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.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy A Burning at an indie bookstore near you
A Burning on Goodreads

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.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Florida at an indie bookstore near you
Florida on Goodreads

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.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Know My Name at an indie bookstore near you
Know My Name on Goodreads

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.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy It’s A Love Story at an indie bookstore near you
It’s a Love Story on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

The Castaways tells the story of four Nantucket couples who comprise a friend group. When one of the couples is killed while out sailing, it acts as a catalyst for the unraveling of years’ worth of secrets the group has been keeping from one another.

Although the central event in the book is the sudden loss of Greg and Tess, it also takes the time to share past vacations the full group has taken together. Hilderbrand shows us that the full group dynamic is not representative of the individual relationships within it and draws back the curtain on them one at a time. Yes, that means there are a lot of different points of view, but that kept things interesting for me. We got to see things through a lot of different perspectives.

It was a little slower moving than some of Hilderbrand’s other books, but the central mystery about what happened to Greg and Tess kept me locked in. 

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Castaways at an indie bookstore near you
The Castaways on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

This is A Love Story by Jessica Soffer ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Genre: Fiction

This is a Love Story is told through Abe and Jane, a couple who have had a long life together. Jane is terminally ill and Abe is recounting stories from their lives to Jane as a way to stay connected in her final days. The writing style is poetic and not told in traditional prose. At times it was very beautiful, but honestly as a storytelling mechanism it didn’t really work for me. I found it somewhat hard to follow the plot given the way it was written.

Central Park is deeply meaningful to the couple and is included as its own character in the story. There are entire excerpts about what is happening in the park, unrelated to the main couple, which was such a unique use of place.

The story also pulls in other characters – Abe and Jane’s son and his (negative) perspective of his mother; and a student of Abe’s who tried to pursue him romantically. These helped to provide a more rounded view of who they were as people. I appreciated the other points of view and the realistic depth that was added.

I liked that the narrative addressed the good and bad times in this couple’s relationship. You might expect this kind of setup to be a fluffy romance, but that is not the case with this book. It is a recounting their missteps as much as of the happy times.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book overall. As previously mentioned, I found it a little hard to follow. I think the stylistic choices were doing a bit too much and took away from what was otherwise a compelling narrative.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf

Buy This is a Love Story at an indie bookstore near you

This is a Love Story on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

When Vix becomes friends with Caitlin as a teenager, she finds herself suddenly swept up in a world of luxury totally unlike her own. Caitlin invites her to come to Martha’s Vineyard with her for the summer and so the summer sisters are born.

This book follows the two girls throughout the years, jumping from summer to summer as they grown and change. They are surrounded by a cast of characters from Caitlin’s family to the boys they have crushes on. A lottt of this book centers on discovering their sexuality and obsessing over boys. Which is fine, but I wished the girls had a little more dimension.

I always enjoy a story focused around a female friendship with two wildly different women. In this case, Caitlin was the wild child and Vix was more practical. I liked the way they used their differences to their advantage when they were young. Learning from each other as they did. When they got older, I could not understand why they were still friends. Their relationship soured yet they still seemed to feel obligated to be their for one another. I think I would have been happier with this remaining a strong female friendship.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Summer Sisters at an indie bookstore near you
Summer Sisters on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance

I loved Marianne Cronin’s previous book and the premise of Eddie Winston is Looking for Love had a lot in common with it. This book is the story of Eddie, a 90 year old who volunteers at a charity shop collecting memorabilia from people’s lives, particularly those he thinks their loved ones may regret giving up and come back for. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with 24 year old Bella who is grieving the loss of her boyfriend. When she finds out Eddie has never been kissed, she takes it as a challenge to help him achieve the milestone.

Cronin is so good at creating quirky, nuanced characters. I was obsessed with the descriptions of Bella and Eddie’s respective fashion choices and Eddie’s growing interest in his own personal style. Details like this and like Eddie’s relationship with his pet hamster made the characters feel so rich and real.

We also see flashbacks to the life of Bridie in the 1950’s – her marriage of convenience and the life she experiences because of this choice. We see her meet Eddie, as kind and warm and wonderful as ever, and we watch their friendship unfold.

I was eager to see how and when the past and present would come back together. The story took its time getting there, but it never felt slow. Every scene was so deliciously detailed and I could picture them playing out perfectly.

The characters and relationships Cronin weaves are like warm hugs. Her books have layers of sadness, but that just makes me care about the people in them all the more.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Eddie Winston is Looking for Love at an indie bookstore near you
Eddie Winston is Looking for Love on Goodreads

Book Review, Historical Fiction

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Historical Fiction

I saw sooo many glowing review for The Frozen River and I love a good mystery so I was excited to dig into it. Martha is a midwife and healer and she is called on to examine a body found floating in the river. Upon inspection, it’s clear to her that there is foul play and knowing what she does about the victim’s past, she has theories of her own. However, she finds herself publicly contradicted and forced to investigate further in secret.

The commentary about how women were treated in this town was interesting in a painful way and I liked seeing Martha try to advocate for herself and for other women. Unfortunately however, she did so in a way that was so repetitive. This was a long book and it positively crawled along. I wasn’t even intrigued in figuring out he mystery by halfway through because I felt like I was slogging through the same chapter over and over.

Incredible setting and world building and a very interesting premise, but the execution absolutely did not work for me.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Frozen River at an indie bookstore near you
The Frozen River on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

This was one of those books I couldn’t wait to get back to every time I stopped reading. I went into it completely blind and boy was it a wild ride. When an affair with her English professor leads to an unexpected pregnancy, Margo decides to have the baby to give her life a new purpose. Once the baby comes, despite her love of him, she struggles to support him, until she discovers OnlyFans.

This book was very self aware. There were excerpts about narration and being a reader and a writer – playing off of the English class where Margo meets the father of her child. It added an element of suspense and the reader in, becoming part of the story.

The writing was funny and ironic and just delightful. One of the funnier books I’ve ever read despite the heavy nature of the content (it explores drug addiction, infidelity, and a custody battle to name a few).

Every character was so quirky and unique and I truly never had any idea what anyone might do or say next. I can truly say this was like nothing I’ve ever read before and I can see myself revisiting Margo in the future.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Margo’s Got Money Troubles at an indie bookstore near you
Margo’s Got Money Troubles on Goodreads