Author: Libby

What I Read in 2024 (and a plea to start using StoryGraph)

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It’s that time of year where I beg of you to drop Goodreads (boo, Amazon!) and start using The StoryGraph to track your reading. There are so many reasons that I love StoryGraph and I’ve definitely sung those praises in the past*. But this year they rolled out a new feature that I absolutely adore–allow me to tell you about it.

I don’t know if you’re like me but sometimes I don’t like reading book reviews or even the blurb on the inside of the cover because of the spoilers. Sometimes I just want to know if the book will be for me without giving it all away! And they understand. So, they started offering a feature called “StoryGraph Preview”. They use AI (their own AI, mind you–this isn’t connected to, like, Chat GPT or anything like that) to create little blurbs to describe who will enjoy this book. I love this so much!!! It’s a feature that you have to opt-in to. So if you want to see this, you’ll have to go into your settings to get it going, but here’s an example.

I just bought this book the other day so hopefully I’ll be starting it soon.

*Other reasons that I love StoryGraph: Any money made on this app doesn’t go to Amazon or Jeff Bezos–it goes to Bookshop.org which supports indie bookstores (and obv the app creators)!! It’s Black Woman owned. You can mark a book as DNF (my biggest gripe with Goodreads). You can do 1/2 and 1/4 star reviews. If you’re thinking you don’t want to switch to a different app because you’ve been using Goodreads for so long and you don’t want to lose your data, never fret! You can upload your Goodreads data into StoryGraph. Yeah, that’s right. They’ve thought of everything.

But my favorite part is THE DATA THAT THEY COLLECT?! They know way more about my reading than even I do. Which is fun. Every month there’s a cutie little graphic to show what you’ve read and how you’ve liked it. Here’s a very quick look at my 2024 Books in Review (but there’s so much more info–I just don’t want to bore you:

Since, I’ve written reviews of each of these books, I think that I’ll go ahead and just link to each of the reviews and keep a simple list. But also please know that I am very generous with my DNF’s and my finished books have an average rating of 4.5 so believe me when I say you can’t go wrong with almost any of the books I read this year (with the exception of Salem’s Lot, Till Death Do Us Part, and The Mystery Writer).

In no particular order, my absolute favorites were:

Family Family by Laurie Frankel

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

Funny Story by Emily Henry

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Daydream by Hannah Grace

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Wild Love by Elsie Silver

What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci

What I Read in October and November 2024

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I didn’t feel like writing about what I read in October. I don’t remember why but this past month I’ve been feeling more and more compelled to come over to this space. It’s just that… I don’t have a clue what to write about anymore. It’s wild because there was a time where I never wanted to do anything but write. I wanted to make it my whole livelihood! I’m not sure that much is for me, these days. But I would love to stretch that muscle a little bit more. I’m sure something will come to me but if you have any ideas, I’m all ears.

In October, I read three books.

I started with Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford.

I really loved this book so much. I just snagged it off the new release shelf at the library because I really like books about old ladies. And this one was no different.

On its face it’s a book about an older woman who joins a fictionalized version of the Great British Bake Off and has a secret that she’d really like to keep.

But at its core, this is a book about the complexity of long relationships, the power of unconditional love, but mostly about taking the opportunity to take what you want out of life–even if you haven’t believed that you’d deserve it until now. It’s never too late to take what you want–even if you didn’t know what that was until just now.

The characters are absolutely lovable and darling. I couldn’t get enough of these folks.

Then I read The Fastest Way To Fall by Denise Williams. Another book I absolutely loved!

Britt is a plus-sized hottie that works as a writer for a lifestyle blog (me in another life). She gets an assignment to try out a new body-positive fitness app and give her full and honest opinion. Things are going great when her posts start going viral and getting tons of views–and she also starts falling for her coach. Things start getting a little out of hand as her fame rises and then yadda yadda yadda… I’m not gonna give it all away.

Here’s what I will say: the banter is A+. The spice is comparatively tame (in relation to a lot of other books out there) I’d give it 2.5/5 chili peppers. I did take a point off because of a personal pet peeve of mine that I won’t tell you about because it’s a spoiler.
A note for my body-positive friends: I was nervous that this book would have weight loss talk in it or that our fat main character or other characters would be concerned with that. I can’t say there’s none of that but it is a topic used to point out who’s a good person and who sucks. So that’s nice. And the love interest is obsessed with her body as-is. There are also a few other scenes where the main character notices the way her body is changing but not in a way that glorifies thinness as much as it celebrates her strength. I recommend it!

Next up was Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks. Full disclosure: I got this book because I thought it would be a nice, semi-spooky romance to read for Halloween. I was wrong (no spook whatsoever). But that’s okay because I loved it anyway!

It’s about this shy, demisexual Irish mortician (that’s where “morbidly” comes from in the title) who has to get married before he turns 35 or he’ll lose his family’s funeral home. Meanwhile, his new neighbor is a feisty Texas girl who’s trying to leave her messy past behind. They’re total opposites, obviously, and it’s super awkward at first, but then… you know. Feelings. It’s funny, it’s sweet, and it’s got just the right amount of chaos.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that took place in Ireland before! The beginning of the book has a glossary full of Irish words and their English translations. So when Irish characters use those words, you can flip to the front to get the phonetic spelling so you can say it, quietly, to yourself and feel cool. Also… there are extra spicy Irish words and phrases at the back of the book. Because… you’ll need that too.

In October I DNF’d these two books:
The Old Place by Bobby Finger (was really enjoying it but not feeling compelled)
Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (this book seems really good but my brain is still smooth and just wants light stuff–I can’t wait to dig back into all my thrillers again though!)

In November, I read two books.

I read fewer pages this month, but I feel like I read a lot more often than I did in October! I’ve been reading every day (or close to it) and that feels good. That’s something I want to keep up with.

Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young was so good! I have never read a book that handled disability the way this did. UGH! I felt really seen–even though our disabilities are very different.

I will tell you something I didn’t know about before picking it up–but also, it’s something that if I had known, it would have kept me from reading this book. And I would be poorer for it. This book does prominently feature a pregnancy. If you’re avoiding pregnancy tropes because of trigger reasons–by all means, avoid this one. But if it’s just because you think you know how it’s going to go or something like that? I recommend getting past that and picking this one up.

Both main characters in this book have limb disabilities (as does the author of this book!) and while that’s not the main feature of any character–it’s also absolutely not ignored! And I love that. Because in your relationship, your family, your friendships, no matter what accommodations you need, they will come up! And this demonstrates it so beautifully.

Also, and I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say this, there is no annoying 3rd act breakup scene. *Siri, play the Hallelujah Chorus*

The day after the election, I was dead inside and I didn’t feel like reading anything at all. But then the bookstore called and said that a book that Ryan had special ordered came in and, what do you know, he’d bought me a copy of Stanley Tucci’s newest book. That was exactly what I needed.

So then I read What I Ate in a Year by Stanley Tucci. I would tell you about it here but I actually had to come over to my blog and write a whole post dedicated to only this book. Here’s a link.

Stanley Tucci, What I Ate in One Year (and Related Thoughts)

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I started Stanley Tucci’s latest memoir the day after the election because I needed something that required absolutely nothing from me. This book didn’t need my emotions or intellect. I didn’t have to be smart or even all that invested in order to give it my attention. On a week when I’m all brained out? Perfect.

I was heartbroken to finish the book today. Between the cost of hardcover books these days (thirty five US dollars) and how much I was enjoying it, I was saddened to turn the last page.

As you would assume, What I Ate in One Year starts on January 2, 2023 and goes through January 1, 2024 chronicling a year in the life of Stanley Tucci. When the book opens, he’s in the middle of filming a movie that I just saw a preview for in a theater last month. So… that was pretty fascinating to me. I had no interest in the film when I saw the preview but now that I know he was staying in a hotel suite that he really didn’t care for and avoiding terrible craft services by making his own minestrone (but thoroughly enjoying his co-stars and director) throughout, I gotta say, I’m invested.

I’m never drawn to celebrity memoirs. Probably because I am certain that they’ll be filled with fancy cars, yachts, and other things I don’t care about. Something about Stanley’s first memoir, Taste, appealed to me though. The fact that it was centered around food instead of celebrity. But the main reason that I read Taste was because I was a bookseller at the time and I got a free advance of the audiobook and he narrated it. And I do love his voice ever so much. Who could resist? Taste was magical. And I’m glad I listened on audiobook, if only to hear him gag as he speaks of breaking spaghetti prior to cooking it.

So I picked up What I Ate in One Year knowing that I’d find a book full of heart and thoughtfulness and humor (and a few recipes). And I certainly did. There was also a fair share of things like luxurious vacations and a-list celebrity friends and relatives, movie premieres, galas, etc. But I think what I loved so much about this book was the way that Stanley is all of us. At the end of the day, he comes home from work. He makes spaghetti for his children. He scrubs the dishes. He watches a movie on the couch until bedtime. He wakes up and does it all again.

The way he talks about his family and friends is with so much love–as someone who has known the depths of grief. And we know that he did–his wife of 14 years passed away when his oldest children were quite young. I wonder if that’s why he writes of his family and friends with so much ache and appreciation.

And through it all–whether you’re in-laws with Emily Blunt and John Krasinski or a regular person flailing her way through a mid-life change (hi), there are dishes in the sink. Not because the chores are endless but because we are sharing meals and wine with people that we love.

Anyway, I’m wondering if I’m opposed to celebrity memoirs because of what I imagine celebrity to be and not because I’m appreciating the very real humanity of the person who just so happens to be a celebrity. In the end, we all eat spaghetti.

What I Read in September 2024

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Yeah, I skipped a month. I didn’t read anything in August at all. And I’ve read hardly anything (relatively speaking) in September. There’s a lot of change happening in my life right now and, I’ll be honest, the adjustment period is far longer than I expected it to be.

First of all, I sold our bookstore! We had been planning to do this for well over a year at this point, so I’m kind of shocked that I can say that we did it. The new owner took over last month and it’s been so fun to see the way that she’s changing things and making it her own! She jumped in and made changes that I’d been thinking of but too tired to do for years, now. I’m really excited for the fresh energy that has been injected into this store and I’m thrilled that our local, indie bookstore is still around for our community! Small towns NEED indie bookstores. In my humble opinion.

That being said, I worked in the bookstore since 2016 and as a result, my reading life was weird. I read a lot–but almost never just for the sheer pleasure of it all. I didn’t read anything without wondering how I would sell it, who I might sell it to, how I would write a catchy review about it… If you look back at my previous blog posts, you’ll see that I was reading almost exclusively books that hadn’t been released yet or books that just came out. If a book was more than a few weeks old, I didn’t even bother reading it. I had newer things I needed to be on top of so that I could stock the store with good things that I was intimately familiar with. And that was fun! Getting books before anyone else did was fun. It was also kind of lonely, honestly, because I didn’t have anyone to talk books with. No one had ever read the books I was reading.

And I was also so busy that I hardly ever read physical books. It was all audiobooks all the time. Well, let me tell you, that sure has flipped! I haven’t listened to an audiobook since July–and here it is October (well, tomorrow it will be October). The effects of burnout are far-reaching, turns out. And not quickly healed. I can’t focus on an audiobook at this time. I can focus on thirty minute podcast episodes. I can focus on the new Sabrina Carpenter album. That’s what I can focus on.

That being said, I have finished 2 books (and sadly DNF’d a book) this month! The two books I finished were so good and I got wrapped up in them so quickly. They were also romances. I don’t want my entire book-personality to be just romances. But for right now, those are what are grabbing me. And that’s just fine. I’m going easy on myself.

Wild Love by Elsie Silver

I picked this up because I completely misunderstood and thought that Elsie Silver wrote western romances. And I wanted to challenge myself by reading outside of my usual genre by picking up a western. But instead, I tricked myself into reading my go-to genre instead–a contemporary romance about a billionaire with a heart of gold.

I’ve never read a 500 page book this fast before. I would have thought that 500 pages was excessive for a romance (and generally it is) but the pacing of this book was excellent. At no point did it feel like it was dragging or anything like that.

This is exactly how you do “grumpy meets sunshine” in a way that doesn’t feel forced. The 3rd act “break up” scene is absolutely believable (this will make or break a book for me) and the reunion is just as believable, which is hard to do!

I am not a series reader but I’ll read the entire Rose Hill series, I’m sure of it!

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

God, I love everything Tia Williams writes. She is a master at incorporating the reality of our life and showing the way that we can fit love and wholeness alongside the hurt that we’ve experienced, too. There’s room for all of it.

Eva and Shane fell into a tumultuous and acute love affair when they were both severely traumatized teenagers. When they meet up again as adults, they’re faced with the question of whether or not they are capable of functioning relationship as healed grown-ups. It’s such a powerful conversation and not one you see very often in the romance genre.

I liked both of these books because of how real they felt. A lot of times romance can just feel like mostly silly make believe–and to be clear I also love that when I need it! But as someone who’s hoping to get back into my love of literary fiction. Or, as one friend put it, Sad Bastard Fiction, this was a good first step in that direction.

Now, the book it broke my heart to DNF. This is definitely an It’s Not You, It’s Me situation.

Ever since I started thinking about what I’d read after I sold the store and could read backlist titles again, I’ve been wanting to read Still Life by Louise Penny. She was the author that everyone wanted at the used bookstore and the author that no one ever sold us. She’s so beloved that everyone who buys her books keep them forever and ever–at least that’s how it goes in our town.

So many people whose literature tastes’ mirror my own have gushed to me about Louise Penny. So I went to the library and grabbed the first book in the Inspector Gamache series. I love a small town murder mystery! I love getting to know everyone who lives in the town. And I really loved these characters, too. But it just took me two weeks of regular reading to get even to the half-way mark. I think my brain just isn’t ready for something this beautifully written if I’m being honest. I’ll try to pick it up again next year and I think I’ll love it at that point.

That’s the thing about books–even if they’re not for you right now, it doesn’t mean they’ll never be for you.

What I Read in July 2024

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The Story Graph, where I track my reading, has released a new fun monthly graphic that I’m obsessed with! This is going to change the format of my blog posts for sure. How cute is thaaaat!?

Anyway, there is a lot of transition happening at work and my brain can’t hold onto a book to save my life. So I only read three books in July–as you’ll see in the graphic I just fully stopped reading in the middle of July. Which is very, very fine by me. My brain is being used in other ways.

Even though I only read three books, they were all 5-Stars from me. I loved them all a lot!

As always, any sales made through links on this blog post will go to help support my bookstore, Twice Told Tales in McPherson, KS!

Daydream by Hannah Grace
Pre-Order here. Or pick one up at Twice Told Tales when it releases on 8/27/24
Download the audiobook here.

This is the third book in the Maple Hills series. I didn’t read Icebreaker or Wildfire but I could tell that it wasn’t crucial to have read the first two to vibe with this one, so I just dove in. I will say that there are a lot of characters and if I’d read the other books I probably would have had a better feel for who everyone was but ultimately it wasn’t a big deal. Atria sent me this ARC and I was hooked just by the cover (the ARC looks a little different than the finished book) so that’s what sold me if I’m being honest. I know everyone says you’re “not supposed to judge a book by its cover”. Okay, but that’s literally someone’s job. So, I do.

Reading about very young people in romance books isn’t usually my favorite because their relationships are soooo immature. But this one was incredible. Halle is a people pleaser to the max and Henry is some undiagnosed version of Neurosparkly and they work together to help one another out in life and in their college classes as well. As time goes on they obviously fall for one another and as someone who is currently living in a friends-to-lovers romance herself, this is my FAVORITE trope.

SPICE LEVEL: Everyone told me that Icebreaker was just… tons of sex start to finish. And this book didn’t have that–to the point where I decided I must’ve completely misunderstood what people were talking about with Icebreaker. Until about the 2/3 point. But once it started… it was abundant.

The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
Order the paperback here.
Download the audiobook here.

I learned about this book through someone who has become an Instagram friend and is in the process of opening her own brick and mortar romance bookshop in Portland, Oregon! She put out a call for book recommendations and I asked for an epistolary romance by a Black author and she told me about The Neighbor Favor.

This book has a plot twist in Part 1 that had me audibly gasp. And for that reason, I’m struggling to come up with how to tell you what this book is about. So I’ll just share the copy for this book, “A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance” Isn’t that the cutest?! Helloooooo! I highly recommend.

SPICE LEVEL: Not a whole lot! This is going to be great for folks who love a romance but do not need to learn allllll the intricacies of the bedroom. There’s some but it’s not a focus of the book.

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
Order the paperback (with sprayed edges!) here. Or pick up your copy at Twice Told Tales next week when they’re released!
Download the audiobook here.

Be. Still. My. Heart. Casey McQuiston is my favorite romance author of all time and One Last Stop has always been one of my favorite books of all time. But they, as an author, are just getting better and better and better. This book, The Pairing, has so much depth and heart. It made me feel things in a really big, heart-wrenching way.

There’s a discussion about gender in this book that left me sobbing on my bed. And hilarious lines like, “You look like they shoot you out of a cannon at a circus for gay people.” That made me laugh so hard I backed up the audiobook multiple times just to hear it again.

Kit and Theo are so much more than just exes. They used to be childhood best friends, too. But five years ago when they were in love, they booked a European Food and Wine tour and broke up in the airport on the way. The tour wouldn’t grant them a refund but they gave each of them a voucher that granted them access to the tour at any point in the next five years. Well, it just so happens that both Theo and Kit unexpectedly decided to choose this summer to cash in their voucher and now they’re stuck on this super romantic vacation together pretending to be fine with it. They pretend so hard that they’re cool with each other that they challenge each other to a friendly Hookup Competition. This whole book is Bisexual Chaos Takes a European Vacation. I’m obsessed. I would like to see Jonathan Bailey (Kit) and Mae Martin (Theo) cast in the movie version.

SPICE: The spice was plentiful and… enlightening in terms of gender. I’ve read gay romance and even non-binary romance but I’ve never read a book that explored sex and gender in this particular, whole-hearted, very real way. Thank you. More please.