Books and travelling with Lynn

Bookish Highlights for 2025

Posted On 31 December 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Ancient History, Book Reviews, Booking Highlights for 2025, Books, Fantasy, fiction, Horror, Murder Mystery, New to me authors, Period, reading, romantasy, Series, Thrillers

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For the past month I’ve been highlighting a book a day during the Countdown to 2026, just to shine a little more light on some of the books I read this past year.

During 2025 I didn’t read as many books as I would usually, mainly due to a couple of periods where I had various issues that stopped me picking up, or even wanting to pick up books. That being said I read 83 books last year and I will say that I picked up some fantastic books. Below is a quick spotlight on various books broken into different categories.

Tomorrow I shall be posting my Top Ten Books for 2025

Happy New Year to you all.

Fantasy:

Grave Empire by Richard Swan
Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill
Vianne by Joanne Harris
A Far Better Thing by HG Parry
My Ex, the AntiChrist by Craig DiLouie
The Hexologists: A Tangle of Time by Josiah Bancroft
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber
King Sorrow by Joe Hill
The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow
The Blackfire Blade by James Logan

Horror:

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Senseless by Ronald Malfi
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest
My Ex, the AntiChrist by Craig DiLouie
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
The Cold House by AG Slatter
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry

Great additions/conclusions to series:

The Crimson Road by AG Slatter
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
Paved With Good Intentions by Peter McLean
Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan
Damned by Genevieve Cogman
Ring the Bells by CK McDonnell
Ragwort by Sam K Horton

Romantasy:

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis
Paladins Grace by T Kingfisher
Swordheart by T Kingfisher
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst
Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher
A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence by Stephanie Burgis
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Historic/Period Drama/Ancient History

Daughter of Chaos by A S Webb
A Fortune Most Fatal by Jessica Bull
The Rush by Beth Lewis
Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia
No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes
No Women Were Harmed by Heather Mottershead
House of Splinters by Laura Purcell
The Last Witch by CJ Cooke
The Austen Christmas Murders by Jessica Bull

Murder Mystery/Thriller:

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
The Vipers by Katy Hays
A Fortune Most Fatal by Jessica Bull
The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose
We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough
The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North
The Countdown Killer by Sam Holland
The Bodies by Sam Lloyd
The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine
Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham

New to Me Authors:

Molly O’Neill
Steve Jones
Heather Mottershead
Natalie Haynes
Shalini Abeysekara
Francesca May
Jackson Ford
Rachel Gillig
Lauren Wiesebron
A S Webb
Josh Malerman
Virginia Feito
Devney Perry

Countdown to 2026: The Final Day – Bottle of Bubbly – your first read in the New Year

Posted On 31 December 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A Box Full of Darkness, Bottle of Bubbly, Countdown to 2026, Day 31, Simone St James, The Final Day, Your First Read in the New Year

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Once again I am counting down to the New Year, as with the previous years I shall be highlighting at least one book per day to fit the prompt on that given day. The main aim for this countdown is to highlight some of my reads during the past year and to shine the spotlight on them once again (although some of the prompts relate to forthcoming reads).

Today is the final day of the countdown to 2026 and a list of prompts can be found here if you wish to join me in counting down to 2026 and casting a spotlight on some of your favourite books.

Today’s Prompt: Bottle of Bubbly – your first read in the New Year:

For today’s prompt I’ve chosen A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St James. It’s one of the first books on my shelves in the new year, I really like this author and I’m very much looking forward to this.

0 Days Remaining

See you all in the new year

Countdown to 2026: Day 30 – Family and Friends – a book with great characters

Posted On 30 December 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A book with great characters, Christina Henry, Countdown to 2026, Day 30, family and Friends, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart

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Today is Day 30 of the countdown to 2026 and a list of prompts can be found here if you wish to join me in counting down to 2026 and casting a spotlight on some of your favourite books.

Today’s Prompt: Family and Friends – a book with great characters:

For today’s prompt I’ve chosen The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry. At first glance this may appear like an unlikely contender for today’s prompt with its creepy house vibe, not to mention the font itself screams ‘horror’, but, the characters really make this novel stand out and in fact it is my favourite by the author so far.

1 Day Remaining

Tomorrow’s prompt: Bottle of Bubbly – your first read in the New Year

Countdown to 2026: Day 29 – A roaring fire – a book that was heartwarming

Posted On 29 December 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A book that was heartwarming, A Roaring Fire, Countdown to 2026, Day 29, Nita Prose, The Maid's Secret

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Today is Day 29 of the countdown to 2026 and a list of prompts can be found here if you wish to join me in counting down to 2026 and casting a spotlight on some of your favourite books.

Today’s Prompt: A Roaring Fire – a book that was heartwarming:

For today’s prompt I’ve chosen the conclusion to a series that I really enjoyed. The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose. I really enjoyed reading about Molly, she is such a unique character and whilst this final chapter wasn’t perhaps my favourite of her adventures it was a really great way to end her story. I cannot wait to see what this author comes up with next:

2 Days Remaining

Tomorrow’s prompt: Family and Friends – a book with great characters

Booking Ahead/Weekly Wrap Up

Posted On 28 December 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Agatha Christie, Book Reviews, Booking Ahead, Books, Caffeinated Book Reviewer, fiction, reading, Sunday Post, T Kingfisher, The Last Death of the Year, Weekly wrap up, What Stalks the Deep

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Sunday Post

Weekly Update

To those of you who celebrate Christmas I hope you’ve had a lovely time and happy holidays to those who don’t I hope you’ve enjoyed the past few days. I’ve definitely eaten too many naughty treats and not been terribly good at exercising so that’s something I need to work on. In bookish news I completed The Last Death of the Year by Sophie Hannah, this was okay but not quite as gripping as I’d hoped. I also picked up and completed What Stalks the Deep by T Kingfisher. This was also okay, I enjoyed the writing but didn’t think it quite captured the atmosphere I was hoping for. I’ve now picked up and am hoping to complete before the year concludes The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas – at the moment its slow going so we’ll see.