Hello everyone! Welcome to Bibliophilia Book Reviews…again. My name is Melina, and I am a bibliophile, a lover of books, a bibliophage, an ardent reader and a bibliotaph. I hoard books. I am all things biblio. In this blog, I review books of different genres including literary fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, fantasy, YA, and others. Please feel free to turn the page and look around. Hopefully, one of my reviews will help you decide to pick up a book or not. If you’re interested in a review for your published book, please click here to get on my wish list. Happy…
BOOK REVIEW: The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto by Mario Vargas Llosa
Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. It is time to review my book club pick for February: The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto by Mario Vargas Llosa. Thank you for stopping by. Introduction Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto (The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto) is a novel by the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, first published in 1997. It is the sequel to Elogio de la madrastra (In Praise of the Stepmother), published in 1988. Elogio de la madrastra (In Praise of the Stepmother) is the story of how the conjugal bliss and happiness of don Rigoberto and his second…
JANUARY 2026: Best and Worst Books of the Month
Hi everyone. Today, I’ll be talking about the best and worst books I read in January. This month, I also DNF’d two books. Both of them, unfortunately, were fantasy books. 1. WORST BOOK OF THE MONTH: A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr Frankly, I thought I was going to love this book but I did not. A Month in the Country is “set in the aftermath of World War I and follows a war veteran’s summer of restoration – both of a medieval church painting and of his own shattered spirit. It is a ‘tale of survival and healing’…
JANUARY WRAP UP: What I Read This Month
Hi everyone! Welcome to a new year of reading. Today, I’m reviewing the books I read in January. I read 6 books this month. Here are my thoughts on all of them: 1. CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC IN SPANISH LITERATURE: Las batallas en el desierto por José Emilio Pacheco (English translation: Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco) First published in 1981, this book is the story of Carlitos, a young boy who falls in love with Mariana, his best friend’s mother. Meeting Mariana is pivotal in Carlitos’s life; in the before, he is still a child. In the after, his…
DECEMBER 2025: Best and Worst Books of the Month
Hi everyone. Today, I’ll be talking about the best and worst books I read in December. I know this post is a bit late, but it is here now. 1. WORST BOOK OF THE MONTH: The Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch This book is a historical fiction romance with a twinge of mystery that takes place from the Russian Revolution to the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The story focuses on “an epic love story” that affects the lives of three generations of Russian women, Rosie, Katya, and Tonya, whose narratives are all interconnected by Russian fairy…
TOP 15 Classic Books I Read In 2025
Hi everyone. Welcome to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I’ll be ranking the top 15 classics I read in 2025, from worst to best. Classic literature was my most read genre last year, so I wanted to let you all know which ones were my favorites and which were not. Disclaimer: this list is subjective and it reflects my personal experience reading these novels. I’m in no way saying that the books I didn’t like are bad; in fact, many people love them but, unfortunately, I did not. So, here goes: 15. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas I was deeply…
DECEMBER WRAP UP: What I Read This Month
Hi everyone! Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m reviewing the books I read in December. I read 6 books this month. Here are my thoughts on all of them: 1. HISTORICAL FICTION AND ROMANCE: The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch This book is a historical fiction romance with a twinge of mystery that takes place from 1916 to the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The story focuses on “an epic love story” that affects the lives of three generations of Russian women, Rosie, Katya, and Tonya, whose narratives are all interconnected by Russian fairy…
TOP 5 SERIES I COMPLETED IN 2025
Hi everyone. Welcome to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I’ll be ranking the series I completed in 2025, from worst to best. Here are my thoughts on all five of them: 5. Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker I picked the first book of this series up from my local library because I wanted to read more mystery/thriller books in 2025. It is a cozy mystery series and I did like the first installment. However, I did not like the second and third books. So, I stopped reading it after that. 4. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir…
FANTASY READS 2026: Book of the Month
Hi everyone. Welcome to my blog and to Fantasy Reads 2026. For January, I picked Of Darkness and Light, the second installment of The Bound and The Broken series by Ryan Cahill. Hope you can join me in this adventure. And Happy Reading!
CLÁSICOS Y MÁS: Book of the Month
Hi everyone. Welcome to my blog and to Clásicos y más. In this post I am letting you know the book I picked for the month of January. The prompt says we need to read a book of short stories so I picked “Doce cuentos peregrinos” by Gabriel García Márquez. Hope you join me!
BOOK CLUBS 2026: Clásicos y Más and Fantasy Reads 2026
Interested in reading with me this year? If so, I am starting two new book clubs in January that you are welcome to join me in. The first, Clásicos y más, is focused on reading books written and published in Spanish and the second is focused on reading more fantasy novels. I have not been reading much fantasy lately, and this year I want to get back into it. I will be running both book clubs through the Fable App and you are welcome to join me there. The links for each book club are: Clásicos y más: https://fable.co/club/clasicos-y-mas-with-melina-546324212374 Fantasy…