Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (1.26.26)

Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao (★★★★☆ 1/2)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Romance • 2024

Short synopsis: After Isabel rescues Mira from her abusive ex and offers her a place to stay, an unexpected, undeniable attraction sparks—despite Mira insisting she’s not into women. 

Oh, my heavens, I adored this romance. Isabel + Mira 4ever. Mira has been spending her nights on a friend’s couch after breaking up with her boyfriend who was essentially financially abusive to her. She’s a Ph.D. student and barely making ends meet in NYC, but lived a cushy life thanks to her boyfriend. Isabel offers her the spare room that’s been empty since her ex-girlfriend moved out (it was her art studio), and thus begins a tentative friendship that blooms into so much more. There is so much happening in this novel beyond Isabel and Mira’s love story. There is Mira learning to be independent after a bad relationship while also fighting for a union contract at her university. There is Isabel who is still grieving her sister’s sudden death and dealing with another sister’s estrangement. The way both of them learned to trust each other with their secrets and their hearts was beautiful to witness. I will be keeping an eye on this author, and I’m ready for her to release another book!

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (indie bookstore) • Mystery • 1936

Short synopsis: There’s a serial killer on the loose. His macabre calling card is to leave the ABC Railway Guide beside each victim’s body. But if A is for Alice Asher, bludgeoned to death in Andover, and B is for Betty Bernard, strangled with her belt on the beach at Bexhill, who will then be Victim C?

I am oh-so-slowly making my way through Agatha Christie’s extensive backlist, and I picked up this book at an indie bookstore while I was traveling. The premise is so intriguing! I loved that this book was from the point of view of Poirot’s sidekick, Hastings, which gave us a unique look into this investigation and the way our dear Poirot works. The twist in this mystery was so well-done and I never saw it coming, which made it that much more satisfying. Do Christie’s novels have the best writing? No. But we’re not reading her books for that! She writes really inventive mysteries, especially considering the time period.

In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America’s Child by Kim Cross (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Spotify • Nonfiction (true crime) • 2023

Short synopsis: In Light of All Darkness embeds readers in one of the most famous true-crime stories of our generation—the kidnapping of Polly Klaas—a case as pivotal in the history of the FBI as the Unabomber or Oklahoma City bombing. 

Friends, if you love a good true crime podcast, then you’re going to love this book. In 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her own bedroom while hosting a sleepover with two friends. It was a time when techniques like dusting for fingerprints were still relatively new, and victim advocacy as we know it today was far in the future. This case had far-reaching ramifications, and the book explores the many elements involved in the search for Polly and her kidnapper. It’s not only a chronicle of a horrific tragedy, but also a deep dive into how investigations like these unfold.

One of the most striking insights was how little law enforcement understood about interviewing victims at the time. Polly’s two friends were present during the kidnapping, and while they weren’t physically harmed, they experienced significant trauma. Their stories changed over time, which led investigators to suspect they were lying. With what we now know about how trauma affects the brain (especially in children!) it’s clear they were doing their best to process an overwhelming experience. And not being believed by these authority figures did not help matters!

At times, the author goes a bit too far into the weeds and I found myself tuning out when she was diving into something that wasn’t totally related to Polly’s kidnapping or the investigation. Overall, this is a compelling book that taught me a lot about how the FBI operated in the early 1990s—and how this case helped shape meaningful changes that followed.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (1.20.26)

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (★★★★★)

Print• Owned (Book of the Month) • Contemporary Fiction • 2025

Short synopsis: Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again.

Cara Bastone is quickly becoming an autobuy author for me. This is the second romance I’ve read from her, and I loved it just as much as the first. This is a heavy novel, as it deals with grief and loss and moving forward after tragedy. But it’s also a beautiful exploration of finding yourself after being completely broken by loss. What I loved about this novel is that it talks about soulmates who aren’t romantic partners. Lenny, the main character, considered her best friend, Lou, to be her soulmate. They lived together and went through so many ups and downs as a pair. As someone who considers my mom to be my soulmate, I could relate to Lenny so deeply. This kind of loss terrifies me, and the way Lenny completely fell apart afterward felt so true and raw and real. This novel isn’t only about grief, though. There’s also a love story and Lenny’s adorable relationship with the little girl she’s nannying for. I thought the love story was so well done. It built slowly, and Miles was so tender with Lenny. They waited a long time to even share a first kiss because Miles didn’t want to interfere with Lenny’s healing process. Everyone who is grieving unimaginable loss should have someone like Miles—someone you can call when the grief feels too overwhelming to bear. This novel touched my soul deeply, which isn’t something I expect from a romance, and I can’t wait to read her next release!

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Thriller • 2024

Short synopsis: When a teenage girl named Diana Brewer is found murdered in a hayfield, the idyllic town of Fairhill, Vermont, shatters, turning a close-knit community into a landscape of fear, suspicion, and the urgent question of who among them is responsible.

Ooh, this thriller was so good! I love a Shari Lapena thriller, but the last one I read from her was a big disappointment, so I went into this one with apprehension. The novel jumps between many points of view: Diana’s best friend, the parents of Diana’s boyfriend (who quickly becomes a prime suspect), a teacher at the school, Diana’s coach, Diana’s mom, etc. There are also journal entries from one of Diana’s friends, as well as passages from Diana’s own point of view as she checks in on the investigation in a ghost-like state. It’s a propulsive novel, and while I had a pretty good idea who the murderer was, the author still took me on a ride with plenty of twists and turns. Will this thriller stand out at the end of the year? Probably not, but it was an enjoyable, fast-paced read that kept my attention.

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (★★★★☆ 1/2)

Print • Owned (indie bookstore) • Literary Fiction • 2023

Short synopsis: After a newlywed husband is diagnosed with a condition that will turn him into a great white shark while leaving his mind intact, a woman confronts love, grief, and inherited trauma as she decides whether to fully embrace connection in the face of inevitable transformation and loss.

This book got a lot of buzz a few years ago, but the premise was so absurd that I didn’t consider it for myself. But then trusted readers started to rave about it, including people who also thought the premise was absurd but loved the book anyway, so I bought the book, let it sit on my shelf for almost a year, and plucked it off my shelf to fulfill the January prompt for my Unread Shelf Challenge (a book that starts with the first letter of your name). This book was beautiful. It is poetic and heartfelt and thoughtful. It’s about motherhood and love and grief and moving forward after loss. When I finished the book, I just stared off into the distance for a while, thinking about the premise. Because, while yes, no condition will turn someone into a great white shark, some diseases and conditions change the people we love. That takes them away from us. That changes who we are as we take care of them. And they change the people who are dealing with the condition; they might become more angry or violent, more despondent or melancholy. We all become different versions of ourselves after something like a cancer diagnosis or a sudden disability. I think the author did such a beautiful job of showing the nuances that come from both sides of these experiences.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (1.12.26)

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned From Staying Put by Annie B. Jones (★★☆☆☆)

Audiobook • Hoopla • Nonfiction (Essays) • 2025

Short synopsis: In Ordinary Time, Annie B. Jones argues that, sometimes, choosing to stay—rooted in small towns, long marriages, quiet faith, and ordinary days—can be a courageous, radical adventure that reveals we don’t have to leave our lives to find meaning, joy, or our deepest dreams.

I really wanted to like this audiobook. It was my last one of 2025 and a quick one—right around 6 hours. Annie B. Jones runs The Bookshelf Thomasville, an indie bookstore, and From the Front Porch, a book podcast. She’s a real-life Kathleen Kelly, and I’ve always really enjoyed her voice and perspective. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me. I wanted Annie to be more introspective, but the book stayed surface-level. I wanted her to dig a little deeper, and if you’re not willing to do that in an essay collection like this, then you shouldn’t write an essay collection.

This is one of those books where it feels like the author didn’t have enough content for an entire book. The first few essays where she digs into staying put and what it means to carve out a life in a small town, were strong, but after that, the book flows into a bunch of disconnected stories about basketball and Ringo Starr and haircuts?!?! It wasn’t well-organized and felt a bit frenetic at times.

I guess I should have guessed this wasn’t a stellar book since Jamie of The Popcast (who is a friend of Annie’s) didn’t give it a green light. (She has green-lit other friends’ books but says upfront that she “doesn’t always green light her friends’ books,” and, well, here’s the proof.) All in all, a rather disappointing read!

Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet by Samantha Allen (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (Target) • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: When a fledgling memoirist is hired to ghostwrite the life story of a recently deceased Hollywood heartthrob—who can still talk via a kitchen speaker—one frantic month of secrets, clashing visions, and supernatural deadlines becomes an unexpected journey toward truth, identity, and home.

I want to start with the disclaimer: this is not a romance. It was sold to me as a romance, and romance is the primary genre it’s being marketed as and categorized under on Goodreads, but it is not a romance. And I think it will severely affect how you feel about the novel if you go into it thinking you’re reading a sweet queer love story. Instead, I believe this novel should be marketed as contemporary fiction. And under that lens, it’s an excellent book.

It tells the story of two men at a crossroads in their lives—one dealing with a bad breakup and a stalled writing career, the other a heartthrob movie star who is finally ready to come out. This novel tackles heavy themes—religious trauma, homophobia, and hate crimes—so it’s not a light read. The story includes a magical realism element: after a skiing accident leaves him dying, Roland can no longer interact with the physical world, but he can still communicate by inhabiting the smart technology in his house. It’s a strange premise, but that was the part of the novel I loved the most because I thought it was such a clever way to tell a story, and the author added some really fun elements that I wasn’t expecting.

That said, the novel didn’t fully meet my expectations. (Mainly because I thought I was reading a romance novel!!) Roland, in particular, didn’t feel fully realized and at times came across more as a caricature than a complex character. Plus, the ending left me unsatisfied. All in all, an uneven reading experience for me.

What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Fiction • 2025

Short synopsis: Raised off the grid by her enigmatic father in rural Montana, a teenage girl flees to a rapidly changing 1990s San Francisco to uncover the truth about her past—only to have her search for identity challenge everything she’s been taught to believe.

My first book of 2026! And it was an excellent start to my reading year. This novel has been everywhere, and it made a lot of lists of the best books of 2025. I really liked this novel, and easily fell in love with Jane, the main character. She was so easy to root for! She was innocent in so many respects, growing up off the grid and barely interacting with anyone other than her father, but she was also brave and smart and open and warm. I thought the author did such a great job showing us all the ways she was learning how the world worked in real time, and sometimes that meant dealing with some hard truths and consequences. There was such a sense of time and place with this novel, whether that was Jane’s life in a remote cabin in Montana or the bustling world of San Francisco in the 1990s during the tech boom. I just loved this book, though, and I can absolutely understand why people are raving about it!

What are you reading?

Categories: Best Of, Books

Best of 2025 | My Favorite Reads

Here it is! One of my favorite posts to put together every year—my favorite reads of 2025! Like always, I have split this post into three sections: my overall favorite books, favorite books by genre, and superlatives. I stole most of the genres and superlative categories from Sarah’s Bookshelves Live, so any SBL listeners will find many of these categories familiar.

It’s always funny choosing my favorite book of the year because I truly never know what it’s going to be until I’m reviewing my reading spreadsheet and writing down all of my five-star reads. Nine times out of ten, one book will stand out. Sometimes it feels like a literal gut punch in my abdomen when I come across the title on my spreadsheet, or I exclaim (out loud, to no one), “Aww, I loved that book!” It’s that visceral reaction that solidifies it as my favorite read of the year. That happened again this year, as I was so certain what book was going to make it to the top of my list… until I got to the book that I did name my favorite. My reaction was so emotional that I couldn’t choose anything else.

Overall Favorites

Favorite Overall Book

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (2024, audiobook) – It was really a toss-up between this book and The Correspondent as my favorite book of the year, but I just couldn’t get this book out of my head. It’s about three sisters who are grieving the loss of their youngest sister to addiction. It’s a gritty book with wholly unlikable characters, and I didn’t expect this book to touch me as deeply as it did. In fact, for the first half of the novel, I struggled with the novel and wanted to abandon it. But I kept going and my perseverance paid off. It was a spectacular read and it’s one I’d love to reread someday. I think of the line in this novel frequently, “I miss her and I miss her and I miss her … And I wait for the feeling to end because every other feeling has ended, no matter how intense, no matter how hard – but this won’t. There’s no end to the missing.”

Favorite Fiction

The Correspondent (2025, audiobook) – This book was everything it promised it would be. It was delightful and thought-provoking and funny and heartwarming. It lived up to the hype! It’s an epistolary novel about a woman in her 70s who is writing letters (and sometimes emails) to family members, new friends, neighbors, and authors she admires. It made me want to start sending a note to authors after reading a book that touched me!

Favorite Romance

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025, print) – I loved this novel, although I’ve seen a lot more mixed reviews than some of her other recent releases. I just remember getting so caught up in the romance and wondering how the author was going to solve the big issue at the heart of the novel. I also appreciated the way she handled caretaking and the topic of dementia.

Favorite Nonfiction

All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today by Elizabeth Comen, M.D. (2024, audiobook) – I’ve been an evangelist about this book since I read it last January, and it remains my top nonfiction read of 2025. The book is broken down into sections, each referring to a different system of the body. Then, within each section, Dr. Comen talks about how each system works, the history of medical thought, and the issues left unaddressed. It’s eye-opening and thought-provoking.

Favorites by Genre

Favorite Contemporary Fiction

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025, print) – I loved this road trip novel that was darkly comedic and heartwarming. It had some tough themes, but there was a lightness to the story, so it didn’t feel too heavy. Plus, there’s a cat!

Runner-up: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Favorite Literary Fiction

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (2010, print) – This novel is heavy. It is not an easy read, but there’s still something soothing about Anna Quindlen’s writing style that kept me turning the pages, even though the plot made me very sad and emotional.

Favorite Historical Fiction

Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (2023, print) – What a beautiful story of resilience and bravery! Crow Mary was a real woman, a Crow Native woman named Goes First who is married off to a white fur trader in 1872. From there, Mary learns more about the white man’s way of living.

Favorite Contemporary Romance

Back After This by Linda Holmes (2025, e-book) – I couldn’t get enough of this sweet romance, involving a podcast producer who starts a dating experiment for a new podcast series. It’s fun, sexy, smart, and just goddamn delightful.

Runner-up: Wild Love by Elsie Silver

Favorite YA

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (2024, audiobook) – This book completely transported me. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did because I don’t generally love magical realism/fantasy novels. But there was something so captivating about the world Meg created and the found family element.

Runner-up: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

Favorite Mystery/Thriller

Look Closer by David Ellis (2022, audiobook) – This story had me on pins and needles the whole time! There were so many great twists and turns, and it was so wild to be rooting for the bad guys to get away with what they were doing!

Runner-up: The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Favorite Memoir/Essay Collection

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (2024, audiobook) – I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from this book, but what I got was a fascinating story about Kelly Bishop’s life. From her early days as a dancer to her dating escapades to her time on Gilmore Girls. She is warm and funny and open-hearted.

Runner-up: This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg

Superlatives

The Most Disappointing DNF

On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen (2023, audiobook) – One of my friends raved about this book, so I was excited to read it. She was so effusive in her praise! But ugh, I basically hated the author from the beginning and my notes on this DNF say: “privileged white lady complaining about her life, blahhhh.” So yeah. 

The Most Disappointing Book I Read

Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly (2023, audiobook) – It’s not often that I give a book 1 star (I would normally DNF any book that I hated that much!), but I kept reading this book for reasons I can’t quite articulate. Maybe because it was so short? Maybe because I like to torture myself? I’m not sure, but it was so boring and the characters were insufferable.

The Book I Was Surprised to Love

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (2021, print) – I didn’t love the first book in The Thursday Murder Club series. There was a lot of setup happening and I felt like the ending was really convoluted. But I started the second book, hoping things would improve, and boy did they. I devoured this book! It was an easy 5 stars and I couldn’t get enough of these characters and the plot!

The Book I Thought I Would Love More Than I Did

11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011, e-book) – Ugh, this book was such a slog. In 2025, I challenged myself to read four books over 500 pages and this is the one I was looking forward to the most. I had heard such great reviews, so I was excited to dive in. It was not what I expected at all and there is no reason it needed to be 900+ pages. Get an editor, SK!

Most Deserving of the Hype

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025, e-book) – I am all aboard the TJR hype train. I was super excited about this one, since it involved NASA and had a queer love story at the heart of the novel. It totally delivered for me, and I found myself tearing up at the end.

Least Deserving of the Hype

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025, print) – I can usually count on Emily Henry, but this book did not work for me. It felt like it was straying a little too closely to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but doing a much terrible job. I thought the romance was lackluster and the story-within-the-story to be pretty boring.

The Book I Loved That Other People Hated

Making Up by Lucy Parker (2018, e-book) – This can be a hard category for me, as I don’t often love books that have low Goodreads ratings. (I won’t typically read a book if it’s less than 3.7 stars!) But Making Up by my fave romance author, Lucy Parker, has a 3.69 average rating, which is just a travesty. I loved this book!

The Book I Hated That Other People Loved

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones – Oh boy. I haven’t reviewed this book yet because it was one of my final books of 2025, but you guys, I slogged through this short audiobook. I thought I would love it based on the premise, but I needed the author to dig a little deeper and be a little more introspective. I was so bored!

Underrated Gem

The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation by Suzanne Stabile – This is a very niche book, as it’s all about the Enneagram. And, really, it’s for people who already know a lot about the Enneagram and want to dig deeper. I enjoyed this book a lot because I find the Enneagram to be endlessly fascinating, and it even helped to clarify certain parts of my personality that I didn’t realize were linked to my Enneagram number! With only 1,400 ratings on Goodreads, it is definitely the least-reviewed book on my list!

What was your favorite book of 2025? What books do you think were most and least deserving of the hype?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.29.25)

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Hoopla • Thriller • 2022

Short synopsis: Decades after the infamous Lady Killer Murders, true crime blogger Shea Collins is drawn into the mystery when she interviews Beth Greer—the eccentric woman once accused of the killings—inside her eerie mansion. 

Going into this book, I knew Simone St. James was known for her ghost stories—or perhaps more accurately, thrillers with a ghostly element. That’s certainly true in this book, which had a ghostly companion, which I honestly found made it harder for me to get into the plot. Do I believe in ghosts? Not really. While I find real-life ghost stories fascinating (I love taking ghost tours when I travel), I don’t tend to enjoy them as much in fiction for some reason. I didn’t find the plot especially twisted or surprising, and something that happened near the end just didn’t quite work for me. Overall, it felt a bit convoluted. If you love ghost stories, you might like this one, but it didn’t totally work for me.

Every Last One by Anna Quindlan (★★★★★)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2010

Short synopsis: When a shocking act of violence shatters her carefully built family life, Mary Beth Latham must confront tragedy while holding her loved ones together. Every Last One is a powerful story of grief, resilience, and the fierce, sustaining force of a mother’s love.

When I mentioned I was reading this book, my comment section lit up! Everyone warned me that it was devastating and impossible to forget. Eeks! I forged on, even though I didn’t know if I was in the mood for heartbreak. It’s difficult to talk about this novel without giving too much away, but the element of surprise is essential; it drives home just how abruptly tragedy can upend your world and force you to reconsider the life you thought you were living. This isn’t an easy read, but I am glad I finally plucked it off my TBR list—it’s a story that will stay with me for a long time.

11/22/63 by Stephen King (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Fiction • 2011

Short synopsis: When a small-town teacher discovers a portal to the past, he’s drawn into a high-stakes mission to stop the JFK assassination. As he builds a new life in the late 1950s, love and history collide—forcing him to reckon with the true cost of changing time.

It’s done! I finished 11/22/63! One of my goals this year was to read four books over 500 pages, and this was the biggest of the bunch. My Kindle edition clocked in at 1,100 pages (though I’m pretty sure the print version is closer to 800–900 pages). Lisa suggested we buddy read it, and omg, I am so glad we did! I honestly don’t think I would’ve finished without our regular check-ins—most of which involved me complaining about how bored I was. Where was the action? The suspense?

For me, the action finally got good around page 800, which is simply far too long to wait. My main takeaways: (a) there is absolutely no reason this book needed to be this long—edit yourself, S.K.!; (b) what was that ending, and what was the point of any of it?; and (c) the love story was my favorite part and completely melted my heart.

I’m still scratching my head over why this one is so beloved (on Goodreads, it has a 4.35 rating with over 644,000 reviews). It was fine, but not the masterpiece I was expecting.

What are you reading?