Down the TBR Hole #36

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Hello Hello! How are you all?

My first week back after my half-term break and the first week on online classes was very long and I feel very exhausted, so I’m very glad that today is Friday and that I only have until 7 pm tonight before I can jump into my pyjamas and read!

I feel like this week has both been very long and very fast, but this post always brings me joy (and a bit of embarrassment) so I’m glad I’m back! On Tuesday, I crossed the 25k line on NaNoWriMo, I’m so proud of my accomplishments so far and I decided to treat myself to a few episodes of Charmed this week, it was perfect!

You know the drill if you haven’t ever read any of my Down the TBR Hole posts before but you want to find out why I started and what rules to follow to do your own TBR list purge on your Goodreads, head over to the first edition of this post to find out more!

This week’s purge is going to be starting with a total of 3,712 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf, so it hasn’t moved since last week. As usual, today I’m going to be looking through the next 20 books on this list and seeing what I can remove and what I can keep. I’m starting at #317. Wish me luck, I can already tell by looking at the covers that it’s going to be a mystery/thriller week almost completely, yikes!

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GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard

So I was right, we are starting this week off with a thriller, and since I think most of these books will be thrillers or mysteries, I’ll only mention something when they are not, otherwise, I’m going to be repeating myself a lot. I’m honestly not a fan of family secrets plots in thrillers, I just don’t enjoy them, so I’m going to get rid of this one.

REMOVE

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Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

I’m actually surprised at how good this book sounds because I was expecting not to want to read it. This is more of the murder-dead-body type mystery/thriller that I enjoy more and although it doesn’t sound like one of the best, I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy it.

KEEP

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The Dark Room by Jonathan Moore

This is one of those books that sounds kind of good but I’m also reluctant to read. I do enjoy thrillers and mysteries that don’t have dead bodies and a police investigation, and this one does a little, but I think it will focus a lot more on the blackmail aspect of the plot, and that doesn’t interest me much to be honest.

REMOVE

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Darling Jim by Christian Mørk

Goodreads has this down as a mystery, but the blurb says it’s a modern gothic suspense, so I’m a bit sceptical. Again, another one of those books that I’m not sure about. I think the blurb was written in a way that makes this story one I won’t really enjoy, I don’t really like when you know everything about a book before you start it and even though I’m sure this book has much to give, I feel like the majority of the plot is in the blurb.

REMOVE

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Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach

Humm… I think this is the week of me not really knowing what to do with books. This one has been likened to Reconstructing Amelia, which I read a few years ago and found okay, but this one sounds kind of better. It reminds me a little bit of Pretty Little Liars, and I think I want to give it a chance.

KEEP

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It Happens All the Time by Amy Hatvany

This is a contemporary fiction that, like the previous books, I haven’t ever heard about or seen. Honestly, reading that blurb, I know why I don’t read more contemporary fiction, I have absolutely no desire to read this book, it just sounds kind of weird and not my thing at all.

REMOVE

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Two Days Gone (#1) by Randall Silvis

This one sounds like a mix of a thriller and a mystery, it has the dead-body-police-investigation part that I look for in mysteries, but it also sounds a bit much like a thriller, especially a family secret thriller. It’s not doing much for me, so I think I’m going to let this one go.

REMOVE

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The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti

I feel like I saw this one on Instagram or read a review about it because I’ve definitely seen it before. Unfortunately though, now that I have read the blurb, I don’t think I must have read it the first time around. One of those plots that don’t do much for me, I’m going to remove this one from my list.

REMOVE

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Fractured by Catherine McKenzie

I don’t need to say much about this book, it’s a thriller and it sounds fairly boring to me, so I’m not going to bother reading it.

REMOVE

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The Wife by Alafair Burke

Another thriller that has a focus on family life and family secrets, I don’t know why but I feel like a lot of thrillers always involve “the wife” and it’s not something I’m a fan of, so I’m not going to be keeping this book either.

REMOVE

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A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave

I don’t really know what to say about this book other than if you have a thing about eyes, I wouldn’t pick this up. They don’t bother me, but this blurb has kind of creeped me out, it’s not the kind of book I would pick up and I’m not going to be keeping it.

REMOVE

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Don’t Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon

Oh no, more eyes, I hope this one doesn’t sound as weird. Unfortunately, as soon as I read psychological thriller, my brain shut off and I had to try to read the blurb at least 3 times, and I still didn’t really understand what this book was about, but I know it’s about family secrets, so that’s not for me.

REMOVE

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Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra

This one sounds a lot like a book that I read last year, and that I enjoyed but kind of brought me to the conclusion that I don’t really like that many thrillers. It does sound kind of interesting, but I don’t really want to read a book that sounds so similar to one I’ve already tried.

REMOVE

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A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

We’ve moved on and we now have a YA historical fiction, so I have higher hopes that this is going to sound more like my thing. but unfortunately, this blurb doesn’t take my fancy, it’s actually a historical thriller and while it kind of does sound good, it just doesn’t do it for me.

REMOVE

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To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

This is an LGBT middle grade story that I added to my list after seeing it in a BookTube video I believe, it’s contemporary, so not my first pick, but it honestly sounds sweet and new, so I think I’m going to give it a go.

KEEP

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Proud edited by Juno Dawson

This book sounds really really good and I’m so glad it’s on my TBR list, I’m definitely going to be reading it as soon as I can. I’m sure it’s a great anthology, it’s on such important topics and I’m sure I’m going to enjoy it.

KEEP

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Da Vinci’s Tiger by L.M. Elliott

This book already sounds good and I only read the little blurb at the top. I absolutely love historical fiction and this one actually sounds really interesting. It’s a novel about a real Renaissance woman called Ginevra De Benci who inspired Leonard De Vinci. I recently read The Doll Factory which has a big focus on art, specifically the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and I loved that part of the story, so I’m definitely going to check this one out.

KEEP

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Velvet Undercover by Teri Brown

This is another historical fiction (yay), it is set at the start of WWI and focuses on British spies. At the start of the year, I started listening to The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and actually enjoyed what I heard, but I have yet to finish it. This one sounds a lot like that but also very different, and I definitely want to give it a shot.

KEEP

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Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto

I wasn’t expecting to have any YA fantasy on my list today, but here we are and I’ve never heard of this book or seen it before. Not really what I was expecting though, to be honest, it’s not 100% my thing, but it has topics of disability in this book, which is what I’m focusing on for my thesis, so I’m going to keep it on my list for that reason.

KEEP

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The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni

And I’m finishing this week with a historical fiction novel, apparently inspired by a pair of real caged graves in the U.S. The plot sounds sort of intriguing, but also not my thing, so I’m going to let this one go I think.

REMOVE

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Well, that wasn’t my most successful week, and again, I had some very strange books on my list, but all things considered, it wasn’t bad.

Out of the 20 books I looked through today, I was able to remove a total of 13 books, taking my Goodreads “Want to Read” list down to 3,698 books. I’ll be starting next week’s post at #324.

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post, see you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx