Books – Page 11

Best of 2024 | My Favorite Reads

I am so excited to sit down and write this post! My final “Best of” posts are all about my reading life (my reading stats will be up next week!), and I always start with my favorite reads. I’m going to do things a little differently this year. This time around, I’m giving you my top 10 books of the year as well as a handful of bookish superlatives. This will be a long post, so let’s get into it.

My Top 10 Books of 2024

10) The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley – This story touched my soul so deeply. The characters are forever imprinted on my heart. It’s about two kids who are sent away from London to escape WWII and find solace in the home of a woman who never wanted children. It’s sweet and heartwarming, but the subject matter can be dark at times. (2015, middle grade, historical fiction)

9) Cover Story by Susan Rigetti – This is one of those polarizing books, you either love it or you hate it. And I loved it. I remember coming to the end of the book and gasping out loud because I didn’t expect that ending. I thought it was genius, but YMMV. When Lora becomes a ghostwriter for Cat Wolff, she discovers the shady world Cat is really involved in. (2022, contemporary fiction)

8) Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera – I devoured this thriller, and that’s saying something because I listened to it on audio and I usually take my audiobooks slowly (an hour a day). But this one, I stopped all podcasts and listened to the audiobook nonstop until I finished it. It’s about a woman who has been accused of killing her best friend but was never charged because of lack of evidence. A true crime podcast takes up the case five years later, and she decides to help figure out who did it. The audiobook is exceptional because the podcast excerpts are performed like a real podcast (intro music and everything!). (2024, thriller)

7) White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad – I didn’t read as many racial justice books this year as I have previously, but this one was a standout. It is not for white women who get their feelings hurt easily when women of color challenge their perspective. This book was insightful, powerful, and pushed my boundaries, which I definitely need. Ruby Hamad talks about everything from slavery to politics today, and it’s a book that has stayed with me all year long. (2020, nonfiction)

6) Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa – This was such a beautiful love story about a Mexican-American teen who falls in love with an undocumented immigrant. It’s about family and queer love and what it means to be a citizen. It’s about art and food and culture. Ander and Santi are characters I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read this book. Their story has stayed with me. (2023, romance)

5) All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir – This was a hard book to read. I listened to the audiobook and could only handle one hour a day because I was so distraught by what was happening to my beloved characters. It’s a book about friendship, about death and grief, and about what you’ll do for your family. It follows two teenagers, Sal and Noor, who are best friends until a fight causes a rift in their relationship. I loved it so much, and I think Sabaa Tahir is a genius. (2022, YA)

4) Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez – I was hesitant to read more books by Abby Jimenez because her earlier book series, The Friend Zone, was terrible. But everyone was raving about her new book so I picked it up, and I am so glad I did. In this book, there is a character with social anxiety and Jimenez captured the difficulty of having this type of anxiety so well. I was so touched by the care she gave to this character. What also touched me was the character who didn’t have social anxiety and who went to great lengths to help him. His social anxiety wasn’t seen as something silly or something he needed to “just get over.” The crazier thing was that this character was named Briana, and I have my own Briana who goes to great lengths to make me feel comfortable in social situations. I loved this novel, and I loved feeling so seen in a character. (2023, romance)

3) The Wedding People by Alison Espach – This one may be recency bias, as it’s one of the last books I read in 2024, but I just loved it. It’s about a woman who goes to a fancy hotel to kill herself, only to be mistaken as one of the guests of the week-long wedding happening at this hotel. And that’s all you really need to know about it! The writing is top-notch, the character development is outstanding, and the book moves along at a great pace. I had high hopes for this novel as so many other trusted sources have loved it, and every expectation was met, which was a delight. (2024, contemporary fiction)

2) The God of the Woods by Liz Moore – This book was a masterpiece. It takes place on a summer camp when a girl goes missing. The problem is, the girl is the daughter of the owner of the summer camp whose brother went missing from the same place fourteen years earlier. I love the way Moore incorporated the present and past storylines, I loved the setting, I loved the characters, and of course I loved how propulsive this novel was. I read the last 100 pages sitting on my couch in my sweaty workout clothes. I had just come home from a workout class and the minute I got home, I plopped right down and cracked open the book. I was losing daylight, but I didn’t even get up to turn on the light because I didn’t want to tear my eyes away from the book. I couldn’t get enough of it! (2024, mystery)

1) The Women by Kristin Hannah – There could be no other book to be my favorite of the year. This book was incredible. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully written, and incredibly heartbreaking at times. It is the first book I’ve ever read about the Vietnam War, following Frankie, a 20-year-old nursing student who joins the Army Nurse Corps and ships out to Vietnam. When she returns home, though, is when the real battle begins. I couldn’t get enough of this story, of Frankie and her friends. I felt like I was right there with Frankie in Vietnam, the scenes were so visceral and vivid. Back then, there was no support for soldiers coming home from war (and especially no support for women because, “there were no women in Vietnam,” as Frankie heard over and over again when she sought help). There wasn’t a diagnosis for PTSD. This is a story that has stuck with me and I’m continually in awe of Kristin Hannah. (2024, historical fiction)

2024 Bookish Superlatives

1) The most disappointing DNF: Family, Family by Laurie Frankel. I have loved everything Laurie Frankel has written… until this book. I found the kooky family just a bit over-the-top and unrealistic. It’s possible I just wasn’t in the right mood for the book at the time.

2) The most disappointing book I read: The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. What a stinker of a book. I had such high hopes, but this is one I definitely should have DNF-ed.

3) The book I was surprised to love: Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. I picked this up after so many bloggers raved about it, but I wasn’t sure if it would work for me. A book about a new mom starting an OnlyFans? Not really my thing, ya know! But this book was wonderful and heartfelt and I feel like a part of me was healed reading about the relationship between Margo and her dad.

4) The book I thought I would love more than I did: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Everyone raves about this book, but I found it to be a bit hard to follow. There were so many characters and I couldn’t keep everyone straight, and I found the mystery to be convoluted.

5) Most deserving of the hype: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. This was a nominee in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards and I had seen many rave reviews before I read it myself. I loved every minute I spent with this book, and can confidently say it was worth the hype.

6) Least deserving of the hype: What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall. This earned a nomination in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards and was named as a Book of the Year finalist for Book of the Month. I thought this was a very poorly written thriller and the ending totally jumped the shark for me.

7) Book I loved that other people hated: Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale. This has a 3.56 rating on Goodreads, but it was a solid 4-star read for me. I could really identify with Cassandra, and I loved the way the author incorporated time travel into the novel.

8) Book I hated that everyone loved: The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley. This book has a 4.04 rating on Goodreads, but goooood, I did not like it. I gave it 2 stars. I just didn’t think the characters were all that well-written and the mystery was convoluted.

9) Most memorable character: Vera Wong from Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice to Murderers. Is there anyone like Vera Wong? She’s unpredictable and kooky, but also lovable and sweet. I don’t think I’d want her as a mother, but maybe as a mischievous aunt.

10) The book that made me gasp out loud: You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Listen, there’s a twist in this book that I was not expecting and I remember gasping out loud in my car when I listened to the scene. Whew.

11) Best audiobook narration: Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan. Nobody does audiobook narration quite like Julia Whelan and in this book, she gets very meta (since the main characters are narrating an audiobook together!). The way she can do a male voice puts all other audiobook narrators to shame.

12) Favorite fictional couple: Eve and Shep in Ready or Not by Cara Bastone. Oh, they were such a sweet couple, the best friend and the best friend’s brother. A friends-to-lovers romance will always hit me in the feels!

13) The underrated gem of the year: White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind by Koa Beck. With just over 2,200 ratings, this book most definitely qualifies as an underrated gem. (It was published in 2021.) This book challenged me, instructed me, and made me want to be a better ally.

14) My least favorite character: The father in The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith. I know I have my own “daddy issues” that I probably brought to this book, but damn, this father was terrible and his actions were incredibly triggering. I am still so mad that the author tried to redeem him when he didn’t do anything to deserve redemption.

15) Favorite reading experience of 2024: Reading Funny Story by Emily Henry while waiting out Hurricane Milton. I picked up this book the Saturday before we evacuated because I knew I needed something light-hearted to sink into when I needed to be distracted from my racing thoughts. I finished the book the night that Milton hit Florida. It was sweet and romantic and the perfect distraction.

What was your most disappointing DNF? What’s a book you read that was definitely worth the hype?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (1.6.25)

You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Spotify • Thriller • 2024

Short synopsis: Meredith Lee helped Aspen Palmer rise to social media fame, but after being cast aside, Meredith starts stalking Aspen. But when Meredith goes missing and threats emerge, Aspen must protect her perfect image before everything comes crashing down.

This was an excellent audiobook read, and it was one of those books that I could hardly stop listening to because I was so curious about where it was going. At times, these characters could be so frustrating because, well, they’re influencers and as such, they live a life I do not want to live in a million years. Documenting so much of their lives and making video after video, taking photo after photo, all to project a certain image to their followers… what an exhausting way to live. And yet… being an influencer gives women agency in their lives. Some of these women are making six figures! It is a legitimate business and as social creatures, we buy into what they’re selling. Anyway, this book was both an interesting look into the life of an influencer and a thriller filled with twists and turns I really wasn’t expecting. I loved the way I was constantly going back and forth between what I thought was happening, and how the two timelines in the book converged. It was truly a one-of-a-kind thriller that was really enjoyable for me to read.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: When Phoebe Stone arrives alone at Newport’s grand Cornwall Inn, she’s mistaken for a wedding guest but is actually there to kill herself. As the bride navigates her meticulously planned weekend, an unexpected bond forms between the two women, reshaping both their lives.

I have heard so many rave reviews of this book so my expectations were super high. And wouldn’t you know it? This book met every single expectation! It’s the kind of book I was immediately drawn into and could hardly put down. The author has such an easy writing style and the characters were so well-developed. Phoebe was a woman who was at rock bottom and didn’t see a way out… until she meets Lila, a bride who has a week-long wedding planned at this hotel. I loved the scenes between Phoebe and Lila so much. They were so honest and raw and real. There’s a message throughout the novel about happiness and what we owe to ourselves. Why do we constantly strive for happiness and what happens when we get the thing we so desperately wanted? Because of course when we get the thing, we zip along to the next thing that we think will make us even happier. There are trigger warnings for this book, of course. Suicidal ideation, miscarriage, infertility, depression, and death/grief are some of them. It is a very sad book at times, but it is such an intimate look at the way life circumstances can so vastly affect our mental health. Life just sometimes really sucks, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Anyway, I really loved this book and I think it’ll be sneaking its way into my favorites list for 2024!

Suddenly One Summer by Julie James (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Romance • 2015

Short synopsis: Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade and investigative journalist Ford Dixon team up to solve his sister’s case, but their sizzling chemistry forces them to confront their doubts about love—and each other.

This is a reread for me and I really have to condition myself to read this book through the lens of 2015. First of all, there was a reference to one of the characters moving into an apartment in Trump Tower, which was very triggering! But this book was written before his run for president so… deep breaths, Steph. There was a bit of toxic masculinity on the part of Ford, but I wonder how differently he would have been written today. (It wasn’t anything too troubling, but just some scenes that made me cringe a little.) I don’t think I loved this book as much the second time around; I found it really hard to get into Victoria’s head and root for her. But it was an easy romance to zip through around Christmas.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.30.24)

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Historical Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: In the summer of 1922, Jay Gatsby is found dead in his swimming pool, seemingly the victim of a murder-suicide. But when a diamond hairpin is discovered nearby, three women—Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Catherine McCoy—become entangled in the mystery.

I loved this fun reimagining of The Great Gatsby. Instead of focusing on Jay and his friend Nick Carraway, we’re drawn into the lives of three women with their own roles to play in Gatsby’s murder. The chapters alternate between each woman (with separate narrators for each, which was great!) and a detective trying to get to the bottom of what happened to Gatsby. I thought the story flowed so seamlessly. There are so many themes at play in this story: the realities of being a woman in the 1920s and the limited choices women had, the strength and resilience of women, and the sweetness of supportive female friendship. I love that this book focused on the women surrounding Jay Gatsby and not on the terrible men. It was an excellent story that I highly recommend!

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2007

Short synopsis: Led by her yapping corgis to the Westminster traveling library outside Buckingham Palace, the Queen finds herself taking out a novel. This awakens in Her Majesty a passion for reading so great that her public duties begin to suffer.

This was a quick read (120 pages!) and if it wasn’t such a short book, I would have definitely abandoned it. Mostly, this book made me sad. It’s about the love of reading but at every turn, the Queen is stymied by her quest to read more. The traveling library disappears, her books are misplaced, and people just do not want to hear about what she is reading. This isn’t a book about the love of reading. It’s about how weird our hobby might seem to people who don’t read. So… blah.

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Romance/Mystery • 2024

Short synopsis: Three days before Christmas, famed author Eleanor Ashley vanishes from a locked room during a snowbound house party. Cozy mystery writer Maggie Chase and thriller author Ethan Wyatt—rivals who can’t stand each other—must join forces to uncover the truth. As tensions rise and secrets unfold, they race to solve the mystery before the storm traps them with a killer—or drives them to kill each other first.

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS! This book was perfection from beginning to end. I could not get enough of this sweet love story—or the excellent mystery at the heart of this novel. Maggie is still healing from her bitter divorce a year ago and Ethan is the publishing world’s golden child who can do no wrong, but together they have to team up to figure out what happened Eleanor and to make sure they’re not next on the list. If you love enemies-to-lovers, you’re going to love this book because Ally Carter does a great job with this trope. I actually got butterflies in my stomach when the characters kissed for the first time; this is how invested I was in them! I did not want this book to end and I’m going to be shoving it into the hands of everyone I know. Read this book!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.24.24)

It’s Christmas Eve and I have three very meh book reviews for you. I didn’t plan this! It’s just how things happened.

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: An indie musician reeling from her mother’s sudden death a few months ago reconnects with her estranged father on a week-long cruise in this tale of grief, fame, and love.

I started this audiobook on the drive down to Miami for my cruise. It’s narrated by Mae Whitman so the performance was spot-on, but the actual novel itself didn’t totally work for me. For one, Greta’s father was a straight-up asshole. Of course, he’s dealing with the grief over unexpectedly losing his wife (and being on a cruise that they planned together to celebrate their anniversary). But he was an asshole before Greta’s mom died so that’s no excuse. As someone who is currently estranged from my father because he’s also an asshole who never treated me well, I found it really troubling to read this story and realize that the author wanted these two people to reconcile. Sure, reconciliation is great and I would love to be able to have my dad in my life again, but it’s not always the best thing. And I don’t know if Greta’s father made the type of amends he needed to make. He belittled her career and her relationships, and Greta deserved better. There’s also a weird romance side plot in this novel that didn’t really need to be there, and I found its conclusion to be pretty unbelievable. What I did love about this novel were the explorations of grief and the mentorship Greta gave to a young girl on the cruise who was a fan of hers. All in all, an uneven novel that I’m not likely to recommend.

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: Five years after caring for his niece and nephew following their mother’s death, Patrick O’Hara is back in their lives as they face another major transition—their father’s remarriage in Italy. As family tensions, a cold-footed groom, and chaotic wedding plans unfold, Patrick must balance his role as protector, peacemaker, and fun uncle amidst the mayhem.

I really liked The Guncle by Steven Rowley, so when I heard he had written a follow-up novel, I excitedly added it to my Goodreads TBR. I downloaded the e-book for my cruise, although I didn’t start reading it until I got home. (I always think I’m going to read so much more than I do!) And I’ll be honest: I wanted to abandon this book. It was so boring with very little tension and very long descriptions of the places they were visiting in Europe. It felt pedantic and overwrought. But when I went on Goodreads to see how other people felt about the book, I saw a sea of 4-star reviews and I thought that maybe I was being too hard on the book, so I kept going. While the book got marginally better, I still found it a bit of a slog. I was frustrated by the ornery guncle schtick and annoyed by the writing. It just wasn’t the book for me and I think I can safely say goodbye to these characters for good. (However, if the author does end up writing a book about the lesbian aunt, Palmina, I am here for that.)

Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams (★★☆☆☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Annie Walker, a small-town florist in Rome, Kentucky, is determined to transform herself into the confident leading lady of her favorite romance movies to find her perfect match. Enlisting the help of Will Griffin—a rugged, tattooed bodyguard temporarily in town—Annie embarks on practice dates and flirting lessons. But as their chemistry heats up and friendship blurs into something more, Annie starts to wonder if her dream guy isn’t the polished romantic hero she imagined—but the real, imperfect man right in front of her.

I recently read and loved When in Rome by Sarah Adams and was excited to read the next book in the series. I don’t know if I just didn’t notice the bad writing in the first book, but in this one, hoo boy. It was so very bad. This is another example of a book that I should have abandoned. In this case, I kept going because it was an easy romance that I could read quickly (even if I did roll my eyes so many times). I didn’t feel like Annie and Will were full people in their own rights. Annie was the trope of the virgin, small-town girl whose only goals in life were to be a wife and mother (snooze). And Will was the “guy from the wrong side of the tracks.” Because did you know? He has tattoos! And he’s a bodyguard! So he’s totally a bad boy. There were so many plot holes in this novel and I just felt like I was reading a book by an entirely different author than the one who wrote When in Rome. What a disappointment.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.18.24)

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman (★★★★★)

E-Book • Library • Thriller • 2024

Short synopsis: When a pilot suffers a heart attack mid-flight, a commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant in Waketa, Minnesota, triggering the world’s first Level 8 nuclear disaster.

T.J. Newman really knows how to write a terrifying thriller. I read this on my cruise (I know), and I made sure to find out where the nuclear power plants are located in Florida. Luckily, none close to me! This book got a bit more technical than her other novels as she really got into the nitty-gritty of what happens when something destroys parts of a nuclear power plant. It was a bit like reading an Andy Weir novel. The important parts of the story are the characters and it’s okay to skim some of the more science-y sections. There were a lot of characters and sub-plots in this book but I felt like I could keep track of everyone easily (probably because all of the storylines were so different from each other!). The novel definitely had me on the edge of my seat and I just can’t believe T.J. Newman keeps knocking it out of the park again and again!

Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake (★★☆☆☆)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Romance • 2024

Short synopsis: Five years after being left at the altar, Charlotte Donovan is thriving in New York with her string quartet, the Rosalind Quartet. But when she agrees to spend Christmas with a bandmate’s family in Colorado, she’s blindsided to find her ex, Brighton, also there.

This is the first time I’ve read a book by Ashley Herring Blake that ended up being a major disappointment. This book was rather boring. It’s a second-chance romance, which isn’t my favorite trope, and it was hard for me to get on board for this one. Leaving someone at the altar is such a dick move, and I don’t think Brighton’s excuses were enough to warrant a second chance. I also didn’t really feel any sort of chemistry between the characters and I felt like I never really knew Brighton and Charlotte. They were one-dimensional. It was hard for me to believe that these two people were going to move from not speaking at all to suddenly putting their past behind them and falling in love in the space of a few days. It just didn’t work for me. I needed more of a build-up and more of a reason to root for these women.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Mystery • 1938

Short synopsis: In Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, the holiday turns deadly when wealthy patriarch Simeon Lee gathers his family for a tense reunion, only to announce he’s cutting their allowances and changing his will. When Simeon is murdered, Poirot must unravel the web of family secrets and rivalries to catch the killer.

Oh, how I love a locked-room mystery and Agatha Christie seems to do a lot of these. For the first time when reading a Christie mystery, I kept a list in my Notes app about the characters so I could keep everyone straight since I always seem to get lost in the sea of characters and forget who is who. (Of course, this time, there weren’t too many characters to keep track of and everything was pretty straightforward.) I liked this mystery a lot, though! I was super surprised by the “whodunit” and this is one of the first times I couldn’t figure out who it could be. Everyone had a motive and I love when an author can hide the murderer in plain sight, like she did for this one. This is a quick, fun holiday mystery that I would definitely recommend!

What are you reading?