No matter what tickles your fancy, it seems there's a glossy magazine for everyone in today's world. But the cost can quickly add up if you're purchasing a few each month and, moreover, if you're enticed to buy a variety in the departure lounge to stash in your carry-on for some poolside holiday reading, you'll also find that lugging the bag around becomes tiresome swiftly.
But a little-known app has launched a two-month free trial that gives readers the chance to read literally thousands of magazines, both from the UK and across the world, without it costing a penny - from celeb gossip to recipes, home decor to sport and TV.
I stumbled upon Readly when I got my Kindle Fire tablet and spotted it in the Amazon app store, but I've since also downloaded it on my iPhone - it's available on Android too. If you're someone who enjoys reading, it is simply a game changer - you can never be bored with the breadth of reading material at your fingertips, which can either be downloaded to read offline or enjoyed online if you're concerned about space on your device.
Readly's library includes women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Closer, Grazia, Best, Bella, Chat and Women's Health, alongside celebrity gossip staples OK! and Heat. Elsewhere, for film buffs, Empire and Total Film are available, while sports enthusiasts are catered for with popular national titles like Four Four Two, Golf Monthly and more - perfect reading for fans of football, golf, cycling, rugby, horse racing and beyond.
Younger readers are also catered for, with the Beano included in the selection. Readly allows family sharing across multiple devices, so everyone can find something enjoyable to read without needing multiple subscriptions, reports the Express. Alongside current editions, fully searchable archived editions are also accessible.
As someone who enjoys collecting new recipes and home and garden ideas, I relish reading various foodie and home decor magazines every month. However, with them often costing between £6 and £8 each, I had to restrain myself every time I went shopping.
Discovering Readly last summer was genuinely a game-changer. I regularly browse through BBC Good Food, Olive, Delicious and Good Housekeeping for recipe ideas. However, there were several discoveries I made with the app that made it indispensable for me.
Firstly, as a fan of American style cooking, I was delighted to see I could read dozens of US cooking magazines (and plenty of other things besides), tracking down recipes for everything from how to make an authentic pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving through to beignets - although the former definitely turned out better than the latter.
I quickly realised that Readly not only provides access to older magazine issues, but it's also fully searchable. So when a beignet recipe was a letdown, I could search for alternatives in other magazines.
To my delight, I discovered I could screenshot pages of the magazines, creating a collection of recipes on my iPad to refer back to later.
While the world seems to be moving towards subscription models, I started my free trial thinking I would cancel at the end of the summer after I'd had enough holiday reading. However, I've continued to subscribe throughout the year and, with the monthly cost equating to about two magazines, I always feel like it's good value for money.
What made me continue my membership was realising that I could read all my favourite Christmas planning magazines filled with ideas, decor and recipes but with premium price tags due to their hefty page counts, all within the cost of my subscription.
After a two-month trial, Readly is priced at £12.99 per month. It can be easily cancelled via their website before the first payment is due, meaning there's a summer's worth of reading available completely free.
Readly isn't the only app that provides unlimited access to newspapers and magazines. Kindle Unlimited operates in a similar fashion. It also offers a free trial (though only for 30 days) and is compatible with my Kindle, so I gave it a go but cancelled at the end of the trial. The interfaces are quite alike - although, ironically, I find Readly performs better on my device.
Kindle Unlimited lacked some of my favourite magazines that are available on Readly, though it does include some books in the subscription along with newspapers and magazines.