This is crazy, I had no idea I read so many books last month, especially it being a short month and I didn’t have much free time! Well, here they are, it was a pretty solid month!

1. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Right off the bat, a 5-star read. The synopsis didn’t compel me to pick this one up, but it kept appearing on SO MANY best of the year lists that I eventually gave in. I will say- I did the audiobook for this one and it was brilliantly done. Sybil is one of my most memorable characters I have read in a good while, and what I aspire to be like when I’m old and out of fucks. This whole book is epistolary – Sybil write letters and sends email to everyone from her brother in France, her best friend/SIL, a young boy she mentors, a customer service agent at an ancestry company. Plus, unsent letters to an unknown recipient until the end. This was compelling, engaging, captivating – all the good “ing”s! I laughed and cried.

2. How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen

….and then right to a 1 star read. This was absolutely abysmal. Hokey. Not scary. Confusing. I did actually laugh at loud several times, though I can promise you that wasn’t the author’s intent.

3. Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor

So mid. Two Harvard students that I gave no shits about invent an anti-ageing drug – it was very science-y, very little action, cardboard characters. This was like a dollar store version of Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow so just skip this and read that.

4. Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash

This was SO WEIRD in the best way. Very Kevin Wilson-esque, zany, strange, hilarious. I had no idea where this was going but had a ton of fun getting there. (The UK cover is so much better than whatever this terrible version is.)

5. My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney

I generally enjoy Alice Feeney, but her last book was awful – like someone else wrote it, actually. And then around this same time, Henry and I watched His & Hers on Netflix which is adapted from one of her novels that we both read and liked, but neither of us remembered a single thing from the book as we watched the series, to the point where we both had to check our phones to see if we actually read it. So, I guess we enjoy her books but they’re not memorable? I would say that this one is going in that same category. I gave it a 4, had a fun time reading it, was sufficiently tricked by the twists, but will still probably forget the plot by this time next year. I think this is where I’m leaning with thrillers in general lately though. My standards are really high.

6. Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski

I started this thinking I was going to enjoy it, but then entirely too many characters are introduced – they each get their own rambling chapter – and it just turned into a mess. No one really had their own unique voice, I was confusing teens with adults, some kid dies and that’s at the center of the whole thing but even that plot point gets lost. I just wanted this to end, also the cover is so ugly and looks like a very specific Hipstamatic filter was used on it.

7. The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi

I have enjoyed Fracassi’s horror in the past, but this was some banal Murder, She Wrote type shit.

8. If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia

A cozy romance set in a small town in autumn of 1997? A little bit fish-out-of-water? New beginnings? ADORABLE DOG that adds to the story? Kids that actually weren’t annoying? I am so picky with rom-coms but this one really did it for me and I expectedly sobbed my face off at the end. This was close to perfect.

9. Discontent by Beatriz Serrano

Yes. I LOL’d so much throughout this one and I will just say if my department ever forces us to go on team-building retreats, I’m out.

10. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Too many timelines. Not scary. Someone’s Goodread’s review is the very succinct “Strongest emotion I felt reading this was ‘Girl, that’s your uncle  😭'” – CO-FUCKING-SIGN. Also, the whole time I was reading it, I thought the cover was a hand holding an umbrella. Now I see that’s not it at all.

11. Loved One by Aisha Muharrar

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS. It’s largely about grief, but there is a whole subplot where the main character is on a mission to retrieve personal items of her recently-deceased best friend at the request of his mom, so there are some genuinely light-hearted moments to help balance out the crippling agony you feel when the flashbacks happen. (I’m crying, LOL.)

12. The Ruins by Scott Smith

Why do people like this? It was so boring, stupid fucking characters. Monotonous. I didn’t enjoy even a second of this and should have DNFd it but kept thinking it was going to get better. Did NOT have to be this long, either.

13. Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen

SO UNIQUE! Historical fiction with a hilarious twist. This is set during a time when certain historical figures are back and living in present day. Harriet Tubman seeks out a hiphop producer in NYC to help her record an album, and the book is told from the producer’s POV. It was so funny but also beautiful and a very important work of fiction. The audiobook includes two tracks at the end! (My favorite character was DJ Quakes, AN ACTUAL QUAKER and his parts were so funny.)

I just wish this was a bit longer.

14. Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson

An interesting take on the vampire trope. While it didn’t become a favorite, it was still pretty entertaining. I liked that it was set in the 70s and I was really rooting for Duane Minor.

15. Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foote

Five stars. This was so ambitious and the author pulled it off. It’s a biomythography, my first time reading one, and it actually blows my mind when I step aside and really think about the effort and creativity that went into this. The author has essentially taken her actual family history and then embellished upon it to create a “modern myth.” It makes sense then, how these characters jumped off the pages, knowing now that they were based on actual living members of Kim Coleman Foote’s family. It’s fascinating, sad, hopeful, and inspiring to read about the two families that settle down in New Jersey in the 1910s during the Great Migration. This was extremely difficult to read at times which is why everyone SHOULD read it. Yes, it’s fiction, but there is truth and history there too, and that is the stuff that needs to be remembered.

16. Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro

A very difficult read as we’re following an older woman with Parkinson’s as she tries to prove that her daughter’s recent death wasn’t a suicide. We get flashbacks to their relationship, and the stress that Elena’s illness put on her daughter, who was also her primary caregiver. It’s so much more than just a mystery though, as it tackles big issues like abortion, chronic illness, motherhood, and a toxic mother-daughter relationship. Just, very grim. If you’re looking for a feel-good read, this ain’t it, Vanessa.

17. The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey

You know, I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads but it’s closer to a 5. I went into this plot unknown and was blown away. It’s set in an orphanage in England, 1979, and follows one brother of a set of triplets, and also a mystery girl named Nancy who lives in a house with her parents but something feels off. The end goal of the children in the orphanage is to “get well” (they all think they’re in there because of a Bug) and leave for a Disney-esque place called Margate. I read it in almost one day, it was so hard to put down. Vincent forever. <3 (And Mother Night! I loved Mother Night.) (OK I just changed my review to 5 stars now that I’m thinking about this one again, it was so good.)

 

 

 

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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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