I hate winter.

1. The Psychopath Next Door by Mark Edwards

Pleasantly surprised with this one! Dual POVs, kept me turning the pages, and I of course loved the Cure references (the dad owns a record shop!). Sometimes it feels like “you read one psychological thriller, you read ’em all” but the plot of this one was fresh and the end was pretty awesome, ngl. I gotta check out more of his books now to see if this guy is a one-trick pony or what.

2. Middle Spoon by Alejandro Varela

I listened to this epistolary book on audio and it held my interest for about 1/3, maybe even a 1/2, but it became insufferable. I appreciated the polyamory rep, but it was hard to relate to and care about the main character, who we’re following from his POV through emails he’s writing but not sending to his ex-boyfriend. He was EXTREMELY whiny and difficult to root for – fuck it, I was rooting for his husband to leave his ass, honestly. Not the worst book but it does become pretty grating.

3. A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi

This might have been my least favorite Oyeyemi book :( I still adore her brain and her ability to churn out the most original and bizarre stories but this one was almost a chore to read. Each chapter was a different day  and a different personality of the main character, Kinga. Hard to explain, but each new day starts with the next Kinga trying to figure out what predicament the previous Kinga put them in, except make it SUPER LITERARY. This author bends my brain in ways not even MATH does. Nothing but love for her but god help me if anyone ever asks me to recap any of her books because all I will be able to tell you is how each one made me feel while reading it.

Wow, did I sell this or what.

4. The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer

Margie asked me what this was about when I was reading it and I said, “Well, it’s a middle grade book about a young girl in Bucharest during the Communist regime in 1989 and her parents send her away to rural Romania to live with her grandparents because her Uncle published stories criticizing the govt and now the whole family is being surveilled.”

Margie was like, “Oh.”

I read such uplifting fluff!

But yeah, for a middle grade book, this was heavy.

5. An Evil Premise by T. Marie Vandelly

Do not recommend the audio book for this one and honestly it ruined my experience to the point where I truly don’t know if I would have liked the story if I had read a physical copy of it. I loved her other book so much but this one was fell flat for me and seemed really long, too. I think my expectations were too high because her book Theme Music blew me away. This is also horror but it didn’t get under my skin at all (except for that narrator!!!) and I also had a had time following along at times because it’s about a woman who is trying to finish her sister’s horror book while her sister is in the hospital, and there were times when I was like, “Wait, is this the book, or this really happening?” and then I realized that I didn’t really care.

6. That’s Not How It Happened by Craig Thomas

OK but speaking of audio books – THIS ONE WAS EVERYTHING. The book and the narration – 5 fucking stars. First of all, it’s written by the co-creator of How I Met Your Mother and Colbie Smulders and Josh Radnor are two of the narrators. EXCEPTIONAL. The book is about a woman who writes a book about being the mother of a son with Down syndrome, and years later it’s getting turned into a movie. Hilarity and frustration ensue. You get chapters from the mom, dad, brother, and sister and they are all very real, flawed characters that I latched on to so hard. It is so funny but also had me crying. 100% recommended (audio if you’re into it!).

7. Cover Story by Mhairi McFarlane

Dang son, two 5-star books in a row. I don’t normally give super high ratings to rom-com but Mhairi McFarlane is the exception. This is my third McFarlane and she is immaculate vibes all around. She writes such real characters, the dialogue is snappy, and the romance is not cloying or forced. I cried. A lot.

8. Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements

I did not enjoy this at all and don’t feel like writing anything about it. The colors of the cover are so good though.

9. Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley

Oh, I had such high hopes for this! It was somehow a Goodreads Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Horror but it was cheesy and had no horror vibes as far as I’m concerned.

10. The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison

And then this book landed in my lap and made up for the two previous duds! Our main character is on some hit TV series, is pretty blah about her life, and books an impromptu flight to a little village in Ireland where she was supposed to go to college but ended up staying in Florida for school. Once she arrives there, she gets to see what her life would have been like if she had chosen differently and it was such so warm and pure, a perfect read during the frigid winter season. I really liked this more than I thought I would.

11. Thirteens (Thirteens, #1) by Kate Alice Marshall

This was cute and fun – made me wish I knew a kid that I could buy this series for! I don’t think I’ll continue on past this one but it was a fun read while I was waiting for other books to land in my library.

12. The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1) by Freida McFadden

OK I caved. The audio was on Hoopla and I was in between reads so I dove in, completely expecting to hate it. Look – I’m not saying this was some literary wonder, but it was actually entertaining! It kept my interest held and I finished it in about a day. Nothing groundbreaking here but if you hate men like I do, it was satisfying. I can see why this is so popular but I don’t think I will continue on.

13. Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston

Mid.

14. The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

I started out really enjoying this but then I got a stomach virus in the middle of it so now when I think about it I just feel really gross and sick. So by the end, I just wanted it to be over. It’s pretty repetitive because the whole point is that this dude keeps getting sent back in time to make sure this lady-knight does what she needs to do.

15. It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Nothing too groundbreaking here, just a cute hate-to-love romance. I enjoyed it for what it is.

16. Morsels by Abe Moss

1 star so stupid, one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

17. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

No surprise here, this book was the 2025 darling and it’s no wonder why. Five stars, couldn’t put it down but also didn’t want to turn the page at  times because I knew my heart would break. The animal and climate change parts broke me as I knew they would (I read this author’s book “Migrations” and it was similarly environmental and too heavy for this bleeding heart lib) but also the people in this book. Oh,  the Salt family. Rowan. I will never forget them. This book is so quiet and mysterious, I don’t know what else to say about it other than it left me crying out loud on Saturday while Henry was at the store and I was suddenly so aware of my loneliness. Oh, this could end up being one of my top books of the year and we’re only one month in.

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That’s all. Three 5 stars in one month is not too bad though!

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