As part of my New Year’s resolutions, I set myself a challenge to read 52 books over the following 12 months. You can read about why here.
We’re now almost halfway through the year and only running a little behind on my goal—I’m currently at 20/21 (based on reading a book a week).
Sure, nothing will happen if I don’t make it to 52, the challenge is really just a way to encourage me to ‘switch off’ and get back into reading, something I really love.
Did you know … If the average person spent the same time reading as they do on social media, they could read 200 books per year.
You can check out the first 11 books I read here, and here are the ones I’ve read in the past two months, although I feel like I’ve forgotten one or two:
Paula has had Robert’s back since they got together as drama students. She gave up her dreams so he could make it. Now he’s one of the nation’s most popular actors. And Paula’s just discovered he’s having an affair. She’s going to remind Robert just what he’s sacrificing. And then she’s going to break his heart like he broke hers. It will be her greatest acting role ever. Revenge is sweet. Isn’t it?
Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored. We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbours, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with. We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
The past isn’t over… An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy. It’s hitting too close to home, bringing back her worst nightmares, threatening to expose her secret sins. But with the boy’s life at stake, she won’t let anything stop her from finding the real killer.
A year ago, Bronte left Sydney for a wedding in England, where she met newly single Alex. After one amazing night together they parted ways. Now working on the picture desk for a glossy magazine in London, Bronte is about to meet a new colleague – who turns out to be all too familiar. Alex is now engaged, but the memory of the spark they felt when they met hasn’t died. As Alex’s wedding day looms, it is clear that he and Bronte have unfinished business…
Three missing women. Two impossible cases. One determined detective. When three teachers disappear without a trace, Sergeant Lindsay Boxer takes the lead in the investigation. But with no clues and no suspects, the odds of finding the women alive are getting slimmer by the second. Under pressure at work, Lindsay needs support at home. But her husband Joe is drawn into an encounter with a woman who’s seen a ghost – a notorious war criminal from her Eastern European home country, walking the streets of San Francisco. When Joe’s informant disappears, the two investigations collide. It will take the combined skills of Lindsay, Joe and the entire Women’s Murder Club to protect their city, and themselves, from a monster.
For three years, Atlanta was held in the grip of terror. It happened four times – when the temperature in Atlanta soared to a scorching hundred degrees in the shade and tempers were frayed, two girls would go out to a bar never to seen alive again. The body of the first girl would hold the key to the survival of the second but, with the clock ticking, the killing hour always came round too quickly. Only when the final missing girl was found alive did the killing stop. Now, years later, the heat is rising on yet another scorching summer. And when trainee FBI agent Kimberly Quincy stumbles across the body of a young girl, furnished with clues to find a second, it appears that the killer is back and ready to play… Will Kimberley be able to find the girls before the madness starts all over again?
In the Carnival days leading up Mardi Gras, Detective Caleb Rooney comes under investigation for a murder he is accused of committing in the line of duty–as a Major Crimes detective for the New Orleans Police Department. Has his sideline at the Killer Chef food truck given him a taste for murder? While fighting the charges against him, Rooney makes a pair of unthinkable discoveries. His beloved city is under threat of attack. And these would-be terrorists may be local. As crowds of revelers gather, Rooney follows a fearsome trail of clues, racing from outlying districts into city center. He has no idea what-or who-he’ll face in defense of his beloved hometown, only that innocent lives are at stake.
The year is 1999, and Lachlan Colbert – Colby – has the world at his feet. He’s got a big job on Wall Street and a sleek bachelor pad in the heart of Manhattan. With money no object, he and his friends take a trip to Australia to see in the new millennium. And it’s there, on a hired yacht sailing the Whitsundays, that he meets Caitlin. Caitlin Hourigan has got wild hair and torn shorts – and has barely ever left the small patch of Queensland where she grew up. But Colby is smitten and for Caitlin, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, a blissful future awaits – marriage, a big house, a beautiful little boy. But nothing is ever as perfect as it seems. And for Lachlan and Caitlin the nightmare is only just beginning…
Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows. The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.
And now I’m in the middle of this one:
Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle, beautiful thirty-three-year-old triplets, seem to attract attention everywhere they go. Together, laughter, drama, and mayhem seem to follow them. But apart, each is dealing with her own share of ups and downs. Lyn has organized her life into one big checklist, Cat has just learned a startling secret about her marriage, and Gemma, who bolts every time a relationship hits the six-month mark, holds out hope for lasting love. In this wise, witty, and hilarious novel, we follow the Kettle sisters through their tumultuous thirty-third year as they deal with sibling rivalry and secrets, revelations and relationships, unfaithful husbands and unthinkable decisions, and the fabulous, frustrating life of forever being part of a trio.
What have you been reading lately? Are you a fiction or non-fiction fan?
Blonde Ambition 