This is an incredibly well-crafted story with layers of interwoven themes that left me inspired and in love with this book.  The mom-daughter dynamics, in particular, didn't shy away from the hard stuff--not just love and loss and longing, but the difficulty connecting and re-connecting with family members after conflict or who just don't understand you.

It wasn't trite or, even worse, a story about forgiveness. It was so much stronger than that. Set against the backdrop of a burgeoning love story between two competing journalists, there is a mystery at the core of the story, unexpected and creatively crafted, it pulled me in as it unfolded. I loved that I never felt like the narrator was holding back from me, it felt like I was right there as things were unfolding.

The pacing was impeccable and I was obsessed with every minute of it. It had a bit of a feel like Taylor Jenkins Reid's books (like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, Carrie Soto is Back, or Malibu Raising) where the complexity of celebrity and extreme wealth is explored.  Heartbreaking and heartwarming and just so lovely.
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Highly recommend.

Another great read this year, this is a fictionalized story that brings home the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement in a nuanced story about "family" and the complex meaning of that word, especially in the context of harms that are too deep to be forgiven. Set in Nova Scotia and Maine, it centers in part on cross-border indigenous migrant workers who picked summer berries for white farmers.  It is really hard to talk about this book without spoiling the story because the core themes unfold slowly. By the time the themes reveal themselves, it wasn't a surprise they were coming, but it didn't end where it began.  Suffice it to say that this is worth reading and has timely and timeless themes of family separation because of both casual and systemic racism that transcends generation and causes ripples of pain, as well as ripples of love.

Recommend. 

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At its core, this is a ghost story, a violent, horrifying ghost story about the kids banished to a reformatory for committing petty mostly pretty crimes.  The main character, a young Black boy incarcerated in a reformatory school for defending himself in a fight. Everything about this book is dark, graphic, and depressing, except maybe the very end, but by then it was too late for me to appreciate that.  I don't like horror or graphic violence, so this was just not for me at all. 

I suppose I wish I were the kind of person who could tolerate this level of historically accurate misery better, but even with what could be considered an empowering ending, I just couldn't get a lot of the terrorizing scenes out of my mind and while that might have been justified by the context of the story or even the point of the book, the gore and horror of it was too much. 

Do not recommend.
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This is a really fun, light, engaging romance with likable characters. Bonus points for one of my newest favorite plotlines--pandemic lock down stories.  I thought the whole premise was clever.  Set in the writing room of late-night comedy show (a la SNL), it is funny and poignant. It is a fresh story. The foreshadowing is solid, but not obvious. It isn't a traditional romance, but it is a love story with some steamy moments. It is unusual to have this mix and it worked for me.  Double bonus points for a great character in recovery where that isn't the focus of the book, just a background feature.

Definitely recommend this one!

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Part of a growing genre of stories about people engaged in sex work as the internet expands access to and normalizes online careers.  This book explores some of the issues facing online sex industry workers without judgment. While explaining the circumstances of her life leading to starting an Only Fans page, this was an engaging story.  While it also explores family dysfunction, characters navigating their lives in complex ways, and mothering, there was more to this book than the premise suggests.  Yeah, Margo's got money troubles because her parents suck, she can't find reliable daycare, and her roommates are jerks, but there is something somewhat more nuanced in the way this is written and I have to give it big props for legal accuracy when that part of the book roles around. It is rare to have a book that does justice to family law, let alone to child welfare and this book does an exceptional job of both.  

While I was entirely hooked on this read, wanting to see what was going to happen, after it was over I didn't like it as much as I did while i was reading it.  I don't think this is because the ending wasn't good, I just think that it didn't weigh in on storytelling the way those books that keep you engaged for a significant time after they end. Still, a recommend, if leaning towards the softer side of recommend.

​Recommend.

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Once in a while a new biography is released about someone I know nothing about that tells the story of a part of history that I don't know anything about that just blows me away. This WWII spy story was published in 2019, but I didn't hear about it until this year and I really want everyone to read it. I have been sharing this story with lots of people because it is inspiring and so unknown.

Virginia Hall was an American woman living in France before and after it was occupied by the Nazi regime and she developed a shockingly effective network of spies and intelligent agents. The sexism was blatant and adding to that was the discrimination she experienced as an amputee. Her network included sex workers and nuns, farmers and shopkeepers, locals and immigrants, and the everyone underestimated her, if they even noticed her. She used this to her advantage in the most clever ways. She was committed to fighting fascism from the inside and she was a brilliant strategist.  I was inspired by her willingness to stay and return even when she after her cover was compromised -- going so far as to have her teeth filed so she would look different. That she managed to hide in plain sight, even with her disability reflects both her braveness and the discrimination all around her.

This is a profile in anti-fascist courage that is a must read, especially in an era where examples of bravery should be celebrated.  Read it!

Highly recommend.

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Written from the perspective of a young girl born to a Danish mother and deployed American serviceman, the story unfolds as the narrator lands in Portland, Oregon, in the 1980s to live with her father's mother and sister.  So much nuance here as she discovers what it means to be Black in the US, first living with her parents in Chicago and then living in Portland.  From the beginning, it is obvious that she has experienced a trauma. Her mother is dead, her father is absent, and she spent a long stint in the hospital. 

As the story unfolds, we learn snippets of her past, as she grows up an outsider living with her grandmother, not Black enough or white enough, her quest to find her place is a beautiful coming of age story and neatly demonstrates how little trauma was understood in the 80's.

​recommend.
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The premise of the book was interesting enough, but the execution was kind of dark and broody.  A golem and a jinni find each other living parallel lives from Syria to New York, navigating a life of otherness, interspersed with kindness from strangers they befriend and lovers they become entangled with in various ways. I did appreciate the historical depiction at the end of the 1800's in those locations.  Overarching themes of loneliness and trying to connect when your very nature seems to disallow for connection make this a melancholic,  intellectual read. In some ways, the ways in which the golem, in particular, avoided abuse of lovely people who protected her and her secret was heartwarming, but the overall mood of the book left a sad haze over me that I couldn't shake and didn't love. But I for sure can see how folks who love this type of fantasy could love this tale.

Not recommended.

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Often when a book gets this much hype, I find it doesn't live up, but Reid came through again and I loved this book.  I was completely sucked in, stayed up much to late to finish it. In fact, 4 minutes from the end, which was a thrilling ending, my phone ran out of battery and I was left in wicked suspense while I recharged it in the middle of the night to find out what happened. 

This book is like The Hidden Figures meets Erich Segal's Love Story meets Lessons in Chemistry. The backdrop of working at NASA in the 1980's sets the stage for a relatively nuanced portrayal of the many ways that women adjusted to make their way in that workforce.  I loved the character development, the love story, the family relationships, and the way in which the plot unfolded with flashbacks. I often do not like when a book starts with a harrowing scene and then leaves you hanging while it backs up to fill in what is happening, but this book used that structure better than almost any book I can remember and it kept me engaged, not just in the that scene unfolding, but in the back stories as well. I can definitely see why so many people thought this was their favorite book of 2025 and, for once, I am going to join the crowd on this one.  

What a great start to my reading year!

​Recommend.

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A steamy fantasy romance centered around Scottish legend and lore, this was a fun, light read for my Scotland trip.  With magic and mythology, family dysfunction, and definite adult content, I wouldn't say this is high literature by any stretch of the imagination, but added to a traveling book list, it is a definite yes for romance fans. The one major bummer is that it is an American author, writing about an American woman doing a legacy trip to Scotland to find her roots after the death of her father.  But, as a fun, light, sexy plane book?  I would add it to your list.

Recommend.

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