Tag: bookblogger

Sunday Summary – 3rd August 2025

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We’re back with another weekly round-up in this Sunday Summary. I hope you’ve had a great week? As always, I’ll catch you up on the posts I’ve shared, as well as what I’ve been reading.

My first post of the week was my Firsts of 2025 book tag post. It was a fun way to look back at some of my milestones of 2025. If you haven’t yet seen the post, there’s a link above if you want to check it out!

My second post of the week went live on Friday. As it was the first of the month, I came in hot with my monthly wrap-up for July. It was a decent month of reading, although I didn’t get through my whole TBR.

Elsewhere, on Patreon, I reviewed All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. In that post, I shared that there were aspects of the book I enjoyed, but there were others I struggled with too.


Books Read


House of Frank

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I shared I was 65% through House of Frank. I also shared I was optimistic to finish the book and share completion in today’s post.

The good news is I can share that I finished the book! It was a good read and I enjoyed this cosy fantasy. It was different to the books I’ve read lately and I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the book in the cottagecore fantasy book club I moderate!

Stormdancer

Stormdancer was the second book I hoped to have finished this week. This didn’t quite come to pass, but I now only have two hours of the audiobook left. I’ll be very surprised if I don’t finish it in the next week!

I’m really enjoying this audiobook and the unusual genre combination. What more, events are leading up to a conclusion now and I have no idea how this book will wrap up! I thought I did, but the narrative has just pulled the rug from under Yukiko’s feet and I want to see what happens next ASAP!


If We Were Villains

I’ve started If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio today, but only just. So, I don’t have a whole lot of progress to note. However, it’s good for you to know what’s coming up on my reading list so you know what book I’ll be updating you on in the next week! As of this Sunday Summary, I’ve read the first 40 pages and I’m intrigued. Let’s hope that continues.

I’m looking forward to getting into this fully. It’s been on my TBR shelf for quite some time…


Books Discovered

During book club on Wednesday, I was recommended two books by my colleague Meg. The first is the book we’re now reading for August – The Giver by Lois Lowry. The second book is called The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

The third book I’ve added is called The Wealth Ladder. As regular readers will know, I am picking up more non-fiction than ever. As well, I think this will be a useful and informative read.


Coming Up…

With early August hot on our heels (where has THAT gone?!), my first post of the week will be my August TBR. It’s my last chance to progress with my 20 Books of Summer Challenge. I hope you can take a look with me to see what’s coming up on my reading list soon.

On Friday, I’m back with another First Lines Friday instalment. The last time I shared this post, I set myself a challenge. This time, I’m keeping things open and interesting.

Finally, next Sunday I’m back with another Sunday Summary update post. As always, I’ll keep you informed on the books I’m reading, reviewing, and what I’ve posted online.

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you next time!

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Firsts of 2025 Book Tag

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I saw this tag on The Literary Huntress and this book tag was originally created by Tanya @ girlxoxo. I thought it would be a fun and lighthearted post to share. 

 

My Firsts of 2025

First book read this year

The first book I read to completion in 2025 was Firefight by Brandon Sanderson. Firefight is the second instalment of his The Reckoner series. I have since gone to finish the series, and it’s been great to tick this off the list. I’ve really enjoyed every Brandon Sanderson book, and the reckon was a perfect place to kick off 2025 with.

 

First book reviewed

Another great first of 2025 was reviewing Ship of Magic. Robin Hobb is fast becoming an author I really enjoy books by. As of this post, I have read seven of her realm of the elder books. For context, Ship of Magic is the fourth of those. Ship of Magic was a five-star read, so it’s also a great book to have featured first in 2025. That post went live within the first couple of weeks of January and to be fair, I’ve reviewed a good few books since then! 

 

First book by a debut author

I picked up Fearing the Black Body during Black History Month. I had added the book to my reading list originally as I wanted to read about the subject of fat phobia. As a larger than life woman (and proud) myself, I was interested in the subject matter. 

This audiobook went down so well that I listened to the whole thing over the course of a weekend. To date it also qualifies amongst my firsts of 2025 in that it’s the only book I’ve read in two days.

 

First book by a new-to-me author

I’ve read a few historical fiction books and series in my time. A new one I discovered and started this year is Woden’s Spear by Donovan Cook. 

This was the first historical fiction book of the year but it wasn’t the last. The sequel is currently expected to release in November 2025 and I plan to keep up with it. Donovan cook is among my firsts of 2025 for my starting his The First Kingdom series. However, he’s written others that I’m inclined to try based on the book I read and reviewed for the release blog tour. 

 

First book that slayed me

I confess so far this year, I haven’t read a book that I’ve had big feelings about. The closest is probably The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. 

 

First book that I wished I could get back the time I spent reading it

All The Light We Cannot See

It’s perhaps a little harsh to go this far, but the books that earns this firsts of 2025 accolade is the book I reviewed on Patreon yesterday – All the Light We Cannot See. I say this is harsh because there were aspects of the book I enjoyed. At the same time though, it was a little disappointing. It wasn’t the narrative I expected and I’d hoped for more interaction between the two main protagonists. 

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Sunday Summary – 27th July 2025

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Today’s Sunday Summary comes at the end of a long weekend! I had Friday off work this week to attend one of my best friends’ weddings. It’s been a good week – let’s take a look at what I’ve been up to otherwise…

On the blog, this is the third post of the week. The first post was my 2025 mid-year review, which went live on Wednesday. In that post, I take a look at how I’ve done against my reading goals for 2025 so far. If you haven’t caught that post already, it’s a good read.

Friday’s Shelf Control was scheduled in advance in light of my wedding plans ☺️ This week’s post featured another upcoming book by John Marrs on my TBR.

 

Books Read


House of Frank

I’ve made a good dent with House of Frank this week, although not as much as I wanted. I was hoping to share this as a completion, but I’ve been busy with other things. Aside from prepping for the wedding, I made a gift for a friend whose birthday was this weekend, and it needed finishing touches. I’m also doing Sirdar’s crochetalong, and week 1 started this week.

Still, I’ve made solid progress, and I’m now just shy of 65% through the book. Reading time on my Kindle says I’ve got a couple of hours left. I’ll probably try to binge that tonight so I can tick this off my list.

Stormdancer

I was also hoping to share Stormdancer as a completion too, but not quite. As of this Sunday Summary, I’ve only made a three-hour dent into this audiobook, and I still have just under six hours left.

I really need to get a wriggle on with this listen as I have a deadline of Tuesday to finish it! I may end up having to try and borrow it from a library if I don’t finish the audiobook in time.

The genre mash-up is an interesting one, but I like how the story is progressing. I can only imagine what will happen at the end – the shogun won’t be happy with Yukiko if it’s heading where I suspect!


Books Discovered

When it comes to new books, no news is good news! It perfectly counteracts the fact that I haven’t taken any off the list either…


Coming Up…

So, aside from some reading catch-up, what’s on the cards next week?

My first post of the week will be a 2025 firsts post. Given I’ve had six months to tick some of these items off my list, I’ll let you know what some of my bookish firsts are.

On Friday, we’ll officially be into the month of August. With that in mind, I’ll publish my monthly wrap-up for July.

On Sunday, I’m sure you know what’s coming. I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary update post and fingers crossed I’ll have more finishes next week to share with you.

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Shelf Control #93 – 25/07/2025

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Welcome to today’s Shelf Control post! If you’re reading this as this goes live, I’m out celebrating with one of my best friends as she gets married. There’s no rest for the wicked though. I’ve just prepped ahead of time so I can relax and enjoy a momentous day. 

Today’s Shelf Control feature is a thriller by an author I’ve read once so far, but I have a couple more of his books on my TBR. 

As always, I’ll recap what Shelf Control is about and then we’ll get into the details of the book!

Shelf Control is a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up.

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

 

Her Last Move – John Marrs

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 351

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Publication Date: 08 Nov 2018

Goodreads – Her Last Move

 

He hides in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment. Each kill is calculated, planned and executed like clockwork.

Struggling to balance her personal and professional life, young DS Becca Vincent has landed the biggest case of her career — and she knows that it will make or break her. But how can she identify one face in a sea of thousands? With the help of Police Super Recogniser Joe Russell, she strives to catch a glimpse of the elusive murderer, but he’s watching her every move.

Time is not on their side. The body count is rising, and the attacks are striking closer and closer to home. Can Becca and Joe uncover the connection between the murders before the killer strikes the last name from his list?

From the bestselling author of When You Disappeared and The Good Samaritan comes his most thrilling novel yet.

 

My Thoughts

I’ve only read one book by John Marrs so far (The Minders), but I’ve added a few to my reading list. His books and synopses sound compelling. After reading The Minders, I’m inclined to believe these books will live up to expectation.

Her Last Move strikes me as a compelling mystery with a thriller element. I’m enjoying getting into books of this nature this year and I’m excited to pick this one up. There’s plenty of tension already hinted that in the plot, and I can’t wait to see how this pans out in reality.

John Marrs is an author I’m looking to reading more of in future. He’s written a good number of books now and I also have the likes of When You Disappeared and The Good Samaritan on my TBR. As to how well received these later two books are will determine whether I end up reading more of his collection! 

Thanks for reading today’s Shelf Control post! Have you read Her Last Move or any books by John Marrs? 

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Sunday Summary – 20th July 2025

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Happy Sunday reading friends and welcome to my Sunday Summary catch-up! I hope you’ve had a good one however you’ve spent it? This weekend has been quieter and I’ve enjoyed the slower pace.

But… that’s not what you’re here to read, is it? You’re here to find out what I’ve been reading. We’ll get there, right after I recap what I’ve shared online this week. 

First, I’m pleased to share that I finally got my review of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari into a place where I was happy to publish it. I thought I was happy with the word count I had, but I managed to add a good bit more before that post went live. If you haven’t yet taken a look, there’s a link to that post above. 

Next, I published my First lines Friday on schedule and fulfilled the challenge of featuring a book on my 20 Books of Summer challenge. I hope to pick up this book soon. Want to see what it is? It’s a historical fiction novel, but I’m not telling you any more… 

As well as the blog, I’ve started posting up-to-date book reviews on Patreon. Partly, that’s so I don’t end up in a position where two years down the line I’m struggling to write one (ahem, Stolen Focus I’m looking at you). However, it also gives anyone the opportunity to support me for early access to these reviews. They’ll make there way here in time, but new reviews are going on Patreon first. This week, I reviewed Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. However, I’ve also got reviews of Crashed, The Poppy War and Elektra so far if you want to read any of those. 

And now, onto the fun part of my Sunday Summary posts – the reading updates!

 

Books Read

 

The Measure 

Over the course of this week, and yesterday especially, I dedicated time to The Measure. I’ve really enjoyed this book – so much so I finished it yesterday. That means this week I read a little over 260 pages to complete this book. 

If you enjoy contemporary fiction with a bit of a dystopian element, The Measure could well be for you. I loved how this book exploded how the knowledge of one’s lifetime changed both the world and people’s individual stories. the measure of one’s life isn’t just in a span of years, and that is also a big theme of the book. Honestly, I’m glad we’ve picked this up for book club because there are plenty of talking points I can’t wait to get into with the group. 

I didn’t quite cry at this one, but there were a few close moments. It’s a very thought-provoking and emotional read. 

 

House of Frank

I’ve continued House of Frank which I’m reading as part of the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club over at Chantelle Solace. I confess though that The Measure took priority earlier in the week. Now I’ve finished it, House of Frank is now my main read. 

It’s very different the book I just read, although it still deals with the topic of death and grief. It’s interesting that I’ve ended up reading these so close together. I’m not going morbid I promise! 

So far this week, I’ve read a few more chapters. So, as of this Sunday Summary I’m 16% through the book. 

House of Frank is a cozy fantasy, so very different vibes and hopefully a quick read. I’m hoping it will make for a nice change before moving on to my next read, which is a dark academia that also features death 😅 I promise I’m okay! 

 

Stormdancer

After sharing in last week’s Sunday Summary that I was putting down Alan Turing: The Enigma, I picked up Stormdancer. 

Stormdancer is a bit unusual as it combines asian fantasy and steampunk. Not something I’ve ever read before, but I’m liking it quite a bit! I didn’t really have any doubts over enjoying the book as it’s written by an author I’ve read a small variety from already – Jay Kristoff. 

This week I’ve listened to a couple of hours of the audio. With around 10 hours left an a deadline on Audible to get it finished, I’m hoping to share completion of this in next week’s Sunday Summary. 

 

Books Discovered

I picked up a couple of audiobooks this week after seeing them advertised in their weekly edit email. The first of those is Your Boss Era. As a lifelong learner, there’s always something I can be doing better. Whilst I may not be a manager, I have become a go-to contact between teams and. I am getting towards a more senior person in terms of experience. I think the contents of the book can help me step-up and demonstrate the skills necessary for a promotion in future. 

Next, I picked up another book that tickled my lexicon fancy. I loved English and words – so much so I wanted to be a speech therapist. The job wasn’t really viable here and there were aspects to it I wouldn’t have enjoyed, so I didn’t pursue it. However, I still have a love of language and words. That probably doesn’t surprise you when you consider I consume and write so many in a week of my own free will! That book is called Algospeak, and particularly focuses on how social media has shaped modern language. 

 

Coming Up… 

The final section of today’s Sunday Summary is about what’s coming up content-wise next week. 

On the blog, my first post well be a mid-year check-in my my progress towards my reading goals in 2025. It almost feels like that compulsory HR mid-year review, but don’t worry – I’ll make it more fun!

Next, on Friday I’ll release another Shelf Control instalment. This one will be prepared ahead of time as on Friday night, I’ll be out attending one of my best friend’s weddings. Don’t worry, I won’t let you down. It’ll be scheduled in advance 😉

Finally, the last post on the blog will be next week’s Sunday Summary instalment. I’m hoping to have at least two bookish completions with you this week! It’s rapidly coming up the end of the month and I still have a few books on the TBR to get to. Fingers crossed for some reading productivity! 

Off the blog, I have two reviews to catch up with on Patreon – Ultra-Processed People and All the Light We Cannot See. If you are interested in either of those two books, I hope you can subscribe over on Patreon so you don’t miss out! 

Until next time, may your tea be hot and your book better than real life ☺️

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First Lines Friday – 18/07/2025

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In today’s First Lines Friday, I set myself a challenge to feature an upcoming 20 Books of Summer read. After taking a look at a few books coming up, I’m excited for this particular book. 

It’s a historical fiction novel from an author I’ve read on numerous occasions before. I can’t wait to pick up their next book – do you want to see what it is? Well first, let’s take a look at the intro and then I’ll share the details. 

 

A dark sky. 

The gods make the sky; it reflects their moods and they were dark that day. It was high summer and a bitter rain was spitting from the east. It felt like winter. 

I was mounted on Lightning, my best horse. He was a stallion, black as night, but with a slash of grey pelt running down his hindquarters. He was named for a great hound I had once sacrificed to Thor. I hated killing that dog, but the gods are hard on us; they demand sacrifice and then ignore us. This Lightning was a huge beast, powerful and sullen, a warhorse, and I was in my war-glory on that dark day. I was dressed in mail and clad in steel and leather. Serpent-Breath, best of swords, hung at my left side, though for the enemy I faced that day I needed no sword, no shield, no axe.

 

 

The Pagan Lord – Bernard Cornwell

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Pages: 303

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 26 Sept 2013

Goodreads – The Pagan Lord

 

At the onset of the tenth century, England is in turmoil. Alfred the Great is dead and Edward his son reigns as king. Wessex survives but peace cannot hold: the Danes in the north, led by Viking Cnut Longsword, stand ready to invade and will never rest until the emerald crown is theirs.

Uhtred, once Alfred’s great warrior but now out of favor with the new king, must lead a band of outcasts north to recapture his old family home, that great Northumbrian fortress, Bebbanburg.

Loyalties will be divided and men will fall, as every Saxon kingdom is drawn into the bloodiest battle yet with the Danes; a war which will decide the fate of every king, and the entire English nation.

 

My Thoughts…

It’s been some time since I read this series. Too long really! When I reviewed Death of Kings earlier this year, I swore I wouldn’t leave it too much longer before returning. That’s why The Pagan Lord is on my 20 Books of Summer Challenge list. 

I particularly enjoyed watching this particular section of the story on Netflix. Watching Uhtred go back home will be a fun part of the story to read and I hope I’ll enjoy it just as much! 

At just over 300 pages, this should be a quick read to get me back into this series. This’ll be me half way through and hopefully back on track to make series progress towards completing this series in the near future. 

Thanks for reading today’s First Lines Friday instalment! Have you read or watched any of Bernard Cornwell’s the Saxon stories?

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Book Review: Stolen Focus – Johann Hari

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If you enjoy the odd self-help book here and there, today’s post may just feature your next read. In April 2023 I read the eye-opening Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, and I was shocked. With staggering statistics like attention spans lasting only seconds, it’s no wonder we struggle to get anything done! That’s a little ironic given how long it’s taken me to publish my review. 

In my defence, it wasn’t a lack of attention but rather a streak of perfectionism that held it back until now. 

I confess, Stolen Focus has made me more aware of how often I get distracted, or try to multitask (tip – it’s not helpful in the long run!). If you’re intrigued, then I hope you’ll let my review distract you from whatever it is you are MEANT to be doing for just a few minutes… 

 

Stolen Focus – Johann Hari  

Genre: Non-fiction 

Pages: 357

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Crown

Publication Date: 06Jan 2022

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Stolen Focus

Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening–and how to get our attention back. 

In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions–even abandoning his phone for three months–but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention–and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers’ productivity.

Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus–as individuals, and as a society–if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.

 

My Thoughts

Content

I love that Stolen Focus doesn’t seek to blame, but to convince readers that a loss of focus is a societal issue. Whilst there are things we can all individually do to help, ultimately, the world we live in and the pace of living is the most limiting factor. 

Technology is one of the biggest leeches of our attention. You’ve probably seen families out for gatherings at restaurants and every member at the table is on a personal device. I have on many occasions, and it will only get worse. Johann shares a personal story in which a young relative is addicted to these devices. It’s an alarming trend, but not surprising since the apps and services are designed to hook our attention and hold it. This was also discussed in another book I recently finished, The Anxious Generation. I definitely recommend this as further reading. 

Hustle culture and stress is in part responsible too. Sleep deprivation is no joke. With more and more people forfeiting shuteye in favour of time on personal devices, or paid work, it’s no wonder focus is shattered. Work smarter not harder friends! It’ll pay the same dividends and you’ll feel a whole lot better for it! 

 

Narrative Style

I don’t often break reviews down into sections for non-fiction reviews. It’s not always appropriate. However, I did want to make a special mention to the structure of Stolen Focus. 

The book is broken down into several smaller chapters, each one an explanation of why we struggle to focus in our modern day life. As a result, the book is really approachable to read. If you don’t have a lot of time to read, you could even cherry-pick your chapters of interest to take from the book what you want. 

 

Summary 

Stolen Focus is the kind of book I’d recommend everybody read in their lifetimes. It would especially help those who pressurise themselves to do better, go bigger or otherwise set themselves high bars. As someone who does this to a certain extent, it should help you appreciate and accept life’s  limitations. It’s not about you, and Stolen Focus does not seek to blame. 

The book also offers some practical advice, so we’re not powerless. Stolen Focus strikes the perfect balance of providing information and tips on what to do with that information. Really, it’s a book from which you can take as much as you want. 

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Sunday Summary – 13th July 2025

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If you’ve had glorious weather this weekend as I have, then I hope you’ve been able to make the most of it! Welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! After a busy week and weekend, I’m here to catch you up on reading progress this week.

Overall, progress has taken a slower pace this week. That’s because real life priorities had to come first. We’ve had a busy week at work. I knew this was coming and so I only planned to share a Top Ten Tuesday post before today’s Sunday Summary. However, even that ended up being late. This belated post went out on Wednesday, so if you’re interested on books I’m planning to re-read, go and take a look at that post.

 

Books Read

The Anxious Generation 

In last week’s Sunday Summary update, I confided that I only had 30 pages left of this book to finish. Whilst my intention was to pick up the book and finish it last Sunday, it was Monday in the end.

The Anxious Generation was a very informative and interesting read. I already had a good measure of the book from what I’d read so far, so the ending and my feelings about the book weren’t really a surprise.

 

The Measure 

Next, I moved on to a kindle read – The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You may recall this is the book we’re reading together in the book club I host at work.

This week, I haven’t made a load of progress with the book, although I have really enjoyed starting it. The blocker on reading progress this week hasn’t been any fault of the book, but rather my time. Quarter end is a really busy time and it was especially rough this time as we had several people out of the office. I did quite a bit of overtime. To top it off, I didn’t make any reading progress on Saturday because I was out at a hen do all day. At least I got to enjoy the beautiful weather! 

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I’m 25% into The Measure. It’s a really interesting book and premise so far. I really like where the book is going in terms of exploring individual stories, but also highlighting changes in society. If you are unfamiliar, the book is about what happens when people have the knowledge of how long they are going to live. There are some really interesting character discussions and events that take place as a consequence. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses and fingers crossed I can make a good deal more progress now things are settling down.

 

House of Frank

A book I have started this week, that isn’t on my official July TBR, is House of Frank. This will probably come across as an unusual choice, but it makes sense when I explain where it’s come from.

I have just become a moderator of an online book club called the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club over at Chantelle Solace. With my experience of hosting our work book club, I volunteered and was offered the position of moderator to help with the book club. Naturally, I need to read the books that this club are reading, hence why I have started House of Frank.

Reading progress on this book has also been slow. I’ve literally only read the first chapter so far, but I think this is going to be an interesting and cosy read. Given that one of the main topics it’s dealing with is grief, this sounds like an unusual combination but one I’m happy to explore. 

I’ll be sharing more on that next week. If you’re interested, you can find out more here.

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma 

I haven’t made any more progress with Alan Turing this week. After a very slow start last week, I’ve not been able to psyche myself up to pick up this book again.

So much so, I’m only including this book in today’s post to let you know that I’m DNFing it. I’m not enjoying it, so there’s no point in forcing myself to continue when I could be reading or listening to something else more interesting… 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve picked up one book this week. As and when I pop into one of our bigger Tesco stores, I usually take a look at the little bookshelf they have near their customer services area. Most of the time, they don’t have anything that catches my eye. 

However, this week I found a copy of Janice Hallett’s The Examiner in a really good condition. I really enjoyed reading The Appeal so I’m excited to be able to try another of her books written in mixed media format. And, I dId a good deed in getting my copy as charity benefits! 

 

Coming Up… 

So, what’s the plan next week? Well, given most of my time sensitive deadlines are now over at work, scheduling should return to normal. 

This week I’m returning to my draft review of Stolen Focus in an attempt to finish it off to a standard I’m happy with. In terms of word count for the review, I’m not far off where I want to be. It’s hopefully just a case of refining it, but we’ll see.

On Friday I return with my regular First Lines Friday feature. In the spirit of making things more interesting, I’ll set myself a challenge here and now to feature an upcoming read from my 20 Books of Summer reading list. I hope you can tune in to see what that is! 

Lastly, I’m back again for another Sunday Summary instalment at the end of the week. With work deadlines less imminent and more staff in the office next week, I should get my time back. 

What are you reading this week? 

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Belated Top Ten Tuesday – Books I’d Love to Re-Read!

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Today’s Top Ten Tuesday post is regretfully coming out later than planned. Unfortunately, despite my prep work on Monday to get this post ready for drafting, work got in the way. 

We’re usually busy at work after a bank holiday anyway. Combine that with quarter-end and there being several people out of the office. It’s fair to say yesterday didn’t particularly go well.

Long story short, I ended up logging back on at home during the evening and so I didn’t have time to finish this Top Ten Tuesday. The good news is that I’ve managed to get my most time sensitive work now finished. And, I’ve been able to draft this post for you just a day later than planned (instead of a week!)

So, I hope you’re excited to read this Top Ten Tuesday post and that it was worth the wait!

 

Books I’d Love to Re-read

 

The Hunger Games

I’ve been threatening to re-read The Hunger Games for a little while now. I’m hoping to do so later this year!

It’s been a little while since I read the books of the main trilogy. These are the books I want to go back to in particular because they are the ones I’ve not read for a while. I read A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes last year and Sunrise on the Reaping just recently. I haven’t decided if I’ll include these two books in my re-read as yet, but no doubt I’ll update you on that as and when the re-read happens.

 

A Game of Thrones 

If there was one series I had to limit myself to read for the rest of my life, I would choose to read and re-read A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

It’s my favourite series of all time. That shows in the way I have a copy of each book in physical, ebook, and audio format. It also shows in the number of times I’ve read the books (the series to date twice and the first book four times!) 

There is so much detail in the series that every time you go back, you pick up on something new. It’s also very difficult to get bored of as there’s so much going on and so much to take away.

 

Mistborn 

I read the early Mistborn books when I was a teenager. Having finished the series as an adult, I want to go back and appreciate these earlier books from an older and more experienced perspective.

I loved these books when I was younger and I’m interested to see how much, if at all, my experience changes second time around! 

 

The Midnight Library 

I have already read The Midnight Library twice. I initially read it for myself, and then picked it up again as one of our early book club reads. The Midnight Library is a very profound narrative. It’s a narrative in which you can take something new away each time you read it. 

I’d be interested to see if the book lands differently reading this at different times in my life, each with its own pressures and joys.

The Midnight Library is a pretty rare entry on this Top Ten Tuesday and that it’s only one of two entries to the list that isn’t a series! 

 

Empire of the Vampire 

I’ve enjoyed the first two books of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire series so much that I already know I want to re-read it once it’s done. 

I believe the final instalment is coming out later this year. Honestly, I will be very sad to see this finish. But that opens the door for a re-read! 

 

Babel 

So far, I have only read Babel once. However, I loved this book the first time round. When I first read the book, I only had a token appreciation for its nods to historical English colonialism. When I go back to re-read this book, I want to do so with a better understanding of this point in the narrative. 

It just goes to show that you can learn about a wide variety of topics in books where you don’t even realise that’s a theme… 

 

Realm of the Elderlings

I’m only on book 7 of Robin Hobb’s The Realm of the Elderlings series. However, I already know that this is a series I will read and re-read throughout my life.

Here’s a huge thank you to my friend Rachael for getting me into this series. Whilst I had already purchased a copy of the first book, Assassin’s Apprentice, she gave me the nudge to get started. I’ve never looked back!

The world in which I have read so far has such a detailed history and lots of complex action. It also has its fair share of heartbreak. I sobbed finishing Fool’s Errand. If you know, you know. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series entails in the first place, and then no doubt can’t wait to get back to it! 

 

Harry Potter

A classic story, Harry Potter is going to be a well-read series throughout the ages. I have a particular love for this series because I grew up with it and I aged with it.

I have already re-read the series once in my life. Reading these books from an older perspective was already more interesting. I have more of a love for the later books in the series where events get a little darker than the comparatively lighthearted first books. 

 

Nevernight Chronicles

Nevernight

Jay Kristoff features for a second time here in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post. I first discovered his writing when listening to his Nevernight Chronicles books. I loved this story so much that I definitely want to re-read it. This time, I want to experience the books in either e-book or physical format as opposed to audio. I really enjoyed the footnotes and witticisms throughout the narrative, and I want to see how differently these come across in the different format as opposed to audio. 

 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Although I’m not much of a romance girly, I could route behind the character Karou and the romance that unfolds in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. 

Plus, Laini Taylor has such a beautiful and effortless writing style. Daughter of Smoke and Bone would be such an easy trilogy to pick up and read again. And again… 

 

 

Summary

Apologies this Top Ten Tuesday went live later than planned. However, it’s been a fun post to write, and I definitely need to write my priority list on when to re-read each of the books and series featured in today’s post.

Have you read any of the books on today’s Top Ten Tuesday? Have you ever re-read any of the books?

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Sunday Summary – 6th July 2025

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Happy Sunday reading friends! Welcome to this Sunday Summary update post. Thankfully, where I live, we have a local bank holiday tomorrow, so my weekend isn’t quite over yet. With any luck, I’ll be spending at least some of tomorrow with a book in hand! 

Before I get ahead of myself thinking about next week, let’s look at what’s happened in the last seven days. 

The first post I shared this week went live on Tuesday. It was my monthly wrap-up post for June 2025. Before I got really busy at work, I wanted to draft and publish this post. Whilst I run my blog out of work hours, if I’ve had a long day, I don’t always feel like doing the blog stuff afterwards. Mindful of my time and energy, I’m glad I got this one done in good time. 

Next, I shared my TBR for July on Friday. With the same in mind, I started this a couple of days before it went live. This gave me loads of time to plan the books I’m picking up this month and prepare that blog post. If you haven’t yet read that, here’s a link so you can find out what I’m reading in the near future.

 

Books Read

 

Saint’s Blood

Picking up from last week’s Sunday Summary update, I listened to the final four hours of Saint’s Blood over the course of this working week. Not that that was difficult to do. I was at a point in the story where I was really engaged with what was going on and I wanted to see how the book would end.

I do a lot of my audiobook listening in the week whilst I’m commuting to and from work. Because it’s been quarter-end at work, I haven’t been going out at lunchtime as usual. So, I’ve managed to fit in a little bit more listening there too! 

I really enjoyed Saint’s Blood and getting back into this series. I’m not entirely sure what the fourth and final book of this series will entail. What I can tell you is that I plan to pick this up before too long so I can finish the series before the end of the year. 

 

The Anxious Generation 

On the physical book front, I have made a real effort to read The Anxious Generation this week. As of my monthly wrap-up post, I had made a healthy thought to the book, but I was only 60 pages in. As of this Sunday Summary update, I have just 30 pages left. 

I’ve made a good push to get the book finished today, but I’ve not quite got there. I am hoping to make the final push with this book before I go to bed tonight so I can start afresh tomorrow! 

The Anxious Generation is an interesting read. Whilst quite factual and somewhat statistical, the book and its narrative are engaging to read. At the moment, I’m reading the author’s practical advice for what government, schools and parents can do to minimise the impact of handheld access to social media and the wider internet. I’m looking forward to seeing how it ends.

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma 

In the last couple of days, I’ve started listening to a biography on Alan Turing.

I wanted to pick up this book since watching The Imitation Game. For a man who had such a massive influence on British history and breaking German cipher codes in WWII through developing a computer, he was very poorly treated.

So far, the audiobook is going through his early life. If I’m honest, I’m finding this a little dry at the moment. Fortunately, I’m listening to this audiobook whilst also doing craft projects so I’m somewhat engaged by those. I’m going to stick with the audiobook a little bit longer and see if things get more interesting. 

 

Books Discovered

This week is another week with no new additions to the TBR. Given I have completed books this week and added nothing to the reading list, we’re heading in the right direction for once.

 

Coming Up… 

With an anticipated busy week next week, I’m going to reduce the pressure on myself to blog. It’s a busy time at work, we’re several staff down and it’ll be myself and my manager largely holding down the fort for our team. 

I’d already earmarked next week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme as one I wanted to feature. That post is about the books I want to re-read. So, I’ll probably draft this post tomorrow ready to go live on Tuesday. Then, I’ll have a short break until the end of the week. 

The final post landing this time next week is another Sunday Summary update. Stay tuned to find out if I stick with Alan Turing‘s biography, as well as which book I pick up next after The Anxious Generation. 

I hope you all have a fabulous week, whatever you have planned! Until next time, happy reading! 

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