Loved One by Aisha Muharrar - This is a messy story about relationships and grief, with a complicated history between two women who loved the same man (and of course, he had the nerve to go and die). A powerful story but it somehow didn't quite land for me.
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue - I definitely expected to laugh out loud, but instead found this to be slightly cringey and ultimately very sweet and lovely. It was a little slow in places and I didn't particularly love the characters, but I found the ending nicely satisfying.
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood - I'm almost embarrassed to put this book here because it was very spicy! I thought the love story was sweet and inevitable, and it gave me the HEA that I wanted!
The Favorites by Layne Fargo - I liked this book about the competitive world of ice dancing, and found the story compelling and engaging. It dragged a little in the middle and I'm not sure I liked the "documentary" interludes because I felt a little like the author was just trying to write the movie script. But then again, it would be a good movie!
It's A Love Story by Annabel Monaghan - I mean, the title says it all, doesn't it? Love story, romance novel. No complaints, it worked.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab - Big fan of this author and also had no idea that it was a vampire book until suddenly...yeah. But I wasn't really mad about it and I love the way it lets the characters live through many periods of history. I found Alice's story a little cloying but I loved the way it all came together in the end.
Isola by Allegra Goodman - I felt like I learned something cool about history here - in that respect the story was fascinating. It was a little slow but the history did make it worthwhile.
The Whisper Sister by Jennifer S. Brown - This was a good read, very engaging and interesting - I liked the look at Prohibition-era New York and all the details about speakeasies. The questions of what it means to belong, to be an American, to be a Jew - these were important questions that felt real and still resonate today.
The rest of this year....
September Books
August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February 2025 Books
January 2025 Books
