Book Review, Fiction

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

Great Big Beautiful Life has so much going for it. It has a grumpy/sunshine romance following Alice and Hayden as they compete for the chance to write the story of the elusive Margaret Ives, an heiress who grew up in a famous family and hasn’t been seen for years. The rumors swirling around her past make this opportunity – to finally bring her life to the public eye – a huge one.

Alice is desperate for her big break, but worried that Pulitzer-prize winning Hayden will beat her. As they bump into each other time and again on the small island, they begin to realize that A. Margaret is not telling them each the same things and B. they are undeniably attracted to each other.

The growing tension between the writers combined with them being competitors and bound by an NDA about their time with Margaret was delicious. I was eager to see how they would navigate the difficulty of their situation.

Much of the book tells the story of Margaret’s past and her family history. It felt like it was trying to be very Evelyn Hugo-esque. I know it was supposed to be scandalous and exciting, but I really didn’t care about her past. It didn’t feel like her character was fleshed out enough for me to be invested in her family history and the excerpts in the past (which was a lot of the book) fell flat for me. Whenever I was reading one, I wished I could rush through to get back to Alice and Hayden.

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Book Review, Science Fiction, YA

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Science Fiction

Oh how I loved being back in the world of the Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins has done it again, this time chronicling the Quarter Quell games, which Haymitch participated in. Knowing Haymitch in the context of the original books, I was intrigued to see how his past informed his future, while also bracing myself because we know from the start things will not go well.

Collins does a beautiful job world-building and showing us how Haymitch has developed strong relationships with those around him despite the unfortunate circumstances in District 12. I was impressed with how fully I felt I understood his life and his place there in the short time before the reaping.

I feel like Collins said okay, the audience knows a few key things that happen to Haymitch already so let me completely throw them for a loop and make them entirely unexpected. The way I had no idea what was coming (see the reaping) even thought I kind of  knew what was coming.

There are a lot of characters, particularly since the Quarter Quell had double the number of tributes as usual, but each kid was so distinct (sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way), that I had no trouble distinguishing between and feeling for them.

The final chapters of this book were shocking in a way that I hated but also so clearly defined who Haymitch becomes. Lucky for me, I haven’t read The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes yet, so I will be heading back into this universe ASAP.

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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

When You Find Me by P.J. Vernon ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Thriller

Gray Godfrey is home visiting her family when her husband goes missing after a night out. Gray, who regularly drinks to oblivion, blacked out the night he disappeared and finds herself a suspect even to herself.

The descriptions of how much Gray wanted to drink and how she could sneak a drink and where she could find a drink were about half the content of this book. We needed like three sentences explaining that she was an alcoholic, yet it was hammered into the story incessantly. I found all the characters extremely unlikeable, which made it hard for me to care what happened.

The story is told in alternating viewpoints, which I enjoyed. One in particular, Annie, is a mystery for much of the story and I was eager to find out how her perspective fit into the lives of the other characters and what role she played in everything.

I found the big twist to be kind of a cop-out, but the veryyyy last sentence was really well done, so that was something.

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Buy When You Find Me at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, Science Fiction

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Science Fiction

I read Mickey7 after seeing the movie adaptation, which I’ll admit, I enjoyed more than the book. This story has a wonderfully wacky sci-fi premise. Mickey is an Expendable. His role, as his colony continues their expedition to colonize a new planet, is to act as an exploratory guinea pig. Every time he dies, he is reprinted and continues as the next Mickey. That is, until Mickey8 is accidentally printed while Mickey7 is still alive.

The worldbuilding was so fascinating in this book. I liked learning about the space exploration and the history of other colonies. Mickey is a historian and sprinkling in the history of his universe added to both his character and my understanding of the present. There were also religious elements brought in, with some people feeling morally opposed to Expendables based on their religious beliefs. It was a well thought out addition that made the colony feel real.

The writing made this book especially amusing, it was funny and sharp and witty, even when the Mickey’s themselves tended to be dumb. It was especially enjoyable to listen to.

I found that the storyline dragged for me. It felt like not much happened for rather large chunks of the book, and there was some repetitive historical context that hammered some points home a little more than necessary. I also much preferred the ending of the movie and the role of the native creatures in it.

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Buy Mickey7 at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

The premise of this book was so random I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen. I went into it completely blind after seeing it all over bookstagram and receiving a copy from Libro.fm. Agatha, a new professor at the University of Arkansas, is first introduced to Millie, an RA, and her residents, when she interviews them about their perspective on marriage for a research project she is working on. The answers she receives from the girls however, lead Agatha down an entirely different and not entirely ethical road.

There are a bunch of characters in this book and each of them behaves, in some way, badly. I never knew what was going to come out of these girls’ mouths or how someone else was going to twist it. We get the group dynamic of a set of college girls living in a suite and the weird power dynamic with Millie, their RA and her friends. And then Agatha, in a league of her own. Everyone was so messy. Parts of it were so relatable in terms of how gossipy and dramatic people can be at that age, but it always went way farther than I expected, which was fun.

For a book that doesn’t really have a ton of action, which is not my usual vibe, this completely sucked me in. There was backstory about every character and I was interested in finding out more about each of them and what drove their actions.

This book touches on race, money, and power and how a petty, self-serving set of characters interact with these dynamics.

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Buy Come and Get It at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

I’m sorry, but just as there are too many podcasts out there, there are also too many books about podcasts out there. It is less and less interesting each time I come across a similar premise. In Listen for the Lie, podcast host Ben Owens is investigating the years-old murder of Savvy, Lucy’s best friend.

Lucy has long been suspected of having a hand in Savvy’s death, particularly since she claims to not be able to remember anything from that night. Now, back home at the same time as the murder is being revisited, Lucy is back in the spotlight.

I listened to this one on audio and it went by very quickly. I did enjoy the way the podcast was included as excerpts within the story. It broke things up and kept them moving.

Lucy’s romantic relationships were kind of a random choice to include. She had multiple romantic encounters throughout the book that just kind of made me think she was less intelligent.

I was very intrigued to figure out who was behind the murder, but it didn’t feel like there was any pressure to figure it out. Things just sort of plodded along and, in my opinion, there was no big reveal.

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Buy Listen for the Lie at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

A Burning by Megha Majumdar ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

A Burning tells the story of three characters in India following the bombing of a train station. Jivan is a young woman who makes a careless Facebook comment about the attack and finds herself suddenly accused of causing it. PT Sir, her old gym teacher, knew Jivan as a down on her luck child, but when he hears the news of her arrest, his account of his time with her begins to change as he adjusts his stance opportunistically. Lovely, our third main character, is pursuing a career in acting. Jivan had been teaching her English, the very event that put her in the vicinity of the train station around the time of the bomb.

These characters were so distinct in their personalities and their ambitions. Each had goals for their future that they were trying desperately to achieve, no matter the cost. Seeing how their actions brought them nearer or further from their goals was fascinating.

Much of the action in this book is driven by questionable moral choices. These weren’t necessarily characters I found myself rooting for, but it opened up interesting questions. At its heart, it was a character study. The quick chapters bouncing between perspectives made this a fast and compelling read.

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Buy A Burning at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

Florida by Lauren Groff ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

Groff has such a poetic way of writing. Her descriptions are often wordy and metaphorical but in a way that makes you sink deeply into her stories. I’m not much of a short story reader, but this collection, all tied together by place, was such a wonderful adventure. The story follows characters dealing with different hardships in their lives and with different relationships to Florida. Most of them are quite dark. If they had been full length novels, they may have been hard to get through, but the format fit well here.

While reading this book, I could practically feel the oppressiveness of Florida humidity. The heaviness of the characters’ lives was absolutely palpable. I will say, the stories started to swirl together somewhat by the end, particularly since they were not action packed. I don’t think any of them will stick with me, but the “main character,” Florida, will, as will the feeling of reading this. If nothing else, I’m now planning on reading some of Groff’s more recent work.

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Buy Florida at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction

Know My Name by Chanel Miller ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Memoir

In Know My Name, Chanel Miller tells the incredibly painful and powerful story of her experience in the aftermath of being sexually assaulted and the extremely public case that followed. Her frankness in telling her story is brave, straightforward, and heartbreaking. Miller showcases so clearly how broken the system is as her trial gets pushed back over and over forcing her to put her life on hold for longer and longer because of her assault. She emphasizes not only the impact of the actual assault, but of the trial itself and how it derailed what she was expecting her life to look like.

It is so important to have someone shed a light on how grueling it is to be an assault victim trying to stand up for themselves, but that’s not why you should read this book. Miller’s writing is truly exceptional. She articulates her thoughts and experiences so incredibly well and helps you understand her mental state every step of the way.

This book is upsetting. It’s detailed and extensive and challenging, but reading it shows us only a fraction of what Miller went through. I often criticize books for being longer than they need to be, but the length of this one signifies just how lengthy of a journey and a process her experience with the justice system was.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

It’s A Love Story by Annabel Monaghan ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance
Release Date: May 27, 2025 (Thanks to NetGalley for my arc!)

I absolutely ate this book up. Jane Jackson was a teen television star, playing a super awkward character on a popular show. Now, as an adult, she is still in the industry, but working at a studio trying to get her first project moving forward. She and Dan Finnegan, an attractive but infuriating cinematographer, find themselves unlikely allies in their efforts to greenlight a movie they each deeply believe in. Jane accompanies Dan to his hometown so she can attempt to ask her old costar, Jake, to write a song for their film.

The vibes at the Finnegan household were perfectly written. Dan has a big rowdy family and the way that they supported him while simultaneously giving him a good natured hard time was so lovely. I absolutely fell in love with his family from his kindhearted parents to his sweet niece. And so did Jane. It was wonderful to watch her both open up to Dan and to his family. Seeing her so accepted made me feel all warm inside. I was such a big fan of this romance too. It was a bit of a slow burn but it was absolutely worth the wait. 

I thought the conflict near the end was a little unnecessary/unbelievable, but the rest of the book was so good – with such well written characters and relationships – that I’ll let it go.

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Buy It’s A Love Story at an indie bookstore near you
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