Hello bookish friends and welcome to the all-new and improved #CaseClosed. It’s shorter, it’s sharper but it’s still as bookish 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 (still early days…!).

I read seven books in February:

➡️ First Date by Gemma Amor
➡️ The Shark by Emma Styles
➡️ How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson
➡️ Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra
➡️ Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
➡️ When I Was Death by Alexis Henderson
➡️ The Other You by Carys Green

February was a much better month. I feel as though I actually got some reading done, which, after the last few months, made a nice change!

In February I posted the following reviews to damppebbles…

💛 One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford
💛 Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce
💛 Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
💛 First Date by Gemma Amor
💛 The Exes by Leodora Darlington
💛 Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
💛 Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra
💛 How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz

I posted four Top Ten Tuesday posts during February…

⚪ Book Covers Featuring Interesting Typography
⚪ Ten Books I Hope to Read From My Own Shelf This Year
⚪ Books for Armchair Travellers
⚪ Books I LOVED With Fewer Than 2000 Ratings on Goodreads

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

🟧 Wednesday 4th February
🟧 Wednesday 11th February
🟧 Wednesday 18th February
🟧 Wednesday 25th February

And of course, there was #CaseClosed for January.

My review with the most views in February was Dead in the Water by Matt Costello & Neil Richards (which is a VERY OLD review from 2016!).

My most popular non-review post in February was a Top Ten Tuesday post from April 2025: My Unpopular Bookish Opinions.

On to my Goodreads Challenge. 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 THIRTEEN books this year, which is fine. 25% of the way there!

On to my NetGalley update for this month. This is what I currently have to read on my NetGalley shelf (for both of our sakes, please don’t look……🙈)

💟 Maneater by Ellie Graves (March 2026)
💟 Just Between Us by Barbara Copperthwaite (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)
💟 Dark is When the Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce (April 2026)
💟 138 Main Street by Gavin Bell (May 2026)
💟 Trad Wife by Sarah Langan (May 2026)
💟 The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego (May 2026)
💟 The Killer in Room Five by Sam Holland (May 2026)
💟 Backstabbers by Eliza Jabore (June 2026)
💟 One of the Family by Mark Edwards (June 2026)
💟 Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen (June 2026)
💟 The Shadow Step by Mark Billingham (July 2026)
💟 The Woman Who Wasn’t There by William Hussey (July 2026)

One of my bookish goals for this year is to keep my NetGalley shelf at five ‘to be read’ books or fewer. Things haven’t quite gone to plan. Clearly! In fact, things have gone quite seriously OFF plan. In a completely different atmosphere to where the original plan currently resides. Oh well, at least I have a lot of fabulous reading ahead of me.

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 😇
February: 16 eARCs to be read 🤯 | 2 to be reviewed 😮‍💨

Despite my moment (week, fortnight, month) of weakness, I remain on top of my review writing. I currently have two NetGalley books to review and two non-NetGalley books. How I’m managing to stay on top, I don’t know but I’m not going to knock it and I’ll enjoy it whilst it lasts. Looking at the mountain of ARCs I have to read, it won’t last long.

Out of the seven books I read in February, my book of the month is…

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How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson

Another fantastic month of books. I feel I’m on a bit of a roll at the moment, dishing out five star reviews like Oprah. YOU get a five star review and YOU get a five star review and YOU…I’m sure you get the picture.

So long February, and thanks for all the fish. (See, I can do science fiction 🤭) A great reading month for me. A good month for blogging/review writing too. An even better month for the blog’s stats which went through the roof. Things seem to have calmed down now so if you’re still here, thank you. I appreciate your support. It means the world to me. I hope you have a quiet March with five star reads all the way.

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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