The Ghost Woods by C. J. Cooke

Started: 12.6.26

Finished: 14.6.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Gothic vibes

It took me a while to get into this book, there were a couple of times when I almost DNF'd it. It follows the timelines of two women, Mabel and Pearl, both pregnant but unmarried, which means they are sent to Lichen Hall, a mother and baby home. Here, the expectation is that they will give birth and then their babies will be adopted. Their timelines are only about 6 years apart though, and some of the other characters appeared in both, so I was often very confused about whose story I was reading.

The book demonstrates the social constraints and degrading treatment faced by unmarried pregnant women at the time, and touches on the fear and discrimination felt by the LGBTQIA+ community too. Apparently it's the third book in a trio dealing with nature and motherhood, the first two instalments being The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches, but I believe they're standalone novels.

I didn't find the creepy elements of the story to be particularly scary at all, but I think that's because I'm a bit over the whole 'botanical horror' trope.

Red Queen by Christina Henry

Started: 7.6.26

Finished: 11.6.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Two word title

This is the follow up to Alice, and I've just looked at that picture and it says THE Red Queen. But my book definitely doesn't have a 'THE', so I'm sticking with that.

Anyway, this is once again a very dark reimagining, involving some of the characters from the original stories. I was looking forward to reading this, but if I'm honest, I think I was getting a bit bored with it, which is why it's taken me a while to get through it. It seemed to be dragging quite a bit as though there was a lot of padding just to make it long enough, and it felt a bit all over the place towards the end. Having said that though, I do really like Christina Henry's writing and I've got quite a few of her other books lined up to read.

Small Book Unhaul

I've just DNF'd Let Me Lie, because I'm not really into psychological thrillers any more. I've had a quick look through my books and pulled out a few more, including two that were on my June TBR list! I've also picked out one or two other books from different genres, that I'm going to list on Vinted.

The books I'm parting with are:

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

The Lake by Catherine Cooper

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Sound Of Silence by Sheila Quigley

The Other People by C.J. Tudor

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

The Unexpected Joy Of The Ordinary by Catherine Gray

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Just ten books, but it's made a little bit of space on the shelves!

Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

Started: 6.6.26

DNF: 7.6.26

Paperback

TBR prompt: Added to list in 2025

I wasn't really looking forward to reading this book. It's about Anna, whose parents committed suicide within a few months of each other, except she's not convinced that it was suicide. I can't say that this particular subject matter appealed to me, so I've decided not to continue.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

Started: 4.6.26

Finished: 6.6.26

Paperback

Oldest book on list (from 30.11.25)

A dual timeline story about three keepers who mysteriously vanished from their lighthouse in December 1972. We learn about life in the tower light, and how each man is affected by the remoteness and the claustrophobic living conditions, but the story is also told from the points of view of the women they left behind, as they are interviewed by an author 20 years later seeking to understand what became of the men. An interesting and moving story.

The Outsider by Stephen King

Started: 31.5.26

Finished: 4.6.26

Paperback

At last, a Stephen King book that I've actually enjoyed and finished! At 475 pages it's by no means one of his chunkiest ones, but it's still taken me quite a while to get through; it possibly dragged in places and could've been a bit shorter.

It starts out as a pretty straightforward crime thriller, but soon takes a turn into the weird when the main suspect appears to have been in two places at the same time. I really couldn't guess how this was going to work out; in the end, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.

I didn't realise that this book featured a recurring character from an earlier trilogy. There were a few references to the events in those books, probably not enough to spoil them for me (if and when I ever get around to reading them), but it was still a little frustrating.

May Reading Wrap Up

May's TBR list wasn't the most successful, so I veered away from it a bit, still with mixed results (7 DNFs)

1. The Examiner by Janice Hallett 

Pretty good, very similar to The Appeal

2. Mrs England by Stacey Halls

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

3. Hare House by Sally Hinchcliffe

I liked the mystery around the hares

4. All The Colours Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker

Great story, if a little bleak

5. Carrie by Stephen King

Telekinetic female revenge

6. Box 88 by Charles Cumming

Spy thriller - DNF

7. In The Woods by Tana French

Thriller - DNF

8. The House On Cold Hill by Peter James

Haunted house, but still a DNF

9. Graveyard Shift by M. L. Rio

DNF

10. We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

Mostly brilliant, quite creepy

11. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Vampires, so a DNF

12. The White Road by Sarah Lotz

Spelunking and climbing Everest - terror at either extreme, really good

13. Abandon by Blake Crouch

Abandoned town called Abandon - very creepy

14. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

Baseball fan lost in the woods - meh

15. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Beautiful, magical, fever dream!

16. Pet Semetary by Stephen King

DNF

17. Gerald's Game by Stephen King 

Not even a DNF, just decided I didn't want to read this at all. I don't think my Stephen King challenge is going to be very successful...

18. Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez

Cute romance

19. Revival by Stephen King

Another DNF

TBR Picks for June

I wasn't sure whether to skip the TBR prompts for a bit, or maybe just pull them one at a time as I finish each book, rather than choosing them all at the beginning of the month. But it's just so much fun! So what the heck, here we go for the month of June:

First of all, the oldest book on my list is The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, from the 30th November 2025.

I don't know what Stephen King book(s) I'll read yet, now that I'm just picking them at random, but I'll try and fit at least one in.

1. Added to list in 2025 - Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh. I think this prompt probably meant "if it's been on the list for ages and you haven't bought it yet, now's your chance!" but I've just decided to choose the next 'oldest' book on the list, which I've had from the 2nd December 2025.

2. Animal on the cover - The Witches At The End Of The World by Chelsea Iversen. This was harder to choose than I thought it would be, but since this book came up in a previous month, and I didn't get around to reading it, I'm going to try again. There are hares on the cover.

3. House on the cover - The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas. I had quite a few, but I've kind of been avoiding some of my thriller books, so I chose this one.

4. Gothic vibes - The Ghost Woods by C. J. Cooke. Gothic vibes is almost every book I own!! But as I sorted through them, this was the first one I saw with the word 'gothic' on the cover, so that decided it for me.

5. Buy something new - hmm, I'm really trying not to buy any more books at the moment, so I'm going to choose another prompt. Ghosts/Supernatural - A Haunting On The Hill by Elizabeth Hand. Again, this prompt covers quite a lot of my books! This is a follow up to The Haunting Of Hill House, officially approved by Shirley Jackson's estate.

6. Yellow book - Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang. The previous book is yellow, and this is the only other yellow book I have left!

7. Cover I don't like - The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell. I bought a proof copy of this from Vinted, and the cover is mostly plain black (slightly patterned), so it's not so much that I don't like it, it's just a bit boring. (Doesn't look like this image-->)

8. Five word title - There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. Looking forward to this, though I'm not expecting to understand any of it...

9. Two word title - Red Queen by Christina Henry. Hopefully I can still remember most of what happened in Alice...

10. Authors name includes initials - The Other People by C. J. Tudor. I've already got CJ Cooke, RF Kuang and qntm in this list!! 

So that's it for June. Excited for some of these!

P.S. I've just remembered that I might also need to read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah for a book club, but I've got that on Kindle, so I don't know if I'll bother...

Revival by Stephen King

Started: 30.5.26

DNF: 31.5.26

Paperback

Why am I doing this to myself? I knew before I started this challenge that I didn't really like Stephen King novels, based on the few I'd read. Another DNF. He's just too... wordy... 

Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez

Started: 28.5.26

Finished: 30.5.26

Paperback

When I was in my early teens I read about a gazillion Mills and Boon and Silhouette Special Editions. I didn't have Microsoft Excel back then, but I kept a list on paper of every book I had. They had symbols on the spine, like squares, triangles, circles, diamonds - I didn't know what they meant, but I logged them too, just in case I ever figured out the system. 

So it's safe to say that I've read my fair share of romance novels. I'm not really into that genre any more, but I'd seen so many good reviews about this book that I wanted to try it, and to be honest, I really enjoyed it. Really cute story with likeable characters, but some quite heavy themes running through it, which I think were dealt with respectfully. It even made me well up a bit in places! I didn't realise till I'd finished it that it's book 3 of 3, but I don't think I missed anything having not read the first two in the series, so presumably they can all be read as stand-alones. I did really enjoy the writing style, so I've added the authors other books to my wish list.