{"id":26856,"date":"2025-09-30T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/?p=26856"},"modified":"2025-10-24T02:16:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T06:16:30","slug":"monthly-blog-review-september-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/monthly-blog-review-september-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Monthly Blog Review: September 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Posts<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Book Reviews<\/strong><br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_eternalflowerofyoursoul.png?resize=184%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"184\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-26999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_eternalflowerofyoursoul.png?resize=184%2C300&amp;ssl=1 184w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_eternalflowerofyoursoul.png?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 184px) 100vw, 184px\" \/>\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-accidental-death\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Accidental Death<\/a> by Ruth Anna Evans (4\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-all-men-must-die-2\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All Men Must Die<\/a> by A. E. Soto (2.5\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-do-not-go-in-that-house\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Do Not Go in That House<\/a> by Ruth Anna Evans (5\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-eternal-flower-of-your-soul\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ETERNAL FLOWER OF YOUR SOUL<\/a> by Klaus Kinion (4\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-homecoming\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Homecoming<\/a> by Micah Castle (3\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-noro\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Noro<\/a> by William F. Gray (4.5\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-stitches-2\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stitches<\/a> by Sam West (4\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-when-the-mockingbird-sings\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">when the mockingbird sings<\/a> by Jason Nickey &#038; Stuart Bray (1\u2605)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Manga Reviews<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/manga-helter-skelter\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Helter Skelter<\/a> by Kyoko Okazaki (4.5\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/manga-miss-kusakabe\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miss Kusakabe<\/a> by Shuzo Oshimi (2\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/manga-the-way-of-the-househusband-vol-1\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Way of the Househusband Vol. 1<\/a> by Kousuke Oono (5\u2605)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Posts<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/october-2025-new-release-horror-books\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">October 2025 New Release Horror Books<\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>Books Read<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_donotgointhathouse.png?resize=194%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-27034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_donotgointhathouse.png?resize=194%2C300&amp;ssl=1 194w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_donotgointhathouse.png?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><br \/>\n<strong>Books<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Do Not Go in That House by Ruth Anna Evans (5\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 ETERNAL FLOWER OF YOUR SOUL by Klaus Kinion (4\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 Homecoming by Micah Castle (3\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 Such Lovely Skin by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne (3\u2605)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Manga<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Miss Kusakabe by Shuzo Oshimi (2\u2605)<br \/>\n\u2665 News of Transformations Natsujikei Miyazaki (3\u2605)<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>Games Played<\/h2>\n<p>I played a bit of <strong>Honkai Star Rail<\/strong> early in the month but am back on break. I did start the Amphoreous story line and I am enjoying it, just need a break. I got a new XBOX controller for my PC that has prompted me to start getting back into gaming, and I finished one quick visual novel &#8211; <strong>Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>I also picked up a brand new indie title made for booklovers &#8211; <strong>Tiny Bookshop<\/strong>! I&#8217;m already a little addicted and have been having a blast with it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2i_HlDVtQRk?si=lFpsQblqLHKJIV_d\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Finally, one of my top three Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy Tactics, is releasing today and I am SO excited. I plan on jumping right on board to play it alongside my husband who will be experiencing it for the first time.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>Books Hauled<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_echoesofthedamned.png?resize=200%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-27094\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_echoesofthedamned.png?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_echoesofthedamned.png?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><strong>eARCs (Author\/Publisher)<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Do Not Go in That House by Ruth Anna Evans<br \/>\n\u2665 Echoes of the Damned by Ian Gielen<\/p>\n<p><strong>eARCs (NetGalley)<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Banana Brain by C.S. Fritz<br \/>\n\u2665 Portraits of Decay by J.R. Blanes<br \/>\n\u2665 The Devil Take the Blues by Ariel Slick<br \/>\n\u2665 The Last Way by Cameron L. Mitchell<br \/>\n\u2665 Yeehaw Junction by Kayli Scholz<\/p>\n<p><strong>Book Boxes<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 An Evil Premise by T. Marie Vandelly (Twisted Retreat)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ebook Purchases<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Absorbed by Kylie Whitehead<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_thepalewhite.png?resize=199%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-26974\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_thepalewhite.png?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_thepalewhite.png?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><br \/>\n\u2665 Cuddle Buddies by Harrison Phillips<br \/>\n\u2665 Eternal Flower of Your Soul by Klaus Kinion<br \/>\n\u2665 The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen<br \/>\n\u2665 The Cuck Chair by Stuart Bray, Jason Nickey and Dan Shrader<br \/>\n\u2665 The Desecration of Saint Agatha by Jessa Riot<br \/>\n\u2665 The Pale White by Chad Lutzke<br \/>\n\u2665 The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling<br \/>\n\u2665 Until Death by River Gardner<br \/>\n\u2665 Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gifts<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry<br \/>\n\u2665 The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty<\/p>\n<p><strong>Physical Purchases<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_portalmania.png?resize=202%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-26958\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_portalmania.png?resize=202%2C300&amp;ssl=1 202w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_portalmania.png?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><br \/>\n\u2665 Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield<br \/>\n\u2665 Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia<br \/>\n\u2665 Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski<br \/>\n\u2665 Screaming and Conjuring: The Resurrection and Unstoppable Rise of the Modern Horror Movie by Clark Collis<br \/>\n\u2665 Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou<\/p>\n<p><strong>Amazon First<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2665 Eerie Basin by Ivy Pochoda<br \/>\n\u2665 I&#8217;ll Follow You by Charlene Wang<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>Next Month<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;ve finally started to catch up on the blog and even managed to draft a review and schedule it ahead of time. Hooray! With the start of October I hope to write a few horror book recommendation posts and to write a few reviews for other media that I tend to neglect, namely video games. See you all next month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posts Book Reviews \u2665 Accidental Death by Ruth Anna Evans (4\u2605) \u2665 All Men Must Die by A. E. Soto (2.5\u2605) \u2665 Do Not Go in That House by Ruth&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3217],"tags":[],"book-author":[],"book-illustrator":[],"book-series":[],"book-publisher":[],"book-genre":[],"book-source":[],"book-format":[],"class_list":["post-26856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monthly-blog-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/blogreview_sept2025-header.png?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26856"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27364,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26856\/revisions\/27364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-author?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-illustrator?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-series?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-publisher?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-genre?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-source?post=26856"},{"taxonomy":"book-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-format?post=26856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}