This has been a year so far, and honestly with everything going on reading, running and blogging clearly all took a back seat. 

I've really struggled to focus on reading this year.  There were some months in the late winter and early spring, where I think I may have only read a book or two the entire month. I'd pick things up and just not be able to get into them, even if it was a genre I normally liked. I had so many DNFs, so many holds lapse at the library. My concentration and focus just wasn't there. 

There was one series that really grabbed my attention though and held it, and that was the Inheritance Games. I tore through those books (and highly recommend if you read them you have them all at once because each book stops in the middle of the story, and I know from experience waiting on the hold list at the library for the next one is super annoying). 

Of the books I did finish, I had a lot of three stars. And some if it I can't tell if it was me and the mood I was in or if it was actually the book itself. So take the three star ratings here with a grain of salt. 

Ok, enough preamble, here are the actual books I've read through June. 

Five stars

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've spent the last few months in the world of the Inheritance Games, and they were the most fun books I've read in a long time. Compelling characters, fun puzzles and lots of good twists and turns. Can't recommend these books enough, but be forewarned, they end in cliff-hangers, so have the next book in the series ready to go if you're impatient to know what happens next like me.

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've spent the last few months in the world of the Inheritance Games, and they were the most fun books I've read in a long time. Compelling characters, fun puzzles and lots of good twists and turns. Can't recommend these books enough, but be forewarned, they end in cliff-hangers, so have the next book in the series ready to go if you're impatient to know what happens next like me.

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've spent the last few months in the world of the Inheritance Games, and they were the most fun books I've read in a long time. Compelling characters, fun puzzles and lots of good twists and turns. Can't recommend these books enough, but be forewarned, they end in cliff-hangers, so have the next book in the series ready to go if you're impatient to know what happens next like me.

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A whodunit where the house is a main character and each chapter makes you think the victim or the killer could be them. The Briar House is a woman's boarding house in DC and the grouchy landlady has strict rules all her guests must follow. But a new and mysterious arrival rocks the boat a little bit, introducing weekly dinners in her tiny room and building relationships with each person.

I loved this book. Each chapter introduces you to one of the women, and the other people in there lives. And each time you meet and understand someone new, you learn a bit more about who could be the victim and the killer. So good, a true Kate Quinn classic.

Four stars

Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Karen McManus and her YA thrillers! This one was about a mother-daughter jewelry heist. It had a lot of twists and turns, and though I guessed the ultimate ending I still found I couldn’t put this down, despite a few plot points I didn’t love.

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not quite sure how I liked this book so much even though I despised most (all?) of the characters. I loved the way this book took a singular event and looked how it seriously and truly messed up every member of a single family.

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a lovely mix of nostalgia and getting to know the early parts of Kelly Bishop’s career. I loved the parts about Gilmore Girls and Bunheads, and I found the parts about her early dancing career fascinating. What a great book to spend a cold winter weekend curled up with.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because it felt like everyone was talking about it. I've never really watched any of the Barefoot Contessa shows, but I found it really interesting to learn about Ina Garten's life and how she found her way into the food world.

The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the bridge book in the Inheritance Games series. It's told from two of the brothers' perspectives and introduces a cast of new characters that will appear in the Grandest Game series. I enjoyed this book, but it definitely wasn't quite as compelling as the books in the original series. It took me a little bit longer to get going with it, but eventually it picked up, and I enjoyed it.

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked the premise of this book, and I liked new characters being a focus of the Hawthorne world, but I'd read it back to back to back with the original Inheritance Games books, and this one just didn't live up to those. Don't get me wrong, it's still good, and because it ended in a cliff-hanger I'm still planning to read the next book when it comes out this summer. But I had a bit of harder time with the many POVs in this book, and the number of POVs didn't match the number of players in the game so I felt like I kept getting people confused -- especially Lyra. I couldn't remember who she was or why exactly she was important. I think I needed a little more development of some of these characters in this book, but because I'm a sucker for mysteries, I'm going to stick with it until the next book.

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was dark, but also at times really funny. The main character is an atheist and a lesbian and when she heads to a Catholic church that advertises therapy, she somehow ends up employed there as a receptionist. She learns a bit more about her predecessor and discovers she might have been murdered. She's curious and suspicious of several people at the church. A very different book, but I actually really liked it.

Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun and cute look behind some of the moments that are mentioned in many of the Inheritance Games books. These have been some of the only books landing for me lately, so it was nice to get a deeper look at some of the characters in these short stories.

Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'd fallen off the wagon with the Kate Burkholder books, and reading this one reminding me why I love them so much. The plot here is fast-moving and I never wanted to set this book down. I started it on a Sunday and finished it the next day. In this case, Kate is asked to go undercover to in a different Amish community to help investigate a series of strange events. While I picked up on a few of the plot points, I appreciated the change of location and cast of characters in this book. It was nice to mix it up. My only real complaint now that I've read 8 of these is that I think there's a bit of a tell toward the end of the books. Kate always puts herself in some dangerous situation because she's convinced herself there's no other way and then without fail comes incredibly close to death, but manages to just barely avoid it. Other than that trope becoming a bit repetitive, I still love these books.

Three stars

Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was cute, though slightly predictable, and I struggled with some of the plot points or gaps. When the main character's aunt dies, she inherits her sprawling mansion in France as well as the secretive writers retreat she runs there -- if she agrees to stay for a certain amount of time. The main character's self-loathing at times was a lot. I really wanted to like her, but sometimes she drove me nuts, and I just wanted to shake her and be like girl, get it together.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I kept waiting for the payout in this book. Why did the main character's attic suddenly become magical and start sending her husbands? If she was annoyed with one, she could send him up to the attic and a new one would come down. I kept reading and reading hoping to find out why, but the author never tells you. It's just this weird thing that happened and that the main character has to navigate now. I found it a bit repetitive at parts, and really felt like we were lacking plot.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three friends in college and thrown together by a tragedy, and they make a pact to never let each other down. So years later when one of them needs the others, they fly to her side. They plan a three city travel spree to help her recover. One of the characters was incredibly grating the entire book, but it was a nice escapist book for characters trying to find themselves.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another mystery that was slow to unfold. Set after World War I, Maisie is a private investigator. Her first case is to investigate a presumed affair, which leads her to a group of soldiers that came back from the war with serious injuries. Many who have gone to a retreat have died, and Maisie expects not from natural causes.

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Last weekend we visited Quebec City for my friend Scott's wedding. It was our first international trip for our little guy, and I'm happy to report all the travel went fairly smoothly, and we had a great time. 

Ben and I had been to Quebec City back in 2022, and had hit a lot of the big touristy things on that trip. So when planning this trip, I tried to focus on things that would be kid-friendly and ideally wouldn't be too repetitive from what we did on our first trip. 

The weather was way colder on this trip, so I considered a lot of indoor activities, and because my in-laws drove to meet us there, we had access to a car more easily than we did last time, which expanded our horizons. 

Our first day was a fairly long travel day. Even though both of our flights were short, they were both delayed and we had a pretty long layover in the Toronto airport. I was happy when we were finally able to check in to our condo for the weekend. 

We stayed at the Royal Dalhousie, and wow, I cannot recommend this place enough. 

I had booked a three-bedroom condo on the first level of the building. But when my in-laws checked in, the owners were worried it would be too loud for us with a little guy, so they moved us up to the second floor, into the biggest and most beautiful place I have ever stayed while traveling. 

Floor to ceiling windows lined the wall in the massive living area. The main bedroom suite I think may have been bigger than the entire top floor of our house in DC. Every detail was just stunningly gorgeous, and there was so much space. Little man had so much room to run around. He was in heaven. 

We grabbed dinner out on the Petit Champlain, tucked the little guy into bed, and then Ben and I met Scott and his parents and another one of our friends for a quick drink at one of the pubs. 

On Friday morning, we drove about 35 minutes outside the city to visit the Hotel de Glace. This place was wild. An entire hotel, with a bar, stage, dance floor, restaurant, and chapel all made out of snow and ice. People can actually book these rooms to stay over night, but sleeping on a bed made of ice in subzero temperatures does not sound like my idea of a good time. 

We enjoyed our visit though. The highlight of course being the giant ice slide in one of the rooms. This was on repeat for little man many many times. 

After we thawed out during nap time, we bundled up again for a short walk around the city before an early dinner. 

Saturday morning we woke up to howling wind gusts of 40 mph and temperatures barely creeping out of the teens. It sounded like a perfect museum morning. 

We went over to the Museum of Civilization, which we had heard great things about, but didn't get to our on first trip. This museum definitely lives up to the hype, and it was perfect for the kid and the adults in our group. 

We started on the lower level, which was basically a giant play area for kids. Little man crawled through tunnels and opened doors to find surprises in the walls. And down the hall they had a wrestling area to pair with their special exhibit on the history of wrestling. This area was fun for our guy, but the kids who were probably a year or two older were loving it even more. Laughter and shrieking as they tackled inflatable dummies and tried to catch each other in a ring. 

The wrestling exhibit for adults was also so much fun and a real throwback. I definitely watched WWF (now WWE) when I was a kid, so seeing all the old memorabilia, and the lifesize cutouts of the various wrestlers was really cool.

Our last stop in the museum was the exhibit on the history of Quebec. The animals and the various cars, boats and other modes of transportation were the favorites of this exhibit. 

We had the welcome reception for the wedding on Saturday night. I apparently took no pictures there, but my friend snapped this one of a bunch of our group at the afterparty. If the pub looks familiar, it's because it's the same place we went to Thursday night. 

Sunday was our last full day in Quebec. It was also wedding day and the nicest day of the whole trip, meaning it got into the 30s and the wind was more mild! Hooray. 

We bundled up and headed for the boardwalk toboggan first thing. Ben and I saw the set up the last time we were there, but it was too early in the season and wasn't open yet. So we were super excited to be able to ride it this time. 

Our sled really picked up some speed and we went flying all the way to the end of the track. 

We spent much of the rest of the morning strolling around town, popping in and out of little shops. It was nice to finally have pleasant enough weather that it was tolerable to be outside. 

We stopped in the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre Dame de Quebec, the only church outside Europe to have a Holy Door.

Our last stop of the morning was a small museum about how maple syrup is made. It was a tiny bit corny and a little bit cute and honestly only worth if it you have a kid who will get a kick out of the animated beaver family that explains the whole process. 

The museum is tiny and the whole thing probably took less than 15 minutes, but it was amusing. 

That night we had the wedding. 

I didn't take a single picture again, but Scott shared this one from their photographer. Scott and Katie didn't have a wedding party, so they hid their wedding rings under one of the chairs at the ceremony, and this is us looking to see if we were the lucky people to get to carry the rings up to them. I thought this was a fun and really cute idea. 

Then it was off to cocktail hour, dinner and dancing before collapsing into bed in our beautiful condo one last time. 

Monday morning we were up and headed back home. It was a great little trip. We were so glad we got to celebrate Scott and Katie and make a little vacation out of it with my in-laws. Quebec City is such a great place to visit. I'd go back again, and would 100% stay at the Royal Dalhousie again! 

2024 was actually one of the lowest volume reading years I've had in a while. Turns out having a small human to keep alive will really cut into those lazy Sundays doing nothing but reading a good book. But despite the lower number of books this past year, I still read some really fantastic books. 

Here's a round up of all my five-star reads.

Nonfiction

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.

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though this memoir is more than 10 years old, it still feels like an important story given all the conversations today around immigration. This is the story of Reyna Grande, who as a child is separated from first her father and then her mother as they came to the United States looking for a better life than what they had in Mexico. Her mother eventually returns to Mexico, and Reyna makes the trip across the border with her father when she's 9 years old. Separated from one of her parents, she grows up in the U.S. with the other. The book is equally really heartbreaking and hopeful. It's not an easy read, but it's a good one.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is so wild it’s hard to believe it’s nonfiction. It tells the story of the KKK’s resurgence in the 1920s, and the woman who brought them down. The way the author wrote some of the court scenes made it feel like a thriller and I just kept reading to find out what happened next. It’s hard to make a story that compelling when people already know the outcome. But this was so good. Highly recommend.

Fiction

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 Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though I definitely thought the first half of this book was stronger than the second half, this is a five star book. It was beautifully written. I keep telling everyone to read it and I keep wanting to talk about it. After her brother is killed in the Vietnam War, Frankie McGrath signs up to be an Army nurse. The first half of the book covers her time during the war, and the second half covers life when she gets home. Parts of this book made me so mad I wanted to chuck it across the room, but I loved it. I also felt a really personal connection to this story since my aunt served as an Army nurse in Vietnam -- in one of the hospitals mentioned in this book -- and it was something that I didn't know much about. This book touches a lot on how the women who served in Vietnam were often unseen and their service was unvalued when they came home. It's a must read.

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Five stars largely in part because I thought this was a lovely send off for the characters from Nantucket that I've grown to love over the last many summers. All of my favorites were back to celebrate the police chief's retirement, but of course, one last case lands in his lap before his retirement date at the end of the summer. I will miss Elin's books every summer.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was just a lovely book to read. My favorite character was an aging octopus that had found ways to escape his enclosure. He was fun and charming, and I wish he had more chapters in the book. The humans in the book were just the right amount of flawed and broken for them to be endearing and lovable without tipping into completely annoying, though at least one of the characters had his moments.

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot stop thinking about this book, and I really want to talk about it with people (good thing it was my book club read for the month). It reminded me a bit of The Displacements in that Florida gets hit with devastating hurricanes. I liked how this book imagined what could happen if the storms became too much that it was impossible to repair critical infrastructure. I loved many of the characters in this book and despised others. All around a great thought provoking book.

Gone Missing by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I tore through this book in like a day and a half. It’s another great mystery thriller featuring Detective Kate Burkholder trying to find three Amish girls that have gone missing. This book is five stars despite the fact that I hated the ending and that I felt one of the characters ended up with an unresolved storyline.

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