Monday 10th February
06:55 Good morning and welcome to another weekly reading blog! It’s crazy to me that I’ve kept this up for 44 weeks now, in a row! But I love looking back on what I read.
Now, this week is both Valentine’s Day and Galentine’s Day so I’m hoping to fit some romance into my reading this week, but let’s face it I’m on a crime thriller kick at the moment so who knows where I’ll end up? Still, who doesn’t love a good grisly murder book and this is the time of year for love!
I’m starting this week off with an audiobook cause I’m basic but it’s at least a romance, yay! I’m currently listening to The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. This book follows Robert Kincaid a photographer a free spirit, searching for the covered bridges of Madison County and Francesca Johnson, the game wife waiting for the fulfilment of a childhood dream… or so the synopsis said. I’ve heard of this book but I still don’t 100% know what it’s about, so I’ll let you know when I know. I’m off to listen to this story now and I’ll speak to you all later!
16:50 I wasn’t expecting to finish The Bridges of Madison County so fast but I have.
I know obviously know what this book is about. It’s about an Italian war bride called Francesca who lives with her husband and kids on a farm in Iowa. At some point in the 60s she meets a photographer called Robert and they have a four day long affair that changes both of their lives.
Sold to me as a great love story, did it play up to the hype? Yeah I think so. It felt like that kind of whimsical love story you get in Nicholas Spark books which I like. I did struggle with how I felt about the love story being an affair, I don’t like affairs but with fiction I think sometimes for it to be enjoyable you have to put some of your real life feelings aside. When I did put that aside I did enjoy it.
But this book, for me at least, was a little bit boring. Not a lot really happened. And I really struggled with how realistic the adult children who found out about the affair of their mother reacted to it, seemed a bit strange to me. Maybe I’m struggling a bit cause it’s not a murder and I love a murder! Anyway, I’m giving this 3.5 stars.
Talking about murder, I bought a book today!
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid. I know this isn’t the first book in this series but I find with crime fiction that you can kinda pick up any book in a series and it’s a fine standalone without the other books. Plus it was Ā£2.99 so I’m happy.
Not a clue what I’m gonna read next. Might pick up another audiobook (is anyone shocked?). I’ll speak to you all soon!
Wednesday 12th October
09:43 So yesterday I decided to pick up the audiobook of Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault that Changed a Presidency by Bill O’Reilly and Marty Dubard. 
This is a nonfiction book about the life of Ronald Reagan from his days as a Hollywood actor to his presidency, the assassination attempt on his life and then his years after this till his death. I thought this book was fantastic at balancing views and came across as very neutral. Although some of this book seemed a bit dramatised, I still felt like I learnt a lot from it. I’m giving this four stars.
I’m off from work today and tomorrow so I plan on reading some physical books (hopefully more than one) and I’m starting with The Murders at White House Farm by Carol Ann Lee. So I’ll be back when I have an update for you.
Thursday 13th February
08:59 Good morning! I had a bit of a down day yesterday but I’m feeling a bit more like me today and I did read so I have an update for you! I read the first 2 chapters of The Murders at White House Farm but I just wasn’t feeling it. So, I picked up the audiobook of Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire and I’m now half way through this and listening to it now. I also picked up Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill which has put the Nirvana song by the same name in my head but I’m about 100 pages into this and I’m enjoying them both so I’m gonna listen to some more of my audiobook and hopefully finish both of these today!
10:21 I’ve finished Come Tumbling Down!
This is the 5th book in the Wayward Children series that follows a school where kids going when they’ve been through a door to a magical land and have been forced back to our world. I like these books because I love the magical realism and how it’s really a metaphor for the horrible things some children go through in real life. I think this series does an amazing job of being incredibly well written and entertaining as well as being dark and thought provoking. I honestly think the more I stop and muse over these books the more I get out of them and these can easily be read by adults who will get something completely different out of them than older kids will. Saying on this, this book just didn’t hit the mark for me. It didn’t have the same magic as the other books and honestly it felt to me like it wasn’t even the same author writing it. I gave it 2.5 stars and I’m hoping the next book will be back on track! Let me know in the comments what you think about this series, am I right or am I wrong?
Saturday 15th February
05:09 Good morning, it’s the weekend yay! I woke up at 4am this morning so I thought I’d get some reading DONE. I’ve just finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill.
This is about a middle aged rock star called Judas who is drunk on money and power and younger women who he treats like absolute garbage. He also has an obsession with the macabre, collecting all sorts of strange and horrible things. When his assistant sees a ghost for sale Judas snaps it up. Judas receives a black, heart shaped box in the post which contains not only the suit of a dead man but the dead man’s spirit too. The ghost happens to be the step father of a young groupie that Judas had used up and thrown away and who had sadly killed herself afterwards. Determined to get his revenge for his step daughter, the ghost is ready to destroy Judas.
I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. What starts off as a horror book turns into an unravelling mystery filled with the horrors of the real world as well as the supernatural. I thought this was so cleverly written and there was a twist in this book that I didn’t see coming, completely blew my mind. I’m gonna add trigger warnings at the bottom of this; but they are spoilery so if you don’t think you need them, AVOID! I’m giving this 4.5 stars.
I’m now carrying on with the audiobook of Yes No Maybe So. I’m currently coming up to half way through this book and it’s so cute so far! Can’t wait to see what happens in this book. Talk to you later.
16:20 Good afternoon my lovelies. I just finished Yes No Maybe So by Becki Albertalli and Aisha Saeed.
This book follows two teens Jamie and Maya as the fates bring them together to work on a political campaign that shapes them both. This is the kind of YA I love. Yes it was incredibly sweet, I loved the stories and the friendships and the family dynamics and the love story. But I also loved the messages of tolerance this book produced in such a natural way, the use of American politics that so closely resemble the state of American (and more) politics at the moment. I love that it interwove topics like racism, religion, privilege and teenage troubles together into a story you really got behind. The ending made me cry for a multitude of reasons and I loved it. I’m giving this book 4.5 stars.
I’m now gonna pick up a review book I was gifted called The Twin by Natasha Preston, I’ll let you know how I get on with it!
Sunday 16th February
08:40 Hello lovely people! It’s Sunday, it’s the last day of my reading blog this week AND I’m off work so I’m gonna see how much reading I can get done. I got about 3 chapters into The Twin last night and I’m excited to carry on with this today because I’m curious!
I also picked up the audiobook of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I picked this up because although I’ve seen the tv show when I was a kid I’ve never read the books and I’m partially named after Laura from these books. My mum loves this series so I wanted to pay a tribute to my cool mum and here I am. I’m nearly finished with this now so I’ll be back real soon to tell you how I got on.
Oh and I’m also very excited cause I ordered new books and they are coming today šššššššššššš.
09:16 Honestly I didn’t think I was THAT close to the end of my audiobook but here we are and I just finished Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
This is of course a children’s historical fiction book but I really liked it. I felt like I was there with them, in their little house in the woods while they lived their day to day lives. It was fun reading this from little girl Laura’s perspective. It’s full of all those things you try and instil in children and I thought it was sweet. I might carry on with the series but I’ll see. I’m giving this 4 stars.
Now I’m gonna carry on with The Twin and not get distracted by YouTube I SWEAR!
13:44 I just finished The Twin and reviewed it!
I’m dying to share with you all my thoughts on this but I’m on a blog tour for this book and my stop isn’t till the 22nd so you’re gonna have to wait till then to read my review. But on the whole I really enjoyed this book and gave it 4 stars, one to watch out for in the future.
Also my book delivery honestly just arrived and I couldn’t be happier cause it’s full of books I can’t wait to get too!
I’m obsessed with the first 2 graphic novel’s in this series and now I’ve got my hands on the third one, I’m gonna binge read it this afternoon cause I know it’s gonna be so blooming good!
I saw this on someone’s Instagram and I knew I had to get it. Really hoping for Call Me By Your Name vibes with this one. It’s a lot smaller than I thought it was gonna be, not a criticism, just an observation.
Finally I picked up this gorgeous edition of Little Women cause I listen to the audiobook recently and saw the film and I’m so into it. I feel like I’m probably gonna reread this soon and why not when I’ve got such a gorgeous edition of it to read!
17:00 I couldn’t help myself, I finished the WHOLE of Heartstopper volume 3 by Alice Oseman.
This series follows 2 boys finding out who they are through high school. It’s also an incredibly sweet love story. I’m not gonna say anything about this book because it’s the 3rd volume in this graphic novel series and I don’t wanna spoil it but I loved it. 5 stars from me. If you’re looking for a graphic novel series that’s insanely cute and full of heart then you need to check this out!
That’s gonna be the end of this reading blog for me so I can spend some time with my hubby tonight before the working week starts, so here’s my wrap up! I read 8 books this week. 3 were physical books and 5 were audiobooks. Out of the 3 physical books I read, I only took one from my TBR shelf but it had been there for about a year (Heart-Shaped Box) so I’m glad I finally got to read that.
My most disappointing read of the week was The Bridges of Madison County, I just didn’t really dig it the way everyone else did and that’s ok. My mum has told me I HAVE to watch the film so that’ll be coming up in the future.
My favourite book this week has to be Heartstopper volume 3! But big shout outs to Yes No Maybe So and Heart-shaped Box; both of which I didn’t have the highest expectations for but they both blew me out of the water.
Thank you for joining me in another weekly reading blog and I’ll see you all next week!
Trigger warnings for Heart Shaped Box: suicide, murder, self harm, domestic abuse, drug use, corse and aggressive language, sex, sexual abuse, pedophilia and childhood sexual abuse, gruesome imagery and a LOT of blood.
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