Books Added to My Shelves in December 2024

This is my monthly roundup of books that I added to my shelves in December 2024. Some of the books came directly from authors or publishers, others were a purchase or a gift. You’ll find books from all kinds of genres including adult and children’s books. I’ll even share a few updates from our family’s life in the last month as well.

Family and Life Update

One of my favorite Christmas decorations to put out is this special handmade nativity. My cousin has made me a felted wool piece for this nativity each year and this year, she added the 3 Wisemen to finish out the scene. I just love them so much, mostly because it was handmade by someone with love just for me and it is so unique. Aren’t the Wisemen amazing????

Our small town held a Christmas kick-off where my husband, the mayor, flipped the switch to turn on the Christmas lights. Then we had a short parade of tractors all decorated with lights.

It was so great to have all the kids home and together for a few days before Christmas. With their schedules, we celebrated before Christmas both at our house and Pat’s sister’s home (pictured). The time together always goes by so fast.

We spent Christmas Day with my mom and my sisters’ families. It’s still weird to be at my mom’s without dad there, even a year later. This month we also started going through items at my childhood home. I brought home 3 boxes of items from my childhood that I still have to go through. I’m looking forward to reliving some childhood memories as I go through them.

Now on to the books! 

I finished 8 books in December. I read 3 physical books and 2 eBooks and listened to 3 audiobooks. Be sure to follow me on Instagram, HERE to see snippets of what I’m reading or what’s going on in my daily life. Very soon I’ll be sharing all my year-end bookish stats and my BEST BOOKS of 2025.

This month, my list of books is LONG! You’ll notice that I have several audiobooks on my list this month. I couldn’t resist the annual Audible sale and stocked up on some great titles. My sister and I are traveling on a long road trip in February so I chose some titles that we could listen to together. There are lots of great books publishing in 2025 and I’m thrilled to share some of them in this list. If they sound like something you’d like to read, preordering or asking your library to order helps out the author immensely.

If you have missed any of my recent book reviews, you can see all of them by clicking, HERE.  Or you can stay up to date with my monthly Quick Lit Roundup.

Clicking the photos of each book will take you to a link to purchase. If you choose to purchase through any of the links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.

Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction eBooks and Audiobooks

MY FRIENDS
By: Fredrik Backman
Published: May 20, 2024
Publisher: Atria Books
Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

I can’t believe I got an advanced review copy of Backman’s next book!! I just listened to his recent short story release which was great. I am sooooo looking forward to this one.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.

LET’S CALL HER BARBIE
By: Renée Rosen
Published: January 21, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Historical Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

One of my favorite books of 2021 was THE SOCIAL GRACES by Renée Rosen. This story of the founder of Barbie is just the kind of book I love to read.

When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she’s setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.

In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth’s vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe will let them dream they can be anything.

As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels—head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie’s fashion—she knows they’re working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.

In the decades to come—through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions— each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll—she’s a legacy.

THE GRIFFIN SISTERS GREATEST HITS
By: Jennifer Weiner
Published: April 8, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow
Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

I can’t say I’ve loved every Jennifer Weiner book I’ve read, but this one sounds excellent.

Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were born just a year apart but could not have been more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows.

On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early aughts fame—SNL, MTV, Rolling Stone magazine—along the way.

But after a whirlwind year in the public eye, the band abruptly broke up.

Two decades later, Zoe’s a housewife; Cassie’s off the grid. The sisters aren’t speaking, and the real reason for the Griffin Sisters’ breakup is still a mystery. Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, who’s determined to be a star in spite of Zoe’s warnings, is on a quest to learn the truth about what happened to the band all those years ago.

As secrets emerge, all three women must face the consequences of their choices: the ones they made and the ones the music industry made for them. Can they forgive each other—and themselves? And will the Griffin Sisters ever make music again?

THE STORY COLLECTOR
By: Evie Woods
Published: August 13, 2024
Publisher: Fiction
Historical Fiction
Format: eBook Purchase

We recently read THE LOST BOOKSHOP by Evie Woods for book club and we all loved it. This was on a Kindle deal so I purchased it with Kindle credits. I bumped a lot of my Amazon orders for Christmas to be delivered on a day that would earn me Kindle credits which you can also use for Prime video credits as well.

One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens her very way of life.

In New York in the present day, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she finds she has unearthed dark secrets – secrets that tread the line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen.

With a taste for the magical in everyday life, Evie Woods’s latest novel is full of ordinary characters with extraordinary tales to tell.

BALM
By: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Published: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Amistad
Historical Fiction
Format: eBook Purchase

I loved WENCH and have TAKE MY HAND on my shelf. This was on a Kindle deal and with my credits, I got it free!

The Civil War has ended, and Madge, Sadie, and Hemp have each come to Chicago in search of a new life.

Born with magical hands, Madge has the power to discern others’ suffering, but she cannot heal her own damaged heart. To mend herself and help those in need, she must return to Tennessee to face the women healers who rejected her as a child.

Sadie can commune with the dead, but until she makes peace with her father, she, too, cannot fully engage her gift.

Searching for his missing family, Hemp arrives in this northern city that shimmers with possibility. But redemption cannot be possible until he is reunited with those taken from him.

In the bitter aftermath of a terrible, bloody war, as a divided nation tries to come together once again, Madge, Sadie, and Hemp will be caught up in a desperate, unexpected battle for survival in a community desperate to lay the pain of the past to rest.

Beautiful in its historical atmosphere and emotional depth, Balm is a stirring novel of love, loss, hope, and reconciliation set during one of the most critical periods in American history.

THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR
By: Ally Carter
Published: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Avon
Mystery/Romance
Format: eBook purchase

I keep seeing this book everywhere and I wasn’t going to jump on the bandwagon, but at Christmas my daughter-in-law mentioned it so I looked up how much it was on Kindle and it was only $2.99 so I purchased it for her, my daughter, and myself for us to read together and got them all free with Kindle credits! Everyone who has read it is raving about it and my daughter-in-law already gave it four stars!

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:

She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.

He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.

THE MOST
By: Jessica Anthony
Published: January 8, 2024, July 30, 2024 Paperback
Publisher: Doubleday
Fiction
Format: eBook purchase

I’m not sure where I first heard about this one, but the premise intrigues me. Plus, it’s a quick read at just 144 pages. I used Kindle credits to get this one for free when it was on a Kindle deal.

It’s November 3, 1957. As Sputnik 2 launches into space, carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, a couple begin their day. Virgil Beckett, an insurance salesman, isn’t particularly happy in his job but he fulfills the role. Kathleen Beckett, once a promising tennis champion with a key shot up her sleeve, is now a mother and homemaker. On this unseasonably warm Sunday, Kathleen decides not to join her family at church. Instead, she unearths her old, red bathing suit and descends into the deserted swimming pool of their apartment complex in Newark, Delaware. And then she won’t come out.

A riveting, single-sitting read set over the course of eight hours, The Most is an epic story in one single day, masterly breaching the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath.

LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK
By: Kathleen Rooney
Narrated by: Xe Sands
Published: January 17, 2017
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I have had this book on my to-read list for a few years, but I’ve been wanting to read it on New Year’s Eve and into the new year, so I will start it this weekend. I already have it on Kindle but I also got the audiobook to dual-read. I think it’s fun to be reading this at the same time of year, just 30 years later.

“In my reckless and undiscouraged youth,” Lillian Boxfish writes, “I worked in a walnut-paneled office thirteen floors above West Thirty-Fifth Street…”

She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, “in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it.”

Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now―her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl―but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed―and has not.

Lillian figures she might as well take her time. For now, after all, the night is still young.

THE ANSWER IS NO
A Short Story
By: Fredrik Backman
Translated by: Elizabeth DeNoma
Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
Published: December 1, 2024
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I’ve already listened to this one, HERE and I loved it.

THE SWEET BLUE DISTANCE
By: Sara Donati
Narrated by: Kate Reading
Published: April 2, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

This one might look familiar because I already had the eBook for review. I started reading it and noticing my percentage wasn’t changing much I realized it was a 700+ page book. After getting to 25% I stopped reading not so much because I wasn’t interested, but it was just taking up too much of my reading time. I got the audiobook in the Audible sale and figured I could listen to it and read it to get it wrapped up.

In 1857 a young midwife braves the perilous journey west from New York City to Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory in this captivating epic from Sara Donati, the international bestselling author of Where the Light Enters .

Carrie Ballentyne’s life was upended in 1845 when she had to leave the only home she’d ever known in the mountains of upstate New York. With her are her widowed mother and younger brother Nathan, but the separation from Bonner, Ballentyne, and Savard relatives weighs heavily.  In time Carrie finds footing as a midwife and nurse, but she never feels at ease in the city. So when, a decade later, she receives an invitation from a doctor in Santa Fe to join him at his practice, she readily accepts.

The trip across the country is long and often dangerous, but she travels the last leg on horseback with men who have been hired to see her safely through the Native nations fighting the westward flood of colonizers. On that journey she makes friends who will be with her for all her Eva, a young widow; and Eli, an experienced surveyor. Once Carrie is established in Santa Fe, it becomes clear that her employer is not everything she was led to believe, and she is forced to face far more challenges and responsibilities than she anticipated. But she dedicates herself to the work and the women, providing health care, delivering babies, and earning the trust of her patients.

In the course of that first summer in New Mexico, determined to make a life for herself in a new kind of wilderness far beyond her imagination, Carrie finds friendship, support, and even love where she least expected.

THE NIGHT IN QUESTION
By: Susan Fletcher
Narrated by: Jenny Funnell
Published: April 2, 2024
Publisher: Union Square & Co
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I’m not sure where I heard about this one, but it has been compared to A MAN CALLED OVE and it also reminded me of THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB. But, most of all, it sounded fun!

A lyrical and emotionally engaging novel infused with mystery and wisdom about love, friendship, and the power of forgiveness.

Florrie Butterfield—eighty-seven, one-legged, and of cheerful disposition—believes there can’t be any more adventures or surprises in life to experience. Yet one midsummer’s evening, there’s an accident at Babbington Hall—the adult residence where she lives—so shocking and strange that Florrie is suspicious; is this really an accident? Or is she being lied to? Is she, in fact, living alongside a potential murderer? In her efforts to learn the truth, Florrie is forced to look back on her own life, with all its passions and regrets; she must confront her own bloody secret—and, at last, forgive herself. Above all, Florrie learns, through the help of her new friend, Stanhope, that you’re never too old to have the life you’ve always dreamed of. When it comes to love, it’s never too late.

WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS
A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird
By: Sy Montgomery
Narrated by: Sy Montgomery
Published: November 5, 2024
Publisher: Atria
Non-Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

You know I love chickens. This new book was on an Audible deal plus it is quite short at less than 100 pages. I love learning about chickens so this will be a fun listen. This author has also written about the octopus, hummingbirds, and Temple Grandin. She is well-respected for her research.

For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery—whose The Soul of an Octopus was a National Book Award finalist—has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality (outgoing or shy, loud or quiet, reckless or cautious) and connects with Sy in her own way.

In this short, delightful book, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run, and peck; relationships are important to them and the average chicken can recognize more than one hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least twenty-four distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all this, but for Sy what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about twenty percent more chickens on earth than people.

With a winning combination of personal narrative and science, What the Chicken Knows is exactly the kind of book that has made Sy Montgomery such a beloved and popular author.

NATURE’S BEST HOPE
A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard
By: Douglas W. Tallamy
Narrated by: Adam Barr
Published: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Timber Press
Non-Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

Another great nature book by Tallamy, well-known for his nature books. This was also an Audible deal that looked interesting to me.

Nature’s Best Hope advocates for homeowners everywhere to turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. This home-based approach doesn’t rely on the federal government and protects the environment from the whims of politics. It is also easy to do, and readers will walk away with specific suggestions they can incorporate into their own yards.

Nature’s Best Hope is nature writing at its best—rooted in history, progressive in its advocacy, and above all, actionable and hopeful. By proposing practical measures that ordinary people can easily do, Tallamy gives us reason to believe that the planet can be preserved for future generations.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SHEEP
By: Sally Coulthard
Narrated by: Karen Cass
Published: August 6, 2020
Publisher: Anima
Non-Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I’ve seen this book pop up a few times and grabbed it on an Audible deal. Our family raised sheep and I’ve long been interested in reading books about sheep.

An addictively free-ranging survey of the huge impact that sheep have had on human history.

From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the rolling hills of medieval England to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story.

Starting with our Neolithic ancestors’ first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 10,000 years ago, they’ve fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and languages, helped us to win wars, decorated our homes, and financed pioneers and privateers to conquer large swathes of the earth. Vast fortunes have been built on the backs of sheep, and cities shaped by shepherds’ markets and meat trading.

Sally Coulthard weaves the rich and fascinating story of sheep into a vivid and colourful tapestry, brimful of engaging anecdotes and remarkable ovine facts, whose multiple strands reflect the deep penetration of these woolly animals into every aspect of human society and culture.

DEAR HENRY, LOVE EDITH
By: Becca Kinzer
Narrated by: Cillian Crowe
Published: January 31, 2023
Publisher: Tyndale
Romance
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I’m not sure where I first heard about this one, but it was on my list and I grabbed it as an audible deal. It sounds like a sweet, clean romance perfect for reading around Valentine’s Day.

After a short and difficult marriage, recently widowed Edith Sherman has learned her lesson. Forget love. Forget marriage. She plans to fill her thirties with adventure. As she awaits the final paperwork for a humanitarian trip to South Africa, she accepts a short-term nursing position in a small Midwestern town. The last thing she needs is a handsome local catching her eye. How inconvenient is that?

Henry Hobbes isn’t exactly thrilled to have Edith, who he assumes is an elderly widow, dumped on him as a houseguest for the summer. But he’d do almost anything for his niece, who is practically like a sister to him given how close they are in age. Especially since Edith will be working nights and Henry works most days. When he and Edith keep missing each other in person, they begin exchanging notes–short messages at first, then longer letters, sharing increasingly personal parts of their lives.

By the time Henry realizes his mistake–that Edith is actually the brown-eyed beauty he keeps bumping into around town–their hearts are so intertwined he hopes they never unravel. But with her departure date rapidly approaching, and Henry’s roots firmly planted at home, Edith must ultimately decide if the adventure of her dreams is the one right in front of her.

THE CHRISTMAS BOOK HUNT
A Short Story
By: Jenny Colgan
Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton
Published: December 1, 2024
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Romance
Format: Audiobook through Audible

This is an Amazon Original short story that is only available on Kindle or Audible. At just over 100 pages, it is a quick, sweet Christmas romance perfect for book lovers.

A heartwarming meet-cute short story from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christmas Bookshop.

A Christmas mission…

Mirren’s beloved great-aunt Violet is seriously ill. Her one Christmas wish is to be reunited with a long-lost hand-illustrated book from her childhood, a challenge Mirren gladly accepts to give Violet some much-needed festive cheer.

An enchanting journey…

With no sign of the cherished volume online, Mirren falls into the fascinating world of rare books. From London to snowy Hay-on-Wye and Edinburgh’s cobbled streets, she chases leads from bookshop to bookshop—and bumps into mysterious, charming Theo, who, unbeknownst to her, is searching for the same book for reasons of his own…

The start of a new chapter?

As the two join forces to track the book down before time runs out for Violet, will Mirren find her Christmas miracle—and maybe even a kiss under the mistletoe… ?

THIS IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
What the Music You Love Says About You
By: Ogi Ogas and Susan Rogers
Narrated by: Susan Rogers
Published: September 20, 2022
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Non-Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I used my monthly Audible credit for this one. I heard about it on a podcast and it sounded really intriguing. The author, Susan Rogers, was the producer of Prince’s Purple Rain album.

This Is What It Sounds Like is a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you. But it’s also a story of a musical trailblazer who began as a humble audio tech in Los Angeles to became Prince’s chief engineer for Purple Rain, and then create other No. 1 hits (including Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week”) as one of the most successful female record producers of all time.

Now an award-winning professor of cognitive neuroscience, Susan Rogers leads readers to musical self-awareness. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s natural response to seven key dimensions of any song. Are you someone who prefers lyrics or melody? Do you like music “above the neck” (intellectually stimulating), or “below the neck” (instinctual and rhythmic)? Whether your taste is esoteric or mainstream, Rogers guides readers to recognize their musical personality, and offers language to describe one’s own unique taste. Like most of us, Rogers is not a musician, but she shows that all of us can be musical—simply by being an active, passionate listener.

While exploring the science of music and the brain, Rogers also takes us behind the scenes of record-making, using her insider’s ear to illuminate the music of Prince, Frank Sinatra, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, and many others. She shares records that changed her life, contrasts them with those that appeal to her coauthor and students, and encourages you to think about the records that define your own identity.

Told in a lively and inclusive style, This Is What It Sounds Like will refresh your playlists, deepen your connection to your favorite artists, and change the way you listen to music.

DEMON COPPERHEAD
By: Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
Published: October 18, 2022
Publisher: Harper
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I’ve resisted this one ever since it was published. I wasn’t sure I would like it plus it is quite long, over 500 pages. But, now that it has been out in the world for a couple of years, I am pretty sure I would like it. So, I used an audible deal to grab it.

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

THE BRIAR CLUB
By: Kate Quinn
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
Published: July 9, 2024
Publisher: William Morrow
Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

My niece said this is a book I would enjoy so I grabbed it in an Audible deal. I haven’t read any of Kate Quinn’s books but I’m definitely interested and know they are quite popular. Saskia Maarleveld has impressive talent also narrating two other books I loved, THE BERLIN LETTERS and WHEN WE HAD WINGS.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?

Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction Physical Books

ECHOES OF US
By: Joy Jordan-Lake
Published: October 8, 2024
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback gift

I received this from my best friend for Christmas. This is exactly the kind of book I love to read, plus it is set in St. Simon’s Island, a place very special to me. I’ve previously shared a children’s book by this author, A CRAZY-MUCH LOVE.

In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student, and a German POW forge a connection that endures—against all odds.

But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg, and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister Kitzie to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever.

As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together…and the old wounds that could tear everything apart.

Told in dual timelines spanning World War II and the present, Echoes of Us follows the ripple effects of war, the bonds that outlast it, and the hope that ultimately carries us forward.

RENTAL HOUSE
By: Weike Wang
Published: December 3, 2024
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Fiction
Format: Hardcover purchase

This was a Book of the Month add-on choice for me last month.

Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection (“To use a dishwasher is to admit defeat,” says her father), while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife.

Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate, and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?

HOMESEEKING
By: Karissa Chen
Published: January 7, 2025
Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Fiction
Format: Hardcover purchase

This was my Book of the Month pick for December.

Haiwen and Suchi are teenage sweethearts in 1940s Shanghai. Their childhood friendship has blossomed into young love, and they believe they are soulmates. But when Haiwen secretly decides to enlist in the army to keep his brother from the draft, their shared future is shattered. Their paths take them far from each other, with the exception of one pivotal chance encounter on the Hong Kong ferry in 1966.

Sixty years later, Haiwen, now in his late seventies, is bagging bananas at a 99 Ranch in Los Angeles when he lifts his head and sees Suchi. As they rekindle their friendship, it feels like they might have a second chance to live the life they were supposed to have together. But the weight of the past lives with them at every moment, and only time will tell if they are able to forge something new.

THE KEEPER OF HAPPY ENDINGS
By: Barbara Davis
Published: October 1, 2021
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback purchase

This one kept popping up as something I would like to read. When I sold some books at Half Price Books, I used my credit to get this one. My niece loved it which means I will likely love it too.

Soline Roussel is well schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread. It’s said that the bride who wears a Roussel gown is guaranteed a lifetime of joy. But devastating losses during World War II leave Soline’s world and heart in ruins and her faith in love shaken. She boxes up her memories, stowing them away, along with her broken dreams, determined to forget.

Decades later, while coping with her own tragic loss, aspiring gallery owner Rory Grant leases Soline’s old property and discovers a box containing letters and a vintage wedding dress, never worn. When Rory returns the mementos, an unlikely friendship develops, and eerie parallels in Rory’s and Soline’s lives begin to surface. It’s clear that they were destined to meet—and that Rory may hold the key to righting a forty-year wrong and opening the door to shared healing and, perhaps, a little magic.

THE ECHO OF OLD BOOKS
By: Barbara Davis
Published: March 28, 2023
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback purchase

I also grabbed this one at Half Price Books for the same reasons. Plus, my book club friend read and loved it which is enough of a recommendation for me.

Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.

With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers’ tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story—and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.

CREATURE NEEDS
Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation
By: Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, and Susan Talent – Editors
Published: January 21, 2025
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Non-Fiction
Format: Paperback for Review

This was a surprise arrival in my mailbox but it is definitely something I am interested in reading about. I hope to share my thoughts on this one soon.

A kaleidoscopic literary exploration of extinction and conservation, inspired by the latest scientific research

Creature Needs is a polyvocal call to arms about animal extinction and habitat loss that harnesses the power of literature and scientific research to move us, and stir our hearts and minds, toward action and change. A collection of new literary works by prominent writers paired with excerpts from recent scientific articles that inspired and informed them, this innovative anthology engages the collaborative, cross-disciplinary spirit and energy that is necessary to address the impact of humans on all other animals on our planet.

Divided into six sections representing the basic needs for survival—air, food, water, shelter, room to move, and each other—the stories and poems in Creature Needs vividly portray how these essential conditions are under assault through climate change, habitat loss, plastic and industrial pollution, and human intervention in natural landscapes. As the dominant species on Earth, humans not only control access to survival resources but we also overconsume and harm them. Rather than surrender to despair, the writers here believe that we have the power, if we choose, to change course and protect these resources.

A collaboration with the nonprofit organization Creature Conserve, Creature Needs is a path-setting fusion of literary art and scientific research that deepens our understanding of the interdependence between life and habitat, illuminating the stark choices we face to conserve resources and ensure that the basic needs of all species are met.

Children’s Fiction and Non-Fiction

A NUMBER OF ANIMALS NESTING BLOCKS
By: Kate Greene
Illustrated by: Lester Wormel
Published: April 16, 2013
Publisher: Creative Editions, The Creative Company
Format: Toy

I received these nesting blocks as part of a Giveaway promotion package from The Creative Company. The giveaway promotion has ended but I’ll be sharing about these blocks soon.

A sturdy outer gift box opens to reveal 10 graduated blocks—each wrapped with Wormell’s artwork and Greene’s text—that can be stacked into a tower nearly three feet high.

NUTCRACKER
By: E.T.A. Hoffmann
Illustrated by: Roberto Innocenti
Published: August 15, 2017, Original story published 1853
Publisher: Creative Editions, The Creative Company
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book

I received this classic as part of a Giveaway promotion package from The Creative Company. The giveaway promotion has ended but I can already tell you that this is a must-own classic perfect for the holidays.

The classic holiday tale of a child and her loyal Nutcracker is here displayed in its entirety, in a reissued edition of the original text paired with illustrations by Italian artist Roberto Innocenti.

TOGETHER
By: Laura Manaresi & Giovanni Manna
Published: August 13, 2024
Publisher: Creative Editions, The Creative Company
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book

I received this as part of a Giveaway promotion package from The Creative Company. The giveaway promotion has ended but I’ll be sharing about this book that reminds us to find the commonalities rather than focus on the differences in each other soon.

In a world where people are too often divided by perceived differences, it can be easy to forget all the commonalities we share. This gentle yet insistent call to action reminds us that we are stronger together, that collective action is the most powerful response we can have, no matter how insurmountable the challenges “Together, the entire world changes, and something new is born.”

LONELY BIRD’S DREAM
By: Ruth Whiting
Published: October 1, 2024
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book

The follow-up to LONELY BIRD continues the story of a paper bird, a doodle really, that lives in a house with humans. In this story, she dreams of flying and tries multiple experiments to reach her dream.

One night, Lonely Bird has a dream.
She wakes with the memory of riding the wind.
There must be a way.

If Lonely Bird is a bird, why doesn’t she have feathers and wings like the birds she sees through the windows of her home? Why can’t she fly? A curious and inventive soul, Lonely Bird studies drawings of old-fashioned flying machines, conducts delicate experiments with feathers, and constructs her own little marvels as she pursues her elusive goal. Will the inevitable bumps and perils along the way ground her for good, or will she rise up to try again? In Lonely Bird’s second adventure, author-illustrator Ruth Whiting launches her artistic heroine on a tenacious exploration of identity, set in an enchanting miniature world that may just exist on the edge of our own.

PAVLO GETS THE GRUMPS
By: Natalia Shaloshvili
Published: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book

Pavlo the Cat helps kids with their emotions in this new children’s book.

Pavlo does not feel like going to the park. Not today. He does not want to go swimming. He even says no to the movies. What’s going on, Pavlo?
Pavlo has the grumps. Though Mama suggests one fun activity after another, Pavlo doesn’t want to do any of them. Can anything cheer him up on this down day? Capturing a range of emotions through nuanced expressions and a simple text, Natalia Shaloshvili’s comforting picture book looks at familiar childhood feelings, suggesting that grumpy days, sadness, and even anger happen to everyone. But that’s OK—good friends and family will love you anyway. And who knows what might happen if you decide to give that big slide a try after all?

THE SECRETS OF UNDERHILL
By: Kali Wallace
Published: January 28, 2025
Publisher: Quirk Books
Middle-Grade Fantasy
Format: Paperback for Review

I don’t typically read fantasy, but the premise of this middle-grade book won me over.

Nick Sixsmith has spent her whole life on the road. The daughter of a traveling arborist, she and her mother move from town to town, caring for the ironwood groves the communities rely upon. When a dangerous blight takes hold of these magical trees, they must journey to the city of Mistwood—her mother’s hometown—for answers.

Nick can’t wait to explore the prosperous city of Mistwood and all it has to the bustling markets and workshops, neighborhoods built under a roaring waterfall, and the vast ancestral grove of ironwood trees. But dark secrets simmer beneath the surface as people start to disappear, and tensions rise in the city. 

As the mystery grows, Nick and her new friends must follow the trail where it leads underground, to a strange, enchanting world called Underhill. Only then, among the roots of ancestral grove, will Nick find a way to save her new home and the ironwood trees.

Riveting and atmospheric, readers will be immersed until the final page.

FUN WITH NATIONAL PARKS
A Big Activity Book for Kids about America’s Natural Wonders
By: Nicole Claesen
Illustrated by: Candela Ferrández
Published: March 21, 2023
Publisher: Z Kids/Penguin Random House
Non-Fiction Activity Book
Format: Paperback for Review

This book includes puzzles as a fun way for kids ages 6-10 to learn about national parks.

Welcome to America’s stunning national parks! These natural wonders feature imposing mountains, deep canyons, magnificent geysers, supervolcanoes, giant trees, and scores of wild animals. You’ll find spectacular vistas and delightful surprises in these treasures that stretch from sea to shining sea.

This awesome travel activity book helps kids ages 6 to 10:

– EXPLORE all 63 national parks, including fascinating facts about their landscape, geological features, animals, history, and more.
– LEARN EVEN MORE about the parks through 125+ activities–ranging from mazes, dot-to-dots, and word searches to coloring pages, crack the code, and matching games.
– TAKE A TRIP THROUGH THE US with a map identifying each park; along with learning the location of the parks, kids will learn geography, too!
Whether kids want to learn more about our glorious parks, help plan a trip to these national treasures, or challenge themselves with awesome activities, Fun with National Parks will educate and inspire them.

FUN WITH OCEANS & SEAS
A Big Activity Book for Kids about Our Wonderful Waters
By: Emily Greenhalgh
Illustrated by: Candela Ferrández
Published: September 19, 2023
Publisher: Z Kids/Penguin Random Hosue
Non-Fiction Activity Book
Format: Paperback for Review

Another great puzzle/activity book for the ocean-loving kid.

Dive into fascinating facts and 100 fun activities featuring the world’s magnificent oceans and seas!

Discover the wonders of the world’s waters! Whether kids are fascinated by sharks, whales, glaciers, tides, icebergs, shipwrecks, or any other part of ocean and sea life, they’ll be thrilled by the awesome activities and wild facts in this entertaining and educational book.

In these colorful pages, children ages 6 to 10

Following in the steps of the bestselling books Fun with 50 States and Fun with National Parks, Fun with Oceans and Seas will provide your favorite kids with hours of entertainment and learning.

Which books are you adding to your reading list?

Click HERE to see all the posts featuring new books on my shelves.

So many books, so little time!