 Each year, many platforms will give you a summary of what you read, watched, listened to, played, etc. That led to others doing their own wrapped about things they did during the year. Some have to do with their business, others are more personal, or a combination. In this post, I'm sharing what I accomplished as an author, while also sharing what I read, watched, and listened to during the year.
During 2025, I wrote a total of 96,086 words in my stories. This does not include the words written in my outlines for all the stories I planned this year, my blog posts, or my social media posts. I had six books released in 2025! Four were published with Decadent and I self-published the other two. Five were new stories and one I revised and republished after I got my rights back to it last year. Here are the titles: Lion’s Crossing Once Upon a Rec Center Wish 3 Secrets to Love Arranged in the Stars (formerly The Star Princess) Beared at Christmas Christmas Kane While I did not accomplish all of the writing goals I set at the beginning of the year, I did finish the second book in my City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams series & submit (Once Upon a Rec Center Wish.) I did finish the second book in my Romance Tales from the Quadrants series & submit (3 Secrets to Love.) I did not finish my dystopian story. This one has been shelved for now. I did not revise and republish all four stories I got my rights back for. But I did get one done (Arranged in the Stars.) The Christmas books did come as a surprise, as do most of the shared world stories I write. I had wanted to write another Christmas Romance since I published Hey, Santa in 2013, and I guess I doubled-down this year.  I finished 25 books this year, failing to reach my goal of 30. There were so many I started but did not finish for various reasons. The longest book I read was 419 pages and my top genres were romance, mystery & thriller, and science fiction. I did continue to diversify my reading, which resulted in another great reading year! Here are my Top 10 reads in the order I read them… The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibert Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston Built of Secrets by Jemi Fraser Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnston You Started It by Jackie Khalilieh Only Mostly Dead by Alli Temple The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen I’m going to set my goal to 30 books again and continue to read diversely.  In 2025, I listened to music on two streaming platforms. My top artist on both was BTS. My top 5 songs on each were: 1. Love Bites by Nelly Furtado, Trove Lo, and SG Lewis 2. Empress of the Damned by Gunship and Lights 3. Run Away With Me by Carly Rae Jepsen 4. Around the World by RM and Moses Sumney 5. I’ll Be There by Jin 1. Spaghetti by Le Sserafim and J-Hope 2. Fight Like a Girl by Evanescence and K. Flay 3. Hand That Feeds by Halsey and Amy Lee 4. Ma Meilleure Ennemie by Stromae, Pomme, Elyanna, Arcane, and Coldplay 5. Killin’ It Girl by J-Hope I’ve combined my top 100 playlists for each (there were many repeats) on YouTube Music. Click on the button bellow to find it.  While I tried to jot down everything I watched in 2025, I’m sure there were some I missed. Here's a list of the more memorable shows I streamed. Some of them have been out for a while, but it took me until this year to watch them. Cross S1 Zero Day S1 North of North S1 Untamed S1 Departure S1-3 A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder S1 SkyMed S1-3 Transplant S4 Heated Rivalry S1 Don’t Move (movie) From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (movie) What were your favorite shows and movies that you watched in 2025? And what do you recommend in 2026? I’m already looking forward for the next season to release of many of the above shows.  My main goal for 2026 is to stay focused. I took on too many other projects in 2025 instead of focusing on what I wanted to accomplish. Here’s what I’m focusing on in 2026... 1. Finish my MM MPreg Romance for a shared world. 2. Write the next book in my City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams series. 3. Write the next book in my Romance Tales from the Quadrants series. 4. Update the backmatter in my self-published books. 5. Revise the books in my dystopian romance series & re-publish them.   Every year, Spotify does their Wrapped summaries at the beginning of December, telling their users what songs and artists they listened to the most, along with other interesting listeners facts. They do the same for the artists, telling them their most popular songs, and where the majority of their listeners are from. This year, I saw authors and readers doing the same sort of thing, but about books. I found the template they used on Canva, and decided to make one for myself. So, if you didn't see my Wrapped on social media, here it is. Though I've added a few more tidbits here. Enjoy!
Above are my goals for 2024, none of which I accomplished. With Left On Earth, I contemplated over and over whether to make it a novella or a short story. And I wrote it as both throughout the year. In the end, I decided to make it a longer short story, but I still have a lot of writing to do for it. I plan to continue working on that story this year. With 3 Secrets, I did get some more words into the story, but it is not finished yet. I hope to finish it this year. I did work on the plot for 2 Fans, but only the first half. Not sure if I'll get to that story this year.
Though I didn't accomplish the goals I set at the beginning of 2024, I did have two book releases, and write a total of 84,415 words that doesn't include the words I removed during edits. Those words were between Once Upon a Dance Club Wish, Lion's Crossing, and my three works in progress I mention below. 2024 releases: Fox Trapped (Shifter Towers book seven) Once Upon a Dance Club Wish (City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams book one) Coming in 2025: Lion's Crossing (Shifter Towers book eight) - will be available for pre-order soon Plus more to come!
My current works in progress are: 1. City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams book two 2. Romance Tales from the Quadrants book two (working title 3 Secrets) 3. Dystopian short story (working title Left On Earth) I also asked for the rights back to four of my older stories. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't know if I would have the time to revise/rewrite them and republish them. But it is my goal to work on them this year along with my other WIPs.
Authors are not only supposed to write, but they're supposed to read, too. In 2024, it was not only my goal to write more, but also to read more. I'm a slow reader, so I set a goal of 24 books for the year. Two a month. In 2024, i surpassed that goal, reading 31 books. There were many I started but did not finish. Because I'm a slow reader, I don't have time to push through books that don't intrigue me. I never mention these books or review them, as they simply weren't meant for me. But I did read a lot of great books, the longest one being 448 pages, and the second longest at 447 pages. Plus, I tried the Fold Reading Challenge to diversity my reading. It was a great way to find many new authors and read from a variety of settings, cultures, and view points. There is another Fold Reading Challenge this year, which looks fabulous! I will not being doing it, as I already have a diverse collection of books waiting on my physical and digital bookshelves for me to read. So, my goal this year is to get through them. I'm hoping to read at least 30, though hopefully more. Plus, there are some upcoming releases that I have pre-ordered, and many more on my wish list waiting for their release. 2025 Books Pre-Ordered: You Started It by Jackie Khalilieh - May 20 Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnston - May 27  Here's a recap of the books I read in 2024 (in the order I read them): All of them were great reads, but my top 12 are in bold. Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik Gaza Writes Back Edited by Refaat Alareer The Jackal by Erin E. Adams All Systems Red by Martha Wells The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong The Red Palace by June Hur His Ducking Alpha Dragon by Lorelei M. Hart TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed by Noreen Mughees One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole Deadly Cure by Mahi Cheshire The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang Snowglobe by Soyoung Park Bad Cree by Jessica Johns Road to Ruin by Hana Lee Missing White Woman by Kellye Gerrett Pretty Furious by E.K. Johnston Delivered to My Tigers by Mazzy J. March Midwife to Destiny by Nana Prah So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole Toward Eternity by Anton Hur Love in the Air by Mariah Ankenman Dead Sound by Anise Eden The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau Sensory: Life on the Spectrum Edited by Bex Ollerton Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo What were your favorite reads of 2024?
I have many goals for 2025, many of which I already mentioned. I will be posting them in a separate post on social media, but I'll recap what I already mentioned...
Thank you for all your support over the last year!  My Favorite Reads from 2023*Please note that If I'm not enjoying a book, I won't finish it. And I don't ever rate books that I don't finish, because while a handful are bad, most of the time, they're just not for me, but I'm sure others will enjoy them.
Here's a list of my favorite reads from 2023...
Currently Reading and Enjoying...
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AuthorJessica E. Subject is a USA Today bestselling author of Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romance. Please note: Some links contain affiliate links.
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