Hi everyone – Happy 2025!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and an amazing start to the new year! My goal for 2024 was to read 25 books, and I ended the year having read 38—far surpassing my original target! For 2025, I’m setting a new goal: 40 books. While I’d love to beat my 2024 total, I also want to be realistic about what’s achievable, and 40 feels like the perfect challenge to start with.
With the craziness of the holidays, I only got through 3 books, but I am happy with that. These were all okay to good books, but definitely not the most amazing books that I read throughout the year.
Now let’s get into the books that I finished 2024 with!
Gray After Dark by Noelle W. Ihli
I gave Gray After Dark a 3-star review, primarily because of the ending. The overall plot and most of the story—about the first three-fourths of the book—were enjoyable and well done. However, the ending felt rushed and wrapped up far too quickly.
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who’s interested in reading it, because, as I mentioned, it’s a good story overall. It just left me wishing for a more satisfying, less rushed conclusion
This book has very mixed reviews, but its overall high rating convinced me to give it a try. Many reviewers mention that the book starts off slow, and while I can see their point, I actually enjoy that in a thriller. I love when a story begins at a slower pace and then gradually picks up, building to a suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat finale—and that’s exactly what this book delivered.
Another common critique is that the ending is ridiculous, but I didn’t find it over-the-top at all. In fact, I didn’t see the twist coming, which made it all the more satisfying. I’d definitely recommend this one to any thriller lovers out there!
Pretty Little Girls by Karin Slaughter
Pretty Little Girls was definitely my top pick of the month! However, I want to issue a warning: the book contains several graphic depictions of abuse and torture, so if you’re sensitive to such content, you might want to skip this one.
This was the most thrilling book I read all month, with an ending that was both realistic and unpredictable. I did give it 4 stars instead of 5 because some plot elements felt unnecessary, but overall, it was an excellent read!
As always I would love any recommendations you have that I should add to my reading list for this coming year.
Stay hungry my friends!
