All Antonia Bernardin Blog posts

Welcome to the place for endless scrolling

If you don’t care about the categories and just want to scroll through my posts newest to oldest, this is the place!

A Deal with a Demon series

I read the A Deal with a Demon series by Katee Robert in 2024, this was the 67th, 89th, 93rd, 97th, 98th and 99th book I read last year. This series is comprised of The Dragons Bride, The Krakens Sacrifice, The Gargoyle’s Captive, The Succubus’s Prize and The Demon’s Bargain
The Twisted Throne by Danielle L Jensen

The Twisted Throne by Danielle L Jensen is the 5th book in The Bridge Kingdom series and was my 84th read of 2024.
Year Goals for 2025 and a reflection on 2024

I’ve done these for a couple years now and they are fun to look back on, and for some reason people read them so, here we go.
2025 reading goals

It’s a new year so it’s time to set some goals for my 2025 reads! Now, I do these as something to aim towards/ as motivation but they are fairly loosey goosey.
2024 reading wrap-up

Although this was another busy year, I did actually hit both of my overall reading goals for the year, they were: 100 books, 50 of which were book-books (so not audio books). Read the post to see everything I read!
December reading wrap up

Here’s a summary of everything I read in December as I desperately scrambled to make up for how poor November was and hit my year reading goals! Take a look to find what I’ve either already reviewed or reviews to come.
8 Reading goals/ challenge ideas for next year

There’s lot of different reading goals and challenges you can set and track to give some reading inspiration and motivation.
Vicious Fae

My 82nd read of the year was Vicious Fae by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, the third book in the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Series
10 Booktok books reviewed – part 1

This will (hopefully) be a series of posts where I go through the Goodreads list of Booktok books and give quick overview what I liked and disliked and why. I am just covering the first 10 books in the list in this post
November Reading Wrap-up

Here’s a summary of everything I read this month, which is unfortunately a little light, November hit me like a tonne of bricks!
Imposter syndrome – part 4

This post originally started as an exploration of what Imposter Syndrome was and how I thought I’d experienced it but I’ve since done yearly updates on my journey with getting past it, in the hope that it helps someone else.
The Hunting Moon

My 81st read of the year was The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard, the second book in the Luminaries series. The third book in the series just came out so I wanted to finish this in time!
Savage Fae

The 80th book I read this year was Savage Fae by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, the second book in the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series, set in the same world as Zodiac Academy but slightly before the timeline of the series. An attempt at summarising After the dramatic events at the end of…
Assistant to the villain

Assistant to the villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer was my 79th read of the year, this is another booktok favourite that I’ve seen on a tonne of lists and it looked like a fun listen to entertain me on my commute.
Pumpkin Spice and Poltergeist

The 77th book I read in 2024 was Pumpkin Spice and Poltergeist by Ali.K.Mulford and K.Elle.Morrison. I am an unapologetic fan of Ali.K.Mulford, so get ready for an incredibly biased review…
Daughter of no worlds by Carissa Broadbent

I recently read Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent, which was the 76th book I read this year. This author is most well known for her series The Crowns of Nyaxia, which is The Serpent and the Wings of Night and The Ashes and the Star Cursed King. I really enjoyed those books, so…
My Killer Vacation

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey was the 75th book I read this year. I’ve seen this one around on booktok and various lists forever, so I was excited to see if it was good, as it’s always 50/50 with booktok books.
The Bonds that tie by J.Bree series review

The Bonds that tie series by J.Bree was the 69th-74th books I read this year. I didn’t plan on committing to the whole series at the start of reading book one but they really sucked me in a totally ruined my holiday tbr plan!
October Reading Wrap-up

I am taking advantage of the fancy Storygraph wrap-up graphics! So, here’s my reading stats for October, for a peek at reviews to come or those already live.
Reading, writing and life check in – 3/4 of 2024

This post is part of series of quarterly check-ins, with a little bit about life, a little writing, and a little bit of reading stats
With Fire in their Blood

My 68th read of the year was With Fire in their Blood by Kat Delacorte. I bought this book impulsively in a buy one get one half price sale at Waterstones and it’s been staring at me for a year.
The Dragons Bride

The 67th book I consumed this year was the Dragons Bride by Katee Robert, the first book in the A Deal with a Demon series. This is an infamous booktok book, which is always a 50-50 chance of it being terrible.. so what did I think
Dark Fae

My 66th book of the year was Dark Fae by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, this is the first book in the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series. This is set in the same universe as the Zodiac Academy series, slightly before the timeline of the series
From Blood and Ash memes… because I can

I have done a few Bookish memes style posts now but this one of the big booktok series that I haven’t touched yet!
Holiday tbr!

I am going on holiday soon and my plans involve lying very still in the sun reading. So, I thought you might be interested on what I plan to read:
10 Romance book recs from books I have read

A lot of my rec lists are books I have not read but want to read, as they fall under a trope I like but here’s something a little different: a summary of romance books I’ve read that I would actually recommend along with their reviews.
The Luminaries

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard was the 65th book I read this year, this book was gifted to me by my podcast co-host because she loved it and wanted me to read it too! It took me nearly a year but I finally read it.
September Reading Wrap-up

Once again I am taking advantage of the fancy Storygraph wrap-up graphics! So, here’s my reading stats for September, for a peak at reviews to come or those already live.
35 memes to convince you to read The Raven Cycle

I read The Raven Cycle by Maggie Staifevater recently and whilst I realise I am very late to the game with this series, I wondered if there were other people like me who had never read it, so I went and found a bunch of totally contextless memes from Pinterest to convince you to join…
Miscommunication trope book rec list

Now, I won’t lie, this is not my favourite trope but I know some people love the tension of it so I thought I’d make a list for you weirdoes.
Not in Love

The 63rd book I read this year was Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood. This is her latest book and, according to the foreword written in the book, it’s a little different from her previous Steminist books. This book is a little darker and grittier, it also has a bit more spice.
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L Jensen

My 62nd read of this year was A Fate Inked in Blood by Daniel L Jensen, the author of The Bridge Kingdom Series, which I absolutely loved.
In Deeper Waters

The 61st book I read this year was In Deeper waters by F.T.Lukens, a book that I found through my ‘hurt character’ rec list
The Raven Cycle

The Raven Cycle series, comprised of: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lilly, Lilly Blue and The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, made up books number 52, 54, 56 and 59 of this year’s total reads
Current TBR – September 24

Interested in my upcoming reads? Here’s a little glimpse into what I plan to read soon and what you can expect to see on the blog shortly after!
August reading wrap-up

Since Storygraph has got this awesome new feature making monthly summary graphics, I thought I’d cannibalise so I could share with you a wrap-up of everything I’ve read this month.
Weather Girl

My 58th read of the year was Weather Girl by Rachel Lyn Solomon. I recently read her other book, The Ex Talk, which I really enjoyed so I bought a couple more of her books to try.
My Boss is the Devil

The 57th book I read this year was My Boss is the Devil by Ben Schenkman, this was the July-August buddy read on my podcast, The Lazy Book Lovers podcast.
All the Leigh Bardugo books I’ve read – a review

Here’s a compilation of my reviews of Leigh Bardugo’s various books, I will update this post as I read more of her books but as a big fan of this author, I thought it’d be smart to pop them all in one place!
New booktok ‘hot take’: the debate around spicy books

There are more than a few videos kicking around the Booktok, book tube and maybe bookstagram sphere where people are getting on their high horses and booktok ‘ruining’ publishing and bashing the increased demand for spicy books. Here’s my thoughts…
The downfall of the night princess – The Prompt Project

The Prompt Project’ are posts that are essentially a way for me to exercise my creative muscles, without all the pressure that comes from writing my WIP for example. Today’s prompt is: “Wait… So this whole time, you weren’t under my mind control?”
Raybearer

The 55th book I read this year was Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, the first book in the Raybearer series. This has been sat on my bookshelf for way too long, so I’m glad I finally got round to reading it.
10 books with summery vibes

This is a rec list for books that give me the feeling of summer, rather than books for reading by the beach
Bitten by surprise

The 53rd book I read this year was Bitten by Surprise by Lizzy Gayle. This was an indie book series I found through my podcast: Lazy Book Lovers Podcast and I thought I’d give it a go.
Permission to read whatever you like

What’s the secret to reading more? Here’s a rant going you permission to read whatever you feel like reading
Recovering from burnout – 7 practical tips from someone figuring it out

I’ve been trying to figure out how to stop getting burnt out, so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned on the way
Amethyst Kingdom

The 49th book I read this year was Amethyst Kingdom, the final book in the Five Crowns Of Okrith series by A.K Mulford. I am an unabashed fan of A K Mulford fyi, so this is a very biased review.
A Pho Love Story

My 48th book of the year was A Pho Love Story by Loan Le, a cute little YA romance set against competing Vietnamese family restaurants.
Zodiac Academy series complete review – including novellas

Since reading the first 7 in one go, I have gone on to read and review the various novellas too, so I thought it would helpful to chuck them all in one place.
Exercising without a weightless goal part 4

This is a recurring post, which is a yearly reflection on exercising again post-injury, with a completely different mind set to what had fuelled my desire to go to the gym before and how different it felt