Library Audiobooks On Hold List

As I try to slowly ease myself back into book blogging and trying to to find the joy (I am now wondering if I should focus on this and my Twitter/X less in 2025 and focus more on Instagram, Goodreads and StoryGraph), I was thinking about the heck-ton of audiobooks I have to listen to. 

I have a good few on my Audible that I purchased. Same goes with NetGalley (audiobooks for review). But I do snoop on my local library’s audiobook app. In the past, I look to see if I can find the audiobook version of any NetGalley eProofs I have and, if I can find it, I do try to request and listen. 

But, as I am very much a mood reader, I have a tendency to request then change my mind and cancel my request, but I keep that title on “My Reading List”, which is very, very long and has a real mix of genres (fantasy, thriller, non-fiction, classics, etc), lengths and a nice mix of rereads and audiobooks I have never read before. 

Now, I know I wrote a post about this MONTHS ago (it was filled on crime audiobooks), but this time, I want to show you some titles that I know I’m going to listen to in the next few months and are currently either on hold for me or are downloaded on my phone.

*slowly edges back onto the blog*

*slowly edges back onto the blog*

Nothing to see here! I was here the whole time. Ok, I wasn't, but reading slumps and blogger slumps/burnouts happen. And it happened to me. Annoyingly.

Mainly because I was cooking up plans. I wanted to do a nice Halloween reading month (focusing on fantasy or really creepy crime!), a NetGalley reading month in November (I would like to get some of my audiobooks under control) and I wanted to just get back into fun, no worries blogging.

And then the slump hit and my plans came to a grinding halt.

I would quit everything I started, feel really underwhelmed over blogging and the idea of calling the blog and all social media a day was very tempting (I came really close to closing my Twitter account! One more strike and it's gone!). So, I took a break (feels like I've taken so many breaks this year! I don't know if my blogging has recovered from COVID burnout, if I am being honest with you [or maybe I'm too old to continue comparing self to the whipper-snappers of BookTok and Booksagram).

I've always said that I wanted this bookish blog to be like a friend you meet up in a coffee shop and have a bookish chat over. And I still want that, but maybe I should change it to a bookish friend you meet you every now and then for a coffee and a chat.

Or maybe I should, dare I say it, embrace Instagram/Goodreads/StoryGraph more. I do use these (mainly Stories on Instagram and I do like sharing songs, as I want to have some fun with you guys! Silly fun with a positive spin, I hope!) but maybe I should try and do more with them...

And use the blog to pop in and take a little of a chinwag with you (or to gush over a book or two).

So, I'm going to take it easy on here. Have fun, maybe write odd little posts here & there and, dare I say, try and put self out there more... So, if any podcasts/instragram lives want me...

And, the books I chatted about back in July as my "Here's what I am going to attempt by end of the year?". Well, one I quit, two I have put on the backburner, one I am determinded to start this year and the other three... their time will come...

But going to take it easy on self and lurk on instagram/goodreads & storygraph for a while. HUNT ME DOWN AND SAY HI!

Bloodtide & Bloodsong Extract

i have an extract for you guys!!! Two blog tours in two weeks - I know how to spoil you, yes? And yes, even when I am meant to be on a blog break! 

We have the complete duology of Bloodtide & Bloodsong by Melvin Burgess, a dark dystopian inspired by Norse mythology, where London is a gated wasteland, cut off from the country and run by two warring families: the Volsons and the Conors. 

I don’t want to say any more. This is giving huge Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve vibes and I am here for that! 

Now, before I hand you over to the extract, I was to that Blue from Kaleidoscopic Tours for asking if I wanted to be involved and allowing me to do an extract! And, if the extract wets your appetite, you can find more information at andersenpress.co.uk or uk.bookshop.org (if you fancy using an affiliate link). 

Now, ONTO THE EXTRACT!!!

Sunderworld’s Spotlight

When Blue from Kaleidoscopic emailed about the upcoming new Ransom Riggs, I was intrigued as it wasn’t linked to Miss Peregrine in any way but has a very 90s/Stranger Things, maybe even have a touch of Gravity Falls to it. Yes, I am going geeky/pop culture here as it has that 90-ness vibe to it, and as someone who grew up in the 90s, I am all on board with that. 

For those of you who didn’t grow up in the 90s (while I am out of my zimmer frame as, yes, I am that old), the 90s had the epic battle of Oasis vs Blur, women wanting The Rachel haircut, trying to figure out if you were a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte or Samantha, GIRL POWER, the wave of New Labour and the Y2K panic, Harry Potter mania… I could go on and on about the 1990s here in the UK. 

For me, this is going to be a weird 90s vibe book (and I sense that I am going to be very wrong about that going into this, but it’s going to be a weird/fun ride!). 

But I am quite excited to find time to read this soon. Hopefully, I can intrigued you guys too and I will leave the book’s blurb below!

Summer Blog Break

I'm going to be honest with you: I seem to be going through a reading slump and blogger burnout. Fun, huh? No idea how it happened but here we are. 

So, going to take a month off blogging and not worry about reading. Hopefully this reset will do wonders as I am finding it a struggle to blog at the moment as it feels a bit pointless of late. Which I know it isn't, but every now and then, I can't help but notice how much time and effort I put into my blog and my bookish socials, only to get very little back (hence why I no longer look at the blog posts's statics).

Maybe I need to shake my blog up and post more non-bookish content like I used to in ye olde days. Maybe it's time to wind down the blog and focus on my socials (mainly instagram, Goodreads and Storygraph). Maybe it's time to ease self out of the bookblogsphere and enjoy reading for pleasure without the worry about blogging. Who knows.

But, before I going and take time out from blogging (and possibly scaring myself with podcasts again and Apple Fitness+ yoga classes [how on earth do you guys do Crow and Side-Crow?!]), I thought I would throw some titles at you that I do have my eye on attempting to read on the next few months...

So, I decided to give myself August off from blogging (barring the blog tours I have agreed to). Which kinda screws up my idea of a possible themed reading months of September and October (I had an idea of calling them something along the lines of "Cyanide September" and "All Hallow's Reads/Occult October"). But, sometimes, you need a timeout and just do something silly and fun.

And that’s what I’m going to do with my reading & audiobooks. Some are a little left field but am excited to try and see if I can finally get round to them in August or make myself go “you have to attempt to try these by the end of the year”. Wanna see some of the titles I have my eye on for the next few months?

The Extract Trap Is Set

I have an extract for you guys and we’re going spy! 

No, not Totally Spies, James Bond or Slow Horses, but Alias Emma by Ava Glass. And I have an extract from her third outing, The Trap. 

Following on from the events of The Chase and The Traitor, Emma Makepeace is assigned to go to Edinburgh for the global G7 Summit when her team uncovers an assassination plot. Except, no one knows who the target is. Their only clue is a newly minted British citizen with ties to Russia in their past. 

To stop the assassination, Emma has to set up a trap, with her as the bait. But with the world’s most powerful politicians in gridlock city, how far is she willing to go?

I have been looking for a new thriller series to dive headfirst into so when the lovely Amanda from Moonflower Books asked if I would be involved in the blog tour, I jumped at the chance. And this extract has wetted my appetite so I hope to give you guys a review in the near future so please keep your eyes peeled for that! 

Now, before I give you guys the extract to read, I just want to thank Amanda for inviting me and answering my hundred and one questions. And if you want to find out more about the series and Ava herself, please check out www.avaglass.uk or This affiliate link of uk.bookshop.org!

Now, with  that out of the way, THE EXTRACT!

Audiobook Review - The Man In Black

Collection of short stories, all written by one author, can go one of two ways: really well or really bad?

But when I heard of The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffiths, I got ver excited. She's a crime author I keep saying I will try and she seemed to explode during the COVID lockdown, but I've only read one of her books - The Postscript Murders - and I had plans to do more. But life got in the way and I kept putting it off. Until Man in Black was up for preorder... 

Title and Author: The Man in Black And Other Stories by Elly Griffiths

Publisher: Quercus

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Audiobook Bought

Buy From (Affilate): uk.bookshop.org

In this collection of 19 short stories, Elly dips her toes into crime short stories, following a mix of characters her readers know and love (Ruth Galloway, DS Harbinder Kaur, Max Mesphisto, even a grown-up Justice Jones and Ruth Galloway's cat, Flint).

Library Audiobook WatchList - The Crime Edition

You can blame @yorkshirebook48 for this post as, a few days ago, they tweeted and asked what our fave crime book was. I answered with the first two adult crime thrillers that I read/devoured: Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs and Body Double by Tess Gerritsen. But after I answered, I read other people’s replies to see what they say and see if any titles/covers catch my eye and, if so, put them on my “”Reading Lists”. Let’s say I add quite a bit on there…

And my “Reading List” is now getting a little longer (with a mix of audiobooks that have connections to NetGalley proofs, books I have purchased or have been gifted [by publishers or by friends/family] and lots that I just like the look/sound of), I wanted to share some with you. There are a mix of genres, but I will try and keep this post as close to the crime & mystery genre as possible and, if I enjoy writing this, I will try and do another post in the coming weeks leaning towards fantasy or something else…

So, where to begin?