I‘m rating this so-so because I really disliked it, but I think it might be quite good 🤷🏻‍♀️. Eve and Nell are best friends at 13 but sworn enemies by 15 - full marks for the portrayal of complexities of social interaction in girls‘ schools - then rekindle their friendship at university but neither is ever over, or honest about, their history. To me it‘s a thoroughly toxic relationship but I think I‘m supposed to read it as a great love ⬇️

#12Booksof2025 December

This examination of motherhood and marriage was my favourite read in December.

Thanks @TheEllieMo for starting these posts this year. I always enjoy seeing everyone‘s choices.

#12Booksof2025 November

This quiet and atmospheric book was my favourite of November.

#ClearTheCozies

Historical cozy set in Adelaide in 1917. Kate Cocks is “officer in charge of South Australia‘s women police”. Her duties are largely involve assisting the ladies of the Travellers‘ Aid Society & patrolling the parks with her 5 foot cane to ensure that courting couples remain “3 feet apart”. But when real detective work is called for she proves she is equal to her male colleagues. Having grown up in Adelaide I enjoyed all the ⬇️

#12Booksof2025

My new favourite author‘s first book is my pick for October.

Totally delightful from beginning to end! I started last year with a DE Stevenson too. I think I should make it a habit.

#12Booksf2025 September

My favourite book in September was this unusual family story that I read thanks to @TrishB ‘s review.

#BookReport for December

Not a lot of reading done this month. Heat Wave is my top pick for the month. Penelope Lively never disappoints.

#RomanceRoundUp

Audrey - Jennifer Hallett, the domineering and foul mouthed producer of Bake Expectations, was my favourite character in the first book (Rosalind Palmer Takes the Cake) so I loved seeing her star in this story. Great fun.
Bar Down - Fine but unexceptional m/m hockey romance.
Look Up Handsome - There was far too much going on in this story - it was a mess, frequently made little sense & the “romance” lacked spark. Disappointing.

#12Booksof2025 August

Slow but engrossing and beautifully written. I loved it.

#12Booksof2025 July

I read 4 of the books in my top 25 in July, Wood Working, Fundamentally, Better Days and this one, my favourite of the year.

Here‘s my best 25 book of 2025. The Axeman‘s Carnival is number 1, the 6 to the right of it the next tier, in no particular order, and the best of the rest below, again in no particular order. #Top25of25

#12Booksof2025 June

I enjoy satire and I enjoy literary pastiche and when the 2 are combined by a writer as talented as Jonathan Coe it is sure to be a hit with me. My favourite read in June.

12Booksof2025 May

This small but perfectly formed novel was the best thing I read in May, and one of my top picks for the year.

The story of a wilful racehorse sent to India in the days of the British Raj and of a wily nun who teaches a rich man about the blessings of generosity. Delightful!

#12Booksof2025 April

The uncompromising and unapologetic Geraldine was the most memorable character I encountered this year and her story was my favourite read in April.

The framework of this novel is the progress of a love affair over the course of one year, but the guts of it is an exploration of love in various forms (familial, marital, romantic, erotic) and the social expectations of women in 1970. It‘s the sort of story I want to devour in one sitting, and because I had plenty of time today I could do just that. I loved it, my favourite #PersephoneClub read this year.

I thought it would be fun to read a light and frothy Christmassy romp and this one fitted the bill perfectly.

#12Booksof2025 March

This tale of domestic warfare fought between a genteel but hard up British lady and her crass American tenant in the immediate aftermath of WWII, read with the #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub, was my favourite read in March.

#12Booksof2025 February

My pick for February is Indian Horse, read as part of @Jess861 ‘s #OCanada group

#12Booksof2025 January

One of my favourite books of the year came from @TheKidUpstairs ‘s #AuldLangSpine list

Thank you so much Barbara! I‘m 99% sure I‘ll love it too!

My Christmas #bookhaul

I got Ice Planet Barbarians in my extended family‘s White Elephant gift swap, much to the horror of my son‘s partner who clearly doesn‘t know me well enough yet 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you for my lovely #JolabokaSwap parcel, Julie. I‘ve not been home, so only just got a chance to open it. Hope you had a great Christmas Day.

Thanks for organising Chelle.

Some cosy Christmas Eve reading.

Over a long hot summer in the English countryside copy editor Pauline watches anxiously as her adult daughter‘s marriage repeats the pattern of her own unsatisfactory union. I loved the gradual unfolding of the mirroring past and present and the authentic, heart-wrenching depiction of maternal devotion, but I think the thing I loved most were Pauline‘s chats with the young male author of the romantic novel she was editing.

Penelope Lively brilliantly encapsulates parenthood in one page.

Thanks to #OhCanada for the impetus to get this off the shelf.

It‘s always good to be back in Three Pines, enjoying the company of the residents, but the mystery in this book felt overly complicated and stretched my credulity. For most of the series Gamache‘s standing as the ideal good man was part of the charm, but in the last few I‘ve felt that Louise Penny has rather overplayed her hand & I‘m finding it a bit irritating. A low pick.

#MyLitsyAwards

Top L-R My #PersephoneClub book of the year; the character whose company I enjoyed most; food for thought.
Bottom L-R My new favourite author; I‘d love to know what happens next for these characters; surprised by how good it is.

Thanks for the template and for getting this started @CSeydel

#PersephoneClub

I‘ve gone back to the beginning of the catalogue to find my suggestions for October. Fidelity tagged, Every Eye tagged in comments.

My #JolabokaflodSwap parcel has arrived.

I‘m excited to explore these titles in my #AuldLangSpine list from @Chelsea.Poole ! Heart the Lover and Pet are already high on my TBR, and I am reconsidering Flesh, which I had decided against, but I‘m not familiar with most of the others. The tagged book and Raising Hare are both calling to me! Thanks Chelsea, I‘m looking forward to comparing notes with you. I hope you are finding interesting things on my list too 😊

#AussieSecretSanta and #JolabokaflodSwap parcels in the mail today.
@thegirlwiththelibrarybag @MaleficentBookDragon

#BookReport for November

Bit of a slow reading month. Seascraper is the standout, but I thoroughly enjoyed Thrown for a Loop too.

#RomanceRoundup

Thrown for a Loop - Second chance romance between a hockey player and a figure skater. When Sarina Bowen is good she‘s very good. I loved this one.
On the surface - Well written hockey romance with convincing conflict & conflict resolution.
SCU hockey books 4 & 5 - Low spice m/m with some nice demi/asexual representation.

Thank you, everyone, for lowering my expectations - I enjoyed this a lot. I loved straight talking Ivy with her witchy connection to wild things (including budding artistic geniuses) and the skewering of the “respectable” for their rigid adherence to social class and accepted behaviour. The final chapter was very satisfying, letting us know how things turned out for everyone. A great finish to our reading year with #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub.

Bleak, beautiful and never predictable, a seriously good book. I loved it, but I worried about the horse a lot 😬

Finally finished last month‘s #PersephoneClub read. I‘m not usually put off by a book being dated, but this time I found it really hard to let go of my modern mindset. Bee & David annoyed me, the crooks were unbelievable for a lot of reasons and Lucia‘s overwrought internal monologue made me unpleasantly anxious rather than thrilled. I‘m ruining this book‘s 100% pick record. Sorry 🫣

Thoroughly entertaining spy caper with quite a few laughs as well as chills. I particularly enjoyed the nods to some real life characters. This is the latest in the series, chosen by my IRL book group for this month. I‘ve only read the first in the series previously and I don‘t think I‘d have enjoyed it much more if I‘d read all of them, but I do think I‘d have enjoyed it less if I‘d not read the first one.

Fun cozy mystery set in a small town in New Zealand with lots of literary as well as NZ references. I‘m sure I missed as many as I got! #NZfiction

Very late #BookReport for October. All good reads, In a Fishbone Church the standout.

#RomanceRoundup for October

After the Siren - enjoyable MM romance in the world of Aussie Rules with some excellent supporting characters
Unloveable Player - MM hockey romance I can barely remember
Changes trilogy - first 2 are MMM about the same triad, 3rd a different couple with triad as supporting characters, cop, cowboy and hockey subgenres alll covered

I think Catherine Chidgey is my new favourite author. This is so different from The Axeman‘s Carnival, but just as good - such vivid characters! Multiple POVs of three generations of a New Zealand family living through the second half of the 20th century, capturing the changes in outlook and opportunities over the years. #NZfiction

Might have picked up a couple of books on my travels 😆 #NZFiction

Some more beautiful NZ South Island scenery

Top left: Kaikoura, Top right: mirror pools on the road to Milford Sound
Centre: Lake Tekapo and Church of the Good Shepherd
Bottom left: Off the coast near Nelson, Bottom right: Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere from Mahaki Paoa Lookout

Edith Wharton was only 14 when she wrote this, and it shows. An interesting bit of juvenilia nonetheless. #WhartonBuddyRead Thanks @Graywacke @Lcsmcat and fellow buddy readers.

Photo is Dunedin harbour from the turret of Lanarch Castle

Midsummer on Sandhamn was a lot less fun than these spoilt teenagers were expecting. Another great murder mystery, number 5 in the series. #SeriesLove2025

Picture is Mount Cook from my hotel room window.

So lovely to be back in the company of the Thursday Murder Club. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I‘m on holiday in the South Island of New Zealand. The scenery is stunning. Picture is Lake Wanaka (I think 😬)

Because I‘m a wuss & often find psychological violence more disturbing than physical violence, I skimmed most of the abduction parts, but I loved the machinations of the spies. Thank you to @thegirlwiththelibrarybag for giving me this book last Christmas.

#BookReport for September

Ordinary Saints is my top pick for the month, special mention for Bringing Down the House and Tom Lake.