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 reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at 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 March.

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide (Rupert Holmes): This book’s cleverness was a slow burn, so you only truly understood the brilliance of the writing in the last pages. A lot of fun, and I read somewhere that the author is working on a sequel.

The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman): ChickieNob and I listened to Lesley Manville read the audio version while we walked. This book is so so so good, and Lesley is a fantastic reader—such an enjoyable way to spend a half hour every afternoon.

The Writing Retreat (Julia Bartz): The book was like a bag of chips in both a good way and bad way. I couldn’t stop reading once I got into the story, popping page after page into my eyes, but I felt a little unsatisfied. It’s a solid debut, and I’m curious to see her next book.

A Fatal Grace (Louise Penny): It’s the second book in the Inspector Gamache series. I read these mysteries more for the characters and setting than for the mystery itself. The plot was problematic, and the fat-phobic descriptions bothered me, but the positives outweighed the negatives. On to the next book in the series.

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 reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at 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 February.

Nine Liars (Maureen Johnson): The first three books in the series were perfection. The fourth one was fine, but this series ended well with book three and didn’t need book four. It picked up again with book five until the very end of the book. I loved the setting and characters. I didn’t care that I guessed the killer 40% of the way through. I’m focusing on how happy I was for the first 90% of the story vs. the last 10%.

Tell Me an Ending (Jo Harkin): This was such a cool set-up, and the way the stories came together was brilliant. The writing was beautiful, and the questions asked in the book were compelling. As I read it, I talked about this book a lot with people — the mark of a really good story.

The Stranger Diaries (Elly Griffiths): Despite owning several of her books, this is the first one I read. And it was fantastic. I am so happy I have her books lined up and ready to go on my shelves or e-reader. I was genuinely surprised by the ending, and every chapter was delightfully creepy.

Nick and Charlie (Alice Oseman): A novella (as opposed to a graphic novel) takes Nick and Charlie into the days before Nick leaves for college. Am I facing down the twins going? Yes. That may have played into how much I loved this. But it’s still a super sweet story about lovely characters that you want to succeed — a good way to spend an afternoon.

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 reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at 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 January.

Tick Tock (Simon Mayo): This was my first Simon Mayo book, and it came to me at the perfect time. End of break. Didn’t want anything too mentally taxing. It’s a fast-paced thriller set during a pandemic. Everything fits together a little too neatly, but I enjoyed reading it.

The Thing in the Snow (Sean Adams): It reminded me of the book Finna, and the television show Severance. If you like either of those, you will likely enjoy this. I read it over a weekend and snickered a lot.

The Villa (Rachel Hawkins): I was super excited about this book, so I probably felt more let down by the ending than I would have if I had gone into it without the high level of anticipation. I enjoyed the writing a lot. Five stars. And I liked how the two stories weaved together. But I didn’t believe a lot of the actions taken by the characters. And by the end, I didn’t like any of them. At all. As in, I didn’t want to spend time with them. So 5 for writing, and a 2 for plot and characters, averaging a 3.5 that I rounded up to 4 because I like her other books.

A Murder at Balmoral (Chris McGeorge): It was cute. It was fun. I wanted to like it more because the setup was amusing — a murder mystery with an alternative royal family. But you’d have to love cozy mysteries to put this on your TBR.

Heartstopper (Volumes 1 – 4) (Alice Oseman): If you don’t smile while reading these graphic novels, you don’t have a heart. They are the most delightful, wholesome teens, falling in love and navigating big feelings. The four books go to some dark places but handles the situations beautifully. The television show on Netflix is equally delightful. It’s like Schitt’s Creek — it just feels good spending time with these people in this world.

Sweet Sorrow (David Nicholls): It was perfect to read this in conjunction with Heartstopper because it’s about teens in the summer after high school, putting on a community theater performance of Romeo and Juliet. This went beyond a five-star read for me. It was gorgeous and aching and I read it at the perfect time. It will make you cry and think deeply and enjoy your old memories. A perfect perfect perfect 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 reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at 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 December.

The Family Game (Catherine Steadman): If you’re in the mood for a thriller, it’s a solid thriller. However, it has all of the unrealistic hallmarks of a thriller, such as people who can rationalize while horrific events unfold around them. What is up with that? If I saw someone killed before me, I wouldn’t calmly realize X, Y, and Z must be true. I would run. So unrealistic, and any sane person wouldn’t have made the characters’ decisions. But a quick read.

The Last Party (Clare Mackintosh): I really like Clare Mackintosh’s books, so I was bummed that her last one involved an airplane. As a nervous flyer, those types of books are a no-go. But this one was wonderful, and I’m so happy to see that she’s writing another mystery with the same main character. I liked spending time with Ffion.

Babel (KF Kuang): It was fascinating, very heavy-handed, and a little unsure of itself in places. I didn’t believe the author knew how the magic worked. But as someone with a translation degree, she captured the work perfectly. It’s a heartbreaking, beautiful book.

Bournville (Jonathan Coe): I ended the year on an excellent note. I ordered the book from the UK because I don’t think we’re getting it in the US. I chose it because the person who writes the Blackwell’s newsletter said: “Whenever I read Jonathan Coe (and I look forward to each new one!) I am always struck by two things; firstly, just how very English his writing is, and secondly, just how enjoyably readable he is. It is too tempting to say that he is my Dairy Milk.” Yes, Jonathan Coe IS my Dairy Milk. And like a Dairy Milk, I devoured this book in a few brief sittings because it was too delicious to put down and savour. I’ll reread it slower after everyone else in the house has gotten a chance to experience it.

What did you read last month?

For the past two years (2020) and (2021), I set reading goals tied to the year — 20200 pages and 20210 pages. As of December 22nd (which is the date GoodReads last updated my reading stats), I hit 18,099 pages with 51 books, missing my 2022 goal of 20220 pages. I will probably finish one more book before the end of the year, but I will still be behind’s last year’s reading count.

I’m kind of shocked that I fell so far beneath last year’s page count (22,402 pages). But it is what it is.

I set 20230 as a goal for 2023.

My favourite things I’ve read this year:

• The Last Party (Clare Mackintosh)
• The Mirror Visitor Quartet (books 1 and 2) (Christelle Dabos)
• The Bullet That Missed (Richard Osman)
• The Other Side of Night (Adam Hamdy)
• Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone (Benjamin Stevenson)
• Upgrade (Blake Crouch)
• A Line To Kill (Anthony Horowitz)
• Murder Before Evensong (Richard Coles)
• How To Kill Your Family (Bella Mackie)
• Death and Croissants (Ian Moore)
• The Marlow Murder Club (Robert Thorogood)
• The Heights (Louise Candlish)
• The Appeal (Janice Hallett)
• Mouth to Mouth (Antoine Wilson)
• The Violence (Delilah Dawson)

What is on your list of favourite reads this year? (Feel free to list movies or television shows if books are not your thing.)