(A) means I listened to it.
(RR) means I re-read it.
(P) means I read it on paper.
I link titles to Powell’s Books if they carry them. I will often link to an edition other than the one I read. If Powell’s doesn’t have it, I will link to Amazon. These are not affiliate links.
I also log my reading on StoryGraph. I’m KarenD there. Feel free to friend (or follow) me. Once in a while I add spoilers to my reviews there in addition to what I write on this page (using spoiler tags there, of course).
January 1, 2025 to Now: (latest finished on top)
Acoustics, London Price
Finally pulled this out of the TBR folder on my Kindle. It’s good enough that I’d read the next in the series, but it seems the ebooks aren’t around anymore, so that’s sad.
Quilter’s Knot, Arlene Sachitano (P)
The quilting parts of the story were solid. I was less impressed by the murder mystery bits and all the details about what they ate and what they wore. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I’d read the first book in the series before this one so I’d have better understood the animosity between the main character and the main suspect. (Bought on vacation in Sunriver, OR several years back.)
No Ordinary Duchess, Elizabeth Hoyt
Liked this twist on a historical plot. Might need to take a break from this time period for a while, as the whole “oh no what if society finds out” followed by society finding out and nothing really serious seeming to happen is wearying.
Meet Me by the Fountain, Alexandra Lange
Liked this history of malls in America. I’d been to a few of the iconic ones mentioned, though what I consider my coming of age mall was not among the featured developments.
The Roommate, Rosie Danan
This felt like it was hedging its bets: sex work positive but not so much that the MMC was still performing. Distractions for my neurospicy brain: wearily used where warily would have been more appropriate, toeing on one’s shoes instead of toeing them off, stairwell used where railing would have fit better.
Impact, Nikki Markham
While I’m all for F/F BDSM romance, this one was not for me. My brain got distracted by things such as which POV am I in right now, do people really wander into the backrooms of clubs to find BDSM scenes going on without any prior knowledge, the logistics of pulling on a leash attached to a collar of someone performing oral sex (is the attachment point in back or front? etc.), how do you consume fries and a milkshake while walking and also carrying a BDSM toy bag, and are kids really calling it a strap rather than a strap-on.
Play Like a Feminist, Shira Chess
This has some good nuggets in it. Some of it went over my head as I’m not steeped in academia and some of the language felt very academic/opaque to me. I might try re-reading when I’m in a different state of mind.
Birding with Benefits, Sarah T. Dubb
Liked the older main characters (they are of course not as old as I am). Didn’t feel like I was asked too many too many suspensions of my disbelief.
Any Duke in Storm, Amalie Howard
This is the historical that it took me a while to finish while I was zooming through two contemporaries. I’m not sure why it didn’t grab me, as it has so many elements I like. Might just be where my brain is at right now.
Beach Read, Emily Henry
I seem to be developing more of a taste for contemporary romance, as I started and finished this while a historical was languishing in progress on my Kindle. I can see why this one was so popular.
Like Lovers Do, Tracey Livesay
Raced through this to start, then had to put it down fairly near the end because I just couldn’t with the MCs doing a couple of dumb things that seemed out of character. Turned out okay when I got back to it.
Her Naughty Holiday, Tiffany Reisz
Started this one on audio as it was the only format I could find in any of the libraries I have access to, but that didn’t work for me so bought the ebook and raced through it.
Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong
Appreciated the exposure to viewpoints I don’t often come across.
Give Me Butterflies, Jillian Meadows
Coincidentally, this had some echoes of a couple of the themes in the previous book I finished (Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating). I liked this better. So much better I neglected my other reading in progress until I finished it.
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, Christina Lauren
This was fine. If I’d checked the tropes ahead of time I might have skipped it, but that’s a me problem. Did appreciate the inclusion in the epilogue. Didn’t even notice the “politics” that some negative reviews mentioned.
The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde with Nicholas Frankel
A genre challenge on StoryGraph gave me the nudge to finally read this classic. I was glad for the foreword to give me context, though it was also chilling … how long before we’re living in the 1890s again, with people going to jail for creating homoerotic content (and this is very mild compared to some of the modern erotic I’ve read).
The Truth About Him, M. O’Keefe
I was so frustrated that the first book was a cliffhanger that it took me years to read this second one (waited until I found it at a library on ebook). Still not a world I like to spend time in … too gritty, too many MC members, too much pain and violence … but now I know how it ends.
Weird Fucks, Lynne Tillman (P)
Picked this up on a whim at a bookstore in Seattle that I happened upon when I was in town for a class. The weird part for me was how unsexy the sex was in this. I think it’s a “not for me” book.
The Highwayman, Kerrigan Byrne
This is from 2015, which doesn’t seem like that long ago, so I wasn’t prepared for some of the content in this one the way I would have been with an older historical romance. I would say I should have checked the content warnings before I read it, but I’d have probably gone ahead anyway.
What Every Senior Should Eat, Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing (P)
Reading this is the book equivalent of flipping through reels on Facebook. Lots and lots of bite sized pieces of information with not much support for how factual anything is or how the recommendations might interact with each other. The items are at least roughly organized by theme at least, but that means some things are mentioned several times in several places. There’s no attempt made to tie things up into overall recommendations.
Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall
This was so good. I pretty much ignored my other books in progress while I read this one. I laughed more than once and smiled a lot, and the angst and misunderstandings seemed realistic for the modern setting.
Getting Rid of It: Eliminate the Clutter in Your Life, Betsy Talbot, Warren Talbot
There were a few good nuggets in here, but it isn’t something I’ll come back to when I’m ready to declutter for real, I don’t think. The repeated ads for their website/course were annoying.
Honeytrap, Aster Glen Gray
This had been on my TBR for a while but no library I have access to now had it. Finally bought it and so glad I did. I never quite knew where this was headed, and I liked that.
Gray Hair Don’t Care, Karen Booth
Liked this one, with its older main characters and fairly low angst. Looking at the highlights and notes I made on my device, there was a refreshing lack of plot points and details that took me out of the story.
You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince, Timothy Janovsky
Main character was very unsympathetic to start, to the point where I considered giving up and picking a different book for the challenge I read this for. Glad I persevered.
An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole
Took me a while to get through this because I kept having thoughts about how the white men in power in the US now would love to go back to these times. It’s a good book, just a bit out of my comfort zone (and it’s important to read out of that zone sometimes).
Goodbye Junie Moon, June Collins
It took me a while to get into the rhythm of this book, which starts out near the end of the time period in the author’s life that this covers, then alternates between flashbacks to her childhood/early adulthood in Australia and her time in Asia during the Vietnam war era. Both of those parts were interesting just my brain had trouble with them being interspersed. I realize not all brains work the way mine does.
Kiss the Girl, Zoraida Cordova
A Little Mermaid retelling set in the modern day music industry. A few details distracted me from fully sinking into the plot at points but mostly I just enjoyed the ride (though I had to close the book for a bit when the villain showed up).
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Lindsay C. Gibson (P)
Another lens to look at myself through. I think I’m going to need to re-read this to absorb more of the concepts here. Given that both my parents are gone, sections of this aren’t as relevant to me as they would have been earlier but there’s still a lot of food for thought and maybe action here.
Marriage & Masti, Nisha Sharma
Liked this one a lot. Even though it was third in a series I hadn’t read the first two of, I never felt lost or confused.
Rules for Ghosting, Shelly Jay Shore
Loved this. Made me cry. Made me smile.
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