Source: Book of the Month

Recent Reads | The Chowder House Murder and The Unknown

Posted August 20, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I saw this book at the library and grabbed it on a whim – a cozy mystery centered around a chowder house set in Coastal Maine? Perfect for me. I almost returned it without reading it like I unfortunately do with a lot of library books, but I decided to just push myself to actually read it… and I’m really glad I did! I think this is a promising start to a new cozy mystery series that I will definitely be continuing. I obviously loved the Maine and chowder restaurant. The mystery itself was interesting too! I didn’t put all the pieces together but did feel like I was coming to the same conclusions along with the characters. There was a fun multi-generational element here with the grandma, mom, and daughter, along with the sons of the grandma character (brothers or uncles for the other two obviously). I found some repetition in spots that could’ve used more editing. For example, on one page it said something about Tom being handsome and charming, “not to mention a real looker,” as if that isn’t the same thing has handsome? And in one paragraph one of the villains says something like “you think you’re real smart, don’t you?” and two seconds later “you think you’re real clever, don’t you?” My other main issue with the book is that there were a ton of characters. I know this is meant to set up some red herrings while also laying groundwork for future characters in […]

Recent Reads | Nightwatching and This Story Might Save Your Life

Posted March 26, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This book has been on my radar for a while but I wasn’t sure what I’d think of it. Many reviews said the book starts one way and kind of turns into something else for the second half, so I was just on the fence. I saw it at the library and decided I was in the mood for it, then randomly picked it up when we got a blizzard. This book is also set during a snowstorm so I thought the vibes would be perfect. I ended up being really glad I picked this one up! The book starts with a bang – a mother is alone in her house with her two kids when she notices an intruder. They manage to hide while she figures out what to do, and realizes who the man is. I won’t say anything else that happens because yes, the book takes a bit of a turn. It was incredibly suspenseful and creepy from the jump, especially to read at night. I’m glad I didn’t have this on my Kindle to read in bed! The next part of this paragraph is generally/slightly spoiler-y but not in a way that would ruin the book: I was so frustrated in many scenes with the cops (shocker) but really enjoyed the often tense ride. There are some intentional/interesting choices by the author though. I didn’t realize until I finished that she doesn’t include names for literally any characters, I’m fairly positive – I’m assuming this was a […]

Recent Reads | The Ghostwriter and Anatomy of an Alibi

Posted January 29, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I realized I forgot to review this one last year for some reason. I really try to keep track of all the full-length novels I read on the blog so here’s my delayed reaction to this one! I was intrigued by the premise of this and luckily it was incredibly addicting to read. The book follows a couple of timelines and POVs. The Taylor family suffers a major loss in 1975 when two siblings are murdered and suspicion surrounds the remaining sibling, Vincent. He turns into a successful horror writer and eventually decides to write a memoir. His daughter Olivia is a ghostwriter and he refuses to work with anyone else. Cue Olivia’s return home to her complicated relationship with her father and a potential reveal that she is his daughter, something she’s kept secret her entire career. I enjoyed seeing some footage – for lack of a better word, you’ll see if you read it – of the 1975 timeline along with Olivia interacting with her father in present day. I thought the book was incredibly interesting while reading it but didn’t really think it would stick with me too much. Looking back, not a ton happens? There were a couple of twists but for some reason I really thought it was going to be full of them. The plot was generally intriguing and I’m glad I picked it up! Our book club overall really enjoyed this one as well, which was nice. I’ll definitely be curious to read […]

Recent Reads | The Fury and What Happens in Amsterdam

Posted May 22, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Unlike everyone else on the planet, I actually haven’t read THE SILENT PATIENT yet. It didn’t stop me from grabbing THE FURY in my BOTM over a year ago though – classic Lauren. I thought the premise sounded pretty good without carrying all the hype of his other book. The story is narrated by one of the characters – Elliot – and breaks the fourth wall a lot, along with a stream of consciousness kind of narrative voice. He and his famous friends (Lana and her husband Jason and son Leo, plus their friend Kate) head to Lana’s private Greek island for a little R&R. The story kind of “unravels” from there when one of them is murdered. The setup and format of the storytelling was interesting, but the idea was better than the execution. I think the structure of the book was meant to create tension but really it ended up being boring. I don’t feel like I can say more about how he narrated it without directly spoiling, but it was basically like “oh I told you all this now let’s go back in time to talk more about what happened first” or “I actually left a few things out that you may find important now, so here’s more details.” I can understand why the format was like this – it’s almost like the author knew he wanted to make a very basic mystery more interested by using this kind of storytelling and then figured out what the […]

Recent Reads | A Killing Cold and The Five Year Lie

Posted February 19, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been saying for years that I need to read a Kate Alice Marshall book and I’m glad I finally did! Apparently it just took me getting it in my BOTM. (By the way, I am getting much better at reading those…) The book follows Theo as she heads to her new fiance’s remote cabin in the woods to meet his family for the first time in their whirlwind romance. The mysterious, uber-wealthy family has spent years of summers and Christmases at their compound with cabins up in Vermont. When she finds a photo of herself in the abandoned cabin, memories of her childhood slowly come back. Is it possible she’s somehow been there before? I really loved this one and read the majority of it in a day. I found myself continually turning the pages to see what happened next. I was suspicious of the entire family at different points in the book and it really wasn’t what I expected to be honest. I think the majority of things I could discuss would be spoilery so I’ll just say that the atmosphere of this book was really well-done and perfect to read on a snowy weekend like I did! Some things were a little convenient (fate? IYKYK) and didn’t seem realistic at all. There were a couple of explanations for those things but do think the reader needs to suspend their disbelief to really buy into it. I ended up really liking the end of the book and the […]

Recent Reads | Onyx Storm and Beautiful Ugly

Posted February 6, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

If you thought IRON FLAME was a slog to get through with all of the filler and unnecessary fighting, allow me to introduce you to ONYX STORM! Also a slog with even more filler and (at least) less fighting. This book would be boring for 100 pages and then offer 50 pages of intrigue and then keep repeating until the end of the book. I’m starting to question the sanity of myself and others who continue to read the series – I genuinely don’t get it. FOURTH WING was a comparatively fun ride, especially for those nostalgic for old school YA fantasy, aged up into romantasy with sex scenes. I still didn’t really understand the five star reviews of that book because of the horrible, repetitive romance and writing style but at least I could understand why the experience was fun for folks. This book and its predecessor brought to the table a whole lot of nothing except for at the very end. And this one doesn’t have me itching to pick up the next book like IRON FLAME did. I’m wondering if this is where me and my FOMO part ways with this series… We’ll see how I feel when the next one comes out but as of now I’m mostly frustrated and confused. I’m gonna go read some theories because this book pretty much answered nothing that was brought up in the previous two books. If it’s true that this was originally a trilogy and got pushed to […]

Recent Reads | Beg, Borrow, or Steal and The Favorites

Posted January 23, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Sarah Adams doesn’t miss. She really doesn’t. I put her up there with Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez in terms of “guaranteed five-star read” for me. Her writing is similar with the banter and excellent characters, but her books feel so real – the banter never verges on “people don’t talk like this in real life” like other books can. I loved Emily and Jack so much; their dynamic was really fun. They both have complex histories and family relationships that just added to everything. Emily is very much the older sister in the family – she’s type A, organizes everyones lives, and keeps her siblings in line. Jack was once engaged and moved away, only to return to his job as a teacher with Emily in Rome… and single… and living next door. There was a lot of of bickering in this hate-to-love romance and I loved how well the two of them could read each other no matter what. There was a slow burn realization that they likely had feelings for each other and they started using those perception skills for good instead of evil. There’s something about these books that are simultaneously sweet without being cringy, sexy without a lot of spice scenes, and charming without being overbearing. I just love this little town and all of the people in it! As always, the cameos with the other couples and siblings were so good. I can’t wait for the final book – it better be Madison and […]

Recent Reads | Only If You’re Lucky and Lost Man’s Lane

Posted January 16, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been meaning to read this author forever and I’m pleased that I think I’ll enjoy her other books – maybe even more than this one based on reviews! This story follows Margot at the end of her freshman year of college – she lost her best friend Eliza before school and is just trying to get through the year. When enigmatic Lucy randomly invites Margot to live with her and her two friends, she jumps at the chance to forge some real friendships again. The book flashes “before” and “after” – in the after, Lucy is missing and a frat boy from Margot’s hometown is dead. How is everything connected? The author did a great job of making me wonder that the entire story, but my biggest complaint is around pacing. The story starts and builds pretty slow. There’s a lot of “privileged kids getting drunk and doing drugs” to build up the friendship dynamics, which made sense, but it didn’t feel like a mystery/thriller for the bulk of it. Don’t get me wrong: the college setting was super fun and I want more books there… but the beginning felt like a YA contemporary. However! Once the twists started, I was enthralled. There were a number of reveals I absolutely didn’t see coming, though there were a couple I had predicted. The ending was really surprising and enjoyable. I feel like some pieces were unbelievable but I didn’t really care – it was well-plotted in many ways. Willingham will […]

Recent Reads | Worst Case Scenario and The God of the Woods

Posted October 14, 2024 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been absolutely loving TJ Newman’s books lately – I know I haven’t looked that hard, but I don’t think a lot of authors are writing thrillers like these! (If you have recs, let me know!) They’re basically disaster thrillers where an airplane causes some kind of havoc – her first book was about a hijacked plane crashing, the second book had a plane sinking underwater and needing rescue, and this one is about a plane crashing into a freakin nuclear power plant. The setup, as a result, was a bit different – the plane has already crashed and the team at the power plant / in the small town have to rally together to figure out how to save everyone. There were definitely similar elements to her first two books, like going back and forth between different people involved, but not really a past/present situation. Everything is happening real time in this one. I didn’t expect to finish this book as quickly as I did and ended up kind of sobbing at the end of it! I think each of Newman’s books have gotten stronger (especially with characters and emotional punch) as they’ve come out. I feel like the ending was a little abrupt but otherwise this was super addicting. I cannot fathom the amount of research that must go in to all of her books… She has all of this stuff about nuclear power plants and underwater welding and crazy things that go beyond her normal flight attendant […]

Recent Reads | The Unmaking of June Farrow and The Finder’s Keepers Library

Posted July 22, 2024 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This book intrigued me from the start but I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. It doesn’t help that almost everyone gave it five-stars! I was truly expecting to be blown away lol. I think my expectations got the best of me and I really expected MORE from the elements that I knew the book contained: time travel, mystery spanning generations, romance, and general magical realism. I don’t know how to even review this, especially after sitting with it for a few days. The story follows June Farrow, the last in line of the Farrow women, after her grandmother passes away. They all have some kind of “illness” that makes them hallucinate doors and other things. June begins to investigate what’s happening to hear and steps through a door that appears. Cue the time travel science that was hard to follow but I just ignored it while pretending I understood. I realized that there’s a good chance literary mysteries are not for me – it made the book only somewhat intriguing and also quite boring, pulling the weaker elements from both genres together. I wanted more twists and intensity like I’d get in a mystery while also seeing some strong character development and romance. All of the elements of this story felt surface-level. I heard people describe this as a fever dream and discuss how much they loved the characters and didn’t want to leave them behind, which totally baffled me. I felt zero connection to any of the characters […]