Oh wow, another quarter of the year is gone, which mean we are halfway through 2026. It’s time to look back at 2026 Q2!
In the 2026 quarterly updates, I do a quick recap of the reading I did, pick 5 of my favorite reads, and also report on how I progressed with my different reading challenges. All of these are based on my reading goals for 2026 post, which you are welcome to check out! I will also add some updates from other areas of my life, such as board gaming, writing, and my favorite feature from my newsletter, a mini playlist!
So, here goes my quarterly updates for 2026 Q2!
The Good, The Bad, and Everything in Between
Womble’s TBR Reduction
Year in Aeldia
The Sound of Madness
Writing
Board Gaming
The Playlist
Okay, sorry, but I can’t help myself sneaking in just a tiny little bit of life update. I don’t have a bucket list, but if I had, visiting the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna definitely would have been toward the top. It’s the closest zoo to me that has pandas, and I’ve been planning to go for a good while now. In May it finally happened and I went on a short trip, and I got to see them up close! They didn’t do much besides eating and they were only out for a short time, but STILL! I also went to two very good concerts in June to see Barns Courtney, and my favorite band ever, Breaking Benjamin. Now that’s off my chest, let’s have a look at some stats and books!
Between April 1st and July 1st, I opened 12 books (4 less than in Q1) + 1 I’m still reading, but that’ll count for Q3, so let’s ignore that. I didn’t DNF any, although I was close to it with one. Out of the 12 books, 2 were rereads. As for format, 7 were audiobooks and 5 were ebooks. 3 of the 12 books were ARCs.
So all that means is that I’m 62.5% done with my GR goal – I once again set the number to 40. And I thought that would be a hard number to reach this year. Well, sometimes we have to eat our own words.
Out of the 12 books, 6 were on the list I set up as my shortened TBR in my Reading Goals for 2026 post, which is more than I expected, honestly.
The books I loved the most in 2026 Q2
Out of the 12 books, I gave 5 crowns to 5 (although two of those were rereads, so you know…) and two 4.5 crowns. As always, in these mini-lists, I’ll focus on highlighting those that I think have the potential to end up on my top 10 reads of 2026 list, regardless of what scoring I gave it. Sometimes books I initially scored lower are the ones that stay with me the most. I will not pick rereads, because I obviously loved them previously, so I’d like to give the spotlight to newcomers. The books are listed in the order I’ve read them.
How to Fake It in Society by KJ Charles is her latest stand alone regency era M/M romance. Take a poor gentleman who makes paints as a living, then suddenly becomes very rich due to certain circumstances, and an extroverted count who is the life of society and expected to be the receiver of said money. Secrets, deranged characters, and an unlikely friendship. And then some. I read an ARC so there is actually a full review!
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is a standalone fantasy/mystery novel I had my eyes on for a while. I picked up the audiobook on a whim and I did not regret it. Take 12 heirs with magical abilities are locked on a ship for 12 days, and they mostly can’t really stand each other. What could go wrong? Absolutely fucking everything, especially once they start dropping dead one by one. Witty narrator POV, mystery, twists, and forced alliances as well as fun and unique characters. This is a fun one.
Dead and Buried by Michael Dylan is the sixth book in the DI Simon Wise crime thriller series, and which seems to have embedded itself onto these mini lists. I think I gushed enough about this series, so go and read it! Or my review linked below. Either works for me.
Mortedant’s Peril by RJ Barker is the start of a brand new series that mixes fantasy and mystery elements. If you like RJ’s writing and his unhinged worldbuilding, you are not going to be disappointed. Irody Hasp has the ability to read the final thoughts of the dead. Which he needs to use to solve a murder mystery and hopefully save the city he calls home.
Shadow of Madness by D. V. Bishop is the sixth book in the Cesare Aldo historical fiction/mystery series, in which Aldo and Saul gets stuck in the hospital for the criminally insane searching for answers. But where Aldo goes murder is likely to happen.
After the very good start to Womble’s reading challenge, things didn’t go entirely my way, but I’m still happy about the progress I made. In 2026 Q2, out of the 3 prompts, I finished 2!
April – Sidetrips: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog. The prompt was to read an indie/self-published book. I had Bloodlines on my TBR for a good few years now, so it was really time to pick it up.
May – Freedom!: Voyage of the Damned by Frances White. Well, technically, I’m not 100% sure whether I had this added to any of my TBRs, but I sure had my eyes on it for a while now, and I picked it up on a whim, so it’ll be good enough.
June – Equinoxes: Yeah, reading a 500+ pages book was never going to happen, lol.
Book Roast’s Year in Aeldia reading challenges are always fun, and I loved the board game style last year. (Un)Fortunately, G decided not to come up with anything new this year, so we get the same board game map and prompts, but since there are four different paths to choose from, it’s quite understandable. In 2025, I took the path that led to 12C, a place that’s indicated with musical notes, so, you know, I was kind of obliged to, lol. This year I’m taking the B path and visit the sea side which is also very characteristic for me. Luckily the prompts are mostly in my favor so it shouldn’t be too challenging. The pros of taking a break from reading obligations is that I can accommodate my reading however I wish, meaning I can easily prioritise books based on whatever challenge I’m focusing on.
April – 4B – Find winter cloak (book by an author with a W in their name): The Puppet Show by M.W. Craven. Two birds with one stone, as I had this book on my shortened TBR.
May – 5B – Enter cave (read a dystopia): Bloodlines by Peter Hartog. If you paid close attention, you might have noticed, that I picked this book for April in Womble’s challenge and for May here. That’s because I technically read it in both – started in April, finished in May. I picked it up on a whim and didn’t notice I should have waited until May, and since I don’t really read dystopia…well… but it turned out well in the end as I did read it in both months…
June – 6B – Solve traps (read a mystery book): Shadow of Madness by D. V. Bishop. An easy prompt if I ever saw one. And since I had an ARC for Shadow of Madness, once again, the stars aligned for me.
In 2026 Q2, I decided to add 5 books (tentatively) to The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge card. It’s always a slow start, as I’m never quite sure if something better will come along. Anyway, for now I decided to put another 5 on the board, which I might or might not change later on. Here they are:
- The Puppet Show by C.W. Craven for AFTER YOU
- Voyage of the Damned by Frances White for RIVER
- How to Fake It in Society by KJ Charles for FALSE CONFIDENCE
- Shadow of Madness by D. V. Bishop for UNCOMFORTABLE
- The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North for SCUMBAG
Here is what my card looks like right now:
Writing updates is one of the main feature in my newsletter, so if you are a regular reader of that, then I probably won’t have a lot of extra info for you, and so you get my permission to skip this section.
I seem to have gotten settled into a rythym where I write about 2K a month – sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. On one hand, it’s great, because constancy, on the other hand, a bit frustrating, because I really wanted to get done with the draft of part 1, and I *still* have two half chapters to go. And I *could* do more, but for some reason, I either get a block, or I need to prioritise reading for a bit, or work/stress gets in the way. Nonetheless, Inkfeather is shaping up nicely, and once I get done with this damned draft, I can go back, edit it and have a much clearer picture of where everything is headed. I made some changes on the way, got new ideas that I might need to go back and implement at an earlier point, but anyway, I’m working out the kinks one step at a time. Part 1 currently stands at 29.601 words, and with not a lot left to go, my prediction for around 30K still stands. Although might be closer to 35K by the time I get it done, lol.
On other news, back in March I wrote a 2K short story titled Purgatory Blues that’s available now! I’ve got some very nice comments about it from author friends whose work I admire myself, so I’m pretty proud of it. I see more stories in the same world, so I’m planning to return to it at some point. I wrote it for a new online zine, Murderhobo, run by Michael McClung, an indie author, who is best known of his Amra Thetys series, which I very highly recommend! You can check out the zine’s main website, read the current issue and if you have something available, Mike is always welcoming contributors, so you might as well check what themes he has coming up!
Last year I took up board gaming and started building my own collection. I’m picking up games that have solo mode as I generally play on my own, which isn’t as much fun, but what can I do? This year, I also started going to board gaming events to a nearby board game cafe in an attempt to 1) try out other games and 2) make some actual friends. I’m going about 3/4 times a month now and it’s doing a lot of good for my mental state and also my non-existent social skills, lol. So I thought I would talk a bit about the games I get/play with in these quarterly updates.
New Board Games in My Collection
By the end of 2025, I owned 13 games (you can check out my collection on BoardGameGeek). I was going to say I didn’t get as many new games as I was on a tight budget, but turns out, I bought exactly the same amount as in Q1. Oops.
In 2026 Q2 I added 6 more, in no particular order (the games are linked to their respective BGG page):
- Harmonies – This is a game I’m really fond of. It’s easy to play, you have to put tiles down while trying to collect as many points based on animal cards as you can. It’s quick, easy to play and there isn’t two similar games. I recently got the rythm expansion, that has a panda card! These cards objectives are also can be mirrored so that adds some extra challenge. Although they should have marked these cards somehow because I already don’t know which are the new ones – good thing I wrote a list before I shuffled them into the pack.
- Cascadia: Rolling Hills – It’s pretty much the same as the Rolling Rivers, the scroll and write version of the original Cascadia game. With slightly different dices. The two versions can be combined so it gives a lot of variations. This is still a game I like to pick up when I want something quick and easy.
- Tabriz – I’ve got this game after playing Century: Spice Road, as it’s a bit similar but it has solo mode, which is one of my main requirements for buying board games for myself. It’s a bit on the complex side, but it works very well in solo, and I did manage to beat the easy level opponent, so while it’s challenging it’s not impossible and I like that.
- The Hanging Gardens – This is a simple tableau building game, where you get some objectives you want to meet and then other things that give you extra points at the end. It’s not also pretty quick and works well solo. Not gonna say it’s my favorite, but it has a nice theme and it’s easy to set up so that’s a bonus.
- Ganz Schön Clever Royal – Okay, so there is a whole Ganz Schön Clever series – I think there are 4 now – and this one is a mix of them. It’s simple game, you have to roll dice, decide which one to pick and collect points based on different criteria. There are basically 5 mini games going on. It’s quick, easy to pick up anywhere, anytime and it’s never the same.
- The Four Doors – I bought this one because it wasn’t expensive and also seemed like a quick, interesting game where you have to put down cards and try to reach the top of the lighthouse without dying in the process. I only played it twice, maybe when I got it, but wasn’t impressed. It might work better with more people as it’s a cooperative game. Maybe I’ll give it another go.
Board Games Played in 2026 Q2
In this section, I’m going to tell you about some of the board games I got to try both at the board game café events I’m attending regularly and on Board Game Arena which I just discovered, and might be in danger of being addicted to, and is worth mentioning. If you are on BGA, please let me know!
- Century: Spice Road – So as I mentioned above, this game really was up my alley – I mean, I even won at the board game event where I tried it out, so hey! It’s a game where you have to manage cards, with which you can collect spices, which then you can pay to get objective cards which earn you points. It was up on Board Game Arena as well, but I only managed to play once, before it was taken down for reasons. I hope they’ll work out whatever issue they have with the publisher, because I’d love to play it more.
- Postcards – This is a fun game! Your goal is to stamp and send a certain number of postcards. You can collect bonuses along the way that also help you and can move all over a map of France. I got to try this one when someone brought it to the cafe and we stayed to play after an event. To my delight, it’s also available on Board Game Arena so I can play with it whenever I want.
- Takenoko – This is a game I had my eyes on for a while now, but since it doesn’t have solo mode, I didn’t feel justified to buy it. Enter BGA, and I finally got to play! I also got a bit addicted, lol. It’s not too complex in itself, but it’s fun, because there are 3 different ways you can collect points based on objective cards – you can feed the panda the required bamboo pieces, grow bamboo based on the requirements and create plots, again, based on requirements. It’s a fun game, but also super frustrating when you get all the steps in your head and then someone comes and moves the panda or the gardener away, or puts down a tile where you don’t want it.
- Camel Up – OMG, I think the most fun I ever had at a board game event so far was when we played this game. I stayed way too late and had regrets the next day, but was so worth it. I didn’t win, but oh well. In this one camels are racing to reach the finish line, and you have to make bets on how they will finish, but of course there are also obstructions. This is a game that’s better played with more people, I think we had 5-6 people?
As I mentioned in the intro of this post, circa a hundred years ago, one of my personal favorite feature of my newsletter is the mini playlist I include each month with 5 songs. I’m not going to feature all 15 of them here, just my top 5 (I’m going to have so many regrets), if you want more, sign up to my newsletter 😛 The songs are linked to Spotify.
- My Mess by Myles Smith: My Mess is the title song of Myles Smith’s new EP. It’s a catchy one, but if you stop and pay attention to the lyrics, it cuts deep. There is one particular verse I can really connect with.
- Lost Soul by The HU feat. Jonny Hawkins: The collab I never knew I needed in my life until this song dropped. The HU partnered up with great singers before, and the lead singer of Nothing More was another excellent choice on their part. And this song slays. The HU’s new album comes out in July!
- I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin: I Will Not Bow is hands down my favorite Breaking Benjamin song, and they opened their concert with this one! I hope they played it later, because I so wasn’t ready for it, lol. Oh well, I got to hear it live, so I’m happy with that.
- Glitter & Gold by Barns Courtney: Again, a super obvious choice given that I got to see him, and hear this song live, which was great. No notes.
- Jungle by Jamie N Commons, X Ambassadors: I’ve been on a nostalgia kick in June, and this song came up and man, I do love it. Jamie has an incredible voice, definitely recommend checking out his discography.
And that concludes my Quarterly Updates for 2026 Q2. On the whole, I’m doing well with my different challenges, so for now, I’m happy with my progress. Let’s hope I can keep it up for Q3 as well! I’d love to hear about how you are doing with your challenges so far, so feel free to comment below!
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