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Hi friends! Yes, this is a new type of post. I thought with me reading a bit faster this year, it would be good to do a monthly or bi-monthly book review for the blog. I've only really done two book review posts on the blog before but I thought this would be something new I could do so welcome to my January 2025 Book Reviews blog post. Please enjoy.
Previous Book Review Posts
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January 2025 Book Reviews
Also, quickly, I wanna talk about the books I read at the end of 2024 that didn't quite make it into my 2024 book review. These were: Unf#ck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper and The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden.
Unf#ck Your Brain - Faith G. Harper: I personally loved the style of this book, it was written by this edgy psychologist who loves to swear and puts her own personality into it. I don't think I learned anything new but it was definitely a good read for sure. I read it in like 2 days. Thank you Luke for my kindle!
The Boyfriend - Freida McFadden: Okay, I have now read 2 of her books and this one I would say was the better one. After reading other reviews of this book, I realise that everyone thought the twist was going to be something else - like you think it's gonna be the most obvious BUT it's even worse than you can imagine (apparently this author likes to put red herrings in like that). The pacing in the book is good, like it hooks you but some of the stuff I think there needed to be more research into why those people were the way they were - e.g., give more character development and show us their personalities. I wasn't disappointed but the ending wasn't super satisfying either.
The Strangers We Know - Pip Drysdale: This is probably my favourite book I've read this month. I was hooked from the start. The characters had depth and even though it was so far-fetched, it felt like it was something that could actually happen IRL. It highlights how we might think we would know what to do in Charlie's situation but that if that did happen to us, we might act in a different way entirely.
The Teacher - Freida McFadden: NOPE. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. This book made me so sick to my stomach but I couldn't put it down. The themes are disgusting and highlight how ab*sers constantly repeat their behaviours. However, the book does hook you pretty fast and I read it really fast because I wanted to know what happened. I was not expecting the massive twist at the end. You want to find out? Give it a read because I do not want to spoil it.
Don't Believe Her - Nicola Sanders: This book was absolutely thrilling. I loved every little twist and then all the other "boom, haha you thought but it was actually X" twists too. The ending was really satisfying too. It shows how friendship can conquer all.
The Perfect Imposter - Iris Baxter: I literally had no idea where this story was going when I first started reading it but I did have some concerns - was Claire actually losing it? Why did her husband not support her? If you really loved someone, wouldn't you wanna work out what was going on? I thought that bit was off - also it's kinda obvious that it's not Claire going crazy (because of the blurb) and also all the stuff that happens at the start, like there has to be another person involved. It makes it easy for the reading to sympathise/emphasise with Claire. I kinda get a weird vibe from the psychiatrist/psychologist character - they don't seem to care at all - so that part I didn't like. But as the story progresses it gets better, more things happen, and we start to see who is actually behind it all and why. I think the themes of repressed memories, identity, and family are explored well.
Tripwire - Lee Child: Okay so we all know I'm a big Reacher fan now, it's a whole other universe that I want to fall into. However, I think there is a bit of a formula to some of these books - there's some big mystery that Reacher stumbles into, then there's a love interest (like why is it always a love interest?), and then we explore lots of ex-army themes. Most of the time, these books hook you from the get-go but I struggled to read this one at the start. I don't know if it wasn't fast-paced enough for me at the start BUT I did like how we see a different side of Reacher thinking about settling down - that's a cool side for character development. Anyway, about 3/4 through the book is when I was finally hooked and I had no idea what was going to happen at the end. I just didn't see it coming, but the ending was really satisfying in my opinion and I'm still going to keep reading the Reacher books.
The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman: Okay, I don't even know where to start with this one. Right from the bat, there are SOOO many characters and I mean I've watched Game of Thrones and I could keep up with that, but I personally think there were WAY too many characters in here (we need a mind map of everyone in this story). I started off reading this one quite slowly because I was so overwhelmed with all the characters. Over time, I got a bit more invested into the story and the writing was good, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. I did find it hard to relate and I think that's because Osman's context is the UK so there was a lot of British stuff in there - like some of it I got but others I was like what is that? I think the most obvious one was going to get a block of Cadbury (like I know that's a chocolate bar) but other ones just went over my head. The ending ended up being kinda confusing because you're led to believe one thing happened but we never actually get the right justice for the right person (hopefully that's not too much of a spoiler). I had high hopes for this book but I definitely had a bitter taste at the end when the two men are talking. Like I did wanna throw the book out the window when I realised.
Under Her Skin - Jessica Huntley: I'm not sure how I feel about this book tbh. It started off really slow, like I think it should have started when the family ends up moving but it starts way before that (and then have it as a backstory sprinkled in). The first half I really felt the character's anxiety and I didn't really like that, it made me feel anxious and I think that's the point. Once I was halfway through the book, I started to enjoy it a bit more because it became more thrilling and fast-paced. BUT, everything was just WAY too predictable, like I saw it all coming and called it as soon as something happened or a new person was introduced. I have a feeling that because I call things like this often it's because I'm so analytical and the sociologist personality comes out - especially when I don't want it to. However, it was a nice palette cleanser after The Thursday Murder Club though as there was only one POV/narrator - Natasha (so it was way easier to follow all the characters and what was happening).
The other books I've just started reading which will likely be in next month's book review are:
How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships - Leil Lowndes: I'm only about 30% through this one, but there is a lot of good advice in here about how to talk to people if you want to make it big or have them think highly of you without doing too much. I am looking forward to learning more as I get through more of this book.
The Never Game - Jeffrey Deaver: I'm also not very far through this one but I wanted to read it because the TV show "Tracker" is based on this book. It's not the same story but so far I think I prefer the TV show - but maybe because it's more fleshed out. I do like the writing style but there is a lot packed into this book and it's not very long. I'm looking forward to finding more similarities and differences between the books and TV show.
Let me know if you think I should change the category from "lifestyle" to "book reviews" and add that one in.
What books are you reading at the moment? Let me know in the comments below!
Thank you for reading!
Much love,
Ash xo
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Tese look like somthing i would love, i've added a few to the reading list. Thank you for sharing these goodies!
Thanks for sharing this list! I loved the Teacher and The Boyfriend! My goal is to read all of Frieda's books then move on to similar authors. I'm currently on The Inmate.