Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Holy shit. I don’t even know how to rate this book. It could be 5 for creativity. It could be 1 for wtf? It could be all the ones in between. There is so much trigger warning in this book, the entire book is one big trigger warning for trauma and sexual assault and so so much more that I can’t mention without giving away some of the huge twists. It’s a weird weird weird book.

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Earth’s the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just love and adore Elizabeth Berg. Her books are always a balm for my soul and I love her characters. I love how you can almost feel them viscerally and I love how when I am weary and tired, I can pick a Berg novel and I know it will give me the comfort I need without feeling like too light a book. I will grow to love her characters.

This book is no exception. OF course it couldn’t be as it’s Arthur’s story and we already know what a gem he is. This is the story of how he and Nola end up together and it’s a real nod to patience and deep friendship and loving and caring for someone anyway.

I loved this book. I love Berg and will continue to read her books for as long as she’s generous enough to give us her stories.

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

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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ann Napolitano’s ability to capture the complexity and layers in a character is truly beautiful. This book is really quiet. At least it was for me. You have to sit with it for a long time and let yourself get immersed in their world. Each of the characters slowly winds their way into your heart and then there’s no moment that you don’t want to spend with them.

This is the story of four sisters who are incredibly close to each other. One of them marries William who is merged into their family wholesale from the moment Julia picks him. And like it always does in life, so many different things happen to this family. There’s so much about parenthood, acceptance, forgiveness, grief, love and of course deep sisterhood in this book.

It pays a beautiful homage to Little Women and these women will absolutely stay in your heart long after you’re done reading the book.

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

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The Lightkeeper’s Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this story about a woman in a home who meets a girl who’s doing community service there and they connect and over the course of the story, they find out their lives are more intertwined than they thought. It’s a beautiful and touching story.

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The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love and adore Anthony Horowitz and his creative and unique stories and characters. These stories that are so meta and the characters, so memorable, each and every one of them.

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You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a painful book to read but it was also beautiful and real. It’s hard to create YA characters that feel like teenagers and I think this book does an excellent job of it. And it captures struggles around substance abuse, parenting, dating and so much more in a raw and truthful manner.

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