This year was not my best year for reading. I set the goal of reading 80 books. I read 61. I know this is still a lot of books. I have read 100 or more for the last several years, so I thought 80 would be an easy goal. My plan was to read through my bookcase. I learned after a few books that there is a reason some of them had been on my shelf for so long. I started more books that I didn't finish this year than I have in my whole life. I normally have my top 5 to share with you. Technically, this is 5 books, but 4 from a series. I did not enjoy most of the books that I read. These are the only ones I would recommend to a friend.
I don't normally love series. In fact, I usually stay away from books that I know are part of a series. That was not the case with these. The Marlow Murder Club came up when I was looking for an audiobook. I instantly fell in love with the characters. I started watching Murder She Wrote this winter. The book reminded me of that show. It's three women who are from different walks of life who end up solving a murder in their hometown. It is written similiar an Agatha Christie novel. I have read the first 4 books and have not been able to figure out who the murderer was for any of them. They are classified as a cozy mystery. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book that doesn't come out until July.
The other book that I read also had to do with murder. The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict. It was based on real authors. The women mystery writers were being inducted into an author society. They decided the best way to prove they belonged with the men was to solve a real crime. The story jumps between their stories as authors and how they are solving a crime.
2025 Book Stats:
9 Audio books
13 Books for school
20 Fiction
19 Non-Fiction
Hopefully, my 2026 reading year goes better than 2025.
You can see all the books I read on my Goodreads account: https://www.goodreads.com/readingchallenges/annual
