New Year Part 1: New Reading Challenges!

Reflecting on the Past Year & Setting New Reading Goals

With this New Year's episode of Book Dragon Banter, we dive into reflections on the past year, discuss our favorite fantasy reads, and set new reading goals for 2026. Join us as we explore personal traditions, like picking a 'word of the year,' and share how these practices have impacted our lives and writing journeys. We'll also reveal our exciting book challenges for 2026, chat about books that have deeply moved us, and provide some great reading recommendations.  Stay tuned for more interactive opportunities with our book club on Fable. Happy New Year, and welcome to 2026!

Find the Downloadable Reading Challenges here:

Book Dragon Banter Substack - https://bookdragonbanter.substack.com/

BDB Fable Diverse Fantasy Book Club: https://fable.co/club/diverse-fantasy-with-zinzi-bree-271215645134?referralID=f9KdWh3wtd

Book Club: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/bookdragonbanter 

TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@bookdragonbanterpod

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bookdragonbanter/

Sage: https://readorbleed.substack.com/

Katherine: https://www.bookdragoneditorial.com/

Write With Me, Zinzi Bree, Substack: https://writewithmezinzibree.substack.com/

Book Dragon Ink Retreats: https://www.bookdragoneditorial.com/ink-retreats

Books Mentioned:

The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang

Hazelthorn by C. G. Drews

A Study in Charlotte Series by Brittnay Cavallaro

Jackaby Series by William Ritter

Don’t Let the Forest In by C. G. Drews

Morning Glory Milking Farm by C. M. Nascosta

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Beware of Chicken by Causualfarmer

Mother of Learning Series by Domagoj Kurmaić

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

The Leveling Up Series by K. F. Breene

For She is Wrath by Emily Varga

The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

00:00 Reflecting on a Year of Change

00:32 Welcome to Book Dragon Banter

01:04 New Year's Traditions and Reflections

02:09 Choosing a Word for the Year

03:27 Empowerment and Momentum

07:11 Books That Made an Impact

10:07 Favorite Reads and Recommendations

22:16 The Joy of Book Clubs

24:36 Discovering New Reads and Balancing Genres

25:26 Reading Goals and Achievements

26:03 The Struggle with DNF (Did Not Finish)

28:04 Setting New Reading Goals for 2026

29:07 Tracking Reading Progress and Reviews

38:59 Book Challenges and Personal Goals

48:47 Upcoming Book Club Reads and Community Engagement

Transcript

Katherine Suzette: 0:00

How did we get here? Honestly, I was doing that whole year end reflection thing last night because I was kind of in that head space. And I was just like, honestly, a year ago today, had no idea, no flipping idea. It like we have completely changed our entire lives to wrap around this whole era, and I am still 100% here for it.

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:32

Welcome back to Book Dragon Banter, a podcast where three aspiring authors talk all things books. We're fantasy focused, but we are not fantasy exclusive. I am Zinzi Bree, with me are my wonderful co-hosts,

Katherine Suzette: 0:47

i'm Sage and I'm Katherine.

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:48

And we're so glad you're here.

Sage Moreaux: 0:49

So we are talking about a lot of books and we like to give our unfiltered opinions. There may be spoilers about the books that we are reading and talking about before warned.

Katherine Suzette: 1:00

Check

Zinzi Brookbree: 1:01

Nice.

Katherine Suzette: 1:02

to see what we are talking about.

Zinzi Brookbree: 1:05

This is our New Year's episode. We are recording this literally on New Year's Eve. I happen to love New Year's. not the party part, but the, looking over last year was like, looking ahead to what next year is going to be. I had a personal tradition all through high school, and into college where my best friend and I, got this giant whiteboard and we'd put a line down the center and she'd write on one side and I would write on the other, and we would write down. Significant moments of the year, right? Like we'd, we'd write down, these were, these were really amazing things that happened and really great memories. These were, you know, and we'd include,'cause not, not everything is amazing all the time. There are bittersweet moments too that you're gonna have throughout a year. but just, you know, had this written out visual celebration, on this whiteboard. Nerdy thing to do. but it's one of my favorite. new Year's memories and something that, still lives in my journals where I've got, here's the whole year that I look over and write about what was memorable, and then write about what the coming year looks like. I had a, in icebreaker, It's the idea of picking a word for the year, like looking ahead at the year to come and picking a word that. Is your focus word, your, you know, even focus could be a word where you're, that's what I wanna work on this year is being focused or gratitude or growth or like, Any word you want it to be. I wanted to know, is this something that you guys have done and if you had thought of a word for this year, for 2026.

Sage Moreaux: 2:41

So I have done this before. I think a lot about a lot of this stuff. Like a few weeks back when, around December 20th, I do a lot of my thinking about like I'm letting go of from the past year or what I went through or like your, your whiteboard that you talked about zinzi with, like thinking about like highlights and maybe like challenging times from the past year and then like looking ahead. So I do a lot of that and then I let it, let it kind of sit with me until January. for my. Birthday year, which just started in end of October. I was thinking about a word and I hadn't come up with one yet. My word from last year was empower and my word for this year I think is gonna be momentum. I played around with a couple of different iterations of a similar theme, but I think momentum is what I'm settling on.

Katherine Suzette: 3:28

For this last year was Empower, do you feel like it really kind of came to fruition for you?

Sage Moreaux: 3:33

actually, yes. One of my goals for last year was to finish the draft of the book that I'm currently writing, which I did not do, but in part that was because of this podcast and the business that we started. Book Dragon Ink I started my substack, during 2025. And I feel like I did make great progress on my draft. I just didn't get it done by. 31st, like I had hoped to do so. But, I do feel like was empowered to say yes to things that felt right to me intuitively. And I was also empowered to say no and let go of things that, wasn't working for me anymore. And so I do feel like I leaned into that a lot. not necessarily intentionally, but maybe subconsciously. Do you guys have, words?

Katherine Suzette: 4:23

Yeah. I used to, And then I kind of refused to do a word I, and if I had to do this upon reflection, think it was more of a phrase for the year. Like a, like a in reverse, doing a word for my 2025 or a phrase. It's coming into alignment. Or maybe it was also empowerment of self, reclaiming of identity in a lot of ways. but I think it's growth right now It can mean all kinds of things, but whatever it is, I think it is. In alignment with who I am stepping into this year.

Sage Moreaux: 5:00

when you broached this idea of the word, did you expect it was gonna get so beautifully sentimental?

Zinzi Brookbree: 5:06

No. I did not. I was like, this'll just be a, oh, this was my word and pithy, pithy, blah, blah. I mean, maybe that, that's just me. I'm, here's my word and pithy.'cause I was gonna say like listening to this and I almost interjected then I'm glad I didn't. But, Sage, I don't know what word I started out with last year, but looking back on, 2025, it was absolutely a year of. Pivot for me. in beautiful ways, in lots of unexpected ways. I had, I had Write With Me, Zinzi Bree my writing group and that was going good and still is good. but I wasn't doing. Much else until the three of us had the conversation of like, Hey, we wanna work together. What does that look like? last year my husband Lost a job. I had a panic for a month. It was the same month that I went, yes, I'll start a writing business and a podcast with you guys, like who does that, who loses their sole income and then goes, let's do a startup and go out on a limb. they're just like, so much changed and all of it. Ultimately for the good, all of it, ultimately for the better. and I wrote about this in the Substack with you guys, but I've never been more tired, but I've never been more personally fulfilled and like feeling like it's hard, but I'm thriving. anyway, so last year pivot. This year, 2026. I've been trying to come up with a good word, and it wasn't until sitting here with you guys when I was like, you know what? My word might be challenge. That I am up for the challenge, that I'm ready to be challenged, that I'm not gonna be afraid of challenges. That's. and I don't mean, I don't wanna say that in a way that like invites trouble, right? Like, I don't want those kind of challenges. but I just, I feel like I am and we are ready for what comes next. And I'm excited about it and I view that as a challenge we can meet. I am up for the challenge. Challenge is my word.

Sage Moreaux: 7:12

Speaking of that, we have the book challenge thing that's coming up later, but right now let's do

Zinzi Brookbree: 7:25

from the reader's chair, what were books this year that we love from the reading perspective, that it gave you all the feels that it just. Sucked you in, and didn't let you go. You got one off the top of your heads.

Sage Moreaux: 7:41

Well, I was looking over my book tracker that I'm holding up right now, which is a little

Zinzi Brookbree: 7:45

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 7:46

bookshelf where I write all the books that I read for the year, to remember because it was a long year with lots of books. The couple that come to mind though right away was definitely like Sword of Kaigen, Kaigen?

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:00

Mm mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 8:01

that we read

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:01

Sort of, hi again.

Sage Moreaux: 8:02

was a fantastic book that really like God in there and I really enjoyed it. I just read this book called Hazel Thorn, which is a new release and it is so evocative and the writing

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:16

one's like a horror,

Sage Moreaux: 8:18

it

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:18

right?

Sage Moreaux: 8:19

body horror, which I don't usually read, but it's

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:22

horror.

Sage Moreaux: 8:22

fantasy and plant-based, plant monster kind of thing. the writing style is so. Gorgeous that it just like

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:31

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 8:32

I love books that draw me into the emotional feeling of the characters and the way that that one was written really did. And it was third person. And that I find like a lot of times first person draws you in a little closer, but this one like third person, and it still like pulled me way in. And then the other one was, end of a series that I had started reading that was like a ya a, redo of a Sherlock Holmes.

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:00

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 9:00

Holmes is the girl, she's like a descendant of

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:04

Read that.

Sage Moreaux: 9:05

And

Katherine Suzette: 9:05

Yeah.

Sage Moreaux: 9:06

final one, which was a question of Holmes, and it was, I don't know, it just brought the whole series. I'd read it. Since 2024, like over time, I think it's five books, and it made me feel so nice inside at the end of it. I felt like sometimes a series wraps up and you don't feel as satisfied. And this one made me feel really bittersweet that it was ending, but also so satisfied with how the author did it. It was really lovely. Highly recommend.

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:32

I have n. Made it all the way through that series. I think I've, I know I've read the first one, I've maybe gotten into the second. but it does trigger another series that is,'cause I don't remember that one being fantasy, but there is one that's fantasy, that's Sherlock Holmes based, that I really enjoyed. And it's called Jackaby

Sage Moreaux: 9:51

Oh, I heard of that.

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:52

And Jackaby is the Sherlock Holmes character. there's a werewolf policeman. There's a ghost that lives with Jackaby. it's a trilogy from what I remember. very enjoyable. So I recommend that one. I don't remember the author off of the top of my head, but it will be in the show notes.

Katherine Suzette: 10:08

And it's interesting because when you asked that question, the first book that came to my mind was, don't Let the Forest in, which is the author of Hazel Thorn. It's the same author, and this book didn't make it to my favorites list but it's only because it haunted me. It drew me in and it haunted me. And I think that that marks an excellent book when it truly haunts you. I tend to think of favorite books as those that I would want to reread and reread and read again, let

Zinzi Brookbree: 10:41

Hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 10:42

And I don't know about Hazel, but don't let the forest in was. provocative in the psychological vibe that I'm not sure it's a rereading kind of book, even though it is one of those that sticks with a person. for me, it makes me consult myself a little bit more when it comes to some very specific and ideas that the book brings forward for me. And. makes me kind of confront myself on these things, which is really a mark of an excellent book. So that, that one has haunted me in 2025, even though it didn't necessarily make it to my top favorites, just

Zinzi Brookbree: 11:25

Hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 11:25

I'm a little afraid to reread.

Sage Moreaux: 11:28

I could see that, I could see the style that, like haunting style was true with Hazel Thorn Also, I don't know that I would reread it. I don't know if any of the books that I mentioned would be on my Rereads.

Zinzi Brookbree: 11:40

Yeah. That may be something that we'll wanna quantify in the future of like, what makes a book a favorite book for you? Is it something that you would wanna reread? maybe you don't wanna experience again, but you're an evangelist for that book, right? You have to get other people to read it so that they can share the misery or the joy with you, even if you don't wanna reread it yourself again, but you need other people to read it, right? Does that make it a favorite? Book for you? Is it, is it the reread? Is it that it makes you wanna share about it? I have books that like, I would absolutely not call Morning Glory Milking Farm, one of my favorite books,

Katherine Suzette: 12:14

Yeah.

Zinzi Brookbree: 12:15

but I absolutely want other people to read it because it's so unique and ridiculous isn't the right word. It's an experience and I want other people to experience it for themselves and to have their own individual reactions, whether it's amusement or horror, depending on their, Personal sexual preferences. There's that explicit tag right there. and I don't, I can't foresee ever reading it again. I do wanna read the rest of the series. Because the setting is super fun as a. It's, as a fantasy series. it's this whole neighborhood of like fantasy people that all live together. That's, I was just like, I wanna go live there and go live in that neighborhood. I probably can't afford that neighborhood, but I wanna go live there, and have my neighbors be moth men and urs and ghosts and vampires that, like, the vampires have a restaurant that's like a, like this whole. Delicacy thing that's, anyway.

Sage Moreaux: 13:17

Okay,

Zinzi Brookbree: 13:18

but I'm not gonna back, go back and it's, but like,

Sage Moreaux: 13:22

and I'm in, I'm gonna read it next year or this

Zinzi Brookbree: 13:24

well, so one of the, yeah, but like of the books,'cause there's four or five in the series and I've only read the first one. I know the second one is about a moth man. I think maybe there's like a ghost creature or something or crypted in the third. But like that world that I am so invested in is really rich. that's all background stuff. You're still gonna have to get through pages of weird monster sex scenes, right? So brace yourself for that. I will talk about it and I want other people to read it. it's not a favorite in that I would reread it. Unlike, dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Reed, or, Other books that I have are actually, a lot of them are cozy lit RPGs, like Beware of Chicken. I just did a time loop series this year that I introduced to my husband and I was so happy that I got him to listen to it with me. which is called Mother of Learning. It's really cool. that's a four book series. for me, I think one of my favorites. Well, I can talk about two of my favorites really easily, which one of them is absolutely Sword of Kaigen, as a reader.'cause it just, it punched a hole in me and ripped out my heart and stomped on it in, not in a wanted way, but so naturally. And in a way where like you see it coming within the structure of the story, but also you don't see it coming and you hope that it's not true and you're with the main mother character where you're like, this can't be real. I don't want this to be true. the author's gonna save him. Right? that's part of that feeling that you want and you feel in that story But also you recognize there's enough realism written into that story where you have that feeling in real life where you want him to be saved and you know he can't. And that's part of what's spoilers. So gut wrenching.

Sage Moreaux: 15:20

So gut wrenching.

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:21

another book that I just. Read that. I really wanna get you guys to read,'cause I want your opinions on it is called The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. It came out just in these last couple of months. It's a relatively new book. and it is a time travel fantasy.

Sage Moreaux: 15:40

Hmm.

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:41

I was up until like 3, 2, 3 in the morning. Listening to it as an audio book would not go to sleep until I knew. The conclusion of this story, right? it is, I would put it under romantic. It is very focused on the romantic relationship, but also it's focused on society and the stories that we tell and how that influences choices in the future. When you look at the past and you look at what has been done and allow that to influence what could be. I felt that the main characters were really flawed. I am so tired of these perfect shadow daddy hot guys who just are non functionally able to have like a good conversation, right? they just grunt in a hallway, whatever,

Katherine Suzette: 16:28

Such a turn on.

Zinzi Brookbree: 16:29

Owen. Yeah. Right. and Owen Mallory is not that, like, he's the, the mailman character. He's, he's a coward and he recognized it. And he's flawed and he's interesting. And that made him so much, more relatable and someone that I wanted to read about and to see his journey and to see his growth. then. Mr. Perfect hot guy in the corner. Like, I don't, I don't care. Go away.

Sage Moreaux: 16:53

Yep.

Zinzi Brookbree: 16:53

So the Sword of Kaigen, the everlasting, those were, two of my top fantasy reads this year. I loved reading, I just finished the Enchanted Greenhouse just before recording this episode, which is absolutely warm and delightful. And I do, I kept asking. Because you look at the cover and it's all snowy. And I'm like, so this book should be a winter book. It's a winter book, right? and it came out the end of summer, so I kept putting it off and saving it for winter. And I'm so glad I did because there's literally like a winter solstice celebration. In the book and did, and people on the internet were like, oh, you can read it anytime. It's not really, I'm like, every time they leave the greenhouse, it's cold and there's snow. It's a winter book. sorry, I have to read seasonally and if a book season is set, like in this time and this weather, that's the time of year. I wanna read it. I don't wanna read about the beach in December. I wanna read about the beach in June, July, actually here. So the Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst. And even though we are past Christmas, like I'd still say January, February, these early if it's wintery where you are listening to this. still a great read for this time of year.

Sage Moreaux: 18:12

Nice.

Katherine Suzette: 18:12

know. It's still on my TR.

Sage Moreaux: 18:14

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Brookbree: 18:15

Also spoilers. The part of that book that did make me tear up is there's some like closure,'cause there is crossover. The characters don't meet on page. But you do get to find out a little bit more, about the characters in the spell shop. At the end of the enchanted greenhouse. So that was, that was really lovely and just was like, oh, warms my heart.

Katherine Suzette: 18:35

that.

Zinzi Brookbree: 18:36

standalone, but crossover moments.

Katherine Suzette: 18:39

I love that because when I get into a series where each book is a standalone, but they're set in the same world or with a different couple. I get so sad when I don't get to hear about what happened with the original couple I just don't get enough. Something like that.

Sage Moreaux: 18:51

I miss them.

Katherine Suzette: 18:52

yeah.

Zinzi Brookbree: 18:52

I like a good balance with that though, right? Like you don't want that other couple to keep showing up on the page or being like, I'm gonna wingman you in this romance where it's, you're just seeing them all the time. Like, I just want a little hint of extra epilogue around other happy characters that I want to know. They've continued to be happy. I don't want them. Intruding on the new protagonist story because then I'm not actually reading for the new protagonist. Then I'm reading for that couple from a different book.

Katherine Suzette: 19:22

Yeah, I think that's what bothers me when we have. Multiple POVs sometimes'cause the character that we start out with or know, if it's a different character in the prologue, fine. But the character who starts the journey that we're following, I really wanna stay close to their POV and I get really tired of like. Bringing in too many others because then my brain has to track so many others I'm already deeply invested emotionally in this original one.

Zinzi Brookbree: 19:53

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 19:53

I do really like to be able to stay connected with my original characters, my original loves.'cause I love living through their eyes and their perspective and like, don't take me out of it.

Zinzi Brookbree: 20:05

Katherine, did you have any other books that you wanted to talk about as favorites this year?

Katherine Suzette: 20:11

Yeah, I'll bring up. So I also have been in a very cozy mindset, honestly, for a couple of years to the extent that I, I have read a lot of books that I will not necessarily recommend for their quality, but I really thoroughly enjoy the stories. This is not one of them. I fully recommend it on all levels, but, KF breeds Magical Midlife Madness series romantic. Cute. We have great characters. Yeah. Double heart from Zinzi

Zinzi Brookbree: 20:40

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 20:42

it's just adorable and fun getting to live through these characters and

Zinzi Brookbree: 20:49

Correct me if I'm wrong. The MCs are in their forties. This is a grown woman making grown decisions. And it's appreciated.

Katherine Suzette: 20:59

I, also, so nothing against it necessarily, but I do get tired of it. All of these late teen romances where it, that's like the end all, be all of their romantic lives. There's a part of me it that now that I'm older, I look back on these characters and I'm like, you're too young to, to base your whole world on this right now. Like, go live your life a little bit. Make some other decisions first. Live for you before you live for this man. Like, no. I don't mean to disrespect the shadow daddies either, there's a new trend for the first grand love as opposed to the end all be all love and like, okay, fine. But bring me some midlife people who are making some radical life changes who are really living into themselves choosing. Something new for themselves that is truly embodying who they are and who they wanna be is that is what I wanna keep reading. And K. F. Breene did that excellently in Magical Midlife madness.

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:07

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 22:07

It's the leveling up series

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:09

What did you love about your reading journey this year? And was. The way that you went about reading books this year, different from previous years.

Katherine Suzette: 22:17

So what I loved most honestly, was our book club, probably because it pushed me back into that realm of reading I had been ignoring for several years. Nothing against Cozy, obviously is one of my favorites, but I had become kind of. Enthralled or addicted to the stories being pretty simple, predictable, comforting, easy,

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:40

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 22:41

and reading things like the Sword of Kaigen or For She is Wrath, the Last Dragon of the East and, and the ways that we talked about them provoked my brain into a different kind of growth mindset in a personal way that I had been. Ignoring, because it's so much easier to read the simple, sweet stories than it is to read the hard thought provoking stories. What is the word?

Zinzi Brookbree: 23:12

Did you just say it in Italian,

Katherine Suzette: 23:14

I

Zinzi Brookbree: 23:14

but you can't find it in English even though you're an American?

Katherine Suzette: 23:18

like. Reengaging with the way that

Zinzi Brookbree: 23:21

Hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 23:21

to think about books and giving myself permission to not only think about books in that way again, but to take it to the next level and discuss it with you ladies.

Zinzi Brookbree: 23:30

Hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 23:30

the change for me that I have loved and look forward to with, every book that we choose.

Zinzi Brookbree: 23:38

Hm.

Sage Moreaux: 23:39

I agree. I, have tried to be in book clubs many times with friends, but most of my friends don't read the same books that I do, so I always end up reading like world War ii. Dramas and like, not that the books aren't amazing, but it doesn't, it's more for the social aspect than it is for the, like talking

Zinzi Brookbree: 23:59

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 23:59

the books. So having the book club part of this podcast has been really fun because not only have I read some amazing books, but just chatting about it and like hearing what you loved about it versus what I took away

Zinzi Brookbree: 24:11

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 24:12

or where we overlapped and where we found different things. Like, that's been super fun for me. Outside of that, I had a hard reading year this year, and I think it's because I read so many books, which is not unusual, but, about half of the books I read were probably either for our podcast or for work related purposes as my work as a book reviewer. I am often reading stuff that's heavier in romance that I might like. I do read some really cool stuff and I get exposed to things that I wouldn't have picked up on otherwise. Like Hazel Thorn was a book that I got to read for work, which was amazing because I was one of my top books and I loved it. I don't think I would've found that on my own as quickly. But what happens is then I also wanna read all these like epic fantasies and stuff that I like. That's my bread and butter for how I

Zinzi Brookbree: 25:00

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 25:01

just deal with life is by immersing myself in these epic fantasies. And it's hard to do that and read other books at the same time. So I would often have like two or three different books going on at once. So it was harder for me to like fully immerse into books this year. And I'm hoping, to shift that in the coming year.

Zinzi Brookbree: 25:22

I have a thought that we will come back to that might be part of that if you're missing your epic fantasies. One of the other questions that I wanna talk about, which is, did you have a reading goal and did you meet it? I generally have a reading goal. I've had one up on Good Reads and now Fable as of this last year. for Good Reads, I've had reading goals for the last almost decade, this year I intentionally put it only at 60 books'cause I was like, I need to read less. I need to write my own book more and I need to read less. Good Reads. It should be like 93 maybe, is what I'll be ending the year with. So like blew past my 60 books, right? that I had planned on. but I realize I have a really hard time DNF I feel like once I start a book, I owe it to the author, to the writer, maybe to finish it and make sure, like I know the full picture of what a book is before I give my opinion on it before I'm like, Ooh, it's good or bad. Like, I need to read the whole thing.'cause some books start out bad, but they get better. And then there's other books that start out really good and then they go downhill, right? so I've always felt I needed the full picture and I very rarely DN, F, but I need to DNF more. I need to say this book is not for me. Sooner in the process. And I don't know if I'm going to start giving myself a rule of like, Hey, if I'm really not feeling it, or if I walk away and go start something else within the first five chapters, I just need to dnf this one, it's a not right now. I am obviously not into this book right now. Maybe I'll read it sometime someday. I'm looking at you, Addie Rou. everybody loves that book and I'm like, I want to love it, right? I want to love this, this Secret life or the invisible life of Addie LaRue or whatever it is by VI Schwab, who I do, I love her other books. I've really enjoyed them, but for some reason I just, that book isn't doing it for me. I got halfway through it and I haven't gone back and it's one of the few, I vi any book that is on a DNF on my list, like they're, that's kind of a big deal for me.'cause it's so hard and I just, I need to make it a less big deal. I need it to be less vindictive. and I need to just go, this book is not for me for now or maybe ever. And that's okay because I want to spend more time writing my own stuff and i'm just not their ideal reader. I just need to recognize sooner when I'm not the ideal reader that this author had in mind. For you guys though, did you have, did you set goals? Hold on. Caveat for 2025, my goal was 60 books for 2026, I am going down. Even though I read more, I am going down. My goal is 44 books for the year, less than a book a week. I am trying to give myself space to write. To DNF to look for quality reads instead of quantity because I know there's this big push of like, oh my gosh, I read X. Like you want that big number?'cause it feels good. But if you don't remember the books that you read, if they all just blur together in your mind, I don't know, for me, like I don't want that experience with my books. I wanna engage more with what I'm reading, whether that means I'm digging in with you guys during the podcast and really engaging and mentally interacting with the work. that's what I want in 2026 for my reading journey.

Sage Moreaux: 29:08

I've started using the story graph'cause I like how it has all the data. So one of my goals for 2026 is to make sure I enter every single book when I start and end reading it into story graph.'cause I wanna see what like my end of year graph looks like. And that's, I really like the data and the visual,

Zinzi Brookbree: 29:26

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 29:27

representation of all of that. So that's super fun. I think that's why I like my page of book titles. So I don't have a solid number. it's somewhere between 85 and 90 I think. But for my goal for 2026 besides tracking on story graphs so I can see how my date is, how long does it take me to read a book, what are the genres, et cetera. I'm planning on reading more banned books because I am a

Zinzi Brookbree: 29:52

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 29:52

of not banning books and I want to kind of. I'm, I have read banned books before, but I wanna kind of take a smattering of books that have been banned for different reasons and it kind of dovetails that. I also wanna read some classics that I've never read before. some of those are on the same list, so it's two birds with one stone. then outside of that, I wanna get a little more into my epic fantasy reads back to that. since I don't have a lot of say over the books that I will be reading for my reviewing, I wanna kind of prioritize for my own personal reading, and read a little more thoughtfully with the titles that I choose during that time. I'm not setting a number.

Zinzi Brookbree: 30:36

And you don't have to.

Katherine Suzette: 30:37

I have never set a number goal on books because if I were to set a number, goal, goal on books, it'd probably be much bigger than what I already do. And honestly, I do a lot of books in a year and I just don't find that to be the most valuable way to reflect on my reading by quantifying the amount of reading necessarily.

Zinzi Brookbree: 31:03

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 31:04

But also I have to take into account that I do most of my reading via audio because I'm doing other stuff while I listen. So I'm only like half absorbing a book whilst I read it. so I do do a lot of rereads of my favorites as well, or relists. it's not that I think audio is cheating, but it's definitely not the same kind of immersive experience as reading a physical copy or reading and listening at the same time is.

Zinzi Brookbree: 31:32

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 31:32

in this past year, did not have a goal except to really enjoy it. I also read this year through my and writing lenses a little bit more, and I recognized that, and it did not detract at all from my enjoyment of the books. It just meant that I was thinking about it, not only from the reader's perspective, but also from the writer or the editorial perspective.

Zinzi Brookbree: 32:01

Yeah, I did wanna say sage. I'm looking forward to maybe using your, little tracker graphic that you made for us, for this year, particularly in arc reads, because I would like to be reading some more arcs and some books that, I can't necessarily traditionally track. So that would be a place for me to put them. something else that I forgot to mention that I did very differently is previous to this year. while I would personally, do like star ratings on good reads and on Fable. But until this past year, I never wrote reviews. And so a challenge that I made for myself was that anytime I read a book, because reviews are so important for authors, right? Especially indie authors, I made a point of always also writing, even if it was short or pithy or whatever, but, you know, a quick review about how it made me feel or some highlights, and if it was an audio book version or not. and that's something that I want to continue into, with 2026 is making a point of reviews and maybe even work on making better reviews or making a standardized version of like, this is what I'm

Sage Moreaux: 33:12

It's

Zinzi Brookbree: 33:13

looking for in these books with giving a critical review. Reviews are really important and I wanna make sure that that's something that I continue, to engage with the book community.

Katherine Suzette: 33:21

I love that. I suck at tracking what I read. So it's one of my personal challenges in the year ahead of us to actually track what I read. I may not get better at the reviews. But I value the reviews that people do put on books that they give them. And I also really wanna track my reading, so I'm also on. The story graph. And I got on there a year ago in January because this was a goal last year that I did not keep up with, but I wanted to start seeing what I read and I wanted to see how analyze the kinds of books I was reading, what kind of moods I went for, what kind of pace I went for and that kind of thing. So going into this next year, that is a personal challenge of mine to actually record what I read. even if they're not necessarily recommended reads, they're just what I read and how I felt about it

Zinzi Brookbree: 34:18

Yeah, and doing reviews and stuff like it doesn't necessarily have to be out there in public. Doing it for yourself has value too.

Katherine Suzette: 34:26

Absolutely.

Zinzi Brookbree: 34:27

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 34:28

I actually have a physical book for reading tracking that I have intended to use for that purpose, for my own sake. for so many years now, I think I got that early college or late high school, and I still have it.

Zinzi Brookbree: 34:42

Hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 34:42

on my bookshelf looking at me every morning and every night

Zinzi Brookbree: 34:46

Judging you.

Katherine Suzette: 34:48

judging me because it's something I would love to do and it just hasn't been something that I've been able to keep up. But this year, because of the way my business is going, the way this, book Dragon Ink is going, the person I'm stepping into, I would love to record what I read for myself.

Zinzi Brookbree: 35:06

Mm.

Katherine Suzette: 35:06

I will keep you ladies updated, but I wanna see what it is.

Zinzi Brookbree: 35:11

Me too.

Sage Moreaux: 35:12

It will be fun to do an end of year recap and see where we've gotten with these goals.

Zinzi Brookbree: 35:17

Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Let's see if, if I can have a bigger DNF number than my reading number. Nope. I don't want that. I don't actually wanna, I do not wanna come across that many books that I want a DNF. but I, I do need to get better at it.

Sage Moreaux: 35:32

I've learned that, because I am reading so many books for work that I don't have a say over. the ones that I do read for pleasure if it's not hitting me, I'll come back to that later. I'm not in the mood for that book at this moment, but I can tell like, blood Over BrightHaven, I really wanna read.

Zinzi Brookbree: 35:50

oh my gosh, I so read that.

Sage Moreaux: 35:51

wasn't, it was too similar to the other book I was reading at the time or something like that. And I just wasn't there yet. But it's like definitely onto my read list for 2026. But I knew at that moment, and I do that a lot where I'll start a book and I'm like, Hmm, I'm not feeling this vibe right now. I'll come back to it when I have a little better brain space. Or I know I have some time ahead of me to like really immerse myself in it. So I like to some books I just straight DNF though, and it's like, nope, that's just not for me. and I've noticed I've been doing that a lot more with Romantasy because there's so much Romantasy out there and I really only like some of it. so I'm just not gonna make myself read it if I'm not feeling it. my to read list for 2026 is basically all of those books that I keep putting on pause because I'm not ready to read them. I feel like managing my Libby app is basically a full-time job. It's a little exhausting.

Zinzi Brookbree: 36:42

Mm-hmm. I am trying for 2026. I've really been enjoying doing immersion reads where I'm listening and reading at the same time. And I wanna do that more this year. particularly with books that I have in my, my TBR shelf where I bought them because they were pretty, and then afterwards I went, I just spent money on books. I know I won't touch their, their shelf trophies unless I get an audio version to like sink into it and, and sit and listen and read at the same time. So I'm slowly, that'll be, that's part of my TBR specifically for 2026, is to work through some of those books and maybe offload the ones Silver Elite, that don't deserve to stay on my shelves.

Katherine Suzette: 37:30

To do a shelf cleanse as well.

Zinzi Brookbree: 37:32

mm-hmm. Oh, speaking of a shelf cleanse, there's a site specifically for readers to like list their books for sale, to other readers so that, you know, you're getting them at a discount, you know that they're secondhand, but like they can, you know, if they're signed, if they're whatever. Or you can shop someone else's bookshelf and be like, I want five books all from the same person that's gonna be better shipping right. Than five books from individual people I will try to figure out what that website is and send it to you guys.'cause I was like, this sounds amazing for those of us who who just collect the books or, I'm very curious for those who get, like, if you get an arc copy and so long as it doesn't say, you know, cannot be resold depending on like what version of an arc you get. Some of those may even be if you tried it and it was a DNF. Give it to somebody who will read it and give it a good review.'cause it's obviously not you. All right, now that we've talked about stuff from the reader's chair we want to keep our book club, we're all really enjoying our diverse fantasy reads. we are gonna make that accessible to our listeners through Fable, where you can join our book club on Fable and find out what books we are reading next and read along with us. I will be in charge of that, so you will see me in the comments, as we go through the book. But I'm excited for all of it. I'm excited for the challenge, which brings me to, because earlier in the year we had a whole episode about book challenges. It inspired us and we came up with some of our own For the year of 2026. so we have, we each created our own and we have, a bonus one that works in two ways. So I'm gonna go ahead and let Sage, can you please explain your. Magic Systems bingo Card book challenge.

Sage Moreaux: 39:19

Yeah,

Zinzi Brookbree: 39:20

Yeah.

Sage Moreaux: 39:21

I. Have not formally participated in too many book challenges, but I was thinking about like, what would it look like for me if I was going to participate in one? And I decided I wanted it to be magic specific because though I love things like dragons and mythical creatures and stuff like that, what I really love about fantasy novels is the magic. So I created a bingo, Fantasy Bingo challenge, which you, I, you can play a couple of different ways and all of the details, you can get them in the show notes. All of the details are listed with the Bingo card that you can print out or just save. but basically, you know, it's standard five by five bingo with a wild card center space. And you can choose to, just get a line by reading five books, or you can try and do blackout by doing 25 different books. And there might be the case where some books cover more than one square and that is up to your discretion. If you want to, have one book cover, both vampires and Dream Magic. If you have a book you read that has both of those things in there, then you can go ahead and block both of those out, cross both of those off. but. can also do the full challenge of 25 individual books to do a full blackout. like I said, it has things like, it does have various mythical creatures like dragons and vampires and Faye, but it also has things like elemental magic, time, magic, dream magic, 24 total categories. so yeah, if you love fantasy, if you love magic, then you might wanna check this one out.

Katherine Suzette: 40:57

I do.

Zinzi Brookbree: 40:58

I

Sage Moreaux: 40:58

gonna

Zinzi Brookbree: 40:59

excited for it.

Sage Moreaux: 41:00

forgot to mention that in my book

Zinzi Brookbree: 41:02

challenges, we should be doing them ourselves and checking in during the podcast and be like, Hey, where are you at with your bingo card?

Sage Moreaux: 41:08

Yep.

Zinzi Brookbree: 41:09

Katherine what's yours?

Katherine Suzette: 41:10

Yeah. I'm a little afraid of kind of failing my audience on this one because I am not much of a challenger. I don't challenge myself to read a lot, it sounds really interesting at the beginning of the year and then I lose interest and therefore I lose motivation.

Zinzi Brookbree: 41:24

hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 41:24

But I'm hoping that the audience on this one and that you too, kind of. Keep me accountable to it or interested in it, perhaps my excitement for it will be more maintainable when there are people who join me on this. So, in the comments, I want anybody who's interested in what I'm about to challenge myself with, who's gonna do this with me to let me know because I would like to do this with other people. For myself is to actually track them, to write them down. I'm gonna be using two apps and I'm gonna try to stay consistent with both this year and see what happens for me. I really like the story graph because it tracks the mood and the atmosphere of the read. But I also really like Fable because we as a team, are using that app for our book club and I think that this could be a really interesting way to engage with our community so that people who are joining us on these challenges can stay in communication about these challenges with us on Fable So we'll see how that goes. Help me to stay accountable, audience. And perhaps the most relevant to me as a human is to track the mood that you read this book in or what mood you were looking for with this read. Now,

Zinzi Brookbree: 42:45

Hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 42:45

story graph does is that it records the mood of the book itself but for me, I also want to know what mood I was looking for or that I was in when I read it. So it's kind of a personal mood tracker. I'm going to create a downloadable for you all to reference or to use however you please. I'm going to use the emotion wheel that I recommend to a lot of authors that I speak with on a daily basis. And I want them to use this wheel to kind of be in touch with what mood they were in when they read this book. So it's a bit of a mood tracker for oneself as well as the book. and take that and interpret that as you will. I'm interested to see what happens with this challenge. But, you can also do it kind of in this bullet journaling style where you literally track your moods and track the book as you do it, whatever that looks like. This is a mood tracker. Whilst reading, what books did you read in this mood, or what mood did it create for you? Both. I'm interested seeing what happens for the audience.

Zinzi Brookbree: 43:56

speaking of mood reading, we will also have a bonus mood reading bingo sheet that, but the idea behind it is you are either tracking, you read this book because you were angry and wanted to read an angry book, or you were happy and wanted to read a happy book, or you are tracking, you read this book and it made you the emotion on here. It puts you into the mood of, am I happy? this one made me sad. This one made me heartbroken, this one made me laugh.

Katherine Suzette: 44:31

Mm.

Zinzi Brookbree: 44:32

and it's less, it's like that one is just like, hey, color in the emoji face of this mood, right? Like it's,

Katherine Suzette: 44:38

I

Zinzi Brookbree: 44:39

this is the, the, the kids' version of a book tracking mood reader thing. So it can be any book, just what mood were you looking for, or what mood did it give you when you finished reading it? Whichever one.

Katherine Suzette: 44:52

my gosh.

Zinzi Brookbree: 44:53

and I think.

Katherine Suzette: 44:54

of feel like I should go back on my challenge and be like, let's just do this bingo sheet together. You guys, my partners probably did this because I was like, I don't have the mental wherewithal to create something like this and I am impressed and really wanna just do this. So Partners, Zinzi and Sage. Should I

Zinzi Brookbree: 45:14

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 45:14

this as my

Sage Moreaux: 45:16

No, I, was gonna say, let's have the three different challenges and release them on Substack.

Zinzi Brookbree: 45:23

There'll be four. So the idea being is yes, sage, I would like to release them individually with like extra bonus instructions and this is the inspiration. And then also a here if you want all four because you wanna challenge yourself or you wanna count one book towards multiple things.

Sage Moreaux: 45:39

So Katherine yes, you can do that.

Zinzi Brookbree: 45:41

Oh

Sage Moreaux: 45:41

but I

Zinzi Brookbree: 45:42

yeah, that too.

Sage Moreaux: 45:43

them all into one. I wanted to have A lot of, yes you could. You could have that be your

Zinzi Brookbree: 45:47

Yes, both.

Katherine Suzette: 45:48

three parts to mine, so like it,

Zinzi Brookbree: 45:52

there's three parts to yours and also you're really good at aesthetics and making things beautiful, and I feel like you will create a tracker, and that's part of like what gets you, excited and inspired about doing something right. Sometimes it's because the tracker itself is beautiful, so I feel like you will make a beautiful tracker that has these options of listing, what the mood of the book is, what the mood. you were, when you picked the book up and what the mood you have when you finish it, right? Like maybe it needs to have those multiple cells so you can track all three of those mood points. my personal book challenge that will have some sort of pretty sheet for, that is. Probably not made by me, but made by Sage or Katherine because they're much better at those things. but the idea of it is things in fours. I love the number four. I can't really explain why, but it's just my favorite. but I would like to do books that is one of the four Seasons, right? you're gonna have spring, summer, autumn, and winter. That's one set of four. Another set of four is directions, north, south, east, and west. Is that in the title of the book? Is that a direction that at some point in the book that you're reading is mentioned that they're traveling? Is there, A compass on the cover of the book that shows one of those directions. my rules for this is very broad. You can interpret it how you like. Another one of the four is elements. So fire, air, water, and earth, right? So that's another set of four. And then my final set of four is modes of travel. So that is travel by air, travel by sea, travel by land, and travel by magic as your final mode of transportation. Those will be my, my things in for, reading challenge that I have no idea how I'm going to do myself, but I'm excited to try. just gonna put this out here. time travel would absolutely count for modes of travel and, the Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow that I mentioned earlier. Could be the start of your fill out this Bingo card.'cause it would fit that.

Katherine Suzette: 48:01

I like it.

Zinzi Brookbree: 48:02

Thank you.

Katherine Suzette: 48:03

all of these challenges honestly, part of me wants to challenge myself to do that, but I also know that challenges are generally not my thing. I give myself a lot of grace. Like so long as I read a couple in a month, I call it good enough. And by the end of the year, it definitely all averages out because I am a mood reader. So sometimes I am in a mood to read a lot of books at once, I'll read like five or six, and then I just call that good. So as long as the numbers kind of average out for me and I feel satisfied with it, I call it challenge goal Met. Perfection not required. but audience, keep me accountable to tracking my reads and tracking the moods of the reads.

Zinzi Brookbree: 48:39

We will be checking in with this on air, during the podcast, or somewhere in our, all the things that we do. Alright, speaking of all the things that we do, you can join our Fable book Club over on Fable under book Dragon Banter, diverse Fantasy. Our, book for January is Elatsoe by Darcy Little Badger. It is a YA standalone, although I did learn recently that it has a prequel book. Queer fantasy. I believe the FMC is asexual, so that's where the queerness comes in. but the blurb that I am gonna pull up my microphone and get a little bit closer to the camera here, and I'm sorry if this is creepy and I'm gonna stare at you. imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge and the legends of its peoples. Those indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly every day, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghost of dead animals. A skill passed down through generations of her lap. Achi, do, do, I don't know how to pronounce this, passed down through generations of her lapan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered in a town that wants no prying eyes, but she is going to do more than pry the picture perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets. And she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family. And that's the good reads blurb. But when I picked this book, I did not know it was gonna be a murder mystery. I did not know it was gonna involve dead animal ghosts That makes me nervous. I just knew it was a fantasy and a ya and that it had an indigenous writer. and That it was well recommended. It's a, we'll go into it more when we get into the book itself, but I believe it has a couple of awards or at least nominations. but I'm really excited to read it with you guys. So check that out Elatsoe by Darcy Little Badger. and come listen when we air the episode to hear what we think and share your own thoughts in the comments.

Sage Moreaux: 50:56

So outside of this podcast, we also have our book Dragon Ink Writing retreats and write with me Zinzi Bree, where you can join Zinzi and write alongside a lovely community of authors. you can check all of those, options out on book dragon Inkcom or the links that are in the show notes.

Katherine Suzette: 51:19

Our writing retreats is another offer that we have been putting together for so long. It's part of why we're here together, we can't wait to have more people come and participate in these events with us, and to give us feedback on what kind of changes it makes on your writing process, on your book, whatever those transformations are for you, we cannot wait to hear what they are.

Zinzi Brookbree: 51:46

You can find the book challenges that we just talked about on our Substack Book Dragon Banter we are over there too, so we have an email newsletter way that we can reach you. if you've enjoyed this episode, please give us a review. It's really helps us know, that we're reaching the right audience and it also helps us get seen by potential new listeners, and subscribes, especially if you're on like Spotify or YouTube.'cause we want you to come back. Subscribe and share.

Sage Moreaux: 52:16

Yeah, we

Zinzi Brookbree: 52:17

We're needy. Come feed us, us book dragons. we need attention. Feed us your attention.

Katherine Suzette: 52:24

Social affirmation please.

Zinzi Brookbree: 52:27

you can find us on social media. All of our links are down in the show notes. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this incredibly long episode, or short cut up episode because I don't know which it's gonna end up being, because I think we have about three hours of recording here and most of it isn't fluff for once. Thank you so much for tuning in. We can't wait to see you next time. Happy New Year,

Katherine Suzette: 52:52

happy New Year 2026.

Zinzi Brookbree: 52:55

Welcome to 2026 Outro music.