Let’s Talk Bookish: Underrated Books | 1/23/26 – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where every Friday, bloggers write discussion posts based on a weekly prompt and Dini @ dinipandareads has cohosted since the beginning of 2025.

This week’s topic is:

January 23: Underrated Books (Leyre @ Read You Leyre)

Prompts: What makes a book “underrated”? Did you read any books in 2025 that you think are underrated? Did you read any books with underrated tropes (or micro tropes) or genres? What are some of your favourite “underrated” reads from 2025 and of all time?

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What makes a book “underrated”?

I feel like underrated books are books without much promotion or hype. It might because it’s an indie book or just an author with a small publisher.

Did you read any books in 2025 that you think are underrated?

Definitely!

Did you read any books with underrated tropes (or micro tropes) or genres?

Underrated tropes are hard to fine – at least in the books I read! I read very overused tropes. 😅

What are some of your favourite “underrated” reads from 2025 and of all time?

Daggermouth by. H.M. Wolfe – read this at the end of 2025 and I LOVED it. Violent, full of action and a crazy ending. I’m going to do a re-read sometime soon.
The Death-Made Prince by. Lisette Marshall – okay it’s rare we meet a MMC who isn’t good-looking but interesting looking. I feel like that’s more realistic, because not every guy is handsome lol. But this was a fun, action-filled, banter-filled story. Will re-read this soon also.
Starchaser by. R.M. Gray – this is book two in the Nightweaver series and it’s an enjoyable series! But I don’t see many people talking about it.
And the River Drags Her down by. Jihyun Yun – when I think about horror books that people don’t talk about but is hard to forget is this one.
Nightshade by. Autumn Woods – Alex was my newest book boyfriend of 2025. I loved the banter, the drama, so good, I’ll be re-reading before book two comes out this summer!

January 2026 Topics:

January 2: Top Reads in Five Words/Sentences

~~Prompts~~: What were your top 5 (or top 10) reads in 2025? If you had five words or sentences (your choice!) to describe each book and convince other readers to pick it up, how would you describe your 2025 favourites?

January 9: Bookish Trends of 2025

~~Prompts:~~ Looking back on the past year, what bookish trends have you noticed? Are certain tropes, types of blogging, or other book-related content becoming more popular? If you did this post last year (Bookish Trends of 2024), do you notice any trend changes from that post? What changes do you foresee in 2026? What bookish trend would you most want to see become popular, or come back?

January 16: Book Blogging Slumps (Danielle @ Poetry Books YA)

Prompts: People frequently talk about reading slumps, but what about blogging slumps? What gives you motivation for blogging? What makes you lose motivation? Have you ever gone through one before? How did you break out of it? What advice would you give to a book blogger who’s in one?

January 23: Underrated Books (Leyre @ Read You Leyre)

January 30: Freebie!

Prompts: You made it to the end of the month—congrats! For the fifth Friday of the month, pick your own topic. You can check out our blogs for inspiration (Aria and Dini) or write about something else you’re interested in!