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With a newborn in the house, there was more vegging in front of the tv than curling up with a book, SO one book complete is good from my point of view!  I am hoping for more over the next few months and to end with a great 2026 of reading.  

1. When I Kill You by BA Paris

Total pages read, clicked and flipped: 304

Where Have I Been Reading?:

London

Review: You Can't Hide by Emily Shiner

Publisher: Inkubator Books

Pages: 225

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:   Beth thought she’d escaped her past. But all this time, it’s been waiting for her…

Beth and Ian are desperate to have a child. So much so that they decide to sell his family cabin in upstate New York to pay for IVF.

When they arrive at the cabin, they meet Ryan, the caretaker. But Ryan is not who he says he is… He’s here because he knows Beth has a dark secret. And now he intends to use it against her.

He threatens to tell Ian everything about Beth's past unless she does exactly what he says.

Beth finds herself caught in a nightmarish trap. If Ian discovers what she’s been hiding from him, she’s sure he’ll leave her. She’ll lose everything she cares about, including the chance to have a child of her own.

On the other hand, what Ryan wants her to do is so dark and twisted it’s beyond horrifying.

Either way, Beth is sure her life is over, she can see no way out. Unless… Unless she digs deep and finds a part of herself that is willing to do something so awful it doesn’t even bear thinking about…

Kritters Thoughts:  A dark and twisty mystery that took me on an adventure and because of that it had me flipping pages one after the other, on my kindle of course!  Told from two different perspectives and I couldn't wait to see when and where these two women would collide.  

Beth and Ian head to their family's remote cabin to get it ready to sell and from the beginning there are eery feelings.  I loved that from the very beginning I was in the book and the mood was set; especially with the book being a little on the shorter side, I was glad the author dove in and got the story going.  And then Lizzie's story is hard to read from the start, it was difficult to read but I kept going wanting to know where these two worlds would come together.  

I would suggest you hold and read this book for the spooky season as it was quite the perfect read for that season.  It was also a quick read if your spooky season is busy! 

Rating:

Review: American Mother by Gregg Olsen

Publisher: Thread

Pages: 497

Format: audiobook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  At 5.02 pm on June 5th, 1986, a call came into the local sheriff office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State from Stella Nickell. Her husband Bruce was having a seizure. As the officers arrived on the scene, Bruce was already dead.

Forensics identified that Bruce had consumed headache pills laced with cyanide and in an attempt to cover her tracks, Stella saw to it that a stranger would also become her next victim of the cyanide-tainted painkillers.

What would drive a seemingly normal outgoing and popular mum and wife to kill?
As the investigation began to unfold, Stella’s daughter Cynthia notified federal agents of her mother’s crimes. But she didn’t reveal everything…

Kritters Thoughts:  In 1982, there were murders that were tied to Tylenol pills in Chicago, IL and just four short years later across the country in the state of Washington a copycat of sorts happened.  A woman who was very unhappily married figured that murder was easier than divorce and laced pills with cyanide, but not only did they kill her target another woman was also killed.  

While this book for sure described the events of 1986, but it also went back in time to give the reader an extensive amount of background knowledge that gave context as to why everyone ended up where they did - by no means an excuse for Stella's actions.  For me, this book moved a little slower and maybe spent a little too much time in the past and could have spent more time in the present day of 1986.    

My second Gregg Olsen book and I have read both via audiobook and I really enjoy taking in nonfiction via audiobook.  

Rating:

Review: The Bookshop by the Bay by Pamela Kelley

Publisher: Griffin

Pages: 320

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:   Two lifelong friends. One bookshop by the beach. And the summer that could change everything.

Jess loves her work as a high-profile lawyer in the respectable and austere city of Charleston. But when she finds her husband, Parker, has been cheating on her with his assistant, she retreats, with her thirty year-old daughter Caitlin for support, to her childhood home on Cape Cod, in Chatham. Caitlin has always been bright but directionless, looking for her passion but keeps coming up blank. And Jess needs to regroup with the help of good food and wine, the company of her best friend, Allison, and come up with a plan for the future.

Allison’s career has hit a low. After twenty years as an editor for the Chatham magazine, circulation is dwindling and though her boss and long-time friend, Jim, does everything to keep her, she has no choice but to take a step back. With a career on hiatus and her main relationship being with Chris, her ex-husband who is still a good friend, Allison is at a pivotal point in life. Her daughter Julia opened her own artisanal jewelry shop a year prior, and she has the kind of day-to-day fulfillment Allison yearns for.

When Allison stops into her beloved local bookstore one day and learns that the owner wants to sell, a long-held dream turns into a reality, thanks to Jess. Allison and Jess set a plan in motion and what was once a place that held warm childhood memories is now theirs to run. As the two friends, along with the help of their daughters, reopen the doors of the cherished bookstore and adjacent coffee shop to the community, they also open themselves up to the possibility of romance, the bonds of mothers and daughters, and the magic of second chances.

Kritters Thoughts:  Two sets of lifelong friends and their daughters take center stage in this book.  Jess and her daughter Caitlin and Allison and her daughter Julia all end up in Cape Cod for a summer and each have something going on that hopefully can be solved by the end of summer.  Jess has recently discovered her husband's infidelity and needs a physical break from Charleston, SC, while her daughter Caitlin recently lost her job and isn't sure what is next for herself.  Allison is also dealing with a dwindling career and may need to take a hard pivot to something new instead of the magazine that she has worked at for a long time.  And Julia has been building her own jewelry business on Cape Cod and just needs something to make a splash in order to ensure that her basic bills can get paid and her long-term boyfriend Kyle is ready for marriage and she may not be so ready.  

With all these things going on, it took a moment to make sure I had everyone and their sub characters straight.  I loved the dynamic of both personal and professional drama and while I tend to avoid books with cheating spouses, thankfully I was warned that this was a minor moment in the book and that there was way more plot to enjoy.  The one thing that kept me from making this a five star read was the pacing towards the middle of the book, it seemed to slow down for me and at that moment I kind of knew where we would end up and was ready for the author to get there.  

My first Pamela Kelley book and will for sure not be my last read.  I will share that the summer vibe of this book was perfect to throw in my beach bag on our family summer vacation.  

Rating:

What month! Every week of July had some form of travel for me, three weeks worth of work travel and then our summer family vacation, so it was full of packing and unpacking and to and fro. With this travel, reading wasn't the easiest thing to do.

1. Betting on Good by Wendy Francis

2. Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau

Total pages read, clicked, and flipped: 494

Where Have I Been Reading?:

Louisville, KY

San Francisco, CA 

Only three books completed, but another busy month of house projects, jobs, family time, and some great summer moments by the pool. 

1. The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

2. You Can't Hide by Emily Shiner

3. An Academic Affair by Jodie McAlister

Total pages read, clicked, and flipped: 960

Where Have I Been Reading?:

New York 

Australia

What year 2025 has been.  From selling a house to moving to moving again just two months later, we are in our dream home and of course with any home, there are projects.  May was the month to slow down and enjoy a book in the sunshine.

1. The Seamstress of New Orleans by Diane C. McPhail

2. American Mother by Gregg Olsen (audiobook)

3. Coming Home to Seashell Harbor by Miranda Liasson

Total pages read, clicked, and flipped: 1,184

Where Have I Been Reading?:

New Orleans, LA

New Jersey

Washington 

 

Review: Emily Gone by Bette Lee Crosby

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  

1971.

When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone.

Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before. When she leaves the festival and is faced with an opportunity to fill that void, she is driven to an act of desperation that will forever bind the lives of three women.

When the truth of what actually happened that fateful night is finally exposed, shattering the lives they’ve built, will they be able to pick up the pieces to put their families back together again?

Kritters Thoughts:  A small town in Georgia is invaded when a large music festival is planned on the outskirts of town.  There is worry that this will bring the wrong sorts of people to town, but everyone is convinced that the economic boom will outweigh the annoyance for the short term.  One family is gravely impacted by this festival as they wake up one morning and their beautiful baby girl has gone missing.  

With alternating chapters from different perspectives, the reader knows early on where this child has been taken and by whom, so the story is more about the impact after such a tragedy.  It was hard not to feel for the kidnappers and see the impact of tragedy on their decisions and how easily someone can make wrong choices and convince themselves that it is all okay.    

This book was the perfect companion for a work trip with a flight and some quiet time in a hotel to curl up and read about this family in a small town as they learn to live with their new normal.    My first Bette Lee Crosby, but for sure will not be my last.  I loved how she pulled this story together and her characters were so fully formed that I could see them walking in my front door to share this story themselves.  

Rating:

Review: The Seamstress of New Orleans by Diane C. McPhail

Publisher: Kensington Publishing

Pages: 304

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads: The year 1900 ushers in a new century and the promise of social change, and women rise together toward equality. Yet rules and restrictions remain, especially for women like Alice Butterworth, whose husband has abruptly disappeared. Desperate to make a living for herself and the child she carries, Alice leaves the bitter cold of Chicago far behind, offering sewing lessons at a New Orleans orphanage.

Constance Halstead, a young widow reeling with shock under the threat of her late husband’s gambling debts, has thrown herself into charitable work. Meeting Alice at the orphanage, she offers lodging in exchange for Alice’s help creating a gown for the Leap Year ball of Les Mysterieuses, the first all female krewe of Mardi Gras. During Leap Years, women have the rare opportunity to take control in their interactions with men, and upend social convention. Piece by piece, the breathtaking gown takes shape, becoming a symbol of strength for both women, reflecting their progress toward greater independence.

But Constance carries a burden that makes it impossible to feel truly free. Her husband, Benton, whose death remains a dangerous mystery, was deep in debt to the Black Hand, the vicious gangsters who controlled New Orleans’ notorious Storyville district. Benton’s death has not satisfied them. And as the Mardi Gras festivities reach their fruition, a secret emerges that will cement the bond between Alice and Constance even as it threatens the lives they’re building . . .

Kritters Thoughts:  Two women - one from Chicago and one from New Orleans and both end up single as husbands end up dead and missing.  Constance is a woman who came from money and her husband ends up dead after an incident on a train.  Alice, a woman who grew up on a farm made it to Chicago to make her life go in a different direction ends up married and her husband goes missing.  She goes on a trip to find him and ends up in New Orleans . . . 

As a reader who has been reading fiction for many years, I knew where this one would go early on, but the journey was still enjoyable.  These two women are such a pair when they meet and try to change the ways for both each other and others!  I loved reading their banter when they created a dress for a Mardi Gras that was a ball that was flipping things on its end as women were going to be running the show.  This part of the book was my favorite to read - watching these women form a relationship and a beautiful dress to come of it.  

I was able to read this in two formats which was fun since I rarely do this! I read this via ebook and audio.  The audio version was narrated by Jessica Marchbank and while I usually listen to the books at the normal speed, I actually was able to speed this one up and still enjoy it - made me feel like a normal audiobook fan who can speed up and read away! 

Rating:

A work trip allowed for some great reading time on an airplane!

1. Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby

2. Two Women Walk in the Bar by Cheryl Strayed

Total pages read, clicked, and flipped: 431

Where Have I Been Reading?:

Georgia

Portland, OR

Review: The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Publisher: Doubleday

Pages: 317

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter.

Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that has weighty consequences when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished. In her search for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary hidden beneath the floorboards of her mother's bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked into the historical mystery, she discovers that she's not the only person looking for someone that they've lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.

Kritters Thoughts:  My first book of 2025 and the first book I finished in awhile due to a lot of personal things going on and boy it felt good to finish a book!  Two plotlines going on at once, so I got out a trusty notecard to take notes to make sure I knew who was who and what was what.  In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea is dealing with the death of her daughter and her and her husband Martin are barely surviving a cold January.  In the present day, 19 year old Ruthie's mother is missing and she and her younger sister are trying to find the missing clues to hopefully find her.  

The pacing of this book is what kept me going.  From chapter to chapter, I kept reading wanting to know where these two timelines would converge and when all my questions would be answered.  If the pacing of the book matters to you, I can say this one nailed it.  

BUT the reason that it only received three stars was the confusing plot - not the two timelines, but the stories within each.  With ghosts/sleepers as part of the plot, I was so lost and confused as to who was alive and dead and had to re read a few parts again and again to make sure I got all the pieces right.    

Set in snowy Vermont, I was so thankful that I picked this up in January and read it under a blanket - the perfect place to read this perfectly paced thriller.  So if ghosts and snowy vibes are your thing, then I can completely recommend this one.  And while that may not be my thing, I still want to head into Jennifer McMahon's backlist and read more of her.    

Rating: 

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A sad beginning to the year, but a busy one when it comes to both my personal and professional work.  I have hopes that 2025 will be a better year for reading with many more hours available to curl up with a book.  

1. The Winter People by Jennfer McMahon

Total pages read, clicked and flipped: 317

Where Have I Been Reading?:

Vermont

2024 wrap up!

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WELL, I thought 2022 AND 2023 were going to be my saddest reading years, but 2024 took the cake - BUT for very different reasons.  In 2024, I had someone re enter my life and they became a main character in my story.  We spent 2024 building a relationship and a life, so there was little time to read.  NOW 2025 with our life a little calmer, there should be more time to enjoy a good book and maybe a few reads together!

Let's compare 2024 to 2023.  

Total number of books I read in 2024: 38

Total number of books I read in 2023: 49

Total number of pages I flipped, clicked, and so on in 2024: 11,279
Total number of pages I flipped, clicked, and so on in 2023: 29,355

I have been keeping track of WHERE my books were taking place all year. Below is the outcome.  Although my overall numbers were done, I visited 15 states this year and that is 3 more than last year!  I always love to diversify my reading in locations both in the US and abroad.  

States that made the list:

Maine            New York             Alaska

Louisiana      California            Missouri

Iowa               Kansas                Virginia

Maryland      Tennessee          Oregon

Washington, D.C.                      South Carolina

Dakota

My country number went down again this year and I would love to travel more in 2025, so I want to try to keep an eye on this number and be intentional with my reading.  

Countries accounted for:

Germany         Poland          Australia

England

2025 Reading Goals

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2024 was a year of big change and all of that change took a lot of time.  I am hoping that 2025 is a year that I can settle into the life changes and spend a lot more time curled up with a book.  I did not meet my goals last year, so I am going to keep them the same this year and hope for a different outcome.  

Ok now for the Reading Goals of 2025!

1. I want to read a minimum of 124 books.  I read 38 books in 2024 and I am hoping with a quieter year that more quiet time with a book will happen.   

2. As in last year, I want to focus on my Netgalley percentage.  Unfortunately it went down in 2024 to 19%, so I would like it to increase in 2025.  I would really like to make a big dent and get it up to 25%! 

3.   My third goal is exactly the same as last year - incorporate more audiobooks.  I am hoping for more opportunities to put a book in my ears and get things done, so I would like to see my audiobook numbers to increase this year, so I will count them this year and will hope for at least 24 audiobooks by the end of the year.

Review: A Quilt for Christmas by Melody Carlson

Publisher: Revell

Pages: 176

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Christmas should be celebrated with family. But for Vera Swanson, that's not an option this year. Widowed and recently relocated, she is lonely in her condo-for-one--until little Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. With her mother seriously ill and her father out of town, Fiona enlists Vera's help, and when she finds out her new neighbor is a quilter, she has a special request--a Christmas quilt for Mama.

Vera will have to get a ragtag group of women together in order to fulfill the request. Between free-spirited artist Tasha, chatty empty nester Beverly, retired therapist Eleanor, and herself, Vera has hopes that Christmas for the Albright family will be merry, after all--and she may find herself a new family of friends along the way.

Kritters Thoughts:  A sweet little story that is perfect for the busy season of Christmas with a great cast of characters and maybe a little too sweet of a plot!  Vera has recently located to this condo to be near family that ended up moving from that location, so she is very alone and not ready for a Christmas season.  A family who also recently relocated to this condo community ends up on her doorstep and in need of some help and maybe they can help her too!!  

I don't want to share too much because this book is just too sweet.  The cast of characters that come together to help this family are so fun and eclectic and I loved that they each were given a moment to have a journey or evolution.  Each of the cast contributed to the story and each received something from someone else in the group - it was so great to see each of them have a moment or two in the story.  

I loved that this book was just one of those easy reads that is perfect to get into during a time of the year that can be busy with a lot of other things going on.   

Rating:

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: A Little Christmas Spirit by Sheila Roberts

A Little Christmas Spirit

by Sheila Roberts

Publisher: MIRA

Pages: 320

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Single mom Lexie Bell hopes to make this first Christmas in their new home special for her six-year-old son, Brock. Festive lights and homemade fudge, check. Friendly neighbors? Uh, no. The reclusive widower next door is more grinchy than nice. But maybe he just needs a reminder of what matters most. At least sharing some holiday cheer with him will distract her from her own lack of romance…

Stanley Mann lost his Christmas spirit when he lost his wife and he sees no point in looking for it. Until she shows up in his dreams and informs him it’s time to ditch his scroogey attitude. Stanley digs in his heels, but she’s determined to haunt him until he wakes up and rediscovers the joys of the season. He can start by being a little more neighborly to the single mom next door. In spite of his protests, he’s soon making snowmen and decorating Christmas trees. How will it all end?

Merrily, of course. A certain Christmas ghost is going to make sure of that!

Kritters Thoughts:  A sweet Christmas story perfect to get you into that holiday spirit.  Lexie Bell is new in town, a teacher with her young son who is trying to put the pieces back together after life has sent her over some speedbumps.  She is trying to do it all herself and it is not going well, and sometimes life sends you help and just the right help right when you need it.  The other main character is her neighbor, Stanley, who is mourning the loss of his wife and not excited about another holiday season, but maybe this one will be different.

There are so many Christmas romance books and while this one may have some romance in it, the main focus was on Lexie and Stanley and how they entered each other's lives and gave what they could and it was exactly what the other needed.  I adored watching their relationship grow and how much they really complimented each other in the most platonic of ways.  

If you have read too many and watched too many Hallmark books and movies, then go for this one and you will still feel that Christmas glow, but less of the romance!    

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from HarperCollins.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Colony Club by Shelley Noble

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 384

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When young Gilded Age society matron Daisy Harriman is refused a room at the Waldorf because they don’t cater to unaccompanied females, she takes matters into her own hands. She establishes the Colony Club, the first women’s club in Manhattan, where visiting women can stay overnight and dine with their friends; where they can discuss new ideas, take on social issues, and make their voices heard. She hires the most sought-after architect in New York, Stanford White, to design the clubhouse.

As “the best dressed actress on the Rialto” Elsie de Wolfe has an eye for décor, but her career is stagnating. So when White asks her to design the clubhouse interiors, she jumps at the chance and the opportunity to add a woman’s touch. He promises to send her an assistant, a young woman he’s hired as a draftsman.

Raised in the Lower East Side tenements, Nora Bromely is determined to become an architect in spite of hostility and sabotage from her male colleagues. She is disappointed and angry when White “foists” her off on this new women’s club project.

But when White is murdered and the ensuing Trial of the Century discloses the architect’s scandalous personal life, fearful backers begin to withdraw their support. It’s questionable whether the club will survive long enough to open.

Daisy, Elsie, and Nora have nothing in common but their determination to carry on. But to do so, they must overcome not only society’s mores but their own prejudices about women, wealth, and each other. Together they strive to transform Daisy’s dream of the Colony Club into a reality, a place that will nurture social justice and ensure the work of the women who earned the nickname “Mink Brigade” far into the future.

Kritters Thoughts:  Told in two different time periods, one in Washington, DC in 1963 as women recounting the long road that they took to establish the first social club for women.  The second timeline where most pages took place started in 1902 as a group of women came together to discover the need and the path to create a social club where they could come congregate and have a space that was designed just for them!  

I loved this book.  The characters were fantastic and I was drawn in by their will to get this project completed and make a space for women when the only space they were to be in was the home.  I love reading a book about women defying the expectations of their moment in time and pushing the boundaries as to what is "allowed" of a woman.  There were two women who caught my eye and I loved reading about them - Daisy Harriman, a socialite who when trying to travel to New York City without her husband is denied a hotel room and this is the beginnings of the women's social club.  Nora Bromley, a young woman who had a drive outside of herself to become something at a time when women had very low expectations to "become something".  She wanted to become an architect and create buildings and spaces that would help people live and heal from mainly tuberculosis.  

As it is spoiled in the synopsis of the book, a murder almost halted this project completely and while I didn't read the synopsis first, it made the book shocking for me and I enjoyed reading how scandal did and always will affect things.  

I love a book that grasps my attention from the beginning, but keeps me reading wanting to know where all the characters will end up.  AND I love a historical fiction book that encourages me to do outside research and find out where the truth and fiction intersect.  My first historical fiction read by Shelley Noble and by no means will be my last.  

Rating:

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.