Books

I’ll admit it: I spent a lot of time checking out new Christmas movies on Netflix and rewatching Downton Abbey this month. But I still managed to sneak in a little holiday reading.

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox • ★★★☆☆

I saw this book sitting on a table at a bookstore months back and instantly filed it away in my brain as a must-read holiday rom-com. And I’m glad I remembered to pick it up later.

This book is a bit implausible, but so was The Parent Trap and it was still a masterpiece (I am, of course, talking about the perfect 1998 version).

Anyways, two twenty-something twins swap places after one twin loses her sense of taste, an obvious prerequisite for her job as a baking show judge. So her small town twin leaves the family bakery behind and steps into the spotlight, leaving the first sister to get used to being home again.

It’s a sweet book that turns out just right and gives great holiday vibes.

The Hygge Holiday by Rosie Blake • ★★★☆☆

This month, I needed a lot of comfort, so I reached for another holiday rom-com straight away.

Here, stranger Clara stops in a small English village as she travels the country. Because it’s a feel-good book, she immediately befriends an eccentric who needs a housesitter while on vacation. During that vacation, Clara reinvigorates the woman’s toy shop and starts giving the whole town a new life thanks to her hygge touches from her native Denmark.

Grab some cocoa for this one, folks.

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney • ★★★☆☆

I wouldn’t say it’s a pet peeve, but I don’t love when the main character in a novel is a writer. I know: Write what you know, but it sometimes feels a little lazy (says someone that doesn’t write fiction and knows nothing about it!).

In this book, almost every character is a writer which is a bit maddening and meta. It actually made me like this twisty novel a touch less.

But I will say that a couple celebrating their anniversary in a remote Scottish chapel-turned-inn is a nice setup (but what thriller set in a remote part of Scotland isn’t? Looking at you, The Hunting Party). And there was a twist that came at just the right time.

A Year in Books

With these three under my belt, I managed to read a total of 55 books in 2021. In 2020, I read 51 and in 2019 I read 20 (which is nothing to sneeze at).

For 2022, I hope to hit the 50-mark again. Historical fiction set during the Russian Revolution, British thrillers and holiday rom-coms will certainly be on that list.

If you have any recommendations, feel free to drop ’em in the comments! I love a good book recommendation. Some of my favorites reads this year were tips from friends, including The Sun Down Motel, Red, White & Royal Blue and Beach Read.

November wasn’t a big reading month for me. I had a few false starts on some books that later didn’t hold my attention. But I did get through three books.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand • ★★★★☆

I started this book Halloween morning and finished it the next day. This book was the perfect way to cap off spooky season.

The story here is that an English folk band recorded their most acclaimed and final album at an old estate over the course of a summer. During this time, though, the band’s frontman disappears without a trace.

The book takes place decades on and each band member, along with the manager and a few folks that visited Wylding Hall that summer, share how the album was made and what they think happened.

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen • ★★★☆☆

The description of this one grabbed me from the get-go: A haunting novel about a Black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.

That struggle right away of having to visit a plantation for a wedding weekend when in reality it houses a whole host of suffering and tragedy? It’s really riveting.

And this was a good read. A bit gruesome at times, but a great blend of reality and ghosts story.

The Therapist by B.A. Paris • ★★★☆☆

B.A. Paris is a lot like Wendy Webb to me. I’ll read anything she puts out because every release is a page-turner, but I might not always love the book. That’s the case with The Therapist.

This one was fine. A couple moves into a gated community in London, only to find out that a mysterious murder occurred there prior to their arrival. Of course, everyone is wrapped up with it.

It was fine. The reveals were fine. But some things were just a bit implausible. But it’s fiction, so 🤷🏻‍♀️.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

October is one of my favorite months for reading. Just like with the shows and movies I watch, October is all about everything spooky.

Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson • ★★★★☆

I kicked off this month with the perfect spooky season read. In Yours Cruelly, Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark shares the twisted path she took from a tiny Kansas town to the stages of Las Vegas to turning into everyone’s favorite goth bimbo (I say this with extreme affection).

This was, in my opinion, the perfect celebrity memoir. Peterson told her story with a great sense of humor and let readers in on all the celeb details, like the time Elvis gave her career advice, how she met Robert DeNiro and when Brad Pitt came knocking at her door. And while she didn’t skimp on exciting stories or jaw-dropping anecdotes, it was also really sweet to hear about how she fell for her current partner and came out later in life.

If you’re a Halloween fiend like myself, please pick this up. It was an exceptionally fun listen.

Truly Like Lightning by David Duchovny • ★★★★☆

At 445 pages, Truly Like Lightning took me a bit to finish, but it was one hell of a ride.

I started describing this book to my husband after 50 pages and it sounded wild then: A Hollywood stuntman inherits hundreds of acres of land outside Joshua Tree. The condition of him accepting the land is that he has to convert to Mormonism. Well, he does and he does it with some extreme and unusual conviction—even starting a small commune there with his wives and children.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. As you can imagine, if that’s the prologue, the rest has to be pretty wild.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling • ★★★☆☆

Spooky season is my favorite season, but this year I knew I needed a few lighter reads to keep my mind right. And The Ex Hex was the perfect book. A cute little rom-com about witches? Yes, please.

This was the literary equivalent of a caramel apple: perfectly seasonal and sweet.

The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas • ★★★★☆

I am, unsurprisingly, a huge fan of Jezebel’s annual scary story contest. Several years ago, there was a story about an asylum in the South hosting a dance for its patients. It’s obviously stuck with me, so when I saw The Mad Women’s Ball come up as a recommended read, I was in. I know it’s not the same story, but a similar, ultra-specific theme.

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it was a satisfying read that packed a lot in just 224 pages.

The Keepers of Metsan Valo by Wendy Webb • ★★☆☆☆

I’ve read every book by Wendy Webb. She’s been dubbed “the queen of Northern gothic” which is maybe the ideal genre for me.

And I’ll give Wendy this: Her story ideas are always intriguing, the settings picturesque and the setups interesting. However, I do feel like in her books, including The Keepers of Metsan Valo, she stumbles when it comes to realistic dialogue. It’s as if she’d rather try to be funny or quirky than realistic. After a half dozen of her books, that’s sort of getting to me. Those bits of silly chatter take you out of the ghoulish feel. I’d like to get into the spooky feeling and stay there.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

This month, I made it a priority to improve the quality of my reading. First, I went to renew my library card. That means more ebooks and audiobooks for me (provided I get myself on the waitlist ASAP). Second, I bought myself a salt lamp (just like ten years after the trend). I was reading with one when staying at my parents’ house and it made reading super soothing. So with these two things at the ready, I’m ready to share what I read this June.

The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham • ★★☆☆☆

I am a sucker for any story about dressmakers, seamstresses, textile artists and the like. If the protagonist wields a needle, I am in.

But I just could not get into this book. I will admit that the ending was very satisfying (aren’t all revenge plots?), but getting there felt long and tedious.

Meet Me at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan • ★★☆☆☆

After reading The Bookshop on the Corner last month, I felt compelled to give another Jenny Colgan book a try. The bookshop book was sweet, easy to listen to and was the perfect amount of fluff.

Meet Me at the Cupcake Café was perhaps just a little too fluffy for me, though. I didn’t find myself liking the characters very much. I found them to be a little flat and pretty dull. If you’re really into British books about small bakeries, by all means, go for it. But I won’t be picking up any more books in this series.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten • ★★★☆☆

Oooh I love a good scary book. I find I read them the fastest and it does feel good to sit at home and read all day.

Right away this book intrigued me when I saw it on some “Coming Soon” lists. A filmmaker travels to a rural Swedish town that was suddenly abandoned 50 years prior. No one knows exactly what happened and how the population disappeared overnight. He goal is to get to the bottom of the story, starting with letters here grandmother—a former resident—wrote around the time of the town’s collapse.

However, once the filmmaker and her crew get to the town, eerie stuff starts to happen, and soon what occurred becomes scarier than anyone thought.

It was a decent read, but I did have a few issues with some portrayals of mental health here. But I read it and if someone said they liked things like The Blair Witch Project, I’d suggest this to them.

One by One by Ruth Ware • ★★★★☆

I love a good Ruth Ware book. In a Dark, Dark Wood remains one of my favorite thrillers, and I have to say that One by One competes with it.

The gist here: A small tech company goes on a corporate retreat in the Alps. It’s all very fancy and they plan to ski the week away. Right away, it’s obvious that not everyone gets along. Then an avalanche comes and changes everything.

I really enjoyed this. I stayed up late on work nights just to get some extra pages in—a maker of a satisfying read.

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris • ★★★★★

I have been waiting for this book to come out for a while now and I absolutely devoured it. Pitched as a mix of Get Out and The Stepford Wives, I was obviously sold on the synopsis alone.

I really don’t want to give much away here, but I’ll give you the setup. Nella works as an editorial assistant in a prestigious New York publishing house. By and large, she feels her perspective as a Black woman is overlooked. She works hard, she tries to get the company to prioritize diversity. When the company hires Hazel, another Black editorial assistant, she’s excited for how the company might just start to change for the better. But soon Nella is left behind as Hazel climbs the ladder.

I won’t give more away. I can truly say I didn’t foresee how this book was going to go. It kept my attention until the very last page.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

April was a good month for reading. I started a new series (I never read series) and even read a five-star book. I don’t give out five-star reviews regularly, so when I do, you know I mean it.

And I suppose this begs the question what makes a five-star book? So glad you asked! A five-star book (that’s a perfect Goodreads score FYI) is one that’s really well done for its genre. It’s also one that I think about for a good while after finishing it.

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney • ⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’re a fan of domestic thrillers, pick this book up. The Girl Before trades off between Emma and Jane, two women that rented a smart home at different times. Both women moved into the house after undergoing trauma and both seem to have a lot in common.

It was a speedy book that I got through in less than a week. And while I did find it compelling and wanted to find out what happened, it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. I’d say there are a lot of triggers here, so please tread carefully.

This being said, you might like The Girl Before if you enjoy books by B.A. Paris.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Before last year, I never really read a lot of rom-com-ish books. But after picking up The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living last year, I found these reads (and listens) really satisfying, especially during stressful times. I mean, I love a good thriller, but sometimes you want something to soothe and uplift instead of terrify.

Anyways, Hibbert’s title Act Your Age, Eve Brown was what initially attracted me to the series. However, since Eve’s story is part three of three, I figured I’d start at the beginning with Chloe.

Chloe is the oldest of the Brown sisters and is not looking for love. Of course, though, she meets a handsome but slightly aggravating neighbor. This read was quick, breezy and cute.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So quick, breezy and cute, in fact, that I instantly downloaded the second book in this three-part series.

Dani is the middle Brown sister and is also not looking for love. She’s a Ph.D student who is serious about achieving her goals but not serious about relationships. By some fluke, she and a coworker attract a lot of positive social media attention and are labeled as #couplegoals. The two stick together to take advantage of the fame all the while trying not to catch feels.

It’s cute. And yes, I do have the third book already downloaded.

The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox • ⭐️⭐️

What can I say? The idea of Hester Fox novels always seems better than the books themselves. Just like The Witch of Willow Hall, I found this book to be slow-moving and disappointing.

A minister moves to a small town in Maine (promising!) and finds that pretty much everyone in the town hates the widow who lives on the outskirts of town (cliche but I’m interested). And some spooky things start happening. But they never seemed that spooky. And they all seem contrived. Ooh the murderer is taking tips from Poe!

The characters were so bland! And it wasn’t spine-tingling. Maybe it’s time I take the other Hester Fox books off my to-be-read list.

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For me, a book is worthy of five stars if I can’t stop thinking about it after I’ve read it. That, to me, is the marker of a really well written, thoughtful book.

And that’s exactly what Yellow Wife was. This work of historical fiction is loosely based on the life of Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who spent much of her life as the mistress of the jailer of Richmond Jail in Virginia.

In this book, Pheby Dolores Brown is born into slavery but with the promise of being educated and freed when she turns 18. Unfortunately (but predictably), this promise isn’t kept by the owners of the plantation where she lives. Instead, she is transferred to a jail in Richmond where enslaved people are punished and traded. There the jailer takes her as his favorite mistress or yellow wife. There she settles into an uncomfortable routine but manages to develop some warm relationships.

Yellow Wife is a challenging read because it doesn’t shy away from the heartbreaking and unsettling history of slavery. But it’s also a fantastic read because it’s wonderfully written and portrays Pheby’s really difficult story with compassion and understanding.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

March was a good month for reading. I feel like I got in a pretty good variety this month too (at least for me).

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Almost every winter I pick up a book like this one. I’m perpetually drawn to historical fiction set in Russia—particularly around the revolution.

This book was slow to start—a tale about a former Bolshoi ballerina auctioning off her collection of jewels—but gained speed about halfway through. I know that seems like a bit of a wait to really get into a book, but the payoff was beautiful.

If you enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow or The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers, you’ll like this book.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book came highly recommended by several friends, and it deserved every bit of the hype.

Red, White & Royal Blue was the perfect escapist book to read during the dullest months of the year. I think it might have hit even harder if I read it pre-2021, but it was still an absolute delight. Do I want to provide you with more details? Nope. I think this rom-com can stand on its own.

We Can Only Save Ourselves by Alison Wisdom • ⭐️⭐️

I don’t know about this one. I was tempted by We Can Only Save Ourselves after seeing a review on Bustle. A novel about a high-achieving high schooler that leaves her perfect life to follow a charming man and his house of followers. I mean, I love a good cult story (Wild, Wild Country anyone?).

But the book was disappointing. While I understand that, sure, a perfect student might want to rebel and leave her life behind, her motivations were incredibly vague. And the cult leader’s point of view was nonexistent. It just felt sort of toothless. Meh is my final review.

Bunny by Mona Awad • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Where on earth do I begin? I have never ever read anything like Bunny. Nevertheless, I couldn’t put it down.

This story of intense female friendship gone totally awry had me reading into the wee hours and regularly thinking WTF. It was funny, creepy and inexplicable.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I waffled between three and four stars on this book but opted for the higher score because overall it was an enjoyable read.

This book is structured the way a lot of historical fiction seems to be now: with a dual timeline. Overall, I found the story about Nella and Eliza working in the apothecary in the 1790s more compelling (I mean, who am I to resist a story about a female apothecary that sells tinctures exclusively for the benefit of women and demise of evil men?), but the half of the story in the present day wasn’t too bad.

If you liked The Taxidermists’ Daughter, I think you’ll like this.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!