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Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison My rating: 5 of 5 stars A perfect way to end 2022. This is my last book of 2022 and I couldn't have picked a better one. It's the third in the Lovelight series. I've loved all of these sweet books with lovely characters that feel like Gilmore Girls. This is Layla's story and it's filled with sugar, spice and everything nice. I can't recommend it enough. View all my reviews

It Won't Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this story about an American girl whose dad moved back to his hometown of Egypt after her parents' divorce. She goes back to Egypt to spend the summers with him all her life. He marries someone else and has children with that person and their lives change and evolve from there. It's an interesting story even though it stays a little too on the surface in my opinion. View all my reviews

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler My rating: 5 of 5 stars Loved this very quick read that's between a biography and a nonfiction story about sea creatures. Creative, thought-provoking and heart wrenching all at once. Really beautiful. View all my reviews

Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a very sweet story of two people who fall in love on vacation in italy and decide to get married as a result of their whirlwind romance. When they come back home, both of their parents are worried it's all happening too soon until they meet and realize they know each other from a past life. Chaos ensues. Until the chaos touches the two kids whom they love with all their hearts and brings the parents back to their senses. It's sweet, predictable but kind with lots of laughs. It was a lovely book to read during the rainy and dark winter days. with gratitude to netgalley and Alcove Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

Exiles by Jane Harper My rating: 5 of 5 stars A Jane Harper novel is a cause to celebrate. Harper's novels are always character-driven and atmospheric and low burning and still manage to surprise you and this one is no exception. It is the story of a mother who goes missing in the middle of a town carnival leaving her newborn baby behind in a stroller. What would possibly make a mother do that? The story unfolds slowly and deliberately. You get enmeshed in the affairs of this little town and the tangled lives its inhabitants have with each other. I was so invested in these characters and their story that I was heartbroken when I found out what happened. with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer My rating: 4 of 5 stars "But the secret to a beautiful death is a beautiful life." Clover is a death doula. She sits with people as they die and she makes sure they are not alone. And yet, she's mostly alone. She has one friend who is 76 and that's it. This is the story of how through the help of a new client, some unexpected friends and some tough but real words she slowly starts to change her life. This character driven story is beautiful and is full of reminders that life is for the living. It's for taking chances, it's for being cautiously reckless and it's for living the moments we're given to their full capacity. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this beautiful story on friendship in one breath. It's so so good. It's funny and sweet and heartbreaking all at once. It's short but poignant. Recommended :) View all my reviews

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister My rating: 5 of 5 stars "It was something she would tell her son later, when he was learning to read himself—how your first read of an extraordinary book is something you can only experience once." This book is a premise that I hadn't read before. It's a story of ten different people. The first one writes a book to help cope with deep sorrow in her life and the nine others experience the book in their own unique way, through the lens of their own lives and get affected differently. Some of them are connected to each other in small ways, some in bigger ways, and some not really. And yet this book flows through their life and doesn't leave them the same as a result. "It was probably six hours later when Theo met the love of his life. There were no fireworks, no steamy glances across a room. Just two human beings, falling together like puzzle pieces, which made sense because both of them we...

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki My rating: 5 of 5 stars I found this book randomly recommended by a person I was taking an online class from. I have a habit of reading everyone's favorite books and she said this was her favorite of 2022. I am so glad I read it. I was absolutely absolutely excellent. Unlike anything I've read and that's incredibly rare for me. I will not forget this book for a long, long time. One of my favorites from 2022 for sure! View all my reviews

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld My rating: 5 of 5 stars And if I was looking at that, would I pick you out from everyone else and say, ‘That’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen?’ If I’m being honest, no. But human beings aren’t static images. We’re dynamic and kinetic, and it’s like I said before—right away, I wanted to talk to you, and every time I’ve talked to you since I’ve always wanted to keep talking to you.” This story took me a while to get into. Even though I really liked learning all about the details on what it felt like to work on a show like SNL, I found it hard to connect with the story for some reason. I couldn't dive into it and I wasn't sure I cared about the characters in anything more than a superficial way. But of course, Curtis Sittenfeld doesn't do wrong by her readers and soon enough I was completely engrossed in Sally's story. Sittenfeld is such a smart writer and I loved reading all the little bits a...

We Are the Light by Matthew Quick My rating: 4 of 5 stars I loved this book about the aftermath of a shooting and the deep deep grief and healing a town goes through. Quick is such an excellent writer especially when it comes to fractured characters. I read this book compared to A Little Life and while it was heart-wrenching I don't think it was anything near that one. View all my reviews

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the story of Emily and Chess who used to be best of friends and had a falling out years ago. Chess is now a very famous self-help writer and she's rich. Emily is a struggling author going through an ugly divorce and has no money. Chess invites her to spend six weeks together in a Villa in Italy. This exact Villa was the home to a brutal murder in 1974. The chapters alternate between the story now and the one in 1974. I felt like the contemporary one was more interesting until the very end. There are some twists along the way but I loved the very last twist the most. It was an ok story but not the best of Hawkins in my opinion. Julia Whalen's narration made the book considerably more enjoyable. with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham My rating: 5 of 5 stars I really enjoy Stacy Willingham's novels. They manage to be both character and plot driven. The pacing is unlike any other and there are always awesome twists that don't make you feel stupid. I think that combination is very hard to achieve. This is the story of Isabelle whose baby is taken from their house a year ago and she hasn't slept since then and has been desperately looking for him. She has been doing everything she can to scour every opportunity to talk about it and even agrees to do a podcast to see if it will help find the person who took Mason. She and her husband are now separated and he's with someone new. So she's going through the loss and betrayal all at once. The book also alternates between the present and the past where she has suffered another terrible loss so Isabelle is not sure if she can trust herself. The insomnia in this book is almost ...

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars well that's some messed up family. it was totally twisted and kept me on my toes the whole time. I really liked this story and the twists even if all the characters were so unlikeable! View all my reviews

The Minimum Method by Joey Thurman My rating: 3 of 5 stars I requested this book on a whim because I've read so many other books on this topic and the idea of thinking about how to optimize your time and streamline a way to think about your health really appealed to me. This book is broken into different chapters tackling different areas from meditation to breathing to exercise to nutrition etc. I liked that it was more holistic and really leaned into getting more sleep and building a well-rounded way to be healthy and whole. I also liked that he had different next steps depending on your starting point and how hard you want to tackle some of these topics. You can pace yourself according to where you are and what feels feasible to you. As we got into the exercise and nutrition chapters, I started feeling like the book was losing me. There was a lot of great information across the board in the whole book. But then it got so detailed and so much in...

The Plus One by Mazey Eddings My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed reading this book even though I hadn't read the first two books in the series. Even though this is a romance book and it's light on the surface, there are some serious topics covered in this story. Especially PTSD. At its heart this is a little bit of an enemies to lovers trope and fake it till you fall in love trope. Jude and Indira have known each other forever since he's her brother's best friend. And they can't stand each other. They are stuck living in the same house with Indira's brother and his partner. But they decide to fake being together so Indira doesn't have to suffer through watching her ex with his new partner alone. And what do you think happens? I loved all of the characters and enjoyed all the moments I spent with this book. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest...

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata My rating: 4 of 5 stars Holy shit. I don't even know how to rate this book. It could be 5 for creativity. It could be 1 for wtf? It could be all the ones in between. There is so much trigger warning in this book, the entire book is one big trigger warning for trauma and sexual assault and so so much more that I can't mention without giving away some of the huge twists. It's a weird weird weird book. View all my reviews

Savage Wilder by Veronica Eden My rating: 3 of 5 stars Meh, ok this was a fast read. But i am not a fan of "bad boys" loving girls and having girls earn this love and endure much anger and pain in the process. Sorry this is not how love should have to be. Super fast read. View all my reviews

Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg My rating: 5 of 5 stars I just love and adore Elizabeth Berg. Her books are always a balm for my soul and I love her characters. I love how you can almost feel them viscerally and I love how when I am weary and tired, I can pick a Berg novel and I know it will give me the comfort I need without feeling like too light a book. I will grow to love her characters. This book is no exception. OF course it couldn't be as it's Arthur's story and we already know what a gem he is. This is the story of how he and Nola end up together and it's a real nod to patience and deep friendship and loving and caring for someone anyway. I loved this book. I love Berg and will continue to read her books for as long as she's generous enough to give us her stories. with gratitude to netgalley and random house for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars Ok here's the truth. It's been a few weeks since I read this book and I've managed to completely forget it. I spose that says all you need to know. I remember enjoying it and reading it really fast. But I can't remember the twist or the who of the whoddunit. Alas. View all my reviews

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ann Napolitano's ability to capture the complexity and layers in a character is truly beautiful. This book is really quiet. At least it was for me. You have to sit with it for a long time and let yourself get immersed in their world. Each of the characters slowly winds their way into your heart and then there's no moment that you don't want to spend with them. This is the story of four sisters who are incredibly close to each other. One of them marries William who is merged into their family wholesale from the moment Julia picks him. And like it always does in life, so many different things happen to this family. There's so much about parenthood, acceptance, forgiveness, grief, love and of course deep sisterhood in this book. It pays a beautiful homage to Little Women and these women will absolutely stay in your heart long after you're done reading the book. with gratitude ...

The Immeasurable Depth of You by Maria Ingrande Mora My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was lucky enough to get an early copy of this book from edelweiss and Peachtree Teen. This is the story of Brynn who is sent to spent the summer on her Dad's houseboat in Florida so that she can be away from all technology as a result of a post she made that was deeply concerning to her mom. There's a lot going on in this story: her relationship with her dad, and also her mom, the divorced parents' relationship with each other especially as they try to support a girl with mental health challenges and then there is a lot going on in the town they are staying at as Brynn makes some friends and tries to uncover their stories. I loved every moment I spent with this story. I didn't know it was YA before I started it, and I do think it's squarely YA but I still enjoyed it and will remember it for a long time. View all my reviews

The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed this story about a woman in a home who meets a girl who's doing community service there and they connect and over the course of the story, they find out their lives are more intertwined than they thought. It's a beautiful and touching story. View all my reviews

The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews