Last year my Reading Challenge target was 8 books. As someone who doesn't read a huge amount it felt realistic. I exceeded that by reading 15.
This year I've set my challenge at 11. Even though I managed 15 last year and could have had that as my goal this year I again wanted to be realistic. I didn't want to set something that might not be manageable and feel like I failed.
If I manage to exceed this years target then next year I will go a lot higher.
6 and a half weeks into 2025 and I've read 5 books already! Now, 2 of these were audiobooks so I guess its controversial that I've added them as a book I've read BUT they still take time to listen to, as books take time to read...and in the time it took me to listen to those I could have probably read two books. (Why am I justifying this?)
So, 5 books done. 2 audiobooks narrated by the person the book was about (I don't think I would listen to a fiction book as audio) and 3 more Freida McFadden books done! Maybe I'll hit my target after all!
One by One by Freida McFadden My rating: 4 of 5 starsOnce again Freida managed to trick me again! One day I will predict an ending correctly. I was hooked on this. I find her books so easy to read and they drawer me in so quickly.
The suspense, the characters, everything.
Only tiny downside, I do feel like some points are repeated a lot in the stories. For this one “I miss my children”. I get that Claire would have missed her children but the sentence felt slightly like it was a copy and paste to get the word count up when it wasn’t necessary.
Other than that, HIGHLY recommend!
The Inmate by Freida McFadden My rating: 4 of 5 starsOnce again, thought I’d guessed the ending and didn’t! Very clever. Really good book BUT this is the first one I’ve read where the ending felt a little bit like “how did you do that?” “Why did you do that?”
In terms of twists and turns, really good and definitely kept me guessing all the way through.
Open Book by Jessica Simpson My rating: 5 of 5 starsFirst time I’ve "read"/listened to an audiobook and paid attention to it and not let it help me sleep.
I have been a fan of Jessica Simpson since she first started. As a big fan of Newlyweds and her with Nick Lachey I knew I’d find this hard (yes, I’m still not over the fact they didn’t make it) but it was amazing.
I love how honest she was. I feel like I love her more than before!
Quite by Claudia Winkleman My rating: 5 of 5 starsI listened to the audiobook version of this. I tried reading the paperback but the audiobook version was much better because of Claudia reading it herself.
What is there not to love about this? (Other than the fact I am not a Strictly fan so don't really get the Strictly references)
It shows off her down to earth, authentic side and just makes me want to be best friends with her even more!
Absolutely loved it.
The Teacher by Freida McFadden My rating: 4 of 5 starsShe’s done it again! This time I thought I’d sussed it out. And then bam, the twist comes and I realised, of course, she wouldn’t make it easy.
At one point I thought that I didn’t get the fuss of the book (this was at the point I thought I’d sussed it out) but at the end….I got the fuss with the book.
Very good!
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