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I started reading this on the plane home from vacation over a month ago. Greatly enjoyed it, but didn’t make the time to finish it before I had to return it. Borrowed it TWO MORE TIMES before I got around to finishing it, and that was having to wait in between. I’m embarrassed that it took so long, because it was really good.

I found Andy, the main character, to be a bit of a loser, so it was helpful that other characters kept on reminding me that he was actually really nice. Suddenly switching to his ex Jen’s POV at the end (not a spoiler) to explain her motivations was interesting. Although tbh I still found Andy to be kind of a dud.

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This is a sequel to The Searcher, a book I know I liked but can barely remember. Either way, I enjoyed it greatly. Crime in a small Irish town with intricate connections.

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New Ali Hazelwood alert! This is my favourite one of hers yet. A slight twist on the STEM conceit, this time the main characters are a diver and a swimmer, both studying at Stanford to become doctors. So it’s still got the STEM stuff, but also elite athlete stuff. And in a very fun cameo, Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis feature as Stanford professors.

Loved the love story between Scarlett and Lukas, loved their spicy scenes. Seemed like there were more than in the past. This time neither of them were asexual or anything, in fact, this time they both shared a kink. So that was a nice change. Really good read!

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This was okay. I thought the author was telegraphing the “twist” and I rolled my eyes a lot while I was reading it, but then the twist ended up being much different from what I expected. So that was pretty good. It was a very quick read, but I didn’t love it.

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This was such a fun read. It’s a collection of three novellas. The main characters in each novella are best friends, so although they don’t live in the same city, they’re always talking about or to each other. And there’s a bonus chapter at the end that’s an epilogue. It’s got the usual Ali Hazelwood plot of smart ladies in STEM hating and then falling for hot, smart, rich guys who utterly adore them from the moment they lay eyes on them. Not tired of it!

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I like Ali Hazelwood, but I wasn’t going to bother reading this one since it’s meant to be YA. A book Instagram that I follow mentioned they’d had the same qualms, but read it anyway and enjoyed it. So, I checked it out.

It was really enjoyable! Rather than being about science, it was about chess. The young adult protagonists were 18 and 20, so not in high school, as I’d imagined. Things still got spicy, ha ha. Just very mild spice though, which was good, since this is for a younger audience. The main character’s attitude did kind of annoy me, but she got soundly called out for it in the end, so that was okay. All in all, a good read, AND I discovered that there is a new Ali Hazelwood coming out next month.

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I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well written, and the storylines connected well. Millie and her RA friends were so fun.

I enjoyed this more than Reid’s first novel for sure. No notes.

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Fast paced and kept me guessing. I really enjoyed it.

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I listened to the audiobook. Stanley Tucci’s books are wonderful, and listening to him read them is just the icing on the cake. This isn’t just a food diary, it’s also reflections on death, and to balance that out, some fun name-dropping. A lot of hangs with a lot of celebs. Very nice to read about his enduring friendships, and also to get to know his sweet little kids a bit. I laughed out loud at some of his jokes.

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Obviously I read the new Sally Rooney. It took me forever, although I liked it. Not as much as her first two novels, but more than her last one before this.

In the notes at the end, she says where all the quotes in the book are from. I hadn’t noticed a bunch of quotes, and now I feel dense for not knowing the meaning.

I liked it, although both the brothers were hot messes.

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I kind of loved and hated the main character of this book. Like, I deeply related to her at the same time as I found some of her stuff deeply annoying. Anyway, I did enjoy the book very much. It was well written and now I want to go to Cape Cod.

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At first I didn’t like this book as much as The Lioness, another book I’ve read by this prolific author. The concept was interesting- it’s all there on the cover- but it started out kind of clumsily written. People made casual references to things that I don’t think are necessarily everyday things, like dachas and maenads. Crissy, the main character, who plays Princess Diana in a Vegas tribute show, seems particularly out of touch, and it’s not really commented on how she’s a bit strange until the end. She also stubbornly insists on calling a man who tells her his name is Gene by his full name, Yevgeny, which I found odd. I ended up quite enjoying it as the story progressed though.

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I’ve listened to Ed’s promo for this book on Off Menu so many times, I could hear his voice saying the title every time I looked at the cover.

It was funny! What else did I expect? It was funny and I laughed out loud. He wrote a whole section on his love for cheese boards, I suspect to troll James Acaster. A hilarious and quick read.

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This one was good. I was guessing until the very end. Quite satisfying mystery/thriller.

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I loved it!

Like the other two Ali Hazelwood books I’ve read (search the tag if you want to see), this one is about scientists, but the author switched it up a bit this time. The main female character, Rae, still starts off disliking Eli, her love interest, but now it’s not quite so vehement and she’s got a better reason (his company is trying to take over hers).

Like Hazelwood’s other main male characters, Eli is a dream of a guy: handsome, athletic, well-off, slavishly devoted, and basically ready to get married from day one.

Rae is also not described as scarily thin as Elsie and Olive, the previous heroines. She is described as kind of luscious and curvy.

I enjoyed the spicy scenes in the other books I’ve read by this author. Well, this one is jam packed with spice. Eli and Rae have so. Much. Sex. Unlike Elsie and Olive, who are nearly asexual until their love interests spark their flame, Rae is quite sexually active. There’s just one aspect she’s not a fan of, but don’t worry, Eli helps with that 😉

Anyway, completely satisfying read. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

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Wonderful! Just wonderful. I loved this book so much. It’s about a friendship that develops between an octopus and an elderly, feisty widow who works in the aquarium where the octopus is kept. It takes place in a fictional small town in west coast Washington state, but the other places that are mentioned, such as Bellingham, are very real.

All the supporting characters are wonderful, and everything connects beautifully, and there’s a bit of a mystery to solve, and can you tell I loved this book?

Also, octopus are fucking intelligent, DON’T EAT THEM.

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Emily Henry wrote a blurb for the front cover, and she recommended it in her newsletter, which is how I heard of this. It’s about a country singer who drunkenly rants onstage about being pro-gun control, effectively ending his career. His mega-famous country singer wife sends him to a posh rehab as a parting gift before dumping him. Newly sober, he goes back to his small hometown to start over again.

At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to finish the book. There was a lot of exposition and it made me think the writing was kind of clumsy. I'm glad I kept on going though, because I ended up really liking it. The only thing that bugged me was the author's constant description of how everything smelled. "His house smelled like figs, coconut and pine." "She smelled like gardenias and freshly sliced cucumbers." "You smell like balsam and creamy leather." WHAT IS CREAMY LEATHER NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT.