The Devil in Oxford

 Book 16 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 25 - 30

The Devil in Oxford

by Jess Armstrong

published 2025

3 stars

After reading the first two books in this series after seeing them while browsing at the library, I sought this third one out to read shortly after.  Now I'm reminded why I don't read new books very often...I now have to wait to see if/when there will be a continuation of the series.  The good news is this didn't end on too much of a cliffhanger.  In all 3 books the main mystery of each book was solved in that book and the continuing questions are from the characters' personal relationships and lives.

For this particular book, I didn't like the mystery as much.  Characters withholding information made it longer and muddier than it needed to be and I didn't fully understand the ending; lots of moving pieces had to come together for it to work out the way it did and there were too many coincidences.  This felt less like detective work and more like 'right place right time' (or 'wrong place wrong time' depending on which character you were).

Quote from the Book

"A sense of unease settled in my chest....Not that I had any reason to be unnerved - only a murderer on the loose, multiple people following me, hallucinations of spectral dogs, and I'd accidentally fallen in love with a man I'd utterly rejected. Truly, my life was going precisely to plan."

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 16th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

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

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)

The Secret of the Three Fates

 Book 7 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 12

The Secret of the Three Fates

by Jess Armstrong

published 2024

3 stars

This is the second book in the Ruby Vaughn series and I read it immediately after the first.  I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one but am still interested enough to continue the series.

For this particular book, the pacing felt slow and there were so many characters that I struggled to make sense of all the connections even after the culprit's helpful monologue confession.  I also still have questions...was Ben's death helped along (and if so by who)?  Why was Genevieve on the war ship?  Why was Lucy mad at Owen?  I just really didn't get it.

For the series, I wish the White Witch would either stop saying things or explain them further; by the end of the second book I would like there to be answers for at least some of the breadcrumbs dropped along the way.  And the separation at the end feels like an unnecessary obstacle and I hope it's resolved quickly in the next book.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 7th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

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

The Harm in Asking

 Book 6 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 5 - 9

The Harm in Asking: 

My Clumsy Encounters with the Human Race

by Sara Barron

published 2014

1 star

This book has been on my TBR since 2014 and I finally got around to reading it.  I acknowledge I'm a tougher critic on personal essays than I was back then but I don't think I would've liked it even if I'd read it right away.

Strike 1:  More than one casual use of the 'r' word which is an automatic red flag for me and left me thinking it would be probably be a 2 star read.

Strike 2:  Referred to someone as "her molester" more than once in a situation she described as him yelling at her to leave a party after she drunkenly fell on someone else.  That's pretty aggressive language.  At that point I thought maybe I'd hit an unfortunate stretch of pages (the first 'r' word was right around this time too) but it would bounce back to the "meh, it's fine" read I'd had so far.

Strike 3:  Too many stories that are presented as her being real and authentic but just seem mean.  Racing an obese woman to a seat on the subway "having figured it'd be good for her to have to stand"?  Obnoxiously farting (yes it happens but again, it was presented in a way that almost seemed like she was weaponizing it)?  So many judgements about other people?

I can usually overlook "shock" if it's funny but Strike 4 (that's how sports work, right?): I wasn't amused.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 6th 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)

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

ScreenAge

 Book 5 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 2 - 8

ScreenAge: How TV Shaped Our Reality

From Tammy Faye to Rupaul's Drag Race

by Fenton Bailey

published 2022

3 stars

I received this book for Christmas after seeing an announcement from WOW about it.  It was a signed copy which was an unexpected surprise.

I didn't realize how prolific Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, as well as their production company World of Wonder, are and how long they've been producing.  To me, WOW = RPDR and that's not the case.  They've been involved in many documentaries covering a wide range of subjects.

I'm rating it 3 stars because it wasn't what I expected (I mistakenly thought it would be a more well-rounded book, not just about his personal experiences) and my mind wandered at times but I did learn and it would be very interesting to the right audience.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 5th 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)

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

The Curse of Penryth Hall

 Book 4 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from January 5 - 7

The Curse of Penryth Hall

by Jess Armstrong

published 2023

4 stars

I picked this book while browsing at the library.  I'm glad I got the second one at the same time because I'll read it immediately.

I loved the characters and their dialogue.  There were hints of romance without action which felt realistic and the mystery of this book had enough twists to keep me engaged.

There was a really big unanswered question (what the witch warned about) and it wasn't presented as a cliffhanger, it was thrown out and then not mentioned again.  I hope that is resolved in the next book.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 4th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

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

The Midnight Library

 Book 3 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read on January 3

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

published 2020

4 stars

'Between life and death there is a library,' she said. 'And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices...Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

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The Midnight Library combines 2 of my favorite things to think about, libraries and death.  I love the concept of a transitionary period where someone can reflect (and in this case, redo).

I read this easily in a day.  It's a high 4 for me but there were some pacing issues; I'd tighten up the list of lives she tried but didn't dedicate chapters to, either by expanding more chapters or by lessening the list, and the ending made sense but didn't land exactly right for me.

I would still recommend this book with little hesitation and now that I see there's a second book, The Midnight Train, I would definitely read it.

Quote from the Book

"'While the Midnight Library stands, Nora, you will be preserved from death. Now, you had to decide how you want to live.'"

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 3rd book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

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

Rape Girl

 Book 2 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read January 1

Rape Girl by Alina Klein

published 2012

5 stars

This was a thin but powerful book.  If I continued reflecting there are some things I could nitpick but I chose 5 stars because of the strong, unfortunately realistic messaging and how absorbed I was reading it in one sitting.  I'm also glad that this was a book purchased for me for Christmas and the author mentioned portions of the proceeds will go to Pandora's Project and RAINN.

Although I'm selfishly glad it ended when it did, having the timeframe be so short and not going to trial did take away some more potential emotional moments.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 2nd 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)

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

The Worst Noel: Hellish Holiday Tales

 Book 1 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from December 31 - January 1

The Worst Noel: Hellish Holiday Tales

published 2005

1 star

What I Expected: stories about awful Christmases.  Based on my recognition with the authors I didn't expect horror but using "hellish" to describe them does imply a certain life/death stake or something completely chaotic.

What I Got: whiny stories.  It's not my place to say how someone should process an experience but from an outsider's view, most of these situations seem inconvenient or mildly uncomfortable at best.

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The Worst Noel is a collection of holiday stories by multiple authors.  I picked it up at a used book sale last fall and saved it for my family to give to me for Christmas.  I thought it was still fitting for the season and decided it would be the first one of my new books I'd read this year.  That made it even more of a bummer that this book was pretty awful.

I'm unclear on if these are true stories the authors have experienced.  If they are, there was an "I guess you had to be there" vibe since most were presented with little to no context.  If they're not, I'm surprised this is the best they could invent.

Either way, it didn't work for me.

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Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 1st 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)