Category — Book Reviews

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from August.

The Lies I Tell (Julie Clark): This is a fun non-mystery. Meaning, there is no crime you’re trying to solve — you already know who did what. But it’s a clever story of cat and mouse where the characters don’t know how much the other characters know. I still had a few questions by the last page, but it was overall a super engaging read.

Wrong Place Wrong Time (Gillian McAllister): This was a fun, twisty mystery. The narrator’s life is moving backwards, starting on the day of a life-changing event, and jumping backwards in time each chapter so she can understand what happened. I figured out some twists early. Other things surprised me as they fell into place. This felt like reading a kaleidoscope with the pieces constantly arranging themselves. Very very well done.

How To Kill Your Family (Bella Mackie): Ads for this book were everywhere while we were in London. It is best described as wickedly funny. I truly liked Grace, the narrator, and it was a pleasure to spend time with her, killings aside. The end totally surprised me, and it was a fitting conclusion. I loved this.

The It Girl (Ruth Ware): I always like Ruth Ware’s books — I’m never blown away, but they’re totally solid. This gets a bump up due to the setting (a fictional college at Oxford) and the clever ending. I figured out the killer early in the book, but I couldn’t figure out the how or why. The big reveal was fantastic.

Death and Fromage (Ian Moore): This is the second book in the series, and it was even better than the first one. (And I loved the first one.) I felt so happy reading it — it’s such a pleasure to find a book that makes you feel good while you’re spending time with it. It was clever and funny and sweet. Really, the perfect read.

What did you read last month?

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from July.

Rivals (Katharine McGee): I thought this series wrapped with the last book, so I was extremely happy to see that she decided to continue the story. The characters are great, the alternate history is fun. The book is like literary potato chips; you won’t feel like your life is enriched by reading the story, but who cares because it tastes/reads so good.

Death and Croissants (Ian Moore): This is up there as one of my favourite books of 2022. We aren’t getting the paper version in the US until this spring, but you can get the e-book version right now on all platforms. (And Blackwells ships for “free” to the US in the sense that the price you see on the site includes shipping. So it’s $10.97 for the book and shipping. The publisher’s site – Farrago – also has buying options for the US so we don’t have to wait). It is so much fun. It’s in the same vein as the Thursday Murder Club — clever, lighthearted mystery that makes you laugh and tilt your head to the side in sympathy for the characters at the same time. It’s set in the Loire Valley, mixing real places (that boat where you go through Chateau de Chenonceau) with a fictional B&B town. It’s funny. It’s sweet. And I loved it so much from the first chapter that I dragged my family to 12 different bookstores in London looking for the second book in the series. More on that next month…

Magpie (Elizabeth Day): I have never felt more seen by a book. She captures infertility perfectly, probably because the author has lived it. And far from being a painful read, it was like spending time with a friend who got it. While it wasn’t the best thriller — I figured out the twist 11% of the way through the book — it was an excellent novel. And I would gladly read whatever she writes next.

What did you read last month?

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from June.

The Marlow Murder Club (Robert Thorogood): This is up there as one of my favourite books of the year. It is similar to and almost as good as the Thursday Murder Club. I was blown away by the mystery wrap up. And the characters are wonderful. I cannot wait for the next book in this new series.

Carry On (Rainbow Rowell): ChickieNob and I listened to this as an audiobook while we walked. We both read the book before, but it was so much better the second time around. Plus, the man who does the voices is fantastic. He really made the book come alive.

Cover Story (Susan Rigetti): We watched Inventing Anna and chased it with this book, which maybe was one too many stories about scammers in a short period of time. It’s a really fun book. Just maybe… spread things out.

The Twyford Code (Janice Hallett): Very similar to her book The Appeal except you’re reading the transcripts from audio files. It takes your brain a little more work to read this book — words are sometimes “autocorrected” incorrectly, but you quickly adjust. Hallett weaves real history into a mystery of epic proportions. I only figured out a few things ahead of time.

The Woman in the Library (Sulari Gentill): This was such a cool book that fizzled instead of exploded at the end. It was building up to such a cool ending, and then… the book just… ended. So that was a downer. But it was a five-star read right up to the end. Temper your expectations so you can enjoy it, even if it doesn’t have a solid ending.

What did you read last month?

P.S. Likely not having a Roundup tomorrow.

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from May.

Though I am going to break my own rule for one of these…

The Shadow House (Anna Downes): This is one of those books that was enjoyable while I was reading it but forgettable about two minutes after I returned the book. A case in point, looking back over my May books, I needed to look up the synopsis to remember what this was about. But once I remembered, I was like, “Oh yeah, I liked this one.” So why can’t I remember it a few minutes later? Anyway, it was a solid, creepy second book from an author that I liked last year. Everything falls into place in the end and wraps up neatly. Maybe I would have loved some loose threads, but solid is good, too.

Portrait of a Thief (Grace D. Li): This is where I’m breaking my rule. I did not like this book. At all. It is the first book I’ve skimmed in years. BUT I didn’t stop reading it. On one hand, I’ve only stopped reading one book in the last five or so years, so this would have been number two. But while I felt okay stopping reading the other book, I felt compelled to keep reading this one. I wanted to like it, so badly. And I felt like it was my fault that I didn’t. I felt relieved when it was done, and I could remove it from my reading list and delete the library book. But I also felt terrible that I disliked it so much when I wanted to love it with all of my heart.

The Agathas (Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson): I love a book where the heroine rescues herself, and here you get two girls rescuing themselves in tandem. If you liked The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, you’ll like these smart girls solving crimes. It was a very fun read.

The Younger Wife (Sally Hepworth): This was not what I was expecting, and I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn’t put this book down. I always like Hepworth’s writing, even when I don’t like her plots, but this is one of her best. Good pacing, good writing, good plot. Can’t wait for her next book.

Sleeping Dogs Lie (Samantha Downing): I love everything she writes, including this bananapants short novella. You can read the whole thing in one sitting. Everything she writes is clever and well-written, and I was so happy to get this story.

What did you read last month?

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from April.

One Italian Summer (Rebecca Serle): I enjoyed reading it, and I loved feeling like I was in Positano. But I’m not sure I liked any character or any of their decisions. Is that weird? It was kind of like I wanted the setting and situation without the characters.

The Heights (Louise Candlish): This is my second book by this author, and she is fantastic at writing fast-moving thrillers. It’s incredible writing depicting a heartbreaking situation and a moving portrayal of anguish — with a great mystery at the center. I kept thinking and talking about this book while I was away from it, which, to me, is the mark of a fantastic read.

Nine Lives (Peter Swanson): How to feel about this book… It’s an enjoyable read. Full stop. All of his books are well-paced and fun and make you want to keep picking them back up. But Swanson does this thing where he writes spoilers for classic mysteries into his books. It bothers me, taking away from his really well done mystery, and it’s usually completely unnecessary. Even when I’ve read the plots he is spoiling, I feel sad for all of the unsuspecting people who haven’t read those books and now won’t get to experience those mysteries as they should be experienced. So A+ for Swanson’s mystery. But read with caution if you don’t like spoilers.

What did you read last month?