In 2021, I got really into reading. Ever since 2022 started, though, I’ve been reading even more. My goal this year is to read 50 books! I love reading these types of blog posts from other people because it’s a great way to discover new books, and I want to start doing them periodically. Maybe every other month?
Anyway, you can follow me on Goodreads to see what I’m currently reading. I don’t post full reviews on there, just the star ratings. These blog posts, though, will have all of the books I’ve read since the last post, complete with a short (spoiler-free, of course) plot summary and my own rating. I’m always looking for book recommendations so please send any my way!
Thus far, I’ve read 16 books. Reviews and summaries below!
Verity by Colleen Hoover
Synopsis: Lowen Ashleigh is a writer who gets hired by an author’s husband to finish writing his wife’s book series after an injury incapacitates her. While looking through the author’s notes and papers in her office, Lowen uncovers the woman’s autobiography, which is full of secrets she never intended anyone else to read.
My Rating: 5/5 stars
Colleen Hoover is an author with a ton of hype surrounding her work. I read her book It Ends With Us last year and just did not understand the love for it (I gave it two stars). After that, I almost swore off her other books altogether, but I’m so glad that I gave Verity a chance because it was incredible. I devoured this book and had trouble putting it down. If you’re into thrillers, I highly recommend Verity.
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
I’ve also read a few of the subsequent books in this series (Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, Wicked, Killer, and Heartless). However, they all kind of blend together in my mind so I’m including them as one entry.
Synopsis: Honestly, who doesn’t know the premise of this series after the wildly popular TV show adaptation? In case you don’t though, this series follow four girls who used to share a best friend, Ali, until one day she went missing. In the years since, the girls have drifted apart. One day, however, they all start receiving cryptic messages alluding to secrets only their missing best friend could know, all signed by the mysterious A. Ali’s body is ultimately found, but the notes don’t stop and Ali’s murder investigation starts to bring up more questions than answers.
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
I’ve started doing this thing every year where I reread a book series from my childhood. Last year, it was Percy Jackson, and it was Harry Potter the year before. I never actually finished PLL, just read the first couple books, so this felt like an intriguing pick for this year. They’re by no means the greatest books I’ve ever read, but they’ve been fun to read! They’re pretty short (like 200-2550 pages) and intended for a YA audience, so you can get through them pretty quickly. I will say that after seven books, they’re starting to get a little ridiculous and unrealistic, but they’re still entertaining.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Synopsis: This is a self-help book focused on building good habits and breaking bad ones, with an emphasis on making small, incremental changes over massive changes all at once.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I’ve never actually read a self-help book before, so this was a new genre for me. Though I haven’t implemented all the processes this book talked about, I felt that it gave me a lot of good tools on how to form better habits in my life. The methods that the author describes seem so small that they’d be manageable to anyone. It was also a pretty short read, so I’d say it’s a great starter book in the self-help category.
The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
Synopsis: This book goes between two timelines. The first takes place in 1919, following Lillian Carter, an artists’ model who is wanted for a crime she didn’t commit. She takes a job as the private secretary of Helen Frick, a fickle and cantankerous yet intelligent heiress. Fifty years later, the second timeline follows Veronica Weber, a model, as she works to solve a mystery in the Frick family’s mansion, along with an aspiring art curator who works there.
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
This was my first foray into historical fiction! I enjoyed this one with its stories of the rich and glamorous in different parts of the 1900s. I did find it a bit slow in the beginning, but once it started to pick up, I loved following along with the story, especially as the two timelines started to merge together.
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
Synopsis: Solène Marchand is a thirty-nine year old divorcee, art gallery owner, and mother to twelve-year-old Isabelle. When she takes her daughter and some friends to see their favorite boyband, August Moon, the last thing she expects is to start a relationship with one of the band’s members, Hayes Campbell. Their relationship is complicated by his fame and public image, plus the fact that he’s only twenty years old.
My Rating: 5/5 stars
This is one of my favorite books that I’ve ever read. In the weeks after reading it, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It’s so much beyond just a romance novel, covering topics in motherhood, femininity, aging, and passion. But even though it’s more than just romance, I have also never felt so invested in a book relationship before. Even in just writing this review, I’m starting to feel choked up and emotional. This is one of my all-time favs, so of course I recommend it, but be warned that it will stick with you.
Too Late by C. Hoover
Synopsis: Sloan is college student in a relationship with the abusive Asa, a dangerous drug dealer she feels she can’t leave because she has nowhere else to turn to. She doesn’t agree with Asa’s lifestyle, but he provides for her and her disabled brother financially so she’s sticking it out. Until, however, she becomes entangled with Carter, one of Asa’s new associates who turns out to be lying about who he truly is.
My Rating: 2/5 stars
After reading Verity, I thought that another thriller pick by Colleen Hoover would be something I’d enjoy. This one contains a warning of being more graphic and disturbing than her other books (hence why it’s published under C. Hoover instead of Colleen), but I’ve read some thriller and horror titles before so I wasn’t too worried. This fell short. First, I couldn’t stand the characters of this book. Sloan is a doormat, Asa is a horrible person, and, quite frankly, I thought Carter was an idiot. Also, I didn’t find the book to be that intense and disturbing. Honestly, parts of Verity shocked me more than this book did, and that one had no warning in the beginning differentiating it from Hoover’s other books. I understand that this one was intended to be a creative project for Hoover that wasn’t going to be published, and the plot holes in it made it pretty obvious that was the case. To me, this just seemed like a darker, more “illegal” version of It Ends With Us, which I also did not enjoy.
The Push by Ashley Audrain
Synopsis: Blythe Connor grew up with a distant, neglectful mother. Now that she has a daughter of her own, she’s determined to be warm and loving to her own little girl, Violet. Except something about Violet seems off to Blythe, yet no one else in their lives agrees with Blythe. Once Blythe has her son, Sam, though, she begins to experience the love and connection she lacks in her relationship with Violet. Until a tragic accident changes absolutely everything — and it may not even be an accident after all.
My Rating: 5/5 stars
A psychological thriller about motherhood doesn’t sound like it would work, but wow was this book incredible! The first half didn’t really seem like it was going anywhere, mainly just a lot of thoughts in Blythe’s head about what was going on. However, something major (the accident I referred to in the synopsis) occurs about halfway through the book, and things get crazy. If it seems like this book isn’t picking up for you, stick it out because everything changes once that happens. And trust me, you’ll know when that event happens. I literally gasped out loud when it did, and then couldn’t put it down until the end. This was the thriller I was craving after I finished Verity.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Synopsis: Olive Smith is a Ph.D. student in biology who finds herself getting into a fake-dating relationship with Adam Carlsen, a young professor known in their department for being extremely intelligent but also an extreme jerk. Olive intends to only fake date him for a month to get one of her friend Anh off her back, but then she starts to fall for Adam.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
It’s cheesy and maybe a little predictable, but I loved it nonetheless. I love a good fake dating trope, just like I love a good “one person is moody and angry but soft around the other person.” This book has both of those! And the characters were very lovable on top of that (I’d totally read a whole spinoff about Olive’s roommate Malcolm). I will say that the book has one sex scene, but it was really well-written and even amidst all the rom-com tropes, the scene felt super realistic and enjoyable to read for me. I loved Ali Hazelwood’s writing style; she reminds me of Casey McQuiston, another one of my favs. If you’re looking for a light but heartfelt rom-com, this book is for you.
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
Synopsis: Quinn and Minnie were both born on New Year’s Eve of 1990 in the same hospital. Thirty years later, the two meet on their birthday again. Minnie is now a baker desperately trying to stop her business from failing and salvaging her relationship with her co-business-owner and best friend, while Quinn is a successful management consultant who comes from a seemingly great home. Even though the pair comes from totally different worlds, fate keeps bringing them together. And as Minnie starts to learn that Quinn’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems to her, they both learn about solving their problems from one another.
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
This book was billed as a rom-com, but I found the romance to be more secondary to the main plot, which was really about Minnie figuring herself out. I enjoyed that aspect of it, don’t get me wrong, but I just wish there had been more of Minnie and Quinn’s relationship in addition to that. I think maybe if the book description was a finding yourself story instead of a romance, I might have liked it more. But because my expectation was a romance, I found that it was lacking. Additionally, it has a New Years theme, but I read it after New Years and felt that the holiday allusions weren’t so overpowering that it felt weird to read the book in the “wrong” time of year.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Synopsis: Normal People follows Connell and Marianne in their on-again, off-again relationship-slash-friendship from high school through college. The pair grapples with mental health, social status, money, family, sex, academics, and all the other things that young adults worry about.
My Rating: 3/5 stars
I feel like people either loved or hated this book. I guess I’m an outlier because at the end, I’m pretty neutral on it. This book was just…fine. There wasn’t much of a plot, and the ending just didn’t feel like an ending to me. I like things to be wrapped up and completed, but this book didn’t deliver. I will say, Sally Rooney has a very unique writing style that I did enjoy, so I do understand the praise she gets. She’s described as having “brilliant psychological acuity,” and I cannot think of a better phrase to explain how she writes. I’ll probably read some of her other books to see if I feel the same way, but I definitely enjoy the way she writes, even if the plot isn’t my favorite.
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