Husbands and Lovers – Beatriz Williams: I was so disappointed in this one. I have really loved all of her other work so had high hopes, plus it is rated well. There are two different storylines and each styoryline has two time periods. I don’t think that part was done well. It got confusing with all the different characters. Each storyline was interesting but not terribly believable. The “main” storyline characters were so unlikeable and not fully flushed out in my opinion. There were WAY too many spoken sentences that ended in a (?) which made the characters seem dumb.

The Briar Club – Kate Quinn. I loved this. I’ve loved everything by her so this was no surprise. This takes place in the 50’s which is a time period lacking a bit in the popular historic fiction space. The house as a character made me nervous at first but I ended up really enjoying it. There are 5 (?) women being followed by the story and each one reveals itself in seperate sections. There is a mystery element that had a really juicy reveal at the end.

How to Age Disgracefully – Clare Pool: Gosh this was fun! The audiobook is 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻. This book follows a senior citizens group though various antics and personal problems. I loved everyone involved.

The Love of my Afterlife- Kirsty Greenwood: This was predictable and light but totally fun. It got a little deep towards the end which was a welcome surprise.

The Fountains of Silence – Ruta Sepetys: I loved her last book “I must Betray you” and this was just as good. This takes place in Spain during Franco’s reign and shines light on so many different perspectives during that time. So well done.

Brooklyn – Colm Toibin: I started this on audio and I’m so glad I did. The accents were so needed to tell this story well. It was a little slow but I got such a feel for the world and the time that it felt welcoming to pick up each time. I watched the movie after which I thought was well done. I think it would have been a little boring without reading the book, but as a supplement it was good.

Lies and Weddings – Kevin Kwan: I loved Crazy Rich Asians but this just wasn’t the same. I honestly think he should write screenplays for movies because this one would be a fun movie. I really dislike how he writes women… I noticed it in the Crazy Rich asians trilogy as well. Every character is extremely one note and doesn’t change the whole time. The name dropping starts to be distracting as well.

Nosy Neighbors – Freya Sampson: Really similar to “Lonely People” and “How to Age Disgracefully” but just as heart warming. My only issue with it is the “problem” the main character is running from (happened when she was 10) was a bit of a let down and didn’t feel realistic.

Kill for me, Kill for you – Steve Cavanagh: wooof this was a trip. *content warning: super dark and has a lot of murder content (I mean it’s in the name…) Other than the difficult content the twist was one of the best I have read in a long time. So well done.

DNF: “Birding with Benefits” I had high hopes for this one but it went off the rails quick. The side characters were distracting and I just couldn’t keep going.