**Well. This is overwhelming. I look through my shelves and pull off the series that I am currently in the middle of. To keep it from getting too chaotic, I only take the first book off the shelf. Even though there aren’t many books on the floor in front of me, it’s overwhelming in the fact that I know that those few books really mean more. I make a list on my parchment outlining each book in the series and mark which ones I haven’t read. I sigh. Back to it I guess.**

Welcome or welcome back to bookishcore. I thought it would be fun to talk about all of the series I am currently in the middle of. I am currently in the middle of 15 series, and I am almost done a lot of them actually. Sometimes it just takes me a while to get to the next book. There are also some that were standalones that had added sequels and some where the series just keeps getting more books, so it’s hard to get to them sometimes. If you’re interested in what series I am reading, continue on.

The first series I am in the middle of, and plan on continuing, is the Starflight series by Melissa Landers. I read Starflight in 2020 and it made its way to my top five books of that year. It takes place in space following our female protagonist Solara, a criminal who tries to hitch a ride on a spaceship to get away from Earth, which is how she meets her not-so-friendly companion Doran. This is unlike anything I have ever read before and I was a bit nervous going into it because of this reason, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved it. The book has a companion novel, Starfall, that I have not read still. I originally was not planning on reading this book seeing as how it follows different characters, but I loved the first one so much that I have to see what the second book is like.

Moving into the series I started in 2021, we have Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson. I saw this on booktube a few times and decided to check it out at the library. I was hooked and knew I had to keep reading. The story follows Stevie Bell who is an aspiring mystery solver who applies to Ellingham Academy to solve some murders that happened there years ago. This series is still being written, but there have not been any new books announced recently. So far, the only one I have yet to read is Nine Liars, which I hope to get to soon. I can’t wait to get into it and be back with Stevie Bell and her friends.

Along the same lines as Truly Devious, we have The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which I also started in 2021. This series follows Avery Grambs who finds out she inherited over forty billion dollars from a man she never met. While living at Hawthorne House, she tries to uncover the mystery of why she was chosen to inherit the money. This was another recommendation from booktube I believe, and after reading the first one I had to continue. I love Avery and the Hawthornes and the mysteries and riddles always seem so thought out, which leaves me on the edge of my seat. I am currently caught up in this series, but the next one, The Grandest Game, comes out this month.

For my 2022 reads, we first have The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. I believe this was actually another booktube recommendation. As you can tell, I get a lot of my recs from booktube. This follows a girl named Alessandra who has a plan to catch the attention of the Shadow King and then kill him and take his power for herself. I really enjoyed this book. I think what really did it for me was the romance. The story was fun, but the romance was the thing that really did me in. This was originally a standalone fantasy, but the companion, The Darkness Within Us, actually just came out.

My final series that I started in 2022 and plan on continuing is the Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo. I read several of her books before this one and enjoyed them all, so I decided to try out her first adult book. I was pleasantly surprised when reading Ninth House for the first time. I love the Alex Stern universe and really enjoy spending time with the characters as they learn about ghosts, demons, and secret societies, all while studying at Yale. The series has two books out so far, both of which I have read, out of about three planned.

Next, we move onto the series I started in 2023, which has the most. First up, we have Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter. I saw a lot of people talking about it online and decided to give it a try for myself, and I’m glad I did, considering it was my favorite book of last year. We follow our main character, Liz Buxbaum, as she tries to create her own rom-com worthy life with the help of her next-door-enemy, Wes Bennett. I loved the story and loved Liz and Wes even more. I felt like I could see myself in Liz in some aspects, which made the reading experience all the better. The sequel should be coming out sometime in fall.

On the note of Lynn Painter, I also started the Mr.Wrong Number series. This is her adult romance, and I actually really liked it, surprising only by the fact that I don’t read/like much adult. This one is about a twenty-something-year-old named Olivia who gets a wrong number text. They strike up a texting relationship, but little does she know that the wrong number is her brother’s best friend Colin. I picked this one up after reading BTTM, and enjoyed it enough to want to continue. I don’t know how many books are planned for the series, but I do know that it has a sequel out called The Love Wager.

Around the same time I started BTTM, I also started the A Trial of Sorcerers series by Elise Kova. I have been trying to get into more independently published books, and decided to give this one a try since I know Elise Kova is pretty popular. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and plan to read the rest at some point. It follows our main character who has ice powers and decides to enter a magical competition. It’s kind of reminiscent of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This series is planned for five books I believe, with one more yet to come out. I have only read the first one so far but can’t wait to continue.

Next up is a very popular one, which is The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. I actually read another of her books in 2018, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and enjoyed it. The reason I picked up this other one though is to try and understand the hype. I always pick up books that interest me, but every so often I read one just to figure out why it is so popular. The Cruel Prince follows a human named Jude as she lives her life in the realm of fae. I was not the biggest fan of this book, and I was especially not fond of Cardan, the male main character, but I am willing to continue because this first book seems like the start to the series, so I hope that the other two are a bit better.

Next we have the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This is yet another one I saw in a booktube video and decided to try out. I never read a book with aliens in it so I wanted to see what it was like. So yes, this is a sci-fi following a girl with alien neighbors. Was it a bit cheesy? Yes. But that doesn’t always matter because it was cheesy in a way where I still enjoyed the book and want to see what happens next. I actually only have one more book in this series, Opposition, but I want to read one of the novellas as well.

I actually ended up starting the Chronicles of Narnia series last year as well. This is very different from what I normally read, since it is for a younger audience and it’s a bit of an older read, but I have been a bit intrigued by this series for a few years now and finally decided to give it a shot. If you don’t know what this series is about, it follows four kids as they find their way into the magical land of Narnia. The first book in this series I read was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and it was very atmospheric and just felt overall very magical. After that, I went back and read The Magician’s Nephew, since it is recommended to start with that one, and I just finished Prince Caspian this morning, and can’t wait to start the next one. I’m hoping to make my way through the rest of the series this summer.

The next series that I am currently in the middle of and have plans to continue with is the Monsters series by Vanessa Len. I saw someone talking about this in a video and I had some interest but not enough to make me go out of my way to buy it. I saw it at the store one day and decided to finally just check it out because otherwise it could be one of those books that’s been on my radar for years and I still want to read it. I actually really enjoyed it and it had a lot of different components I loved, like time travel. Only a Monster, the first book in this planned trilogy, follows a girl named Joan who is actually a monster, and the boy she likes is a monster hunter. There’s a lot more to it than just that, so I recommend checking out a description online. I recently read the second book, so I can’t wait for when the third one is announced.

Lastly, for 2023, we have the Rowan & Neil series by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This starts with the book Today Tonight Tomorrow. This book follows a girl named Rowan on her last day of high school. They have a tradition of doing a scavenger hunt on the last day, so she has to beat her high school enemy and greatest competitor, Neil, one last time. The thing that I really liked about this book was the discussion on ending high school and it being a day of lasts for a lot of things. I fell like there are not many books focusing on the last day of high school, or even just stories about getting older and things changing, so I really enjoyed the discussions this one had on that. I still have to read the sequel to this book that came out this year.

Next up, we have the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, the first of my 2024 series. This series is an adult fantasy following a girl named Violet as she attends a war college as a dragon rider. I talked a lot about this one in my review, so I recommend giving that a read if you haven’t already to see some of my more in-depth thoughts. I also really enjoyed the sequel Iron Flame, and can’t wait for Onyx Storm in January.

My final series that I am in the middle of is the King of Scars duology by Leigh Bardugo. I read King of Scars in February and gave it 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it while reading, but it’s definitely not my favorite by the author. This series follows characters that we meet throughout the rest of the Grishaverse books, with some new perspectives and conflicts. It wasn’t my favorite, and while I enjoyed it while reading the book, I don’t really think much of it or that highly of it now that I finished. I do plan on reading the sequel though sometime this year..

Let me know any series that you are currently in the middle of. I have a lot that I plan to start at some point, but I want to finish some of these first since there are a decent amount. Thanks for reading. 

xoxo,

Just another reader