Along the same lines as the rest of the last quarter of 2024, I continued to crawl through books at a slower pace. Call it what you will – busy, distracted, etc – but it doesn’t matter. I just have slowed down. I am guessing the dark weeks of January and February will see a reading pace pick up again, but who knows. And frankly, it doesn’t matter. I read for fun and if I don’t feel like picking up my book, then I won’t. With all that said, I had a good, fun, mostly lighter reading month that I enjoyed. I finished 5 books, 2 were ARCS on audio and everything was pretty good with 4 stand outs. In fact, all 4 of those standouts made my Top 25 Fiction Reads of the Year list. Not bad! I didn’t complete any more this month from my 2024 Reading Goals list, but that is ok.
Here is what I read in December.
Penitence – Kristin Koval
Penitence is a great debut novel and the story lives up to its title – great regret and sorrow for past actions abound here. I enjoyed this one on audio and while the narration was fine, I think I may have liked it even better if I had read it. This is a double timeline family saga with multiple POV’s that alternates between 2000-2001 and 2017. Angie and David are now married, Angie and Julian were a past couple and Nora (13), Angie and David’s daughter, has killed her brother. Secrets abound but it is a very, very sad story. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early copy in exchange for my opinion.
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The Love of My Afterlife – Kristy Greenwood
We meet Delphie as she is choking to death on a horrible microwaved burger in the first pages of the book. She is transported to the afterlife where she meets her therapist guide for all things afterlife. While the guide steps out, she meets a gorgeous man in the afterlife waiting room and there is an instant connection. But as quickly as he appeared, it is declared there has been a mistake and sends him back to earth. Is there any hope for Delphie to fall in love in the afterlife? You are going to just have to go with it as unbelievable as much as this book is, but it is cute, fun and full of hope and second chances. A December winner for me.
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The Safekeep – Yael van der Wouden
It’s 1961 in the Dutch countryside in a quiet town. The aftermath of WWII is very much still forefront in the mind of many. Isabel is a quirky young woman that lives in her mother’s house that was left in the family after her passing. Isabel’s brother introduces them to his girlfriend Eva and in the blink of an eye is leaving her with Isabel for the month while he has to leave town to tend to business. Isabel can’t stand Eva, they are polar opposites and Eva is very suspicious – Isabel is convinced she is trying to steal her mother’s things and she must keep them safe. Isabel becomes over the top obsessed with Eva and protecting the things in the house but when things start going missing, everything spirals a bit out of control. This is a very obsessive book and is very, very steamy at times. I was surprised that this is a debut, the writing is excellent. I will be interested to see what the author does next.
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Is She Really Going Out With Him – Sophie Cousins
Anna is a magazine columnist, mom of two and somewhat recently divorced that is still trying to put her life back together after her difficult breakup. The magazine is being taken over and Anna has to prove her relevance as her co-working nemesis is trying to take over her column. She agrees to a new column, a dating column but she has no desire to date. Her kids agree to set her up with men of their choosing and the magic begins. I’ve been drawn to books of second chances this year, and this was no exception. This may be my favorite Sophie Cousins book and I found it to have a bit more depth than I have seen from her in the past. Another fun, endearing December read.
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Beautiful Ugly – Alice Feeney
This was mostly fine and somewhat entertaining. But overall it was just so far out there in believability that I never grabbed hold of it and honestly I was a bit bored for most of it. A few things to note – I have the audio ARC of this and I like to just listen to someone read me a book. This had some production to it with sound effects. Because I mostly listen when driving, the sudden unexpected noises often scarred the crap out of me, not good when driving. Not a fan at all. I will say though that I loved the chapter titles and how they were incorporated into the writing. Witty. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an early release audio copy in exchange for my opinion. Technically Beautiful Ugly doesn’t release until 1/14/25 however I believe it was released early through Book of The Month, so you should be able to find it out and about now.
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