2025 Reading Challenge

2025 Reading Challenge
Jill Elizabeth has read 164 books toward her goal of 365 books.
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Book Review: The Witch’s Journey by Keith Miller

About the Book

A key may unlock more than just a door.

In a town beset by demons, from which the children are disappearing, redheaded Mira grows up wild and willful. When she’s around, soups boil over and flowers catch fire, and one night in her sleep she unwittingly turns her house around. Continue reading Book Review: The Witch’s Journey by Keith Miller

Excerpt: The Dead Come to Stay by Brandy Schillace

About the Book

A delightful new cozy crime novel from the award-winning author of the “twisty, engaging, and thoroughly unexpected” (Deanna Raybourne) The Framed Women of Ardemore House

An amateur autistic sleuth. A wry English detective. A murder case that thrusts them both into the wealthy world of the rare artifacts trade…

Jo Jones can’t seem to catch a break. Trading in city life for the cozy, peaceful hills of North Yorkshire to take over her family estate should have been a chance for a “fresh start.” Instead, she’s been driven further into the past than she thought possible — and not just her own. The estate property is littered with traces of ancestors that Jo never knew existed, including the mysterious woman in a half-destroyed painting – and hints about Jo’s late uncle, who may hold the key to her cryptic family history. Then there’s the gossipy town politics Jo must constantly navigate as a neurodivergent transplanted American… And of course, the whole murder business. Continue reading Excerpt: The Dead Come to Stay by Brandy Schillace

Book Review AND Excerpt: Cover Girl by Amy Rossi

About the Book

Find them early enough, and they will always be her girls.

Birdie Rhodes was only thirteen when legendary modeling agent Harriet Goldman discovered her in a department store and transformed her into one of Harriet’s Girls. What followed felt like the start of something incredible, a chance for shy Birdie to express herself in front of the camera. But two years later, she meets a thirty-one-year-old rock star, and her teenage heart falls hard as he leads her into a new life, despite Harriet’s warnings. Then, as abruptly as it began, it’s over, like a lipstick-smeared fever dream. Birdie tries hard to forget that time—starting over in Paris, in the dying embers of the LA punk scene, in Boston at the height of the AIDS crisis. She’s not that person anymore. At least, that’s what she’s been telling herself. Continue reading Book Review AND Excerpt: Cover Girl by Amy Rossi

Excerpt: Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand

About the Book

Due to a case of mistaken identity, everyone believes Ray Thorns to be dead — while he is still very much alive. In the aftermath, he’s forced to reflect on the impact he’s had on the world and those closest to him in this heartbreakingly beautiful look at life and what we would all do if given a second chance, for fans of Dead Poets Society and It’s a Wonderful Life and readers of Fredrick Backman. Continue reading Excerpt: Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand

Excerpt: Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf

About the Book

Grave birds haunt the cemeteries of Hawthorne, South Carolina, where Spanish moss drips from the trees and Southern charm hides ugly lies. Hollis Sutherland never knew these unique birds existed, not until she died and was brought back to life. The ghostly birds are manifestations of the dead’s unfinished business, and they know Hollis and her uncanny gift can set them free. Continue reading Excerpt: Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf