ShortBookandScribes January 2025 Reads
Happy February! Some people find January a long month. I think it flew by but I think that about every month.
I’ve had a good reading month for me, having managed nine books instead of what has become my usual eight or even seven. The main reason for that is that I’ve read a couple of eBooks on my phone alongside a physical book. I stopped reading eBooks a few years ago because I found that I just wasn’t enjoying the experience and therefore I wasn’t looking forward to reading those particular books. But I fancied reading The Girls’ Book of Priesthood and I had bought the eBook back in 2019 so I gave it a go and found there’s a particular part of my day that lends itself well to an eBook. I then moved on to The Founding which I had in paperback but it was one of those horrendously heavy print on demand editions so an eBook worked perfectly there too. It also served to keep me from endless scrolling on social media and made me read instead – always a bonus.
Here’s what I read in January:
A complex plot full of suspense, secrets and lies about two women, one whose husband killed himself and the other whose husband is missing. How are they linked?
The Girls’ Book of Priesthood by Louise Rowland
This book follows Reverend Margot Goodwin in the year before she’s ordained as a priest. There are lots of ups and downs for Margot and this book felt authentic and well-researched.
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
I always love a McAllister and this one has a fantastic premise about a woman whose husband is involved in a siege, not as a hostage but as the hostage-taker. A thriller full of heart.
A story of coercive control linked with exercise, this is a taut and intense tale of discipline, power and manipulation as Cassie tries to take back control after years of Liam’s extreme behaviour.
Maid of Steel by Kate Baker
In 1911 Emma leaves New York to travel to Ireland. She gets involved with women’s suffrage and falls in love.
The Time of the Fire by Emma Kavanagh
Robyn’s father dies and it causes a split in her world. In the other version of her life her father is still alive. An intriguing (and prescient) premise set amidst Californian wildfires.
Instructions for Heartbreak by Sarah Handyside
Four female friends navigate heartbreak by producing a handbook. A heart-warming debut about friendship, work, love and family.
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (review coming tomorrow)
A writer and a remote island setting? Yes please! I enjoyed this story of Grady Green who goes to the Isle of Amberly to try and recover his writing mojo but finds the island full of bizarre people and strange events.
The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (review to follow)
If you’d told me that by far and away my favourite book of the month would be a book written in 1980 and set during the War of the Roses I wouldn’t have believed it but I thought The Founding, book one in the 36-strong Morland Dynasty series, was absolutely brilliant.
Finally, I signed up to Storygraph earlier this month because I heard that they do fancy graphs and pie charts. I won’t be using it to log all my books (I’ve been using LibraryThing since 2007 for that) but I have started recording what I’ve read on there and it’s produced this rather nice graphic for me:
The average time to finish a book is misleading because of the eBooks which I read very slowly, a chapter or so per day.
What was your favourite January read?
