Hello and welcome to August’s #CaseClosed! How was your month? Lots of great books and plenty of time to read them I hope. Personally, I don’t know where the month went! I had big reading plans which all seemed to fizzle out fairly quickly. I didn’t get a lot read, and I certainly didn’t get a lot written.

Anyhoo, where were we? Oh yes. #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 (a slight improvement on last month which I’m taking all the credit for 😁) and how my 2026 Goodreads Challenge is going.

I read four books in August. Four. The books were great, the pace and commitment from me was not. I am VERY disappointed with myself. Oh, the shame:

➡️ The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims
➡️ The Killer’s Mark by M.W. Craven
➡️ Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard
➡️ Splasher by Billie Host

On average I tend to read six to eight books a month (nine on a good month). Four feels lacklustre. I mean, what have I been doing all month…??!

Here are the reviews I posted to the blog during August. Thankfully, I have a bit of a review backlog, so at least I didn’t run out of content with my measly four books!

💛 The Woman Who Wasn’t There by William Hussey (Guest Review) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
💛 Dark is When the Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
💛 138 Main Street by Gavin Bell ⭐⭐⭐⭐
💛 The Killer’s Mark by M.W. Craven ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
💛 Trad Wife by Sarah Langan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
💛 The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego ⭐⭐⭐
💛 The Hollow Boys by Tariq Ashkanani ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
💛 The Killer in Room Five by Sam Holland ⭐⭐⭐
💛 Welcome to the Chaoskampf by Jane Flett ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I posted four Top Ten Tuesday posts during August…

⚪ Ten Covers I Would Frame as Artwork
⚪ Books I Was Reading on This Day Over the Last 10 Years
⚪ Book Series I Want to Catch Up On
⚪ Ten Crime Fiction Debuts That Blew My Mind

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 August
🟧 Wednesday 12th August
🟧 Wednesday 19th August
🟧 Wednesday 26th August

My review with the most views in August was, once again, The Compound by Aisling Rawle.

My most popular non-review post in August was my books of the year post from 2016. Those darned bots again!

And there was my #CaseClosed post for July 🔍

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 FORTY-TWO books this year, which is fine. I’m currently 79% of the way to my challenge goal.

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

💟 The Woman Who Wasn’t There by William Hussey (July 2026)
💟 Maybe Tomorrow by Michael Wood (July 2026)
💟 The Unknown by Riley Sager (August 2026)
💟 The House that Eats the Dead by Max Doty (August 2026)
💟 Slasher Summer by E.L Chen (August 2026)
💟 The Blackbird Conspiracy by Tariq Ashkanani (August 2026)
💟 They Say a Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough (August 2026)
💟 Pictures of You by Josh Malerman (September 2026)
💟 Serenity Falls by C.J. Tudor (September 2026)
💟 This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper (September 2026)
💟 Do You See What I See? by Peter Swanson (September 2026)
💟 Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass (September 2026)
💟 Barb Jacobs Just Won’t Die by Tanya Pell (October 2026)
💟 Cherry by Rose Wilding (November 2026)
💟 Pinfeathers by Christina Henry (November 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! And I know I said earlier on in this post that things were looking up with regards to my NetGalley shelf. I think I must have been having a moment. They’re not, not really. I was feeling positive because I’ve only added three books in August but I’ve hardly read anything either so it doesn’t make any difference in the long run. Drat!

So in summary…..

August 2025: 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 2026: 9 eARCs to be read 😰 | 3 to be reviewed 😇
February 2026: 16 eARCs to be read 🤯 | 2 to be reviewed 😮‍💨
July: 15 eARCs to be read 😨 | 9 to be reviewed 🫨 (but one belongs to my guest reviewer so doesn’t really count!)
August 2026: 15 eARCs to be read 🫩 | 9 to be reviewed 😰 (same as above, one belongs to my guest reviewer so doesn’t count)

Things are not looking good! Add in the two non-Netgalley reviews I still have to write (one of which is from last year!), and I think it’s fair to say that I’m not really making a lot of progress. Still, it’s a new month and with a bit of grit and determination I can be back on top of my reading and review writing by the end of the month. Right……..???!!

Out of the four books I read in August, my book of the month should come as no surprise to anyone who caught my review. Without further ado…

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The Killer’s Mark by M.W. Craven

So that was August. I went on holiday, read a very small number of books, turned another year older, gently evaporated in the extreme heat and thought a lot about writing some reviews (but rarely did!). I’m still trying to come to terms with the loss of the legend that was Tim Curry. So in memory of him, my parting words this month are via Tim (and the rest of the fabulous Rocky Horror cast, of course). Don’t dream it, be it. I dream of being a dedicated reader who carefully crafts insightful, informative reviews on a regular basis whilst keeping on top of her never-ending NetGalley shelf. That’s the plan anyway. Happy September y’all. (I’ve added a Frank gif to those above. It’s not bookish but I don’t care 😂)🥂

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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