Slow burn (very slow). Disjointed storytelling and almost one sided. I did keep reading because I liked the small town and there were good nuggets of banter, caring, and looking out for each other. Maybe there were too many things happening? I feel like there are/were too many loose ends and storylines that didn’t wrapped up.

So as a teen, one of my favorite books was Norma Fox Mazer’s When We First Met. This YA book was a romance with a tragedy. How to End a Love Story is the grown up version of that book for me. The heartbreak! The emotional baggage they each carry and the  work each character does on themselves! The secondary characters helping to move the story, and the romance! I had to put it down only to get my emotions in check for the last quarter of the book. Definitely one of my favorites for 2024.

An interesting fictional family drama with a bit of a science fiction angle. Told in 3 parts, with the third part tying up the ends that had me frustrated, it certainly made me think about choices and paths we take along with the future and leaps of science and how it affects our lives.

Absolutely delightful full-cast audio version. Utterly clever and funny, I can see why so many love this book. Will definitely need to re-read or re-listen to this again.

As a long time reader of Catherine Newman’s columns, blogs, and other books, I can say that I am a fan. She puts into words the feelings that I have without myself even recognizing them at times. I seriously could have read this book in one sitting, but I forced myself to take a 2 hour break to stretch this experience. Her ability to express how much joy and fear and love and loss are intertwined in the human experience was beautiful. Definitely the right book at the right time for me. 

I wanted to like this book, but it was not for me. I did the audiobook version, but feel I would have felt the same about the print copy. Lots of birding facts crammed in and loosely connected to vague snippets about her childhood, her first marriage, or her infertility journey. I did keep listening and was glad she got better at this new hobby of hers, but this was overall a disappointment.