Stephany Writes

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: 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?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.15.25)

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Hoopla • Nonfiction • 2021

Short synopsis: Biblical womanhood is the belief that God designed women to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and joyful homemakers. Using church history and her own experience in evangelical spaces, Beth Allison Barr argues that biblical womanhood is not divinely ordained, but a product of historically constructed power systems.

I loved this book! I don’t read many books published by Christian presses anymore because much of U.S. Christianity does not align with my values. But this kind of book is right up my alley. In this book, Beth Allison Barr investigates what biblical womanhood really is and how the Bible has been twisted to fit modern social narratives about what it means to be a Christian woman. I love looking at Christianity and the Bible itself from a historical context, and in that sense, this book totally delivered for me. One of the most fascinating takeaways was realizing how different Bible translations can emphasize or downplay certain words and phrases. Even small changes can completely alter how a verse is written, interpreted, and taught.

Barr also discusses how we often fail to place the Bible in its historical context. If churches are using scripture to justify their rules and structures (such as not allowing women to preach), how do they reconcile that with other biblical practices that are no longer followed, like men having multiple wives? She also draws an intriguing distinction around the possibility of women apostles, arguing that because the Bible has been translated by generations of scholars (read: men), language about these women has often been erased or softened. This book was incredibly eye-opening for me and is exactly the kind of nonfiction I love to read. Highly recommend!

Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Owned (Target) • Contemporary Romance • 2025

Short synopsis: When rival bookstore managers Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson are forced to compete for one job after their stores merge, their real-life animosity and anonymous online friendship collide, revealing that love may be the only thing they don’t have to compete for.

Oh, this is a book I should have abandoned. It just wasn’t the right book for me. It took me over two weeks to read, which should have been my sign that I wasn’t enjoying it. About halfway through, I realized that I might have liked it a whole lot more if it were a queer romance. On their own, Ryan and Josie could have been interesting characters. Ryan is the lovable owner of a romance bookstore. In contrast, Josie owns a bookstore specializing in literary fiction and is far more serious and Type A. Together, though, Ryan and Josie have no chemistry, and I never quite understood how their connection worked. Had Ryan been non-binary or a woman who helped Josie discover her own sexuality… *chef’s kiss*. You’ve got a book! I don’t think the author had a firm grasp on who these characters were or what motivated them. She clearly wanted to write a contemporary version of You’ve Got Mail, and honestly, for me, it was a flop. Meh.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Spotify • Contemporary Fiction • 2025

Short synopsis: Sybil Van Antwerp has lived a full life, and she spends her days now penning handwritten letters to friends, family, and authors she admires. And then one day, a letter arrives that forces her to confront her past.

Oh, this book! I’m always worried when I start a highly recommended book that it won’t live up to my expectations. I needn’t have worried because this book was perfection from beginning to end. I listened to the audiobook, which has a full cast and was a phenomenal listening experience. It’s a must-listen if you’re into fiction audiobooks. Sybil is such a fully realized character, someone who is easy to root for, even if she did have her own flaws. What I really appreciated about this book is how the author trusted readers to follow the story without beating us over the head with exposition. So often in epistolary novels, letters are written in ways that don’t feel true to life, giving too much information that the letter receiver would already know. It’s a way for the author to give the reader details, and it’s a lazy way of writing. I love that Evans did not fall for this trap! She is a brilliant writer, and I just adored every single moment I spent with this book. A must-read!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.3.25)

Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Nonfiction • 2023

Short synopsis: A groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the six generations that currently live in the United States and how they connect, conflict, and compete with one another.

I am fascinated by the topic of generations, so this book seemed to be right up my alley! To put it in perspective, my grandparents were part of the silent generation, my stepdad is a baby boomer, my mom juuuust makes the cut for Gen X, my brother and I are millennials, many of my cousins and my older nephew are Gen Z, and my younger nephew is Gen Alpha.

I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the generations before me, since there is a lot I didn’t know about what was happening at this time and how those events shaped their overall characteristics. So, I was in a great mood as I started the millennial chapter. I was excited about what she had to say about my generation! And… oof.

Maybe I’m being overly sensitive as a millennial, but I could just feel the disdain she had for my generation. It got to a point where I had to look up reviews of this book to make sure I wasn’t alone in my thoughts, and a lot of other people agree that she seemed to cherry-pick research and statistics that would suit her narrative about millennials and Gen Z. I just found so many gaps in her research and writing.

She harped on the fact that starting with Gen X, people started waiting to get married to have kids. Hmm… wonder why that could be. Perhaps because women couldn’t even open a bank account in their own name until 1974? This was literally never brought up in the chapter about Gen X and how women finally having more rights as independent people led to a lot of change in the culture. She badgered millennials and Gen Z about declining birth rates and our inability to buy houses, even though she doesn’t think affordability is an issue. She buys into the lazy narrative that all millennials want participation trophies and spend too much time on our phones. And I found the Gen Z chapter really confusing. It feels like this author has never even talked to Gen Z people, conducted any sort of focus group, or discussed what’s really important to this generation.

I’m sticking with a 3-star rating because I did find parts of the book fascinating, but I was hoping for something a lot more inclusive and expansive than I received. But hey, maybe that’s the millennial in me who was hoping for a sweet participation trophy while reading about her generation! (Recommendation source: Sarah of Sarah’s Bookshelves Live)

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Mystery • 2025

Short synopsis: When a body turns up in their nosy neighbor Mrs. Haggerty’s yard and the investigation begins to target Finlay’s ex-husband, Finlay and Vero are reluctantly pulled into helping her—and into uncovering dangerous secrets before their own come to light.

This is the fifth book in the Finlay Donovan series, and I still love this series so dang much. Is it great literature? No. Is it realistic? Absolutely not. Do I care? Not one whit. I love Finlay and all of the craziness she gets herself into. (Actually, maybe I like her nanny, Vero, better. I would absolutely date Vero if I could.) In this book, Finlay attempts to clear her ex-husband’s name while discovering some intriguing hobbies her nosy neighbor has taken up. It’s fun, frothy, and propulsive, and I could barely put it down!

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown (★★★☆☆ 1/2)

Print • Library • Nonfiction • 2021

Short synopsis: In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human.

I’m someone who’s very in tune with my emotions and is always trying to better understand why I feel the way I feel. This book is organized into sections based on different emotional experiences (aka, places we go when we’re hurting or places we go when things don’t go as planned). Brown walks you through 87 emotions, from the uplifting to the devastating (I cried while reading about anguish).

While the book is easy to read and engaging, I’m not sure it’s something I’d rush to recommend. Brown repurposes a lot of her own previous writing, along with a fair amount of other people’s work (all properly credited, of course). I don’t know… I just didn’t love it. It didn’t feel fresh or new. But maybe that wouldn’t bother other readers, and I’m just being a Critical Cathy.

I’ve read several of Brené Brown’s books, and I always walk away feeling like I should be getting more out of them than I do. Maybe she’s just not the behavioral expert for me.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (11.17.25)

The Last Flight by Julie Clark (★★★★★)

Print • Library • Thriller • 2020

Short synopsis: A woman escaping her abusive, high-profile husband trades plane tickets with a stranger, only to assume the stranger’s dangerous identity after the other woman’s flight crashes.

This thriller was so propulsive! I loved the setup and how these women’s stories intertwined. The book takes us through everything that led Claire to plan her escape from her husband—and how carefully she crafted her exit. After the swap, the book moves back and forth in time, as we follow Claire in the present as she steps into Eva’s life while learning what drove Eva to trade places, too. I found this book to be utterly unputdownable! It was smart, well-written, and had two protagonists who were worth rooting for. The ending was exceptional, too. Highly recommend!

The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho (★★★★☆ 1/2)

Audiobook • Hoopla • YA • 2022

Short synopsis: After her brother dies by suicide and her parents are blamed for it (due to their “high standards”), a Chinese Taiwanese American teen uses her writing to fight harmful stereotypes and reclaim her family’s narrative.

This book was so heavy. The author did an excellent job weaving together so many different topics—suicide, racism, the model minority myth, grief, etc. Without getting too spoiler-y, when May’s brother dies by suicide, it rocks everyone who knew him to their core. Because he didn’t seem depressed and certainly not suicidal. He was caring, sweet, and kind. He was popular at school and a stellar athlete. The kind of teenager who had everything going for him. It was so hard to understand why he would die by suicide, but I think that’s the (scary) point. Sometimes it’s the star athletes, the ones who seem to have it all together, who are struggling so much with their mental health.

Since I have a close relationship with my brother, as May did with hers, I felt especially tender toward May. Her grief was so palpable and raw. There’s a scene where she’s listening to a song her brother left for her, and she’s crying and listening to it over and over again, and it was so brutally sad. I cried while listening to that scene. It was such a beautiful, heartwrenching depiction of grief.

Most of the novel is about the response to May’s brother’s suicide. Shortly after it happened, one of the (white) fathers in their school basically implied that the reason he died was because of the high standards Asian parents place on their kids at this school. It’s wild to think that a) someone would say that when his parents are in the same room and b) I could absolutely see that happening in today’s fractured society. May decides to pen a response that is published in a community paper, and then he responds back in the same paper, and it devolves from there.

This is a story about family and grief and loss. And it’s about racism and standing up for yourself even when it’s uncomfortable. It’s also a beautiful story about being Asian and being proud of who you are. Another one I highly recommend (for very different reasons).

It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Target) • Contemporary Romance • 2025

Short synopsis: When a former child star turned studio exec lies about securing a hit popstar for her project, she’s forced to team up with a smug old crush to fix the mess—only to confront her past and discover something real along the way.

I went on such a journey with this romance. The beginning drops you right into Jane’s world, and I initially struggled to understand what her job was or why she was so mad with this random guy named Dan. A smoother transition into the early chapters would have helped because I spent the first 25% feeling confused and unsure why I should care about the conflicts unfolding. However, as the book progressed and I settled into these characters and the tension at the heart of the novel, I liked it a whole lot more. Jane was incredibly relatable to me, especially as she navigates her own daddy issues. There’s a scene where she talks about how she realized she was never compelling enough for her dad to stay (he left when she was 5), and how that belief has reverberated in her romantic relationships, of thinking she is not interesting or compelling enough for someone to stick around. And oof, it hit me right in the feels because this is something I have spent many hours in therapy trying to work through. I’m still working through it because it is a deeply ingrained part of my psyche. There was something genuinely healing in the way the book portrays Jane’s avoidant attachment style. I feel like a lot of people won’t get it, but ugh, I do. So much. This book touched me in a way I was not expecting. <3

What’s the last book that made you cry?