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The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas My rating: 0 of 5 stars Not sure why I waited so long to read this. It was absolutely excellent. Great characters, fantastic dialogue and really great audio. If romance is your genre, you will love this one. View all my reviews

All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien My rating: 4 of 5 stars A sad and affecting story about Vietnamese immigrants in Australia and a girl trying to understand what happened to her murdered brother. Beautifully written, great character development and absolutely heartbreaking. View all my reviews

Lighter than My Shadow by Katie Green My rating: 5 of 5 stars A powerful, deeply honest story about abuse and eating disorders. Does not shy away from unflinching truths. Even though it deeply affected me and was tough to read, I am so glad I read it. View all my reviews

The Answers Are Within You: 108 Keys to Unlock Your Mind, Body Soul by Amber Rae My rating: 4 of 5 stars I don't follow Amber Rae on insta so I hadn't seen any of these. Nothing completely new here but excellent reminders and beautifully arranged. View all my reviews

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn My rating: 3 of 5 stars Loved this cute story of women spies that are retired and suddenly find themselves in the middle of danger as there's a hit placed on their heads. Books need to have more kick-ass older women. View all my reviews

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell My rating: 4 of 5 stars O'Farrell can write characters unlike any other. Even though I don't tend to favor historical fiction, I love her books because the writing is so excellent and the characters are so memorable and this one is no exception. And the strong women are a bonus :) View all my reviews

Honor by Thrity Umrigar My rating: 4 of 5 stars Really interesting juxtaposition of two stories taking at the same time in India about two different types of couples, showing the drastic range of mentalities in one country. I loved this story. View all my reviews

Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed this YA novel. Beautiful writing and interesting plot and characters. New to me author. View all my reviews

Bookworm by Robin Yeatman My rating: 2 of 5 stars I am sorry to say that I really really did not like this book. I felt like each of the characters in it were one dimensional. The main character falls in love with a random guy because he's reading the same book she is (which she hates.) She also hates her husband. She dislikes her best friend. She dislikes pretty much everything. Except this boy. That she doesn't even know. I remember years ago, when I read "Harriet the Spy" I was annoyed at what a negative character she was. So judgmental and always bitter and annoyed and noticing the worst in people. The main character in this book is just like that. She is ugly on the inside and sees everyone and everything through that lens. It was completely depressing for me. She makes a comment in the story she hates this book because the main character doesn't ever grow or the story doesn't redeem itself. I don't know if it was m...

The Gravity of Us by Brittainy C. Cherry My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. Quick, light read about an intense love between a light and loving woman and a closed off and beautiful man. There are many books like this one. but it was fun. View all my reviews

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister My rating: 4 of 5 stars This might be one of the most interesting and creative mystery novels i've read in a while. It's sort of like memento in book format. The main character witnesses her son commit a crime and then gets caught in a time loop where she's traveling to the past with each sleep as she unravels to understand what happened. Nothing is what it seems. I really enjoyed my time with it. View all my reviews

The Placeholder by Lynda Wolters My rating: 2 of 5 stars There are so many things that upset me about this book that I think the five-star reviews and I must have read different stories. 'The Placeholder' starts like a romance novel. The main character is going through a heartbreaking divorce and decides she needs to have lighter relationships for a while and enjoy herself. And then she proceeds to make decisions that make no sense. She proceeds to take one unsafe action after another and then when there are terrible consequences the reader is left to think that any woman who chooses to have lighter relationships deserves these dire consequences. This very serious triggering event happens pretty late into the story and while it's handled a little bit, a more terrible thing happens to overshadow it. The book takes a sharp turn from there onward and completely changes tone. Then it becomes about the main character's legacy and her abili...

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney My rating: 4 of 5 stars I loved this clever hat tip to Agatha Cristie. I didn't really see the twist but when it came, it didn't annoy me. I'll call that a big win. Feeney is great at messing with your head :) View all my reviews

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid My rating: 4 of 5 stars I know there were conflicting opinions on Reid's latest but I absolutely loved it. I loved being inside Soto's mind. I loved her relationship with her father. I loved seeing her struggle and still choose to show up again and again and mostly I loved how much she grew and learned to release pieces of herself throughout the book. Loved it. View all my reviews

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoy Ali Hazelwood's novels. Even though this one feels very similar to the other ones and there's nothing really surprising here, her stories make me happy and I will continue to read them for as long as she keeps writing them, View all my reviews

Tiny by Kim Hooper My rating: 5 of 5 stars I am a fan of Kim Hooper and her writing. I love her sad, quiet and powerful stories. Her memorable, three-dimensional flawed and honest characters. I have been going back and reading her older books and they do not disappoint. I loved this sad but beautiful novel. View all my reviews

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth My rating: 5 of 5 stars Sally Hepworth does not disappoint. She is the queen of domestic thrillers and families that look normal only to reveal deep dysfunction. This one is no exception. Gabe and Pippa have moved into a perfect house to complete their perfect family. The view is exceptional and also it happens to be a popular location for those who want to commit suicide. Gabe has become somewhat of a legend in his ability to convince people not to jump. Until he doesn't. That one time. What looks like a suicide gone wrong, hides many more layers underneath. The twists and turns are fun and unexpected in this one and I loved the way the story unraveled. If you've enjoyed Hapworth's novels before, you will not want to miss this one. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. The number of stories told by "unusual" or "quirky" women is increasing by the day. I don't mind reading a few, but I mind when it's the entire plot of a story. The main character here was interesting and had some deep thoughts but it was all trying to hard to be quirky imho. View all my reviews

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was a beast to get through. 40 hours on audio. It is the story of eight generations of a Georgian family, mostly the women. There's a lot of background and foreground history starting from before WWI to almost present day. It's hard to not get attached to these well-developed, flawed characters who endure so much misfortune. If historical fiction is your cup of tea, you will like getting lost in this world. View all my reviews

You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health by Ken Duckworth My rating: 2 of 5 stars I don't like to give poor ratings to books. Let alone books on the subject of mental health. Each book is a lot of sweat and effort from the writer and I don't want to discourage or criticize something that is so much work. I also believe we need more books in the world around the issue of mental health. I am grateful that organizations like NAMI exist and I am grateful that they provide resources for people who are struggling. We need these resources so badly. And yet this book was really hard to read. I felt like it didn't follow a clear organized flow of information or arc. There were bits and pieces of stories interspersed with bits and pieces of information, creating a very disjointed book. Also while the book is a good resource for raising awareness of NAMI and its services, I felt that the organization was mentioned too often in w...