Official 2025 Reading Challenge

[SportsFan68]

I finished Never Flinch by Stephen King, not nearly as good as the earlier Holly Gibneys IHMO.

Back to book club books, I read The invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, James by Percival Everett, and Canyon Sacrifice by Scott Graham.

[Earl the Squirrel]

May Reads

Nothing much to look at here. I was still reading, but I was dividing my time between a half dozen or more books and not finishing anything.

Strangers in Time - David Baldacci

The Quiet Tenant - Clemence Michallon

Killing Me (Amber Jamison #1) - Michelle Gagnon

Last Wool and Testament (Knit and Nibble Mystery #12) - Peggy Erhardt

41/100

All from the library, I just finished what I had to for expiration reasons.

Ironically enough, for all of the time travel books I read, Strangers in Time had nothing to do with that. It was about three disparate people (both in age and background) coming together during the London blitzes of WWII.

Killing Me was a fun, quick read. I finished the second one in June and am hoping for a longer series showcasing the same characters.

[Earl the Squirrel]

I finished Never Flinch by Stephen King, not nearly as good as the earlier Holly Gibneys IHMO.

Back to book club books, I read The invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, James by Percival Everett, and Canyon Sacrifice by Scott Graham.

I agree about Never Flinch. There was just too much going on with not much happening. I didn't care anything about the Kate storyline, even though that was Holly's main involvement, so it could have been cut completely. Instead of all that, give more time to the Juror murders. It was just line em up and mow em down no name strangers, so the body count didn't really have an impact. I would have liked to maybe get those written from the victims' POV, so we'd actually care a bit about them.

And is there ANYTHING Barbara doesn't excel at? C'mon, Steve...

Did you finish Addie LaRue? I read that a few years ago and absolutely LOVED it! It's a bit slow to start off, but so worth it. I have her latest one on hold at the library, I started off in the 100s but don't know where I am now. Hopefully they've gotten a few more copies since then.

[Earl the Squirrel]

I am currently reading The Guest House by Robin Morgan-Bentley. This is a new author to me. Other books I've recently read....The St. Ambrose School For Girls by Jessica Ward, Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus, Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, The Warehouse by Rob Hart, The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine, The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley, The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir by Diana Welch, Liz Welch, Amanda Welch, Dan Welch, The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley. The Warehouse is different from the books I typically read and took me a bit to get into it, but I ultimately enjoyed it. There is something from the book that I can't stop thinking about and it kind of makes me think of a particular Bored Merrymen, but I won't spoil it! The Kids Are All Right is a book I've been wanting to read for a while, and no other book has ever made me cry more, but I'm glad I read it. I really enjoyed The Last Mrs. Parrish and have The Next Mrs. Parrish waiting for me once I finish The Guest House. Liv Constantine is actually the pen name of two sisters who write together, living three states apart. The Last Mrs. Parrish took place in a fictional CT. town, so I wondered if perhaps one of the sisters lives in New England or even here in CT. Well, I just found out last week that she actually lives in the same town as me! I always donate my books once I'm done and am happy to forward along any that anyone here might be interested in reading!

Okay, I read the blurb for The Warehouse because you piqued my curiosity, but I'm just not in to futuristic dystopia stuff so you'll have to spoil it for me, ha!

Did you read Atmosphere yet? Yep, TJR has done it again, made me vaguely interested in a subject that I thought would bore me to tears. It helped that it was set in the 70s, so I knew some of the history. Most of the space program stuff I know about Is 60s and 70s just because we learned about it as it was happening in school. She also (as usual) made me cry buckets...

As far as living in the same town, I just recently found out that Rebecca Yarros lives in my town! They're doing a Fourth Wing night at an Avalanche game and apparently crashed the ticket queue with 40k people or so vying for 20k tickets. Meanwhile, as much as I like several of her books, I am having a hard time getting the Onyx Storm...

[a1mamacat]

Just recently discovered PD James. Damn this woman is incredible. I have yet to figure out the endings.

Also enjoying Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat who series. Fun stuff.

Also re-reading Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, I have the entire collection, probably about 50

[Earl the Squirrel]

June

*denotes a Kindle Unlimited book

Slaying You (Amber Jamison #2) - Michelle Gagnon

Gothictown - Emily Carpenter

*The Indomitable Lives of Tuesday West (Middle Falls Time Travel #22) - Shawn Inmon

*Taming of the Brew (Supernatural Speakeasy Cozy Mystery #15) - Lily Harper Hart

Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid

46/100

The cream of the crop was obviously the Middle Falls book (I've gone on before about this series and just discovered that he's started another one set in London with a co-writer, yay!!) and Atmosphere, which I talked about in my response to Hottie.