Book Review, Holiday, Romance

The Plight Before Christmas by Kate Stewart ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪.5
Genre: Romance

Whitney and Eli dated for less than a year in college when he broke her heart without explanation and left her reeling. Now, 17 years later, Whitney shows up to spend Christmas with her family only to find that Eli is her brother’s new friend who was invited to spend the holiday with them as well.

I enjoyed the cozy holiday vibe with the whole family bundled inside surrounded by snow with not much to do. It felt festive in exactly the way I want from a holiday romance. I liked having so much quality time with the family because it allowed me to get to know the characters well. It was sweet to see Eli develop relationships with each person.

At face value, I appreciated that the main characters were a bit older than is often the case in romance books. However, they approached their relationship in such an immature manner that it didn’t really end up bringing much to their story. There were also flashbacks to when they dated in college, which were essentially just excuses for lots of sex scenes.

Overall, I found this book literally laughable. The dialogue was so cheesy that I think I physically cringed several times while reading it. The way the main couple spoke to each other was so unrealistic and uncomfortable. In an attempt to make the story really steamy, they say things no one in their right mind would say. They are obsessed with the 8-months they dated 17 years ago. Excuse me? Has nothing more noteworthy happened to you since then?

Near the end, Eli drops a “bombshell” that is supposed to excuse all his bad behavior. The choice felt like such a copout and was incredibly disappointing.

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The Plight Before Christmas on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: March 11, 2025 (Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC!)

I was struck most by how unique this book is. Set entirely in the same restaurant for the whole book, it could be incredibly slow, but it has enough character introspection that it doesn’t drag too much. Jane and Dan go out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary at a very upscale restaurant they can’t afford. Just as Jane has announced that she wants a divorce, a masked group bursts in and holds everyone in the restaurant hostage. As if that wasn’t surprising enough, the group’s actions are eerily similar to the plot of Jane’s failed novel.

This isn’t a thriller by any means, but I truly never knew what was going to happen next. There were several twists, one of which completely caught me off guard, and those kept me interested in the plot.

This book was funny and charming and unexpected, but not terribly exciting. I really enjoyed Jane’s inner monologue, her humor (often inadvertent) and how she caught herself thinking about things utterly inappropriate for the situation.

Things started to get somewhat convoluted toward the end for no good reason (in my opinion) which made it harder to stay invested. This was definitely unlike anything I have read before, which was fun, but I think it was trying to do a little bit too much at times.

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ane and Dan at the End of the World on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction

Good Material by Dolly Alderton ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction

My previous experience with Dolly Aldteron’s writing (Ghosts) was NOT my thing, but I am SO glad I have her another chance. Her writing in Good Material is impeccable: funny, SO relatable, unexpected. I found myself literally wanting to copy down passages from this book.

At face value, not much happens in this book. It follows the fallout after Jen and Andy’s breakup, primarily from his perspective. Andy is shattered after suddenly losing the love of his life and struggles to pick himself back up with very little clarity on what happened to end their relationship.

The story explores his personal life and his career as a struggling comedian and how everything is infiltrated with thoughts of Jen. It summed up so well the difficulty of disentangling yourself from someone your life has been thoroughly intertwined with. Andy is not a likeable main character, but that really made the book work for me. It felt realistic in the sense that he seemed like an actual struggling human. 

I was pleasantly surprised to get Jen’s perspective at the end of the book and what a breath of fresh air. It put all of Andy’s reflections into context. Jen is opposed to the societal pressure to be in a relationship because that’s what you’re ‘supposed’ to do. I loved how different her perspective was from Andy’s and I wish we’d gotten a bit more from her. That said, I thought the unequal distribution of the narration worked really well for the book. It highlighted how one person experiences a breakup and how their thoughts on the situation are completely based on themselves and are never the full picture.

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Good Material on Goodreads
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Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Memoir

I was soo pleasantly surprised by The Third Gilmore Girl, by Kelly Bishop, most notable (in my opinion) for her role as Emily Gilmore in Gilmore Girls. This audiobook, narrated by the author, was made all the more wonderful as I’m currently rewatching the series.

I knew nothing about Bishop before starting this book and I really appreciated the parts of her life she chose to highlight. I got insight into her career as a dancer, her time on Broadway and her film and TV debuts. We learn about her personal relationships along the way (and her relationships with her pets) and about her passions (in terms of both social issues and things she personally likes and subscribes to). I really appreciated that she included her stances on issues like abortion, but not in a manner that felt like it was trying to serve an agenda. It is her memoir, and, when faced with situations that were topically appropriate, she addressed her opinion. It added to my understanding and appreciation of her as a whole person, beyond her career.

Bishop explains her successes and failures in a straightforward way that I felt gave a well rounded view of her life. I loved hearing about her time on Gilmore Girls and the close knit nature of the cast. I think there could have been a little more depth to this part of the story (particularly since it’s what she is best known for), and I would have appreciated more general life insight. That said, if she set out to tell her story and have people understand a bit about her beyond her most famous role, mission absolutely accomplished.

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The Third Gilmore Girl on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, mystery, thriller

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Mystery

The God of the Woods is a sprawling mystery that takes place at a summer camp where a Van Laar child has disappeared for the second time. Barbara’s brother, Bear, went missing years before, never to be found. We start the story with Barbara disappearing from her bunk, interspersed with flashbacks to the search for her brother.

I always enjoy a summer camp setting, and the vibes of the forested surroundings and a possible murderer on the loose in the woods added solid elements of suspense. I was excited to try to see threads connecting the two childrens’ disappearances. Much of the context surrounding the past was told through Barbara’s mother, Alice, who we get to know very well. There was extensive character development and her story added much more than just the central mystery to the story.

This should have been a book I loved, but the execution missed the mark for me. There were 1,000 characters who all had distracting unnecessary side quests. It was hard for me to follow the main story and figure out what actually mattered, which made me care very little about what was happening.

There were a lot of layers to the story and I found them each interesting, and much was unexpected from a book I was expecting to just be a straight mystery. I liked the vastness of the intertwining stories, but found it to be a bit much to be truly cohesive or impactful.

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The God of the Woods on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: February 25, 2025 (Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC!)

A classic Gillian McAllister thriller. On Cam’s first day back at work after her maternity leave, the police show up to tell her that her husband, Luke, is involved in a hostage situation. And he is the captor. So begins Cam’s yearslong hunt to figure out what possible motivation Luke could have had for this situation to unfold.

Famous Last Words is a split narrative between Cam and Niall, the hostage negotiator in Luke’s case. Each one, in their own way, is caught up on the situation long after it’s over. We got solid backstory on each narrator and I felt like I understood what motivated them and how the events fit into the rest of their lives.

McAllister is great at creating complex, unexpected twists that tie up her thrillers and this was no exception. There were many layers (maybeee one too many) that I never would have thought of, but did not seem unbelievable. I found myself rooting for Cam and Niall to uncover the truth and was on the edge of my toes watching them do so.

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Famous Last Words on Goodreads

Book Review, Fantsy, Fiction, Magical Realism

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Magical Realism

What a fascinating concept for a book. Lauren comes home one night to find that she suddenly has a husband and a whole new backstory of their years together. When he goes into the attic to get something though, a different husband comes back out and so her life is altered in alignment with this new man.

I love magical realism and this was a case of just that. Even though her past keeps changing, I felt like I got to know Lauren well. The cast of characters in her core circle remained the same throughout, although their circumstances changed somewhat, and it helped to ground the story.

As each new man comes into Lauren’s life, she has to decide if she should keep him around or try to get him back into the attic. This opened up an unexpected narrative about how long to keep searching for someone ‘perfect,’ and when to accept what you have as good enough. It seemed to me like an especially interesting concept to explore in the age of dating apps and their ‘endless choices.’ This message made me appreciate the book more than I would have if it was just a parade of rotating husbands with no insight. There wasn’t really much else that happened in the book (and it was a LOT of husbands), but having Lauren grapple with this issue via the magic attic of husbands was really intriguing.

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The Husbands on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fantsy, Romance

Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romantasy

Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death was such an unexpectedly charming read. The main character, Death, leads us through his ‘life’ collecting souls from people who have passed. When he gets to the world, time stops and no one perceives him, allowing him to wander around exploring the human world undisturbed. That is, until he meets Molly. Death is supposed to be collecting her soul, but instead, finds that Molly can see and hear him and so they strike up an unlikely friendship.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this relationship turning romantic, given that Death is described as kind of a decrepit being, but the way it played out was actually very sweet and wholesome. It spoke a lot to the sacrifices we make for love and needing to make the most of the time you have with your loved ones.

The fantasy elements of this book were a struggle for me in that there was SO MUCH world building in the afterlife realm and not enough exposition for me to really get it. I think a lot of the weird language and creatures were unnecessary. We didn’t actually need to know so much about that world, in my opinion, and it took me out of the story a bit sometimes.

The humor in this book took me completely by surprise. It was so unexpectedly funny which made it especially delightful. 

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Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Is She Really Going Out With Him? By Sophie Cousens ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

When the newspaper column Anna writes becomes threatened by a rival columnist, Will, she finds herself suddenly agreeing to have her two small children set her up on dates for future stories. Meanwhile, Will writes an opposing column about meeting women online.

I’m a big fan of Cousens’s previous books and the writing in this one was no less delightful. Each chapter started out with a series of Anna’s recent Google searches which always made me chuckle.

Anna’s relationship with her kids and with her ex husband were so well written and I enjoyed watching her navigate the changing landscape of her family. Her snarky unfiltered feelings about her ex and his new life made her so relatable.

The romance in this book was so well done. It was sexy, but not over the top and kept me flying through the book waiting for the two to get together. The build-up was predicated by work outings which made it a little bit scandalous and very fun to read.

Another wonderful romance by Sophie Cousens!

Thank you to NetGalley for my Arc!
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Is She Really Going Out with Him? on Goodreads
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Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction

Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Memoir

Yet another celebrity memoir that left me wondering how someone could write this much about her life with no critical reflection. Anna Marie Tendler starts of this book talking about checking herself into a psychiatric hospital yet it was never clear to me how that stay benefitted her and changed her mental state. She spends the rest of the book making herself appear unlikeable by explaining all the things she’s attempted to do career-wise and given up on and the men she has decided to rely on instead. She claims to have a horrible relationship with men and not want to be around them and then proceeds to center her life (or at least her memoir!) around the men she has been involved with. I would have appreciated this narrative so much more if there was concrete evidence of growth.

I think it was valiant of Tendler to share the details of her life in such a raw and unfiltered manner. She covers a lot of ground and lets the reader uncover many of the events and circumstances that made her who she is. She has definitely had an interesting life, and if that’s all she wanted to share, she accomplished it.

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Men Have Called Her Crazy on Goodreads
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