Mini Reviews Wrap Up December 2025

 

Here at Chapter Break, we don’t always write a full review of every book we read. Well, now we decided to do these monthly wrap-up posts with roundups of our reviews this month and mini-reviews to fill in the gaps. Enjoy!

Mini Book Reviews

 

Julie’s Mini Reviews:

 Brimstone (Deluxe Limited Edition) (Fae & Alchemy, 2): The audiobook is fabulous. Anthony Palmini can whisper in my ears any time. 5 stars to Kingfisher. 5 stars to mama’s journals. 5 stars to Onyx the Fox. 5 stars to strong kick-ass female characters (Saeris) who stop atnothing to save their loved ones. Vibes were vibing. And yes I listened to chapters 7 and 20 again when I was done. I’m just a girl.

 

The Nightmare Before Kissmas: A Royals and Romance Novel: This was a super cute holiday book with a romance between the prince of Christmas and the prince of Halloween, and a fair share of holiday family politics. It was a tropey holiday romance but also well done on the yearning and the feelings. Also quite spicy! The plot was great, too, with the new generation taking control of their holiday and developing into who they need to be to make their holidays full of joy without corruption. I loved the names and nicknames in the book. The audio was great. Enjoyable and uplifting.

 

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West: I am using the original cover of the book because it kinda scratches me in the wrong way to see the movie cover. To be fair, my version of the book is the musical cover. And it’s not right. It is not the same story. At all. My beloved musical and movies are a beautiful retelling of this book, twisted up and prettified in the best way. The book is so much darker, and not singy songy. But after owning the book for 15+ years, it was time to read it. Couldn’t let all those “but did you read the book?” people on the FB groups know more about the story than me.

 

The Wondrous Wolf: The Wolf Queen Chronicles #2: The Wondrous Wolf continues where The Magicless Mage drops off, and raises the intensity on the chaos and suffering. Check all your triggers. Once Winter shoots back to the future, West loses himself in the past. So much so that when Winter finally makes her way back, he doesn’t believe it’s her, and treats her like the monster that he is. The book is gritty and uncomfortable, a lot more so than the first. There’s more pain, more trauma, and a lot more blood. I was hoping to continue on the path of a retelling, but instead of the fun chapter headings and quotes at the start of each chapter, we get deeper into what Winter’s mama was up to and Winter’s origins through glimpses into her mom’s journal. I do like a dark story from time to time, and this one almost was too much for me. But, the ending redeemed the whole thing. Everything that happened finally came to a head with some prophetic reveals. And of course, we have a set up for what comes next because there has been no full resolution, only more surprises. Thank you to the author for letting me read both books as an ARC and I am looking forward to continuing the series.

 

Beecham’s Infirmary for the Affluent Afflicted: A Victorian Gothic Paranormal Romance Novella (My Darling Malady Book 1): This was an ALC, my first advanced listening copy! This is a moody, gothic novella, making it quick read/listen. The book starts with an investigation into disappearances among the city where a fever is spreading and a strange magical illness is “treated” at a special infirmary. The book gets romantic and spicy quickly (it is a short novella after all). Then it gets spooky and turns horror as our characters find themselves.. transformed. Narration: There are particular voices/accents that I have a harder time staying focused on, and the male voice fell into that style for me so it took a minute for me to get into the story. But once it took off, it took off. The narration was well done and was in duet mode, which was really nice! If you like a short horror story with spice, an episodic type story where this leaves you on a cliffhanger until the next episode, check this out.

 

Queen of Sorrows (The Immortal Fae King): Queen of Sorrows is about a girl born with the birthmark of prophecy- a human to wed the fae king and unite the lands. Except she grew up lonely, being told she is ugly and unwanted. When she came of age and the king didn’t show up, she ran away with the man she loved. But life isn’t that easy for the girl of prophecy, and when the king eventually came for her, her world was shattered.
Deirdre’s character development was interesting and believable. She begins fierce and defiant, then her spirits are broken and she begins to build back up while her understanding of her situation keeps changing. She is lost, confused, grieving, and easily manipulated. That last one is unfortunate.
Her villain husband king of the fae Kane is not as evil as she thought as he keeps showing her glimpses of softness and kindness. But he also shows wrath and sudden violence, keeping her scared. Of course, it doesn’t help that he kept her locked away with a magical dampening collar. That really messes with a girly’s mind.
The cousin, who shows kindness and friendship to her right away, might not be her ally after all, but she’s torn about trying to escape and get her freedom by helping this new friend, or trusting the king to be more than her enemy. The decision she makes and then instantly regrets leaves us on a huge cliffhanger and I must know how it continues!
The book was fairly short and an easy read, which I appreciated. But, it felt like a lot of the emotions were missing. I wanted more from each character’s POV chapter to give more insight into what they feel and think, but so far it felt like they were keeping each other and the reader in the dark. There was a lot going on beneath the surface and I wanted to feel more of that.
Solid 3.5 stars though and I am looking forward to reading the next book. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

 

Morrigan Academy: Control : An Enemies to Lovers Dark Academia Series (Morrigan Academy : Bloodline Legacy Book 1): This was a very enjoyable dark academia read. Our main character, Evangeline, is a witch who has been trained to take down a specific family because they believed they killed her father. As she infiltrates the school and realizes what amazing magic she has, she discovers things are not as they seem. Her job was to get close to the heir to take them down. But their magics vibe so well and the attraction between them cannot be denied. This book is dark, sooo spicy (BDSM, praise), with a demon MMC who is actually quite loving, and of course the touch her and die trope is strong. The love story is happy, but the cliffhanger and overall big bad situation left me flipping back the pages of my kindle wondering where the next chapter went. The length and pacing of the book were just right, a fun book to read while traveling if you can keep a straight face when all the chili pepper scenes are happening. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

 

A Fortnight to Forever: Quinn is cursed to sleep for 100 years, and awake for 14 days (a fortnight) to aid someone in a quest, then sleep again. She was cursed by the parents of a prince she refused to marry, and now she suffers a lonely lack of existence. This is her third awakening, and she’s going through the motions again. This time she finds a down on his luck ex-knight, Mav, who believes in nothing, especially not himself or love. But he wants to help her break the curse, so that’s the quest they embark on. Along the way, the banter is bantering and so many mishaps are hilarious and endearing. As the days progress, their longing for each other grows deliciously painful, and yet their failure to just talk to each other and admit how they feel is maddening! This is very much what I call a journey book, as the plot literally unfolds while traveling to the palace across treacherous forests to beg the king to break the curse set by the royal bloodline.  But mishaps along the way ensue a fun time, and cruel selfish royals make us worry all hope is lost. The writing is lyrical and elegant, of an older time while flowing easily and being a fairly quick read, especially while traveling, though it took a little for me to get into the story. The book didn’t give away all the secrets right away, so you get to know the characters and really feel for them when things go so wrong before they go right.  I do struggle with the way it all wrapped up though, where the entire reason for the long journey to the king was that only the bloodline could break the curse set, and yet, that’s not quite how the curse ends up being broken. But that’s ok, it was beautiful and full of deep affection, respect, adoration, and love. It ends in a HEA but not until the final chapter. So stick with the rollercoaster. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

 

Lynn’s Mini Reviews:

NIGHTMARE BEFORE KISSMAS: This was a pleasant surprise. Thanks to the random Facebook post with the recommendation! My only real expectation was a cheesy holiday romance. (The one I read last year was not great. At all.) This was so much more than that. Romance for sure. Definitely way more spicy than a Hallmark movie. Clever plot of Coal coming into his own and the next generation of holiday royals stepping into their positions. I really enjoyed all four main characters, Coal, Hex, Kris, and Iris. Coal and Hex’s romance is well-written and believable. The characters are fully developed and relatable, Coal especially. He has always seen himself as a screw-up and jokester. But really, he brings levity and heart to every situation. Thoroughly enjoyable read. My only note is I would have liked Hex’s POV, or even Hex’s, Kris’s, and Iris’s POV in addition to Coal’s.

  MIDWEST PIE: I do love the history of food as told through recipes. As the name suggests, this book is about iconic pies of the Midwest. I appreciated all the historic photos of making and enjoying pies from the 1930’s – 1940’s. But was kind of bummed there were no pie photos. That’s my only complaint about this book. I love this historic\depression era pies and the ingenuity of the bakers.  I’ve bookmarked a bunch of potential new to me pie recipes (Angel pie and a pie made from wild rice!). Quick, informative, and hunger-inducing read. Perfect for fans of Pushing Daisies.

  KNIFED IN NICE: This was a fun spy-caper adventure read. Enjoyed it. No notes! Light on the romance, thankfully. Lots of secrets. Some dead bodies. A cat with a bad attitude. A road trip through France. Smart characters, especially Angel. Sidney is great comic relief. Most of my thoughts on the plot are spoiler-y. I’ll leave those for you to discover yourself. I’m looking forward to continuing this series.

  BRIMSTONE: Look. I didn’t love Quicksilver until the end. I found a lot of it slow and irritating. But the end did set up the story for Brimstone. So I guess you have to slog through the first book to get to a way better story. 1) Loved Kingfisher in this novel. He does have some amazing quotes. And turns out isn’t the overbearing a$$hole I thought he was in the first novel. 2) Saeris is figuring out how to be a queen, live in the fae world, keep the people she cares for safe. All of this moves the plot of this novel. 3) Carrion Swift. What more can be said. HILARIOUS side kick energy. In case anyone is watching, we need his POV in the next book. 4. Speaking of POV, having Fisher’s here really added to my enjoyment of this book. 5. Like Julie said, the audio narration is amazing. My only complaint: I don’t know that all that sex was important for the story? It didn’t get to the point where I was forwarding through the sex scenes. But just barely. Maybe my meh feelings towards the first book were because I read it instead of listened? In the end, this book is the prize for having made it through reading Quicksilver. One of my fav reads of the year.

 

  I GOT ABDUCTED BY ALIENS AND NOW I’M TRAPPED IN A ROM-COM: This book is bonkers. Capital B Bonkers. I needed a book to counter the BRIMSTONE book hangover and this definitely did the trick. It is like the author threw ALL the book plots at the wall and instead of picking some, picked them all. Not to say I’m complaining. Just that it’s difficult to articulate my thoughts and feelings other than bonkers. Let’s see: 1) ALL the action takes place over 4 days. 2) Insta-love, but maybe due to the breeding modification and genetic mating? 3) A LOT of sex. Throuple sex. Which I don’t even know if some of that was logistically possible. Plus, does it actually enhance the plot? 4) And that barely covers anything of the plot! Inept alien kidnappers; Kissing\touching lips that transfers the translation symbiote between characters; flora and fauna that do not belong together. Narration was ok. I found it difficult to distinguish all the male voices. Dory, the main character, is one of only 2 female characters, and the second character doesn’t show up into much later in the book. I’ll say interesting read for sure. Better experienced than explained.

  HOW IT UNFOLD’S: Corey’s ability to draw in the reader in such a short story amazes. Unlike the sci fi story above, this is classic sci fi. Repopulating the universe over multiple generations. But with the twist of it’s technically copies of the original people. Recommended. And would totally read more of this group of humans.

 

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Books we reviewed in full this month:

• [9 Dec] Let’s Count, Ellie: Counting Book for Toddlers on an Adventure! (Ellie The Chick 7) by Avery Smart
• [18 Dec] Ember and Ash (Thorne Saga, #1) by Lisa Renee Jones ★★★★

 

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