Bogormen

Title: Sunrise on the Reaping
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~13hrs
Date read: March 2025

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.


Really good - but so sad! Of course I knew this going into it, but there were still so many heartbreaks along the way, that I hadn't expected.

Haymitch starts out as a confident young man who refuses alcohol. He has a loving family and a sweet girlfriend. How does he end up a battered victor, mentally destroyed, a drunk who's all alone? It would have to be a rough ride.

And it was. Suzanne Collins did not pull any punches, which made for a hard read. Of course I knew all the other tributes would have to die, but I still got to care about more of them than I thought I would. I really appreciated the backstory to people we meet in later books - that added a nice nuance I hadn't expected.

I did feel that Suzanne Collins lost me a bit in the last few chapters though. The Edgar Allan Poe poem took up way too much page space there, and kinda hijacked the story. It's a clever writing trick, but should have been used MUCH more sparingly than it did. That brought down the rating a bit - especially as I read this as an audiobook, so couldn't just skim those parts.

Title: The Stranger
Author: Harlan Coben
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 333
Date read: March, 2023

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world.

Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life.

Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realizes that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives—it will end them.


Harlan Coben is starting to become a new favourite author. His books aren't high literature by any means, but they are so very readable, and I've yet to read one I didn't enjoy. The translation wasn't quite as tight in this one as usual, but still good enough, that I managed to forget about it after awhile, and finished the book in a day.

While the book shifts POV a few times, we mostly stay with Adam, and the shifts work well to give the reader a bit of background, while still leaving Adam in the dark. It is a suspenseful and captivating read. I'm not entirely sure how likely the ending is, but it worked within the book's universe, so didn't seem jarring in any way.

Title: The Christmas Bookshop
Author: Jenny Colgan
Genre: Christmas, Chick-lit
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 328
Date read: December 2022, November 2024

When the department store she works in closes for good, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. She doesn’t want to move in with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered Edinburgh life.

Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want Carmen there either. Her sister has always been sarcastic and difficult. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs a retail assistant for his ailing bookshop, so welcoming Carmen might still have some benefits for everyone.

At Sofia’s behest, Carmen is thrown into the daily workings of old Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the streets of the old dark city. Can she use her design skills to revamp the store and bring it back to popularity in time to benefit from Christmas shopping traffic? Can she choose between bad boy literary rock star Blair and quiet Quaker student Oke? And will she heal the rift with the most important people of all: her family?


A lovely Christmas story that hits all the right notes for me.
- Detailing Christmas preparations? Check.
- Cute nieblings? Check.
- Spending time with (found) family? Check.
- Christmas in a (book)shop? Check.
- Grumpy person being convinced to come out of their shell? Check.
And added to that is the gorgeous setting of Edinburgh - a place that I've recently visited myself and absolutely adore.

All in all, a totally charming book that I think will be a regular reread.

Title: Where There's a Wil
Author: Beth Corby
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 336 pages
Date read: August, 2022

After leaving university at the age of twenty-five with no idea what to do with her life, Hannah is stunned when she is left a mystery bequest by her rich, estranged great-uncle Donald.

But there's a catch: before she can find out what she's inherited, she must undertake a series of unknown tasks alongside Alec, Donald's reluctant (but rather gorgeous) PA.

As the tasks progress and she and Alec grow closer, Hannah begins to think that Donald's real gift might have more to do with love than money . . .


A light and funny read. Not very realistic, but charming enough that I found myself not really minding, as it stayed true to its own universe. It's nothing special, but exactly what I needed, and I finished it in two days.

I wish Hannah and Alex could have communicated better, but they managed after awhile, and I loved Jane, Donald and Mrs. C.!

Lighthearted escapism that kept me nicely distracted :-)

Title: The Holiday Cruise
Author: Victoria Cooke
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 384
Date read: July, 2021

As if it weren't enough to be cheated on by her husband of ten years, Yorkshire lass Hannah Davis is losing her beauty salon business too. Luckily, her big sister is there to pick up the pieces, but Hannah is determined to find some independence.

Impulsively, Hannah applies for a spa job...on a cruise ship! Christmas in the Caribbean, springtime in the Mediterranean, what's not to like? But, despite being in her thirties, Hannah has never done anything in her own before, and she's terrified.

As the ship sets sail, Hannah has never been further from home...or closer to discovering who she is and who she wants to be.


I really enjoyed most of this. It was sweet, it was charming and it was less unrealistic than most books of this genre. However, it felt… unfinished, somehow. Like it hadn't gone through its final round of editing, which caused some serious issues with timing. Not bad enough to seem disjointed, but enough that I noticed it. Also, there were a number of open-ended stories - which is perfectly normal in real life, but sometimes I want my books more rounded off! ;-)

Mostly however, I felt that the end was too easy. Of course it could hardly have ended any other way - being a chicklit and all - but after a (mostly) realistic novel, it seemed somewhat contrived.

Still, it was a nice escape from reality for awhile, and I do always love reading about cruises! Apparently even from an employees POV.

Title: Missing You
Author: Harlan Coben
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 390
Date read: December, 2019

It's a profile, like all the others on the online dating site. But as NYPD Detective Kat Donovan focuses on the accompanying picture, she feels her whole world explode, as emotions she’s ignored for decades come crashing down on her. Staring back at her is her ex-fiancé Jeff, the man who shattered her heart—and who she hasn’t seen in 18 years.

Kat feels a spark, wondering if this might be the moment when past tragedies recede and a new world opens up to her. But when she reaches out to the man in the profile, her reawakened hope quickly darkens into suspicion and then terror as an unspeakable conspiracy comes to light, in which monsters prey upon the most vulnerable.

As the body count mounts and Kat's hope for a second chance with Jeff grows more and more elusive, she is consumed by an investigation that challenges her feelings about everyone she ever loved—her former fiancé, her mother, and even her father, whose cruel murder so long ago has never been fully explained. With lives on the line, including her own, Kat must venture deeper into the darkness than she ever has before, and discover if she has the strength to survive what she finds there.


I've had my eye out for Harlan Coben's books for several years by now, but this was my first chance to actually read one of them. And I'm happy to say it did NOT disappoint! It was an awesome page-turner that didn't pull any punches, and I finished it in less than 24 hours. The perfect reading material for a lazy Boxing Day :-D I liked that even though Kat went off on her own against her supervisor's recommendation, she still kept the police in the loop, and didn't just go off on a half-cocked, vigilante expedition by herself. Helped the story be slightly more realistic and immensely more satisfying.

It had a slightly easily-won ending, but as it was adequately explained I'll forgive it for it.

Unlike many other crime novels these days, it looks like Harlan Coben's books are all stand-alone novels, and I'm looking forward to reading more of them.

Title: Meet Me at the Cupcake Café
Author: Jenny Colgan
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 456
Date read: November, 2018

Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that - Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe's bakery she has undoubtedly inherited his talent. So when she's made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment and open up her own cafe.


Adorable story. Extremely predictable, but that's the norm for books like this, and I didn't expect anything different, nor did I mind. I've always loved reading about people making a go for it at shops (pretty much regardless of what they're selling) and this was no exception. But most of all, I loved all the friendships that grew from the shop - Pearl and Louis especially, of course, but also Des and Mira, Doti and Chester - even Austin and Darny. The romance was sweet too, and totally appropriate, but it was partly the friendships and partly Issy's joy at the success of her café that made this a true comfort read :-)

Title: Atlantia
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 368
Date read: April, 2016

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above - of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio's true self - and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden - she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.


Not a particularly good book, but a question was asked in the first chapter that I desperately want answered, so I kept reading regardless, hoping that it was a good answer, so it'd be worth it!

Fortunately it was a decent enough answer, so I wasn't disappointed in that regard, but the writing just couldn't live up to what I'd expected from Ally Condie. It was just plain unengaging (for want of better word), so if it hadn't been for wanting to know the aforementioned answer, I probably never would have gotten through the book.

There were a lot of other questions left unanswered though, and as a whole, I just didn't find the book neither terribly well-written nor interesting. A shame, because it really did have a lot of potential.

Title: Veronika Decides to Die
Author: Paulo Coelho
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 210
Date read: October, 2015

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for: youth and beauty, pleny of attractive boyfriends, a fulfilling job, and a loving family. Yet something is lacking in her life. Inside her is a void so deep that nothing could possibly ever fill it. So, on the morning of November 11, 1997, Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up.

Naturally Veronika is stunned when she does wake up at Villete, a local mental hospital, where the staff informs her that she has, in fact, partially succeeded in achieving her goal. While the overdose didn't kill Veronika immediately, the medication has damaged her heart so severely that she has only days to live.


I've only read two Paulo Coelho books so far, but my impression of "Veronika Decides to Die" is much the same as my impression of "The Alchemist": I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, but it's so well written that I'm glad I've read it all the same. The writing style is so subtly captivating that I found myself devouring the book without really being able to make up my mind whether or not I actually like it.

"Veronika Decides to Die" had the option of being a really depressing book, but instead turned out to be life-affirming and optimistic.

I don't think it's a book I'll ever reread, and I'm no closer to rushing out and reading more of Coelho's books than I was prior to reading this - but I'm glad I've read it all the same, and would recommend it in a heartbeat.

Title: The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris
Author: Jenny Colgan
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~12hrs
Date read: March, 2014

As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work; mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate; made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.

It's a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime - to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.

With old wounds about to be uncovered and healed, Anna is set to discover more about real chocolate - and herself - than she ever dreamed.

I picked up this book because I absolutely adored Jenny Colgan's Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams, but unfortunately this novel didn't come close to living up to my expectations. It was a decent chick-lit, but didn't charm me the way her other book did. Probably because I never really became fond of Anna or Claire, and therefore didn't much care what happened to them.

It had its moments, which is why I still give it 3 stars, but fell far short of what I had hoped for.