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    • 2023 in books
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    • 2022 in books
    • 2021 in Books | End of Year Stats and Summary
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Sunset through the tree branches
BRCA Journey Heart-to-Heart

BRCA Journey | Finally met the psychologist

sunset through the trees
BRCA Journey Heart-to-Heart

BRCA Journey | Feeling frustrated

BRCA Journey Heart-to-Heart

BRCA Journey | Things are moving along | CT scan for DIEP flap

sunset through the trees
BRCA Journey Heart-to-Heart

BRCA Journey | How I found out I am BRCA1 positive & why have I chosen to get a preventative double mastectomy?

Sunset through the tree branches
BRCA Journey

BRCA Journey | I’ve tested positive for the BRCA gene

January 20, 2019December 18, 2021Book Reviews C. L. Taylor

Book Review | The Accident by C. L. Taylor

To be honest, I’ve had really good luck with the books I’ve read so far in 2019. I am either really too easily pleased or …

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January 19, 2019August 14, 2022Book Reviews Steve Cavanagh

Book Review | The Plea by Steve Cavanagh

Can I get a woop-woop! I’ve finished the 4th book of 2019, and what a treat that was! The Plea is the second book in …

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January 13, 2019December 18, 20212019 Challenge A.J. Finn Book Reviews

Book Review | The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Thanks Helena, for recommending this. I absolutely loved, loved, loved it! The Woman in the Window is a dark, scary and uneasy. Hard to believe …

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January 12, 2019December 18, 2021Book Reviews Clare Mackintosh

Book Review | Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

I’ve made no secret of absolutely loving I Let You Go and I See You. Clare’s writing style is so incredibly easy to follow and …

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January 12, 2019December 16, 2021Bookish Chit-Chat

Behind the screen | A book blogger tag

Hi Friends! It’s me again- coming at you with a “behind the scenes book blogger tag” like a professional blogger, lol! I saw this cute …

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January 2, 2019December 28, 20212019 Challenge Bookish Chit-Chat

2019 Reading Challenge

Hi friends! I feel like I’ve been hibernating in a cave somewhere for the past 4 weeks. I was hit with the biggest reading slump …

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December 9, 2018August 14, 2022Book Reviews Steve Cavanagh

Book Review | The Defence by Steve Cavanagh

The Defence is the first book of the Eddie Flynn series. I picked it in high hopes it will get me back on track during …

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December 2, 2018December 18, 2021Book Reviews Neil Spring

Book Review | The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring

Borley Rectory was the perfect manifestation of a haunted house. Standing in the shadow of tall cedars, the place had a decayed and neglected air …

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November 18, 2018December 18, 2021Book Reviews Hallie Ephron

Book Review | You’ll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron

To this day, nothing is more creepier than a doll. Take Chucky from Child’s Play as an example. This is the second book my friend …

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November 15, 2018December 16, 2021Book Reviews Paul Tremblay

Book Review | The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay

If you were given a choice to sacrifice a loved one to save the rest of the world, would you do it? The lives of …

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ABOUT ME

Hi there, I’m Kat!
Hi there, I’m Kat!

I’m an Estonian bookworm in London, occasionally rambling about what I read and documenting my BRCA1 journey to a risk reducing surgery and beyond.

Whether you’re here for book recommendations or looking for some information for your own BRCA journey or you’re just simply browsing - welcome to my hidey-hole on the internet!

Kat x
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Professional Reader 25 Book Reviews

Instagram

  • Stop the press - I READ A BOOK! 📚 

Well it's been a good few months of a complete and utter debacle and my life has felt a bit like an absolute clusterf##k, meaning I've had very little headspace for reading. 

Things have finally started to calm down and I found myself reaching for Confessions of a Forty-something F##k Up for the daily dose of "believe me it'll get better".

It's a story that feels so authentic it's hard to believe it's fiction. 

Nell has just broken up with her fiance of five years and relocated back to London to start again from scratch. Everything has changed since she left. Her best friends are happily married with kids and seem to have their perfect lives together, whilst she is living in a small room in a flatshare with no partner or kids, writing obituaries for a living. 
Maybe a podcast will help..

❤️ I especially loved:
 The chef's kiss of a relationship between Nell and Cricket, which truly was my favourite part of the whole thing. I'd love a whole new book on just their adventures together.

👎I hated:
THAT IT ENDED

However, as luck will have it, the sequel is out in August! Can't wait for More Confessions of a Forty-something f##k Up to be published in paperback. (Oh how I wish all formats were released at the same time!)

I also started Not Dead Yet on Disney+ last night, and although it's a little upside down and not completely true to the book, I really am enjoying the series, too!

It's a two hands up recommendation 🙌 

Ps! This book happened to perfectly fit in with @bookshelfraiders May prompt, and I am so glad I could finally recommend a book in our monthly catch up ☺️

Ps2! Thank you G for constantly urging me to pick up this book until I did 😘

#bookskatlikes #bookreview #bookrecommendation #confessionsofafortysomethingfuckup #alexandrapotter #mustreadbooks #notdeadyet
  • If this wasn't the quickest January ever known..?!

January reading wrap ups are popping up everywhere and some of you have really gone in this month! 🥹

I managed to finish 3 books, all within the first two weeks of January, and then I went home to Estonia and read precisely 0 pages for the rest of the month 🤣

Anyway, here's what I read:

Lights Out in Lincolnwood - Geoff Rodkey (January 2023) 2.5/5🌟
All the Lonely People - Mike Gayle (January 2023) 4.5/5🌟
Baby Doll - Hollie Overton (January 2023) 3/5🌟

All those also fit @bookshelfraiders January prompt -  blue book 📘 

Here's to more books in February!

Kat x

Ps! Updated rating system is in my highlights on my profile, if you wondered what the stars mean.

#bookskatlikes #eestilugeja #bookstagramuk #wrapup #januarybooks #whatiread #midamalugesin
  • 2022 Reading Recap 📚😳

You may remember from last year’s recap, I anticipated that I will be reading more audio books in 2022. 

Turns out that I actually listened to 1% less audio books than I did in 2021, comparatively, of course. I read slightly more books in 2021 in general, but proportionately, these figures aren’t actually that different! 

65% of all the books I got through this year were paperback, and my love for only enjoying hardbacks sitting on the shelf looking pretty was confirmed by 0 of them being read in 2022.

Not surprisingly, 2022 was also the year where I read the least number of pages – just above 8000 in total, compared to nearly 36 000 in 2020! 

Breaking my reading down into months, it was all pretty much downhill from May onwards, and overall, I read an average of 1.6 books per month. 
Evidently, 2021 reading slump carried over to 2022. 

Like last year, there were two months where I read no books. Can’t remember why February was such a slow month, but at the end of the year, I was knitting and watching the whole 1000 seasons of the Walking Dead, so that kept me very occupied.

Looking at how I rated the 20 books this year, then it is evident I loved most of them. 80% were 4 or 5 star books. The lowest rating was for Survive the Night by Riley Sager, I gave it 2 stars.

If I haven’t already shouted from all the rooftops that A Man Called Ove was my favourite book of 2022, then take this as the last remaining rooftop I’m shouting it from! 

In conclusion, yes, I read fewer books than compared to previous years. Especially compared to 2020 when I read 93 books. However, the quality of the books I did manage to read was superb! I had a good time reading them, I enjoyed them and some will be held in a special place in my heart for years to come.

In 2023, I want to (re)join a book club! Please comment your favourite book clubs below 👇😊📚

Kat x

#bookskatlikes #readingrecap #2022books #yearlywrapup #bookclubofinstagram #eestilugeja #raamatusoovitus
  • Had a lovely Christmas day with the out-laws yesterday and was so pleased my little knitting-project-Christmas presents went down a treat 🥰

Now that the rush is over, I look forward to starting to read again. I got gifted a few new books, all of which I want to start straight away 🫠

But first, Boxing Day plans are to binge on the last few Christmas movies and, as an introvert, recover from the very social day yesterday 😄😴

Hope you had a wonderful time at Christmas, if you celebrate it. 

Bring on 2023 🥹

#bookskatlikes #knittinginstagram #diypresent #madewithlove #bookstagramuk
  • Book post days are the best days, am I right?

The team at @simonschusteruk have sent me a nice stack of little Christmas presents 🎁👏 🎅

End of the world/apocalyptic tropes are really up my street, and there are two books in the pictured stack that immediately caught my interest:

Lights Out in Lincolnwood by Geoff Rodkey 
Cold People by Tom Rob Smith

I look forward to diving into both of them during holidays. I haven't picked up a book for some weeks now, and I'm excited that I am excited about reading these! 

Hope you're all well x

#bookskatlikes #bookmailisthebestmail #simonandschuster #bookstack #gifted
  • Hello from snowy Estonia! I'm sooo happy snow arrived in time before I'm due to fly back to the UK.

Anyway here's a quick update- I haven't really been reading recently in my free time and instead have been binging on the Walking Dead and knitting Christmas present(s).

However, I did listen to Matthew Perry's Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing earlier this month.

📖 book review

Perry's story is heartbreaking and shocking, yet perhaps not surprising. He isn't the first, nor the last, who has suffered with this crippling and devilish disease that is addiction.

I know there's controversy around the book, and I get it. There were unnecessary, even outright mean,  comments and digs against other actors and I agree all of that would've been better left unsaid. Absolutely.

But honestly, I don't believe Perry wrote this book with a goal of becoming Mr Popular, nor that the book should be "enjoyed" by the readers. The essence of his memoir is not exactly a delightful topic!

But whichever way you feel about him as a person/actor, Perry's brutal honesty about himself, his addiction(s) and struggles that came with it makes this memoir a truly harrowing read, and you ought to admire him for not sugar-coating nor holding back throughout the whole thing. Really. 

Perry's book is a warning. It's a "be careful what you wish for". It's a "this is unapologetically me". And most importantly, it's a "you're not alone".
 
I'd recommend it.

#bookskatlikes #snow #bookreview #eestilugeja #minaloen #raamatusoovitus #friendsloversandthebigterriblething
  • A slightly belated August and September wrap up 🤫

Although I didn't read many books, I'm just grateful I am reading. 

They were all quite chunky and some have been on my list to read for a long time..

A Time to Kill - John Grisham (August 2022) 5/5🌟
Sycamore Row - John Grisham (August 2022) 4/5🌟
Wrong Place Wrong Time - Gillian McAllister (September 2022) 4/5🌟
The Summer Garden - Paullina Simons (September 2022) 5/5🌟

In the last quarter of the year I'm going to try and concentrate on the remaining books that I challenged myself to read this year for #bookskatlikes2022 

What are your year end reading plans? 📚 

#bookskatlikes #bookstagramuk #chunkybooks #johngrisham #gillianmcallister #paullinasimons #readingwrapup #autumnreading #eestilugeja #minaloen
  • Finally managed to sit down and write a bit about the books I read in the first half of 2022. Better late than never 🤭

I read through a respectable 12 books, across 4456 pages. Although comparatively it's not t h a t much, I have enjoyed the majority of them.

So if you want to know how many new vs backlist books I read between January and June, which formats I picked up the most or how I rated those 12 books then head over to:

👩‍💻 www.bookskatlikes.co.uk 👩‍💻 (link in bio)

Pictured are my monthly favourites 📚

#bookskatlikes #whatiread #bookstagramuk #bookblogging #eestilugeja #midamalugesin #wrapup #readingstats
  • 🎉 4 YEARS ON BOOKSTAGRAM 🥳

Feels like it was only yesterday that I had just finished two books in two days for the first time in my adult life. The books were Shari Lapena - A Stranger In The House and JP Delaney - The Girl Before.

I remember posting the photo on my personal feed of the third book I had immediately picked up, talking about how I adore books and blame my nana's humongous collection I was raised with for it. 

It was 10th August 2018 and I had no idea "bookstagram" was a thing, but I wanted to create a separate account where I could post photos of the books I read so that they wouldn't spam my friends' feed. I also wanted to start a blog where I could perhaps write a little more about books.

So I decided to keep it simple. My name is Kat and I like books 💡 and as Katlikesbooks was already taken I just switched the words around - and voilà Bookskatlikes was born. The Girl Before was also originally the very first review on my bookstagram - posted August 12th, 2018.

Bookstagram in 2018-2019 was great! I discovered there were so many other bookworms out there with incredible book recommendations, photos and reviews! It felt natural and fun and whole. 

Over the years, my enthusiasm has definitely died a quiet death because good old Instagram algorithms meant that I was seeing less and less of my book friend's posts and more of the suggested/sponsored posts and reuploaded tiktok videos regurgitated as those cursed reels.

I miss when bookstagram was all about pretty photos, genuine conversations and meaningful comments between book lovers. 

Now it's all about those mindless engagement-chasing bots commenting "post it here, send pic there" and the algorithm pushing videos on an app that was always meant to be a photo app 🥴 

Despite having to update my "hidden words" list each time I post, I still like taking photos and talking about the books I read. As long as there's at least one of you listening, i'ma go ahead and keep going. 

I guess what I want to say is thank you to each one of you who have stuck around for so long. I appreciate you.

Continued in comments...
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Recent Posts

  • 2023 in Books | End of Year Stats and Summary
  • Thursday Quotables | All the Lonely People
  • Thursday Quotables | A Little Life
  • Book Rating System 2023 | What do the stars mean?
  • 2023 Reading Challenge | Getting out of the slump!

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