Hello!

I wanted to write ‘it’s been a monumental week’ to open but it’s not that deep… but I am excited! My annual reading goal for this year was 60 books and I’ve done it!

Was it a 2 star book that I previously DNFed that I forced myself to finish? Yes, but we’re not dwelling on that bit.

It took just over 9 months, so my immediate thought was to see if I can read 100 by the end of the year (I’ve never read that many books in a year before), but statistically I’m more likely to read another 20 odd books. I’m trying to remind myself that anything past my goal is just a bonus!

So I thought I’d do a round up of every book I read to get to my goal and try not to ramble about every single one of them!

Favourite: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment – James Patterson (reread)

Worst: She Who Became The Sun – Shelley Parker-Chan

A mixed reading month for sure – Lovelight Farms was the book I didn’t finish before the end of 2024, then I read a couple of other books before starting my Fourth Wing reread ahead of the release of Onyx Storm (except I didn’t plan it very well and didn’t leave enough time to read Onyx Storm on release).

Favourite: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven – Juno Dawson

Worst: Spiral – Bal Khabra

A wildly successful reading month in the shortest month of the year, I really baffled myself with this one! I managed to finish my monthly TBR, I ticked a couple more off my physical TBR and I also took a trip to the book town in Wales, Hay-On-Wye, so it was my biggest spending month too 😂

Favourite: Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell (reread)

Worst: The Churchill Factor – Boris Johnson

This is where I started to notice the pattern that a really good reading month is followed by a bit of a slump month – both The Churchill Factor and Oathbound took me ages to finish, but I did reread my favourite book of all time, Fangirl, so it all balanced out!

Favourite: Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris

Worst: How Not To Travel The World – Lauren Juliff

Another good month! A good book from the wedding library, a fun reread for another book club, some fun new releases and a good dent in my 25 in 2025. A mixed bag for sure, with everything from 1 to 4.5 stars!

Favourite: The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

Worst: The Lost Bookshop – Evie Woods

Another slow month after a big month but some big ticks in books I’ve been meaning to read for a really long time – The Song of Achilles, A Fate Inked In Blood and one of the only Ali Hazelwood books I hadn’t read in Loathe To Love You!

Favourite: Maximum Ride: Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports – James Patterson (reread)

Worst: Shogun – James Clavell

Aah Shogun – I definitely don’t think it’s a terrible book, but it’s so long the audiobook was in two parts and it was over 50 hours in total, so that’s why I didn’t read as much in both May and June because it took me about 6 weeks to read it. I did really enjoy both of my physical reads – I really liked the Saga of the Unfated duology by Danielle L Jensen but my Maximum Ride reread is so nostalgic that I can’t help but rate them all 5 stars.

Favourite: Not Quite Dead Yet – Holly Jackson

Worst: After The Forest – Kell Woods

I got my mojo back a bit in July (plus I was here, there and everywhere and listening to audiobooks while driving!) but I enjoyed nearly everything in this month! I didn’t like After The Forest, but after that it was a pretty good month! Killers of a Certain age was below average, but Shatter Me was like trash TV and I am kind of excited about reading the next one.

Favourite: Human Rites – Juno Dawson

Worst: Every Colour of You – Amelia Mandeville

This is the month that I mostly ignored my monthly TBR, some fun audiobooks came in from the library and I just went with it. Summer was busy and I was exhausted so I just did my best. I finished the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven series… at least there’s that.

Favourite: Fearful – Lauren Roberts (I am also surprised)

Worst: Faebound – Saara El-Arifi

My best reading month of the year so far! I really didn’t expect Fearful to be a 5 star read (especially when Fearless was 2.5) but it turns out when the most stereotypical fantasy romance teenagers aren’t in the story, I enjoy it more! This reading month felt productive and I appreciate that as someone who has a problem with needing to feel productive all the time I shouldn’t apply it to reading, but also I like ticking boxes so reading this month felt lovely.

And last but not quite least – it was only 2 stars, but I have read a couple of 1 star books this year so not quite the worst.

That’s my reading goal done!

The way I make my reading goals is basically just 12 more than the previous year (averaging at one more per month) and I’m getting to the point where I feel like I’m going to start levelling out, maybe hitting a maximum. When my goal was 12 or 24 books a year, I was fairly confident I could read more than that but 72 books? 6 books a month is just about my average (this year my average is approximately 6.66 so far) but we’re pushing it a bit now!

Though I don’t have to think about that for another few months yet!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx