Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025 [Updated 10/31/25]

Happy Halloween!

I felt like I didn’t accomplish much reading this month, but as it turns out, I did. I finished eight books! Maybe it was simply that I expected to knock out a few more Halloween-themed cozy mysteries. Or maybe it’s because it took me so long to get through Jane Eyre

Anyway, here is what I read in October, complete with my ratings.

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Don’t Look Behind You (Emily Kazmierski)

Rating: 3.5/4

The Girl from Rawblood (Catriona Ward)

Rating: 4/5

Suicide Forest (Jeremy Bates)

Rating: 3/5

Listen for the Lie (Amy Tintera)

Rating: 4/5

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

Rating: 2/5

What Lies in the Woods (Kate Alice Marshall)

Rating: 4/5

Eat, Pray, Hex (Tara Lush)

Rating: 3/5

Pretty Girls (Karin Slaughter)

Rating: 4.5/5

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I am currently reading Survive the Night (Riley Sager) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde).

Progress: 65/75

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025 [Updated 9/30/25]

September has been a productive reading month for me! I have added a few fall- and Halloween-themed cozy mysteries to my TBR list, preparing myself for my favorite time of the year. And, of course, I’m still sticking to my original plan and going for the classics that I have yet to read (though I did not finish one this month).

Here are the books I read in September.

Hour of the Pumpkin Queen (Megan Shepherd)

Rating: 3/5

Sacrificial Magic (Stacia Kane)

Rating: 3.5/5

Lock Every Door (Riley Sager)

Rating: 2.5/5

They All Fall Down (Roxanne St. Claire)

Rating: 3/5

It Began With a Lie (Michele Pariza Wacek)

Rating: 3.5/5

Killer Content (Kiley Roache)

Rating: 4/5

The Girls Are All So Nice Here (L.E. Flynn)

Rating: 4.5/5

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I am currently reading The Girl From Rawblood (Catriona Ward) and Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë).

Progress: 57/75

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025 [Updated 8/31/25]

I think I’m back on track, at least with my reading challenge updates! Since I posted the catch-up blog on the 6th, I have finished six more books, including another classic (The Wind in the Willows).

I am very excited because we’re creeping ever nearer to fall and there are a few books I’ve been saving, ones that I feel are best read curled up under a fuzzy blanket with a candle burning and a mug of tea in hand. I can’t wait!

The Last One at the Wedding (Jason Rekulak)

Rating: 3/5

Friends Like These (Kimberly McCreight)

Rating: 4/5

I Think I Was Murdered (Colleen Coble/Rick Acker)

Rating: 3/5

A Cornucopia of Murder (Michele Pariza Wacek)

Rating: 4/5

City of Ghosts (Stacia Kane)

Rating: 4/5

The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)

Rating: 3/5

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I am currently reading Sacrificial Magic (Stacia Kane) and Hour of the Pumpkin Queen (Megan Shepherd).

Progress: 50/75

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025 [Updated 8/6/25]

So, the blog has been on a bit of a hiatus for reasons that I will explain in a separate post. The only thing I’ve kept up with over the past two months is The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist, which means, of course, that I haven’t updated my reading challenge since May. But I am rectifying that right now! There will be another post at the end of this month, just to get back on track. For now, let me fill you in on all I’ve read in June and July.

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here (Jeneva Rose)

Rating: 3/5

The Collected (K.R. Alexander)

Rating: 2.5/5

There’s No Way I’d Die First (Lisa Springer)

Rating: 3/5

Rock, Paper, Scissors (Alice Feeney)

Rating: 4/5

Summer Rental (Rektok Ross)

Rating: 3/5

Spring Harvest (Rektok Ross)

Rating: 4/5

Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

Rating: 2/5

Clown in a Cornfield (Adam Cesare)

Rating: 2/5

Carnival Kills (Caesar Daniels)

Rating: 3/5

Red Hot Murder (Michele Pariza Wacek)

Rating: 4.5/5

They’re Watching You (Chelsea Ichaso)

Rating: 4/5

I Know What You Did Last Summer (Lois Duncan)

Rating: 2/5

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (Kalynn Bayron)

Rating: 2.5/5

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I am currently reading A Cornucopia of Murder (Michele Pariza Wacek) and I Think I Was Murdered (Colleen Coble).

Progress: 44/75

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025 [Updated 5/31/25]

Y’all are going to laugh that it took this long, but I finally bought a Kindle. I’ve had Kindle Unlimited for two years, and I’ve been reading like a fiend on my phone. However, I decided I needed something with a bigger/adjustable display (after frequent headaches from the constant eye strain of looking at my phone and the computers at work). I decided on the Kindle Paperwhite and so far, I’m enjoying it immensely.

Anyway, I’m telling you that to tell you this: I’ve been sailing through novels since the device arrived! May has been productive. So much so, in fact, that I changed my goal for the year. I am now aiming for 75 books instead of 50.

Here is what I have finished over the past month.

The Cheerleaders (Kara Thomas)

Rating: 3.5/5

Satan’s Affair (H.D. Carlton)

Rating: 3/5

The Summer She Went Missing (Chelsea Ichaso)

Rating: 4/5

No Place Left to Hide (Megan Lally)

Rating: 4/5

Hide (Kiersten White)

Rating: 3/5

Such Quiet Girls (Noelle West Ihli)

Rating: 3.5/4

Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)

Rating: 3/5

The Final Scene (Steph Nelson)

Rating: 3.5/5

The Collector (K.R. Alexander)

Rating: 2.5/5

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I am currently reading Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), The Collected (K.R. Alexander), and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here (Jeneva Rose).

Progress: 31/75

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025 [Updated 4/30/25]

Hello! I hope you have had a fantabulous April. Mine has been…well, I guess I’d say wash, rinse, repeat. Lol. Same shit, different month. However, I did read six books, so that’s at least one improvement, right?

Here are the books I finished with my ratings.

Every Summer After (Carley Fortune)

Rating: 4/5

A Peach of a Murder (Livia J. Washburn)

Rating: 3/5

The Stranger in Her House (John Marrs)

Rating: 4/5

The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Rating: 2/5

Murder in Cottonwood Springs (Dianne Harman)

Rating: 2.5/3

Home Before Dark (Riley Sager)

Rating: 3.5/5

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I am currently reading Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte), No Place Left to Hide (Megan Lally), and The Cheerleaders (Kara Thomas).

Progress: 22/50

Update: Goodreads Reading Challenge 2023 (4/4/23)

I missed posting an update for March. Whoops! I have no excuse other than a lot of things have been happening at work and I’ve been scheduling the bare minimum of posts.

Since I last shared anything about my 2023 Reading Challenge, I finished Emilie Autumn’s The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Danielle Valentine’s How to Survive Your Murder, Riley Sager’s The Last Time I Lied, Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen, Paula Morris’ Ruined, Kim Harrison’s The Drafter, and Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I’ll put my ratings below.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about why I gave these ratings, because many of you likely won’t agree with why I gave lower ratings to a couple of them. Let me just say that the twist in The Last Time I Lied was good, but possible to figure out if you’re really trying. The twist in How to Survive Your Murder was actually really solid, I just wasn’t crazy about the characters. Red Queen was a little too typical for me; it was well-written and is worth reading, but I’m not sure I’ll continue the series. Ruined was readable, just not overly interesting. Same with The Drafter, which is a shame because I typically like Kim Harrison’s books. And American Gods was too long (good story, though).

I have now started Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone, and Silent Child by Sarah A. Denzil.

As always, feel free to tell me about any books you’re reading and offer up some recommendations! I have only read 13 of my 35 book goal, so I need some suggestions.

Update: Goodreads Reading Challenge 2023 (1/13/23)

I finished Stacia Kane’s Unholy Ghosts, and I was right – I am definitely reading the whole series. I loved the story, the characters, her writing style… Overall, I’d rate the book 4.5 out of 5.

I also ran through the third book in Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces series, Dark Waters.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is the kind of kids’ book I wish had existed when I was a kid. So many of the “scary” books I read back then fell short. They weren’t even creepy (to me). But Arden’s tales of The Smiling Man are eerie, and the entity is not easily beaten or discovered to be anything less than frightening.

Rating: 4/5

And last but not least, I have started my fourth book of the year, The Creeper by A.M. Shine. I read a recommendation of this book on Jenny In Neverland’s blog [check out the post here]. So today, I plan to drop my car off at my mechanic’s then curl up with a blanket, a cup of coffee, and this suspenseful chiller from Shine.

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2023

I have started my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2023! I’ve already finished one book – Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli – but to be fair, I started it back in November. Lol. It counts, though, because I finished it this year.

I have since started my second book, Stacia Kane’s Unholy Ghosts. It is the first in the Downside Ghosts series. (I needed a new series to get invested in after finishing The Morganville Vampires.)

Unholy Ghosts is an urban fantasy novel that centers entirely around, you guessed it, ghosts. Here’s the synopsis, per Google Books:

“The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

I’m enjoying it so far, and I’m over halfway through. All of the characters that have been introduced are likable, even those without many redeeming qualities. I like Stacia’s writing style, as well.

I’ll give my rating with my next update! And please consider joining me for the challenge this year!