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I’ve only read the first book in The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman but the next three are definitely on my TBR list. I found the idea of four friends in their retirement years investigating unsolved murders to be a brilliant one, and following them as they tried to solve a live case didn’t disappoint.

I’ve seen these books categorised as ‘cosy crime’ and I can see why. It reminds me a lot of the Midsomer Murders series that we have here in the UK where there’s always a murder in a seemingly quiet and sleepy English village.

I’ve read recently that this series is also being turned into a film and I’ve seen a couple of the actors that have been cast. I’m going to read the remaining three books before I decide on whether I’m going to watch it or not though …

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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I read this book back in 2020 and found it to be a lovely, poignant and thought-provoking read. Even though I hadn’t lost anyone close to me at that point it still left me with a lasting impression of the ideas and issues tackled within it.

Since reading it I have lost someone significant in my life, to cancer as well, and I’d like to read this again but I’m almost afraid to. Grief is such a powerful thing and just when I think I’m getting the hang of it (although I’m not sure I ever will) something will trigger thoughts and memories and I feel like I’m going backwards. I think the fear of reading it is that it’ll bring lots of emotion to the surface, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Maybe it’s one I need to get and just keep for myself to read every now and again …

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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A few years ago I’d read P. S. I Love You by Jojo Moyes and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to getting stuck into the trilogy that starts with Me Before You.

And I was glad that I did. Lou Clarke’s journey is full of ups and downs, sadness and joy, and I felt all the emotions along the way. I haven’t watched the film yet that is based on the first book; I’m having an issue with books-then-films at the moment and don’t really trust them. I get my own image of the characters and if the actors don’t necessarily fit that then it puts me off a bit. Well, a lot!

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The most recent book of Moyes that I read is The Girl You Left Behind. This story is of two women, seemingly unconnected at first, but their story becomes drawn together through a painting. Again, I connected with these characters easily and felt invested in them by the end. More tissues needed for this one.

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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I’ve only read one book from Shari Lapena and that’s The Couple Next Door. It was one that I was given to read and probably wouldn’t have picked it out for myself, but only because this author hasn’t been on my radar.

A story about how the seemingly perfect family can unravel in just a short space of time, it certainly was a page turner and it didn’t take long to get through.

I’d definitely be keen to read more from this author, should her books come my way again.

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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I really couldn’t decide on just one author for K so I’ve gone off piste and done two instead: Marian Keyes and Stephen King. They are two of my favourite authors and I just couldn’t leave either of them out.

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At the start of 2020 I went on a bit of Marian Keyes marathon (sort of) and borrowed all the books that were available in the local library, one after the other.

Many of the books focus on the Walsh family, which has five daughters, and each one has their own story to tell. Like Rachel Joyce, it’s the characters in these books that really draw me in and I’m yet to finish one without crying at the end. A new one has just come out and I’m really trying to resist getting it right now … I already have so much to read!

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This year I’ve embarked on a Stephen King-athon and I’m reading them all in order of their release. So far, I’ve read three out of over 90 of his novels and novellas so I think it may take me a while to get all the way through, but hey, it’s not a bad way to spend my time, right?

I’m currently reading The Stand, which is just over 1300 pages in total (I’m reading the complete and uncut edition 😏) and it’s taking me a lot longer to get through than my usual books. It’s in danger of seriously setting me back in my Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year! I persevere though; I don’t want to rush through it, I want to enjoy it and absorb it as I go. What else do we read for, if not for that?

To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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Rachel Joyce is an author whose books I will buy as soon as I see them. I’ve read five of her six novels and have loved all of them; I just know that whatever she writes about next will be just as enjoyable as the last and I buy them without hesitation. I have full confidence in her stories and I’m yet to be disappointed.

I’m super excited as I write this because I have one more to read to have read them all and it arrived today in the post 🎉 I’m definitely set for the weekend!

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I started with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and was just swept away with his story and all the people he meets on his way. His is such a spur of the moment decision that ends up changing his life. The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey tells the story from the other end of the journey, from the person he sets off to see and I really enjoyed this take on the story. Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North is the final book in this trilogy and the one I’m about to start reading. I can’t wait!

In all of these books it’s the characters that really make me love them. They’re all so different, and even in the same book this is true (I’m thinking mostly of Miss Benson’s Beetle now). I love seeing these dynamics brought to life in stories.

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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Kazuo Ishiguro is a writer that is well known and distinguished and has written books that always seem to be on those ‘100 books you must read before you’re 40’ kind of lists. I have only read one and that is Never Let Me Go.

It was an intriguing read and I must admit that I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on when I first started it. As I persevered it became clear that it wasn’t quite the England that is known in real life, but a different, perhaps disturbing version of it.

This was a book that I had to ruminate on for longer than usual but I finally decided that I liked it and look forward to reading it again at some point, as well as some of his other books.

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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It feels like absolutely ages since I read The Midnight Library and I feel it might be time to read it again soon. I really loved this book and read it at just the right time in my life when so much of it resonated with me. In fact, there were a couple of pages that I felt so deeply that I copied them out and have them on my office wall where I can see them all the time.

After deciding to end her life, Nora is given the chance to visit all of her other possible lives to see if she’d prefer any of them to the one she is in now. Can you imagine it? The possibilities really are endless.

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Matt Haig is another author who has plenty of books that I’d like to read. I got The Comfort Book when it came out after our COVID lockdowns and it can be read through in order or it can be dipped in and out of at random pages. I highly recommend it ❤

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To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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I’d been wanting to read Neil Gaiman for ages before I finally did but I didn’t really know where to start. The first novel I read was American Gods and for my birthday one year I treated myself to an offer I just couldn’t refuse, which included five of his books with beautiful, colourful covers.

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So far I’ve only read American Gods and Neverwhere and I really enjoyed them both. I think what I loved about these books is that they start off in the real world, but very quickly enter into somewhere that’s completely different and hidden from all of us who are stuck in the every day.

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I’d also been intrigued by his Sandman series but, having never really read any comics of any kind, I was a bit daunted about it and again, had no idea where to start. Luckily, the internet is always there when you need it and I very quickly found exactly where I needed to begin. So far, I’ve read the Overture and Preludes & Nocturnes and I’m captivated. As well as the story, the artwork is incredible and I never expected to be transported into it as much as I was. There are many more editions that I need to read through to get anywhere near the end, but I’m really looking forward to the journey.

To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!

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So, those eagle-eyed readers amongst young will notice that I’ve fallen a little bit behind the A-Z Challenge schedule. I started off so well, but then the Easter school holidays happened and my children were at home with me for just over two weeks and my entire schedule for everything went completely out of the window.

Each day I fell behind added more anxiety that I wasn’t doing the challenge properly, but the beauty of these things is there’s always the opportunity to catch up. And catch up I will; I want to get through the whole of the alphabet and finish on time with the rest of you 👍

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I’ve only read one Dawn French book so far and it was this one, Because of You. I’m sometimes dubious when a celebrity starts writing but I was pleasantly surprised with this. The characterisation was spot on and I was drawn in so quickly, I think I finished the whole thing in just a couple of days.

For me, the ending was completely unexpected (don’t worry, no spoilers here!) and I was properly sobbing by the end of it. I just love it when that happens!

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How about you? How are you getting on with the challenge if you’re taking part?

To check out more blogs taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2024 head over to the main website where you can find out more. There’s plenty to choose from!