The Library

Ashley Winstead is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and The Last Housewife. She is not afraid to go really dark. This was described to me as Twilight meets Where the Crawdads Sing and that description is not wrong (just make it more of a thriller). It is set in Bottom Springs, small Louisiana town where a fire & brimstone preacher rules the roost (it felt like it could have taken place so long ago, except the main character loved Twilight so you know it’s set in present day). Ruth Cornier has always been an outcast. A preacher’s daughter, bookish and small. Her closest friend is Everett, also an outcast/the boy from the wrong side of the tracks thanks to his violent, alcoholic father. When a skull turns up in the swamp, next to mysterious carved symbols, the town panics and is immediately thrown into uproar. Everyone thinks it must be The Low Man, a shadowy vampiric figure said to steal into sinners bedrooms and kill them in the night. Ruth and Everett must comb the town’s dark history to solve the mystery of what has happened… before the town turns on them!

I received an advance copy of this book and absolutely loved it. This is a very twisty thriller that is fast and fun and such a treat to read. The kind of book that will suck you in and hold your attention until the end… you’ll want to read it in one sitting (it is great for a long flight!) Skyler Moore is a struggling artist who is just making ends meet. One day she gets a suspicious call from a lawyer, finding out she’s inherited a large sum of money from a stranger, Christopher Whaley. Upon wracking her brain, she realizes that years and years ago, she’d had a one night stand with him. They’d never even exchanged phone numbers; why on earth would he leave her all this money!? Meanwhile, Chris’s family is upset — and extremely suspicious. His widow is convinced that they must have been having an affair and is convinced that Skyler must have been blackmailing him. She threatens revenge. Skyler’s apartment is broken into and she quickly realizes she’s being followed. She realizes she has to dig for the truth and figure out why the money was left to her. And as she does this, she realizes there were were even bigger, darker secrets at play. Alternating between past and present, this book is fast paced and fun. I highly recommend it!

This is a very fun read, especially if you are like me and will read any book about influencer culture. This one was more about self help influencer culture (so different from my world, think Rachel Hollis maybe?) and it was FUN – like a Devil Wears Prada for the digital age. I read it on my overnight flight to Venice and did not want to put it down to sleep (I continued to read it when I got to Venice — ultimately finishing it at a sidewalk cafe while I waited for my boyfriend to arrive). Harper is smart but unlucky with work; laid off from her last job and totally broke, struggling to pay rent. When she is offered a job working for a self-help influencer (Charlotte Green) where she’ll be paid triple her old salary, she jumps at the offer even though it means moving to Nashville. Charlotte is charismatic and optimistic, and has built a cult-like following. But some things are too good to be true. What starts out as a fun, refreshing workplace (afternoon dance parties and group bonding activities!) quickly turns toxic. The book explores some of the darker sides of the industry: assistants who don’t get credit, plagiarism, toxic positivity, I could go on. I really enjoyed this.

Updated to add: semi juicy: I stalked the author a bit and realized she actually worked for The Hollis Co. for two years. I wonder how autobiographical this is!

This is such a cute book, and would make for a great beach read. And as I have said on Instagram stories, if you love Emily Henry, you will love this. Twins Jo and Amy have been best friends since birth. And when Amy married Ben, the three of them were thick as thieves… inseparable! Now though, everything seems different. It’s Jo’s wedding weekend at their family house on Fire Island. Amy and Jo haven’t spoken in months. Amy and Ben are estranged, we just know that something happened months ago that rocked their world. Meanwhile, Jo seemingly barely knows her fiancé Dave, and Dave’s parents seem dead set on stopping the wedding. The cherry on the top? A man from Amy’s past has turned up at the wedding – the one who got away. She cannot stop thinking about him and begins to question her marriage. This one is packed with family drama and you just want to shake the main character (Amy) at times. I gobbled it up and loved the ending. You’ll want to read this in a single afternoon!

I loveeed this book. I have read all of Laura Hankin’s books and I think this one might just be my favorite! Back in 2004, The Daydreams were THE THING. A tightly knit foursome, acting and singing for the Atlas Network (think Disney!). The show was all anyone could talk about (with a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that rivaled Dawson and Joey on Dawson’s Creek. But then the live season two finale happens and the show implodes, leaving everyone out of a job. Fourteen years later, the 4 former friends and castmates have totally different lives. Kat is a lawyer in DC, Liana is married to a famous athlete, Noah has become even more famous, and Summer (the star) is the cautionary tale (her character reminded me of Tara Reid). When fans demand a reunion special, the stars all have their own reasons to come back (closure, revenge, etc!). But as they begin rehearsals, old secrets come out. Will the reunion fix things for these former best friends, or will it make things even more messy? Alternating between then and now, I found this book to be so much fun to read and thoroughly unputdownable. I’m telling all my friends to read it!

Was this well written? Not particularly. Off the rails? Definitely. Thoroughly enjoyable and something you’ll read in a day? YES. You know that I cannot resist any thriller surrounding influencer culture so when one of my influencer friend group texts recommended this, I of course ordered it on the spot. It is a wild ride, that’s for sure. Alex, aka @unapologeticallyalex is a mommy blogger with over a million followers. She’s the mom to two twelve year old girls, married to her dream man, and living in a beautiful neighborhood in Atlanta. She relies on her personal assistant for just about everything from posting on her behalf to replying to followers. When Alex makes a big drunken mistake and finds herself cancelled, her world spirals out of control and AC is not picking up the phone. Turns out, AC is probably not who she thought she was. And when Alex is doxxed by her ex-fans and a woman winds up dead in her house, events spiral out of control. This is a fun, fast thriller. There are loads of plot holes and the writing is medium at best but I enjoyed it all the same.

I have a lot of complicated feelings about this book (not really all that complicated, but you’ll see what I mean. First of all, I still think about this author’s first book Everybody Rise, which I absolutely loved (it’s New York City social climbing/living beyond your means at its best). Naturally, I was very excited for her next book as that one came out back in 2016. This one is about an aging country music star with a tumultuous childhood (she left home at just ten years old!). It spans from the 1920’s through “modern day” (1980), in alternate timelines. Overall, I netted out only medium on this book and I feel a little bad about that because 1) It’s very well written and you can tell that Clifford put a lot of effort into researching the world of country music and 2) the last 50 pages were amazing. But I think that for me, the main character wasn’t all that likable and I don’t really care about country music, so I struggled. It took me a long time to finish. But then I absolutely loved the ending (I cried?) so I feel like the slog was worth it? I don’t know what to say here. Read it, be annoyed with me for recommending it, and then be happy you did because the ending was wonderful? I’m still not sure if I’d recommend it but having finished it, I’m glad I did!

This was a fun, mindless vacation read. I do fear that I’ve read so many books similar to it that I kind of just know what is going to happen. A lot of these domestic thrillers are pretty predictable by now, and I tend to guess the twists. But still, I enjoy them… guessing has become a part of the fun! Millie is a down on her luck 27 year old… fresh out of prison (she was imprisoned at age 17 and spent 10 years locked up). We don’t know what she did but she’s been fired from her last job and is currently living in Long Island. When she is offered a live in maid position for a wealthy Long Island family, she feels like the luckiest woman alive. Even if it means living upstairs in a tiny room where the door only locks from the outside. Even if her boss Nina berates her and displays psychotic tendencies. She will do anything to keep this job. Meanwhile, Nina’s handsome kind and husband Andrew seems to grow more and more despondent while Nina behaves badly. And slowly, Millie wonders if she could take Nina’s place. I read this on a girls’ trip and found myself attached to it. It’s predictable and not the best written, but it is fun.

I really wanted to love this book but only liked it. You know that I am a huge fan of Curtis Sittenfeld I’ll read anything she writes. This one just fell a little bit flat compared to her other books. Sally Millz writes for The Night Owls, which is basically a fictional Saturday Night Live. She is brilliant but cynical, having given up completely on love after a few heartbreaks. When her friend/fellow writer Danny begins dating a glamorous actress, she writes a sketch called The Danny Horst Rule, which basically means that average-looking, dorky men can date glamorous models and actresses… but it’s never the other way around. But when handsome (but slightly cheesy) Noah Brewster hosts TNO, sparks fly between the two of them. But he’d never date Sally. Or would he? The book is comprised of three chapters. I don’t want to give anything away so I will say that I loved the first chapter and was only medium on the second. I found Sally’s character abrasive and annoying at times. Making the same mistakes again and again, lacking confidence to the point where you (as the reader) get really frustrated. Still, it’s a good book. I loved the first part and loved the ending. And as with every Sittenfeld book, the writing is fantastic. So I’ll still recommend it, but will just say this isn’t her best!

I have spent the past month telling anyone and everyone that they need to read this book. It’s absolutely one of my favorite books of the whole year. I chose to listen to it as opposed to reading in paper form (I always do better listening to non-fiction) which was a good decision. This is the story of J.Crew from the beginning. Before there was Mickey and Jenna, there was Arthur Cinader and his daughter Emily… who built the brand out of nothing. I knew absolutely nothing of their story but found it inspiring, interesting, and honestly: relevant for anyone building a brand. The way that they conducted their lifestyle photo shoots, Emily’s discerning eye (with parallels to Anna Wintour). Then we get to Mickey and Jenna, which is simultaneously nostalgic but with new information. I couldn’t tear myself away from it. I simultaneously learned so much about the company (and thought a lot about how I run my own business) while simultaneously experienced a ton of nostalgia (both from nineties era J.Crew when I would save my babysitting money to order from the catalog) to early aughts era J.Crew when I lived in stripe tees, colored denim, and bubble necklaces. This is one of my favorite books of 2023 and a must-read if you ask me!

I really, really enjoyed this book. (And if you remember at the end of last month, I’d lost a book to my house; this is the one: I liked it so much that I bought it twice.) Sarah from My Sister Made Me Buy It pointed out that not a lot happens, that it feels like really good people watching. And not a lot does happen (well, the characters get into and out of relationships, they lose and find jobs, get pregnant, etc.) but there isn’t any drama or huge plot. But the conversations and observations are what make this book such a gem (and really hilarious at times). I’d love to watch it as a TV show. The character development is fantastic (I’m still thinking about these people), and author’s understanding of New York’s 1% is spot on (at least… I think it is, I don’t really know firsthand!). The book centers around three women. Darley (oldest daughter) who traded her inheritance and job for motherhood; her sister Georgiana (the baby) who falls in love with someone she can’t have and finds herself in a precarious situation; and Sasha, who married into the family and finds herself constantly feeling excluded. This book is smart, clever, and truly delightful to read.

Let it be said; I absolutely loved this book, but it was a hard one to read. There’s a content warning for suicidal thoughts and mental illness, but it is truly just a wonderful book. It’s beautifully written and something that I think anyone who has ever loved someone who didn’t love them back can relate to. In some ways, it has big Tell Me Lies energy but this one felt more literary to me; the writing is really beautiful. Maybe I would say it’s a cross between Normal People and Tell Me Lies? Yes: that’s it!!! Adelaide meets Rory when she is in her early twenties and for her it is pretty much love at first sight: she tells him he looks like a Disney prince. But Rory is not consistent. He doesn’t always call her back, he rarely makes plans, and they’ll go for weeks without talking. When a horrible tragedy occurs, Adelaide does the best she can to help Rory put the pieces back together. As she bends over backwards to help him the best she can, she loses herself in the process. There was so much of the book where I just wanted to step in and intervene! Besides exploring grief, love, and mental health in a very raw way this book is also a good reminder of taking care of yourself. I loved this book so much, reading it in just a couple sittings.

This book is amazing… a masterpiece. When we were in Belize my sister said it’s the best book she’d ever read and my mom agreed. Naturally, I ordered it and started reading as soon as I got home. They were right. Set on the Korean island of Jeju, it follows the main character (Young-Sook) from the thirties (pre-WWII) all the way through modern day. It begins as Young-Sook and her best friend Mi-ja are learning to work in the sea with the village’s all-female diving team. Jeju is a matrifocal society: the women work in the sea (diving for abalone, sea urchin, other treasures) while the men stay home and care for the kids. It’s kind of amazing how these women dived into the cold water, holding their breath for three minutes, without a wet suit or any sort of modern equipment. The waters are dangerous and there is tragedy. The girls have each other but as their lives take different turns and the world around them changes, they both make difficult decisions and in the process, lose each other (I am keeping things vague so not to spoil anything). Spanning generations of women (Young-Sook all the way down to her great grandchildren), this is a book I think I’ll remember for years to come. I absolutely loved it.

I feel like this book was just made for me. It’s a thriller about the art world, with a touch historical fiction thrown in. I found myself savoring it… I really loved this book! Jules Roth is a young, ambitious journalist who talks her way into a job with Dan Mansfield (a wildly respective, unconventional investigative reporter). When Dan assigns her to a top secret, off the books project, her whole life changes. She’s assigned to help him locate a painting that had been stolen by the Nazis. Dan’s old friend Ellis Baum (renowned shoe designer), wants the painting for personal reasons. Meanwhile, Margaux de Laurent is a powerful art dealer, managing her family’s many art galleries all over the world. The thing is, her family business is suffering and she is being told she’s going to need to close some of the galleries and sell of pieces from her family’s collection. She has no interest in doing any of this, and has made other plans to rebuild her family fortune (legal or not). As Jules and Margaux’s paths intersect in a rush to find the stolen painting, Jules proves herself to be even more ambitious and talented than Dan could have thought; and Margaux becomes more and more ruthless. Both women: desperate to obtain the painting. I loved this book and could not put it down.

I really enjoyed this! I think I would classify it as a thriller. It’s definitely not scary, but it is very suspenseful. Ten years ago, Joni and Bess went on a trip of a lifetime. Post high school graduation, their friend Evangeline invited them to spend ten weeks with her in Greece. Only the trip didn’t turn out as planned. The girls fought, Evangeline turned out to be a bit controlling, while Joni and Bess wanted to be young, free, and party. Evangeline ends up dead, the girls find their lives ripped apart. Ten years later, Joni has capitalized on her infamy, turning her life around and becoming a motivational speaker. Bess has done the opposite, moving to the desert and making her life as small as possible. When Joni turns up on Bess’s doorstep, asking her to be an alibi for a similar crime, Bess has to relive the memories she’s pushed aside (and has to make a decision). Told in alternating timelines, past and present, this one kept me on my toes and made me need to keep compulsively reading! I think the book does a really good job at looking at what it is like to be young and stupid (and also to learn to forgive yourself for childish antics!). Also: parts of it reminded me of Woman of the Year but I liked this one better!

I really enjoyed this (and you know I’m a huge fan of Andrea Dunlop’s books). It’s set in Seattle, among the wealthy (and often backstabbing) tech elite and it is a fun, feminist, ride of a novel. The story centers around three women (the ex-wife, new wife, and ex-girlfriend) of a manipulative tech CEO. Jake Sarnoff is a tech god, the wunderkind founder of Strangers (an app that is similar to Meetup and helps people form groups and find friends). His public image is that of a smart, highly evolved – even feminist! founder. Privately, he’s not quite that person, which we learn from meeting the women in his life. There is Anna, still reeling from her divorce with Jake after he left her for a much younger woman. He still tells her how much he loves, needs, and wants her back (despite forcing her out of the company she helped build). Then there is Jessica, Jake’s 25 year old new wife. A blonde bombshell who is now a new mom, struggling to stay afloat. Lastly, there is Samanta Flores-Walsh. Sam is his college girlfriend who also hand a hand in building Strangers, long ago. Now she is a single mom, raising her daughter while running a thriving fitness business, she has questions for Jake as well. As Strangers nears its IPO date, the three women’s stories begin to intersect in interesting ways as secrets come to the surface. I couldn’t put this one down. I read it in just a couple days.

I am usually a big Maddie Dawson (her books are so heartwarming) but this one was not my favorite. The main character is Billie, a sixty year old woman whose husband Victor left her when she was 25 (with a newborn daughter). Since then she married twice (divorced one more time, widowed another). She no longer believes in love. She is kooky and dresses up as a “heartbreak bunny” to help people get over their exes. (I found her to be kooky to the point of no longer believing in love). Meanwhile, her daughter is an influencer, whose marriage is falling apart. The thing about the daughter and the career was that it felt like the author didn’t really have a good understanding of influencing so the book wasn’t believable to me. There are holes in her career that I couldn’t get past, which left me irritated. I didn’t expect her to get into the behind the scenes of influencing but it felt one dimensional. The daughter’s husband takes photos of her in ball gowns. When the husband leaves, she immediately hemorrhages followers (despite a very real announcement). That just would never happen. IDK. That plus Billie being a bit annoying and getting in her own way, I felt more and more annoyed as the book went on. I almost DNF’d (but I love Maddie Dawson!). Anyway, Louise (daughter)’s marriage is falling apart, and Billie finds herself in a romantic pickle: a handsome widower and then her ex husband returning and trying to be present in Billie and Louise’s life. Of course Billie is super annoying about all of it as she doesn’t believe in love. This was cute and heartwarming in the end but Billie’s character annoyed me so much! That plus the influencer stuff meant the book just fell a bit flat for me.

A few days after reading this book I am still not entirely sure about it. Did I love it? Hate it? I really don’t know. It’s uncomfortable to read in that the protagonist is wildly unlikeable, at least at first. This is the story of two college best friends: Lorelei and Holly. Twenty years after graduation, the friends have had a falling out. Holly is about to be awarded “Woman of the Year,” and has attained all possible levels of success. Meanwhile, Lorelei dropped out of college, has a messy life… and lives alone with her cat. ( She is the kind of cat lady who makes the rest of us cat lovers seem crazy). Lorelei blames a lot of her failures in life on Holly (thanks to a gaslighting incident in school that ruined Lorelei). She attends the dinner for Holly, determined to get revenge.. only for there to be another murder which convinces her that maybe she could be in danger, too. The book alternates between modern day and college (where Lorelei and Holly were still tight and Lorelei was sleeping with their beloved college professor). It is uncomfortable to read (like I said I didn’t necessarily enjoy reading it), but I liked the ending!

I had been saving this book for vacation! Even though I am not a big romance person, I will always read whatever Emily Henry writes, and I think this one is my favorite of hers! Henry has such a knack for writing non-cheesy romance novels with complex, relatable characters you can’t help falling in love with. This one had a new trope: a couple who is broken up pretends to still be together for the sake of their friends. Harriet (Harry to her friends) has an enviably close group of friends from college. Every summer, they spend a week up at their friend Sabrina’s house in Maine, but this is the last year as Sabrina’s father is selling the house. The six friends (all coupled off) retreat to the house, determined to have one last great trip together. But things are amiss… some friendships feel more strained, and Harry and her fiancé Wyn broke up five months ago, but are pretending to be together for the sake of their friends. I found myself feeling really frustrated and sad for a lot of the book because you see that Harry and Wyn are clearly so perfect together but are getting in their own way. Alternating between their younger years and present day, we see them fall in love, drift apart, and begrudgingly reunite for the trip. But will they find their way back to each other? You have to read it to find out. I LOVED this book!

Let it be said that this book is excellent but it is not a beach read. That being said, it is a rare book: a literary thriller. It was a National Book Award finalist, a Read With Jenna book, and it’s going to be a film (starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke!) My love of thrillers is no secret, but this one felt special as the writing is really really good. It’s a slow burn. It builds and builds and builds. It’s also interesting that it was written in 2020, but before the pandemic. Amanda and Clay flee Brooklyn for a long weekend to get away, renting a beautiful house in the Hamptons. Just as they are relaxing with their two children, getting settled, enjoying the house and its beautiful pool… an older Black couple (Ruth and G.H.) shows up, telling them that its their house. A blackout has taken over New York and they have nowhere to go. Clay and Amanda agree to Ruth and G.H.’s plea offer to discount the rent. The couples struggle to understand if they can trust each other. But soon things devolve into something darker (and more mysterious) than either couple could imagine. I loved this book. I read it on vacation though and would just say, it’s not a vacation book. Save it for a cozy night, tucked in at home… somewhere you feel cozy and safe. That is all I will say!

TW: disordered eating. Okay, I absolutely LOVED this book. It has such a nice twist, plus all of my favorite things: rich people drama, a cut-throat social climber, AND a religious cult. It started out a little rocky for me (I had a hard time with the writing at first, I am not sure why!) but once I got into a groove, I could not put it down. I woke up early one morning just to finish it; I had to get to the ending! Meet Eliza Bennett. She’s working for a New York PR firm, has a killer bod (that she kills herself to maintain), an enviable designer wardrobe, and an even more enviable fiancé: Graham Walker, a blue blood from Vermont. As the days count down to her wedding, secrets from Eliza’s past begin to come out. Secrets that she doesn’t want anyone to know. Alternating between her college days (where she wasn’t the glamorous woman she is today, attending an evangelical Christian college) and present day in New York, it’s unputdownable. I really enjoyed this one, gobbling it up in a mere 24 hours.

I just loved this book. It is heartwarming, with wonderful characters. Truly, a treat. I wasn’t sure if I would like this one. It had been blurbed by so many of my favorites and I’d seen it all over Instagram, but I wasn’t sure! I have talked about my disdain for books where the protagonist is a messy twenty-something. In this case, we have that but she’s also such a lovely person (who you really root for and feel protective of!). Maddie is 25 years old, living in London. While her peers are all going on dates and at happy hour, she is still living at home as her father’s primary caregiver (he has advanced stage Parkinson’s). She’s mistreated and undervalued at work (where she’s also the only Black person in meetings), and feels like she’s missing out on all her firsts. Meanwhile, her mother spends most of her time in Ghana and her brother moved out years ago and is deeply unhelpful. When her mother returns home, Maddie moves out and decides she is going to start living. Going to happy hour, dating, finding her way, and having friends! But when tragedy hits her family, she finds herself in a deep depression. This is a story about love, family, friendship, and finding your way… while tackling other important issues like racism, sexuality (specifically: bi-erasure), and female pleasure. I fell in love with Maddie and think you will too.

I adored this book, gobbling it up in just a few days. A reader had recommended it to me, telling me that it felt like a real life Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Marjorie Merriweather Post was the heiress to C.W. Post’s Cereal Company (that she later helped to grow into the General Foods empire). The book begins with her childhood, growing up in humble Battle Creek, Michigan. Her father is sick and hospitalized, and from that, discovers cereal and winds up building an empire. Marjorie goes from gluing labels onto cereal boxes in the barn to becoming American royalty. We watch her grow up and marry (four times!), with never a dull moment along the way. There are the houses and parties, her time abroad living in Russia as wife to an ambassador. Surviving multiple wars and a depression, hosting numerous presidents, collecting Russian art, amassing millions, building beautiful homes (Mar-a-Lago!)and becoming the wealthiest woman in America. It’s unputdownable and such a fun read (you’ll fall in love with Marjorie!) but you also feel as though you’re learning a lot as it is a true story.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Loved. It came highly recommended in the comments section of my best books of 2022 post by several of you, and I can see why. I picked it up after The Perfect Marriage (woof!) because I needed a winner after that book. And oh, this is a winner! It is a treat of a book and I really think that if you are having a tough time with work or feeling stressed, this would be the perfect book to reach for as it’s quite heartwarming and a little bit magical. Perfect for fans of Lessons in Chemistry and/or A Man Called Ove. Tova is a retiree working the night shift at the aquarium. Her husband has died and she is a bit bored; the job gives her purpose. She leads a bit of a sad existence, still thinking daily of her son Erik who vanished thirty years ago at age 18. It is at the aquarium that she makes an unlikely ally, Marcellus. Marcellus is a giant (curmudgeonly!) Pacific octopus with a penchant for escaping from his tank and wandering the halls of the aquarium, late at night. He has thoughts… not just thoughts… articulate, brilliant thoughts. You will fall in love with this wickedly smart, albeit sardonic octopus. And the story is just so good! This book feels like a warm hug. It is about family, unlikely friendships, love in surprising places, and so much more. I devoured it in just a couple sittings as I just fell in love with the characters.