Hello and welcome to damppebbles, and a very happy April to you! Unbelievably we’re now one quarter of the way through 2025 (HOW??!). I hope that first quarter was stuffed to the brim with the best books and your year has got off to a brilliant start.

The warmest of welcomes to the third #CaseClosed post of the year. The good news, by posting a March wrap-up post I have equalled last year’s ‘success’ (??!! can I really call it success?????!!). In 2024 I posted three #CaseClosed posts. In 2025 I have done the same! As Yazz once told us, the only way is up (one for the slightly older generation perhaps?). My next goal is to match 2018 when I managed five posts in one year. If I manage to post for five consecutive months I officially get bonus points.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What is #CaseClosed? #CaseClosed in my monthly wrap-up post where I share the books I’ve read along with what’s been happening on the blog. And, truth be told, I’m really, really bad at it. I’ve been blogging for over nine years now and the most I’ve ever managed was five posts in 2018. And as you can probably guess from my comment above, they weren’t consecutive. But things can change and I’m determined to make this year the best flipping year of damppebbles yet!

For me, March was a bit of a strange month. I had my third round of shoulder surgery at the very end of February. Which meant most of the month was recovery and physio. I did also manage to read a few books, which I am delighted about. Last time (last year) I had shoulder surgery it killed my reading mojo. However, I was determined to not let that happen again and hopefully, my absence wasn’t really noticed. I’m still waiting on a date for the fourth (and hopefully final) round of surgery but that should come through any day now.

Right, on to the books! During March I read the grand total of TEN books. Much better than previous months but, as I mentioned, I was recovering and recuperating for most of March.

Those ten books were…

➡️ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
➡️ Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton
➡️ Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
➡️ Nobody’s Hero by M.W. Craven
➡️ Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch
➡️ Senseless by Ronald Malfi
➡️ The Liar by Louise Jensen
➡️ The Penthouse by Catherine Cooper
➡️ The Serial Killer Support Group by D.B. Stephens

Most of these will be reviewed on the blog later this month so please keep your eyes peeled!

During March I posted the following reviews…

🖤 The Surf House by Lucy Clarke
🖤 The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
🖤 The Grapevine by Kate Kemp
🖤 Calling WPC Crockford by Ruth D’Alessandro
🖤 Always on My Mind by Carys Green
🖤 Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton
🖤 Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
🖤 All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

I posted four Top Ten Tuesday posts during March – all of which were written in a panic in February (after I discovered I needed more surgery!)…

⚪ Tuesday 4th March – The Last 10 Books to Give Me a Book Hangover
⚪ Tuesday 11th March – Books that Include/Feature Killer Twists
⚪ Tuesday 18th March – Books on My Spring 2025 To-Read List
⚪ Tuesday 25th March – My Mum’s Ten Favourite Books

And finally, I also posted four WWW Wednesday posts where I share my previous read, my current read and what I plan to read next.

🟧 Wednesday 5th March
🟧 Wednesday 12th March
🟧 Wednesday 19th March
🟧 Wednesday 26th March

My most popular review on the blog in March was What Lies Between Us by John Marrs. A book which I read in July 2022 and reviewed in September 2022! Nearly three years ago. Fellow bloggers, do you have reviews like this? Posts you wrote years ago that just, for some reason, still get a lot of traffic? It’s so strange. There are a small number of my reviews where this also seems to be the case. Sometimes it is because the book is being adapted for TV or made into a movie. Other times, it just seems to be a bit random.

My most popular non-review post in March was my Top Ten Tuesday contribution from Tuesday 11th March – Books that Include/Feature Killer Twists. It was significantly more popular than any review 😂

These ten reviews received the most views in March….

1️⃣ What Lies Between Us by John Marrs (from 2022!)
2️⃣ The Surf House by Lucy Clarke
3️⃣ The Grapevine by Kate Kemp
4️⃣ All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
5️⃣ Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton
6️⃣ The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
7️⃣ Always on My Mind by Carys Green
8️⃣ Calling WPC Crockford by Ruth D’Alessandro
9️⃣ Other People’s Houses by Clare Mackintosh
🔟 Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

Having read more books than average in March, my Goodreads Challenge progress is looking GREAT this month. I decided to take the heat off in 2025 and instead of going for my usual ‘one book every four days’ (roughly 92 books a year) I’ve gone with the more sedate 55 books over 52 weeks which I see as one book a week. It’s not 52 for two reasons 1) I started two books in 2024 and finished them in 2025 so they shouldn’t count towards my total. And 2) one of the books I read was only 184 pages long and I only count full novels (not shorter books or novellas) in my challenge total. Makes some kind of strange sense somewhere! So far this year I have read 25 books which puts me 12 books ahead of schedule (45% of the way there). Woohoo!!

I’m more than happy to skirt over my NetGalley update this month. Nothing has changed really. Nothing to see here. Honest….

For anyone not familiar with NG it’s a site where you can request early copies of digital books in exchange for a review. I’ve been on NG since I first started the blog in 2016 and we’ve….had our moments…? I find it very easy to get carried away and request ALL the books, only to realise a few days later that I do actually need to find the time to read ALL of the books! One of my bookish goals for this year is to get my NetGalley shelf down to five ‘to-be-read’ books at a time. I made a pledge at the end of January to reduce the number of books to be both read AND reviewed on my shelf. I was, at the time, feeling overly positive. Then I realised that would mean cutting back and unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be something I am capable of!

This is what I currently have to read on my NetGalley shelf. Of course, you don’t HAVE to look. You could save both of us the embarrassment…

💟 Actually, I’m a Murderer by Terry Deary
💟 The Outback by Sara Ochs
💟 Believe by S.M. Govett
💟 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
💟 Dear Future Me by Deborah O’Connor
💟 The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
💟 The Countdown Killer by Sam Holland
💟 The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair by Mackenzie Common
💟 The Compound by Aisling Rawle
💟 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
💟 The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner
💟 With a Vengeance by Riley Sager

😐

Erm, well, uhhh. Not a lot I can say about that really to rescue it. Apart from look how utterly fabulous my TBR is!! I’ve gone from bad to worse. However, my all-important feedback ratio still sits at a positive 92%. And to be kind to myself, I haven’t been on top form (didn’t stop me from requesting even MORE books though!). What has become perfectly clear is that I need to put more effort into writing reviews of the books I’ve read. I’ll make that my aim for this month. To clear the number of books on my shelf needing a review.

So in summary…..
January: 11 eARCs to be read | 14 to be reviewed
February: 14 eARCS to be read | 11 to be reviewed
March: 12 eARCS to be read | 12 to be reviewed

I think I need to find a fancy graph maker to document my sad lack of progress.

Out of the ten incredible books I read in March, my book of the month is…

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Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey

Oh my goodness, Southern Gothic with added alligators! 🐊 Gorgeously rich, darkly immersive and completely impossible to put down. Atmospheric and irresistible. Keep an eye out for my review which will be published on 24th April 2025 (which also happens to be publication day 🎉). Anna Bailey, you have done it again!!

Cheerio March, hello April! I, for one, cannot wait for the weather to start acting a little more ‘Spring-like’. Things do seem to be looking up a little here in Southern England. We’ve had a few days on sunshine now which makes all the difference. I hope wherever you are, things are looking a little brighter too. I wish you a month full of incredible books and lots of lovely time to read them.

Thank you for getting this far and your wonderful ongoing support. It’s always, always appreciated 🩷

P.S. If you’re looking for your next read then check out the hashtag #fivestarflashback on Twitter / X. I’ve been re-sharing all of my old reviews from the dawn of time itself (or 2016 if you prefer). It’s been so much fun digging in the DP archives! There are around roughly five reviews posted a day so lots of lovely book suggestions if you’re in need of inspiration.