claudiaslibrarycard's reviews
1175 reviews

If you love sad/weird girl lit, this is for you. This gave me Rest and Relaxation meets Big Swiss (minus highly unethical actions and casual racism) vibes. 

Sad Janet is, well, sad. She works at a dog shelter. She can’t recall a time she felt really, really happy. And her family and friends are over it. Just take a pill, for goodness sakes. 

So when a Christmas pill hits the market, Janet considers it. And this is the story of that decision. I loved this one for it’s combination of sadness and snark. I’m not Sad Janet, but I felt seen. The ending was a bit quick, but I liked it. 

The Mirror House Girls is a fast paced character driven thriller about Winona. When Winona is down on her luck and hating her retail job, she makes some new friends who offer her a room for rent at a rate she can't turn down. 

Slowly but surely, Winona's living situation devolves. Mirror House starts out as a place that gives her belonging and its leader Simon is charismatic and makes Winona feel so much. However, things turn dark and Winona is asked to sacrifice so much for her place in the house. 

This book covers disturbing topics and while I felt the end brought things full circle in a respectful and cathartic way, I suggest looking at content warnings before putting this on your TBR. 

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is billed as a mashup of Daisy Jones and the Six and Wuthering Heights. Told in interviews, news pieces, and traditional prose, this is the story of elite level figure skaters. We specifically follow Katarina Shaw and her adopted sibling, Heath Rocha. 

I found this book long but I always wanted to keep reading. I liked the character development around Heath, but felt that Katarina's development was a bit less than I wanted for a nearly 500 page book's main character. The final 20% of this book had me hiding out and trying to block out the noise of many children and adults while visiting family after the holidays, as I was sure it was building to something huge. Alas, it was not- in my opinion. 

Many readers are loving this, so if it sounds good to you please go for it! Looking back, I'm not a fan of Wuthering Heights and toxic romance so this is a me problem. 

Innocent is a memoir about one woman's experience as a mother on welfare in the 1960s through 1980s. Read by the author, this audiobook comes across a bit flat in affect. However, I still found her story powerful and listened attentively to the end. 

Morrison came from a wealthy family in Baltimore, Maryland. Desperate to escape the privilege and racism of her upbringing, she became pregnant young and moved away. When she had children with a less than ideal partner, Morrison chose to be a single mother and thus turned to social welfare programs as a means to survive. 

Morrison had many layers of privilege which are somewhat acknowledged in this memoir. I think she does a good job of sticking to what is her story to tell and staying general about what is not her lived experience. I think this book runs a bit too long, but it did open my eyes to how much social welfare has declined in the last few generations and how critical it is for the good of children, families, and communities. 

A Killing Cold is a twisty thriller with a winter setting and classic Kate Alice Marshall characters. I recommend this book to new adult readers because of the age of some of the characters, but I think it will appeal to most readers of the genre. 

Theo has fallen in love with Connor Dalton, a member of a very wealthy family, and now she is traveling to their isolated winter retreat. As the story progresses, the vacation is not what she had in mind and she has to reckon with fuzzy memories (or lack thereof) from her childhood. 

I couldn't stop listening to this audiobook, but it won't be a memorable one for me. I find that I enjoy KAM much more on audio than physically reading because I'm able to gloss over some of the very predictable character development and two dimensional side characters. If you're looking for a fun, binge worthy audiobook this winter, consider picking this up. 

Don't Let Him In is yet another compulsive read by Lisa Jewell. While you will probably figure out where the story is headed early on, her writing makes it hard to put down because you don't want to look away from the train wreck that is coming. 

After being very disappointed in her last title, None of This is True, I was hesitant but wanted to give LJ another chance. Don't Let Him In signals to me that maybe Jewell received some of the negative feedback for NOTIT as this is that story flipped on it's head in some ways. 

This is the story of a man who has many names, many wives and girlfriends, and somehow manages to charm and cheat his way into women's hearts and bank accounts. And just when you think you know the depth of his crimes, LJ will surprise you again. 

Overall this was an enjoyable read for me and I recommend it if you like her writing style. 

Unromance was such a fun read with just enough depth to make it relatable and more realistic. This is a story of Sawyer Green, a struggling author who has a one night stand with a celebrity, Mason West, but she doesn't know that until after the fact. 

Mason challenges Sawyer to ruin romance for him one typical trope at a time, and you can guess where this leads. I appreciated all the layers of representation that were built into this story, especially around complicated family dynamics and childhood trauma. And Connor deftly manages to include serious topics while keeping the tone of this book positive and even keel. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook production of this title and I definitely recommend it if you like romance novels that begin with a one night stand and build towards something more.