Cabin in the City

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I put a lot of pressure on myself with my July book selections! I felt like I had to have the perfect picks to enjoy on my way to and in Ireland. I did buckle under the pressure and ended up choosing a lackluster scary read (more below) for the trip. I did, though, spend a little time reading Dubliners by James Joyce—very fitting.

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The Toll House by Carly Reagon • ★★☆☆☆

I thought that snuggling up with a good ghost story on a misty Irish morning was going to be the move. But The Toll House didn’t deliver for me.

While remodeling her home, Kelda discovers a death mask hidden in the wall. Scary! After removing it, her son starts to act up and weird stuff starts going on at home. But it was just too slow but also predictable for me. I’d pass on this one and likely won’t return for anything else from Reagon.

The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary • 🎧 • ★★★★☆

I wasn’t sold on this book when I first rented it. Two people sharing an apartment but never meeting one another. As if!

But guess what: This book captured my heart. The story of how Tiffy and Leon—polar opposites—endear themselves to one another through notes was adorable. And this book dove into some deeper issues as well, like controlling partners and abusive relationships, but in a very sensitive but matter-of-fact way. I really enjoyed this one and will be seeking out the TV series!

A Good House for Children by Kate Collins • 🎧 • ★★★★☆

I am an absolute sucker for a gothic tale about a family moving to a remote and dilapidated manor. But A Good House for Children is so much more.

In the present day, Orla and her family move to an old Georgian home. During the week, her husband is away and it’s just her and her young son who, despite her best efforts, isn’t talking. Orla’s stressed and lonely, but is making better art than ever—and also seeing things.

Decades earlier, Lydia is nannying for a wealthy family in the same home. She wonders what the house is hiding and what it is that she’s seeing out of the corner of her eye.

There’s a lot here to unpack, but it’s a satisfying read if you love gothic novels and feminist themes (that’s me!).

The Modern Girl’s Guide to Magic by Linsey Hall • ★★★☆☆

I’ve read so many of these cozy, witchy rom-coms, and honestly, I’m not sick of them. They’re the literary equivalent of sipping a maple latte: delightfully seasonal and perfectly sweet.

Do I need to go into detail? Probably not, but here are the basics: Aria is a bit of a magical mess, but nevertheless finds herself in league with masterful mages and witches as they compete to oversee a magical garden in her hometown. Spoiler: She’s not as much of a mess as she thought. And it’s pretty darn cute.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see 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.

I did a lot of listening this month (as indicated by the 🎧). And I dabbled in some areas I don’t frequent often: cozy mysteries and memoirs. Check out what I thought of these six reads.

You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆

I waffled on downloading versus renting this book for a while. It’s more rental caliber to me. So why is that?

Well, I was really intrigued by the summary. Would-be strangers in upstate New York all find themselves with not something but someplace in common: the local mall. Like many malls, this on is on its last legs. However, for the characters in You Are Here, the mall is essential. These folks range from a hair stylist, her young son, a high school food court worker, a book store manager and an old woman who walks the mall.

I was on board with this book until the 75% mark when a violent tragedy happened very suddenly. And I’m just not sure how I feel about it. I wished something else could have been used to shift the book toward its conclusion.

The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy • ★★★☆☆

I’ll admit: I think the whole dual timeline structure is a bit overdone. But The Witch of Tin Mountain does a triple timeline and it works.

This story, told from the point of view of three narrators over many decades, helps to emphasize the generational aspects of the story: a tale about how generations of Doherty women have helped their community with cures and folk magic, yet how they’re often the first targeted (by one unpleasant preacher in particular).

What I loved most about this book was the atmosphere and also how these generations of women were all family—yet that relationship wasn’t always defined by blood.

Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly • 🎧 • ★★☆☆☆

Michael and I are headed to Ireland this July. To amp myself up for the trip (not that I need it), I wanted to squeeze in a few breezy books set in Ireland.

This one didn’t quite do it for me, though. In Buried in a Bog, Maura visits Ireland after her grandmother’s passing. It was her gran’s dying wish. While there, she falls in with the locals—for better and worse. She gets to cozy up in an Irish pub but also has someone scary stalking her as she “investigates” a murder.

Maybe it was the narration. Maybe the cozy mystery genre isn’t for me.

Lucky Leap Day by Ann Marie Walker • ★★☆☆☆

Yep, another book set (partially) in Ireland to get me into the spirit of the Emerald Isle. Unfortunately, this book didn’t get me jazzed.

I’ll give you a quick synopsis. Cara takes a solo trip to Ireland, a trip she originally planned with her ex. While there, she meets Finn, a very handsome Uber driver/musician/tour guide. In a Leap Day haze, they get married—after knowing each other just 72 hours. After discovering they married, Cara and Finn have to figure out what to do next. Head to LA? Get divorced? This is not a spoiler. It all happens in the first five pages.

Now, I am 100% on board with silly rom-coms. I love them—when they are well done. This one just wasn’t though. Why is that?

First, I have to ask if the idea of marriage licenses is totally unknown? Characters should understand that without any paperwork, a union is not binding in any way. This should not be a hiccup in any plot. It should not be a plot. Full stop.

Second, the character development here was minimal and poorly paced. Cara is only described as being a workaholic with a screenplay in her drawer. That’s it. 200 pages in suddenly she’s a passionate baker? Oh and then that’s never mentioned again. Meanwhile, Finn gets plenty of passions. In fact, he gets another toward the end of the book where he suddenly is a gifted actor.

The last straw for me: For some inexplicable reason, the dog narrates the epilogue!

The Only One Left by Riley Sager • 🎧 • ★★★★☆

At last! A new Gothic novel that hits all the eerie, atmospheric marks! Old mansion? Check. Rugged Maine coast? Got it! An outcast forced into taking a job as a nurse for a suspected murderer? It’s here! And that’s all you need to know before rushing to download this one.

Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆

I haven’t watched Queer Eye in a minute, but I do have a soft spot for Jonathan Van Ness. This book was exceptionally raw (as advertised) but it was also joyful and uplifting. I 100% suggest you opt for the audio version so you can hear Jonathan tell his story himself.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see 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.

I’d say four books in a month is pretty solid for me! These were all audiobooks, which I will be noting with a 🎧 going forward so you know if I’m taking the narration into account. Does it matter? Probably not!

Hotel Portofino by J.P. O’Connell • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆

I’ve started categorizing certain TV as “shows to point your face at.” These types of shows are decently interesting and entertaining but don’t exactly inspire you to rave about them to friends. I count Versailles and The Gilded Age among these. And I’d say Hotel Portofino is precisely this type of book. It was a nice listen, a decent story, but nothing I’ll insist you read.

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie • 🎧 • ★☆☆☆☆

I was waffling between two stars and one star on this book, but to hell with generosity. This book was not good.

So, on the surface, Episode Thirteen has a good setup. Paranormal investigators from a Travel Channel-esque ghost show arrive at the supposedly haunted Foundation House. The team consists of Matt, the lead investigator and die-hard believer, his wife Claire (a skeptic), Kevin (a former cop and paranormal researcher), Jessica (an actress trying to get her big break on the show) and a camera operator.

But the execution of this is just so poor. I’m not sure if DiLouie was trying to be meta or self-aware or what, but he uses every single horror trope—or just any trope—you can think of, but in an inartful way.

There is zero character development. Every character is a stereotype. Everyone is aggravating. Oh the believer encountered a ghost as a kid and has been searching for that high since? Oh the cop is a tough-as-nails type?

And the conclusion? I felt like DiLouie didn’t have a good idea of where he wanted the book to end, so it was just more of the same on top of more of the same. People are lured into the bowels of the house? Oh and then deeper? Deeper still? Anything else? No? YAWN.

The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis • 🎧 • ★★★★★

There was a time where I read maybe four Fiona Davis books in a single summer. This book reminded me why that was: Davis is excellent.

In The Chelsea Girls, friends Hazel and Maxine first work as USO entertainers before searching for success in the New York City theater scene—Hazel as a playwright and Maxine as a leading lady. Just as the two start to find their place in the limelight, their latest production is threatened by the Red Scare and McCarthyism.

How this book takes these women from WWII to 1950s New York to later in their careers is beautiful. It speaks to the time while also portraying how complicated friendship can be—and how it can endure.

Husband Material by Alexis Hall • 🎧 • ★★★★☆

I read the first book in this series, Boyfriend Material, this time last year. It also got four stars from me.

So what’s going on for Luc and Oliver this time? A booked and busy wedding season. I really like how the story unfolded over the course of four wildly different weddings: a dear friend’s, an ex’s and a coworker’s.

It was a nice way for the book to unfold and to learn more about these two as they, spoiler, plan their own nuptials.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see 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.

March and April were big reading months for me! I spent all of March and half of April living with my aunt who is a big reader. It was really nice to spend Saturday mornings in the living room with a good book.

Here’s what I tackled these last two months: a whopping nine books!

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix • ★★★★☆

I was the first person to snag this copy from the library! What an honor and a joy!

In the latest Grady Hendrix book, siblings Louise and Mark struggle over the decision to sell their parents’ home after their untimely deaths. There’s a lot of very realistic family squabbling here. There’s also a haunting—but a haunting unlike any other I’ve ever read about. It was wild.

The fact that Hendrix can write very convincing family drama along with terrifying/hilarious horror is unreal to me.

The Fervor by Alma Katsu • ★★★★☆

I love the way Alma Katsu blends historical events with supernatural or unexplained phenomena. I got my first taste of this with The Deep a few years ago and later The Hunger. Katsu did it again—maybe even better—with The Fervor.

In The Fervor, Meiko and her daughter are forced into a Japanese internment camp. This is unbearable for infinite reasons, but the stay becomes more untenable as a sort of fever sweeps the settlement. Residents come down with fits of rage and many die. It reminds Meiko of her father’s research back in Japan, but she’s not sure how it’s all connected.

I won’t give an inch away because this was a stunner of a book.

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg • ★★★☆☆

I bought this book on a whim for $1.99. It was fully worth it. Consider Keeper of Enchanted Rooms like The House in the Cerulean Sea-lite.

Here, Merritt unexpectedly inherits a home on an island off of Rhode Island. It’s stunning! But soon it reveals itself to be some sort of haunted. Enter Hulda, a woman endowed with some magical skills to help keep the ghost/poltergeist/demon at bay.

I loved the setup of the story. It implies a world where everyone has some magical powers, though to widely varying degrees. That sort of tugged at my heartstrings. This is a must for people that like light (very light), witchy fiction.

The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest • ★★★★☆

I think I’ve gotten over the idea of rom-coms being improbable. After all, what ghost story or gothic novel isn’t in some way or another? All this is to say I enjoyed the inexplicable improbability of The Neighbor Favor.

In this book, Lily becomes email pen pals with her favorite writer only to be ghosted. Flash forward a year, and he’s moved into her building—only she doesn’t know it yet and Nick doesn’t want her to know it either despite them getting closer every day.

Parting the Veil by Paulette Kennedy • ★★★☆☆

Consider Parting the Veil to be part Jane Eyre part The Golden Age. You can see why it appealed, right? In this gothic-ish novel, Eliza and her sister move to foggy ol’ England from New Orleans. Eliza is to claim an aunt’s estate, however, she must marry to receive it.

Eliza is independent. She’s totally fine living with her sister for as long as she can before moving back to Louisiana, but then, of course, she finds companionship with the town bad boy. His estate is vast but gloomy. He is loving and tender but occasionally falls into foul moods.

I’ll say I was expecting a Bluebeard situation here but did not get it, so props to Paulette Kennedy for steering this in a new direction. Did some twists fully make sense? I’m not sure, but this one kept me up reading late at night.

The Farewell Tour by Stephanie Clifford • ★★★★★

After a recent trip to Nashville, I’ve been about all things country. I’ve been listening to Tammy Wynette like it’s my job and even stitching up embroidery art inspired by country artists. It’s no shocker, then, why I picked up The Farewell Tour. This new release is about a Dolly Parton-Naomi Judd-Wanda Jackson type—the fictional Lillian “Water Lil'” Waters.

In the 1980s, Lillian is embarking on her final tour. She advertises it as a series of farewell shows for sales’ sake, she says, but only she knows they really may be her last. Over the course of the tour, she reflects on her life growing up from the 1920s onward. The ride is wild.

What I loved about this book was how non-linear Lillian’s rise to fame was. I also appreciated how the author decided to set up Lillian as being a West Coast artist rather than the typical Southern gal that you’d expect of classic country.

There’s a line that sticks with me from this book, which shows that it deserves its five stars. Something to the effect of, “I couldn’t use the front door, couldn’t manage to sneak in the back door, so I made a trap door.” I’m taking that with me.

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz • ★★★☆☆

I waited months for this book to come out. It wasn’t entirely deserving of the hype I gave it.

On the surface, it has that bottle episode-like quality. Struggling writer Alex gets accepted into an exclusive and remote writing retreat run by her favorite author. It’s a pressure cooker since participants are expected to have a finished book by the end of the stay, but the person with the best story will get published. However, Alex soon finds out that her ex-bestie is also attending the retreat (drama) and that her idol is wilder than she ever expected (scary).

All the preliminary stuff sounded great to me, but the further this book got, the more gruesome it got. I had a hard time with that.

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak • ★★★☆☆

I think I would have enjoyed Hidden Pictures much more if I had read it instead of opting for the audio version. I’m not sure the narrator was the right fit.

The narrator’s voice was bubbly and naive sounding which didn’t fit the protagonist’s vibe at all. See, Mallory is a recovering addict who lands a job nannying for a wealthy family. As the weeks pass, things start to get eerie. She hears the child she’s watching talking to imaginary friends, mysterious drawings are showing up around the house and she’s hearing sounds in the guest house where she lives.

But in the end, this book packs 10 pounds of story into a five-pound sack. There were just one too many layers, most of which didn’t come into play until too late.

Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon • ★★★☆☆

Molly Shannon is beloved in our home. Michael has a soft spot for Jeannie Darcy and I love Sally O’Malley—not to mention Shannon’s stints on Love That for You and The Other Two. So it’s no surprise I snagged this audiobook at the library.

I loved hearing the book told in Shannon’s voice. The narration was super emotive and wonderful, but it also highlighted some of the writing shortfalls. The biggest one for me was how abruptly some stories and chapters would end. They weren’t always given an artful conclusion.

Overall, though, I learned so much about Shannon and her really tough start. I also loved hearing insight about her rise to fame, how she fully embodied characters like Mary Catherine Gallagher and her relationship with her dad. It was tender and funny, though a little choppy at times.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see 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.

A new year means a new reading challenge over on Goodreads! I wanted to read 50 books last year and came in a few short. I don’t want to overcommit again, so I set the bar slightly lower for 2023 with 40. I think that’s absolutely manageable.

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun • ★★★★☆

I snagged The Charm Offensive from the library not even realizing it was another book by Alison Cochrun. I read Kiss Her Once for Me in December and really loved it.

The Charm Offensive was similarly charming with really wonderful and likable characters. Is the whole plot unlikely? Of course! But reading about how Dev, a producer of a reality dating series a la The Bachelor and Charlie, the Bachelor, come to be friends was really heartwarming. And this is a romance, so of course that easy friendship grows into something more. Who doesn’t love a story like that?

The Stroke of Winter by Wendy Webb • ★★☆☆☆

I’ve read every Wendy Webb book out there and I feel the same way every single time: The ideas and settings are so good. The writing and even the characters are not.

So what is good about The Stroke of Winter? It’s set in a fictionalized version of Bayfield, Wisconsin (one of my favorite places in the world). It’s about ghosts. It’s about a woman trying to open her own inn. Like this has me written all over it.

But the storytelling is so much lame dialogue and so many useless details. Where I really had an OMG JUST STOP moment was when she went on for a whole page about how there was a cupboard with a broom and cleaning supplies on the second floor in addition to the first floor so the family didn’t have to walk up and down stairs to get a bottle of Lysol. It’s OK to just say “she grabbed the broom” without giving me a backstory on it. I’ll assume it came from a closet somewhere.

So does this two-star review mean I’ll skip Webb’s next book? Nope! I’ll have a similar review next time.

The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard • ★★★★☆

Part historical fiction, part revenge story? Sign me up! The Rib King was a really unexpected read for me. It delivered so much more than I anticipated.

The Rib King follows the lives of several men and women, all of whom started out as servants in the home of a once-wealthy family. After that family falls to ruin, these men and women start their next chapter. The next steps for these characters, though, aren’t necessarily what you’d expect.

This book is darker than I anticipated in some really phenomenal ways. It unfolds beautifully. I don’t want to spoil it because there were some reveals that surprised me!

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna • ★★★☆☆

I pick up a lot of witchy fiction in the fall, but sometimes those library holds just don’t come through in time. That was the case with The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. And I’m glad I listened to this one—even if it’s not high spooky season.

In this book, Mika Moon is recruited to be a witchy governess to three young witches. Despite everything Mika was taught about being a witch, she agrees to the job.

Because this is a lighthearted romp, there is a romantic storyline, but I really loved how the author focused primarily on Mika’s relationship with her students and the other teachers. It set this book apart from others in this same vein like The Kiss Curse or Payback’s a Witch.

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling• ★☆☆☆☆

This book was absolutely batshit and not in the good Bunny sort of way. Just batshit in an I can’t believe that this was published and that I read it all the way through way.

So what attracted me to this book to even pick it up? The comparison to Crimson Peak, of course!

Now, what made it so bad? As my mom would say, it was shoving ten pounds of shit into a five-pound sack. It was trying to be gothic, paranormal, magical, cultish, metaphysical, fantastical, psychedelic and even more.

Also, I absolutely loathed the choice to set this book in a fictional world when all settings and plot devices were extremely thinly veiled references to real places and events. Great Breltain? That’s Great Britain. Rukza? Russia, obvi. Why bother? Also, in this universe, people were living very much an 1880s life with carriages and horses (no telegrams or phones) but somehow the war that just happened involved shelling and gassing like a WWII-era UK.

And that’s just the start! I can’t go on. I’ll lose my mind.

A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan • ★★☆☆☆

I love Door County. It’s one of my favorite vacation spots, so of course I had to pick up this one about a bookseller who moonlights as a cryptozoologist.

Morgan gets roped into an investigation when a detective suspects that a lake monster may be behind the death of a few kayakers.

As the story unfolds, though, Morgan became a less and less likable character. She runs an unusual and rare books store (thanks to a very large inheritance from her parents) and talks about embellishing stories about the wares she sells to up the price. Lady, you are a millionaire. Do not lie about the provenance of an antique to make a buck. She also is pretty blasé about death and others’ feelings. Specifics like these can kind of ruin a book for me.

But if you like detective-style mysteries and Wisconsin or cryptids, this may be worth picking up.

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver • ★★★★☆

I wasn’t expecting to like One Night on the Island as much as I did, but it really won me over. Cleo, the MC, won me over.

See, Cleo is a relationship columnist for a website. She’s great at the job but has become sort of burnt out with on the business and relationships. She heads off to a cabin on Salvation Island for a story on self-coupling. Of course, while she’s there, she meets Mack, a photographer who is booked in the same cabin by mistake. Mack is also a good character, but I’m all about Cleo.

During her time on the island, she’s able to do some work on herself. She decides what she wants next for relationships, for work, for family. Honestly, I’m feeling like I’m in a similar place. It was nice to see a positive depiction of this in-between state. It’s OK to be in the in-between and it’s OK to take time to sort it out—even if it takes longer than you think.

I will say that I wish the end was different. I wanted a different path for Cleo after her really wonderful transformation, but it was fine. I’ll live.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see 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.

A month of reading with no duds? Finally! I knocked out four books this month, and am currently sitting at 43 books total for 2022. My goal is 50. Before I start thinking about how I can possibly make that happen on top of holiday crafting and baking, let’s get into this month’s reads.

A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler • ★★★★☆

It’s been a minute since I’ve read this sort of historical fiction. I love a creative retelling of a prominent historical figure—in this case, Alva Vanderbilt.

This was the perfect book to read while anxiously awaiting the release of the second season of The Gilded Age.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston • ★★★★☆

Despite loving Red, White & Royal Blue, I resisted One Last Stop for a good while. Why? I loathe time travel. I find it overly complicated. I just don’t like it! But when I saw this at the library, I figured why not? And I’m glad I picked it up.

In One Last Stop, aimless August moves to NYC and falls madly in love with Jane, a stranger on the subway. The only catch is that Jane is somehow stuck in 1977 despite it being 2019 everywhere else. Of course, August and Jane fall in love. But how do they get Jane unstuck and off that damn subway car?

I appreciated this book because it made the story more about relationships than the logistics of time travel. Plus, I genuinely liked every character. What a win!

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix • ★★★★☆

Much like One Last Stop, I avoided Horrorstör for a long while. It was one of those books that were always available at the library which made me think no one wanted to rent it.

But then my good friend, a serious bookworm, recommended it and I decided if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me. And guess what: I loved this book.

Set in an Ikea-type store, three coworkers patrol the building overnight to get to the bottom of some strange goings-ons. Well, it turns out that the turned-over furniture and stained cushions aren’t just hooligans; they’re ghoul-igans (HA!).

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix • ★★★★☆

Yep, two books by the same author in a single month. What can I say? I really did like Horrorstör!

My Best Friend’s Exorcism walked the same line between scary and cheeky that I found so fun. Plus, it’s set in the ’80s so there were lots of fun references to the music and movies of the time. Prepare to queue up “I Think We’re Alone Now” on Spotify as you listen.

I’ll also say that the end of this book was just so so good. It proves that the rituals and relationships that we create are just as important as the religious ones we inherit.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see 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.