Review: The Night We Met

The Night We Met
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just adore Abby Jimenez and find that her books are perfect on audio for me. Once I started this today I didn’t want to do anything else. I just wanted to listen and listen and listen. So I did. All the way to the end. And it didn’t disappoint for one minute.

View all my reviews

Review: The Will of the Many

The Will of the Many
The Will of the Many by James Islington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a long long long audiobook. I started and stopped it a few times but for some reason i decided this was the week to really sink my teeth into it. And I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed it, especially the class/school parts and could have listened for a while more. Not sure if I will read the next one but glad I read this one!

View all my reviews

Review: A Deadly Episode

A Deadly Episode
A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

ok rounding this one up from 3.5 stars as it wasn’t my favorite of the Hawtorne novels but I still loved it and didn’t see some of the twists coming. I also really liked the hints in this one that gave us a bit more sneak peek into Hawthorne’s own past. Curious to see if that will come fully in a future story. Love Horowitz so much!

View all my reviews

Review: The Half-Hearted Queen

The Half-Hearted Queen
The Half-Hearted Queen by Charlie N. Holmberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn’t love this one as much as the first since there was a bunch more yearning but it was still fun and easy read and kept my interest the whole time and ended the story in a satisfactory way. This was a fun duology.

View all my reviews

Review: Hollow Bones

Hollow Bones
Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was not prepared for how sad this book is. There are three sections in this book and they are all sad in their own way. Despite being able to guess some of the twists, I kept waiting for more horrible things to happen because Picoult has conditioned me to always assume the worst. Thankfully it didn’t go where I was most worried it would. But especially as a mom and as someone who lived in NYC during 9/11 this was a hard book to read.

View all my reviews

Review: Winter Song: A Novel

Winter Song: A Novel
Winter Song: A Novel by Rebeca Lee Morales
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a short and sad story about a man who has served time and is released from prison, consistently insisting that he hasn’t committed the crime. And a policeman who finally decides to get curious. It has so much sadness.

It shows how hard it can be to start over again, even when you have support, even when some people believe you. And how your own belief in yourself can both help and hurt. And how sometimes it’s best to just move on and not look backward no matter what.

with gratitude to netgalley and Ecco for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Bad Words

Bad Words
Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wish there were more romance books like this. I loved how this book took its time diving deeper into each of the characters and showing us their insecurities and enough of their backgrounds that you couldn’t help but root for them.

I also love how it’s about how media doesn’t always help matters by sensationalizing things and people also don’t help by taking sides without information. Projecting our own ideas of right and wrong into a “reel” online without knowing any of the real details behind the people and even the story.

And how people and careers and publishing can all be so fragile. How we are always trying to prove something to our parents, to ourselves, to the people we don’t know. How words can have so much power. And how through the lens of time and experience everything can change shape. And how we are never one thing.

with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

2026 – April Onward

Hello April. As I was journaling about my goals for this month, I decided I needed something different this month. I want to truly take the pressure off myself. So no specific goal setting. And also I like having a list in case the desire or energy does strike me. So I decided I will make a list of all the things I could do and see how many (if any) I check off. If I check off ten, awesome. If i check off none, that’s also awesome. so is one, so is all, so is two. No goal. Just letting it be.

  • Here’s my list and also new things might come up and I am open to that possibility:
  • More tidying up:
    • Pick through the stuffed animals for what to keep
    • Donate all the donation items
    • Go through my bedside drawers
    • Go through under my sink.
    • Go through linen closet.
    • Go through kids’ bathroom.
    • Go through ikea next to my desk.
    • Clean up desk.
    • Go through ikea by plants.
    • Go through the second desk.
    • Clean out the foosball table (over and under)
    • Go through the giant ikea.
    • Go through the cupboards by kitchen sink.
    • Go through David’s sink drawer.
    • After all those are done -> schedule bulky trash pickup.
  • Buy Fun stuff:
    • Buy colorful ikea drawers
    • replace cushions for couch outside
    • buy more lights for yard.
    • buy heater for the yard.
    • buy lanterns for the yard.
    • buy something to keep bugs/mosquitoes away.
    • buy fun stuff for garage.
  • Health:
    • Start stretching regularly
    • Start a lifting regimen
    • Go back to doing core classes
    • Do pilates/yoga
    • Back to restorative yoga/meditation
    • Find 3 staple dishes to cook and have on hand
    • Moisturize every night
  • Learn stuff
    • Finish the AI course you did
    • Learn to use Jski
    • Research how to train Sadie
    • Do the shuffle class
    • Watch some makeup tips
    • Find a fun class
  • Take care of my people + myself
    • Help A with AP stuff
    • Take time off
    • Go to laser place
  • Go places
    • Watch the sunset.
    • Drive somewhere new.

Here’s to another month. Paying attention. Loving my people. Savoring and living in awe. And taking steps to move onward.

2026 – Onward – March Review

March came and passed faster than it usually does. I am not sure if that’s a good thing or not but here we are. I am not usually a fan of this long month without any breaks so I am not sad to see March go. I have been feeling off for a while now and I feel like it finally crescendoed in March and forced me to do something about it. So net-net I will consider it a very useful month.

One Big Goal: Even though I did the full work for the garage, I didn’t do anything else. I decided that was enough. So I am giving myself grace for this one.

  • Progress on the big five:
    • Y: Totally, completely finished. Have been enjoying it regularly.
    • G: Also completely done here. Stuff in storage, car gone, my stuff cleaned. So much work.
    • S: Got the first appointment for about a week from now.
    • Sa: Not ready still.
    • D: Not sure what’s next for me here, I think I have to sit on it..
  • Three Medium goals:
    • Filed taxes!
    • Decided I didn’t need a fancy coffee machine after all.
    • Didn’t get anything fun for the garage, decided that can wait, too.
  • Start: I’ve done nothing here. Not sure why. Just am not feeling it.
  • Stop: I did relatively little of this one.
  • Continue: I did about half the portraits and then decided it was making me too unhappy. I give myself so much credit for quitting because I usually never quit anything.
  • Brave: Hmm took some brave steps but will take a while to see if they were the right ones.

It’s sort of interesting to find myself in March and done with the two biggest things I wanted to do this year. Let’s see where that takes me. I am super proud of all that I did. Good job moving onward, Karen.

Review: Under Story

Under Story
Under Story by Chloe Benjamin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my. This book is one of a kind. As a person who reads a lot, it’s rare that I read something that’s so unique and so unlike anything else. But this one, this one absolutely checks that box.

It’s so unusual that I think people will either love it or really not care for it. Consider me 100% in the first category. I loved every minute I spent with this unusual, one of a kind story.

First of all Benjamin’s writing is absolutely beautiful. The settings, the characters, the crazy plot. But what’s even more beautiful is all the emotion in this story. The things we will do for love, because of grief, for science, trying to make up for regret. The chances we miss and the deep desire to get even one more moment with the people we love. There are a ton of nitpicks I can have with it but at its heart it’s a story about love, grief and regret and the rest are just details. And those emotions are palpable the whole way through.

This story will stay with me for months and month.

with gratitude to netgalley and Putnam for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews

Review: The Shattered King

The Shattered King
The Shattered King by Charlie N. Holmberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this one in one swallow. It was fun, interesting and visually stunning. Loved it.

View all my reviews

Review: Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane

Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane
Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane by Lindy West
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Here’s what’s interesting. I loved Shrill and when I first started reading this book, it felt similar and I found myself in the same zone where I loved West’ voice and the way she told her story. But then at some point, the voice memos really started to annoy me and so did the narrative. It felt almost like she was trying to convince me of something she herself didn’t believe. Or maybe I didn’t get it. Either way maybe this was the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I wish her nothing but joy and if West writes more, I will read those too.

View all my reviews