You Shouldn't Be Here

Book 49 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from April 19 - 21

You Shouldn't Be Here

by Lauren Thoman

published 2024

1 star

EDIT: I write my reviews first without looking at anything else and then read others' reviews for community/curiosity after publishing mine. Now that I've done that and seen the discourse I feel I need to point out my 1 star is for PLOT ONLY, nothing to do with characters' pronouns, politics, etc.

I chose this from the Amazon "First Reads" monthly selections.  Unfortunately, it was a miss for me.  There was a very major clue involving the dog that I clocked immediately and spent 75% of the book waiting for them to figure out (which they never did, it was shoved in their face).  There were other major clues involving a backpack and a photo that somehow hadn't been revealed in ten years yet were somehow discovered at just the right time.  There was a villain monologue confession while holding people at gunpoint which led to them getting caught instead of the people being killed.  There were supernatural time travel elements never fully explained.  This just didn't hit for me.

****************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 49th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- Title starting with 'Y' (I'm doing an A-Z title challenge)

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

 Book 48 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read on April 19

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

by Hiro Arikawa

4 stars

Delightfully cozy book that felt like people watching without leaving my house.  I'm glad I was able to read this over the course of one lazy Sunday.

The stops on the way to Nishinomiya - Kitaguchi were more enjoyable to me than the return trip back to Takarazuka for two main reasons.  One, the element of surprise as new characters were introduced.  Two, having everyone cross paths again to continue their stories felt a little more forced.  So I liked the journey of the first half and the resolution of the second half. 

****************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 48th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.

 Book 47 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from April 8 - 18

The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.

by Nichole Bernier

published 2012

2 stars

When visiting my elderly aunt in another state earlier this year, I came home with a trunk full of things from her home she wanted me to have.  I was especially excited about the boxes of photos; I've become the keeper of our family's history both by interest and by necessity.  There was no rhyme or reason to the photos so when I got home I was sorting everything and having lovely trips down Memory Lane when BAM...nude photos of my aunt and her partner from many years ago.  Ok, that was surprising but another day, another box and BAM..more nude photos of my aunt and a different partner just casually mixed in.  It was surprising to say the least.  Her memory isn't all there so I didn't bother asking her about them but I did feel like if she remembered they were mixed in there, maybe she would've taken them out.  Or maybe they could've at least been in an envelope so there was notice and I wasn't just flipping through photos with my husband and kids.  Which made me think about the stuff we leave behind for others...maybe there should be a box that just says "discard without looking in this" where people can take their secrets with them.

What does that have to do with this book?  The premise of this book is Elizabeth dies unexpectedly and her neighbor/friend Kate discovers she has been left Elizabeth's trunk of journals.  Elizabeth's husband Dave and Kate's husband Chris are also main characters with their own conflicting feelings over Elizabeth's choice of skipping Dave and Kate's involvement (obsession?) in reading them.

Great premise, didn't love the actual execution.  A complete side plot of someone on the island selling their home/possibly losing their restaurant that was left unresolved.  Too many "coincidences" leading to information being discovered.  I was invested in her younger self but it felt unrealistic about what Elizabeth chose to write about once the journals reached the point where the other main characters were in her life.  

So it prompted thoughts about my real life and what I would do (I'm not a journal writer) but the book itself was meh.

****************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 47th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- Title starting with 'U' (I'm doing an A-Z title challenge)

Actress of a Certain Age

 Book 46 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from April 12 - 17

Actress of a Certain Age:

My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success

by Jeff Hiller

published 2025

4 stars

I checked this out from the library after seeing an interview with the author on TikTok.  It was an enjoyable read made better by my knowledge that the author has won an Emmy since publishing this book, hopefully giving him more confidence that he's "made it".

******************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 46th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading

 Book 45 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from March 28 - April 12

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading:

Finding and Losing Myself in Books

by Maureen Corrigan

1 star

The author is a professional book reviewer and she gave some examples of lines people could use in a negative review.  Here's my contribution - the book has the great title of "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading" but after finishing the book I feel a more accurate title would be "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading [Literally Anything but This Book]".

That's glib and snarky so I won't pile on.  But I didn't enjoy this book at all.  I'm not a professional book reviewer and I don't generally analyze the books I read so I don't have thought-out reasons why.  I was bored.

The bright side: I bought this book for .50 at a book sale to give to my husband for my Christmas box of books.  I can sell this book to Thriftbooks for .78, making a small profit (and hopefully getting this book into the hands of someone who will enjoy it more).

******************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 45th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- A book I received for Christmas 2025 (my goal is to read all my Christmas 2025 books by the end of 2026)

- A book I own that is leaving my house for a new reader to find (my goal is to declutter and make progress on whittling down my shelves/boxes of books in my house)

The Look

 Book 44 of my 2026 Reading challenge

read from April 4 - 6

The Look

by Michelle Obama with Meredith Koop

published 2025

4 stars

This oversized book was a fun look at beautiful garments.  There is so much more thought that goes into the messages of clothes, hair, etc. than I realized and Mrs. Obama seemed to nail it pretty much every time.

**********************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 44th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

Bookish Broads

 Book 43 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from April 1 - 3

Bookish Broads: Women Who Wrote 

Themselves Into History

by Lauren Marino

published 2021

3 stars

I read most of this on a plane and it was a smooth way to pass the time.  It gave superficial level information on many different women and would be a good start to discovering new authors to research further.

Fun fact: Harper Lee and Truman Capote were neighbors and friends since kindergarten.

Quote from the Book

"When Charlotte [Bronte] died her profession was listed as "wife"...She had been married for a few short months and had been writing her entire life."

*********************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 43rd book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)