’s where I’ll be hanging out.

But personally, I’m a big fan of book awards as a way to distinguish and lift up authors (indie authors especially) and I’m so excited to be a part of it.

But that’s not all!

This year, I’m also a 2025 WriteHive Mentor! This is an extra special opportunity for me since I was actually a 2023 WriteHive Mentee with EJ Dawson as my mentor, and I learned so much! I was so excited to pay it forward, and even more excited to pick Erin Scheuer as my mentee. I absolutely fell in love with her rock star/celebrity romance Love Songs and Other Lies, (which reads JUST like a K-drama, you all—squeee!!!), and we clicked instantly on our first call.

She’s entering into the revision phase, and I’m so excited to see her take her manuscript to the next level. Everyone is absolutely going to love her sweet, complicated characters, and I’m so excited for the world to meet them! Check out the mock cover and moodboard I put together for her!

It was also super interesting to be on the other side of the submission/rejection process, and I learned quite a lot. (Separate post coming on that soon!)

All in all, this has been such a positive experience so far, and I’m so glad I was able to take the leap to jump into these opportunities! I’ll be posting the books I review for Indie Ink awards here just like any other book, but when the results come out I’ll definitely post an update on the winners! And of course, if anything exciting happens with Erin’s Love Songs & Other Lies, I’ll be sure to post about that too, because I’m pulling hard for it!

Thanks so much for reading!

Posted on by hrchow12

How to get started with Audiobooks

So, I’ve been hooked on audiobooks for years now, and I recently got a question from reader trying to get into them, so I figured I’d drop some tips.

I was first inspired to read audiobooks by Stephen King’s book, On Writing. With two elementary-school kids, a full-time job, and trying to write my own books, finding time to sit down and read was challenging.

But audiobooks opened up a whole new world of multitasking. Not to mention I was completely blown away by how much a narrator could bring the story to life, adding a completely new dimension. (And, as a bonus, I know how to pronounce all of the characters’ names right. 😂) Now, years later, I read 50-70 books a year, and about 95% of them are audiobooks.

So here’s a little guide to getting started in this format!

Where to find audiobooks (for free)

When most people think of audiobooks, they go straight to Audible. But… at $8 or $15 per month (as of this writing), Audible’s kind of expensive. While I recently got a subscription for a specific book series, I don’t have any intention of maintaining it. But, if you don’t have an Audible subscription, individual audiobooks can run you $20 a pop (eek!) Thankfully, there’s a better way!

Most local library’s now allow you access their audiobook collections with your library card number & the free app, Libby. This is where nearly all of my audiobooks come from.

If you’re a NetGalley reviewer (or would like to sign up to be one), you can also grab free audiobooks from their site in exchange for an honest review. Their audiobook selection pales in comparison to their ebook listings, but I’ve snagged a few listens.

Also, there are a few sites where you can grab free audible promo codes posts by narrators and authors. I have used a few of these as an author, but not really as a reader. Some of them also require that you leave a review in exchange for the code.
AudioFreebies.com
FreeAudiobookCodes.com
AudiobooksUnleashed.com

The last reliable audiobook source I can think of is Spotify. A Spotify Premium subscription gets you access to their library of audiobooks, but as Spotify is also expensive ($11.99 a month) and I can’t speak to the size of their collection, I’d only recommend this if you already have a subscription.

Bottom Line: Your best bet is to get a library card from your local library, download Libby on your phone, and BOOM. So many free audiobooks at your fingertips.

A note on the listening skills & listening Speed

When I first started listening to audiobooks, it was legit hard for me. I consider myself a visual learner and honestly I would rather read a transcript than watch a video. But, as someone who was looking down the barrel of a 24-hour out-and-back roadtrip, I was desperate.

So I persisted, and lo and behold, my listening skills improved. And when I got better at absorbing information through listening, it actually helped my professional life too. (Think meetings and telecons.)

But, if you’re a podcast listener, good news, you’re already there, and it’s only a small jump to the world of audiobooks!

One thing that did *DRASTICALLY* improve my audiobook listening experience was figuring out I could adjust the narration speed. I quickly learned that one of the reasons I was having trouble concentrating was the narration speed was just too slow for me. When I upped it up to 1.5x, it felt much more natural and kept my attention. And, after many years of my listening skills improving, I now comfortably read audibooks at 2.5-3x (depending on the narrator.)

Basically what I’m saying is, be sure to adjust the listening speed until it’s comfortable for you! (You can even make it slower – everyone is different!)

Bottom Line: Be sure to adjust the narration to a comfortable speed, and give your listening skills 1 or 2 books to get warmed up before you give up on the audio format.

When do I listen to audiobooks?

Basically anytime I can pop my earbuds in or when I don’t have anyone else competing for my listening-attention. In order of time spent listening:

  • Driving to & from work
  • Traveling (roadtrips or flying)
  • Watching my kids’ sports practices (they love when I watch them, but don’t mind if my earbuds are in.)
  • Chores! Mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, cleaning/tidying the house, doing the dishes… etc.
  • Exercising (especially running & lifting weights)
  • Walking the dog (Tula loves when I’m listening to a good book, because then we go on lots of walks 😂)
  • Waiting in line anywhere (seriously, as long as I have my earbuds, I’m happy)
  • Grocery shopping (or really any kind of shopping.)

Bottom Line: I’m so hooked on listening to audiobooks during my commute I actually start to get antsy when I don’t have one downloaded.

But what audiobook do i start with?!

Okay, well now that’s a seriously hard question. My advice is start with your favorite genre, and pick one you’ve been dying to read or that sounds absolutely amazing. If you’re still fresh out of ideas, here’s a few recommendations to get you started. And if I missed your favorite genre, let me know in the comments, and I’ll see if I have a recommendation to add in. Or you can check out my book reviews links here (which I try to update annually) to peruse one that sounds good. Good luck with you audiobook journey, and I sincerely hope you love them as much as I do!

Middle-Grade Fantasy: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

YA Fantasy: Where the Dark Stands Still
YA Sci-fi: Illuminae
YA Romance: Today, Tonight, Tomorrow

Fantasy: Swordheart
Sci-fi: Dark Matter or Recursion
LitRPG: Dungeon Crawler Carl

Contemporary Fiction: Anxious People
Romance: Book Lovers
Romcom: The Soulmate Equation or Life’s Too Short
Mystery/Romance: A Bad Day for Sunshine

Historical Fiction: Small Mercies
Nonfiction: Outliers: The Story of Success or The Devil in the White City

Posted on by hrchow12

When to DNF a book

If you’ve been reading my review posts this year, you’ll have noticed that for (what seemed) like a long stretch, I was in a huge reading slump. Meaning that it seemed like I kept picking out and reading books that weren’t for me. Now, this is almost certainly due to several reasons: environmental factors, mood, and also my desire to read all the books on some random “most popular series list” I found.

And honestly… I probably should’ve DNF’d (do not finish, i.e. gave up reading) a lot of them. Before this year, I tried not to DNF. I have a Goodreads reading goal of 60 books a year. While I’m not married to it… it does still stick in my mind. So when I’ve already invested an hour-plus into a book, it’s hard for me to give up on it. And then there’s always the FOMO (fear of missing out) that MAYBE the book gets better and turns out amazing.

But, through my reading slump, I found that was *rarely* the case. So, I started trying to come up with a way to encourage myself to put down books I wasn’t enjoying. After all, there are SO many books out there, why spend time on the ones not for me?

At first I tried, “If I’ve thought about DNF’ing it twice, it’s time to DNF.” And I think this works well for when the book isn’t working for me somewhere in the middle, but honestly, I found that wasn’t strong enough. I was still reading books that didn’t HOOK me—books that didn’t make me WANT to read.

So recently, I’ve also decided 10% is my benchmark. (As a audiobook reader, this is easy to gauge, but it’d be easy for a print book too.) If at 10%, if I am not LOVING a book—if I’m not actively looking forward to reading it—then it’s not for me. It seems like a high bar, but honestly, I’m tired of reading books that aren’t a good fit. I want to get to the point where I *only* finish books I can rate at four stars or higher. Heck, if I only finish five stars books—even better!

Because there are millions of books out there, and thousands of books I know I will 5-star LOVE, so why settle for anything else?

That said, it means that I may not make my reading goal for the year, I might post fewer reviews (because I don’t review books I don’t finish), and it means that I will be starting a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing. But that’s okay. I’m writing this to hold myself to the conviction that it’s not about the number of books you read in year, but finding the books you love.

And if you needed to hear this too, then let this be your sign. If you’re not loving that book you’re reading, put it down and move on.

Just my half a cent, but I seriously needed a change, so we’ll see how it goes!
Posted on by hrchow12

Into the Churn: Street Team Sign-Ups & ARC Requests Open!

This week Whimsical Publishing officially revealed the title and blurb for my upcoming Young Adult Science Fiction, INTO THE CHURN, launching April 4th 2023! 🥳 So now, I’m thrilled to announce some other exciting news!

First, the Into the Churn Street Team is officially open for sign-ups here! If you’re willing to help with the December cover reveal & spreading the word, we’d love your help & can offer some fun perks—including the chance to win a *very* rare physical advance reader copy (ARC) in return! And if you’ve never seen Whimsical Publishing’s books, they’re absolutely gorgeous. 😍

Second, if you’re interested in an electronic advance reader copy (eARC) you can request one on Whimsical Publishing’s website here!

And lastly, if you’d like to check out a sneak peek of a scene from the book, you can find it on Whimsical’s back-up Instagram account here!

As a author publishing with a small press, we depend on readers to help spread the word, so any social media shares, retweets, posts are so greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much for reading, and the text-version of the blurb is included below!

Seventeen-year-old Ezren Hart interns in her mother’s terraforming lab, studying Belethea’s deadly storms with the dream of giving her backwater planet open teal skies. But when budget cuts threaten to shut down her mother’s lab, Ezren enters Belethea’s Race Royale, the system’s deadliest and most lucrative race. To win, she’ll have to run, drive, and fight her way across Belethea’s barren landscape while navigating its savage and volatile storms. With her planet’s future, and her family’s, on the line, she can’t afford to lose. But first, she’ll have to convince her handsome royale partner that their planet is worth saving.

Foster Sterling is a jaded ex-prodigy royaler still reeling from the death of his partner in a training accident. When Ezren Hart comes charging into his life, her passion reminds him of what he once loved about racing and his dream of returning pride to their planet. Still, no matter how fast they go, they can’t outrun the mysterious string of deadly accidents following them like a curse. As Foster falls harder for Ezren, he races to piece the clues together. But with time running out and their survival on the line, he’ll have to decide if their dreams are worth their lives.

Perfect for fans of underdog heroes, slow burn romance, and high stakes sci fi, INTO THE CHURN races across a new planet of savage storms and dazzling tech. Fall in love with Ezren and Foster as they battle side-by-side to save their scrappy world on a ruthless interplanetary stage where appearances are everything, speed means survival, and the only thing deadlier than the storms are the other racers.

This is the Canva cover I put together when drafting. I can’t WAIT to share the real thing Whimsical Publishing created. It’s absolutely GORGEOUS!