Monthly Round-Up: September 2025

Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King. This was my first Laurie R. King book and I’ve already requested more from the library. I love her writing style and this story really pulled me in. The time jumps were well done and both storylines intrigued me, which can be rare for me in a dual timeline book.

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham. I really liked the tangled storylines in this book. I never would have guessed the ending, so that was satisfying. The twists felt earned also, not just thrown in to shock the reader. I like Willingham’s writing style and will read her others.

She's Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino. This was a random read thanks to a Kindle ad, but the writing style was effortless and pulled me in immediately. Evelyn’s storyline was my favorite; I found Jenna a bit frustrating in terms of her indecisiveness and lack of personality. 

Edam and Weep by Linda Reilly. These are truly cozy for me, which made the extreme overuse of the word “garbed” (like 5-6 times in the whole book, which seems excessive for a rare word, especially with 3 in the first several pages and 2 on one page!) really stab my brain. Still thought it was a good book to keep the series moving though.

Lockdown by Laurie R. King. This is my second King book and I still really like her writing style, and liked all the assorted POVs throughout the day. However, the ending really ruined it for me. This WAS written in 2017, so I’ll give it some grace considering how much more commonplace school shootings have become these days. But the idea of nothing really happening once he’s shooting AND the kids taking down the shooter just had me rolling my eyes. It’s not that I don’t believe it, necessarily, I just hope it’ll never happen that way considering how terrible it could have turned out. I know, I know - it’s fiction, but it’s too real these days so it didn’t land for me.

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham. This is my second Willingham book and I really liked it. I thought I had the twist pegged (well, down to two possibilities) but then it was something different, and then something different, and even though one of my possibilities was technically right, the way I’d thought of it was wrong, so I loved how this kept me guessing. The final image was also a beautiful ending, and I appreciate that it wasn’t a 100% happy or even satisfactory ending.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. This was a re-read for me because I want to watch the movie on Netflix but didn’t remember enough. I remembered loving it in 2015 - 5 stars, rave review, the works. But re-reading it now, after the ways the country has changed since then, raising a son and seeing how Finch acts with Violet, being so pushy… It didn’t sit right with me. I know it’s not the point of the book but the way he kept going after her, making comments about wanting to kiss her and all that, really rubbed me the wrong way. Is it supposed to be ok because of his mental illness? Or because she eventually gave in and fell in love with him? I don’t think so. I see him as manipulative and pulling her into his orbit just to leave and fuck her up even more. Sure, he’s depressed and trying to feel things, but I just can’t stomach it in the current climate.

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham. This seemed different from Willingham’s other books and was unbearably slow in many places for me. I felt like the flashback scenes were repetitive - each felt exactly the same and I felt like I was drowning in that swamp, too. And the current time was also really slow and seemed to reiterate the same ideas over and over. The last fourth was good though, and I was glad it didn’t wrap up in the way it seemed like it had been chugging toward the whole book.

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox. This reminded me of Big Little Lies overall, with the unknown dead person established right away, then multiple POVs building up to what happened, with all of them being possible suspects and victims. Even the twist with one of the male characters reminded me of Big Little Lies, but I’m not mad about it. It was an interesting book that pulled me in and entertained me, so I’d read more by this author.

The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one besides time travel. I saw it on a “New Releases” newsletter and wanted to give it a try. I’m glad I did. It was really interesting, the idea of memories stored in a library, plus who would want to destroy them and why. And, since it dealt with some WWII history, it seemed especially relevant today, unfortunately. I love how everything twisted together. The ending was a bit too pure for me because I think there should have been a bit more disruption based on everything that came before, but it didn’t ruin it. Full post here.

Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham. This was my least favorite Willingham book. All the characters were annoying and the question of what happened wasn’t compelling enough for me to care. I pushed myself to finish it and felt like everything that happened in the last fourth of the book was just thrown together for drama.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. Re-read 9/23/2025. I read this countless times as a kid and several times as an adult and always love it. Blume effortlessly captures the tween voice. I re-read it this time because I’d just watched the movie and thought it stayed pretty true to the book, but wanted to check myself. It really did! I think it’s one of the best book-to-movie I’ve seen.

The Perfect Boyfriend by Ava Roberts. This had a great concept and the twist made it more unique than other AI romance books I’ve read, but that’s the only good thing I can say about it. The writing was AWFUL. I was hoping the twist was that ALL the characters were AI based on how they talked and thought, but instead I’m just thinking (hoping) the book was AI-generated. It was the most bland, flat book I’ve ever read. The characters were all different versions of the same person - I genuinely couldn’t tell the mother and daughter apart. There was no emotion, no depth to any of them. Think your husband’s cheating? Eh, that barely makes an impact and is totally swept under the rug. But making a smoothie? Two paragraphs, please! There was no rhyme or reason to what concepts were expanded on and what was glossed over.

Against the Currant by Olivia Matthews. Read for the September Cozy Mystery Book Club. I love culinary cozies and have a secret dream of opening a bakery despite not being an amazing baker myself, so I loved Lyndsay’s character. I feel like a lot of things were repeated: the bakery smells, the support and closeness of the family, the suspects and their motives. I don’t think things need to be spelled out that much. And there were a lot of relatives introduced very quickly that didn’t play big roles in the story, but I do understand that might be setting things up for later in the series. Overall, the book pulled me in and gave me the clues I needed to solve the case along with Lyndsay, so I liked it and would read more of this series.

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume. Along with Margaret, this is one of Blume’s books that I re-read most in childhood. I loved Sally because I also imagined stories and acted them out while playing and I hadn’t seen that represented in a book until I read this one. Something made me think of it recently and I wanted to re-read it. It still held up and was really engaging to me.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay. I love a good thriller but this one didn’t quite do it for me. There was an interesting premise but the missing students were so flat that I didn’t feel the suspense of needing to find them. The focus was more on the parents’ drama (and almost all were cheating, yawn) and while that was interesting, it wasn’t the point of the book, so wrapping up the case at the end felt more like a reminder that THIS is what I should have been paying attention to. I felt like the students’ POVs inserted periodically came later when the author possibly realized the story wasn’t enough about them going missing, because they seemed really random and a bit heavy-handed about what had happened in the past to get them to this point.

The Ex-Wives Club by Sally Hepworth. I love Hepworth’s literary fiction/early books, but her venture into thrillers hasn’t landed as strongly for me. This was a quick short story but again, I found the lack of depth keeping me at arm’s length. I didn’t care about any of the characters and while the premise is interesting, it felt more like reading a news story than a short story or novella.

The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso

 

The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso

I didn't know what to expect with this book. I think I saw it as a new release in my local bookstore's newsletter so I put it on hold at the library based on the idea of a "memory library" alone. I do love time travel and parallel universes, so even though it took me a while to get to this one, I'm so glad I did.

It was really interesting, the idea of memories stored in a library, plus who would want to destroy them and why. And, since it dealt with some WWII history, it seemed especially relevant today, unfortunately. I love how everything twisted together. 

The ending was a bit too pure for me because I think there should have been a bit more disruption based on everything that came before, but it didn’t ruin it. I almost wonder if the author is leaving it open for a sequel because, with Amelia's knowledge, I don't really see how things can ever be "normal" for her, and I'm curious to see how she'd fare in the future.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret book and movie

I can't count how many times I've read this book. I honestly have some lines and scenes memorized to the point where it feels like they're mine, not something I read. I read it hundreds of times as a kid and a few times as an adult. This time, I wanted to read it after watching the movie. I felt like the movie stayed true to the book, but wanted to check that theory.

Read as a kid over and over: Clearly I loved it or I wouldn't have re-read it so often, because I always brought home a stack of books from the library and could have picked anything. I had my own copy too (pretty sure it fell apart years ago), with what I think is still the best cover for the book:

Re-read September 2016: Another book I read a lot as a kid and wanted to re-read for Banned Books Week. This one also seemed a little flat, but I still loved it and think kids these days would still love it, even though it’s pretty dated. 

Re-read December 2019: I’m re-reading my Judy Blume books because I’m taking her Masterclass and she references them sometimes. She was one of my favorite authors as a child so I vividly remember most of her books and storylines, but it’s always fun to revisit old favorites. I apparently lost my childhood copy of Margaret, so the one I own now is an updated one. I remember the pads with hooks and a belt, so it was nice to read this newer version where she simply peeled off the paper and stuck the pad to her underpants. It’s the small things! I loved reading about how things “used to be”, but I do think that updating the books will make them more appealing to young readers and will give this type of book staying power.

Re-read 9/23/2025: I read this countless times as a kid and several times as an adult and always love it. Blume effortlessly captures the tween voice. I re-read it this time because I’d just watched the movie and thought it stayed pretty true to the book, but wanted to check myself. It really did! I think it’s one of the best book-to-movie I’ve seen. 

***

Basically every scene from the book is in the movie, which makes me love it. I understand sometimes you need to take liberties to make a book work as a movie, but I love that this one didn't. Margaret's "speaking" to God felt a bit over-acted in places though; I preferred it when it was a voiceover of her conversation instead of watching her say it in real-time. All the actors were perfectly cast. 

I wonder if the mom being more of a character searching for fulfillment was a nod to the realization that most people watching this movie were probably the mother's age, remembering how this book changed their lives when they were preteens, so they wanted it to be interesting on that level, too? The mother's painting is mentioned in the book, and the father definitely has a background role in both, so I feel like it wasn't much of a change to bring the mother a bit more to the forefront. And it was Rachel McAdams so who could complain?

All the Bright Places: Book and Movie

It's no secret I love comparing books to their movie or TV versions, so when I saw there was a movie of All the Bright Places on Netflix, I wanted to re-read the book and watch the movie to compare them. I read the book when it came out, but didn't remember much of it, so I knew I would need to refresh my memory. 

Originally read May 2015 (and originally rated 5 stars): This writing in this book is so matter-of-fact that you don’t think you’ll get emotionally involved, but you will. It’s not fluffy and beautiful; it’s real. Niven brings attention to mental disorders, abuse, depression, the lack of need of labels and the vast need for compassion — all without hitting you over the head with the message. Finch and Violet seem like real high school seniors, meaning you don’t love them all the time and you don’t understand them most of the time. But it works. This is an amazing book, highly recommended. It will inspire you to get out and wander your state to learn more about it — and yourself.

Re-read September 2025: This was a re-read for me because I want to watch the movie on Netflix but didn’t remember enough. I remembered loving it in 2015 - 5 stars, rave review, the works. But re-reading it now, after the ways the country has changed since then, raising a son and seeing how Finch acts with Violet, being so pushy… It didn’t sit right with me. I know it’s not the point of the book but the way he kept going after her, making comments about wanting to kiss her and all that, really rubbed me the wrong way. Is it supposed to be ok because of his mental illness? Or because she eventually gave in and fell in love with him? I don’t think so. I see him as manipulative and pulling her into his orbit just to leave and fuck her up even more. Sure, he’s depressed and trying to feel things, but I just can’t stomach it in the current climate.

That said, the writing is beautiful, and knowing why Niven wrote it is really interesting and explains a lot about how Finch is portrayed, in my opinion.

***

The movie... Wow. It cut so many details, so much story. I'm not sure I could have followed it if I hadn't read the book first. I don't think it stands on its own. Finch's suicide seemed completely random in the movie, in my opinion. And I do still think that, even in a visual form, they could have conveyed some of the interiority from the book. 

They cut Finch's mom and dad to just mentions instead of showing the characters. I think this is fine overall, and the mom definitely could have been cut from the book as well, but the dad's scenes seemed really important. The movie completely cuts out the little sister. Like with the mom - I think this works. I don't think she added anything to the book except another person Finch left behind, so the movie doesn't suffer for that.

As I mentioned, I think you need to have read the book to get anything from this movie. So many scenes were cut or rushed, but there were two waaaaaay too long scenes of people dancing in a field. It didn't convey anything to me when it was Finch and Violet or when it was Violet with Finch's friends later. It was just trying too hard to make you feel the moment when those precious seconds could have been used for literally any other scene that was cut from the book.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

This was recommended to me (by Josh Denslow - read Magic Can't Save Us!) after I reviewed the Winston Breen series, which involves figuring out puzzles to solve a larger mystery.

I liked the layers of mystery to this book: who was the “wrong” person, who was Barney Northrup really, who was the murderer, then the other mysteries that came up throughout the story.

The storytelling style definitely seems dated, but in a good way. It made me think of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which is one of my favorite children’s mysteries. 

It was a little difficult for me to keep all the characters and backstories straight, so I sometimes had to flip back and forth to feel like I was keeping up and could try to solve the mystery along with the heirs. I think the flash forwards at the end were pretty cool, showing how things turned out for everyone involved. 

The best part is that my son is currently reading it in school so we can talk about it and I can test my own knowledge of the book with his quizzes, ha!

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

This book gave me Shannon Olson and Melissa Bank vibes. Those books that are ambling thoughts, not a truly cohesive narrative, no definite ending, but you're so glad to be along for the ride. This book was especially poignant, with strong emotions relating to family, relationships, aging parents, and just being human.

One of my favorite quotes was:

You had the feeling that all the thoughts were in a box covered in tape, and the trouble was you didn't have the proper tools to access them---no scissors and no knife---and it was a lot of trouble---every day it was new trouble---trying to find the end of the tape.

Followed by...

...and here you were, now, unable to open a box that had been taped shut, a box belonging to you.

This fascinated me - what a great way to think of memory issues. I'm at that age where my parents are aging, and my friends' parents are aging, and we're talking about it, and I'm seeing different things in different relationships, and this book just put it all out there in a way that made me feel like I was reading a friend's journal. I'm glad it came onto my radar and will most likely read it again.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Going in, this one felt too familiar, like maybe I had read it and DNF before? But I couldn’t find proof of that, so I figured it just seemed similar to other YA true crime/cold case/podcast type books. I stuck with it and got completely obsessed. I thought one of the murderers was incredibly obvious and was surprised they weren’t a suspect all along, but the other took me by surprise. The ending was perfect and definitely made me eager to read the rest of the series.

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson. Second books usually feel like a placeholder between the first and third of a trilogy but this one held its own. I thought it was a really good mystery and I love how it pulled in some details from the first book that hadn’t even registered for me. For a teenager solving crimes the police can’t (or won’t), I feel like this is realistically written, especially considering emotions Pip feels after all she’s been through.

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson. I thought this was a really satisfying end. The first third or even half maybe was VERY repetitive with what Pip was thinking and feeling regarding her trauma. I get that what happened is major and will change a person but for the sake of fiction, I think it could have been cut and handled better. It felt like Jackson was trying to meet word count with those sections. However, how Pip evolved feels really natural and I think the ending was just right.

The show was a slog for me to get through. I'll be honest and say movies are really hard for me to focus on. I usually wander away, either physically or mentally, about 30 minutes in. But shows, somehow, are easier for me to focus on. That wasn't the case here, though. Maybe because I'd already read the book and really enjoyed it, so I knew the story and the suspense didn't work on me?

Also, while I thought all the actors were just-right picks for the characters, Pip seemed a bit young in her actions on the show. In many scenes, it seemed like she was just bumbling along, stumbling upon things rather than following clues and leads like she did in the book.

Edam and Weep by Linda Reilly

Edam and Weep by Linda Reilly

This is truly my coziest of cozy mystery series because I'm a grilled cheese girl to my core. I'm always excited when there's a new book out, and this one snuck up on me! But I added it to my birthday list and devoured it right away.

I've previously reviewed the first four books in the series, and the fifth after I got it for Christmas. I've recommended the series to several people so I genuinely love it.

Which made it hard to start and see the word "garbed" used so excessively! Am I nitpicking? Maybe... But it's a rare word, and when I first saw it, I stopped reading immediately to make sure I was computing it correctly. Then I saw it a few pages later... TWICE on that same page! Overall it's in the book about six times, which might not be too awful because I know there are words and phrases I overuse in my own writing. However, the first three being so close together seems like something an editor should have caught. Plus, with it being such a strange word, I started joking that it was like garbed... sorry, barbed wire to my brain.

Beyond that, though, this is truly cozy and works really well to move the series along. I like that the wedding wasn't a big thing in the plot because I find that really boring. There were a lot of wedding-related mentions and errands throughout the book, but I'd rather read that than an overly long play-by-play of the day, so I was pleased by that. Really looking forward to more in the series.