It was a great reading month where audiobooks really worked for me – I listened to 14! I’m enjoying many middle grade titles (13) – it’s fun to be back to working with kids and kids books. And thanks to middle grade many of those titles were fantasy. This is the first month this year where I didn’t read any romance. I read a total of 29 books (7780 pages).  I also updated the 2025 Reading Challenges page of the blog.

Here are the titles I gave five stars this month. A list of all the titles I read this month is at the end of this post. 

The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay – historical fiction set in 1920s America, featuring two very different women who join the ranks of the Harvey Girls, waitresses who serve in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe railroad. Wonderful story full of found family, romance, sweeping timelines and the celebration of female friendships. 

The Liars Society by Alyson Gerber – intense middle grade mystery that had me on the edge of my seat. Start of a series and includes so many secrets, rich people behaving badly and a page-turning plot. I felt like I was reading a younger version of the Inheritance Games.  

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz – “a cozy near-future novella about a crew of abandoned food service bots opening their very own restaurant.” I had no idea what to expect when I started listening to it but it was just so entertaining and lovely. It was like a breath of fresh air in my reading life. 

Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski – The cover of this is adorable and so popular at school so when a third grader recommended it, I picked it up. I snuggled on the couch one Friday night and inhaled it. Who doesn’t love a magic school with a cast of misfits. So much fun. 

Tell me – what have you read that you enjoyed?

Here’s a list of all the books I read in September 2025:

How to Train Your Dragon Cressida Cowell
A Murder Most Fowl Carmela Dutra
Psychic in Suburbia KC Freeman
The New Kid at School Kate McMullan
Mystique and Murder in Morocco Victoria Tait
Pleats & Poison Lucinda Race
The Terrible Two Mac Barnett
The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds Jennifer Moorman
Murder in Highbury Vanessa Kelly
Belly Up Stuart Gibbs
City Spies James Ponti
Space Case Stuart Gibbs
The Candymakers Wendy Mass
Detective Beans: The Case of the Missing Hat Li Chen
Scarlet Marissa Meyer
The Smartest Kid in the Universe Chris Grabenstein
Serafina and the Black Cloak Robert Beatty
Azmina the Gold Glitter Dragon Maddy Mara
Fatal Sign-Off Sarah Burr
Death Whisk Catherine Bruns
Haunts, Hikes and Havoc Tonya Kappes
The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ghost Michele Pariza Wacek
Hopeful Hearts at the Wartime Hotel Maisie Thomas
The Teacher Evacuees Rose Warner
The Harvey Girls Juliette Fay
Murder in Miniature Katie Tietjen
The Liars Society Alyson Gerber
Automatic Noodle Annalee Newitz
Upside-Down Magic Sarah Mlynowski