My goal was 25 in ’25, and I sailed through book number 25 in the early fall, and kept on going to 32. I read so many excellent books this year: 12 five stars reviews. Two authors appear in the top 10 twice: Kate Quinn and Lisa Wingate.

Normally, I categorize the books I read by fiction and non, then rank in each category. But I didn’t read as much non-fiction this year, so I’m blending it all together. I ranked the whole list by stars.

These books are listed in order of my favorite to least favorite, and it’s just my opinion based on how much I enjoyed each book. I like history, so those books usually rate higher. I like books about strong women. It doesn’t mean my favorites are the best written or highest rated by other people – I just enjoyed reading them more or they stuck with me longer. If I don’t like a book within a few chapters, I usually won’t’ power through it.

Audiobooks are how I’m able to get through so many in a year. I’m able to listen to a lot while I’m getting ready for work, in the car, walking across campus, grocery shopping, traveling, and other piddly things. Yet, I continue to love any bookstore, and I buy books as if I’m preparing to be quarantined to my house for the next six months. For those of you that want to make a smart remark about audiobooks don’t count as real books, I still got the content, this is just how I have to get great stories in the chapter of life that I’m in.

📚 = 2025 Book club books 📖 = 2026 Book club books

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn’s books are always excellent. She doesn’t have a formula, and she isn’t predictable. I would classify this as a historical fiction/thriller. 
There are multiple main characters, all living in a Washington, DC boarding house. The chapters are each told from one character’s point of view, each revealing a little more toward the plot. The house is even a character, which sounds weird, but it works.
This book is set in the 1950s, which is often made out to be an idyllic time in American history, but a lot of heavy stuff was happening, and she packs it in with a story that is a compelling – McCarthyism, Russian spies, racism, women’s rights and equal pay, spousal abuse, family dynamics, Hungarian immigrants trying to make their way in the US, the lavender scare, birth control and oh yeah- a double murder. So much is packed in here and it was such a fun read.

The Frozen River  by Ariel Lawhon 📖 
Wonderful! A five-star historical fiction story set in our nation’s infancy on the East Coast. 
This book is a murder mystery, a midwife’s tale, a family story, and a book about strong women. It was beautifully written and expertly unfolded. This was my first Lawhon novel and I’ll read more. I thoroughly enjoyed her author’s notes. One of the elements about the story that I appreciated the most was that the main character, Martha Ballard, was a real person. Lawhon found some information about her, conducted extensive research, and then wove together a story of mostly fact, sprinkled in some fiction, and created a story that will keep you spellbound. A masterpiece!

James by Percival Everett 📚
You know the characters – Huck Finn and Big Jim – but this was a brilliant way to tell this story. It’s from Jim’s – actually James’ – point of view. I didn’t want to read this one at first. I was afraid it would be heavy and hard to read. In places it was very heavy, as James is escaping from the horrors of enslavement. However, it was easy and quick to read. It’s beautifully written, a storyline that moves well, interesting characters that move in and out of the story, and a very surprising plot twist.
This book pulled at my heart and the hearts of thousands of others as it was one of the highest rated books of the year on GoodReads. A must read, and I wouldn’t mind if this became required reading in schools.

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough
For years Lisa Marie Presley had participated in interviews with the purpose of writing her memoir, but she never could get the project completed. After her death, her daughter, Riley Keough, completed the story and filled in the blanks – and the book consumed me. I highly recommend the audiobook.  Riley read the parts she wrote. Julia Roberts read Lisa’s part, with some of Lisa’s original audio sprinkled in. 
I’ve been an Elvis Presley fan all my life, and I know plenty about him. It was great to know his daughter’s story. It’s heartbreaking and an informative testimony about childhood grief, children of an addicts, adult addiction, and losing a child. Riley is a fantastic actress, and I love catching mannerisms and expressions from her mom and grandfather. She stars in Daisy Jones & the Six on Amazon Prime (but it was a great book first 😊).

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate 
This book is set in Southeast Oklahoma. Each chapter starts with an historic quote, and many are from Angie Debo, a librarian and historian who was a good friend of my great aunt. It also contained a scene where one of the characters goes to Oklahoma State, my alma matter, for a career fair, which made me extremely happy. Although, she should have written in lunch at Eskimo Joe’s…
The story jumps between 1909 and 1990, then ties together beautifully at the end. The 1909 storyline is of two little girls escaping an abusive home. The 1990 story is about a park ranger trying to solve a mystery of the skeletons of three children found in a cave and a missing teenage boy. This book contains a subplot about Kate Barnard, a great woman in Oklahoma history that I had never learned about. I hope this book brings her story to light and that young Oklahomans will learn her story from now on. She was a hero to lots of orphaned children. 
This is fabulous historical fiction, and I love that it’s from my home state. You’ll notice my next book is also by Lisa Wingate. Shelterwood edged out the next book because it’s set Oklahoma 😊

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate 
Captivating, masterful storytelling, and beautiful weaving of a story told 100 years apart- 1880s and 1980s. The Book of Lost Friends was a real thing; it was a column in a regional paper designed to help families and friends find one another following the Civil War. This book delves into slavery, settling the American West, family squabbles, racism, poverty, and how families were torn apart and displaced throughout the country following the war. It is pieced together with a love of books and preserving family stories.
It was fun to read about the characters going places like Menard, Mason, and Fredericksburg more than 100 years ago. They’re all great Texas Hill Country town that I enjoy today.

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
Kate Quinn has two books in the top 10 this year. This story was set around the time of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. It follows two women – an opera singer and a Chinese immigrant who was an expert seamstress. The two could not have had more different lives and backgrounds, but they become fast friends just before and during one of the worst natural disasters in American history.  They work to escape a scheming, thieving evil man in San Francisco, all while trying to stay alive as the city crumbles around them. Kate employs a co-author for this book and I enjoyed learning about their process in the author’s notes.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
This is not a cookbook 😀 It’s a book about family, secrets, mistakes, misunderstandings, and forgiveness, all bound together by the family’s recipe for black cake. The story jumps around a lot, but the writer is so good that I never felt lost. The story was expertly told and the plot twist at the very end was brilliant. 
I just can’t bring myself to want to try a slice of black cake, which is basically a fruit cake, but the fruit is soaked in rum and port. It’s popular in the Caribbean at the holidays. However, I do want to read more by Charmaine Wilkerson. If her other books are this good, I’ll have another slice.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Fabulously clever! Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist, and she wants to do so full time. Unfortunately, she is the wrong gender working in the wrong decade. So, she has to “settle” for being a television cook that sneaks chemistry lessons into the show. 
This book has a wonderful plot line with compelling twists that kept me guessing, major and minor characters that are so well developed that I felt like I knew them, and an ending that ties everything together beautifully. The story deals with a lot of cultural issues of the 1950s and 60s – it was the perfect story to finish during the same weekend as International Women’s Day.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach
This story was everything I wanted it to be and a nice change from the heavier book I had read before. I even loved the cover. This story took a tough topic – a suicide attempt – and navigated it delicately, injected a little humor, and ended exactly the way it should have. It wasn’t a storybook ending, but it was the right ending.

The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing  by Lara Love Hardin
Wow. We could all read a nonfiction book like this. I like reading books that reveal a person at their lowest – it grows my empathy and shrinks my judgment. I almost couldn’t believe that a story this wild could be true. I was angry with Mama Love in the beginning for some of the decisions she was making that put her family in jeopardy. Midway through, I was cheering for her to succeed. This really helped me understand addiction and chronic incarceration.  

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
This should be a movie. Clever plot, thrilling twists, interesting characters. The main character goes down a trail and I really didn’t like her, then it changes. This is a book about a con artist. She has what looks like a perfect relationship and life, but it’s all fake, part of her con. But as with many things, emotions come into the story and everything changes and the con gets all messed up. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Favorites by Layne Fargo
Loved it! This book was so cleverly done. It reads like a documentary meets memoir. I love ice skating, Olympics, drama, love stories, and documentaries and this book blends all these things. It was a fun summer read.

The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert 📚
Not to be confused with The Girl ON the Train. I hesitated to start this book because I was afraid it would be sad. It was, and at times I cried. After all, that train the girl was on was bound for Auschwitz. The poor girl had so many awful things come her way. But then it got better. A family in Poland finds her, and one of the family members takes her under his wing. He ensures she has a good education and a better life than could be offered in post-World War II Europe. The book has a happy ending and sweet characters, although it did get a little odd at the end. 

Cher: The Memoir, Part 1 by Cher
This book is long, but it is good! I have always liked Cher, but now I’m a big fan- and this book only covers her life up until she started acting. Cher has so many connections to mega famous people and she has done so much. I was amazed, entertained, and amused. The “book” goes on (get it?): Part 2 of her life story comes out in November 2026.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray 📚
Great book and a cool story about a person and place that I didn’t know existed. I knew about JP Morgan, but didn’t know he had a fabulous library, nor did I know he had a personal librarian. This is her remarkable, inspiring, fascinating story. This is mostly non-fiction, but the authors had to take some liberties to fill in the story where they lacked information or to move the story along. The Morgan Library & Museum is open to this day to the public, thanks to her work building the collection. 

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese 
I’m so proud of myself for reading this. It’s long, well over 700 pages, 30 hours of audio book, but I finished, and I’m a better person for it. 
The book it jumps around a lot. You’ll wonder why we go from India to Scotland several times, but it worked. All the side characters and side stories come together in the end. I wanted to give up on this book several times, but something about it kept me coming back.  This book is an epic tale of an Indian family. It’s about love, faith, and family. Some of the side stories and details could be trimmed out but the writing is so beautiful. 
I gave four stars just because of the length, otherwise it would have been five. 

The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson 
This was exactly what I wanted as the sequel to The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek. Honey Lovett, the daughter of Cussy Mary, is just as lovable, spirited, and full of grit as her mother. The story moves well and keep you rooting for Honey throughout. I would recommend reading the first book before this as you need to know the book woman’s story before her daughter’s.

The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis 
Very clever, interesting story, good characters that I was rooting for. I really liked the element about psychometry: The main character can touch a book and feel the emotions of the previous owner. I wanted more of that story line, but otherwise I enjoyed the backstories. The book skips around a lot, but the author does so in a way that makes sense.

Incidents Around the House  by Josh Malerman 
😱😱😱😱I am still not okay after this one!
I don’t usually do scary books, but I wanted to try something different. I dove headfirst into a book that many readers said was the scariest thing they ever read. This book grabbed me at the first paragraph, and I was both spellbound and terrified until the end. I’m not kidding – first paragraph! The writing was so good.
I gave the book four stars because I hated the ending. My book fanatic friend Kristy absolutely loved the ending – this was one of her 2024 recommendations and said it was her favorite ending of the year. If you like creepy/scary, this is one for you. Do not read it at night, unless you like nightmares, but I would rather have snake dreams.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
This was such sweet story. I really enjoyed it and I got through it quickly. 
This book was about a young man that is trying to get his life together. It’s a good story of friendship. I especially liked the story trope of caring for creatures, even if they’re a giant Pacific octopus or a stray cat. The story includes chapters told from the point of view of the octopus, which was fun. Some of the scenes are a little too far-fetched or convenient, but I didn’t care. It kept me entertained. This was the author’s first book, and I look forward to more.

The Racketeer by John Grisham 
I love that John Grisham has a formula, but I can’t follow the formula. He has a style, and I know it, but he’s never predictable. My annual Grisham book was just as, if not more enjoyable as all his other books. Interesting characters, suspense, surprise, humor. This one kept me guessing, and Grisham kept his spot as one of my favorite authors.

Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli 
This was a fitting read for October. It creeped me out. It didn’t help that I was listening to it while driving alone on a work trip. This was a clever book that was rooted in the afterlife. The author’s view of the afterlife is different from mine, but that’s okay. I was entertained and invested in the characters. At a certain point I had to know what happened and couldn’t put it down. 

Playing with Myself  by Randy Rainbow
I think you need to be a Randy Rainbow fan to appreciate his story. If you’re unfamiliar with him, start with his YouTube channel, @RandyRainbow. Watch no fewer than 10 videos, then you may read the book. Maybe don’t watch at work. He’s deliciously disrespectful. I would recommend the audiobook, read by the author. Also, his mom makes an appearance, and she’s adorable. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker 📖
Ok, Ok. I have the unpopular opinion here. Everyone else loved this book. It has super high ratings on every list everywhere, and I know there’s something wrong with me. I wish I could give this book 3 1/2 stars. It was a great story. The plot was interesting and all the characters – main and supporting – were expertly developed. But this book was much longer than it needed to be. The middle was messy and goes down a spiral that I felt was unnecessary. However, I loved the atypical love story – not romantic love. I liked the trope of building a family out of the people that come into your life.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry 
This was a fun spring break read. Cute story, fun plot. It intentionally mirrors a Hallmark movie. The thing I liked most was how much the characters loved books, thus the title. First time to read this author. I put more of her books in the “want to read” pile. I would have liked to have given this 3 ½ stars, but GoodReads doesn’t do half stars. 

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover 
Not my favorite Colleen book, but still worth a read. The characters grabbed me quickly and I wanted to know their stories. However, I spent a good bit of time being annoyed with both main characters. In the end, I understood them and liked the predictable ending. I read the Covenant of Water just before, so this was a perfect change of pace and an easy read. 

North Woods by Daniel Mason 📚
I see what all the hype for this was about, but this just wasn’t my type of book. 
The concept is great. It’s a story of a house, a farm, and its inhabitants over time. It was essentially a series of short stories with a common thread: the house/farm. I probably would have liked it better if I would have read the hard copy, rather than the audio book. Some of the story I didn’t follow, but it was a cool concept.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
This is a quick, fun read about trends in business. It’s classic Gladwell storytelling with fun side stories. It held my attention and kept me entertained, but not my favorite book of his.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness  by Jonathan Haidt
This is a book about how phones and social media make our kids anxious (among other things), but after reading this now I’M anxious. This made me question my parenting. But I still have time to fix my kid. Maybe.
Great points made here. Keep your kids off social media, probably forever.

Normal People by Sally Rooney 📚 
This book held my attention, and I wanted to see what happened, but I didn’t love this one. The characters annoyed me. The lack of quotation marks annoyed me. The fact that it was rated so highly, but I didn’t love it annoyed me. I can see why others rated this one well, but it just wasn’t my kind of book. Someone in our book club said she read it twice, and loved it the second time. Yeah, I’m not reading this one twice. 

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors  by Patrick Lencioni
Nice book about leadership. I got some good tips out of it. It was a quick listen and the Libby app had it. 

⭐️⭐️

Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper 
I feel un-American and like I’m turning on the journalism by giving this book two stars. 
First the good. This was excellent journalism. It was so well researched and sourced. I like Jake Tapper and was proud of his work in this book. This book will shock and disgust you about the cover up with the Joe Biden presidency. I was disappointed in myself by everything I fell for.
The reasons I gave it only two stars: It got very repetitive. I felt like I was hearing the same story over and over with different people or situations. In places, it read like a qualitative dissertation. I tend to stay away from political books, and this is why. I just get mad. In all, I’m so glad he wrote this, and I’m glad I read it. I learned as much about myself and my gullibility as I did the Biden Administration.

I noticed two common themes this year about the books I read. Several reinforced and encouraged my love of books: 

• The Book of Lost Friends. One of the characters is a high school teacher that works very hard to encourage her students to love to read. 
• The Book Woman’s Daughter. This book is about the packhorse librarians in the Kentucky mountains in 1930s & 40s. They wanted people to learn to and love to read. 
• The Echo of Old Books. This is a book about a small bookshop owner. How could it not encourage a book lover?
• Book Lovers. I mean, it’s in the title!

Another common thread this year was that many of the books strengthened my faith, encouraged prayer, or had a different point of view of faith than mine.  

• The Frozen River. The main character was very faithful and in a loving marriage. They prayed regularly in the book. I think if you’re a midwife in a new country and living in New England in the winter, you would have to have a very strong relationship with God. 
• Black Cake. The mother in this book had a strong faith. It was nice thread woven throughout. 
• The Many Lives of Mama Love. She prayed A LOT. Prayer got her through.
• The Girl from the Train. This one was interesting. The “girl” was half Jewish, found by a Polish Catholic family, then raised by a protestant family. She had lots of different religions to draw upon and those religions didn’t always work well together. 
• The Covenant of Water. The book is set in a region of India where many people are Christians. They had a very strong faith which was a big tie throughout the story. 
• Ask for Andrea. This book didn’t have a shred of religion in it, but as I said in my review, the author’s view of afterlife is different from mine. The characters didn’t necessarily go to heaven. Sometimes a different point of view helps reinforce your own.

My goal this year is to not purchase so many books. I usually end up listening through the Libby or Audible app anyway. I’m in a leadership development program, so I’ll read more leadership books. We have a trip to England planned for this year, so I’m looking for fun stories that would be good to read ahead of that trip – I’m open to suggestions.

I’m easy to find on GoodReads: Erica Irlbeck. I love to see what my friends are reading. Follow me and make recommendations. Happy reading!

It’s been a year since my last blog post, and last year’s post was about the books I read. I guess I’ve been reading and not blogging. My reading goal was 24 in 2024. I exceeded my goal and read 29, but for some reason, the cute little graphic that Good Reads made for me didn’t count my last book of the year. Weird. As always, audio books helped me accomplish my goal. It’s so easy to hit play as I’m getting ready for work, driving, cooking, traveling, or doing other little tasks, and listening to a story is a great way to fill that time. The Libby app and my sister’s Audible account helped me listen in an affordable way.

I enjoyed fiction books much more than non-fiction this year, so I’ll start with that category. The books are listed in order of most favorite to least favorite. Just because something is further down on the list doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. If I don’t like a book, I won’t continue reading it, and I won’t leave a bad review for it. I’ve written two books, and I know how horrible it feels to have someone post a bad review. So, here are my (positive only) reviews.

Fiction

The Women by Kristin Hannah
Excellent! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Women can be heroes too – that’s the theme of this book. This was a historical take on the very real stories of the women who served as nurses during the Vietnam War. 
This story will rip your heart out, then give you all kinds of hope. It’s masterfully told- I couldn’t put it down. 
I know that World War II stories are very popular, but I would love to see more from this era, preferably by this writer. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Go get it today and start reading it. My book club is reading this in early 2025.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Absolutely delightful and another five star book.
This book was similar to The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, and oddly enough, was published in the same year (2019). The books are similar in that they are both about the pack horse librarians in the Appalachian mountains, specifically the coal mining areas of Kentucky and West Virginia, in the 1930s. However, in this book, the main character is a Kentucky blue person. Google it- they really existed. These people were so different that you can imagine how poorly they were treated, and the main character in this book endures a lot of social, emotional, verbal, and even physical abuse. Her story pulled at my heart, but with most good books, it had a happy ending, a good dose of drama – all the things. It’s a wonderful little story. I pitched this as a possibility for my book club and we’re going to read it this spring.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
I feel like I was the last person in the nation to read this, but it was rarely available on Libby, at the library, or the half price book sale, so I finally broke down and paid full price. It was worth it. I finished it about a month before the movie was released.
This was such a great story about a young woman with two great loves, how she fell in love with both guys, and how one broke her heart. The book’s sub theme of domestic violence teaches us that it’s never simple when dealing with a mean partner. I am ashamed to admit how quickly I have said that I would leave an abusive man, or I would knock him flat. You just don’t know, and it’s so complicated. This book taught me so much and helped me be less judgmental of situations I fortunately don’t understand.  
Great story, great lesson. Highly recommend. I also loved the movie. It was almost as good as the book, but not quite. If you’ve seen the movie, I would recommend reading the book anyway, as always, the book has so much more details. Blake Lively is perfect for the part of Lilly Bloom – well, she’s perfect in everything. #IStandWithBlake

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Two Kristin Hannah books in one year, both in the five star category.
This book is one of her older novels, published in 2010. I don’t know how I have missed this one for so long.
I flew through this – there’s just something about her writing that keeps me turning the page. Kristin Hannah is one of my most favorite authors, and I’m disappointed in myself for putting this book off so long. It’s a brilliant tale of mothers and daughters, sisters, and husbands and wives, with World War II/Leningrad as a backdrop. I learned a lot, cried a little, and loved this story.

The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester
This was a wonderful book to conclude my 2024 reading journey. Excellent storytelling, great characters, very creative.
This book bounces from World War II and modern day and follows two women: Estella (the grandmother) and Fabienne (the granddaughter), and we see how their stories develop and intertwine. Estella is a clothing designer in the 1940s; Fabienne is a museum designer with a talent like her grandmother’s in clothing design. Oddly enough, Fabienne doesn’t know a lot about her grandmother’s story. The author does a beautiful job of slowly revealing Estella’s story while Fabienne develops a story of her own. I may recommend this for book club next year.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Great story by one of my most favorite authors. Kate Quinn is a master of character development, research, and storytelling. I enjoy her author’s notes and details about gathering her ideas almost as much as the story itself. 
This story mostly takes place after World War II. The book hops around to different characters and time periods which kept me interested, but sometimes when I read late at night, I got confused. 
Once I realized where the story would go, I couldn’t put it book down, and I can’t wait to read Quinn’s next book, The Briar Club. It’s in the cue and I’ll start it in the next week or two. I have to space her books out because I get really involved with the characters and sometimes I have dreams that I’m part of the story, which is probably the mark of a great book.

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
This was a beautiful work of historical fiction about a very ugly series of events in American history. 
In the 1960s and 70s the federal government funded forced sterilization of Black Americans. This is the story of a nurse in a family planning clinic that takes a family under her wing, and their two daughters were forced into sterilization. 
The characters were so compelling and the story was gripping. A must read. This was one of our book club books.

Prize Women by Caroline Lea
Have you ever heard of the Stork Derby? In short, an eccentric man left a fortune in his will to the woman that had the most babies in a 10 year period. And it just happened to be during the Great Depression. Hundreds of women had lots-o-babies in a time period when money was very tight. Google this. You’ll be flabbergasted to learn that this really did happen.
This book takes that bit of history and places two fictional characters in the middle of it. It’s the story of unlikely friendship, extreme poverty, heartbreaking betrayal, and the trials of motherhood. 
This was the first book I read when I finally found my book club. The book is a little long, but worth it because it was so fascinating.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
This book kept me guessing. And as I got to the end I couldn’t stop reading. This is my second Lucy Foley novel, and I love her writing style. She hooks me into the story within the first few pages, invests me into the characters quickly, and keeps me turning the page. In both of the books I have read of Foley’s, she gives each character his or her own chapter, which also helps move the story along. In the bottom of a Paris apartment building is a locked room, and the residents of the building all have something to hide inside. The story will keep you fascinated until the very end.
I listened to the audiobook, and each character had their own narrator which also added interest to the book.

Did You Hear About Kitty Carr by Crystal Smith Paul
This was an interesting, unexpected story about a 1950s mega star and the secret she kept all her life. This is a story about lies, racism, and sexism. The story is good. It kept me guessing, and I enjoyed the way it wrapped up. The ending seemed a little rushed, as in the story just kind of ended, but I wanted more information. In all, it was a great story that I would recommend. Another book club book.

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
I checked this book out in search of a good travel story and finished it before I ever left. My reading hero, Kristy, said this was the best rated PG book she read last year, and it was one of the best I read this year.
This book had all the things- relatable characters (except for an eccentric main character), excellent story, fun plot twist. AND it was set in a real museum in New York City – the Henry Clay Frick Collection. If I ever get to go back to New York, I’ll add this as a site to see.

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
Delightful! This short novel is a sweet story that warmed my heart just in time for Christmas. This was a book club pick, and it took me several chapters to realize that I had read this book before, but it had been almost 20 years ago. However, I enjoyed the book just as much the second time around. I love Fannie Flagg’s writing. Her characters seem like people I know. Her towns are familiar to me. Her stories are fun and light hearted. 
If you need a pick me up or just a fun story, this one is great.

Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson
This was a nice story about the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. My great aunt was in the WAC, so I knew about this group of remarkable heroines, but I didn’t know there was a unit for black officers. This was a story of friendship, heroism, racism, loss, and the incredible stress of wartime, then add in a few military officials didn’t respect this group of officers. I really wanted an epilogue to tell me what parts of the story were real and which were fictional. There is a Netflix series coming soon starring Kerry Washington that looks like a similar story that I’m excited to see.  

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
This book kind of blew my mind, and I haven’t watched the Hulu series yet – I don’t know if I want to. The book was written in 1985, and its a futuristic tale of women losing their power in society. It unnerved me because in the book, they came after the media and well educated women first. Well, at one time, I was a reporter, and now I have a doctoral degree – it hit a little too close to home.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Betty Harris, is captivating. She makes Margaret Atwood’s poetic words come to life. I rated three stars because I got a little lost in some of the time hopping, and I didn’t really get invested in the characters as much as I would have liked.

Camino Winds by John Grisham
I love a good Grisham book. I read at least one a year. This year I read two. This was a little different for his writing, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless.
This is the second book in the Camino Island story, but I don’t think you would need to read the first book to understand what is going on. The story centers around Bay Books, a fictional bookstore in Florida that I would totally shop at if it really existed and if I lived in Florida. It took me a while to figure out who the main character was, but once I got a few chapters in, I was hooked. Good characters, good ending – a fun vacation read.

Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
Let it be known that I read this book months before The Perfect Couple came out on Netflix and made Elin Hilderbrand an author known by all.
This was a nice spring break read. The story was fun with characters I was rooting for. It had a ghost which was a fun twist. I wanted more from the ghost, but otherwise, it was entertaining. I want to go to Nantucket now. This was my first book from this author. I’ll read more.

Killers of a Certain Age  by Deanna Rayburn
This is a great book. The plot is perfect. The characters are captivating. The ending is excellent. It just took me forever (as in eight months) to get through and I don’t know why. But this was a fun read and I recommend it. 
My fellow book lover, Courtney G., has a theory. There is something about the page color and texture combined with the font that can make someone sleepy. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I like this idea because there is no other reason why this book took me so long. The book is about a group of four women spies that are in their retirement years, but someone wants them dead. It was a very clever concept, and I wonder if I would have enjoyed the audio book more.

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Castaway meets The Notebook. This was a sweet story about true love, and how it can happen twice. But what happens when the two love stories intersect?
Not my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid book but it moved quickly and held my attention. She has a new book coming out next year, and I’m excited to read it.

The Rooster Bar by John Grisham
This was classic Grisham. It’s a tale of three law students at a dumpy DC law school. The students use their intelligence to get in on a class action lawsuit. I took this one on our cruise and it was a perfect vacation read. This had the suspense and twists that reminded me of The Firm or A Time to Kill.

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
This is the continuation of It Ends With Us. It picks up immediately after the first book. Just because I have this ranked at the end of my books for this year doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I just wasn’t as captivated by it as I was the first book. It’s a good story, I already loved the characters, so it was easy to want to follow along and find out what happens to them. It was worth the time to read it, and I liked that Colleen Hoover took the time to wrap up this storyline and give these characters the ending they deserved. Note: You must read It Ends With Us first before you read It Starts With Us, it won’t make much sense otherwise, and I personally don’t think the movie will substitute. You really need to read the first book to get some of the references in the second book.

Non-Fiction

Very Punchable Face by Collin Jost
A very lovable read. I had to wait months to get this from the Libby app and it was worth the wait.
This book had me belly laughing some times, giggling most of the time, and wanting to meet Colin Jost all of the time. And when I say belly laughing, there was one day that I was doubled over laughing at one of his stories. This book was so light hearted and fun- it was the perfect way to start my summer reading. There’s something for everyone to enjoy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

How Y’all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived by Leslie Jordan
Absolutely joy-filled. I read this when a lot was happening in my life, and this book, along with Leslie’s East Tennessee drawl, was a happy place I got to be every time I got in my car. 
I wish I would have become a Leslie Jordan fan earlier. I love everything about him – his humor, joy, confidence, storytelling, accent – but most of all, his light. I’m sad he has passed on, but I love that his stories – in his own voice – will live forever. This is one that I would definitely get the audiobook for.

Oath & Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney
I could not put this book down. Former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney details her experiences on Jan. 6, 2021, then her service on the Congressional investigation. Her service on that committee ultimately cost her a seat in Congress. She did what she thought was right, and she didn’t care if it cost her seat. Doing the right thing was more important to her than an elected office. I wish more people would choose morals over keeping their power.

The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos & Lisa Dickey
I listened to this book in November 2024, a month when I was giving a lot of thought to the American presidents, past and future: the decisions they make, the stress they’re under, the people they have to please, the people they anger, and how it never ends. 
This book, cowritten by Good Morning America co-anchor George Stephanopoulos, takes us inside one of America’s most famous, yet secretive rooms-The Situation Room. President Kennedy had the idea and pulled together the first version of it, and every president since has used it to varying degrees. The room has been refined and remodeled over the years. Johnson thrived on it. Nixon and Trump hated it. This book gives us a great deal of insight with each president since Kennedy. It’s a great slice of American presidential history. 
I really liked the audiobook. George reads it and he includes clips of interviews and archival footage that provide an interesting texture to the stories. 

Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill
Clint Hill is the secret service agent you see leaping into President Kennedy’s car seconds after he was shot in Dallas. In this book, he shares his entire career with the United States Secret Service. 
I started this book wanting the secrets of the service. I wanted to know what REALLY happened that the public didn’t know or see with Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. This book didn’t offer much of that, just some small bits here and there. At first I was disappointed, but the more I read, I realized that Clint Hill is a man with a great deal of integrity; he was a good agent. What kind of a good agent would spill the secrets? So, I simply enjoyed the stories of his time working mere feet away from the most powerful men in the world. It’s a quick read and enjoyable. 

The Woman In Me by Britney Spears
Britney’s life hasn’t been easy and her book goes into so many details to describe it. She has been working since she was 10, had her heart broken several times (sometimes very publicly), and, according to the book, her parents were pretty horrible to her. She hasn’t had much time to forge good friendships with people she can trust. And that’s just the top level stuff. This is her side of the story and if you’ve been following Britney’s career as long as I have, you need to hear her side. I really hoped she would discuss her disastrous concert in Lubbock, but she skipped that part. 

Women & Money by Suze Orman
If you want/need to get your money straight this is incredibly helpful. I read it to be reassured that I’m doing the right things. I picked up a few tricks for my son’s college fund and my retirement savings.

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
This book is best reviewed with emojis: 🫣🫣🤭🤭🤭🙉🙉🙉😆😆😆😆🙉🙉🙉🤭🤭🤭
If you get the audiobook, don’t listen with kids around. Or other humans. 

Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others by Stephen M.R. Covey
This was a helpful book for work. It has some great lessons. It was a little dry though.

And that’s all! There are several great books to be published in 2025 that I’m excited about, and my book club has some interesting titles coming up in the next few months.

For 2025, this isn’t a reading goal, but clearly, I need to blog more. Several years ago, I set out to read the autobiography of each president and First Lady that has been in office in my lifetime. I didn’t make any progress toward that goal this year. I’ll start 2025 with Rosalynn Carter’s book, First Lady from Plains, as Jimmy Carter passed away yesterday. And in keeping with the my goals from the past few years, my goal is to read 25 in ’25. If you care to follow me on Good Reads, I’m easy to find: Erica Irlbeck.