I’ve really been getting back into reading again in 2015 and although I don’t get to write reviews for all the books I read, I do at least rate them on Goodreads. I’ve missed out any books that I could not finish as I don’t count them as reads as such – I give books a certain amount of time or chapters to hook me in otherwise I give up – too many books and not enough time. Here are all of the books I have read so far in 2015…
GIRL ONLINE BY ZOE SUGG
I had to see what it was all about and after all that fuss about a ghost writer, part of me feels Zoe probably could have done a better job if she had actually written the entire thing herself. The story itself was okay but the whole book could have been so much better if only some effort had been put in, rather than keeping their fingers crossed that people would buy it regardless because of the name on the front cover.
DIVERGENT BY VERONICA ROTH
Yes, I’m super late to the party but I loved this. I wanted to read this before watching the film and Jack bought me the books for Mother’s Day 2014 but I’ve only just got around to reading them. Really loved the novel and especially loved Four’s character – nothing to do with my slight crush on Theo James, honest!
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN BY PAULA HAWKINS
This has been getting rave reviews and with good reason – it is quite a good book. I only neglected to give it five stars because I guessed most of the outcome a few chapters from the end. Great book though.
101 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY FROM HOME BY M JAYNE
I will be reviewing this on Keene On Saving in the not too distant future so keep an eye out for that. This is written by the blogger behind A Disease Called Debt, a UK personal finance blog that I adore. Some of the ways were definitely old hat and ones that everyone knows about but there were some fantastic new ideas thrown out too.
AGATHA RAISIN & THE WELLSPRING OF DEATH BY M C BEATON
I’ve suddenly developed an obsession with the Agatha Raisin novels and this was my first foray into them. I’d heard nothing but good things and this certainly didn’t disappoint.
MISSING GRETYL BY SIMON PAGE
I’ve reviewed this book here but simply put…if you are looking for a laugh, this is the book for you.
GUNSHOT GLITTER BY YASMIN SELENA BUTT
I found out about this book from a Facebook group I had joined all about books, The Bookshop Cafe. All too often I found that Facebook book groups were simply full of self promotion until Sandra from Beauty Balm pointed me in the direction of some great groups. Yasmin is the admin of The Bookshop Cafe and after checking out the premise of her book and liking the sound of it, I had to buy it. It is definitely one of my favourite reads of 2015 so far.
KILLING HOPE BY KEITH HOUGHTON
This was quite a good read, very fast paced. Only let down by me working out the ending about halfway through the book – I even figured out the twist.
THE OPHELIA TRAP BY KATE BURNS
This had great promise and an intriguing storyline but was let down by constant reminders about how well she gets on with her husbands ex and her step kids and what was a fairly predictable story. There was a slight twist at the end which almost redeemed the story but I feel it would have been better placed a chapter or two before to really end the book with a bang.
ELIZABETH’S SECRET DIARY BY FRANCINE PASCAL
I was a big Sweet Valley fan when I was younger and adored Elizabeth. This book delved into a slightly less innocent side of Liz – who would ever expect her to cheat on Todd? I decided to re read this to see if I still loved it like I did when I was 12 or 13. The answer? No, but the story does continue to stick with me. I bought this with a number of different books that I loved as a child.
LOVE EMILY BY KELLY KILLIAN
I read this on a whim – I was looking for something to read on my Kindle, picked one out randomly and this was it. It was an okay story but didn’t really seem to go anywhere and the constant whining about the ex and the bunny boiler after the new boyfriend really wound me up.
MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION BY ELLIE CAMPBELL
I’ve got a full review of this book coming up this week so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve read and reviewed Ellie Campbell’s books before and always loved them. This was a departure from the previous stuff I have read by them but I loved it nonetheless.
UNDERWOOD, SCOTCH & WRY BY BRIAN D MEEKS
This was another random pick from my Kindle and boy, what a read. It probably wouldn’t appeal to everyone but this tells the story of a notorious professor who the administration want to get rid of. What better way than to place a technophobe in charge of the social media course? This was an interesting look at social media, blogging and the internet as a whole and just what it can be used for. It was so amusing reading about the attempts to teach him to use Twitter!
GEEK GIRL BY HOLLY SMALE
I had been hearing great things about this for ages so checked this out of the library. I flew through the book and absolutely loved it. Very similar to the books I used to read about ten years ago.
WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON BY JOHN GREEN AND DAVID LEVITHAN
I don’t know quite what I was expecting but not this. I read it all but I struggled to get into the story as some characters simply weren’t all that believable.
BRIDGET JONES DIARY: MAD ABOUT THE BOY BY HELEN FIELDING
I tried to go into this with an open mind, knowing what I do about the book. I tried telling myself that it was a completely different book and not the third book in a series I loved. I feel like it is a relatively good book if considered a stand alone and not part of the Bridget Jones series at all.However it serves as a poor end to the Bridget Jones trilogy – rushed scenes with Bridget’s friends that we all know and love, distinct lack of Daniel Cleaver and even when he did appear, his character didn’t quite seem ‘him’ if that makes any sense. I also fail to believe that even Bridget herself would be quite that useless as a mother. All in all, an okay read – but I’m a disappointed Bridget fan too if I am honest.
What have you been reading recently?
I've getting back into reading this year too. I think it really helps my sister got me a kindle for my birthday in January. Last year, I read 6 books. This year so far I've read 13!
I enjoyed The Girl On The Train too, but agree the end was a bit predictable (an on-screen adaptation would work well though, wouldn't it?).
The Shock of The Fall is also really good! I was telling my friend to hurry up an read it so I had someone to talk to about it. 😛 x
Will have to check that out!
I would love to read "Mad About The Boy", it's a shame that it was a disappointment. Daniel Cleaver is a great character, I love Hugh Grant playing him in the film.
Give it a try. You may like it x
I guessed the outcome in Girl on the Train, too, but I still had to finish it in one day! I've been in a book slump in 2015 and this really helped snap me out of it.
I haaaated Mad About the Boy. Bridget Jones grew up to be a flake!
She really did!