November was a very murder-y month of reading and in December, I really doubled down on some cozy holiday books. Just lots of light and easy reads to wrap up the year. 

Four Stars

A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was excited to read this book after lots of reviews, and I did largely enjoy it. But I kind of hated the twist. Not that it wasn't well written or wasn't entertaining, I just really wanted a different person to be the killer because to me that would have seemed way more intriguing. Either way this is still a good book and a vey fast thriller-y read.

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Sarah Pekkanen's books. They are twisty and fun and bonus set in the DC area. This one did not disappoint and delivered on super strange family dynamics that the main character had to peel back to determine how the family's nanny mysteriously died.

After the Storm by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the two competing storylines in this book that both sprung from a violent tornado ripping through the town of Painters Mill. A body is discovered when a barn is destroyed leading Kate and her officers to investigate this cold case. At the same time people seriously wounded in the storm are angry at Kate for her rescue efforts. I like the way the stories interweave, though I will say I didn't love Kate's personal story line in this book as much and thought the ending there was just a little too convenient.

One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sparks seem to fly between the best man and the maid of honor at their friends' wedding, until the maid of honor finds out the best man left her book a one-star review online. Unfortunately because their best friends are married to each other, the arch nemeses find themselves forced to spend a good amount of time together, and maybe there's still a spark there. Fun fast read!

The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute and fun book to read during the holiday season. It's about a group of four friends who are "Christmas orphans" meaning they have don't leave New York to celebrate the holidays with their families. Over the years they've celebrated in all sorts of ways, but one friend gets a new job across the country and their annual tradition is threatened. Light and fun and great for the holidays.

Candy Canes of Christmas Past by Leslie Meier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was trying to end the year with a few lighter and fun books, and this cozy mystery did the trick. I've read a few Lucy Stone books this year, and I enjoyed that this one flashed back to when Lucy first moved to Tinker's Cove. It was a nice chance to see how all the characters that have been featured in other books started to appear in Lucy's life. Plus this was a short and fun holiday mystery too.

Three Stars

Turkey Trot Murder by Leslie Meier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really went all in on the holiday themed murder mysteries this end this year. This book was a little slow at parts, and I didn't love the way I felt a bit beaten over the head with the immigration theme, and I thought the twist was a bit predictable, but it wasn't a bad read and I enjoyed a book set around a running-ish theme.

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I typically really enjoy the Will Trent books, but this book was really, really long and I thought very slow at parts. The book opens pretty early with the murder, but then I feel like there's a lot of long slow build up before we get into any sort of crime-solving. I would have preferred if some of the slow burn had been cut to get right into the action.

I'm still adjusting to the whole being a parent means you don't have long lazy Sunday afternoons to sit and read thing. Every month when I look at how many books I've read, I'm like wow, that's so much less than I used to read. And then I remember it's probably not fair to compare my pre-kid reading volumes to now. Still working on that.

I read a couple of excellent books over the last two months that I've been recommending to everyone.

So without further ado, onto the books.

Five Stars

James by Percival Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This will likely be one of my favorite books of the year This retelling of Huck Finn is so good. I loved to see Jim as a full person, with this whole big life that’s just not there in the original and building such kindness into him, even though he had no real reason to be kind to any of the white people in the book. I couldn’t put this book down and I was sad to leave Jim when it ended.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book made me a little bit sad about how we destroyed an entire generation of children with screens and social media. But there was so much good food for thought about what we can do to change the tide and create healthier relationships for our kids with the Internet. I appreciated the practical tips especially at the end of the book. I'd say this is a must read for any parent trying to figure out how to manage devices for their kids.

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like many others, I've been following Sharon's corner of the Internet since 2020. I've learned a lot from her, and she's introduced to many new authors and other great books. She's also an excellent storyteller on her podcast, so I was looking forward to her book release. Her strong storytelling continues here. In many sections, I could hear her voice in my head as if she was narrating this on her podcast. I enjoyed the stories she shared in this book, each one infused with hope.

Four Stars

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this was more like 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I enjoyed the story overall. I did almost throw in the towel because the book opening with creeper lurking in the woods outside of a house was a bit too much for me when I was literally reading this book in the middle of the might. But during the daylight hours the creepy factor was turned down. Ethan Marsh has returned to his childhood home where 30 years ago, his best friend disappeared from the tent where he and Ethan were camping in Ethan's backyard. No body was ever found and no one knew what happened to Billy. But creepy things start happening in the neighborhood, forcing Ethan to reckon with the past.

A Hidden Secret by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fun Kate Burkholder mystery short story. I listened to the audiobook of this while I was doing chores around the house and it made the time pass very quickly because I just wanted to know where the story was going to go. I really love these short stories that bridge the gap between some of the longer books.

Three Stars

Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to love this book as much as I loved the Lucy Stone mystery that I read last Halloween, but this book started a little slow for me. It was still a fun and cozy Halloween mystery. It just started a little slowly.

The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was a fast read, but I really struggled with it. It seemed like Daphne was just so flat in this book and had no real agency. I got frustrated with just about every decision she made and felt like there were a million other choices she could have made instead of the ones she did.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the payoff at the end of this book, but it was a bit of a journey to get there, and I felt like there needed to be more description or backstory on the mysterious "birds" that supposedly haunt the woods. But besides a few of those challenges I had with the plot, I did enjoy the back and forth timeline building to the climax where almost every character had a motive and almost anyone could have been the dead body found on the beach.

View all my reviews

This post has been a long time coming! I'm so happy to say I finally, finally, finally was able to run a race with my little guy in the running stroller. 

It took me way longer to get to this milestone than I ever expected it would. 

When I was pregnant, I had big dreams of getting back to running quickly, and either running with the little man or having him be at the finish line of my races. After so many unfortunate setbacks, I finally got to have that moment over the weekend. 

We were in Rehoboth for the Seawitch Festival, and the Seashore Striders put on a race every year to coincide with the festival. 

I had planned to walk this with the running stroller last year, but the baby ended up melting down, and so I just walked it myself. 

But this year, we were both ready to run. 

It was a chilly morning, so he got plenty bundled in the stroller, and I wished I hadn't forgotten to pack my ear warmer since there was a pretty steady breeze. 

We did packet pick up in the morning, let the little guy run around the playground until about 10 minutes before the race start and then we lined up and took off. 

Having never run a race with the stroller before, I started a bit toward the back of the pack. I was trying to be respectful of the other runners and didn't want them to get stuck behind me. Running with the stroller slows my pace down big time.

I didn't have any time goals for this race. I just wanted to enjoy the experience of finally getting to do a race together.

I stuck to the sides of the road where I could and made sure to not get too close to anyone since I didn't want to accidentally nip them in the heel with a stroller tire. 

The first mile of the race was a little bit congested, but I still had plenty of room to maneuver even with the big stroller.  

I felt mostly good through out the race. It's definitely harder to run with the stroller, but I was just so happy to be out racing again. 

It was fun to run along the ocean. We got some really nice views before turning back into some of the neighborhoods to wind our way to the finish. 

Little man seemed pretty chill the whole time. In fact, for a while I think he might have fallen asleep. 

With just about a half mile to go in the race, I was definitely feel the effort of running with the stroller. 

I tried to pick up the pace a tiny bit as the finish line came into view, but a final kick with a big stroller is definitely different than a final kick without. 

We crossed the finish line in 32:21, which was good enough for 9th place in my age group. 

I was getting a little emotional toward the end of the race. It felt like such a big milestone and accomplishment to finally make it to this day. I'm healthy, he's healthy, and I'm finally back to doing something that I love. 

I'm glad I got to share running and racing with my little buddy. I hope to be able to do a lot more of that together in the future.