Bk3 of last months #bookhaul is one of my favourite genres, SciFi. The 1st book in what‘s been called a new epic masterpiece, it tells the story of Hadrian, a hero from the galaxy spanning war against the alien Cielcin. But it‘s the REAL story. He was not a hero. He was not a monster. He wasn‘t even a soldier. On the wrong planet at the right time for the best reasons, he must fight a war he did not start for an Empire he does not love.

An absolutely brilliant book & one that‘s well worth a reread. The author is a doctor herself so portrays the medical parts of the story & how doctors think with ease, but it‘s her look into the abhorrent mind of a serial killer that elevates this book above a lot of its contemporaries. And the police that populate her story are also written well. This is the reason she‘s one of my auto-buy authors along with Karin Slaughter & Elizabeth George.

Bk2 from last months #bookhaul is another Aussie crime thriller. Aboriginal policewoman Renee Taylor reluctantly returns to her small hometown from Brisbane to look after her mother. Sure her time will just be speeding tickets, she‘s drawn into the murder of a woman found by the creek on the outskirts of town. Connections to a 30yr old missing persons case of two women bring darker things to the surface, putting Renee in danger.

After a few bad days, I‘m back reading. The last book led me to try the Rizzoli & Isles books again. This 1st book only has Jane Rizzoli, Maura Isles doesn‘t make an appearance till the 2nd book The Apprentice. Homicide detectives Thomas Moore & Jane Rizzoli are on the hunt for a serial killer who kills women after removing their uterus. But Moore struggles when he becomes involved with a survivor of the killers previous attacks in Georgia.

Bk1 of my last #bookhaul (which I completely forgot to post last month)is this debut crime thriller by a Melbourne author. Set on an isolated Scottish island, which is by far one of my fave settings, 18yr old Alan Ferguson is found dead at the foot of the lighthouse, an apparent suicide. DIs Georgina Lennox & Richard Stewart are then trapped by a raging storm while questioning suspicious islanders who don‘t take kindly to mainlanders.

Well, I can still read a book in a day thank god! A brilliant book, I thoroughly enjoyed it just as much as the 1st in the series. I‘ve been addicted to her writing for 25yrs now, from before her 1st Rizzoli & Isles book & she‘s one of the few writers who can still put out well written work decades later. I love the premise, a small Maine town with a circle of ex spooks who use their old skills to solve crime. Highly recommend. #SeriesLove2025

Sitting in my library for the first time in ages & enjoying the early Spring almost Summer temperatures! The afternoon sun is lovely & my sun catcher is throwing rainbows everywhere so it‘s a perfect day to start the 2nd in Gerritsens The Martini Club series. Summer in Purity & Maggie Birds “book group” is caught up in the disappearance of a teenager at the lake after one of them is implicated in the crime. #SeriesLove2025

After 7 months of health hell & one of the worst book slumps of my life, I‘m Back! Since Jan I have read a grand total of 4 books, all rereads. But saving up, I just bought a bunch of new books(11 in total🫣)& looking through the upcoming preorders will def be making another. Some great books will be released soon! The above book was in the Miles Franklin Awards list. As Aussie as it gets, it‘s the only book as far as I know,👇(cont in comments)

I was planning on doing a nice few hours reading tonight, but fell down a rabbit hole of The Hoof GP on YT. So for five hrs I‘ve been watching a bunch of garrulous Scotsman grinding cows feet & getting covered in shite. I wanna go to Scotland, it‘s the home of my ancestors whom actually come from the same area of south west Scotland so it feels like home. Maybe one day before I die😮‍💨🇦🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Can‘t seem to settle on a book at the moment, so I thought why not? Let‘s start a reread of a seventh series!🤷🏻‍♀️So my poor battered 35yr old copy of the 1st book in The Wheel Of Time is getting another, very careful, read. I REALLY need to put my originals on a special shelf & replace them with new hardcovers. I‘d love one of those special edition sets that cost a bomb but I‘m too poor💸 #JumpStart2025

Bk3 of #JumpStart2025 is done.This book, in fact the whole series, can be summed up with my favourite quote from this “You can‘t patch a wounded soul with a band-aid” That‘s Bosch, a Vietnam Vet, former tunnel rat now an LA Homicide detective. Fabulous series,both for the characters,but also coz you can feel the streets of LA in the writing. #BookspinBingo #OffTheShelf2025 #BookChain #LitsyAtoZ2025 #Pantone2025 #ISpyBingo #Read2025 #SeriesLove2025

Started a new series reread today. I think I‘ve got five series open on repeat right now!🤦🏻‍♀️But I‘ve been watching the live coverage of the fires on YT & I‘ve been reading stories set in LA for so long the names of the suburbs & city streets feel familiar. So I‘m picking up Bosch coz they‘re not just crime novels, they‘re a love letter to the City of Angels. #JumpStart2025

Just wanted to take a moment to say our hearts go out to everyone in the L.A area tonight. Australia has seen more than its fair share of devastating fires so we understand exactly what you are all going through. Though we are currently in our fire season, we‘ve been fortunate to have a La Niña weather system which has brought much rain thank god. We hope the weather gods smile on you too soon. Be safe, evacuate. ❤️?❤️

Picking this one back up as my next book. Already a few chapters in so yay. Trying to get the whole series reread before the new one is released in the middle of the year(fingers crossed). How‘s everyone else‘s reading so far this January? #JumpStart2025

Bk2 of #JumpStart2025 & January is finally done! The 3rd in the Strike series, it‘s definitely the most macabre of them so far. Robin is sent a severed leg in the mail & Strike is convinced it‘s someone he knew from the Army. Very dark & oppressive but a great thriller. #OffTheShelf2025 #BookspinBingo #LitsyAtoZ2025 #Read2025 #WickedWords #SeriesLove2025 #2025OffMyShelf

I‘m back home, the cats did not manage to murder me in my sleep! It‘s a very gray & rainy day outside, but at least it‘s not 40C anymore like Sunday & Monday! So I‘ll be resting my very sore back (the daughter‘s bed sucks😣)and trying to finish this one. The reading is still slow going, unfortunately the new year hasn‘t magically changed that! #JumpStart2025

#WeekendReads I‘ll be trying to finish this off the rest of the weekend, unless I do some #audiojournaling later to Leather & Lark as well. But mainly it‘ll be this, the 3rd book in the Cormorant Strike series. #JumpStart2025

New day, new chapter. At least my daughter‘s house has far more sunlight than mine does. But also far far more traffic noise. And cats. She has cats. 🐈 #JumpStart2025

Found it! Just in time for housesitting my daughter‘s house. Plan on spending the next few days either reading or #audiojournaling If her cats don‘t kill me in my sleep! I feel watched👀 #JumpStart2025

Starting this one today as I cannot find my copy of the 3rd book in the Strike series, Career Of Evil. I‘ll probably get a few chapters in of this before stumbling over that! I‘ve also lost my beautiful edition of Death On The Nile so I‘ll be tearing apart my library again soon. Great start to the year, which I HOPE is not a bloody omen.🫣 #JumpStart2025

Bk1 of #JumpStart2025 & January is done! Bk2 of the Strike series, it‘s honestly one of the goriest murders I‘ve ever read. And I‘ve read a LOT. The author has definitely proved they can write well in two completely different genres! And is able to spring a surprise murderer on you at the end. #FourFoursIn25 #RobinBobbin #ISpyBingo #FictionalTraveler #Read2025 #WickedWords #Rage #SeriesLove2025 #BookspinBingo #BookChain2025 #TBRTarot #ReadYourKobo

#12BooksOf2024 For my #September pick, I was going through a smutty romance phase(which I‘m still partial to honestly!) I was also listening to a lot of audiobooks as they were easier to digest & this one was really good. It‘s snarky, steamy & very very sexy. Lucifer is the owner of a hotel in Vegas(of course)and Evie wanders in one night after a bachelorette party gone wrong. It‘s surprisingly quite good.

My year in books was abysmal honestly. I had to adjust my goal twice & I can‘t even post a book for August in #12BooksOf2024 coz I didn‘t read ANY books in that month! And most of what I did read last year were rereads as my brain fog was so bad I couldn‘t take in anything new. Let‘s hope this year is a distinct improvement.🤞🤞🤞🤞

On the first day of #JumpStart2025 & the last of #20in4 #readathon I managed a few chapters of Silkworm & a few hours of Leather & Lark while #audiojournaling all the challenges I‘m doing this year. Which I‘m overdoing. Again🤦🏻‍♀️. Managed a decent time for 20in4. Loving both books, really enjoying the sequel to Butcher & Blackbird, already have the 3rd preordered on Audible! How‘s your New Years Day? #OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew #YearEnd

#12BooksOf2024 My book for #July is a reread. Most of July was rereads, for the last 6 months I‘ve been doing a lot of that, revisiting some amazing series. This particular one is the first after the death of a major character, which sends Dr Sara Linton into a tailspin. Then Will comes along with his 3 piece suit & orderly ways throwing Sara‘s life into chaos. A sweet crime novel. It does exist!

Spent today listening to this brilliantly filthy & gory audiobook romance. When they say “trigger warnings” they mean TRIGGER WARNINGS!!! Sloane spends her free time hunting down serial killers & taking them out in creative ways. But when a job goes wrong, Rowan rescues her from a tsunami of maggots & dares her to a yearly game of who bags the killer first. Funny, steamy & sweet, but above all, bloody. #20in4 #readathon #OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew

Happy New Year from Sydney! The Harbour fireworks are still going. Here‘s to a better year all round for everyone. This also kicks off my #JumpStart2025 #readathon (though you can start at your own time zones if you wish). Good luck everybody!💥

Tomorrow is the start of 2025 & my #JumpStart2025 #readathon Can‘t believe it‘s New Years Eve already! Well, here in Aus it is anyway. My life has gotten sooo boring I didn‘t even realise it till an hour ago🫣So in 4.5hrs, Jump Start will be officially off & running. Happy New Year everyone & best wishes for a great reading year.🎉🎆 Let me know below if you‘ll be joining in my readathon👇

Got in a few more hours today for #20in4 #Readathon Still taking my reading slower than usual, especially considering a large concrete based snow globe fell onto the crown of my head Xmas night. Didn‘t help the brain issues much! Hopefully I‘ll finish this tomorrow 🤞 #OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew #YearEnd

#12BooksOf2024 My pick for June is this brilliant NF about what the Duke & Duchess of Windsor got up to after his abdication just before WWII. I knew bits and pieces, but I was shocked by quite a bit of it. How deep it went with the Nazis in particular. Highly recommend, the author is a terrific writer. I‘ll be reading his book about the Mountbattens next.

#12BooksOf2024 My book for #May had to be the last from the late great crime writer Peter Robinson, RIP. I‘ve been reading his DCI Banks series for over 20yrs and the fact there will never be another one saddens me immensely. I highly recommend the whole series but if you don‘t want to go that far back, Aftermath is a great starting point in the timeline.

Starting off a new year of challenges(which of course I‘m overdoing🤦🏻‍♀️)with my January #Bookspin #Doublespin & #BookspinBingo list. Along with my usual extra FREE SPACEs there‘s a mix of SciFi, Fantasy, Classics, Crime & various challenge books. Let‘s start off 2025 right🙌

Well, it‘s 8.30am here in Sydney so I think I‘m calling an end to Day 1 of my #20in4 #YearEnd #readathon for now! I‘m about 50-60% through this book & I‘d forgotten how gory she can write deaths, but she‘s also exceptional at writing place too. It feels like wintry London is another character. But I‘m signing off for now, see you in a few hours!🥱 #OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew

#12BooksOf2024 My book for #April is this brilliant 1st book in a new series by the author of Rizzoli & Isles. A small fishing town in wintry Maine, a group of retired CIA & a body left on one the ex-agents doorstep. I wish I had half the balls Maggie Bird does! Reminds me a lot of Killers Of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn with less snark.

And I‘m off with the last #20in4 #readathon of 2024. Fingers crossed 2025 is a better year🤞I‘ll be kicking off this challenge with my reread of the 2nd Strike novel, The Silkworm, but my goals are

📚Read 2 books at least
📚Read for 20hrs minimum
📚End the year with a reading bang not a whimper!

This year was an atrocious one for many reasons, but I‘m hoping at least my reading mojo returns for the new year. #YearEnd #OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew

#12Booksof2024 I‘m a few days late starting this challenge, but here‘s my picks for the first months of this year. January - Revenge by Tom Bower( Meghan is awful)plus it was the only book I read in January!
February - House of Flame & Shadow by Sarah.J.Maas March - Aurora Rising by Alistair Reynolds, one of the best scifi series I‘ve read.

And it‘s back!! For the 4th year running I will be hosting my #JumpStart2025 challenge! It‘s pressure free, just read what you want in the month of January to help kickstart your reading year. That‘s it! Post your books with the above hashtag & tag me so I can see your progress through the month & we will all collectively cheer on each other & provide moral support to boost our reading morale for the coming year. Let me know if you‘re joining in!

I hope everyone had a Merry Xmas ♥️💚As you can tell, I‘m back from my SM break & while I‘m still not 100% I am doing better. Plus I missed you all! I‘ll be launching my #JumpStart2025 challenge so all of us can start the year right coz I just did a home library organisation where my daughter & I found I had 3,000 books on my #MountTBRShelvesOfDoom😱 I am now banned from buying books till that‘s smaller🫣Any suggestions on other 2025 challenges?

Bk3 of August was finished a week or more ago. I am still trying to read even if I‘m not posting here, struggling with life a bit still. My daughter just bought me two new books as a gift, including the latest in this Will Trent series so I‘m powering through the rereads to get to it. Another top entry by Slaughter, this one centres on Angie, Wills hateful wife. She def knows how to write damaged women. #SeriesLove2024 #BacklistReadathon

Bk2 of August is done. Crap picture but I only have the ebook of this one. My 2nd favourite Will Trent, it brings back the OTHER mean girl in Sara‘s life, Lena Adams.The woman responsible for Jeffrey‘s death is now embroiled in Wills undercover operation so naturally, Wills life is on the line. And naturally he doesn‘t tell Sara which is the worst decision he makes. Lena & her husband Jared, Jeffrey‘s son(ick)are ambushed at home & nearly killed👇

I finally finished my first book of August. Yay me! But I checked my GR goal & it‘s abysmal☹️I loved this book, the 5th in her All Souls chronicles. It was far from perfect, but I loved that there was a lot more magic & witchy vibes than the previous books. I also liked that the twins are older with more storyline as well. Loved the Procters & Ravenswood, but I‘m still waiting on Gallowglass or Phillippe & Ysabeau‘s stories! #SeriesLove2024 👇

Hi everyone!👋I‘m slowly climbing out of a pit of misery with a few rereads & audiobooks. For 8 weeks I‘ve been going through pharma hell with my oh so shortsighted government pulling the pin on an essential med that for a lot of Aussies is the only option for pain relief & has meant going thru the hell of switching to a greatly inferior substitute. Doing anything was a nightmare,even concentrating on reading. Lucky I had this imp to distract me🩵

Bk3 of June is done. The 2nd Royal NF I was tandem reading was a much better experience, reading wise. This couple was once again, awful people. The Duke was absolutely in the grip of Wallis, and had no thought for anything but her. The damage they did could have been catastrophic, not just to Britain, but the whole world if they‘d been able to help the Third Reich as they‘d planned. Even after the war, tried to finagle their way back into power👇

Bk2 of June is done. This will be quickly followed by The Traitor King review. I liked the latter much more than this one, much better written in my opinion. The similarities between the two couples is astonishing. At times it‘s like reading a modern version of the Windsors, the men both weak selfish fools who‘ll do anything for the woman they‘re obsessed with, the women both vain ambitious cold women who‘ll play anyone to get what they want.👇

I‘m after recces for really good NF about WW2 drama and intrigue from the Brits,inspired by this brilliant book about the abdicated Duke & Duchess of Windsor and their many & convoluted ties to Hitler & Nazi Germany from before the war till the fall of the Reich. From their friendship(or affairs with)Ribbentrop(diplomat then Foreign Minister to Nazi Germany)to their agreement to be reinstated as King under a Fascist Govt when Hitler won the war.👇

Currently tandem reading these,the tagged as an audiobook, the other physical. Am quite shocked by the similarities between the couples,I knew they‘d been compared in media, but the extent of the same weak will & petulance by both men & the hard core belief in their own importance by the women is amazing. The main difference seems to be that at least the Duke of Windsor believed in King & Country. Though he & Wallis were in talks with Germany!😱

Completely forgot to post my #Bookspin #Doublespin & #BookspinBingo list for June. A few books I‘ve already started, some I‘m really hoping to get to. Mostly books that I‘m crossing my fingers will get me out of this damn slump! #LiveInHope

Bk1 of June & #20in4 #readathon is done! I was completely surprised by how entertaining this was. For an independently published paranormal romance, written by a group of writers,it wasn‘t bad. It had its moments sure, some of the writing was questionable & though the smut was good, the use of the word p***y during it was like a bucket of cold water in my face. I hate that word! Other than that👍 #SeriesLove2024 #BacklistReadathon #FourFoursIn24👇

Starting off my #20in4 #readathon tandem reading this on audio & ebook. Yes it‘s werewolf smut. No im not embarrassed. It‘s actually not bad for an independently published romance.🐺🍆

8 years!! Wow, it doesn‘t seem that long. Thank you to Litsy itself, thank you to everyone who‘s commented, liked or stacked books from my reviews, thank you for ALLLL the book recces(even though my library is bursting at the seams). Most of all, Thank you to all the friends I‘ve made on here, from all around the world. Love you all😘♥️♥️♥️♥️