Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.9.24)

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Thriller • 2024

Short synopsis: Frank Szatowski is stunned when his estranged daughter invites him to her wedding, only to discover she’s marrying into a wealthy tech family, and he must navigate his discomfort and uncover unsettling secrets while trying to reconnect with her. 

I’ve been on the record that Jason Rekulak’s novel, Hidden Pictures, is one of the worst thrillers I’ve read (although everyone raves about it). But I wanted to give him a second chance when everyone was raving about this novel. And I just need to accept that Rekulak’s writing is not for me. While this novel wasn’t quite as bad as Hidden Pictures, it still wasn’t very good with a deeply unsatisfying ending. Parts of this novel were appropriately creepy (as anything involving a billionaire family and a destination wedding at their property would be!) and I was definitely turning pages quickly to find out what was really happening with this odd family. And it was a shocking reveal, so I’ll give the author props for that! But once the reveal happened, the plot fizzled for me. The pacing of the novel slowed down and I couldn’t see where the author was going with the ending. I also found just about everyone in the novel (even Frank) to be wholly unlikable and that made it hard to find anyone to root for. A lackluster thriller, in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Little Free Library) • Contemporary Romance • 2021

Short synopsis: Olive Smith, a Ph.D. candidate who doesn’t believe in love, pretends to date her arrogant professor, Adam Carlsen, so that her best friend Anh will feel comfortable dating Jeremy, a guy Olive dated for a few weeks. (Anh doesn’t want to break girlcode to date Jeremy, but Olive has zero feelings for him.) But as their fake relationship deepens, Olive unexpectedly falls for Adam, complicating her career and heart.

For some reason, this very popular romance hasn’t been on my TBR list because I thought it had very mixed reviews. (It has a 4.1 star rating with 1.5 million reviews, so I was mistaken!) I saw it in a Little Free Library earlier this year so I picked it up for myself. And I was delighted by it! It was so much fun and smart and I just adored the relationship between Olive and Adam. It was a bit of the grumpy/sunshine trope because, as a professor, Adam is not very well-liked by his students because he’s a bit brusque in his critiques. And Olive is a happy-go-lucky Ph.D. student who breaks down his walls. I loved the friendships in this novel (including the male friendships!) and also really enjoyed how the author explored demisexuality and how everyone’s sex drives can be different. I just really enjoyed this novel. It was a satisfying romance.

Humor Me by Cat Shook (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: Presley Fry, a jaded assistant at the Late Night Show, finds solace in the stand-up comedy world but struggles with her mother’s loss. When her late mother’s best friend, Susan, introduces her to her son Lawrence, Presley is forced to confront her emotional walls, discovering that laughter and unexpected connections may offer healing and new possibilities.

This book is essentially a love letter to New York City. It should also be a love letter for therapy because omg does Presley Fry need therapy more than any character I’ve ever met. This girl is depressed to the max, and she needs to deal with her grief, her avoidant attachment style, and her traumatic childhood with a licensed therapist. Instead, Presley does not get therapy. She deals with her grief with an unhealthy attachment to a coworker, throwing herself into her work, and avoiding any semblance of healthy friendship. I wanted so much more from Presley, but she was very hard to like and I think the author did a disservice with her character. Read this book if you love NYC and stand-up comedy, but not if you’re looking for character growth. (2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.)

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

A Little Free Library Run

I’ve built up quite a stack of books that I wanted to donate to Little Free Libraries around my area. (A quick description: Little Free Libraries are operated by individuals who want to spread some bookish love to their community. You set up a little stand and fill it with books. The idea is that people will “take a book, leave a book,” although you don’t have to leave a book in order to take one. And you also don’t have to take a book if you’re leaving one! It’s all about building a free resource for people to access books that’s separate from a public library.)

I’m lucky to live in a place where there are dozens and dozens of LFLs all around me and it’s always such a joy to add lots of good books to these spots. In my Notes app, I have a list of the LFLs near me that I love the most so on Saturday, I packed up two reusable bags of books and hit the road to add some love.

Unfortunately, I quickly started to realize that my favorite LFLs are in areas of my city that were deeply affected by Helene and Milton. In fact, the first LFL I visited (and one of my favorites) was no longer there and all of the houses in the vicinity had belongings and drywall stacked up on their lawns, waiting for it all to be taken away by the city. Ugh. It broke my heart so much! I’m hoping they will be able to rebuild the LFL after dealing with their homes.

After that experience, I was apprehensive about whether I would be able to accomplish my goal, but I plugged the next location into Google Maps and said a prayer. Thankfully, this adorable little spot was up and running (even though the hurricanes had also ravaged this neighborhood).

Look how cute it is! Unfortunately, it’s a little on the small side due to the way it was built so I had to shove some of my smaller books into the LFL and also picked out a cute romance (mostly to make room for more of my books but this one piqued my interest).

Books donated: Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery, and Anne of the Island by Anne M. Montgomery. 

My next experience at a LFL was also rather sad. I entered another neighborhood filled with debris and belongings and drywall littering lawns, another stark reminder of what our city went through in late September/October and how much farther we have to go to get back to normal. The LFL in this neighborhood was up and in such a beautiful spot, but when I opened the door to place in some books, I was immediately accosted by the smell of mildew and damp books. Oh, it broke my heart! This LFL must have been flooded during the storms with the owner unable (or perhaps didn’t realize it would get flooded as badly as it did) to move it. I wasn’t sure if I should put any books in this library, but ultimately, I dropped off a few. Maybe I shouldn’t have but I wanted to give this neighborhood something to enjoy.

Books donated: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, Family Family by Laurie Frankel, Mercury by Amy Jo Burns, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

I ventured on to my next destination and this is one of my favorite LFLs in my city. It’s such a big and beautiful library and in such an unassuming part of town. Most LFLs are on the lawns of homes but this one hangs out near the parking lot of a multifamily condominium near some industrial buildings. Well, someone around here is a bookworm who wanted to set up something fun for the locals. This LFL was a little sad so I filled ‘er up with a lot of books!

Books donated: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, Plan B by Anne Lamott, Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, The Firm by John Grisham, Full Circle by Andrea Barber, Good Talk by Mira Jacob, Love & Saffron by Kim Fay, The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker-Bradley, and We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

My next location is the LFL that always messes with me! The actual library is on the corner of this adorable house, but because I plug the house address into my GPS, I always drive right past it and have to turn around. But I found it and it was also a bit neglected so I decided to fill this one up with the rest of my books. At this point, I was doing well finding some LFLs that were still up and running and didn’t want to press my luck by visiting some of the other addresses on my list.

Books donated: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple, The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena, The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare, On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, and Happiness Falls by Angie Kim.

And that was my afternoon of being a book fairy! I love filling up LFLs with lots of good books and since I had already filled up these libraries in the past with some books, it was fun to see that all of my donations were gone. They were living new lives in new homes and that is such a delight. I really want to build and operate my own LFL someday, so maybe that will be a goal for 2025.

Do you have any LFLs near you?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (11.13.24)

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradel (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Fiction • 2015

Short synopsis: When Lars Thorvald is left by his wife, he becomes the sole caretaker for their infant daughter Eva. As Eva grows up, she develops a passion for cooking, transforming diverse Minnesota flavors into a successful pop-up supper club. Kitchens of the Great Midwest explores the relationship between food, community, and identity.

This is a situation of “Reader, know thyself,” which is a concept from the ladies at Currently Reading. I am not someone who likes to read books that center around food. I just get bored by all of the food talk and I always skim anything involving cooking or recipes. This book comes highly rated by many other people, but it just didn’t work for me. While I thought it was an interesting way to tell a story (every chapter is from the point of view of someone who knows Eva, whether directly or tangentially), I didn’t connect with anyone in the story. It’s very much a character-driven story and I was left wanting more. I wanted something more to sink my teeth into, and this book didn’t really have that. The only reason I didn’t abandon it was because it wasn’t a very long book (under 300 pages). Would I recommend this book? I think so, especially if you love a foodie book, but it will not be going on any favorites lists of mine.

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Historical Fiction • 2023

Short synopsis: In 1956 New York City, nineteen-year-old Marion is thrilled to join the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, but she soon discovers the intense pressures and challenges of the role. When a bomb explodes in the theater as part of a series of attacks by the “Big Apple Bomber,” Marion becomes embroiled in the investigation, urging the police to use psychological profiling. 

I really enjoyed this novel! Mostly, I enjoyed the scenes of Marion as a Rockette and her friendships with the other dancers. I loved the glimpse into the audition process, the rehearsals, and life on stage. What an insanely cool world to be a part of! It was also interesting to learn about what it was like to be involved in a creative field like dancing in the 1950s. This isn’t exactly the type of job a well-to-do family wants for their daughter, so it caused a lot of rifts in Marion’s family. The book could really be broken into two parts – Marion as a Rockette and Marion trying to catch the Big Apple Bomber. It feels a little far-fetched that she would be so involved in an investigation of this magnitude, but hey, creative license and all that. (Side note: The Big Apple Bomber is a real person and he really did cause havoc around NYC in the 1950s. He was also finally caught using criminal profiling, but the people in the novel were fictionalized.) I wanted a different ending for Marion in this novel, but all in all, it was a fascinating story and now I just want to go see the Rockettes!

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone (★★★★★)

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

Short synopsis: A surprise pregnancy leads to even more life-changing revelations in this heartfelt, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance of found family and unexpected love.

Oh, you guys, I just loved this sweet romance. Friends-to-lovers is my favorite romance trope, and this one did it in such a delightful way. This book was funny, heartwarming, and mostly closed-door. Eve has an uncharacteristic one-night stand with a man in a bar and from that encounter, she finds out she’s pregnant. Enter Shep, Eve’s best friend’s brother who steps up to help her through the confusion and morning sickness and figuring out this new life she never imagined for herself. I’m not normally a slow-burn romance gal, but this one just really worked for me—probably because of all Eve was going through at the time. It would have felt out-of-place for Eve to be suddenly pregnant and having a wild love affair with Shep, you know? Anyway, I loved this story and the whole cast of characters.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (10.30.24)

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Owned (indie bookstore) • Mystery • 2023

Short synopsis: When an acclaimed author dies at the Regency Grand Hotel, it’s up to a fastidious maid to uncover the truth.

Oh, I just really didn’t like this novel. A part of me is wondering if we even need the continuation of this series. (And there’s a third book coming out!) Everything I adored about Molly in the first book just felt trite and over-the-top in this novel. The novel dipped back and forth in time: present day where an author dies at an event at the hotel Molly works at, and then the past where Molly is a child and her grandma is working as a maid for a very rich family. This rich family felt like caricatures. They had no nuance to them and I struggle to understand where all of their money came from because the main occupation of the husband in this family is not one that lends itself to incredible wealth. Like, they had a whole room of silver! That kind of wealthy. All in all, this was a rather lackluster mystery, which is such a disappointment since the first book was one of my favorite reads of the year.

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Barnes & Noble) • Contemporary Romance • 2024

Short synopsis: Estranged exes Georgia and Eli must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance.

I adored Jessica Joyce’s first novel, You with a View, and I was happy to get my hands on her second novel. While I didn’t love it as much as YWAV, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The FMC, Georgia, was a tough character to like at times, and I struggled to feel invested in her. She is someone who has a hard time asking for help and depending on people, and that has led her to doing everything for everyone else to keep their love and attention. (She is very much an unhealthy Enneagram 2, I think.) Eli, on the other hand, is a man who has missed out on a lot in life because of his addiction to work and success. Both of them have a lot of work to do on themselves (and they do–by the end of the novel, both of them are in therapy!) but they also find themselves drawn back together while trying to make sure their best friend’s wedding goes off without a hitch. I loved their sweet second-chance romance and they way they slowly but surely found their way back to each other. Also, I really loved the way the author took us on a journey of their past relationship without delving into past-and-present chapters. It was nestled into the story in a very natural way, and it was so refreshingly different than other books I’ve been reading lately. This was a wonderful romance and after two great books, Jessica Joyce has become an autobuy author for me!

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Mystery • 2024

Short synopsis: Finlay Donovan and her nanny Vero head to Atlantic City for a rescue mission that quickly spirals out of control. When a loan shark they’re trying to negotiate with turns up dead, the duo must dodge police, exes, and family while searching for Vero’s boyfriend and stolen car. 

I was looking for a light-hearted audiobook to listen to right after dealing with the hurricane madness, and the fourth book in the Finlay Donovan series was exactly what I needed! Are these books realistic in any way? Absolutely not. But are they fun to read? They sure are. I always love the ride-or-die friendship between Finlay and Vero, and the budding relationship between Finlay and her hot detective was icing on the cake. I found the mystery at the heart of this novel fairly easy to follow along with and it came to a very satisfying conclusion. I will also say that I gasped out loud at the last sentence of the book so needless to say, I need the fifth book to come out soon. (Okay, I checked: book five comes out in March!)

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (10.21.24)

Funny Story by Emily Henry (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (indie bookstore) • Contemporary Romance • 2024

Short synopsis: After her fiancé leaves her for his best friend, Daphne finds herself in a small town, sharing a house with Miles—her ex’s new fiancée’s ex. As they navigate their heartbreak and stage a fake relationship, Daphne faces the possibility of real feelings in her fresh start.

This was such a fun romance! I was immediately drawn into Daphne and Miles’s worlds, and I love the uniqueness of their “meet cute”: Two exes living together after their exes leave them for each other. I love a unique plot like that! Daphne is in a bad place when her fiance leaves her – she’s in a city she moved to for him where she doesn’t have any sort of support system. Her whole life was him. I’ve known people like this (someone in the novel says Daphne is a “we” person, as in “we did this and we did that” – they don’t really have an identity outside of their relationship), and I thought the way Emily Henry explored that concept to be great. Daphne really had to come to terms with being single for the first time in a long time and learn how to make friends and build a life in this new city. I really loved the growing relationship between her and Miles, too. They were so sweet together and their love story made me happy sigh. I thought the novel was perfectly paced and while the dark moment was not my favorite, I appreciated how it resolved. All in all, I’d probably list this as my second favorite Emily Henry romance! (My list from favorite to least favorite: Book Lovers, Funny Story, Beach Read, Happy Place, and People We Meet on Vacation.)

The End of Her by Shari Lapena (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Thriller • 2020

Short synopsis: Stephanie and Patrick’s seemingly perfect life with newborn twins unravels when a woman from Patrick’s past accuses him of murdering his first wife, challenging his claim that her death was an accident. 

Typically, I love a Shari Lapena thriller, but this one did not work for me at all. First, I thought a lot of the dialogue was pretty cringe-worthy and not well-written. Second, I found it hard to root for any of the characters, but most especially Patrick and the “other woman” in the story. They felt like caricatures rather than real people. And finally, there were the twists. The first twist in the novel wasn’t all that surprising and then the second one really came out of left field—and not in a good way. Sometimes a really crazy twist can feel satisfying, but this one felt unearned. I just didn’t enjoy this thriller, point blank. It wasn’t a fun read and I was pretty disappointed in the ending. I rated it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Spotify • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: A starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love.

I loved this sweet romance novel, although if I had known I was going to have to listen to some of the explicit sex scenes, I might have thought differently about the medium I chose. (I rarely listen to romance on audio because the sex scenes can be so cringy to listen to!) This novel is mostly about Millie and Hollis, but it’s also about the ashes of Mrs. Nash. Millie has a few tablespoons of her late friend’s ashes to deliver to Mrs. Nash’s first true love who is dying in a hospital in Key West. It’s a weird premise for sure, but a really sweet one, too. The present-day timeline of Millie and Hollis’s road trip is interspersed with a past storyline, when Rose (the future Mrs. Nash) was stationed in Key West during World War II and falling in love with a nurse named Elsie. I’ve read so many books lately that are using this plot device to tell a story (a present storyline mixed in with a past storyline) and I am so tired of it. I understand that in many cases it helps to provide a greater understanding of the characters, but one of the storylines is always so much less interesting than the other one. In this case, I knew Rose and Elsie’s love story was doomed to fail and didn’t find their scenes to be particularly compelling, so I was retty bored by this storyline. (I might have even skipped those chapters if I was reading the book rather than listening to it.) But hey, YMMV. I still really enjoyed this romance and recommend picking it up if you want a feel-good romance to read.

It Happened One Wedding by Julie James (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Romance • 2014

Short synopsis: After a broken engagement, investment banker Sidney Sinclair swears off commitment-phobic men, but she’s forced into close contact with playboy Special Agent Vaughn Roberts as her sister’s wedding approaches. Despite her resistance, Vaughn’s determination to win her over turns their battle of wills into a genuine pursuit of love.

This book was a reread for me, and I am really leaning into comforting romances right now. I love Julie James’ books, and I am sad she’s no longer writing but at least I have a nice backlist I can return to again and again. This romance was excellent with two super confident and stubborn individuals who were absolutely perfect for each other but needed a bit of time to come to terms with that. This book was written a decade ago and there were some dated references, mostly when Sidney talked about signing up for a “dating website.” Remember when we had to do that and it was weird to be on something like Match or OK Cupid? Ha! It was a fun book that didn’t require me to think too hard, and mostly just gave me happy, ooey-gooey, lovey-dovey feels.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Little Free Library) • Short Stories • 2020

Short synopsis: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.

I picked up this slim book on a whim, knowing it would be something easy to slip in and out of. I read one short story every day and it was the perfect pace for me. My disclaimer for this collection is that there is a lot of cheating happening (stay away, Lisa!) and the book felt really melancholy for the most part. But I was feeling melancholy so it worked for me. It was nice to sit in my feelings while reading this book. The writing is gorgeous and the stories are quick, and I’m glad I finally pulled this one off my bookshelf to read.

What are you reading?