The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (2018, 432 pages)
⭐⭐⭐
Sorcery and Small Magics (The Wildersongs Trilogy, #1) by Maiga Doocy (2024, 416 pages)
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Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey (2025, 384 pages)
Chaotic story of two coworkers that meet in an elevator after someone in
their office building is found fallen off the roof -- a victim of the
so called Paper Pusher serial killer, plaguing corporate skyscrapers all
over the city. They bond over the mundane office life; she's true crime
obsessed, he has a body to get rid of.
The storyline and
dialogue is a little obtuse sometimes, but it's addicting. The author
doesn't always spoon feed you what's happening. The plot is wild but
fun! Could not expect anything that happened. A little random, but overall lighthearted fun murders (is that a thing?).
Very entertaining audiobook with great narrators!
What I liked:
✨Funny, witty dialogue
✨Like laugh out loud with a confused face funny
✨Clever ending
What I didn't like:
💤Kinda confusing, took me a while to catch the vibe of the book and just let the story tell itself
Favorite quote: "There's a vase of red roses next to the bed. I toss the flowers on the floor and chug the water."
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Homicide and Halo-Halo Mia P. Manansala (2022, 279 pages)
The second in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series.
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Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill (2025, 304 pages)
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Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (2021, 336 pages)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021, 476 pages)
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Gallant by V.E. Schwab (2022, 338 pages)
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Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz (2025, 368 pages)
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Some Kind of Famous by Ava Wilder (2025, 432 pages)
Merritt Valentine was launched into stardom as just a teenager. Her musical career bloomed, and she had her fair share of roller coaster affairs, parties, drugs, and paparazzi. Now in her 30s, the fame has run its course and she's ready for a quieter, more stable life. For two years she's been living with her sister, Olivia, and brother-in-law, Dev, in the tiny Colorado town of Crested Peak. Strained relationships with her mother and LA music execs, combined with a desire to leave her fame behind, pushes her into isolation in the already small community.
Niko Petrakis, while only having lived in Crested Peak for 8 years, is considered a local. He's the town handyman -- doing house repairs and furniture building. Handsome and kind, he clearly has a soft side.
In a small town, of course everyone knows each other but after an awkward first encounter and deniable mutual attraction, Merritt and Niko tend to avoid each other. Until they can't anymore.
What I liked:
✨Complex families, relationships, and characters that address their own flaws and sometimes fix them but sometimes don't
✨ Feminist themes and subplots
✨Good romance and spice!
✨Inclusion of some Greek language and culture
✨Was brought to happy tears!
✨Very raw -- doesn't sugar coat things
What I didn't like:
💤Overused female tropes
💤Sister drama starting and ending within 6 pages (I get that's sometimes how it is though)
💤Bit of a Hallmark ending, but still fun
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Twilight Falls by Juneau Black (2023, 258 pages)
What should have been a lovely sunset is disrupted by someone wrestling in the water at the top of the falls. The community comes together to help, but hope quickly dissipates. Vera and Orville are back on the case, this time with the town's impressive involvement.
The usual Shady Hollow vibe of cute and cozy, albeit a little predictable. Cute, easy read and I like the continuation of the romance!
What I liked:
✨Cute and cozy! Love the woodland creature characters
✨Murder mystery in a fun way
✨Interesting characters with funny and meaningful dialogue that furthers the plot
What I didn't like:
💤Chekhov's gun predictability (sometimes!)
#4 in the Shady Hollow series.
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A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (2022, 357 pages)
As a pre-teen, Chloe's father is arrested for multiple no-body homicides. Now nearing the 20 year anniversary of the murders, other girls start going missing.
A hodge-podge of characters, but with some twists. It's predictable, the main character is not enjoyable for me to listen to, and there are minor errors that break the world for me ("I'm going to get my PhD, then eventually, my master's." Where's your editor??). The premise sounds super interesting but, in my opinion, not well executed.
⭐⭐
She Didn't See It Coming by Shari Lapena (2025, 337 pages)
Bryden Frost: mother to a 3-year old, successful accountant, luxury condo owner, wife to Sam.
When Sam gets a call that Bryden hasn't picked up their child from daycare, he thinks her day slipped away from her working from home and goes to pick her up himself. But when they arrive home, Bryden is gone. As if she had just left.
Notable players include a man with an accusation just down the hall; her sister more involved than thought; her jealous best friend; a man she met on a whim three months prior; HIS girlfriend; and of course her husband. A murder within a closed condo, yet the whole city is watching.
The prose flowed, the twists were reasonable, and it was all unpredictable. Perfect mix of drama and mystery. Interesting characters and the unknown was placed perfectly out of reach: not confusing, but just enough to keep you guessing. Rare for me to enjoy a book without liking most characters, but Lapena did it well. Great mystery read for those that like a little suspense that won't keep you up at night!
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Book Lovers by Emily Henry (2022, 377 pages)
Wealthy Nora and her sister
Libby are best friends living in New York City. Nora works as a
literary agent whose best client, Dusty, wrote a popular book series in
the quaint setting of Sunshine Falls, NC. With a third baby on the way,
and Nora’s job in a seasonal slump, they decide to take a vacation. With
a check list of local clichés (save a local business, date a local, go
skinny dipping, etc).
While grabbing breakfast at a local café, she
spies her professional nemesis. Can they both survive this small town
for a month, AND work on Dusty’s new book?
SPOILERS AHEAD -- HIGHLIGHT TEXT TO READ
Libby
surprises Nora by buying a house in Sunshine Falls and moving the whole
family at the end. Then has a breakdown when Nora doesn’t want to move
with her… but if she felt so strongly and they tell each other
everything, why keep it secret?? Libby faints from anemia in the middle
of an argument; they made clear August is Nora’s slow season but she’s
constantly bombarded with work calls; and the two main characters of the
romance only know each other for a week before he OFFER HER HIS
APARTMENT. TO KEEP. It added SO much drama at the every end like her
other books. It was unnecessary and by the end I didn’t even want to
read it anymore because it strayed so much from the original story. The
first three quarters is 4 stars though!
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Evergreen Chase by Juneau Black (2021, 32 pages)
#3.5 in the Shady Hollow series.
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Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025, 432 pages)
Aging heiress-in-hiding Margaret is ready for her tell-all book. Two writers are up for the task: bubbly celebrity reporter Alice and Pulitzer-winning memoir author Hayden. They both will be put to the test on this tiny Georgia island to see who can win her over.
I absolutely loved the characters in this, and I loved reading the budding romance and interesting story of Margaret’s life. It was a good mix of romance and drama. It was a 4 star book until the last quarter or so, when multiple unnecessary crises were dumped at once and it felt very distracting.
⭐⭐⭐
Mirror Lake by Juneau Black (2020, 216 pages)
Continuing the woodland creature small town mystery series in Shady Hollow, fox reporter Vera Vixen takes a visit to the outskirts town of Mirror Lake. An outburst by a rat named Dorothy claiming that her husband was murdered draws Vera to the scene. But her husband Edward is standing right next to her, seemingly alive and well! Is there even a mystery to be solved here?
I thought this one would be more predictable, but then I was kinda wrong! The usual fun, cozy read from Juneau Black.
#3 in the Shady Hollow series.
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The Reservoir by David Duchovny (2021, 128 pages)
New York City native and early Wall Street retiree Ridley is on quarantine in his high rise Manhattan apartment during the early days of Covid. Fancying himself an artist, he starts a time lapse series overlooking Central Park. It’s been months since he’s had much human interaction. Ridley reviews his time lapse from the previous night, when he notices a blinking light from across the park. Someone is trying to communicate. With him. An opposing high rise from across the reservoir is, what, morse code light blinking? He starts waking up in the middle of the night to blink his lights back. We see just how far Ridley will go for human connection.
Interesting short story that kept me reading, but a smidge confusing. I do like the way it ended! David Duchovny can keep his Spooky nickname.
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Cold Clay by Juneau Black (2017, 240 pages)
Star fox reporter Vera is back on the case after old bones are found in Cold Clay orchard, just outside of the town Shady Hollow. The age of the skeleton lines up with when a local celebrity' wife left him, and the town is left to wonder how she ended up under an apple tree.
The regular cast of woodland creature characters, with a bit of a deeper dive into some of them. A cozy, quick read! A little more predictable than the last but still fun.
#2 in the Shady Hollow series.
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Atlas of Lost Cities: A Travel Guide to Abandoned and Forsaken Destinations by Aude de Tocqueville (2014, 144 pages)
I love the idea of this book: traveling around the world, exploring the abandoned cities on every continent. For each city, ranging in geography and time period, they provide a brief summary of its history and demise.
Unfortunately it failed to live up to its potential. Clearly Euro-centric with what could be racist undertones (putting "modern" in quotation marks when describing a "'modern' village" in India, which under every definition of the word was modern except for the fact it's not white or European; describing a city as "dating from India's pre-historic era" despite not actually being pre-historic, just precolonial), and straight up incorrect information in parts (maps were wrong, incorrect word translations, etc). There were no photos, only graphics. Which can fit a cohesive theme, but they would describe beautiful scenery and buildings that left me wanting more.
For a book described as a travel guide, it doesn't actually provide any travel guidance. Very little (if any) information on how to get to it or accessibility, if guides are necessary or recommended, or even just a rating on how desirable a destination it is.
I think for those interested in abandoned cities, this could be a good starting point but in my opinion, get your research from a different source.
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