My Lady's Choosing

 Book 15 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read on January 27

My Lady's Choosing

by Kitty Curran & Larissa Zageris

published 2018

3 stars

I'm new to the "interactive" genre but I checked this out from the library after enjoying my first interactive book Can You Solve the Murder?  This book is a romance, not a mystery, and I read it through 4 different paths to see different options.

Overall, I'm definitely seeking out more interactive books, although I think I prefer mystery to romance.  The benefit of romance is that I didn't have to pay as close attention and the stakes felt lower but the downside is the choppiness of the paths meant it went from "nice to meet you" to "ok we're having sex" pretty quickly which could be jarring.

For this book, I appreciate the options of male or female partners for the female main character.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 15th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

The Secret to Superhuman Strength

 Book 14 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 24 -26

The Secret to Superhuman Strength

by Alison Bechdel

published 2021

3 stars

Making a memoir in a graphic novel format makes difficult topics more accessible.  That's not as much of a theme in this book compared to her other books but there were still struggles sprinkled in.

I thought it was fine but it felt a little long; I would've liked the focus to stay more on her with deeper dives.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 14th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

The Only Woman in the Room

 Book 13 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 18 - 25

The Only Woman in the Room

by Marie Benedict

published 2019

3 stars

I read The Only Woman in the Room after my daughter read it and passed it along to me.  She did a school presentation on the book and Hedy Lamarr that she will show me now that I've finished it.

The subject: fascinating.  I was barely familiar with Hedy Lamarr and her inventions and I definitely want to know more.

This particular book: meh.  I was left wanting more information and there were gaps glossed over that seem like big deals.  It's tough because it's not like I think the book should've been longer and there was a big time period to cover but I don't feel like I came away from the book with much more knowledge than I started with.

So I like the book for intriguing me to learn more but I think I'll stick to non-fiction as I continue to learn about her.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 13th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

Our Souls at Night

 Book 12 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 22 - 24

Our Souls at Night

by Kent Haruf

published 2015

3 stars

Our Souls at Night is a small book that felt longer because of the richness of the storytelling.  There weren't a lot of words but there was a lot under the surface.

I decided on 3 stars in the final few chapters because it seemed so sad and unnecessary to separate them that way and it also felt out of character based on their behavior up until that point.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 12th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

The Second City

 Book 11 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 19

The Second City: The Essentially Accurate History

published 2019

2 stars

This oversized book felt cumbersome but read quickly.  I read it for a day, didn't pick it up again for about a week, and then finished it in a day.

The formatting was rough for me in the first few chapters.  Throughout the whole book there are lots of sidebars and text boxes highlighting specific people but in the first chapter it would be regular text stopping in the middle of a sentence, turning the page to find a page with completely random info, turning the page and completing the sentence.  The first time it happened I thought I had missing pages because it was so jarring.  It happened multiple times so by the time I got to the second chapter I went through and read all the extra stuff first and then went back and read the text of the actual chapter.  It settled down and was less of an issue after the first few chapters but didn't start off on the right foot.

The content was fine but I would've liked a little more finesse in the storytelling and not so much "this person said this", a new person started, "this person said this", etc.

I considered rating it a neutral 3 stars because a bigger fan might find this more interesting but decided on 2 because of the issues mentioned above.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 11th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- A book I received for Christmas 2025 (my goal is to read all my Christmas 2025 books by the end of 2026)

- A book I own that is leaving my house for a new reader to find (my goal is to declutter and make progress on whittling down my shelves/boxes of books in my house)

Old Romantics

 Book 10 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 14 - 17

Old Romantics

by Maggie Armstrong

published 2024

2 stars

Old Romantics is a collection of connected short stories, mainly on the theme of love/relationships.  I don't need characters to be likable but when the vibe of the book is listening to a friend tell stories and I wouldn't choose the main character as a friend because I find her to be draining, it makes it an unenjoyable read.

This is one of those 2 star reviews based on my personal preference...the writing was fine and another reader may find connections in this book I didn't.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 10th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- Title starting with 'O' (I'm doing an A-Z title challenge)

Can You Solve the Murder?

 Book 8 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 12 - 13

AND

Book 9 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read with Megan January 14 - 17

Can You Solve the Murder?

by Antony Johnston

published 2025

5 stars

What fun!!!  I didn't know interactive books like this were a thing so I was very excited going into it...it's "choose your own adventure" for adults!  I will definitely seek out more books like this and I'm also going to read one of this specific author's 'regular' books because I liked the plot and dialogue of this book.

The first time I read through it took about 3 hours and I didn't solve the case.  I finished with 115 points.

The second time I read through I made choices that honed in on my top 2 suspects from the first time through.  It took about 2 hours and I solved it!  I finished with 140 points.

EDIT: Update: I read this again with my daughter.  I read it aloud to her and she chose the path.  

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 8th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- 9th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)