September… What happened in September? Not a whole lot, really. The highlight of the month was celebrating mum’s 70th birthday, which was surprisingly low-key. It was nice though, and I enjoyed spending time with her and her siblings who joined the festivities. Other than that, I got a new desk set up, which I’m feeling pretty half-half about at the moment.
I love how big it is and how I have more shelf space to put books and my knick-knacks (although it is looking a little bare at the mo), but I’m not keen on the desk part being so wobbly. It’s especially bad with my monitor on this arm cos it’s like, one touch of my desk and it wobbles like it’s going to break. 🤣 I guess I can’t complain considering the desk set up was less than $50… 🤭 Let’s how long it lasts though—I sometimes feel if I put too much pressure in the centre of it (where my wrist wrest is), it’ll cave (or at least bend) in, haha. Not ideal!
I’m kind of surprised by how few books I read in September because despite feeling like I read a lot, I only managed to finish 11 books. I did wind up having two 5-star reads though and my favourite of the month was 🥇 A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan!🥇 Oh, this was such a delightful read and I’m so glad that I finally picked it up this month because it’s been on my TBR for years and it was every bit as wonderful as everyone told me it would be. It’s written like a memoir and not all unlike Emily Wilde in terms of tone and content—just substitute dragons for faeries and a fantasy world to explore.
It was also another fun month co-hosting the Let’s Talk Bookish weekly meme. You can learn more about it, read all the discussions, and see the upcoming month’s topics HERE.
*COVERS are linked to Goodreads and the TEXT is linked to my review, if available*
*books are arranged by READING ORDER with the last read first*
5 pandas
Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz, A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
4.5 pandas
This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman
4 pandas
Blog Tour Review: The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire by Anna Fiteni
3.5 pandas
Book Review: A Pho Love Story by Loan Le
3 pandas
Hitting the Wall by Cate C. Wells
I fulfilled the monthly reading challenges this month but I didn’t go the extra mile with my reads. I also still haven’t caught up with the missed Buzzword challenge, but I’ll get to it… I swear, lol.
✔ Goodreads Reading Challenge (Notion tracker): 119/150 books
✔ Beat the Backlist: 📚 1 backlist book // 📱 2 backlist ARCs ⇢ 0 Bingo Spaces
✔ 2025 Buzzword Reading Challenge: September (“events”) ⇢ MISSED // June (“memory words”) ⇢ A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent
✔ 2025 Year in Aeldia: September (“under 250 pages”) ⇢ How to Steal A Galaxy
✔ 2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge: 1 book ⇢ Prompt 7
And that’s it for September! How was your month and what was your favourite book? I hope everyone is doing good and taking care. 💜
dinipandareads 
Nice desk set up and I do hope it holds up! I hope you have a good October!
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Thanks, Yolanda! I hope it holds up too 🤣 Have an amazing October as well!
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Wow, happy 70th to your mom! I am so happy to see you read Dungeon Crawler Carl book 7 in September! I’m working through the DCC books too and just finished book 5! Books 6 and 7 to go, and then waiting for the next ones! 😩
Haze
https://thebookhaze.com/
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Oh gosh, I know! The wait is going to feel like a lifetime or ten (not to be dramatic 🤣) but I’m hoping the re-read that I’ll be doing from January until the new book releases will help ease that waiting pain a bit! I hope you enjoy books 6 and 7! Book 6 is probably one of my favourites in the series—it absolutely ruined me. I hope you enjoy it!
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Happy birthday to your mom! 11 books is still something to be proud of! Although it does feel like as soon as you cross a book off another one gets added to your list. 🤪
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The TBR is truly never ending and I love and hate it at the same time! 😂 Thanks Celeste, I hope you have an awesome October! 🙂
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Your desk set up looks great, especially for the price! I hope it holds up well.
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Thanks! I hope it keeps holding up too (so far so good until now, even if still a bit wobblier than I’d like, haha)! 🤣
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Fingers crossed!
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Happy birthday to your mom! The desk set up looks great, though a tad intimidating to me. LOL! And to me, 11 books is a lot! I hope you have great October.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
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Ngl, when I was putting it together and starting to realise how big it was, I felt pretty intimidated 🤭 It’s literally like a wall/barrier between my bed and the rest of my room’s space, haha. Thanks, Pam! I hope you have a great October as well 🙂
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Love the new desk set up!
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Thanks! It’s taking some getting used to but I’m liking how much more space I have too 🙂
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Love how the new desk set up looks like Dini, but it sounds scary if you feel like it’s going to break all the time 😅 Hopefully it’s actually sturdy and you’ll get used to it soon 🙂
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Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten any sturdier 🤣 but I’ve just learned to be a little bit more gentle when typing and putting my arms on my desk, haha. Thanks, Tasya!
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I am low-key jealous of you swivel arm monitor thing. I covet it.
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Ngl, it’s been a game changer for me 🤭 With the new desk being taller though, it’s a bit too high for me at the minute so I just gotta find a way to boost my seat (time to search for a good booster pillow, haha) 🤣
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[…] Monthly Wrap-Up: September 2025 […]
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I hope your desk holds up! It looks like a good setup.
A Natural History of Dragons was delightful; I read it several years ago. I bogged down in the second book, but my adult child Robin assures me that it gets really good toward the end, and the rest of the series stays that way.
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Dini! I am obsessed with that desk set-up, especially the keyboard. I also had a quiet reading month in September, though you smashed it compared to me lol. I’m pretty sure I’ve got A Natural History of Dragons on my TBR, so I’ll have to bump it up seeing as it was a 5* read for you. I hope you’re having a great October so far 🙂
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Dini your desk set up looks amazing!! Wishing you a wonderfull reading month for October
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Glad to see a 4 star review for Katabasis. I’ve mostly been seeing 2 and 3 stars.
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