2.5 stars

Thanks to Atria for the copy of this book and Simon and Schuster audio for the ALC!

Alex gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a writing retreat with her favorite author. To go, she needs to lie about her age, deal with her ex-best friend also attending, and hide the fact that she's dealing with writer's block.

Unfortunately, I was really bored for most of this book and just didn't love it. The premise is really strong and it started off well, but in the end, the follow through just didn't work for me. There are some really positive reviews out there, so I think this story well connect well for a lot of people, though!

Read if you like:
- The Plot or Every Vow You Break
- Sapphic stories
- Locked room stories

Thanks to Minotaur Books for the copy of this book.

Our story starts 25 years ago with a dark secret amongst a group of teens in a group home. Fast forward to the present and they're all wildly successful, but someone is out to get them, bringing them back together for a reunion they didn't expect. If you love fast-paced thrillers, add this one to your list! Yes, it's totally over the top and you have to suspend belief, but this is a really fun read. The chapters are short and the POV rotates, which will leave you guessing in this cat-and-mouse game.

Read if you:
- want a fast-paced thriller
- like short chapters
- enjoy action movies

Thanks to St. Martin's press for this ARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

Pippa and Gabe buy their dream house... which happens to be right next to a cliff notorious for suicide attempts. Gabe seems to have a knack for helping people who come to the cliffside, but one day, a woman ends up dead.

Sally Hepworth is phenomenal at writing domestic suspense. I loved the two couples involved in this story and seeing how all the details worked together to finally form a picture through multiple POVs and timelines. I listened to this one in basically one sitting because I was hooked. I HAD to know what the connection was and who was really nefarious. An excellent, bingeable book to have on your radar this spring!

Barrie Kreinik and Jessica Douglas-Henry were fantastic narrators on audio and I highly recommend it on audio!

Thanks to Forever for the copy of this book!

Did I request this solely for the male MC with tattoos on the cover? Absolutely. Did he live up to all my expectations in this book? Also yes. I *love* a grumpy/sunshine trope, especially when he’s sarcastic and secretly super sweet florist. Elliot is just so endearing - I loved him so much. Ama was his perfect counterpart, and I loved her profession as a wedding planner organizing a high-profile wedding during the course of this story. Ama and Elliot had such a great dynamic in both the past and present timelines, and stemming their relationship from the perspective of wedding planning and marriages worked so well. Julie Soto wrote a great romance with lots of good plot and a fantastic villain - I’ll definitely be back for more of her writing!

Read if you:
- love the grumpy/sunshine trope
- dig a guy with tattoos
- are interested in wedding planning
- can handle some steamy scenes or are fine flipping a few pages

Thanks to Henry Holt and Co. for the copy of this book.

"Knowledge allows remembering, and remembering is honoring."

Ahn, along with her brothers Thanh and Minh, begin a journey to Hong Kong after American troops leave Vietnam. Expecting to reunite with the rest of their family, they find that they are now all that remains and Ahn is left in charge of her brothers. They are admitted into the UK as one of the 10,000 "boat people" allowed by Margaret Thatcher - but not without struggles and opposition.

I loved the structure of this novel. Not only were there past and present timelines, there were also musings from deceased ancestors and non-fiction article interludes. This setup allowed me to learn the facts from this period in history and generational trauma while also listening to a generational story and feeling the emotions of this refugee story. I appreciated learning about Operation Wandering Soul, Margaret Thatcher's immigration policies, and Koh Kra Island massacres - these are all pieces of history that I hadn't studied before, and I'm truly glad that I read this book.

Read if you:
- enjoyed the structure of No Land to Light On
- love immigrant and generational stories
- want to learn more about "boat people" and Margaret Thatcher's immigration policies
- want to support a BIPOC debut

Thanks to Berkley for the copy of this book!

What a fun and wild ride! Wes and Ivy have had the MOST TOXIC relationship ever, on and off for ten years. They’re all about retaliation if the dynamic becomes unbalanced, but always end up making up. They can’t seem to get away from each other, especially with a big secret from the past tying them together. But a Detective Karen is on the case, and when she enlists some help from others in their orbit, she might just find a way to get Wes and Ivy away from each other for good.

I really love twisted thrillers with an entire cast of semi-terrible characters, so this was right up my alley. Even Karen was projecting her past onto Wes and Ivy’s situation as she investigated, bringing her a bit over to the dark side, too. I really enjoyed watching this play out and thought the twists added to the “grab the popcorn and watch this crazy situation play out” nature of the story. It’s just a fun thriller.

Read if you:
- love thrillers with shady characters
- want to grab popcorn and watch when a relationship is imploding
- need a little Bonnie and Clyde dynamic

Thanks to Hanover Square Press for the copy of this book!

Add Paper Names to your list of must-read books of 2023. I sat down thinking I’d sample a chapter of a few books to see what I’d read next, and ended up reading half of this book instead!

Paper Names is a compelling story of a Chinese-American family (Tony/Tongheng & Kim/Kuan-yin and their daughter, Tammy/Tianfei) and their experiences as immigrants in New York City - one experience which intertwines their family’s lives with that of a privileged white lawyer, Oliver.

Told from the perspectives of Tony, Tammy, and Oliver over decades, we really get a 360-degree look at all the events that unfurl and really get to dig into privilege, family, loyalty, ceilings, and justice. I was so engrossed in this story from the start, but then toward the end - OH MY GOSH - I was getting physically anxious at the events that started unfurling. Throwing in a POV of a white male with a trust fund was genius on Susie Lou’s part. Susie also went through an event from one character’s perspective, then in the next chapter, went over that event from a different character’s POV with a slightly shifted the timeline. It worked so well and is really masterful storytelling - I can’t believe this is a debut!

Read if you:
- read and loved Beautiful Country
- learned how to play It’s All Coming Back to Me Now on the piano in the 90s
- appreciate multiple POVs
- want to learn more about the Chinese-American experience
- want to support a BIPOC debut