I’ve included a bonus book this month. I originally read Like a Mother all the way back in May, but wasn’t ready to share my pregnancy news. I included my review for it in my November reading list for kicks.
Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks • ★★★★★
At the tail end of spooky season, I squeezed in a spooky-adjacent romance. In Morbidly Yours, Galway undertaker Callum is looking to get married so he can secure his place as the owner of his family’s funeral home. The problem: He’s got only a few months to fulfill the requirement of his grandfather’s will — and he isn’t even seeing anyone.
Meanwhile, Texan Lark moves to Galway to work on an animated film after the death of her husband. She’s definitely a fish out of water but does her best to befriend her shy next-door neighbor Callum (and everyone else she meets).
Despite their reservations about their situations, Callum and Lark strike up a solid friendship — and maybe more!
I loved this book. I loved both main characters’ unconventional jobs. I loved the setting. I loved the spice. I loved the intergenerational friendships. I loved the satisfying work drama. Don’t sleep on this one!
Read if you liked: One Night on the Island by Josie Silver or Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year by Rochelle Bilow.
Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak • ★★★★☆
I’ve had Seven Days of Us on my Kindle for at least four years. I’ve picked it up and put it down so many times. Sometimes I missed the Christmas spirit window. Other times what sounded like a family drama seemed too serious. And back in 2020, a book about a doctor fighting a pandemic was just too close to home.
But let my loss be your gain. In Seven Days of Us, the Birch family is set to reunite in their English country home for the holidays. The catch here is that the family has to isolate together for a week since the eldest daughter, Olivia, has been treating a contagious disease in northern Africa.
During this time, secret after secret is revealed, including the existence of an additional Birch sibling (that’s just the start and is revealed in the first few pages).
Seven Days of Us isn’t exactly the most Christmas-y Christmas story, but it was a good way to ease into the season (or out of it if you pick it up in January!).
Read if you liked: The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (not because Seven Days of Us is a murder mystery but because it’s an easy-to-read, non-romance holiday book).
Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh • ★★★★☆
I love when a $1.99 Kindle deal is worth every penny and more. Holiday Romance was a great way to kick off the Christmas season.
This rom-com plays into an accidental holiday tradition. For the last decade, Molly and Andrew have been catching the same flight from Chicago to Dublin for the holidays — first by coincidence and later by choice. This standing appointment is their opportunity to catch up on the year.
Well, this year, the flight to Dublin is canceled and they’re forced to find a different way home by way of Brazil, France and England. This travel snafu stressed me out, but it was a creative way to lay out the pair’s lives (like their individual dating history, what’s up with their families, and more).
Of course, since this a rom com, the two find out that for the first time in years that they are both single — and maybe something more is there.
Also, I’ve got a soft spot for this book now. I finished it right before going into labor with our baby!
Read if you liked: The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller and All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox.
Like a Mother by Angela Garbes • ★★★★☆
Without my mom, I felt really lost in the early days of my pregnancy. I had no idea what to expect, no idea how to really care for myself and no idea how I should approach the coming months. I started with Like a Mother because it was heaped with praise by NPR and featured a blurb on the cover from Lindy West. What else could I ask for?
I made my way through this book incredibly quickly. While I knew (some of) the biological basics of pregnancy, I found Garbes’s explanation infinitely more informative and compelling.
Her chapter on the placenta was 99% new information to me — and it proved how incredible and complex the human body is. Also, the fact that you gain around eight pounds alone is just blood? That your kidneys double in size? That your body grows a whole new organ to support life and then just dispenses with it after birth? Absolutely insane.
I will say, that while very much a facts-based book, Like a Mother is also full of a lot of anecdotes from the author about pregnancy and birth. Some of these are very helpful! Some I found best to ignore, including how some mothers opt to drink on occasion during pregnancy. I know that this recommendation is very American and pretty recent in medical history, but not something I was willing to compromise on.
Read if you liked: Cribsheet and Expecting Better by Emily Oster.
Keep up with what I’ve read over on Goodreads! Also, if you’re an audiobook fan, I encourage you to try Libro.fm—you can support your favorite small bookstore while downloading your next listen.
