Archive for the '2026 Book Challenge' Category
Book Thangs for April
4 stars. I appreciate a realistic ending over a happy ending here and there. Learned an interesting fact about why so many Black hair stores in the US and Canada are owned by Koreans. I didn’t know this was a movie and now I need to watch it!
2. This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum
3.5. I like listening to the audiobook version when a book is podcast-related and this one was recorded beautifully but it kind of fell apart for me in the second half. I think the book cover is lovely but I have no idea what it has to do with the book itself.
3. All the Little Houses by May Cobb
LOL was this a joke? Zero stars. So terrible and stupid AND LONG. I didn’t read The Hunting Wives but I watched the series and enjoyed it enough to decide to read this one. It just makes me wonder HOW DID THIS BROAD GET ANYTHING ADAPTED TO TV?! Her writing is atrocious and her characters ARE ALL THE SAME. Just trash and not even the kind that’s fun to read despite of its garbage qualities.
4. The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore
I think I should just avoid books with reality shows as a plot.
5. The Optimists by Brian Platzer
Yay finally a great book with compelling characters and an interesting storyline! I loved loved loved the narrator of this book -a retired middle school teacher telling a story of his most prized student, I can’t explain what I loved so much about this book (I actually tried explaining it to my dietician on our last call and I’m positive I did NOT sell her on it), but I felt very emotionally attached to several characters and the end of it broke me a little bit. So good. Quirky. Interesting. Unique. Unforgettable. 5 stars.
2 stars, could have been so much more stalker-y but instead it was just endless pages of being trapped inside the main character’s head and her thoughts were half past interesting, more toward insufferable. If this were 2004, I bet the author would have NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS in her MySpace bio,
7. Into the Blue by Emma Brodie
Another miss for me. To the author’s credit though, I do not like sci-fi stuff and this whole book is basically a romance woven around some cult-classic sci-fi TV show. I was so tuned out for most of it.
8. So Old, So Young by Grant Ginder
This seems like a really toxic (not to mention, boring) friend group. I really liked the first chapter where we find out that someone has died and one of the friends is en route from London to NYC for the funeral. I basically just kept reading o find out who it was that died. I hadn’t connected much at all with any of the characters so when I found out who it was, I was like, “Aw. Oh well.”
Kind of interesting concept is that the book is broken up into sections with focus on one part or event over the years that brings all the friends together to one location, and then each character gets their own chapter within those sections, so see each event from multiple perspectives. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it – middle of the road 3 stars for me.
9. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Me, two seconds ago: I don’t like science fiction.
Also me: I loved Project Hail Mary! 5 stars!
Honestly, I had avoided this book for the last several years, no matter how many booktubers put it in their end of the year lists. I just felt with my whole heart that I would not like it. And honestly, I almost DNFd it at first and if I hadn’t opted for the audiobook I probably wouldn’t have made it very far into a physical copy. SO MUCH MATH! AND SCIENCE! Like, duh Erin. Read the room. (Or a synopsis.)
But Chooch had been hounding me to read it (he made us buy him the book in March so he could read it before the movie came out) before seeing the movie. I’m glad that I did! The movie was amazing too but I think reading the book first definitely gave me a deeper appreciation for the characters but seeing the movie helped me understand WTF was happening a lot better. I need to be hand-held through certain things in life, you guys.
Amaze amaze amaze.
10. American Fantasy by Emma Straub
Oh this was bad. And to think her dad is one of my favorite authors of all time. This apple fell off the tree, rolled down a hill, and off a fucking cliff.
11. Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
Woman desperately wants to buy a house (not just “a” house, but HER DREAM HOUSE) and goes to unhinged lengths to acquire it. Great premise, very poor execution. I was not rooting for this broad even a little.
12. Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
Nope.
13. Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Ace Atkins
KGB agents in 1980s America. Let’s go.
There is a rotating cast characters here and they all get their own chapters. Some I could have easily done without, but I loved when it was 14-year-old Peter’s chapters, and the has-been writer Hotch and his drag sidekick Jackie Demure.
Honestly could have used more Jackie. But overall, really entertaining!
And that’s it for April. Some doozies but also some fun stuff too!
No comments
March 2026 Reads
3 stars. A relatively fast-paced thriller/mystery but not memorable. Recommended if you want to read about two broads going rogue and investigating their respective missing sisters cases, I guess.
2. The Amulet by Michael McDowell
SOLID HORROR! This was written in the late 70s/early 80s I believe and was a good reminder that horror was on a different level back then. This had me SQUIRMING. Every character was described incredibly well which made this book play out like an actual movie in my mind while I was reading it. Someone died that I did NOT want to die, though!!
As an aside, Chooch and I do the NYTimes Connections puzzle every day and TWICE recently the term “bolt” was included in “to eat hurriedly” category and we were like, “WHO THE FUCK SAYS THAT?” Literally, not even Henry had heard that. Well, McDowell uses it! It was in this book twice, which excited me and I had to snap a picture to send to Chooch. I love when stuff like that happens while reading.
But yeah, 5 stars. I need to read my way through his whole catalogue now.
3. A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
Another 5’er. I can’t stress how in love I fell with this book: from the characters (Tibb is unforgettable), the relationships, the sticky situations, the unexpected humor, the unusual and quirky writing style – I have never read anything like this. And also the cover is beautiful.
I will say that when I started this, I was unsure if it was for me because the writing DOES comes off as somewhat jarring at first. We are fully inside Tibb’s head for this ride. Rosanna Pike is brilliant – this was her DEBUT novel!! – and I can’t wait to see what else she puts out!
4. The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
I don’t know what Stephen King means by “magnetic.” This was just OK.
5. On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah-Yah Scholfield
3.5 – lots – and I mean LOTS – of abuse and trauma in this one, holy shit. Not for the weak at heart but a very unique horror story.
6. Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin
Lesbians and libraries! Cats! I listened to this on audio during my daily walks and it was an enjoyable experience. 3 stars.
7. It’s Not Her by Mary Kubica
3.5- a pretty good thriller that hooked me. I also listened to this on audio and I will say that Reese’s (the missing niece) chapters were so fucking annoying. I mean, I guess they were meant to be because she’s a bitchy teen, but it probably would have been less annoying if this was a physical read for me and not audio. Just putting that out there!
8. It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara
OK so for anyone reading this just for the book recs, knowing nothing about me, here’s a fun fact: my kid went to preschool and kindergarten at a Catholic school across the street. Most of the parents were stuck-up assholes who made me feel like an outcast because I was younger and, I don’t know, they probably frowned upon my tattoos. I would volunteer to chaperone field trips, hoping it would ingratiate me with other moms but they had no interest in socializing with me. So, whenever I would write about these things on my blog, I would be sure to drag them. And then they found my blog. LOL. There was a confrontation, it was terrible, but I had to hold my head high and continue showing my face every day when I walked Chooch over there.
This book triggered some PTSD that I didn’t realize I had lol.
Other than that, it was OK but VERY far-fetched.
Eh. I was definitely not the demographic for this but needed filler for my walks.
I have nothing constructive to say. 2 stars.
11. The Red Knot by Monique Asher
ONE STAR – SO BAD. Poorly executed, weird scene jumps, cardboard characters. I’m glad I couldn’t see my face while reading this disaster.
I scream-read this part out loud to Henry, I’m still stewing so I need to get this off my chest: at the end of the book (not a spoiler) there is a scene with a cat who is introduced as Momma because SHE just had kittens – female pronouns are used a few times, then another character immediately refers to the cat as “he” so then the person with the cat switches to “he/him” too?! Did we just witness the quickest feline gender transition in print or was this just more sloppy writing, YOU DECIDE.
12. The Names by Florence Knapp
5 stars – such a unique plot concept, beautiful characters, and absolutely gut-wrenching. You were warned.
13. The History of Us by Leah Stewart
I thought it would be fun to read something that I added to my “want to read” list on Goodreads over 10 years ago. I had read Leah Stewart’s The Myth of You YEARS ago and absolutely loved it. I remember sending it to Christina and begging her to read it but she’s too much of a stoner to ever sit down and read a book for pleasure so that was a waste of postage. (She did eventually give it back to me and then I let Barb borrow it but she never returned it and swore she didn’t have it!)
Anyway, this was such a bore. Coincidentally though it was set in Cincinnati which is where Christina sort of lives. Side note: I FUCKING HATED THE OLDER DAUGHTER THEO. I HATED HER SO FUCKING MUCH.
14. Model Home by Rivers Solomon
A haunted house story but not. I did not enjoy this but gave it a three for being a unique take on the trope. LOTS OF TRAUMA AND TRIGGER WARNINGS in this.
15. The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead
Eh. Pretty mid. Winstead has let me down over and over ever since I gave her debut novel 5 stars. This is basically her trying to write something like Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hate to compare but it’s hard to read this and not immediately think of Daisy Jones.
I just didn’t care about anyone in this book.
16. Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston
This was another “reach back into the Goodreads TBR list” pick. I listened to the audio and for a YA book, it held my interest and I really felt for Hermione. Trigger warning: (off page) rape.
The end.
No comments
Dang, I Read a lot in February
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!
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.)
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.)
No comments
January 2026: Where I Read 17 Books Because Snow, Cold, Blah
I hate winter.
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.
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.
That’s all. Three 5 stars in one month is not too bad though!
1 comment
