Book Review-January 2025

Friends, today is a post I’m REALLY excited about! In 2024, I tried really hard to get back into reading and I think it’s safe to say I SUCCEEDED! {You can see my 2024 book recapping list here.}.

This was SUCH a good month of reading! Thanks to two road trips + two snow days this month + an extra week from December since I shared those early I was able to read a lot of books!

I listened to a podcast about books mid-January that really changed my way of thinking about how I share a book review. I’ve always thought this world is pretty small {especially when you add in social media} and I’d hate to say something negative about a book that somehow gets back to the author. I try to keep my reviews honest…I’ll totally tell you to read it or I be sure to leave that line out which is a very “nice” way of me saying that I didn’t enjoy it. But this podcast totally changed my thoughts on this! Ultimately books are a work of art and every piece of art isn’t for everyone. My favorite books to read might be your favorites or your least favorites but me not enjoying a book doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy a book. All this to say, I’m going to try to dig a little deeper about what I really liked and don’t like about the books I read. Hopefully in doing this I’ll discover more about my favorites to read and you might too! Here we go…

I read The Christmas Bargain right after Christmas after a recommendation from my aunt for all of us girls in the family to give it a read. This fiction novel takes place in the late 1800’s when a banker goes to collect his debt. Philamena’s father is a terrible guy and he gives the banker Philamena as payment. Her mother died when she was young so she’s lived with a drunk and abusive father for years making her a shell of herself…afraid to speak or have opinions.

I don’t enjoy books where I read the first chapter and you immediately know these two are going to fall in love by the last chapter. It feels like I’m wasting my time. I was expecting that in this one, but the historical aspect mixed with a clean, sweet romance was a nice surprise. I enjoyed this feel good Christmas story.

The books I chose to read this month were mostly from all the “Best of 2024” book posts Instagram has discovered is an interesting topic to me. The algorithm continues to give me ALL of those. :). The Boys of Riverside made someone’s {I’m telling you I’ve looked at TONS of those} list and I was intrigued. The Boys of Riverside is based on a true story about a high school football team made up of deaf players from the California School for the Deaf who are clearly the underdogs but become undefeated.

First, I’m going to say the story and premise is absolutely incredible! An entire team of boys who are deaf able to communicate so fluidly with each other without speaking they have an undefeated football season. Absolutely amazing! Secondly, the author, Thomas Fuller, is a New York Times reporter. He gets a tip about this school and goes on to write this book. I think that little note is important because the story reads very choppy to me. {Kind of like it makes sense he’s used to writing stories for a newspaper, not entire books.}There are parts that flowed well but overall it felt to me like it was written where each chapter was it’s own little story about the team. Like if he would have mixed all the chapters up, most of the story would have been fine in a different order. I would have enjoyed it more if it would have flowed better, but it was hard to get as invested when every chapter felt a bit isolated. Overall great story about some incredible boys but just wasn’t my preferred writing style to read.

Magnolia Parks, I’d seen this cover which is so intriguing and again, Miss Parks made several BEST OF lists so I finally decided to give her a read. Where do I even begin?

Magnolia and BJ have that written in the stars kind of love but they just can’t seem to keep their relationship together. She’s a London socialite. He’s the bad boy. They break up, hurt each other and then get back together again. This felt like Sex & the City in book form as I read. It’s rated R {for sure}, they’re all about the designer labels {Magnolia has a knack for being able to identify every designer piece ever made}, and they’re living it up in the city with friends. See the Sex & the City correlation?

Was this the best book I’ve ever read? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Will I read Book #2? Already ordered it. I thought it read like a fun, flirty, girly book. The author was super detailed with clothing and outfits because that’s part of Magnolia’s character. I’m not into that but I enjoyed that detail.

Long Bright River-Two sisters living on the same streets. One is a police officer and the other lives on the streets as an addict. The sister suffering with addiction issues goes missing and it’s up to her police officer sister to try to find her. Simultaneously, a series of murders begin happening in this same area so there’s no time to waste.

Liz Moore also wrote The God of the Woods, that I loved reading last year. But guys this one was EVEN BETTER! This one toggles between when the sisters were little and present day. It’s a thriller/suspense novel that will tear at your heart. I enjoyed everything about it! And would HIGHLY recommend this to you!

Sandwich-Another book that topped many charts plus a gorgeous book cover had me reading this {probably more appropriate in summer} in the dead of winter. In this novel, Rocky, a wife and mom to two older teens/young adults, along with her family set out for their summer vacation they take every year by spending a week in a little rental cottage on Cape Cod. Midway through the week Rocky’s aging parents join them for a bit of the vacation as well. Rocky is middle age and spending her days SANDWICHED between parenting older kids and her aging parents.

This is definitely a more moody style of writing. There isn’t a really big plot that happens, but instead it’s kind of all about Rocky’s feelings. Part of the time I REALLY felt for her. My older two kids are in high school and at times I start to panic about our times as a family of six, all together happening less and less. We see the {sometimes} crazy and chaotic thoughts we can have as moms worried about all of our people’s well beings. Then the book got into heavier topics {like abortion} again in a more moody way. There were times I REALLY understood Rocky but this book did make me realize I much prefer a book with a plot over moody reads.

Between Shades of Gray…Lina is a fifteen-year-old girl living a normal life in Lithuania when Soviet officers break into her home and take her, her mother, and brother to a work camp. They have to ride in an overpacked train to get there with absolutely terrible conditions. Lina attempts to get messages to her father who’s at a different work camp by leaving her drawings in different locations and passing them on to others. It’s a story about survival, making connections, and hope.

I’ve always thought thrillers were my favorite genre but I’m beginning to see it might actually be historical fiction. WHOA! What a BOOK! Ruth Sepetys wrote an amazing novel with so many details. Ah, it was good. I love books that leave me truly feeling something and this one was THAT!

Funny Story-Daphne is engaged to Peter, the love of her life, whom she met, fell in love with and immediately joined his life. She moved to HIS town, hung out with all of HIS friends, and loved HIS family. It worked great until Peter realized he wasn’t in love with Daphne but his childhood best friend, Petra. Daphne is stuck with a job and nowhere to live so she becomes Petra’s ex-boyfriend’s new roommate. Well, it’s kind of a FUNNY STORY…

A great chick lit novel that was cute, quirky and kept me reading. It was a great “palate cleanser” type of read in the middle of a lot of meaty, hearty books. My big complaint with chick lit books is many “meet cutes” happen in the first chapter and I feel like it’s inevitable. The two will eventually end up together so I’m almost wasting my time reading what I know will happen. So when I read one, I need really fun characters, flowing storyline, to be entertained, etc. and this one did just that.

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook…Sage Winters has a twin sister who’s always been a bit different. Six years ago, Rosemary {her twin sister} died from pneumonia or at least that’s what Sage was told. She learns her step-father has been keeping a secret for the last six years. Rosemary has been at Willowbrook State School, a state run institution for mostly girls who have special needs, psychological differences, or are just a lot of trouble for their parents. They learn Rosemary is missing from the school so Sage heads to see what she can do to help. Keep in mind they’re identical twin sisters so a guard spots Sage and she’s immediately taken as Rosemary back to the school. Will anyone ever believe Sage is who she says she is? Will Sage escape? Will she find Rosemary? {All things I’m going to keep to myself so I don’t spoil it for you.}

Oh my goodness! Talk about books that shook you…THIS is one of them. I’d read a while and then give Ebby Lee a summary of what I’d just finished. It’s like we were reading it together. This book rocked me to the core! The fact that this novel was based on true events and a place that really existed still gives me a stommachache. This had parts that were so hard to read but it also educated me throughout the story. I cried because it was heartbreaking, but SUCH A GOOD BOOK!

Carrie Soto is Back is a book about Carrie who was a tennis champion for years coming back to the tennis world to defend her record. Carrie lost her mom years ago so it’s just her and her dad. She has a very hardened approach to all of life and is out to be the best tennis player ever. We see her challenges, experience each tennis match, and get to see her shift some of her priorities to what truly matters.

I LOVED Daisy Jones & The Six but for some reason this book never excited me which is why I hadn’t picked it up before now. Sad to report but it didn’t live up to all the hype for me. While it was a good book, the book was so detailed when it came to every single tennis game but it was lacking some information about the characters themselves. We see a unique dynamic between Carrie and her father, but I would have loved to have seen more. I did enjoy learning a bit of the behind-the-scenes of the tennis world and the author did a great job of adding real popular things into bits of the story.

The Love of my Life‘s part one is all about Leo and Emma. They’re married with one daughter and head-over-heels in love. We begin to see snips about something Emma is withholding or lying about, but can’t quite figure it out. Part two takes us back about ten years and we see exactly what’s happened. {It’s not what I would have predicted.}. The premise of the book is just the love of Leo’s life has a past she’s never been honest about.

I never know how to share the summary of a thriller without giving too much away. I know many people aren’t into suspense or thriller reads but this was very mild. If you’d like to dip your toe into a good thriller, this is a good one. It’s a really quick read. Part one was a bit slow but I breezed through part two and three because I HAD TO KNOW HOW IT ENDED!

The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir

I’m attempting at least one audible listen a month {my bar is low} and this memoir was my listen. Kelly Bishop actually read the book herself which I thoroughly enjoyed. {I love Kelly’s voice!} But I know Kelly from Dirty Dancing & Gilmore Girls not from anything on Broadway and we didn’t hit the Dirty Dancing/Gilmore Girls timeline until over halfway through the book. I still enjoyed it. I enjoy listening to anyone’s life story. But so much of what she referenced was a bit older than I am. If you’re a bit older and really into Broadway, then I think you’d love this because you’d be familiar with so many of the shows she references.

When I compare this memoir to other memoirs I enjoyed more, I think it just goes back to my age and remembering so many more details the others have shared.

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See what I mean?! I read some AMAZING books this month and have been so excited about finally getting to share them with you! I’ll never have another month where I’m able to read this much, but I’m glad I kicked off the year like this.

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