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First things first, this cover is gorgeous. I was completely hooked and invested in this book from roughly page three.   Cassie comes to possess the Book of Doors, and her life turns upside down. She’s suddenly in danger and buckle up because you’re in for a ride from there.  Without getting into spoilers, Brown approaches a common concept from an interesting angle, and it gave me a lot to think about. It also allowed for the intersecting storylines to be wrapped up and explained nicely and tidily.  It is a well-written, engaging, and thought-provoking read. I had to knock off a star because some of the descriptions of gore were a bit intense for my taste. 4 stars out of 5.  Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for my honest feedback. All opinions expressed are mine alone. 

This post contains affiliate links. For more details, see my disclosure  here . As a Dawson’s Creek fan, I can openly admit that James Van Der Beer drew me to this audiobook. I knew nothing about the story beyond liking the cover, but I’m glad I did because while I came for Dawson Leery, I stayed for the story.   I’ve never been a teenage boy, but this coming-of-age story was inspiring nonetheless. We meet protagonist Colt as he’s starting his senior year and gets to go along for the ride as he navigates family, friendships, relationships, and a newfound mentor, Lucas, with a mysterious and complicated past. Through their interactions, Colt begins to see the world in a different way and learns valuable lessons about life, love, and forgiveness. Overall, I’d say it’s a story about the lasting impact that can be made in someone’s life in a short period of time and to live each day like your last.   James Van Der Beek was a great narrator, nailing the Texas twang and embodying Colt while

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone was one of my favorite books last year, and I’m a sucker for a sequel. This one did not disappoint!   What I liked best was the fact that it had a different feel than the first book but was still really good. Where the first felt just a smidge more like a thriller (blizzard conditions, no power, creepy isolated mountain retreat, etc.), this one felt slightly more like a cozy mystery but with more gore!   I’m notoriously bad at guessing the culprit and did not in this one either, but it was a fun ride to work out the various mini-mysteries-within-the-mystery. Without adding spoilers, there is a really clever use of the plot device of having Ern provide the rules of writing a mystery novel towards the end, which turns those rules on its head. It’s all very meta and fun to have a book about writing a textbook mystery, then veer off course for a bit and poke fun of itself.   Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the opportunity to read this

  Though the story is great, and I’m sure it would have been a great read, the audiobook took it to the next level. Bourne is a place very unlike anywhere I’ve spent time, but by the end, I felt very familiar with it and its residents.   The ensemble cast was phenomenal, with each of the triplets’ unique personalities given the opportunity to shine through. They are the echo generation of a biological disaster, the daughters of a crusader, and, most importantly, three teenage girls trying to find their way in the world.   If you like coming-of-age stories, this will be right up your alley.   Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan Audio for the opportunity to listen. All opinions are my own.   4.5 stars out of 5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars.   Buy on Bookshop Buy the Audio on Libro.fm This post contains affiliate links. For more details, see my disclosure  here .

This post contains affiliate links. For more details, see my disclosure  here . A spy novel, written by a former spy... This one didn't take much convincing. I was on board immediately. The parts that I enjoyed, I really, really enjoyed but unfortunately the parts that I didn't enjoy outweighed them by a bit. Juliet Arroway is a force to be reckoned with, and after being dealt several tough blows throughout her life, she's still fighting for the greater good.  I'm in no way opposed to a love story sub-plot in a spy novel, but it really felt like the Juliet of the love story and the Juliet who is a strong, intelligent, competent spy were two different people. She seems to fall just short of swooning on many occasions and given the stakes of her job, it was a bit jarring to jump from a scene of intense action to her innermost thoughts about her love life. Worth the read and I think it would make an amazing mini-series.  Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group Pres

This post contains affiliate links. For more details, see my disclosure  here . Julian is a twenty something, plays drums in a rock band, lives in Portland, has a solid group of friends with whom he has many things in common. The exception of course is that his friends are all white and Julian is black. As the band inches towards success, Julian flails in a way that is uniquely his own as he navigates work, relationships, and reckoning with his religious upbringing’s effect on his decidedly not religious adulthood as a black man in a predominantly white city.  The Weight is a phenomenal character study that still manages to have an interesting plot and does not drag on too long. It’s full of interesting scenarios and even more interesting people. This is the type of book that stays with you after you’re done. Not quite book hangover territory but I find myself thinking about it throughout the day, days after having finished.  Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the oppo