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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo My rating: 0 of 5 stars I am finally calling it. I am very sad to say that this book will be a DNF for me at 41%. I tried it five different times across several months and I just could never get into the story. It's not just that there are a lot of characters, it's also that their voice isn't different enough to keep the story interesting. It's also that I couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters and that's tough for a character-driven story. I love and adore Acevedo and I will still read anything she writes no matter what. I am sure I will be in the minority on this one so if you've loved Acevedo and her work as much as I have I still recommend you give this a try because it's full of her beautiful, poetic writing. with gratitude to netgalley and Ecco for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

You, with a View by Jessica Joyce My rating: 3 of 5 stars A sweet and quick book about a woman who goes on a journey with the ex-lover of her recently deceased grandmother and his grandson. And of course it's a love story so I expect you can guess what happens between her and the grandson who is her rival from high school. View all my reviews

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman My rating: 4 of 5 stars "Life can be long or short, it is impossible to know, but every once in a while an entire life is spent in one night, the night when the windows are open and you can hear the last of the crickets’ call, when there is a chill in the air and the stars are bright, when nothing else matters, when a single kiss lasts longer than a lifetime, when you do not think about the future or the past, or whether or not you are walking through a dream rather than the real world, when everything you have always wanted and everything you are fated to mourn forever are tied together with black thread and then sewn with your own hand, when in the morning, as you wake and see the mountain in the distance, you will understand that whether or not you’ve made a mistake, whether or not you will lose all that you have, this is what it means to be human." This is a really unusual book. It starts with Ivy who...

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter My rating: 3 of 5 stars Wow this one was a struggle to get through. I work in big tech and I live in Silicon Valley so this book was close to home, maybe a bit too close to home. I think the success or failure of this book will lie with how relatable you will find the main character and for me, her choices were too difficult to relate to. It felt like her life was terrible and tough from every angle and she was making choices that made it harder and harder on her. I loved the image of the black hole and I loved both the visual and the visceral way one could feel that. I still didn't connect with this book the way many seem to have. View all my reviews

Before She Finds Me by Heather Chavez My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really liked this thriller that was fast-paced and interesting. for a plot-driven story, it had some interesting character development and i didn't predict the twists and turns. If you're looking for a solid thriller, this is a good one to pick up. View all my reviews

The Endless Vessel by Charles Soule My rating: 4 of 5 stars I like Charles Soule. I've read all of his books and I like his unusual storytelling with crazy worlds he creates and interesting characters and wild plots. This one is no exception and at its heart this one was the most touching and loving of all the books. I really really loved the image of the tree and being able to see the whole life. I wish they'd make this into a movie. View all my reviews

The Endless Vessel by Charles Soule My rating: 4 of 5 stars I like Charles Soule. I've read all of his books and I like his unusual storytelling with crazy worlds he creates and interesting characters and wild plots. This one is no exception and at its heart this one was the most touching and loving of all the books. I really really loved the image of the tree and being able to see the whole life. I wish they'd make this into a movie. View all my reviews

How To Be Remembered by Michael Thompson My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this one in one sitting, too, but I've already forgotten some of it even though it's only been a week. (To be fair, I read 7 books since and I am jetlagged) but I remember enjoying it and I remember it feeling like a warm blanket. That's all I need to remember. View all my reviews

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars This was a fun read with a cute and clever premise. I have a soft spot for time-travely plots so I knew I was going to like it and I really did. Love the idea of an apartment that travels back and forth. View all my reviews

The Second Ending by Michelle Hoffman My rating: 5 of 5 stars Many many years ago, I was on an airplane when I opened "The Time Traveler's Wife" and started reading it. I didn't stop reading until I was completely finished. I had the same experience with this book. I started listening to it when I sat in my plane seat and I did not stop until it was completely finished. I loved every single moment of this story. I loved the narration. I loved the two characters who were competing. I loved the premise. A truly fantastic read. View all my reviews

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck My rating: 5 of 5 stars "The surface of love was a feeling, but beyond this thin layer, there was a fathomless, winding maze of caverns offering many places to see and explore. Wren used to think romantic passion only grew more intense in the depths . But this belief was naive and impractical, a by-product of a certainty-obsessed culture that equates love with longing and views ambivalence as a fatal flaw. Wren saw now how passion was delicate and temporary, a visitor, a feeling that would come and go. Feelings fled under pressure; feelings did not light the darkness . What remained strong in the deep, the hard times, was love as an effort , a doing, a conscious act of will. Soulmates, like her and Lewis, were not theoretical and found. They were tangible, built." This story is unlike anything you will have ever read. In fact, it's so unusual that I am worried many people won't even pick it up because it...

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I waited to read this book for over ten years. I am not sure why. I kept wanting to but never doing it. And once I started I read it all in one sitting. I liked it but didn't love it. I felt like the story was more stunted than I'd expected and the characters a bit less 3-dimensional. But I still loved it. View all my reviews

Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I meant the title already has it but everyone is lying and everyone here in an unlikeable character so it's really hard to love this book. But if you like plot driven mystery novels, you'll like this one. Lapena is a good writer and her books are unputdownable! View all my reviews

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this long, wonderful saga of a story in one and a half days. It's the story of six sisters ( i guess i don't know why it's called seven sisters yet.) who are all adopted and their dad dies. I assume each book will be the story of one sister. In this one Maia follows a journey to find out about her birth mom, after reading a letter her dad wrote and finds herself in a journey that changes her life. View all my reviews

Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book was a nice and sweet love story. Sad and tragic in parts, too. I enjoyed the time I spent with it but I didn't find it as amazing as many of the reviews seem to have. View all my reviews

Family Family: A Novel by Laurie Frankel My rating: 5 of 5 stars “No one,” Fig giggled. “I’m just saying Mom’s mad now, but I still think calling Lewis was the right thing to do. Sometimes less is more, but not with family. With family, more is more.” Laurie Frankel's "This is How it Always Is" was my favorite book of the year when it came out and ever since then I've been an avid fan. I could not wait to get my hands on "Family Family" and not only did it not disappoint but I am confident it will be my favorite read of 2023 alongside one other novel. This story was incredibly beautiful. “This is what parenting is, India. Solving impossible-to-solve problems while also experiencing deep crises of faith while also being kind of annoyed while also never getting enough rest. These problems only ever go away by changing into different equally impossible problems. This is how it always is for all parents, no matter how you came...

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs My rating: 4 of 5 stars What an unusual story full of magic that is bled into books and then read by the non-writers. I loved the premise of this book and really enjoyed the characters and the world that was built. I can't wait to read the next ones in the series but this one was also fully satisfying on its own. Loved it. View all my reviews

Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm not sure why I postponed reading this book for so so long. It was interesting, lovely to listen to and touching in all the right ways. Friendship, love, betrayal, family. All of what makes a novel wonderful. View all my reviews

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is the story of Cam and Jules who go back to Cam's birthplace in North Carolina. He is from the richest family with a notorious adoptive mother, Ruby, who has "lost" all four of her husbands to different accidents. Cam has never wanted to go back but Ruby's death and his cousins imploring finally bring the wedded couple back to Cam's childhood home and, as expected, things unravel, secrets emerge and things are never what they seem. While I enjoyed reading this story, I didn't like Jules' voice or the way she spoke. I wasn't crazy about any of the characters and the revelations, when they happened, were interesting but because I just wasn't invested in the characters, I found myself not caring too much. It was a pleasant enough read, just not one of my favorites. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for a...

Day by Michael Cunningham My rating: 5 of 5 stars "You look great in everything else. Trust me about that, too. You’re beautiful in your own skin.... You brought with you into the world some kind of human amazingness, and you can depend on it, always." I was beyond excited when I saw that there was a new Michael Cunningham novel. His writing is always, always exquisite and this novel is no exception. "Nathan has, for as long as Robbie can remember, felt like a bit of an outsider—loved, welcomed—but here for now, until he vanishes into his own private future, whereas Violet is here, a member of the family, forever." The premise of this novel was very interesting to me. It takes place over the course of a specific day for three years in a row. So we can see how much (or how little) can change for this one family in one year. The years in the story are 2019, 2020, and 2021 so there's also the added element of the impact of the pa...

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain My rating: 4 of 5 stars I loved the author's previous novel "The Push" and wasn't sure she could match the intensity with which that story was told. But I was wrong. she absolutely could. This is an excellent novel about several families who are neighbors and one of the kids falls out of the window, so the story winds back in time to let us know what happened leading up to that moment. It's excellent all the way to the very last words. View all my reviews

City People by Elizabeth Topp My rating: 4 of 5 stars This story looks like a mystery story on its face. Several families are at a private school tour when one family doesn't show. They all find out later that the mom died under mysterious circumstances. It sounded to me like it was going to be a drama around what happened. And it maybe a little bit is. But it's much more about how this death impacts all the other moms in the circle and a peek at their lives and a detailed study around how what you see is not the truth. And how every person, every marriage has secrets that aren't visible from the outside. And sometimes the richer the person, the bigger the secrets and scandals. This book mostly read like a character study of the rich to me and I enjoyed it. It was fast paced and hard to put down. with gratitude to netgalley and Little A for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. Beautiful and sweet LGBTQ story about two college freshmen who team up to help each other get their dates and end up falling for each other :) View all my reviews

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros My rating: 5 of 5 stars What an absolute delight and joy this book was to read!! I listened to it on audio and it was so very excellent that I did not want to stop reading it even for a moment. Might be the read I most enjoyed this year so far. View all my reviews

August Blue by Deborah Levy My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars Beautifully written. Some musings about who we are, how we become who we are, and thinking about the lives we didn't live. Short but profound and beautiful. View all my reviews

Silicon Hearts by Robin Miyashita My rating: 4 of 5 stars For some reason I kept waiting for this book to be like many others where Silicon Valley is full of evil, terrible people who are plotting some sinister way to exploit the main characters. I think I hadn't fully read that it was a romance story. So while there was a little evil-ness, it was mostly a story about five kids who win an opportunity to participate at a special program hosted by a big tech company (that smelled a lot like a combination of Apple and Google). As someone who works at one of these companies, I laughed at some of what was true and some of what was clearly exaggerated but all in the spirit of fun. The writers are both from the industry so there's nothing here that was egregiously ridiculous except maybe that they couldn't predict the 2023 slow down of tech. I enjoyed each of the five characters. They weren't super complex but they also weren't cartoons....

Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur My rating: 4 of 5 stars A beautiful and touching story about a family, kids who lost their mom at a young age and had a dad that was brilliant and yet difficult to grow up with. Complicated relationships as they are preparing for their dad's seventieth birthday and more and more secrets start unraveling. Brodeur writes with subtlety, compassion, and kindness. Her characters are complex and you can't help but feel for them. This is a touching and beautiful story about how complicated our relationships can be with those closest to us. with gratitude to edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

A Beginner's Guide to Sketching Buildings & Landscapes: Perspective and Proportions for Drawing Architecture, Gardens and More! by Masao Yamada My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a different and interesting book on how to structure your sketches for a scene with buildings and landscape. It focuses less on how to draw the bits of a building but more around how to make decisions around where to frame the elements of the scene, how to get the proportions and perspective right and then how to break down the structures of the drawing to get the scene to match what you're looking at. It's unlike any other book I've read on this topic and I think for that reason alone, it's a valuable addition to your library of art/sketching books. with gratitude to Tuttle Publishing and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

My Murder by Katie Williams My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. This is a well written story that has the most interesting premise. I think the blurb doesn't do this book justice as the mystery at its heart doesn't really unfold until way too late in the story and it's not really a mystery story. I think this would be much better marketed as a speculative literary story. I thought the ending was also rushed and not clear. But I still enjoyed the writing and it's unlike many other books I've read. View all my reviews

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer My rating: 4 of 5 stars What a gem of a novel. If you're looking for something uplifting and joyful and sweet, this is the book for you. View all my reviews

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger My rating: 5 of 5 stars William Kent Krueger's "This Tender Land" was my favorite novel of 2019. I then read "Ordinary Grace" and loved it as well. So I was extremely excited to read "The River We Remember" and worried it would disappoint me. I needn't have. Krueger's stories have the perfect balance of rich atmosphere, layered and flawed characters that you can't help but love, beautiful and funny dialogue and they are just heartbreaking and tender all at once. And this one is no exception. On its surface it's a book about murder and solving the mystery behind it. But, of course, it's about so much more. It's about family and love and a small town, and rights, and repressing others, and immigration and assimilation, about hatred and bigotry. It's about coming together to save each other. It's stunning and it will stay with me for a long ti...

Wellness by Nathan Hill My rating: 5 of 5 stars Nathan Hill's "The Nix" was my favorite novel of 2016. I laughed so hard and I loved every moment I spent with that novel. Even so, I was worried about requesting "Wellness" since it's more than 600 pages and what if I didn't like it? After a lot of hemming and hawing I requested it any way and slowly started reading it, hoping it wouldn't be too hard to get through. I spent the next three days of my vacation wanting to do nothing but read this book. I fell in love with the characters. I laughed, I cried, I was touched, I was mad. I loved following every single meandering thread of story Hill took me down and I exclaimed with joy when he brought it all back and tied it with an awesome knot. This book singlehandedly made my vacation ten times better than it already was. I came home feeling full of joy and could not stop talking about the book to everyone I saw. I am a...

Pageboy by Elliot Page My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I am so glad this story exists. I am thankful to Page for telling his story. We need more stories told, we need more leaders in this space. At the same time, I thought this particular book was not as well paced and structured as it could have been. It wasn't clear what deep story it wanted to tell. I still really enjoyed reading it and I really hope it paves the way for many many other stories. View all my reviews

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood My rating: 4 of 5 stars I find Ali's novels to be eminently readable. I enjoy them and like falling into her worlds. They are my little happy place. View all my reviews

Speech Team by Tim Murphy My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the story of four friends who decide to take a road trip to confront their old Speech Team coach years later after another one of their friends commits suicide and they all realize that the words the coach used with them has broken each of them in different ways and has stayed with them all these years. So they decide to confront him. Each of the characters is multi-layered and richly designed. The story is heart warming and at the same time honest to itself and to how the world is. It makes you mad, sad, warm, happy, joyful, thoughtful and it renews your faith in humanity and our ability to take care of ourselves and each other. Reminds you that there's hope for all of us. with gratitude to PENGUIN GROUP Viking, Viking and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Drowning by T.J. Newman My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars This was interesting but for some reason not as captivating to me as it seems to have been to everyone else. View all my reviews

The Art of the Line in Drawing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Simple, Expressive Drawings by Frédéric Forest My rating: 4 of 5 stars Here's another really unusual book if you're working on sketching like I am. Unlike many books that focus on how to get every line right and how to create clear and well done sketches, this book focuses on how to create drawings that invoke meaning and a story with the most minimalist lines possible. It's a super interesting way to approach sketching and I really loved the authors multiple interpretations of the same scene. He's clearly an amazing artist and at the same time he was able to make this book really accessible and feel doable for a beginner like me. Super interesting. with gratitude to Quarry Books and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

Learn to Draw in 5 Weeks: A Beginner's Workbook for All Ages by Kritzelpixel My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book starts out very simple with introductory exercises to warm up and loosen your hands with doodling and mark making and then it expands from there all the way to multiple different perspective exercises. Some are really easy and some are really sophisticated. It's not "fun" but it's serious and a great look at not just drawing techniques but how to get into the right mindset and how to hold the pen and move your arms etc. A very different and interesting guide. I've been really enjoying working my way through it. with gratitude to Zeitgeist and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos My rating: 5 of 5 stars los Santos never disappoints. Her stories are always full of heart and soul and memorable characters and this one is no exception. I loved loved loved it. View all my reviews

Art for Self-Care: Create Powerful, Healing Art by Listening to Your Inner Voice by Jessica Swift My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had read Jessica Swift's story before but I didn't remember it until I saw it again it this book. What a terrible tragedy she's had to survive and what a wonderfully inspiring book this is. This is not a step by step book. It won't teach you how to draw or paint. Instead if will teach you how to go within and access that part of you that can then create beautiful, amazing, meaningful art. The book is also full of Jessica's inspiring, colorful and beautiful art. It will make your fingers itch to create as you read it. with gratitude to Quarry Books and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

You Always Feel Better When…: Five-Minute Reset Exercises to Change the Day by M.H. Clark My rating: 4 of 5 stars this small but mighty book has lot of small exercises and ways to resent when you're needing or wanting to take a moment to shift the way your day is going. Almost all of them are super easy and doable and really do shift your day when you take the moment to do them. with gratitude to Compendium and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

A Love Letter to Whiskey by Kandi Steiner My rating: 3 of 5 stars this was a fast read of a whirlwind romance that takes place over many many years. It seems to have a huge following. I read it and loved it and already forgot it. View all my reviews

Creative Wanderlust: Unlock Your Artistic Potential Through Mixed-Media Art Journaling Techniques by Kasia Avery My rating: 4 of 5 stars Even though I've never taken the Wanderlust course, I've loved Kasia's work and I love all the art in this book. The projects are inspiring, broken down simply and totally accessible. Kasia's voice in the book is that of an encouraging teacher that inspires you to sit down and create alongside her. with gratitude to Quarry Books and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

Gender Is Really Strange by Teddy G. Goetz My rating: 4 of 5 stars Gender Is Really Strange is a simple, high level and accessible introduction to how sex and gender differ and it also covers the history of different cultures and history of how we saw gender over the history. It also defines some of the categories including trans, intersex, non-binary, agender and several others (there was a mistake in this book conflating gender fluid and gender flux which are not the same thing but this book says they are.) The book also talks about white supremacy and its impact on the gender definition and norms. There are several other related topics around science, physical activities, etc. It's comprehensive and interesting and absolutely a great introduction in an easily consumable format. With gratitude to netgalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Beverly Bonnefinche Is Dead by Kristen Seeley My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the story of how Beverly's story starts changing when Henry comes into her life. At its heart it's a simple story but it's full of pain, sadness and loss. It is also about love, resilience and how one person and their dedication to you and their believing in you can change the trajectory and story of your life. It's a beautiful story that's full of heart. It's also very tough to read with a lot of trigger warnings. Please read them before you pickup this book. I am glad I read it. with gratitude to Rising Action Publishing Co and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

The Last Ranger by Peter Heller My rating: 5 of 5 stars I love Peter Heller's books. I haven't read a book by him that I didn't love and The Last Ranger was no exception. His characters are always wonderful, memorable people. And I especially loved every single one in this story. His settings are vivid, lush and transformative. Yellowstone is a wonderful place to set a novel and even though I knew about the story around reintroducing wolves into the park, I loved loved loved reading about it. My favorite character was the wolf specialist and she will stay with me a long, long time. These literary novels with a bit of a mystery and incredible character and setting are his specialty and why I keep looking forward to a new Heller book every single time. with gratitude to netgalley and Knopf for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

The Marriage Act by John Marrs My rating: 3 of 5 stars Meh even though I was super excited to read it and the premise seemed interesting, I could never get into this book. I do like how Marrs links to his other other books inside his stories and his books are fast paced, but at this point they sort of feel gimmick-y to me. View all my reviews

The Passengers by John Marrs My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. Fast paced mystery with some interesting twists. A bit more lecture-y than I would have liked and likely a tiny bit too long. but it was good to read when i am stuck. View all my reviews

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst My rating: 4 of 5 stars Really really enjoyed this story about a woman who moves back home after being laid off and is trying to come back home to herself. Several interesting themes are covered in this story but at the root of it is how we find our way back. View all my reviews

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was an excellent story that was too long. Maybe Kingsolver and I are just never meant to be. But It was too long. View all my reviews