Happy March, sweet friends. Like many of you, I am eagerly awaiting the return of Spring and a bit warmer weather. As I am still settling into my new home, I spent February reading 8 different books and even with three DNFs, had a solid month of reading. Let’s jump in!
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
Literary Fiction | Type: Audiobook
Description: She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.
Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.
As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.
Review: This month I read quite a few “hot” books that were talked about everywhere including The Favorites. I wanted to love it but was a bit disappointed by the ending with Kat and Heath not really getting any justice for the “incidents” at their last competition and I absolutely hated the plot twist of Heath having a child. I will say that the love story between Heath and Kat was fun and reminiscent of young love with the emotional ride of growing from one stage of life to the next with a long-term partner. The love story truly stood out for me over the competition / skating story. However, this book did bring back my childhood memories of wanting to be professional ice skater. ** Thank you Libro.fm for the advance listener copy **
Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch
Literary Crime Fiction | Type: Audiobook
Description: 
A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she’d be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles.
Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for her weekly lesson at the Victors’ Beverly Hills estate and, in lieu of a bored teenager, finds the bloody remains of the parents strewn through their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help within a closet. As Evie works to free her, the two are spotted—and within moments, they go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.
Suddenly at the heart of a manhunt and accompanied by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak, Evie knows the only way to clear her name is to find the real killer. But first she’ll have to break down the barriers of her companion, who is quickly becoming the most important person in Evie’s upside-down life. Their breathless spree takes them across the U.S. as developments in the case shock the nation and the press runs wild with Evie’s story: a gifted kid turned killer. She’s now on the cover of every magazine and newspaper—anointed the new Charles Manson, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war. Evie is finally someone.
By turns cuttingly hilarious and deeply insightful, Killer Potential is a strikingly original debut. A literary novel with the page-turning intensity of a thriller that asks timely questions about our belief in the romance of social mobility, and how the stories we’re sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.
Review: I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten my hands on a copy of this book so early as it releases in a few weeks and I listened early in February. This book was definitely high energy with a constant cat and mouse game of when/if they will get caught. I didn’t agree with a lot of decisions made, especially at the beginning to run with no information, but the story was entertaining. I loved the redemption arc at the end for Evie and her revisit to “the house” ** Thank you Libro.fm for the advance listener copy **
All the Blues in the Sky by Renee Watson
Poems | Type: Audiobook
Description: Sage’s thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together. Instead, it was the day her best friend died. Without the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn’t predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. And even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life-and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all.
In accessible, engaging verse and prose, this is a story of a girl’s journey to heal, grow, and forgive herself. To read it is to see how many shades there are in grief, and to know that someone understands.
Review: Admittedly, I rarely read children’s books. I will dabble in Young Adult books once in a while but I wanted to listen to something different from a new (to me) author. Friends, when I say I wept – ugh, I wept. I was quickly taken back to my middle school and high school days and all the fun and hard memories of friendships starting and, inevitably, ending. I lost a friend shortly after I graduated high school and had so many of the same thoughts and feelings as Sage. This short book of poems took me through every emotion from grief to happiness to anxiety to sadness and everything in between. A lovely short read that could be great for older children after loss. ** Thank you Libro.fm for the advance listener copy **
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Mystery| Type: Audiobook
Description: It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever.
After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.
Then it starts. Breaking news: there’s a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn’t a hostage. Her husband – doting father, eternal optimist – is the gunman.
What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says…
Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. This novel cements Gillian McAllister’s reputation as “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations.” (Emily Henry)
Review: Okay, when I initially finished this book, I wasn’t sure how I felt. Now that some time has passed, I can confidently say this book was so good. If you loved The Last Thing He Told Me or Big Little Lies, you will love this book! The story took just the right amount of twists and turns and the ending was so satisfying. I also love books within books so that was a really fun side element to discover. Overall, I think this was my favorite read of the month and the one I recommend over everything else! ** Thank you Libro.fm for the advance listener copy **
We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds
Young Adult| Type: Audiobook & Paperback
Description: What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace? 
Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she’s uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.
While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.
As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty’s health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she’s built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.
Review: Y’all, the conversation we had at book club was hilarious! We truly all had different opinions on the multiple storylines and overall story. At the core, we loved the grandmother’s love + grief story and how well the parents celebrated Avery. There is a lot to dissect in this book if you want to open up a can of thinking worms and honestly, we might do that next (in our Facebook group)!
For a month of unpacking and getting settled, I’m feeling pretty good about finishing five books especially after I DNFd almost the same amount. I also, surprisingly, started a book with a solid amount of controversy online: Deep End. I finished it in March so I’ll share my thoughts next month!
For #LotsofBookClub, we are reading Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby and discussing on Tuesday, 3/25 at 7pm. Find all the deets: on the bookclub homepage here.
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Thanks so much for reading, friends! Have a lovely weekend xoxo
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