Bookish Highs, Lows, and Buffalos

three books that have stood out to me in every month of 2025

There’s this game called Highs, Lows, and Buffalos; basically, you share your “high” of the week, your “low” of the week, and your “buffalo” or something interesting (not necessarily good or bad) from your week. I thought it’d be fun to put a bookish spin on this game and to list and review my highs, lows, and buffalos from January, February, and March. Ready?

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To read the blurb of a book, click on its pink and italicized title and you can read it on Goodreads. I didn’t include blurbs because this post would have taken over fifteen minutes to read and I don’t want to do that to you. 😅

I suggest reading my reviews, and if you’re even more intrigued about the book, check out the blurb.

Okay, now are you ready? 😃

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January

• Bookish High: Miracle on Voodoo Mountain by Meghan Boudreaux

  

  Christian memoir

  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  This was an incredible and fascinating story of God's faithfulness and grace. Megan Boudreaux was a young woman who unquestioningly said "yes!" to God's calling, which resulted in numerous divine miracles in pushing back the darkness in Haiti and displays of God's might and power. Key takeaways for me were that God is the Master Weaver of our lives, the greatest Storyteller, and the Light to which we are drawn. Miracle on Voodoo Mountain is such an inspirational, breathtaking account of God moving through one young woman! It makes me ponder, what would I do if God wanted me to sell all my possessions and move away from my family, friends, and comfortable lifestyle to the other side of the world, the unknown, without a clue as to what He wanted me to do there? That’s truly following God and pursuing His will day-by-day.

  I highly recommend this read to teens and adults!

• Bookish Low: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

  

  fantasy

  ⭐⭐

  I was really disappointed in Caraval. From the first chapter, I got the distinct feeling of Alice in Wonderland. The world Stephanie Garber created in Caraval is lurid. Emotions are color coded and objects gleam brighter and seem to pulse with energy (at least from Garber’s flowery descriptions). It almost felt like a mad nightmare, tumbling into the pages of this conceptually unique tale.

  I liked it...ish.

  Character-wise, everyone felt flat. There wasn't much growth for Scarlett. Some sensitive themes and trigger warnings were suicide, sexual tension (a lot more than I expected and wanted but no explicit scenes), attempted rape, murder of a friend, and verbal and physical abuse from father to daughters.

  Because of how heavy this novel can be, I would recommend not handing it to anyone younger than 15 years old. Language-wise, it was cleaner than I expected.

  The concept of Caraval is cool but the execution could have been so much better.

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• Bookish Buffalo: The Flowers of Provence, by Jamie Beck

art / non-fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jamie Beck (the photographer, not the author) has been my muse for over two years. I love following her work on IG and using her techniques in my own work! Her second published volume, The Flowers of Provence is beautifully bound and illustrated. The included guide to cutting and preserving flowers was a wonderful surprise. There’s something magical about printed photographs, especially when they are gathered into one neat little hardback like The Flowers of Provence. I loved reading Beck’s lyrical and poetic writing, and examining her photographs reveal that they too are just as so.

I know that in art, some artists use the human body as the subject but for me personally, I didn’t like that Beck included two nudes (from the back) in her book. Just my personal opinion.

Other than that, I highly recommend The Flowers of Provence to anyone who enjoys art photography, anything French, and flowers!

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February

Bookish High: Do Hard Things, By Alex and Brett Harris

Christian non-fiction / self-help

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Though Do Hard Things was written in the early 2000s, the lessons and themes in this how-to book is applicable to teens of 2025 and beyond.

The practical steps listed that one can take to lead a rebelutionary life are concise, clear, and realizable. Nothing is overwhelming, all is encouraging. Stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action were the most impactful for me. The stories of how God works in a teenager set on doing hard things for the Lord are inspirational and incredible!

The Harris brothers' faith and enthusiasm for doing hard things and rebelling against low expectations shone through every single page. Their story is amazing, and their passion for the Lord is impressive and heartening.

I would suggest this incredible book for tweens to prepare for their teen years, for teens to rebel against low expectations, for young adults because it is never too late to do hard things, and for adults who have youth in their lives that they want to counsel. You won't regret reading!

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• Bookish Low: Reckless, by Lauren Roberts

romantasy

Reckless is the second book in The Powerless Trilogy. Although it is the type of book that glues you to your seat, the plot and content wasn’t amazing.

If I hadn't seen Lauren Roberts describe book two as "the calm before the storm" (with the storm being book three), I likely would have considered Reckless a complete waste of time and probably would have put it down. Every action scene seemed to be written solely to plop readers into Kai and Pae's emotional moments, which became tiresome and caused the story to feel stagnant. One plus about this book, though, is that Roberts' did not disappoint with her poetical analogies, her unique writer's voice, and her continued character development.

Content concerns for me were several uses of the d-word, s-word, a-word, and b-word. The FMC throws the MMC the middle finger twice. I personally think the FMC and MMC crossed boundaries when interacting with each other (nothing explicit happened. More along the lines of forced proximity, snuggling/sleeping together in the same bed(roll) (because they're chained together), hugging when the MMC's shirt is off, etc.). The plague that inflicted the people of Ilya is used as "Plague knows what", "Thank the plague", and etc., almost as if it is a god.

Reckless is not the cleanest of books, mostly because of the language (a little more than what you would expect in an Avengers movie). I wish Roberts did not find it necessary to include so many curse words. 😖

The third book (called Fearless) in the series was suppose to have come out yesterday. If you’ve already read Powerless and Reckless, and plan on reading Fearless soon, please reach out to me and let me know your thoughts on it. Though there are some things I’m excited to find out in Fearless, I’m hesitant on reading it because I can easily see the content spiral into something I’d rather not read.

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• Bookish Buffalo: Poetic Surrender, by

  Molly McTernan

  

  poetry

  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  Poetic Surrender is a lovely little book, like a journal of wandering thoughts on a variety of people and things.
  
  Faith, pets, colors, books, so much is covered in poetic rhyme and rhythm. Molly has a charming writer's voice, one whose tone is relatable. A few of the poems in this collection would be perfect for picture books for children, if the author chose to have them illustrated. :)
  
  I'm not sure if it was because of the format of being an eBook or if it was creative intentionality on the author’s part, but the consistent use of not using periods threw me off a bit. Sometimes while reading, I could not tell if the end of the line was an enjambed line, or whether there just weren't any periods and the beginning of the next line was the beginning of a new thought.
  
  This little technicality did not stop me from enjoying each poem, though! All I can say is, great job, Molly, on a great piece of work!
  
  I would recommend this collection to anyone looking for a short, delightful read that's written by a young Christian author with a God-glorifying intention.
  
  Favorite poems: "Time is Passing", "Joy", "My Mind is a House of Oddities", and "Prayer Warrior". I could not help but highlight entire poems for how deep and beautiful reminders that they are.

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  March

• Bookish High: do I have to pick just one?? I have three in mind but since I featured two (Ignite by Kara Swanson and Do Hard Things by Claire Diaz-Ortiz) in my March newsletter, I’ll talk about the third one here.

  Seeking Persephone, by Sarah M. Eden

  

  Regency romance

  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  I don't usually read fluffy Regency romance but I needed a break from my school-necessitated books. I remembered Seeking Persephone from a few years back, when I found it on a list in Goodreads and decided to try it. It was so worth the wait because it was absolutely beautiful! I find most Regency books to be amateurishly written but this one is very well-executed.
  
  Seeking Persephone is a little Beauty and the Beast-esque and definitely Hades and Persephone-esque. So. Good. It was completely clean, which I very much appreciated, and not a curse word was used! I devoured this one in only a few hours.
  
  If you enjoy completely clean Regency romance that's not like the others, the Persephone and Hades trope, enemies to lovers, lovable best friends, comedy, and romance...then you'll enjoy Seeking Persephone. Oh and the FMC is actually likeable.
  
  No language, no taking the Lord's name in vain, no explicit scenes (as this book deals with arranged marriage/marriage of convenience, I was highly impressed the author did not include or even hint at any...icky scenes).

  Note: Seeking Persephone is actually currently being turned into a feature film!! You can find more information here.

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• Bookish Low: Whatever Happened to Penny Candy, by Richard J. Maybury

economics / non-fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I find it quite amazing that out of the eight books I read in March, the lowest rating was four stars. 😅

Whatever Happened to Penny Cand is a very interesting book. The information is excellent and informative, although I did find myself needing to refocus and reread some sentences several times.

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• Bookish Buffalo: The Super Big Favor, by Nuria Munoz

  

  contemporary romance

  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  When I saw that this was a clean marriage of convenience novella, I knew I needed to read it.

  
  The Super Big Favor has banter, sweet romance, swoony kisses, and no explicit scenes or curse words. Completely clean and so much fun!
  
  This was Munoz's first published work so the writing was a little rocky but overall, did not take away from the story. Sure, Munoz could brush up on her writing technique but I just had to give this one 5 stars!! So fun to read...highly recommend if you enjoy sweet romantic novellas with a “nerdy” MMC, bookish "Professor" vibes, NYC in fall, Puerto Rico, she-helps-him-he-helps-her, and a marriage of convenience.

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And that’s it! Thank you for reading my Highs, Lows, and Buffalos, nine reads that stood out to me in some way in the first three months of 2025. If you’ve enjoyed this post, please ❤️ and comment below!

Sharing and re-stacking goes a long way. <3

Hopefully, you’ve found a couple books to add to your possibly already lengthy TBR. If by chance any of my highs, lows, or buffalos coincides with yours, let me know in the comments!

What are your highs, lows, and buffalos of 2025???