Goodreads Monday/TBR Monday is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog and invites you to post about what books are on your Goodreads “to read” lists or TBR lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenges, and any other bookish news!

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The third book on my TBR is Critical Reaction by Todd M. Johnson. This is a contemporary legal thriller with apparently Christian themes in the mix. It was giving me Chernobyl vibes so I was quite interested in the story about a Nuclear explosion at a facility and the legal repercussions of said negligent behavior.

Synopsis

After decades of turning out plutonium for the arms race, the Hanford Nuclear Facility has long been shuttered, though its deadly legacy cannot be fully contained. The men who guard the facility from sabotage or monitor its buildings for radiation leaks are told the risks are under control. They believe it, until the worst happens: a thunderous explosion in the dead of night.

Two workers, lifer Poppy Martin and new hire Kieran Mullaney, believe themselves lucky to survive the blast. But as the debris is cleared, they discover their safety is not assured. Dead ends and closed doors halt their efforts to discover what really happened–and what radiation may have poisoned them. When stalling and threats force them into the hands of experienced trial lawyer Ryan Hart, they learn that theirs is no ordinary lawsuit. There is something still hidden in the desert of eastern Washington, and someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to make sure it never sees the light of day.

Updates

I am currently getting through my next two NetGalley reads.

I am about 23% through The Lost Husband by Shari J. Ryan. This has been a bit difficult to get through at times. This book starts at one of the most infamous death camps in the Holocaust so you can imagine the death and despair around the reader. The timeline in the book goes from the present to the past, so we experience the beginning and the end of the war through the eyes of Celina as she is looking for her husband Noah. It is a harrowing WWII historical novel for sure.

On the flip side, I am currently reading House of Echoes by Nat. I am currently only 13% of the way through and it is definitely an interesting story. I am struggling to fully understand and focus on what is happening due to how fast the pacing is. There is some interesting entity that ‘speaks’ to certain individuals in this post apocalyptic world. There seems to be some Calvinism going on with that, which I found really interesting so I am curious to see where that goes…

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Since I have completed my Goodreads challenge for the year, I am focusing on two different StoryGraph challenges:

The Onboarding 2026 Challenge

This has only 5 prompts and I have completed 2 of them so far (40%). The prompts include reading a book from the 4-star section of someone you follow, and a book from the recommendations tab. It has been interesting so far. This challenge ends at the end of this year.

TBR Wheel Reading Challenge

This is a challenge for the long haul! This is based off of a wheel challenge someone saw a while back all about getting through as much of your TBR as possible. There are a whopping 108 prompts for this one! Some of which are read books with specific colors on the cover, specific genres and sized books. I have completed one so far so I am sitting at a cool >1% lol. This has no timeline so it will be fun seeing that number tick down 🙂

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What is in your TBR and how are you doing with your reading challenges?