Read by the author, I’d Like To Play Alone, Please is both hilarious and sincere. Tom Segura is a brilliant narrator. If you’re familiar with his comedy, you’ll recognize some of these stories but he adds so much more detail and context in this book. 

This memoir tackles Tom’s experiences as a child and teenager, his football aspirations, drug problems, and a variety of stories about finding his way into comedy. I thought it was organized well and had great flow. 

I think this would be great for anyone who enjoys comedy and celebrity memoirs, but I will caution that there is cursing and a chapter devoted to why Tom uses the word “retarded” in his comedy. I’m not bothered by the former, but I don’t enjoy the R word and I still found that chapter enjoyable. Tom presents logical reasons for his opinion and I’m cool to agree to disagree with him. 

If those topics won’t hinder you, this book is a great way to read and laugh your ass off. 

Don’t Cry For Me is one of the most beautiful, arresting novels of this year. It is a tender story told in letters from a dying father to his son. Jacob is in the final stages of cancer and he is reflecting on his regrets as a parent to a gay son. Isaac, his son, was a strong and beautiful soul from a young age.

In his letters, Jacob explains some of the trauma from his own childhood and lifetime that impacted him as a parent. We never get the perspective of Isaac, but there is not one thing missing from this novel. It is a soul stirring story that pairs best with tissues. 

I truly loved everything about this novel, even as it tore my heart into pieces. It is about the tragedy and beauty in all of us; it is about hope and forgiveness that may or may not come. I cannot recommend this highly enough. 

I went into The Writing Retreat knowing very little about what to expect. What I discovered was a thrilling story of Alex and several other young aspiring authors who are selected for a prestigious and mysterious writing retreat with the lauded author, Roza Vallo. 

The selected female authors travel to a secluded home in the dead of Winter. They are faced with their hero, Roza Vallo, and also her extreme demands. They must write 3,000 words a day and provide feedback to their peers to go home. The winner will have their book published at the end of the thirty days. 

But soon, things become spooky and then deadly. Who can be trusted in this isolated house? Who will even survive? 

I really enjoyed the light horror in this book and chapters from Alex’s work in progress. I also enjoyed the character development in the second half of the novel, we learned  more about nearly everyone. I didn’t like the pacing in the final 20%; it felt very stop and go after the pace had revved in the back third. I still enjoyed the ending, I was just ready to know how things sorted out. 

Overall, this book was a great surprise. I hope you will give it a read when it comes out next year! 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Magpie is a mysterious contemporary focused on a couple experiencing infertility and the boarder they take on. Immediately lines are blurred and boundaries are out the window. But whose perspective can we trust? It is not a thriller, but there is tension that will appeal to readers of that genre. 

I can’t say much about the characters without getting into spoilers, so I’ll focus on elements this book has to offer: infertility and mental health representation done WELL, messy situations without clear rights and wrongs, narcissistic characters, and complicated family dynamics. 

If you like psychological thrillers and contemporary fiction, I think this could be a great book for you. 

I read a fair bit of YA but hardly ever pick up YA romance. I decided to try this one after seeing lots of positive reviews and it was beautiful! Love Radio is told by two narrators, Prince and Dani. Prince hosts a radio show in which he picks the music and offers love advice between tracks. Dani is a focused student with a plan to go to NYU. 

I loved that this romance was focused on taking things slow and getting to know each other in meaningful and non traditional ways. The scene when Prince undoes Dani’s braids is another level of tenderness and emotional intimacy. 

I highly recommend this audiobook because it was so well done and brings the radio show to life, but you can’t go wrong reading this book in any format. 

Two stars only for the technically good writing. This book is too long, meandering, and a bit boring. Characters that should draw us in and get us in our feelings seem almost flat, and it feels like we are watching from fifty yards away. 

I wanted to like this, and certain things were enjoyable like the past of Affonlight and the history of Westish College. Overall though, I just don’t know who this book is for. I think with more emotion and intimacy between the characters and the reader, this could have really been something. 

More fart humor than the previous books in the series. 

The Make-up Test is a second chance romance set in academia. Allison is a graduate student in Medieval Literature. At orientation for the program, she sees Colin- her ex from undergrad. 

In an unexpected turn of events, Colin and Allison are both TAs for the same professor, Wendy. This obviously creates tension, and to pile on only one of them can continue with Wendy next semester due to funding. Suddenly Colin and Allison are in fierce competition. 

The feelings begin to grow when Colin volunteers to drive Allison four hours to mean when her father is in the hospital and she finds out while drunk at a party. The car ride becomes exceptionally sweet. They make an agreement to put their competition aside and try to build a relationship together. 

I enjoyed this book until the final 20% and that’s where it fell apart for me. The third act break up felt impossible to realistically recover from. I saw what Colin did as inexcusable  and I really dislike how Allison was written as blaming herself and forgiving him so easily. The end of this romance left me feeling very uncomfortable which is the opposite of how I want to feel when reading this genre. I had such high hopes based on the beginning and the authors note, some good things I can say are that the fat rep in this book is great, the minor characters are well developed enough to be very likable, and I really liked the storyline about Allison and her father. 

Overall, it’s hard for me to put aside the ending of this book. I don’t need more stories about women putting their needs and feelings aside for a man and taking on responsibility for how a man feels. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

After thoroughly enjoying The Nothing Man and 56 Days, I was excited for Catherine Ryan Howard’s newest release- Run Time.  

The novel alternates between the main character who is a struggling actress and scenes from a movie script. As you might guess, the actress is cast in the movie that we are reading scenes from. I did enjoy the writing but found this novel to be very predictable and not as engaging as her other novels. 

I would only recommend it if you are a big fan of movies because I do think those elements will appeal to film buffs. If you are curious about this author, 56 Days is an excellent thriller set in the early weeks of lockdown and The Nothing Man is a super creepy multiple point of view serial killer thriller.