Village in the Dark

By: Iris Yamashita
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 288

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Detective Cara Kennedy thought she’d lost her husband and son in an accident, but harrowing evidence has emerged that points to murder--and she will stop at nothing to find the truth in this riveting mystery from the author of City Under One Roof.

On a frigid February day, Anchorage Detective Cara Kennedy stands by the graves of her husband and son, watching as their caskets are raised from the earth. It feels sacrilegious, but she has no choice. Aaron and Dylan disappeared on a hike a year ago, their bones eventually found and buried. But shocking clues have emerged that foul play was involved, potentially connecting them to a string of other deaths and disappearances. 
 
Somehow tied to the mystery is Mia Upash, who grew up in an isolated village called Unity, a community of women and children in hiding from abusive men. Mia never imagined the trouble she would find herself in when she left home to live in Man’s World. Although she remains haunted by the tragedy of what happened to the man and the boy in the woods, she has her own reasons for keeping quiet.
 
Aided by police officer Joe Barkowski and other residents of Point Mettier, Cara’s investigation will lead them on a dangerous path that puts their lives and the lives of everyone around them in mortal jeopardy.

First Impressions

I haven’t been on a huge mystery kick to be honest. I find that I’ve been getting bored with them by about 50% and then I just skip to the end to find out what happened. However, when I saw the Northern Lights on the cover and saw that this one took place in Alaska, I knew I had to give it a shot.

What I thought

Cara is a detective with the Anchorage PD. In book one, she went to Point Mettier to solve a mystery. That small town is actually a town where everyone and everything is in one big condo building. In this book, she heads back there after finding a picture of her husband and son on the phone of a thug. Her husband and son were found dead a year ago, but now she’s not so sure about what happened.

I do want to preface this with the fact that I have not read book 1. So, I don’t know any of the history with Cara or what went down previously in Point Mettier. This book alternates between Cara’s point of view, Ellie’s point of view and Mia’s. Ellie is a long time resident of Point Mettier and is old and crotchety. Mia is a young woman who grew up in a small native town off the grid.

Even though I haven’t read the first book, I think this one does a nice job of letting you know some of the history without it feeling like you’re re-reading everything. I enjoyed Cara and her type of work. It didn’t seem like she fell into solving cases and she didn’t scare easily. Though to be fair, I don’t think she truly did much of the work in solving this mystery.

I’m a sucker for books that take place in Alaska because the culture just seems to different. I enjoyed all of the characters in this story and didn’t find it to be overly predictable. I think maybe it would’ve been more so if I had read the first book but, it was still enjoyable. I did get a little bit bored around the 50% mark but it did pick back up and I flew through the last 30%.

This is a solid 3.5 stars for me. The characters are strong and the plot was enjoyable and moved quickly. It was semi-predictable and, as you know, I do judge mysteries a little more harshly on that aspect. But I will say that it was nice that it wasn’t like some random solution just showed up in the end. I would be open to reading more of this series, especially given the set up for the characters at the end of the story. I would recommend this to you if you enjoy mysteries and don’t find that you need them to be overly complicated or surprise you too much.

Book Club February 2024- I Heart New York

By: Lindsey Kelk
Published Year: 2009
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 309

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella, get ready for the summer debut of the year...When you're running away from a broken heart, there's only one place to go...Adjusting tiaras at the foot of the aisle, Angela and her best friend prepare for the wedding of the year. But events don't go as planned. And when a girl is in possession of a crumpled bridesmaid dress - and can't go home - New York (for the very first time) seems like an excellent idea. Angela's new friend Jenny Lopez gives Angela a whirlwind tour of the city that never sleeps, and a makeover. Who hasn't dreamed of starting afresh with a sassy New York wardrobe, a new haircut and a trip to the make-up counter? Before she knows it, the new Angela is getting over her broken heart by having dinner with two different boys. And, best of all, she gets to write about it in her fabulous new blog. But it's one thing telling readers all about your romantic dilemmas. It's another trying to figure them out for yourself! Warm, funny and unputdownable, I Heart New York is an unforgettable debut.

What I thought

This book is probably one of the older books I’ve read in a while, so I was curious to see how it held up.

Angela finds out that her fiancé is cheating on her at her best friend’s wedding. She makes the impulsive decision to take everything that she has with her and flee to New York City from London. She has never been and has no plan except to be as far away from her ex as possible. While in New York, Angela meets Jenny who helps her with a makeover, both inside and out.

This book felt soooo 2009 in a good way. She goes on a shopping spree and she buys Mac makeup and Marc Jacobs clothing. I felt like I was watching an old YouTube video. Angela is a bit annoying at times. I think overall I liked her, but I also sometimes just wanted to slap her.

The issues I had were that she just magically falls on her feet this entire story. She hops into a cab with zero destination and ends up at a great hotel which happens to have a concierge who becomes her best friend. She then, within days of moving to New York and probably hours of a makeover, becomes the object of affection of not one but two super hot men. Nothing seems hard for her. I think the cheating issue is supposed to make us feel bad for her the entire time, but it got harder to feel bad for her when every step she took was successful.

I did like Angela and Jenny and that was probably my favorite relationship in the story. I had a little more difficulty liking either of the men she was with. I knew exactly who she was going to end up with, and felt that the way they made the decision happen felt a little cheap.

I think if I had read this book when it came out I would’ve fallen in love with it and wanted to read the rest of the 8 book series. I am intrigued enough that I read through the summaries of the rest of this series to find out what happened to Angela, but I don’t know if this is the type of book I’m currently into anymore.

What Book Club Thought

This one was not a hit. I seemed to like it the most compared to the rest of our members. It was interesting to talk about the issues that we had with the book and it did make me realize that parts of it annoyed me than I originally thought. We discussed how the writing felt immature and we couldn’t wrap our heads around how lucky Angela was in her first few days in New York City. I would say if you’re a younger reader, maybe still give this book a shot. But if you’re older than 21, maybe not.

Iron Flame

By: Rachel Yarros
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Pages: 658

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

First Impressions

I put this book on hold before I even finished Fourth Wing. It is the second book in the Emperyan series and I was very excited to get my hands on it. I love the cover and I think it compliments the first book in the series very well.

What I thought

I was beyond excited to get my hands on this book and it didn’t disappoint. If you haven’t read Fourth Wing and are planning on it, you might want to skip this review as it will be hard to review this one without potential spoilers to the first one.

This book picks up where Fourth Wing leaves off. Violet wakes up in Aretia following the Venin attack. She is battling with being lied to by her mother as well as Xaden and also the betrayal of Dain. Now she has to return to Basgaith with all of this new knowledge and try to keep herself and her friends safe.

This book has two parts and honestly they feel like completely different books. I was kind of surprised by how quickly this story has moved. I expected a bit more of a slow burn in regards to the rebellion and the dragons and venin and wyvern.

Yarros does a fabulous job of holding your attention and keeping you on the edge of your seat by not knowing who is going to die next. Violet’s growth in the book is also very well done. She feels very much like a 21 year old to me which I think can be difficult in these types of books. This book is definitely spicier than the first one. I understand that a lot of people really enjoy that this series has a heavy romance aspect to it, but I kind of feel like I could do without the sex scenes. When I read romance novels they feel like they fit and I don’t mind them. In this fantasy series, I’m much more invested in the fantasy element and just skim over those scenes.

This book did take me a little longer to get into compared to the first one, but once I got into it I was just as invested as the first one. For the most part, I don’t find myself being able to predict what’s happening until the end of the book. Just like in the first one, about 50-100 pages before the end, I had a suspicion I knew what was going to happen. I wasn’t 100% right, but I was definitely on the right track.

There were so many twists and turns. I feel like I read two books at once and am not really sure why it wasn’t broken up in a different day.

This book continued the series in a strong and enjoyable way. I’m intrigued and also nervous to see where the series goes next and can’t wait to read the third book. I do hope the next one has slightly less sex scenes than this one, but I know the genre is romantasy, so I’m not banking on it. If you enjoyed the first book, please continue this series!

A Winter in New York

By: Josie Silver
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 384

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.

When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice. 

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.

First Impressions

This was another book that was on a holiday reads Goodreads list. It wasn’t one that immediately jumped out at me because of the cover. Honestly, it was the title that made the best first impression since I had recently spent some time in New York this winter.

What I thought

This book is so much more than the cover and summary make it seem.

Iris has fled London for New York after falling into an emotionally abusive relationship. It’s been 3 years since her mother has passed and she always spoke highly of New York, so Iris knew it was where she needed to be. When she is at a food festival, she discovers a familiar door. This door turns out to be to a geleteria that her mother visited over 30 years ago. She also happens to have the secret recipe to their gelato that only two family members are supposed to have at a time. When she discovers that the recipe is recently unknown due to the owner having had a stroke, she decides she needs to secretly help Gio and the rest of the Belotti family.

I wish that the cartoon trend wasn’t a thing because I think it does a disservice to this book. The cover and even the description make this book seem like it’s a light romance that takes place in New York. But in reality, there is family secrets, drama, love, and growth. Iris becomes a completely different person from the start of the book to the end. It also takes place over the course of months which I love. I really enjoy books that you get to grow slowly with the characters.

Gio is a wonderful character as well. He is a good man who has his own things he’s working through and the instant chemistry between him and Iris is perfect for the romance side of this book. There is a lot that happens in this book and I don’t want to unravel it for you because that is part of what I enjoyed. Learning about the Belotti family and their secrets was satisfying.

Silver does a great job with developing all of the characters but also balancing them with light side characters that you immediately fall in love with. She also makes New York City its own character, and if I hadn’t already visited, I would want to go now. I read her debut, One Day in December, and remember thinking it was just ok. I haven’t picked up any of her other books since then, even though I know that people love them. This book makes me want to go back and look at her previous novels and give them a chance.

If you’re looking for a book to really dive into this winter, I highly recommend picking this one up. Even though the climax comes around Christmas and New Years, I wouldn’t say it’s a Christmas read. It’s a generational story that’s done in a wonderful way. I highly recommend picking this one up.

A Very Merry Bromance (Bromance Book Club #5)

By: Lyssa Kay Adams
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 359

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 'Tis the season for a Bromance Book Club matchmaking mission! This time, they're pulling out the mistletoe for everyone's favorite country music star, Colton, and his second chance at love.

Country music’s golden boy Colton Wheeler felt the most perfect harmony when he was with Gretchen Winthrop. But for her, it was a love him and leave him situation. A year later, Colton is struggling to push his music forward in a new direction. If it weren’t about to be the most magical time of year and the support of the Bromance Book Club, he’d be wallowing in self-pity.

It’s hard for immigration attorney Gretchen not to feel a little Scrooge-ish about the excess of Christmas when her clients are scrambling to afford their rent. So when her estranged, wealthy family reaches out with an offer that will allow her to better serve the community, she’s unable to say no. She just needs to convince Colton to be the new face of her family’s whiskey brand. No big deal…

Colton agrees to consider Gretchen’s offer in exchange for three dates before Christmas. With the help of the Bromance Book Club, Colton throws himself into the task of proving to her there’s a spark between them. But Gretchen and Colton will both need to overcome the ghosts of Christmas past to build a future together.

First Impressions

I have read the previous 4 Bromance Book Club books and I adore them. I love getting to know all of the guys (and some of the girls) in the previous books because it makes me cheer for them even more. I was excited when I saw the next one was a holiday romance.

What I thought

Colton wasn’t one of my favorite men in previous books. He’s a country star and came off a bit cocky and annoying in the previous books, but I liked him much more in his own story.

Colton just got news that his label doesn’t like his newest songs. Gretchen just got strong armed by her brother to try to get Clayton to be their family company’s next spokesperson. However, a year ago, Gretchen walked out on Clayton after a one night stand. Now they have to navigate their feelings with the rest of their lives.

This book is the grumpy/sunshine trope and it acknowledges it which I liked. Colton is all happiness until Gretchen rejects him. He then kind of spirals a little bit and struggles with his career. Gretchen on the other had is a very successful lawyer, but is grumpy and hates Christmas. Her family comes from a very prestigious whiskey company, but due to some neglect and other issues, Gretchen has pulled away from them until her brother calls her.

I liked Gretchen a lot. Even though she had her typical romance book issues that probably could’ve been handled a little differently, I felt like all of her actions were well explained. A lot of her past directly impacted her present actions and didn’t feel like she was overreacting. The romance between Colton and Gretchen had good chemistry but felt a little bit rushed. Colton fell head first after their one night stand, and I always struggle a little bit with love at first sight.

I don’t know if this was my favorite of the Bromance books, but it was definitely up there. The balance between fun and serious was perfect for me. I don’t think this series can do any wrong. I highly highly recommend checking it out and enjoying all of these characters.

The Breakup Tour

By: Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund Broka
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A rising-star musician has a second chance at love with an old flame she remembers all too well in this swoony romance from the acclaimed authors of The Roughest Draft .

Riley Wynn went from a promising singer-songwriter to a superstar overnight, thanks to her breakup song concept album and its unforgettable lead single. When Riley’s ex-husband claims the hit song is about him, she does something she hasn’t in ten years and calls Max Harcourt, her college boyfriend and the real inspiration for the song of the summer.

Max hasn’t spoken to Riley since their relationship ended. He’s content with managing the retirement home his family owns, but it’s not the life he dreamed of filled with music. When Riley asks him to go public as her songwriting muse, he agrees on one he’ll join her in her band on tour.

As they perform across the country, Max and Riley start to realize that while they hit some wrong notes in the past, their future could hold incredible things. And their rekindled relationship will either last forever or go down in flames.

First Impressions

I love Wibberley/Siegemund-Broka and I love Taylor Swift. I knew immediately I wanted to get my hands on this book. The cover is cute, if not a little on the immature side for my tastes. I still would’ve picked it up off the shelf based off the cover alone.

What I thought

I first read this duo with their YA debut. I loved the first two YAs they wrote, then the next two fell to 3 stars. They then switched to Adult books, and similarly, I have loved their first two that they’ve written. This one, however, it their lowest rating for me yet.

Riley Winn has recently his super popstardom with her recent album, The Breakup Album. Eleven breakup songs written about each one of her exes. She also recently got divorced from a jerk actor who is trying to claim her hit song is about him, while it’s actually about her college sweetheart. Max has been working at the nursing home his parents own, when his ex shoots to fame. He hasn’t listened to her album until she shows up and asks him to announce the song is really about him. Instead, he decides he wants to find out if he made a mistake giving up music, and asks to play piano for her on tour.

I hit about 75% of this book and just couldn’t keep going. I skimmed the last 25% which says eek. Riley is extremely unlikeable and Max is just whiney. This is supposed to be a second chance romance, which to be fair is not my favorite, but we don’t get enough of their history to understand why they work together. I dislike second chance romances because I often feel like they just have the people get back together without truly working on the issues that broke them up in the first place. This book does exactly that.

Riley pretty much moans the entire tour that she only knows how to write break up songs and therefore she can never find love because she’s broken and needs to keep her success. Yet she’s still obsessed with being successful and only wants to focus on her career. Max on the other hand, has zero idea what he wants in life. He is wandering through life completely unsure of anything except for the fact that he’s attracted to Riley. But again, that seems to be all there is??

The character development is poor. The drama is repetitive. The book is too long. I honestly don’t know if I could find anything positive to say other than the first 50% was relatively entertaining. But it lost me after that because it just continued with Riley moaning about her ex and wondering whether anyone would love her for who she really is.

It breaks my heart that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I have their previous novels. It just felt too much like Swifty pandering and I didn’t feel the romance at all. I loved Roughest Draft and Do I know You, so I’d recommend picking those up instead. This one is a skip for me.

2023 Reading Round-up

I continued to use Storygraph for fun stats this year. I will share my Diverse Reading stats, my favorite books of the year, and some other stats.

Starting off with general end of year statistics, I read 81 books this year. 39 of them were physical (one more than last year), 22 were audiobooks (13 more than last year!), and 20 were digital/e-reader (6 less than last year). The majority of books I read were between 300-499 pages with 6 books being 500 or more and 10 books being 200 or less. I also had a slightly better overall year with an overall rating of 3.82 compared to 3.79. I had 14 5 star reads (2 more than last year), but I had 10 books under 3 stars compared to 6 from last year. Another fun Storygraph fact, the month I read the most amount of books this year was August, which is funny because July was the month I read the least.

Jumping back to my Diverse Reading Stats:

For 2022

Black- 9
Asian/Indian- 12
Latinx- 1
White- 42
Male- 5

For 2023

Black- 3
Asian/Indian- 12
Native- 2
Male- 6
White- 53

I read 70 different authors out of the 81 books that I read, which meant I had a few multiples on there. Sadly, is looks like my diverse reads, especially black authors, dropped this year. My Asian/Indian stayed the same, and it was fun to add more Native authors to the list, but I didn’t do as good of a job being conscious of reading black authors. I think it felt I was reading more because two of them I read multiples by, but I definitely need to challenge myself to step it up next year. 24% down from 31% is quite a drop. That was even lower than 2021 for me. It’s definitely not something I’m doing on purpose. I even purchased at least two books by black authors this year that I haven’t gotten around to reading. Bummer.

Now onto my favorite and least favorite books of the year

My favorite audiobook was definitely We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu

My other top 5 books are

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Birdie and Harlow by Taylor Wolfe

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Mixed Signals (Lovelight Farms #3) by B.K. Borison

I did have a total of 14 5 star reads, so it was hard to pick. I tried to select books from new to me authors to highlight but also books I remember and think of when people ask me for recommendations. One honorable mention is that I’ve really loved listening to the Finlay Donovan is Killing It series on audiobook. They are so much fun and I need them to make it into a TV series. My other honorable mention is Reign by Katharine McGee. This was the final book in the American Royals series and it was so well done. I really enjoyed the whole series and this book wrapped it up perfectly.

My bottom 5 books this year were

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Making a Scene by Constance Wu

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

I have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

The Princess by Wendy Holden

While I didn’t DNF any books this year, The Princess was one of the ones I skimmed to get through to the end. I had a few of those this year.

I do love that I was able to read so much more just due to adding in audiobooks. It has been a lot of fun, but I think I’m going to challenge myself to select more diverse audiobooks to increase my diversity in what I’m reading. I had a pretty good year overall with books that I read, which always makes continuing to read easier.

What were your favorite/least favorite books of 2023?

Book Club January 2024- Oona Out of Order

By: Margarita Montimore
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Pages: 339

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.

What I thought

This was my pick this month. The last two books that we’ve read for book club have been downers and I haven’t enjoyed them much. I wanted to pick something that was a bit lighter and that I knew had some good reviews. My friend Carly had recommended this to me after she read it and I picked it up at a library book sale. I was really excited to get into it!

Oona’s birthday is New Years Day. When she turns 19, she jumps forward to 2015, where she is all of a sudden a 19 year old living in a 51 year old’s body. From that point forward, Oona does not live her life in order. Every year on New Year’s Day, she wakes up in a different year and never knows where or when. Inside, she is moving forward chronologically in age, but on the outside she is left to the whim of the leaps.

I have to say, this cover does not do this book justice. I have seen this book on a bunch of lists for years and it gave me more the vibe of Eleanor Olephant is Completely Fine, which, I enjoyed, but didn’t feel like I wanted another one. In actuality, this book is much more. It’s more like sci-fi/magical realism with the time travel and such. I’m kind of a sucker for time travel stories, though I will admit this one could end up leaving you frustrated.

I was immediately sucked in and loved learning where Oona was going to go next. It had a bit of a mystery element and I wanted to see what she experienced. My biggest gripe is a combo of this book is too short/I want to see more of Oona’s years, and the ending. I knew this book was going to be a hard one to have a satisfying ending for, but it still fell a little flat. We were told about all of these life events and then didn’t get to see them come to fruition. I feel like I need a sequel.

What really worked for me with this book was the concept of being young in an older person’s body and how perspective can change as you experience different parts of life. It becomes more obvious in Oona’s life as she jumps from year to year, but I think it’s a necessary lesson we all learn.

I’m so glad I was convinced to give this book a chance because I really enjoyed it. I am curious to see what else Montimore has written because I really liked the writing style. I highly recommend checking this one out. It got a lot of buzz when it came out and I feel like it lives up to the hype.

What Book Club Thought

Everybody loved it! We had a lot of good discussion about the questions we would’ve had, what we would’ve wanted to know, and then just general questions about where the story could go from here. We were also in agreement that we would’ve easily read more years. I also mentioned wanting to know more from her mom’s perspective and other members said that they wanted to know Kenzie’s perspective. It’s always nice to have a book that we all enjoy that also fosters a lot of good discussion. Sometimes there can be issues with time travel books because things don’t make sense, but this one followed rules that did. Though that doesn’t mean I don’t still have a million questions and need more! I definitely recommend reading this with at least one other person so you can discuss it with someone.