Hello bookish friends and welcome to the all-new and improved #CaseClosed. It’s shorter, it’s sharper but it’s still as SPARKLY as ever 🤣

#CaseClosed is my monthly wrap up post where I share the books I’ve read, the content I’ve posted on the blog, the state of my NetGalley shelf and how my 2026 Goodreads Challenge is going (early days…!).

I read five books in January:

➡️ One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford
➡️ Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
➡️ Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
➡️ The Exes by Leodora Darlington
➡️ How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz

A third slow month on the trot! In November I took two weeks off to write reviews and I blamed that break. In December I blamed Christmas. In January….I have no excuse. I’m just rubbish at this 😬😂

In January I posted the following reviews to damppebbles…

💛 Last One Left Alive by Michael Wood
💛 Written in Blood by Chris Carter
💛 Worse than Murder by Michael Wood
💛 Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston
💛 Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan
💛 The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
💛 Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
💛 We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone by Ronald Malfi
💛 The Night Watcher by Tariq Ashkanani

I posted four Top Ten Tuesday posts during January…

⚪ Book Titles That Would Make Great Band Names
⚪ Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026
⚪ Bookish Goals for 2026
⚪ Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025

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

🟧 Wednesday 7th January
🟧 Wednesday 14th January
🟧 Wednesday 21st January
🟧 Wednesday 28th January

And of course, there was #CaseClosed for December.

My review with the most views in January was once again The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. Currently my most viewed post of the year, but seeing as we’re only a few days into February, this isn’t that big an achievement 🤣

My most popular non-review post in January was a Top Ten Tuesday post from August 2025: Ten Police Procedural Series I Love.

New year, new Goodreads Challenge! Except it’s the same challenge as every other year and once again, I’ve decided to go with one book a week (officially my challenge goal is 53 because I started a book in 2025 and finished it in 2026 making it *extra*. In other words, it doesn’t count!). To date I have read SIX books this year, which is pretty unimpressive if you look at where I was this time last year. 11% of the way there!

On to my NetGalley update for this month. This is what I currently have to read on my NetGalley shelf.

💟 How to Get Away With Murder by Rebecca Philipson (March 2026)
💟 The Other You by Carys Green (March 2026)
💟 It’s Not What You Thing by Clare Mackintosh (March 2026)
💟 Evil in the Family by Michael Wood (March 2026)
💟 I Did a Bad Thing by Louise Jensen (April 2026)
💟 The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (April 2026)
💟 Last One Out by Jane Harper (April 2026)
💟 The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego (May 2026)
💟 Backstabbers by Eliza Jabore (June 2026)

One of my bookish goals for this year (yes, and last year!) is to keep my NetGalley shelf at five ‘to be read’ books or fewer. I have clearly failed this month. Particularly as I haven’t mentioned the six books I have a pending request in for at the moment. Or the blog tour book I’m expecting in the coming weeks via NetGalley. I admit it, I had a moment of weakness and requested all the books. It happens… 😬

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
April: 9 eARCS to be read | 11 to be reviewed
May: 5 eARCs to be read 🥳 | 14 to be reviewed 🙈
June: 1 eARC to be read 🍾 | 11 to be reviewed 🙈🙈
July: 3 eARCs to be read 🥂 | 7 to be reviewed 😥
August: 6 eARCs to be read (but one of those isn’t mine) 😅 | 5 to be reviewed 😮‍💨
September: 6 eARCs to be read (7 if you count my guest reviewer’s book) | 7 to be reviewed 😥
October: 9 eARCs to be read 😱 | 0 to be reviewed 😌
November: 9 eARCs to be read 😟 | 1 to be reviewed ☺️
December: 7 eARCs to be read 😳| 4 to be reviewed 🫤
January: 9 eARCs to be read 😰 | 3 to be reviewed 😇

Surprisingly, I’m still – sort of – on top of my review writing following my review writing boot camp last year. I currently have three NetGalley books to review and three non-NetGalley books. Six isn’t all that bad, if you ask me!

Out of the five books I read in January, my book of the month is…

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Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward

It was a difficult choice this month as I had 3 five-star reads in January. I may not have read a lot, but the books I did read were exceptionally high quality.

So that was January on damppebbles. The longest, darkest, dreariest month is finally over and Spring is hopefully on the way. Thank goodness for the books, eh? And what corkers they were in January. Here’s hoping February’s choices are just as good! I hope you have a wonderful February with plenty of free time so you can curl up with a good book (or ten!).

P.S. If you’re looking for your next read then check out the hashtag #fivestarflashback on Bluesky. 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 roughly five reviews posted a day so lots of lovely book suggestions if you’re in need of inspiration.

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