The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

 Book 35 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 22 - 31

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

by Brandon Sanderson

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the "real world" should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?

My Opinion

3 stars

It's tough to sum up how I feel about this book.  I liked it and it kept my interest but I would also have to put it down often, like I was preventing myself from getting too invested, because I was worried about disappointment.  But the last day of travel was so peaceful and gave me a chance to breathe and enjoy the character development. 

There were so many good elements but also a touch too much of 'oh wow what a coincidence this worked out'.  But I was also really happy about how it worked out so I'm glad those coincidences were there.

Basically I enjoyed it while I was reading it and don't want to overanalyze it now that I'm done because I think it will dampen the experience.  I'm worried the religious themes were preaching because I don't know much about the author and I'd like to remain in the dark about it.

Hard Cases

 Book 34 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 17 - 26

Hard Cases: True Stories of Irish Crime by Gene Kerrigan

published 1996

Summary (excerpt from the book jacket)

Hard Cases is a collection of startling stories about the reality of crime and court cases in Ireland. In these stories, there are no crime bosses with quaint nicknames; the police don't collect convenient clues that tell them who dunnit.

Instead, we get cases both famous and obscure in which the outcome in sometimes just, sometimes unsettling.

My Opinion

3 stars

The writing was compelling with strong opening sentences for each story.  For example, "Shercock" started with the sentence, "Peter Matthews went into Shercock leaning on a crutch and came out of the village in an ambulance".

I ended up with a 3 star rating because when the crimes were interesting I was very invested but there were a few crimes that didn't grab me.  The word I seemed to use most often when jotting notes while reading was "frustrating"...sometimes it was frustration that the authorities were bumbling and the criminals were getting away, sometimes it was frustration that the authorities were corrupt and detaining the wrong people, and sometimes it was overall frustration with the system in general.

All in all, a wide variety of cases that didn't feel dated, even reading decades after being published.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

 Book 33 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 17 - 22

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

published 2021

Summary (via the book jacket)

Kit Webb has left his stand-and-deliver adventures behind him. But dreary days at his coffeehouse have begun to make him pine for the heady rush of thievery. When a handsome yet arrogant aristocrat storms into his shop, Kit quickly realizes he may be unable to deny whatever this highborn man desires.

In order to save himself and a beloved friend, Percy, Lord Holland, must go against every gentlemanly behavior he holds dear to gain what he needs most: a book that once belonged to his mother, a book his father never lets out of his sight and that could be Percy's salvation. More comfortable in silk-filled ballrooms than coffeehouses frequented by criminals, Percy finds that his attempts to hire the roughly hewn highwayman formerly know as Gladhand Jack prove equal parts frustrating and electrifying.

Kit refuses to participate in the robbery but agrees to teach Percy how to do the deed. Percy knows he has little choice but to submit, and as the lessons in thievery begin, he discovers theft isn't the only crime he's desperate to commit with Kit.

But when their careful plan goes dangerously wrong and shocking revelations threaten to tear them apart, can these stolen hearts overcome the impediments in their path?

My Opinion

3 stars

I checked this book out immediately after reading The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes.  This is technically the first book and I had hoped reading them out of order wouldn't affect this read.  Unfortunately it did.  Reading Marian first made this book feel very slow because I knew certain characters would appear and what the plot would become.  I thought this book would cover the same timeframe but from difference perspectives but that wasn't the case.

So it may have been mostly user error but even if I had read this first, I wouldn't have loved it.  I thought the plot got stagnant and the will they/won't they lasted too long.  Once they did start, it was hot.  I appreciated the detail of them making sure they had lubrication and going slow instead of pretending everything can just be jammed in without preparation.

Men Have Called Her Crazy

 Book 32 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 15 - 16

Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

In early 2021, popular artist Anna Marie Tender checked herself into a psychiatric hospital following a year of crippling anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Over two weeks, she underwent myriad psychological tests, participated in numerous therapy sessions, connected with fellow patients, and experienced profound breakthroughs, such as when a doctor noted, "There is a you inside that feels invisible to those looking at you from the outside."

In Men Have Called Her Crazy, Tendler recounts her hospital experience as well as pivotal moments in her life that preceded and followed. As the title suggests, many of these moments are impacted by men: unrequited liven high school; the twenty-nine-year-old she lost her virginity to when she was seventeen; the frustration and absurdities of dating in her mid-thirties; and her decision to freeze her eggs as all her friends were starting families.

This stunning literary self-portrait examines the unreasonable expectations and pressures women face in the twenty-first century. Yet, as overwhelming and despairing as that can feel, Tendler ultimately offers a message of hope. Early in her stay in the hospital, she says, "My wish for myself is that one day I'll reach a place where I can face hardship without trying to destroy myself." By the end of the book, she fulfills that wish. 

My Opinion

3 stars

I hate to do it but I have to acknowledge that I discovered Anna Marie Tendler through all the media surrounding her divorce.  That led me to her Instagram which led me eventually to this book.

She does an amazing job at keeping herself centered in her story, something that is not always easy for women to do.  It was emotional enough to render empathy but also detached enough to have some separation and clarity of the bigger picture.

She and I could not be more different (I'm a Midwestern mom with no creativity or spirituality) so her world almost feels like another planet to me.  I hope she herself has found the peace she wished for Shawn.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds

 Book 31 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 11 - 15

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

published 2013

Summary (via the book jacket)

In the middle of the 1918 influenza epidemic, Mary Shelley Black arrives in San Diego, where she hopes to be reunited with her childhood best friend - and first love - Stephen Embers. Stephen went abroad to fight in World War I, and his brother is now profiting from the grief-stricken citizens by claiming to commune with the dead through spirit photography - a practice that scientific-minded Mary Shelley believes is fraud. But the connection to the other side may be more real than Mary Shelley thinks possible...and it might be the only way to learn the truth of what happened to Stephen.

My Opinion

4 stars

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars but rounded up because of the originality of the story and the way it absorbed me while reading.  I've read books about spirit photography/seances, I've read books about the 1918 flu outbreak, and I've read books about war but this book combined them all to capture a specific time.  It wasn't until I would put the book down that issues would hit me, the biggest one being no mention of her father at the end or wrap-up of that very important plot thread.

It built at a really good pace.  I couldn't believe it was written in 2013 because of how well the author wrote the uncertainty and panic of the 1918 influenza outbreak.  With the way the author wrote about masks, I thought for sure she had the recent experience we'd all had with Covid and used it to inform this book.

All in all, an interesting, imperfect book.

Happy Place

 Book 30 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read on March 15

Happy Place by Emily Henry

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college - they together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except now - for reasons they're still not discussing - they don't.

They broke up five months ago...and still haven't told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group's yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week, they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale, and this is the last week they'll all have together in this place. They can't stand to break their friends' hearts, and so they'll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It's a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week...in from of those who know you best?

My Opinion

4 stars

I added this book to my 'to-read' list after seeing it in Booklist.  Pulling the bright pink book off the shelf at the library and deciding to read it on a rainy day was a perfect diversion.  I read it in a few hours.

I haven't been anti-romance/"chick lit" (ugh, the term) novels but I definitely wasn't drawn to them as much as I have been lately.  Similar to short stories getting me through the beginning of the pandemic, there is something comforting and soothing about getting lost in a story with a fairly guaranteed outcome.

But that's not discounting the journey.  I loved the characters and their dynamic, and the setting  (getting together for one last week before the place is sold and not wanting to rock the boat) was plausible enough.  All in all, a fun read.

How to Stay Married

 Book 29 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 4 - 10

How to Stay Married: the Most Insane Love Story Every Told 

by Harrison Scott Key

published 2023

Summary (via Goodreads)

One gorgeous autumn day, Harrison discovers that his wife—the sweet, funny, loving mother of their three daughters, a woman “who’s spent just about every Sunday of her life in a church”—is having an affair with a family friend. This revelation propels the hysterical, heartbreaking action of How to Stay Married , casting our narrator onto “the factory floor of hell,” where his wife was now in love with a man who “wears cargo shorts, on purpose.” What will he do? Kick her out? Set fire to all her panties in the yard? Beat this man to death with a gardening implement? Ask God for help in winning her back?

Armed with little but a sense of humor and a hunger for the truth, Harrison embarks on a hellish journey into his past, seeking answers to the riddles of faith and forgiveness. Through an absurd series of escalating confessions and betrayals, Harrison reckons with his failure to love his wife in the ways she needed most, resolves to fight for his family, and in a climax almost too ridiculous to be believed, finally learns that love is no joke. 

My Opinion

3 stars

I added this book to my 'to-read' list after seeing it in Bookpage.

First, I had to check my unintentional bias.  I realized women write about their unfaithful husbands all the time so when this book, written by a man about his unfaithful wife, generated a bigger reaction in me than usual before I'd even started it, I had to stop and sit with it.  From the beginning it felt more monumental and I shouldn't have assumed that but also, after reading it, the starts and stops were a roller coaster no matter the gender.

Second, I always have a love/hate relationship with memoirs because everyone has the right to tell their own story, and I obviously read them, but I also feel empathy for the others in their lives who didn't have a choice about being written about.  So I take a second to think of the real people in this book.

Third, I actually read the book.  If I had been his friend watching him go through this, it would've been tough to see him continually forgive her as she actively continued betraying him but also, if I had been her friend I would've had sympathy that any grievances she felt about him became inconsequential in the jury of public opinion because of crossing the line of infidelity.

I feel kind of icky after reading it.

Mystery Royale

 Book 28 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 8 - 9

Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia

published 2025

Summary (via the book jacket)

The only thing sixteen-year-old Mullory Prudence has left of her mom is a warning: "Run if the strange finds you." But mysterious writings don't pay the bills or help take care of her sick gran. And they certainly don't make her miserable after-school job any more bearable. When unexpected letters start appearing in peculiar places - sealed in bags of dog food and hidden in the refrigerator - Mullory knows she should avoid them to heed her mother's warning, but her curiosity thinks otherwise. She uncovers an invitation from Stoutmire Estate to compete in a game of Mystery Royale for the chance at a sizable inheritance.

Dizzy with the prospect of billions, Mullory enters the game only to unearth the true prize: the illusionary magical properties of Xavier Stoutmire, a recluse without an heir. A recluse who was expected to keep his magic in the family, especially when there isn't enough for each member. With a prize worth killing for, the game is simple: Be the first to solve the mystery - who killed Xavier Stoutmire? One week full of lavish parties dripping with enchantments, in a mansion brimming with clues of the past, and everyone's a suspect. To win, Mullory will need to untangle a twisted family web and decide who she can trust...

  Whitaker Stoutmire, the golden boy who's harboring deadly secrets?

  Ellison Stoutmire, his closed-off twin, who saw something she shouldn't have?

  Lyric Stoutmire, the youngest sibling, exiled by the family and burning with resentment?

   Or Mateo Maldonado, the only other outsider, whose reserved manner allows him to hide in the shadows...at least at first?

But most of all, Mullory must ask herself, why? Why her? A question most strange indeed.

My Opinion

4 stars

I chose this book from a library display.  It's a semi-familiar premise but the addition of magic changes it up.

I could feel the tension and was uncomfortable as I read but in a good way that made it difficult for me to put down.  Things happened so quickly that it was hard to keep up but that seemed to be part of the design as the characters also had to think on their feet and decipher clues. 

It's a very very high 4 for me.  The almost-ending pulled me out a little but then the actual ending would lift me back up a little if it meant this becomes a series.

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman

 Book 27 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 16 - March 7

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England

by Carol F. Karlsen

published 1998

Summary (via the book jacket)

Confessing to "familiarity with the devils," Mary Johnson, a servant, was executed by Connecticut officials in 1648. A wealthy Boston widow, Ann Hibbens was hanged in 1656 for casting spells on her neighbors. The case of Ann Cole, who was "taken with very strange Fits," fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events at Salem.

More than three hundred years later, the question "Why?" still haunts us. Why were these and other women likely witches - vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? In this work Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in society.

My Opinion

2 stars

When the text of the book is only 265 pages and the appendix/notes/index adds another 115 pages to the book, you know it's going to be a dense read.  The readability was tough but the research appeared to be solid.

As always when reading about witchcraft, the contradictions of thinking women are inferior while also thinking women are powerful enough to curse you is frustrating.  Sometimes they're accused because a person they helped died but sometimes they're accused because a person they helped lived.  Also, people need to mind their own damn business.

In Utero

 Book 26 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from March 5 - 6

In Utero by Chris Gooch

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Twelve years after a disastrous explosion, young Hailey is dropped off by her mum at a holiday camp in a dilapidated shopping mall. Alienated from the other kids, she connects with an eerie older teen named Jen...but soon dark horrors awaken, and the two new friends are caught up in a cataclysmic battle between two terrifying creatures who have been lying dormant all this time.

My Opinion

2 stars

This was an impulse grab from the library and a graphic novel was about all my brain could handle this week.

Unfortunately, this was a miss for me.  A lot of buildup for a few pages of action and then the book was over.  The art was cool though.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes

 Book 25 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 22 - 26

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian

published 2022

Summary (via the book jacket)

Marian Hayes, the Duchess of Clare, just shot her husband. Of course, the evil, murderous man deserved what was coming to him, but now she must flee to the countryside. Unfortunately, the only person she can ask for help is the charismatic criminal who is blackmailing her - and who she may have left tied up a few hours before...

A highwayman, con artist, and all-around cheerful villain, Rob Brooks is no stranger to the wrong side of the law or the right side of anybody's bed. He never meant to fall for the woman whose secrets he promised to keep for the low price of five hundred pounds, but how could he resist someone who led him on a merry chase all over London, left him tied up in a seedy inn, and then arrived covered in her husband's blood and in desperate need of his help?

As they flee across the country - stopping to pick pockets, drink to excess, and rescue invalid cats - they discover more true joy and peace than either has felt in ages. But when the truth of Rob's past catches up to him, they must decide if they are willing to reshape their lives in order to forge a future together.

My Opinion

4 stars

I'm kind of new to the Romance genre and am discovering I'm a fan.  Similar to cozy mysteries, sometimes a mushy story just hits the spot, especially to counteract the fairly heavy non-fiction book I'm also currently reading.

 The witty, flirty banter made me laugh out loud more than once and I appreciated that the obstacles that had to be thrown in to continue the story weren't unnecessarily complicated and the characters were pretty upfront with each other.  Even when he wasn't telling her everything, he told her he was keeping a secret and not telling her everything.

I liked the characters and would read more if the author further developed the underlying inequality/justice plot into more books.  I see this is actually the second book in the London Highwaymen series and I will definitely read the first book which appears to feature the more secondary characters of this book. 

Since I'm new to the genre I have no idea about "spice levels" and how to categorize them.  What I will say is that this book gave me a jolt about 75% through when we went from nothing but kisses and glances to sticking a finger up his butt.  I didn't mind but if someone was reading this and lulled into thinking it's a light romance, it has some heat.

Why Fathers Cry At Night

 Book 24 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 22 - 24

Why Fathers Cry At Night by Kwame Alexander

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

In an intimate and non-traditional memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He explores his difficulties as a newly wedded, twenty-two-year-old father, and the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his second wife. 

Alexander attempts to deal with the unraveling of his marriage and the grief of his mother's passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories of his past to try and understand his greatest love: his daughters.

My Opinion

4 stars

I'm a fan of Kwame Alexander's work so I picked this up from the library after seeing it in People Magazine.

Beautiful lyricism of tough topics, this was unflinching and at times uncomfortable, like I was seeing something intimate I wasn't meant to.  He wrote from a vulnerable place and I hope he's found peace with his loss and past.

He wrote that maybe he should've shared some of these notes about his daughters with them face-to-face and that reenforces something I felt throughout the book.  I hope he shares some royalties from this book with his ex-wives because many of his learned lessons he writes about appear to have been taught, unwillingly or not, by the women surrounding him.

10 Truths and a Dare

 Book 23 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read on February 21

10 Truths and a Dare by Ashley Elston

published 2021

Summary (via the book jacket)

It's Senior Party Week, that magical in-between time after classes have ended but before graduation, chock full of gimmicky theme parties, last-minute bonding, and family traditions. Olivia couldn't be more ready. Class salutatorian and confident in her future at LSU, she's poised to sail through to the next phase of her life.

But when the tiny hiccup of an unsigned PE form puts Olivia in danger of not graduating at all, she has one week to set things straight without tipping off her big, nosy extended family. Volunteering at a local golf tournament should do it, but since Olivia's mom equipped her phone with a tracking app, there'll be no hiding the fact that she's at the golf course instead of all the graduation parties happening at the same time. Unless, that is, she can convince the rest of the Fab Four - her ride-or-die cousins and best friends Sophie, Charlie, and Wes - to trade phones with her and go through the motions of playing Olivia for the week.

Sure, Olivia's sudden "passion" for golf is met with some suspicion. And sure, her grasp of the rules is a little shaky. And yes, okay, a very cute, very off-limits boy keeps popping up in her orbit. But she is focused! She has a schedule and a plan! Nothing can possibly go wrong...right?

My Opinion

4 stars

First, a note about the acknowledgements.  The author dedicated this book to the classes of 2020 and 2021 and talked about the bittersweetness of finishing this book at the beginning of lockdown in Spring 2020, writing about all the traditions and events of a high school graduation as her own son was a senior not able to experience these things.  I also had a 2020 graduate and can remember very vividly the delays turning into cancellations and trying to navigate those emotions.

On to the book itself.  One of my kids read it in a day after checking it out from the library and she gave it to me thinking I would read it quickly as well.  I definitely did, also reading it in a few hours, but I have to say that if she hadn't been pushing me along, I probably wouldn't have picked this book for myself.  I have a low tolerance for situations getting out of hand unnecessarily so I had to keep asking her, "does this level out? is it going to be okay? am I going to be mad?"  She reassured me that it would be okay, and it was.

So why the 4 stars?  Because even when I was aggravated I was still reading and I know I'm not the demographic for this book either in age or in temperament.  And I liked the characters and setting.  

This was a quick read with a "High School Musical" vibe, situations that felt overwhelming in the moment but with an underlying tone that it will all work out.

**Note: as I went to add my review on Goodreads, I see this is actually the second book featuring this family.  I will definitely tell my daughter about the first but haven't decided for myself if I want to dive in again.

Leg

 Book 22 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 15 - 19

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It 

by Greg Marshall

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

Greg Marshall's early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you'll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he's crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage of a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast-forward the tape and you'll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man, only to discover he's been living in another closet his whole life: He has cerebral palsy, a diagnosis that has been kept from him since birth. (His parents always told him he just had "tight tendons" and left it at that.) Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall's wellspring of wit and wisdom.

My Opinion

3 stars

I picked this up from the library after seeing it in Bookpage.

Have you ever told a funny or quirky story from your childhood only to be met with a shocked or pitying reaction instead of laughter, making you realize your childhood isn't as typical or sunny as you thought it was?  That's how this whole book felt to me.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

 Book 21 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 15 - 17

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Summary (via the book jacket)

Reclusive Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant to write her story, no one is more astounded than Monique herself.

Determined to use this opportunity to jump-start her career, Monique listens in fascination. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to leaving show business in the '80s - and of course, the seven husbands along the way - Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. But as Evelyn's story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.

My Opinion

5 stars

DAMN.  It's been awhile since a book has ripped my heart out so unexpectedly.  I knew I was invested but wasn't prepared for the gut punch.  I'm glad 2 of my daughters have also read this so I have someone to talk about it with.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful

 Book 20 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 10 - 15

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

published 2023

Summary (via Goodreads)

In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. 

The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

My Opinion

4 stars

I added this book to my 'to-read' list after seeing it in Booklist.

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars but rounded up to 4 because of the beautiful lyricism.

I can't explain why I wavered without being a little mean-spirited, something I especially don't enjoy doing when reviewing memoirs.  But my feeling after reading this is that the author avoided delving into subjects further when she didn't want to by saying she was protecting someone or it wasn't her story to tell or something that would sound perfectly reasonable if she didn't also spend pages alluding to the same things.  For example, mentioning multiple times how bitter and contentious the divorce was but saying it's not your place to air it out leaves the reader to draw negative conclusions without the author getting her hands dirty.  We know her ex-husband joined a dating app and moved in with a woman but the author says she won't talk about her own post-divorce dating/sex life (while also coyly saying that she will say everything gets better with age, yet another subtle dig at her ex).

So I liked the writing but I also felt manipulated.

The World's Worst Serial Killers

 Book 19 of my Reading Challenge

read from February 1 - 12

The World's Worst Serial Killers: Shocking Crimes and Unspeakable Murders

by Al Cimino

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Serial killers are the most terrifying criminals out there. They find themselves driven to kill and kill again, and no amount of reason or logic can stop their orgy of violence. Many masquerade as ordinary members of society. The body counts continue to rise until their shocking crimes are uncovered by dogged detective work or through their own mistakes.

This collection features more than 60 of the most evil serial killers from across the globe, including:

 - John Wayne Gacy, who worked part-time as a clown for children's birthday parties while in secret took home teenage boys to abuse and kill;

 - Ted Bundy, who charmed women into returning home with him before revealing his true self;

 - Charles Manson, who led a cult of death and destruction in Los Angeles;

 - Tamara Samsonova, the 'Granny Ripper' who chopped up her victims and dumped them outside her flat;

 - and Daniel Carmago Barbosa, the most prolific serial killer of all time, with more than 150 victims.

My Opinion

4 stars

This book was an impulse buy while browsing.  Even though it's hefty it's digestible, with a few pages devoted to each person and pictures throughout the book.

This was a good book but one I could only read a little at a time before it started affecting me, especially at night.  It wasn't overly gruesome but it was graphic and reading page after page of depravity was tough.  There were so many serial killers in this book, I had no idea so many different people were able to murder for years and years before being caught.  

It's frustrating how many times the killer would be on the police's radar yet still able to continue killing, sometimes even for years.  At first I thought this was the reason this book was hitting me so hard, because of the seemingly unnecessary deaths if they'd been stopped sooner, but then as I continued reading a new layer of this discomfort hit me.  I realized so many of these killers are white and I feel that's a major contributing factor to why they would be questioned and let go, or flimsy excuses/alibis would be accepted, or they would be found guilty but put on probation, etc.  How many minority suspects have been jailed and/or lynched for much much less evidence?

A Constellation of Minor Bears

 Book 18 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 5 - 10

A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother, Hank, and his best friend, Tray. The indoor climbing accident that left Hank with a traumatic brain injury filled Molly with anger. While she knows the accident wasn't Tray's fault, she will never forgive him for being there and failing to stop the damage.

But she can't forgive herself for not being there either. Or for letting the deadline to accept her university entrance offer pass.

Determined to go on the trio's postgraduation hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, even without Hank, Molly packs her bag. But when her parents put Tray in charge of looking out for her, she is stuck backpacking with the person who incites her easy anger.

Despite all her planning, the trail she'll walk has a few more twists and turns ahead.

My Opinion

4 stars

I picked this book up on a whim from a display of diverse books at a library.  Saying it took 5 days to read is correct but not the full picture...the only reason it took so many days is because I would become so absorbed so quickly that I didn't want to read it unless I had time to devote to it.  I would say it's a 2-3 sittings book if you have time.

It's a very very high 4 but I just couldn't get to a 5 after the second round of Brynn and how it was resolved.  The plot twist before she left was outstanding and I was happy to see her again but the seriousness of the situation didn't mix with the off-camera quick resolution in my mind.

I will definitely read this author again.

I've Tried Being Nice

 Book 17 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 5- 7

I've Tried Being Nice by Ann Leary

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Having arrived at a certain age (her prime), Ann Leary casts a wry backward glance at a life spent trying - and often failing - to be nice. With wit and surprising candor, Leary recounts the bedlam of home bat invasions, an obsession with online personality tests, and the mortification of taking ballroom dance lessons with her actor husband. She describes hilarious red-carpet fiascos and other observations from the sidelines of fame, while also touching on her more poignant struggles with alcoholism, her love for her family, her dogs, and so much more.

Prepare to laugh, cry, cringe, and revel in the comically relatable chaos or Ann Leary's life as revealed in this delightful collection of essays. 

My Opinion

5 stars

I picked up this book while browsing at the library.  A catchy, relatable title of a book of personal essays?  Sold.

I was engaged from the opening paragraphs of the first essay when she described an agent giving her feedback on her first project.  He said he wished the narrator was more likable and she wrote back that she agreed but unfortunately, her book was a memoir and she was the narrator so that probably wasn't an option.  Hilarious.

This was rare because as open and honest as she was about herself, she didn't really "expose" her children or husband.  That was refreshing both to read about a wife/mother that actually focuses on herself when writing essays about her life and as someone that usually feels a tinge of sympathy for people in an author's orbit that don't have a choice about their stories being told.

I didn't know anyone would be able to out-empathize me but the way she talked about animals, especially the bats in her attic, made even me give pause.

I'm adding her book, An Innocent, A Broad to my 'to-read' list immediately.

Quote from the Book

"I've gone through life flailing about aimlessly, trying to figure out how to behave in various situations. I didn't know it, but it turns out, I'm a "rules" person. I just often don't know the rules."

Love in the Blitz

 Book 16 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 19 - February 5

Love in the Blitz: The War Letters of Eileen Alexander to Gershon Ellenbogan

by Eileen Alexander

published 2020

Summary (via Goodreads)

On July 17th 1939, Eileen Alexander, a bright young woman recently graduated from Girton College, Cambridge, begins a brilliant correspondence with fellow Cambridge student Gershon Ellenbogen that lasts five years and spans many hundreds of letters. But as Eileen and Gershon’s relationship flourishes from friendship and admiration into passion and love, the tensions between Germany, Russia, and the rest of Europe reach a crescendo. When war is declared, Gershon heads for Cairo and Eileen forgoes her studies to work in the Air Ministry.  

As cinematic as Atonement, written with the intimacy of the Neapolitan quartet, Love in the Blitz is an extraordinary glimpse of life in London during World War II and an illuminating portrait of an ordinary young woman trying to carve a place for herself in a time of uncertainty. As the Luftwaffe begins its bombardment of England, Eileen, like her fellow Britons, carries on while her loved ones are called up to fight, some never to return home.

Written over the course of the conflict, Eileen’s letters provide a vivid and personal glimpse of this historic era. Yet throughout the turmoil and bloodshed, one thing remains her beloved Gershon, who remains a source of strength and support, even after he, too, joins the fighting. Though his letters have been lost to time, the bolstering force of his love for Eileen is illuminated in her responses to him.Equal parts heartrending and heartwarming, Love in the Blitz is a timeless romance and a deeply personal story of life and resilience amid the violence and terror of war.

My Opinion 

3 stars

I like that Eileen is listed as the author even though this book was put together years later after David McGowan randomly bought a collection of letters off of eBay.  I also like that they found and got permission from Eileen's grandchildren before publishing.  There were also quite a few photos in the book, some from the family's personal collection.

What a prolific writer Eileen was!  These letters would be a treasure to her family as well as researchers of that time.  They may be less of a treasure to relatives of the friends/coworkers she wrote about, as many of her opinions about their life/appearance/morals etc. were fairly harsh.  It makes me wonder if she was as outspoken to their faces as she was in her letters.

It felt longer than it actually was and that showed in how many days it took me to read it.  On the bright side, when I'm not fully engaged in a book I spend more time than usual on the little tasks that are easy to put off until another day...I accomplished a lot over the past week!

Christine Falls

 Book 15 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 26 - February 1

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

published 2006

Summary (via the book jacket)

Quirke and Malachi Griffin were raised as brothers, though Quirke - rescued from an Irish orphanage by Malachy's father, the eminent Judge Garrett Griffin - was always the favored son. But Malachi married the American girl Quirke loved, and Quirke settled for her sister, who died in childbirth soon thereafter. Malachi went on to become a prominent obstetrician and Quirke a hard-drinking pathologist, and for the past twenty years the two have coexisted uneasily as brothers-in-law as well as rivals.

Then one night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down to the morgue and discovers Malachi altering a file he has no business ever reading. Odd enough in itself to find him there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, Quirke begins to suspect that his brother-in-law was in fact tampering with a corpse - and concealing the cause of death. It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the truth behind her death, he comes up against some insidious and very well guarded secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society - which includes members of the Griffin family. But when he is urged - at first subtly and then with considerable violence - to probe no further, he nevertheless finds himself drawn inexorably down a trail that leads him across the ocean to Boston, and deep into his own past.

My Opinion

4 stars

As I read I couldn't shake the feeling that it was very familiar.  The book was published in 2006, years before I started tracking my books on Goodreads, so I considered the very real possibility that I'd actually already read it.  But I don't remember books well so I continued on and by the time I hit some plot twists I was genuinely shocked.  So I don't think I've read it before and maybe the familiarity was from similar themes or settings...a hard drinking pathologist faces his demons and his family.

Somebody who read this book before me (a library copy) made many notes in the margins.  That reader was making literary connections I wasn't, reminding me that I read on a fairly superficial level and there are people who really dig in and analyze books, even silly mysteries like this one.

I'm not interested in continuing the series but I did read the summaries on Goodreads for the rest of them; they gave quite a bit away so I know which characters die and which relationships continue.  That's good enough for me.

I Will Do Better

 Book 14 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 26 - 31

I Will Do Better: A Father's Memoir of Heartbreak, Parenting, and Love 

by Charles Bock

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

The novelist Charlie Bock was a reluctant parent, tagging along for the ride of fatherhood, obsessed primarily with his dream of a writing career. But when his daughter Lily was six months old, his wife, Diana, was diagnosed with a complex form of leukemia. Two and a half years later, when all treatments and therapies had been exhausted, Bock found himself a widower - devastated, drowning in medical bills, and saddled with a daunting responsibility. He had to nurture Lily and, somehow, maybe even heal himself.

I Will Do Better is his pull-no-punches account of what happens next. Playdates, music classes, temper tantrums, oh-so-cool babysitters, first days at school, family reunions, single-parent dating, and a crippling city-wide natural disaster were minefields especially treacherous for Charles and Lily because of their preexisting vulnerability: their grief. Charles sought help from friends, family, and therapists, but this overgrown middle-aged boy-man and this plucky child became, foremost, a duo - they found their way together.

My Opinion

2 stars

For marketing purposes, I added this book to my 'to-read' list after seeing it in People Magazine.

Reviews of memoirs make me uncomfortable, especially if I'm skewing negative.  But I start with the caveat that I'm not judging the experiences themselves, I'm judging the way they were written about which is something the author can expect after publishing a book.

Sooo...this was a tough read.  I expected it to be tough based on the subject matter but it was tough for other reasons instead.  Although he was incredibly incredibly honest on his negative feelings there wasn't a balance of positive feelings/redemption.  I'm not expecting him to magically change fundamental personality traits but the title of the book is I Will Do Better...does he feel he did (and still is as Lily was 13 at the time of publishing)?  Also he did a current update/epilogue but didn't mention having another child?  His author bio mentioned that he has two daughters...I would've loved a little insight into his thoughts after reading so much about how he didn't want to have kids at all but reluctantly had Lily because his wife wanted to be a mother.

Grieving doesn't take away from the unpleasantness of him talking about the women around him.  Besides seeing two women, 'A' and 'Z', at the same time and not telling them, he dismissed them as "Whichever Letter" when recapping the month spent without his daughter as though they were interchangeable.  

An interesting note: his story isn't the first time I've read about widows/widowers tasting their spouses' ashes.  I'm guessing it's more common but untalked about than people may think.

Basically, if he'd never wanted to share anything that is completely his right.  But if he's taking the time to write a memoir about this time and around this subject, a fuller picture and more introspection would've been appreciated.

Quote From the Book

"I wished I would have gotten to see the powerhouse mom my wife would have become."

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

 Book 13 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read on January 26

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

published 2018

Summary (excerpt from Goodreads)

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and…no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.

My Opinion

5 stars

This little book about an elderly vigilante was entertaining.  It took me less than an hour to read, and having short stories instead of one full mystery kept the pace.

There's a second book that I will definitely read and if they aren't too difficult to find, I would read other series by this author as well (she's Swedish so they might not be easily available).

The Day I Wore My Panties Inside Out

Book 12 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 19 - 24

The Day I Wore My Panties Inside Out by Jen Tucker

published 2011

Summary (via Goodreads)

Some days are better than others. Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like you just could not catch a break? Author Jen Tucker had one of those and shares every bit of it in her new memoir, The Day I Wore my Panties Inside Out with humor and a bit of sass.

My Opinion

2 stars

This is a low 2 stars but I wasn't comfortable rating it 1 star because I'm finally reading this after it's been on my 'to-read' list since early 2013.  My interests have changed a lot in 12 years and I know I wouldn't have picked this book up if I'd seen it for the first time today so I'm not going to completely ding the author for writing something I didn't enjoy.  But I also don't think my opinion should be dismissed because I do enjoy "mommy blogger" content sometimes even if I don't seek it out so there was potential for me to like this.  Unfortunately, I just didn't.

This was also unexpectedly religious which isn't my jam.  Talking about God doesn't bother me, especially in a memoir because that's her path, but when it intersects with medical diagnoses and treatments it makes me uncomfortable.  Again, just my personal feelings so I'm not going to 1 star it but there were no indications faith was a strong factor in her life so I'm going to point it out as a reader that was surprised.

And as long as I'm being nitpicky, the wrong "too/to" was used more than once along with other grammatical errors.  I think you can tell that I was skimming most of the time so if I noticed it as a casual reader, an editor should've too.

How to Buy a Love of Reading

 Book 11 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 16 - 21

How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson

published 2009

Summary (via the book jacket)

To Carley Wells, words are the enemy. Her tutor's innumerable SAT flashcards. Her personal trainer's "fifty-seven pounds overweight" assessment. And the endless assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered the question "What is your favorite book?" with "Never met one I liked," they decide to fix what he calls her "intellectual impoverishment." They will commission a book to be written just for her - one she'll have to love - that will impress her teacher and the whole town of Fox Glen with their family's devotion to the arts. They will be patrons - the Medicis of Long Island. They will buy their daughter the love of reading.

Impossible though it is for Carley to imagine loving books, she is in love with a young bibliophile who cares about them more than anything. Anything, that is, but a good bottle of scotch. Hunter Cay, Carley's best friend and Fox Glen's resident golden boy, is becoming a stranger to her lately as he drowns himself in F. Scott Fitzgerald, booze, and Vicodin.

When the Wellses move writer Bree McEnroy - author of a failed meta-novel about Odysseus's journey home through the Internet - into their mansion to write Carley's book, Carley's sole interest in the project is to distract Hunter from drinking and give them something to share. But as Hunter's behavior becomes erratic and dangerous, she finds herself increasingly drawn into the fictional world Bree has created, and begins to understand for the first time the power of stories - those we read, those we want to believe in, and most of all, those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Stories powerful enough to destroy a person. Or save her.

My Opinion

5 stars

The title caught my eye while browsing at the library and even though the summary gave me a moment's pause that too many things were being tried in one plot, I decided to give it a try.  The emotions snuck up on me and I didn't realize until after it was over that I considered it a 5 star read, even though I still can't succinctly describe all the plots going on.

  

It was a "just one more chapter" kind of book and the ending made me sigh in a perfect way even though it was sad.  As I read I was so frustrated and angry at the self-destruction but it made it easier that it felt like a controlled environment; characters really didn't seem to be destroying anyone but themselves until everything fell apart.  I was fully invested and never bored.

Quote from the Book

"There are people that understand life the first time through. They grasp what someone's saying when it's said. Read stories into gestures and expressions. Draw out moments, slow down time. Shape what happens as it happens, sculptors of their lives.

Carley Wells was no sculptor. Only after a moment had already set - past changing, past tense - could she ever get her hands around it."

The Best American Essays 2015

Book 10 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 11 - 18

The Best American Essays 2015

My Opinion

4 stars

When reading books with multiple authors I usually write a line or two about each story but since essays are short I marked down a rating for each one as I read so I could get a feel for how I felt about the book overall.  There were 12 in the 2-3 area and 16 in the 4-5 so I went with 4 stars.

In the essay A Man and His Cat, he described his kitten as being so small his "friend Kevin could fit her whole head in his mouth."  Why is that a unit of measurement?  It made me laugh.

My favorite essay was It Will Look Like a Sunset by Kelly Sundberg.

Witchcraft

 Book 9 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 17

Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials by Marion Gibson

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

Once a tool invented by demonologists to hurt and silence their enemies, witch trials have been twisted and transformed over the course of history and the lines between witch and witch-hunter blurred.

In Witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson uses thirteen significant trials to tell the fascinating global history of witchcraft and withs-hunts from the Middle Ages to the present day. Placing the 'witches' front and centre, Gibson pays tribute to history's marginalized and demonized and offers fresh perspectives on trials familiar to us, challenging our perception of what a witch-hunt looks like. For the fortunate, it is just a metaphor, but, as this book makes clear, witches are truly still on trial.

My Opinion

3 stars

I received this book for Christmas (one of many with a witchcraft theme) after picking it out on vacation last fall; this was from a little bookstore in Bath.  

Whenever I think of witches I think of the line, "they didn't burn witches, they burned women" which helps me keep perspective.  The dichotomy of viewing women as powerless and lesser-than while at the same time viewing them powerful enough to affect weather, health, etc. when blaming them for misfortune was maddening to read about.

Although it was hard to read about, there was a barrier of comfort thinking that I was revisiting historical events and witch trials were so far in the past.  Then we kept moving forward in time and I was shocked at how current these experiences still are.  To throw out a few stats, 132 "magical murders" were reported in Uganda between 2019 and 2021, in four months of 2021 a single province in the Democratic Republic of Congo saw 324 accusations of witchcraft (with 8 women murdered), and Guatemala saw traditional healers being targeted and killed as recently as 2021.  The information about children being sent to "witch camps" was especially heartbreaking.